Lowryder #1 Grow Unit Test

[PotChimp]

What strain is it?

Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? Hybrid; Ruderalis/Indica.

Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Seeds germed on 9-25-2014.

If in Veg... For how long? N/A.

If in Flower stage... For how long? N/A.

Indoor or outdoor? Indoor.

Soil or Hydro? Soil.

If soil... what is in your mix? Recycled.

If soil... What size pot? 6".

Size of lights? (4) 24 watt T5 full spectrum bulbs.

Is it aircooled? Passive.

Temp of Room/cab? around 78 degrees F.

RH of Room/cab? 51%.

PH of media or res? I won't check it.

Any Pests ? No.

How often are you watering? I expect to water and feed alternately 2 times a week (RO water with CalMag).

Type and strength of ferts used? Leftover stuff.

This isn't an important grow to me; just a test run for my a new unit and a crop to make up for a short term empty space I have until I adjust all of my grows for this extra unit. I'll post pics when the plants pop up from the soil.

 

[tempo1983]

I cant wait to see how it turnout =subbed?

 

[Equanimity]

i'm in. i'd love to see what these T5 lights do as i'm considering them as side lighting for my secondary grow room (cos it's small and they're, well, flat)

A subscription for this thread has been added.

 

[PotChimp]

Welcome tempo1983 and Equanimity I've grown Lowryder #1 before but I didn't do well with it. I bred seeds of it from that grow in hopes of maybe growing it outside someday. I didn't like the pot much, but I already bought more seeds before the grow was done. Since I needed to see how good these lights work myself I thought I'd use them up. In the future the unit will be for the first 3-4 weeks of a seedling's life, or for getting clones to root in soil after I take the cuttings. I hope they work because this particular grow unit has little height, and like you said these lights are flat and help you to have extra room. If I have to put a CFL in there the height will decrease to about 16".
Oh and yes, if you post a comment to a thread you automatically get subscribed to it, tempo1983. I think the turnout will be good on these if I keep the lights at 18 on and 6 off. Getting six female plants out of the ten seeds would be nice and getting a half of an ounce off of each one would be too. I'll ask about red spectrum T5s at the hydro store, and if they're not too much maybe I'll get them to flower these out.

 

[PotChimp]

CFLs give a more concentrated light, especially in the middle. T5s distribute the light to make more of an even footprint, but they're not very intense. When they come out of the soil, I need to get the seedlings as close to these bulbs as I can without harming them. A few of the ten seeds are cracked open, but none have a tail yet.

 

[PotChimp]

Note: 8 out of 10 seeds grew a tail out. I planted all 10 of them in hope that the 2 unopened seeds were just stragglers. Some take a few days to open. When they come up, I'll post a pic of them and the light assembly.

 

[PotChimp]

Dang one of the bulbs blew already Oh well I'll get another one tomorrow:

That's the 4 bulb fixture I'm using; they all wire together. Nothing up from the soil yet. Post more pics soon.

 

[PotChimp]

I got the replacement bulb today, and got 4 red spectrum bulbs for the second half of the grow. 6 of the 10 seeds are above ground now, and it looks like one more is pushing up the soil. I'll get a pic up again tomorrow.

 

[PotChimp]

8 of the 10 Lowryder #1 seeds came up, and 3 of the 8 seedlings turned yellow and died.
I've got 5 left, so I'll go at it and see what these little lights will do. It could be the recycled soil that did it or it could be the fact that I've had these seeds for a while:

 

[Equanimity]

the age of the seeds is not your problem here; they sprouted so the seeds were ok.

something else is afoot and we must investigate.
Could you perhaps throw some photos of the seedlings that died, close up?

 

[PotChimp]

Actually, I've had a few seeds sprout before but never got any further than a 1/8" to 1/4" tail before they died, I've just never gotten that many in a single grow before. What I should do is follow the advice someone gave me for the paper towel germination method and wait until the seed sheds the shell part and I can see the cotylendons before I plant it into the dirt. I've got one from another grow that did a corkscrew underground and started growing downward I had to dig it out with a toothpick and replant it. It hasn't grown one bit since; it might die too. If I had to guess here, I'm going with the recycled soil staying wet and holding water too long or maybe the pH is off. I tossed the dead seedlings out so I can't post a pic; sorry and thanks for the help you would have given me if I would have posted one.

 

[PotChimp]

Lowryder #1 - 1 week and 6 days from seed:

This is about average, minus the individual stretch:

For a plant that doesn't get any taller than 16" to 18 " on average, I don't expect explosive growth. These are about 5" from the surface of the bulb; if they were a little closer, the end seedlings wouldn't have that minor stretch to them. You know, so far from what I'm seeing I think that these 2' long T5s would be good side lighting. And they'll do for what I'm planning. But I don't think I'd want to use them any longer than a week past the seedling stage or a week after clones take. I'll probably run these all the way in here (60 days?) unless they get really bad looking.

 

[PotChimp]

Here's all 5 of these Lowryder #1 plants at 3 weeks of 18/6 under the (4) 24 watt T5s:

With the exception of the runt, the others seem to be around this size:

For a plant that doesn't get but 16" to 18" tall I guess that's doing okay for this small of a light setup. I think these T5s would make good side lighting more and more as this goes on

I'll feed them the next time they need watering. I'll be using FF or maybe a 3 part program called Biolink (I'm trying it on my houseplants first to make sure it wasn't what made another grow of mine go bad). I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[PotChimp]

Lowryder #1 - 3 weeks, 5 days, and 1 feeding

One at a time, this one's staying:

This one's

This one's staying:

And these two I'm not sure yet:

I think I can live with this setup; it may even help keep overgrowth down some.

 

[PotChimp]

Note: One more plant turned out male so I culled it. I know 2 are females, and I'm 90% sure the last one is too. So it looks like it's gonna be a 3 plant grow. Post pics as soon as my arm starts feeling better.

 

[PotChimp]

It's official now, and what a drag as far as yield goes (not that Lowryder has much of a yield). Just two female plants. So I'll probably be adding plants in here from my clone unit; you'll see them in future pics.
All in all Equanimity, I'd say that T5s would make decent side lights for a grow. These brackets I'm using hold the bulbs about 4 inches apart, which would be great for that. But I think it's too far apart for using them as a main overhead light source. I'd like to run a 3' x 3' unit with 4' T5s all around the walls and a 300 watt CFL for the top to see how well it would work.
I'll get pics up of the plants tomorrow; they're small as Hell but just started though.

 

[PotChimp]

These would be doing much better under a higher wattage light system. They're just started, though.

 

[b.real]

looking good

 

[PotChimp]

I laugh every time I look in there, b.real. I'll get a pic up tomorrow; both of them are so pathetic looking it's funny I'm going to try to put a small plant in here next to see if it grows at least healthy enough to clone from, but I doubt the results will be good. I liked them at first, but these T5s are the weakest lights I've ever used besides my 50 watt LED panel. The only reason I'd even use them for side lighting is the flat profile. I'll hang a 125 watt CFL in here after this grow.

 

[PotChimp]

Here's that pic Lowryder #1 - 43 days from seed:

At the rate they're going, I should get about a blunt from each plant by chop time.