First Grow - 2x250 Watt CFL With Supplementing LEDs

[Blazingbuds]

Okay so I was following a grow done by atlien. He had the same problem as far as it herming, it was fine by removing all of the male parts early and constantly checking for any continued male growth. Hes active over on my thread. I'm sure hed help you out if you sent him a PM

 

[Blazingbuds]

700/900 Watt Mars Hydro - Double 3x3 Tent - OG Kush - Chocolope - Urkle - NLxBB

 

[Frostbourne]

DAY oh bloody hell what day am i on now.... 77/27 Flower

Hey guys sorry i havent posted much, been busy with school.

Look like i got worked up over nothing. those preflowers turned out to be female, they just started life looking strangely bulbous, apparently. good news. in the end.

and boy has she fattened up! only halfway through the flowering cycle, and she already has tons of fat buds that are starting to get nice and frosty Hopefully you can see some of that in the pics. I so can't wait to see how big these buds will be in four weeks!

 

[uhewekguilw]

Very nice!

 

[Blazingbuds]

So jealous buddy, wish she was in my closet!!

How far away do you have your CFL from your plant? I know you probably have it where you like it. Not trying to question your method, as obviously it looks terrific. From my past experience, a buddy of mine was growing 2 plants in a subwoofer box using CFL and his buds turned out decent but airy. He kept the lights too far away

 

[Frostbourne]

that cfl's are stay about 6-8 inches away from the tips, which puts the LED's about 10-12 inches away from the tips. back in veg i tried a little closer and saw some stress. That being said, i do have a fan which blows straight across the lights and the tops of the plant, which keeps the temps down by about 5 degrees (did that at someone's advice, cant remember, but def lowered temps so thanks!)

 

[Blazingbuds]

hahah! that would be me on the advice I would bring them two or three inches closer, and watch for signs of stress. Maybe leave it lower for a few hours, and come check. I have heard that CFL's dont penetrate but 4-5 inches deep of canopy.

 

[Frostbourne]

oh, yea man i dont think she is as tall as you think she is. here is the setup with the lights lowered t where i keep them when im not watering or taking pics, with a smoke pack for reference

 

[Blazingbuds]

Ahh now I got a good perspective. As I said, you definitely know what you're doing!

 

[Frostbourne]

im flattered you think so, but i assure you i have absolutely no clue XD

 

[Blazingbuds]

I've discovered recently that knowledge has less to do with success; success is largely determined by hard work and determination. You don't have to know exactly what your doing, just put in hard work, like you have. This has definitely shown through here, as I hope mine does.

 

[Silverfox125]

 

[Frostbourne]

ok so i have another question

for those who have grown purple strains before, around what time frame does the purple pigment start appearing? how long into the flowering cycle?

i have been using the product purple maxx (its the same stuff as snow storm, but also with an ingredient which will activate the gene for purple if its in the plant's DNA), and the last couple days i have noticed a little bit of purple in the tips of the leaflets....

i didnt think this strain had any purple in its genes, but who knows? it would be cool just curious what it looks like when it does happen. i dont suppose purpling in the tips could be caused by something wrong could it? love to hear some thoughts!

 

[uhewekguilw]

I've never used purple maxx, but it could work..? Sometimes the purple in the stems is genetic or it could be caused by a phosphorus deficiency. You will know if it's the deficiency because your leaves will develop brown blobs (spots) and the leaves will feel like they are drying out. If the purple maxx works, I'll have to give it a go Good luck!
GB80

 

[Frostbourne]

honestly the only reason im using it is because the hydro store near me was out of snow storm, and its the same stuff with the extra ingredient, for the same price, so i said why not? couldn't hurt, and in the unlikely event it does, then sweet

 

[uhewekguilw]

Agreed. Plus purple plants look pretty cool

 

[B A R]

im flattered you think so, but i assure you i have absolutely no clue XD

Yeah right... lol

 

[Fevs]

Read your other journal, also this one. Great plant here btw. Imo the purple can be brought in indoors by the grower by lowering the temps towards the end of the grow. Don't lower them too early though. If it's cold enough to go purple, it's probably too cold for this stage. Often with outdoor plants, you will see great colours coming through, like red, purple, even black, during periods of cold weather.

