Mystery Auto Fem Stealth Grow

[Zepharino]

Sounds like a pleasant and tasty smoke report!

Yes JadeLotus it tasted very good. Especially since I have not smoked any herb for the past 3 months (I was consuming concentrates during that time because I was able to obtain some shatter at a very good price). I pulled some more bottom branches for drying because I have ran out of concentrates and do not want to waste money on purchasing any flowers here. I am beginning to think that this indica strain is one that matures fairly early (perhaps this is the time the ruderalis traits are coming through). Plant C looks like its top cola will be fully matured within the next 7-10 days. 90%l of the trichomes are milky white 10% are amber.

 

[Zepharino]

I just noticed that my timer went out. I need to get up in time tomorrow to get the lights on. I will also need to replace the timer with something a little better because I fear that I have overloaded the timer with the additional lights (I added one more 23watt 6,500k CFL).

 

[Zepharino]

I have been slowly removing buds for quick drying. I harvested the top of plant C on June 25. The wet weight of the cola was 14.82 grams. Plant C had its lower branches removed on June 28. I have quick dried and consumed over 8 grams so far. Both of the quick drys went very well and the smoke was excellent. The aroma of the fresh bud has reached its peak. It has a very sweet and fruity smell with undertones of sourness. The hairs have almost all remained white on all the buds (85W/15O) despite the transition of milky white trichomes to amber. I am quick drying some more buds as a write this

 

[scottish]

Conflgrats on the harvest

 

[Zepharino]

DAY 52 (July 1, 2014)

 

[scottish]

looking very nice that bulb dangling does it not get in your way? And if it hung horizontal would it not give out more light?

 

[Zepharino]

looking very nice that bulb dangling does it not get in your way? And if it hung horizontal would it not give out more light?

Thank you. The bulbs are fine and do not get in the way. You are correct if I wanted a more evenly spread PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) spectrum throughout the top canopy I would fix the bulbs horizontally with a reflective hood to control PAR concentration and prevent loss with beam spread. However, I need the bulbs vertical because they are supplementary PAR sources and were added to penetrate into the lower sections of the canopy that are not hit in the range of max spectrum being emitted by the LED light above. Because the LED lights must be kept 18 inches away from the top canopy the max amount of PAR is only found within the first few inches into the 18 inch mark. In other words, when flowers are blooming up the entire stem of the plant but only the flowers that are within 4 inches of the 18 inch mark are receiving maximum PAR concentration you are sacrificing the bottom flowers by starving them of sufficient food production. But if the flowers are too far away (i.e more than 4 inches away) from the optimal distance of 18 inches then they are not receiving adequate PAR. Photosynthesis is hindered when areas of growth are blocked from receiving PAR.(footnote) A lot of commercial grow rooms use vertically hanging MH lights as secondary light for HID set ups because the same result will occur if the HID bulbs (i.e MH and HPS) are too close to the leaves (less than 8 inches from the top for 600watts of HPS) and so the vertically hanging bulbs allow penetration into the areas closer to the substrate while the horizontal bulbs are covered with hoods that concentrate PAR on the top canopy. HID set ups can penetrate deeper into the canopy usually having an optimal range (for 1000watt HPS) between 10 inches (from the bulb) and 36 inches. When you have plants that reach well over 5 feet (60 inches) even 1000 watts of horizontal hanging HPS over one 5 foot tall plant is not enough too ensure all areas of growth past the 36 inch mark receives sufficient PAR. This is why vertical lighting is key for any indoor set up.

Bulbs are very inefficient at distributing an even amount of usable wave lengths for plants. The CFL bulbs haves peaks where the spectrum is virtually unusable for the plant. Energy in wattage is consumed but the plant's vitality is not increased. HID lighting is great if you live in an area where nights drop below 70 degrees F and electricity cost less than 15 cents per kilowatt hour. LED lighting also has the downside of being very shallow in its PAR coverage. The fixture has to be further away from the plant to keep it from burning unlike CFL lights which benefit the plant when they are only centimeters away. This is the trade-off when dealing with tiny, makeshift-stealth set ups. LED lighting works great for me but I only have one 95watt Sunshine Systems UFO grow light that a friend let me borrow. This is why I weighed out the consequences of using additional CFL lighting in the latter stages of flower and decided that the benefit was potentially far better than the sacrifice (additional electrical charges and heat).

This grow set up had a $20 start up cost and I wanted to keep the electric bill within the normal range. If I had funds for these kinds of activities my set up would be entirely different; utilizing all LED lighting and compressed CO2 would be ideal for my climate.

(footnote) PAR Rating for Growing MJ | SeedMine

 

[Zepharino]

Harvested yesterday July 5, 2014. The buds are hang drying and will be ready to jar cure soon. I will post a full smoke report and dry weight total after sufficient curing has taken place. Thank you to those who have stopped by to look and/or comment.

 

[scottish]

Nice harvest and explanation for lighting gives me something to think about with my sidelighting cheers mate

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks for sharing your grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please feel free to start a new journal here: Journals in Progress

In the future, whenever you complete a journal, please use the Report Post feature found at the bottom left of every post, so we can be alerted to move it for you.

Hope all is well in your world.

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