My First Grow! Big Bud + 8 Ball Kush CFL's

[KingJohnC]

when I defoliate I only remove lower growth that will not get much light and produce very little and any leaf that shades bud sites. yes you can stunt your plants if you remove too many leaves. High nitrogen in flowering can retard flowering and bud development.

 

[FunkySkunk]

Hello everyone! Something came up and I had to leave the plants unattended for 36 hours in the darkness!! Felt like a week, and was dreading horrible things had happened to them, but just got home to a very kushy smell and pistils shooting everywhere!!
I think the darkness may have prompted them to boost flowering efforts.

 

[FunkySkunk]

Hey everyone. Quick update on the plants. Everything seems to be doing ok, i think i slightly gave them too much nutes last water, and they showed a bit of leaf curl and yellowing. Nothing too bad and i know now how much is too much. I flushed them with water from the spring and will feed them less next time.
Peering through the greenery just now to take some more pics and there are literally buds forming everywhere! every branch that would have been growing horizontally if I were not scrogging, has 3-4 more bud sights now growing vertically.
When I do my 2nd grow I would like to veg for another 2 weeks, in order to spread the plants over the screen more.Even so, I counted at least 80 sites then i gave up!
Bud tops are starting to get a lil frosty aswell.
My next grow I am thinking LED scrog? I have seen some pretty cool LED grows, and am a fan of them as it would solve any heat issues i have had with these, and cheaper to run. I'm torn between a Budmaster II or Mars II from TopLedgrowlight. Has anyone had any previous experience with either of these lights?
Anyway here's a few pics, buds are starting to fatten up, can't really tell from the pics though...

 

[KingJohnC]

there are several Top LED journals and one Budmaster II journals in the Journals in Progress thread.

Journals in Progress

 

[FunkySkunk]

Just a few recent pics of the buds forming. As a rule, when do buds start to swell up?

 

[FunkySkunk]

Evening 420. Just taken some cool pix of the trichomes with my Fuji. Was surprised how well the macro shows them up to be honest!
Uploaded to laptop then further zoomed in.

 

[KingJohnC]

you should notice your buds beginning to swell at day 30-40 of flower.

 

[Jumpingjacks7]

Awesome! Checking out this journal has got me really excited to start my grow. Never grew anything ever but I've been reading up on this site and everyone seems really helpful. Your buds are lookin good and will provide for a nice smoke soon!

 

[FunkySkunk]

Thanks KJC. Welcome Jumpingjacks7! Good to have you along, your definitely on the right forum for helpfulness and a wealth of knowledge and experience! When do you plan on starting your grow and do you have any ideas which bud you'd like to grow? Give me a shout if you need any help, I'm still real new to this but it's surprising how much you pick up on during your first grow so i'd love to help if i can.

 

[Jumpingjacks7]

Awesome, I really appreciate it as I'm sure I'm going to need a ton of help. I actually have some seeds germinating as we speak, it's just brick weed seeds though. I don't want to pay money for the quality bud on my first grow and ruin everything. After this I definitely want to get some pure indica and pure sativa, I've never tried them pure, just hybrids.

 

[VictorVonDoom]

Hey Funkeyskunk,

Very nice chap, i'm subbed

 

[FunkySkunk]

Jumpingjack, good to hear your on your way to some greenery! Are you going to start a grow thread so we can all follow you and help you along the way?
VictorVonDoom, cheers buddy...and thanks for the likes ! Went from 60 something to over 100 in about 2 mins!

 

[VictorVonDoom]

No worries bro,

credit where credit is due.

Good to see a fellow low budget cfl grower, recyclying old stuff.
I use to have that wardrobe haha.

By the way, do you still have that foam infront of your pc fans?

 

[FunkySkunk]

Haha yeah it is cool what you can grow using old stuff and a lot of DIY. The Cfl's seem to be working great for us both so far.
I put the foam in the exhaust fan usually when i'm not here. I live in such a remote area that the smell shouldn't be too much of a problem to be honest. But for peace of mind.
When it's in i can't smell anything unless i stick my head in the wardrobe! But it does have an effect on the cooling properties of the fan, and heat is a bigger problem for me than the smell right now.

peace

 

[VictorVonDoom]

yeah you will find that having them in front will be near enough the same as not having them on, cus they are pretty thick.
Test it out put your had infront of the fan with it in there and with out it.

Do you think you could slice them down the middle to make them thinner, that might help abit, but them fans dont work to well when blocked.
I made the mistake of putting j cloth across my exhaust and my intake, to keep dust and bugs out and it completly fluffed up my air flow.
I use an extractor fan, there super cheap and you can wire them to plug. I think it would work well in your set up as extraction, then use the pc fans as an intake at the bottom.

Just a thought.

What temps are you running at with lights on?

 

[FunkySkunk]

Yeah your right, there is only a faint breeze with the foam in. Good idea about cutting them down, I'l try that out!
Do you mean an extractor fan like a bathroom one? I never thought of using one of those...But I'm guessing they would have a much higher air flow rate than crappy pc fans?

How much do they cost? I'm not sure what temps are as I still don't have a thermometer But when I had no airflow it was extremely hot, that's why my plants were stunted for about a week.
I will definitely look into a decent extractor, as that would solve my heat issues, plus I have another 2 x 65w CFL's that I'd love to put in but can't cos of the heat.
Thanks for your help mate

 

[VictorVonDoom]

Yeah they are alot better for extraction, and there cheep

If your in the uk you should be able to find one new for about 10 - 20 squid, then you just need some 1.5mm2 flex (what's used on an extension lead) and a plug fused at 5 amps.
Dont get one with a timer or humidity control, not worth the extra cost. As you will have it running all the time.

If you need any advise on how to wire it up just let me know.

 

[FunkySkunk]

Thanks VVD, I decided I'l leave the grow room as it is for now as theres only a couple of weeks left for his grow and I dont want to add anything else to it as I will either be building or buying a better grow room for my next grow. But I will get in touch with you about how to wire it all up when my next grow begins (sourcing seeds right now!!)
Just been tinkering with the 8BK and goddd the smell is just heaven. Real musky, earthy piney resinous smell, but with just a tint of citrus/almost grapefruity smell to it. Cant wait to blaze it. Lots of it's trademark '8 Ball' shape nugs forming aswell.

 

[VictorVonDoom]

Yeah good idea, no point risking it on this grow if you don't have to.

What seeds you going for next?

That sounds pretty grade, cant wait till mine start stinking.

You got any pics?

 

[FunkySkunk]

Whatsup 420, time for a pic update. Put the 6500k bulbs in quickly to take some pics. Lots of macro of bud sites and trichomes. As you can see from the pics they are are all still clear ( I think) . Slight yellowing on a few of the older leaves, would this be down to Nitrogen deficiency as I am feeding them hardly any during flower?
I decided to cut a few ties off the Bigbud, seemed to be stressed.