Mechanic's Log: WW, AK-47, FFof Soil, Screw-In LEDs

[Backlipslide]

It really is a horrible feeling. @Backlipslide
I’m happy at least that I have more coming and some clones to keep a WW going.

My friends dad grew green crack when we were in high school.. I didn’t know it was his dads stuff till after we were graduated, but anyway, it was always super dank. I miss that stuff too.

I can’t see me giving up my bong anytime soon, but I know what you mean tho. I don’t want my kids to find any of my stuff so it’s always hidden well and stashed in a high place. Idk what I will do when there bigger and smarter tho... haha.

I really do love a good pipe hit tho sometimes. When I take a hit of a pipe I feel like I’m connecting with all of our ancient ancestors who smoked marijuana that way. I need to make my own pipe out of bone or wood to further deepen the connection. Haha.

Haha I feel you! I didn’t want to give it up either, but I knew my life was going to flip upside down within a couple months at that time so I was ok with the change that was about to happen.

I actually found the box that there in the other week, I may have to dig one out!! You got me itching for my bong!

Haha haha I don’t get that feeling, I just feel the buzz hahahaha

Yeah, my daughters two now, she’s a lil tazmanian devil now, hard to keep her out of things that aren’t hers now! I don’t even want to know what she’s like when she’s older, I sure hope she calms down a bit ahaha not likely

 

[The Mechanic]

Haha I feel you! I didn’t want to give it up either, but I knew my life was going to flip upside down within a couple months at that time so I was ok with the change that was about to happen.

I actually found the box that there in the other week, I may have to dig one out!! You got me itching for my bong!

Haha haha I don’t get that feeling, I just feel the buzz hahahaha

Yeah, my daughters two now, she’s a lil tazmanian devil now, hard to keep her out of things that aren’t hers now! I don’t even want to know what she’s like when she’s older, I sure hope she calms down a bit ahaha not likely

Change is good sometimes... especially when your changing for the right reasons. I get you on the kid part too... freakin wild animals they are. Haha. And pulling out the old glass smoke machine every now and then should be ok. As long as you don’t get yourself in trouble...

 

[Backlipslide]

Change is good sometimes... especially when your changing for the right reasons. I get you on the kid part too... freakin wild animals they are. Haha. And pulling out the old glass smoke machine every now and should be ok. As long as you don’t get yourself in trouble...

Wild animals are an understatement, and I’ve only got one, by the sounds of it you have kids (plural) not kid hahah

The wife and I just bought our first house here a couple months ago now I guess (wow crazy to think about) so I’ve got a basement my daughter never goes in so I should be good lol

Have my carpet ripped up and carpet under lay cut out in a few spots right now because we apparently took on the problems this house had too after buying it and our basement started leaking in two spots, such a piss off.

 

[The Mechanic]

Ok so I’m actually pretty happy with what’s happening right now in the 2x2. I installed my 250 watt bulb and let me say it is definitely brighter than a 600 watt bulb dimmed to 50%. Or at least in my case and under my circumstances. Anyway, the 250 is running much cooler.

And since this bulb is running at the wattage it was meant for I believe I’m getting a better spectrum than a 600 watt bulb at 50%.

I noticed when I dimmed my 600 watt bulb to 50% it looked much more red and obviously less bright. When I switched to 75% for a little bit I noticed it was much much brighter and looked like it actually had a good about of blue in the spectrum. And 600 watts, obvously way bright and probably producing the actual spectrum it was designed for.

So back to the now vertical 250 watt set up. I’ll share pics then talk about my apparently never ending change of plans for this little baby...

So I “cranked” my house AC to 75 and the tent got down to 79 after a little bit. My AC was running for awhile. So now I’m setting my AC back to 76 like usual and I’m going to see what happens. Hopefully it stays 85 or under when the upstairs warms up again.

Now I’m on the fence again about using fire in a glass bulb or building another screw in led set up. I’ve always been fascinated by vertical grows and since these babies are testers anyway I think I may keep it in there. But also I like to save electricity, aka money, and less heat to deal with using SILs. Not to mention the fire hazard associated with HID bulbs.

Well.... I don’t know what else to say. I’m almost at the point of no return. Haha. If these babies take a liking to the set up and my tent doesn’t get to hot, I think it will solidify my decision and I’ll keep the vertical set up. I’ll save the money I was going to use on bulbs, light sockets and another box of screws and put that toward the extra electricity it’s going to cost me... summer is here so my AC will be running a lot anyway.

 

[The Mechanic]

Oh I took those pics with a pair of polarized glasses in front of my camera and it kept the picture from doing that weird bunch of lines thing that the hps light do... I didn’t get that on my pictures when I had the dimmed 600 watt

 

[Backlipslide]

Oh I took those pics with a pair of polarized glasses in front of my camera and it kept the picture from doing that weird bunch of lines thing that the hps light do... I didn’t get that on my pictures when I had the dimmed 600 watt

That’s brilliant!


Hey I saw someone on a different forum once build a round trellis around a light like that and grew some amazing looking colas in a way that just absolutely blew my mind! It was actually jaw dropping!

 

[The Mechanic]

Wild animals are an understatement, and I’ve only got one, by the sounds of it you have kids (plural) not kid hahah

The wife and I just bought our first house here a couple months ago now I guess (wow crazy to think about) so I’ve got a basement my daughter never goes in so I should be good lol

Have my carpet ripped up and carpet under lay cut out in a few spots right now because we apparently took on the problems this house had too after buying it and our basement started leaking in two spots, such a piss off.