Imo don't do anything else to stress the plant out. I grew a photo when I was a noob and kept lst'ing her in flowering and she hermied for real! I was gutted! I just messed around for too long and it cost me dearly!

Looking at the age of the plant, also the fact you have acknowledge some light leaks, I reckon you would be better off growing autoflowers. You can get some very nice dwarf strains which would suit cfl growing for the penetration of the light, buddha white dwarf is 1. They would finish 60 days from seed, so I reckon you could harvest twice as often. You could easily grow 6-10 smaller plants under the cfl's by switching to auto's.

Don't let that take anything away from this plant. This plants is looking awesome. Yeah you can have a separate veg area to speed it all up, but then you can also do auto's in a separate veg area to speed it up, then harvest every 30 days, instead of 60 days.

Anyway, I grow 4 auto's in a 2.5ft x 2.5ft tent and 1 photoperiod in a 3.3ft x 3.3ft tent. Though I planted the auto's when I flipped the photo to 12/12, yet believe it or not, these plants will finish at the same time. LOL Auto's rock! I'm growing this photoperiod for the Budmaster led website. He upgraded my led for free as I had a problem with an older model. So thought I'd show a few 'Non believers' what leds are capable of! The big plant is my northern lights x big bud in an 8 gallon pot. Growing in soil. 4 autoflower are sweet seeds fast bud#2 in 12 air litre pots.

I know you touched on airpots earlier in the thread, put it this way, they rock and I rate them so much I'm never growing in anything else! Period! When the soil dries, the air goes into the soil, the soil is alive so they are perfect for each other. 'A marriage made in heaven' as they say. Like salt 'n' pepper! 2 peas in a pod!

Anyway, great to see take the step to defoliate, exactly what I'm thinking of with my big plant too.

 

[Frostbourne]

yea man for those bushy indica phenotypes defoliation seems almost mandatory to optimize yields.

i have thought very seriously about growing autos, and i certainly may order some next time around. i had just read that they tended to have slightly lower yields than photoperiods, and well i am greedy lol. i should at least try out auto in the end.

as for how many spaces i have available i have 6 dwc buckets right now, and two air pumps (one with 4 outlets, one with 2), and so i was ultimately hoping to have all slots filled and be able to harvest every month even with photoperiods by keeping 2 in veg and the rotate the rest into the flowering room when ready.

i did fix the light leak; i was trying to keep some airflow to the room at night be keeping the door cracked but yea no not anymore. i fixed that issue.

as for night temps, well idk how cold you think i am making it, its still my apartment lol its not exactly dropping to Northrend temps... that color is coming from the purple maxx i've been using (its the same stuff as snow storm, but with methyl jasmonate, a plant stress hormone which will activate the gene for purple pigment if the plant has it in its genetics). i gotta say, i am amazed at how well this stuff has been working. i wasnt even expecting purple!

 

[Frostbourne]

DAY 85/35 Flower

alrighty, so going into week six, not only am i noticing some purple in the leaflet tips, but i am noticing some yellow in the more mature leaves, and since this is a short-flowering plant, i decided to go ahead and start the flush. so i put about 4 gallons of fresh, non-pH'd water through (its an air pot, as im sure fevs can attest, its pretty impossible to overwater), to flush out any salts that might be in the soil, and even if its not enough, the fact that my tap water is so alkaline should lock her out of nutrients anyway. the pH of the water around here is usually about 8.3, today it was 8.5, its stupid how hard the water is.

anyway i also tried taking some pics through my loupe, and they came out alright. bottom line, i think the harvest window is starting to open up, so i will give her another week or two, i think.