Hardgraf's Black Sugar CFL Grow

[Hardgraf]

Update y'all...

Checked the end of the exhaust ducting tonight and the fan & filter is doing a great job of replacing the air in the room, just unfortunate that the air from outside it's pulling in is about 28 degrees!

So I think that what I'm going to do/have done today and as long as the heatwave lasts is visit the garden every morning and take them out of the dark grow room which is about 23 degrees at night with just the exhaust system running and put them in the bathroom with the fan on them which gets a lot of sunlight and is about 27 degrees. The aroma isn't too strong atm so no problem. Then in the evening, I'll return after work and put them back into darkness in the grow room for the night.

This way they will get exposed to all this great natural sunlight we are getting for 12 hours and then receive 12 hours uninterupted darkness in the grow room when it's cooler at night

If the heatwave continues further into flowering then I will have to think about changing the lighting schedule to lights on at night and darkness during the hot days...

Here they are in the bathroom this evening, about an hour after being taken from the heat of the grow area, misted and watered, as you can see, they still look pretty wilted On the plus side, female buds are slowly starting to form

I assume that the natural sunlight is as good if not better than the CFL's as long as the sun is shining?

 

[donpaul.p]

looking very good mate, that plant looks so healthy mate, well done

 

[Hardgraf]

Cheers Donpaul just hope I can tackle the heat for the rest of the grow

 

[Happy Kitty]

Donpaul's right, you're plant's look nice and healthy. Best wishes on a wonderful grow.

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[Easeedoesit]

I also sit my plant in the sun. For like 1 hour out of the day, the sun comes directly into my bedroom. So i sit her out and let her soak up the rays. Plus it keeps my lights off for and extra our or so.

 

[donpaul.p]

the sun will do the plant a lot better than the cfls, try and use as much sun light as you can then just supliment with the cfls when their is no sun, its best if you can get the plant in direct sun light as the window will stop some of the light and light spectrum getting to the plant, so if their is any chance you can get the plant in direct sun without a window then this will benefit it a whole lot more

 

[Hardgraf]

Cheers guys. if only I had a secure private garden DonPaul...

So day 12 of flowering and the plants have been on the reversed 12/12 schedule for 2 days now. They are doing so much better now the lights are on at night. Temps have been max 29 degrees (84) and min 24.5 degrees (76) so much better

I've positioned the plants on the edge of the big cfl bulbs as they've grown pretty much to the height of the bulbs now. Although this might cut down the light exposure a little it does mean they avoid getting heat damaged. The whole garden is covered in 4 walls of mylar & there's another 25w bulb positioned from the other side of the plants. Also I have 275w in there so more than enough light for the 2 girls.

Crap photo, but the bud sites are slowly starting to form

 

[Hardgraf]

Wee update day 14 of flowering. Left the garden for 2 nights to come back to wilting thirsty plants. I've come to the conclusion that they now require watering everyday (around 400ml each or more).

If I leave them without watering for 1 day they start to wilt and look very thirsty. Still growing and gaining height, buds are really starting to form and appear to all be female

 

[sfw88]

I think they are wilting because of the pot size , I'm sure those pots are crammed full of roots , larger pot would do wonders. But they look GREAT and very healthy .

 

[Hardgraf]

Thanks

Ye you might be right. I'm not going to transplant into bigger pots at this stage though as I want to keep the plant size down as I only have very limited space & I'm not worried about maximum yield.

It would explain why the pots are drying out every day though...

 

[donpaul.p]

looking great, i wish i had secure garden as well, ive had to hide a plant outdoors to try an outdoor grow, but the crappy weather is not doing it much good, ill check on it again in a few days, it sounds like yours are well on their way to flower, the best part begins now

 

[Hardgraf]

Update. Everything is going well, on day 15 of flower now. Thanks to everyone who's helped me on along the way so far

Just one question. A couple of the fan leaves are browning a little in patches. We are feeding organic tomato food at half advised strength very sparingly. Plants are healthy and deep green. Is this anything to be worried about?

Thanks all

 

[donpaul.p]

looking good mate, looks like you got some nice looking buds on the way, id stop with the spraying now mate, its not needed at all, it can cause the plant to burn, if you do want to spray every couple of weeks then do it just after the lights have gone off, spraying when the lights are on causes the water sitting on the leaves and buds to magnify the light and this burns the plant, can destroy a whole bud, i sprayed mine every few days then i noticed some of my buds looked burnt, so i asked on here and they asked if i sprayed the plants, when i said i did they said to stop at once as its causing the problem im having, so now i dont spray at all, its really not needed, i have sprayed once or twice in veg and once in flower just to remove any dust build up, but i wait till the light switches off then give them a good spray then by the time the lights come back on all the water has gone and it causes no problems

 

[Hardgraf]

Thanks for the heads up! No more misting from now on

 

[Hardgraf]

Update

day 21 of flower today (3 weeks). So I've dealt with our headroom problem with some DIY and I'm really pleased with the results

The plants are still gaining in height and this new light setup has given us a lot more room and helped with the heat issues.

Here they are as of today...

Some nice frosting appearing

Still got some yellowing of fan leaves lower down on the plants but I assume this is normal as this stage of the grow?

Fianlly, this is what happens to your leaves when you leave them 2mm from your fan!

 

[donpaul.p]

hi mate, hows it going, to me it looks like the leaf has had some liquid spilt on it, im not 100% but thats what it looks like, not the fan picture but the one above, with the fans you dont want a strong wind on the plants, you only need a very gentle breeze, my fans blow above my plants so only the top of the plants are getting the gentle breeze, this stops the light burning the plant

 

[Hardgraf]

Cheers DP. You might be right, mabe some of my organic tomato nutrient solution that burned the leaf when I spilt it on the leaves?

 

[donpaul.p]

that would of done it mate, it just looks like its ran so that made me think that some sort of liquid got spilt, so all be well you should be ok

 

[Truth Seeker]

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info!

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I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.

 

[Alpha420]

Hey sfw88.. quick question.. with this grow, 9 bulbs (23 = 100 watts) how long did it take to complete with those bulbs..