Hahah... yes multiple children. 1 boy 1 girl and one we won’t know till my wife delivers. Oh man, yes we’re going to have 3... haha. We chose not to find out this time because hey... we have one of each and still have a lot of hand me down stuff for both so why not, we don’t need to buy much and it will make the delivery that much more special for us. This will be our last so we’re trying to soak as much of it in as possible.

Congratulations on the new house. What a good feeling it must be. Sorry to hear about absorbing the previous owners issues tho. That’s not fun, you never really know how a house will act till you live there for a bit. But a little work here and there and it’s all yours baby. That’s awesome.

 

[The Mechanic]

That’s brilliant!


Hey I saw someone on a different forum once build a round trellis around a light like that and grew some amazing looking colas in a way that just absolutely blew my mind! It was actually jaw dropping!

Absolutely... haha. I need the same thing just Incase a branch wants to get crazy one day and fall on the bulb.

Some people do really good with vertical HIDs. My best yield before the SILs was with a vertical 600 in a cool tube. And I had a lot of room to improve.

But in my opinion you can’t beat the look of a well done Scrog or a good ole fashioned horizontal set up. Yield depends on grower and genetics. Simple enough.

 

[The Mechanic]

So I took some pics of the 2x2 without the polarized glasses and this it what it looks like. Even tho it’s a horrible picture you can see that the ladies are looking toward the light and will start filling out there new set up in the next few days.

I love that I can put that fan right on the pot between the plants. I did not plan this. Haha. I’m going to put a layer of hydroton on the top of the pot soon so the air flow wont be able to evaporate too much moisture from the soil.

 

[The Mechanic]

I got too excited about my new vertical set up and forgot about my bigger tent. I did take pictures earlier tho. Not much different than yesterday but hey... we all love pictures. I do need a better camera tho.

The AK is stretching a lot.. you can easially notice the height difference from yesterday if I had a side by side picture. And they are all starting to stretch actually. Most of them praying happily.

I just got done with 2 nice sized bowls of AK from my last batch and dam. I feel like I’d be tooting my own horn if I said how happy I am with how things are shaping up in the tents and how stoned I just got. Geeze... haha.

I still have to take out the trash and my dog. This will be fun...

 

[The Mechanic]

Good morning community

Things are looking good.

 

[The Mechanic]

So it looks like have 4 more rooted clones. I just transplanted them and hope they do well.

It almost looks like they are getting ready for a vertical grow... hmmm. Maybe some of these babies will end up in the 2x2.

 

[The Mechanic]

So I checked the temperature of my vertical 250 tent and right before my house AC kicked on it was 83 and I’m “cool” with that. Haha. I checked the temperature after the AC was running for about 10 minutes and the tent dropped to 81 which is perfectly fine with me. I have a thermostatic outlet (just for the temperature probe) it’s about 6 inches away from the bulb. The plants will end up around 5 inches away from the bulb when the are in full bud mode. Can’t wait to see what they do.

Here are more pics... I must be excited about this little project. Haha. And I think the ladies are too.

 

[Backlipslide]

Looking good man!!

Just got home from work and have lots to do yet! Saying that, I’ll be back later! (Hopefully lol)

 

[The Mechanic]

Looking good man!!

Just got home from work and have lots to do yet! Saying that, I’ll be back later! (Hopefully lol)

 

[Bode]

Highya Mechanic,

I need to ask a stupid question. That fan on the tent floor. Why is it there? Looks like your girls could spread out more and get more light and bigger buds, maybe? I've seen canopy's take up the whole tent. Just wondering, lol. Cheers

 

[The Mechanic]

Highya Mechanic,

I need to ask a stupid question. That fan on the tent floor. Why is it there? Looks like your girls could spread out more and get more light and bigger buds, maybe? I've seen canopy's take up the whole tent. Just wondering, lol. Cheers

Hey there @Bode.

I think you are referring to maybe 2 or 3 days ago when I had my vertical 600 watt bulb dimmed to 50% in that 2x2 tent.

That is not the final setup and I was only using that bulb because the plants needed more light desperately.

The fan was on the ground blowing up at the bulb to help keep the heat down. (This is standard practice when using HIDs in a vertical bare bulb setup...)

Take a look at what’s going on today. My AK test subjects get the first round of the vertical 250 watt HPS.

 

[The Mechanic]

@Bode What I have going on currently is not the best example of a vertical grow.

In a couple weeks when the plants finish their stretch it will make more sense. My canopy will be vertical like the bulb and my “canopy” will surround the bulb so the entire stem of the plant lit with light and not just the top buds. This ensures everything from top to bottom is equally as dense.

This is the thinking when it comes to vertical growing, in my experience, and has been proven very effective when done properly.

I did not plan for my test subjects to end up going “vertical” but it progressed into what you see now and I’m going to make the best of it... haha. Next time I actually plan a vertical setup it will be done slightly differently. But with the same exact concept in mind.

 

[Bode]

I must be going mad. The last two pictures are with the fan and the single bulb light?

Edit: Okay, I'll lay back and just watch and learn. Thanks for the explanation. Cheers

 

[The Mechanic]

I must be going mad. The last two pictures are with the fan and the single bulb light?

Edit: Okay, I'll lay back and just watch and learn. Thanks for the explanation. Cheers

The fan is on top the 5 gallon pot that the 2 test subjects are in. My last post will clarify what I’m trying to accomplish. I think.