Hi everyone. My four plants have now been in the flowering stage for about a week and doing great. All still appear to be females, but I am keeping careful watch for signs of a male or hermie. They are each about 2 feet high and are in 5 gallon buckets with Ocean Forest organic soil. I have used both day old tap water and store bought spring water. The only fertilizing I have done is to side dress the plants with additional Ocean Forest organic soil. I have not monitored the PH or Nutes for this grow, but may for the next one.
On May 21, 2009, I started four mail ordered feminized seeds on a damp paper towel (two White Widow and two Little Devil). In the meantime, I set up my grow room in a four by six walk in closet. It has wire hanging racks about two feet from the ceiling and carpeting on the floor. I got a thermometer with temperature and humidity monitoring.
After a few days, the seedlings had half inch long white tentacles emerging and I placed them in coco plugs under a dome in the closet with an old standard fluroescent fixture and a box fan to pull room air under the closet door.
Unfortunately, the fluorescent bulbs blew out and when I checked on them a few days later, the seedlings were alive, but long and stringy. I set up a 400w HID in an agrotech reflector and put the seedlings on an 18/6 schedule with a small circular fan. The room got far too hot and the next time I checked, the coco plugs were dried out and the WW seedlings were completely dead. The LD seedlings were ok, but still stringy and limp. I propped them up, put a little soil on top and plenty of water. I also started new WW seeds and so they are about one to two weeks behind the LDs. I had a lot of trouble with high heat and low humidity and so on June 12, 2009, I invested in a new T5 fixture for seedlings and clones. I also purchased and installed a 4 inch inline ventilation fan and vented it into the vented attic above the closet. This kept the room much cooler and prevented the seedlings from drying out and the seedlings took off.
When the seedlings were a few inches high, I transplanted them plug and all into gallon pots containing Ocean Forest organic soil. On July 28, 2009, I transplanted the now foot high plants into the five gallon buckets with Ocean Forest organic soil. After a few days to let the girls get used to their new containers, on July 31, 2009, I replaced the t5 lamp with the 400W HID in the agrotech reflector. This created new high heat and low humidity issues and I did everything from hanging wet towels to putting dutch ovens of ice in the room. In the best circumstances, the heat was below 90 and the humidity above 40, sometimes much hotter and dryer. They grew slowly, but remained alive.
On August 7, 2009, I switched to an HPS bulb and changed the timers to 12/12. The plants were about 18 inches high at the time. The HPS bulb seems to throw less heat. I also attached a ducting tube to the intake on the inline fan and extended the tube below the level of the light so it sucked up the hottest of the air in the room. The temperature has stayed in the low to mid 80s and the humidity is in the high 40s to low 50s after watering.
I have experimented a little bit with the watering and found that the best way is to buy 3 gallon bottles of spring water at the grocery store and spray on the water with a one gallon pressurized sprayer (the kind used for applying insecticides). I am also using automatic watering bottles called plantastic. They hold about 16oz of water and slowly release water into the soil as the water touching the membrane dries. They are supposed to last two weeks, but I have never had to fill an empty one. I am using them as a sort of back up.
Another change I have made is with regard to reflective material on the walls. The closet has white walls and ceiling and faux wood door. initially, I taped tin foil all over the closet. This made a terrible crinkling noise all day and night. On 8/9, I took three large mirrors and put one on each wall and kept the tin foil on the door. My garden supplier freaked when I told him about the mirrors and said that it would burn the plants. I took out all reflective material and now just have the white of the walls and ceiling. I'll let you know if I notice any slow down in growth.
As indicated above, the 4 plants have been flowering for about a week. There are signs of hairs, but so far no evidence of male pods. I plan to harvest in mid October or so, when there are abut 70% amber hairs on the buds. I will then regenerate the best of the plants, cut off sprigs for clones and put them all back under the t5s.
I will post pictures in about a week.
On May 21, 2009, I started four mail ordered feminized seeds on a damp paper towel (two White Widow and two Little Devil). In the meantime, I set up my grow room in a four by six walk in closet. It has wire hanging racks about two feet from the ceiling and carpeting on the floor. I got a thermometer with temperature and humidity monitoring.
After a few days, the seedlings had half inch long white tentacles emerging and I placed them in coco plugs under a dome in the closet with an old standard fluroescent fixture and a box fan to pull room air under the closet door.
Unfortunately, the fluorescent bulbs blew out and when I checked on them a few days later, the seedlings were alive, but long and stringy. I set up a 400w HID in an agrotech reflector and put the seedlings on an 18/6 schedule with a small circular fan. The room got far too hot and the next time I checked, the coco plugs were dried out and the WW seedlings were completely dead. The LD seedlings were ok, but still stringy and limp. I propped them up, put a little soil on top and plenty of water. I also started new WW seeds and so they are about one to two weeks behind the LDs. I had a lot of trouble with high heat and low humidity and so on June 12, 2009, I invested in a new T5 fixture for seedlings and clones. I also purchased and installed a 4 inch inline ventilation fan and vented it into the vented attic above the closet. This kept the room much cooler and prevented the seedlings from drying out and the seedlings took off.
When the seedlings were a few inches high, I transplanted them plug and all into gallon pots containing Ocean Forest organic soil. On July 28, 2009, I transplanted the now foot high plants into the five gallon buckets with Ocean Forest organic soil. After a few days to let the girls get used to their new containers, on July 31, 2009, I replaced the t5 lamp with the 400W HID in the agrotech reflector. This created new high heat and low humidity issues and I did everything from hanging wet towels to putting dutch ovens of ice in the room. In the best circumstances, the heat was below 90 and the humidity above 40, sometimes much hotter and dryer. They grew slowly, but remained alive.
On August 7, 2009, I switched to an HPS bulb and changed the timers to 12/12. The plants were about 18 inches high at the time. The HPS bulb seems to throw less heat. I also attached a ducting tube to the intake on the inline fan and extended the tube below the level of the light so it sucked up the hottest of the air in the room. The temperature has stayed in the low to mid 80s and the humidity is in the high 40s to low 50s after watering.
I have experimented a little bit with the watering and found that the best way is to buy 3 gallon bottles of spring water at the grocery store and spray on the water with a one gallon pressurized sprayer (the kind used for applying insecticides). I am also using automatic watering bottles called plantastic. They hold about 16oz of water and slowly release water into the soil as the water touching the membrane dries. They are supposed to last two weeks, but I have never had to fill an empty one. I am using them as a sort of back up.
Another change I have made is with regard to reflective material on the walls. The closet has white walls and ceiling and faux wood door. initially, I taped tin foil all over the closet. This made a terrible crinkling noise all day and night. On 8/9, I took three large mirrors and put one on each wall and kept the tin foil on the door. My garden supplier freaked when I told him about the mirrors and said that it would burn the plants. I took out all reflective material and now just have the white of the walls and ceiling. I'll let you know if I notice any slow down in growth.
As indicated above, the 4 plants have been flowering for about a week. There are signs of hairs, but so far no evidence of male pods. I plan to harvest in mid October or so, when there are abut 70% amber hairs on the buds. I will then regenerate the best of the plants, cut off sprigs for clones and put them all back under the t5s.
I will post pictures in about a week.
