RK's Radical - Soil - White Widow - CFL - 12-1 Lighting - Grow Journal - 2016

[Regnad Kcin]

Strain: White Widow Feminized. WW was originally created by combining sixty percent of Brazilian sativa strain with forty percent of a hybrid Indica from India

Indoor Soil Grow. Seeds started in Miracle Grow Seed Starter mix. Transplanted at day 16 into Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil. Final pot size 9 x 9 x 9.5 (2 Gallon)

Lighting: CFL 12-1 (AKA Gas Lantern Routine) cycle during veg. Will convert to 11-13 diminishing cycle during flower down to 9-15 by the time of harvest.

Intend to use ScrOG technique to maximize canopy under distributed CFL lighting.

Hey All! This is my first attempt, and I should give some background on me.

I've been an outdoor gardener for over 30 years, and while I've never grown this particular herb, I've grown many other types of herbs, flowers, and vegetables outside, so I have some experience in growing. Naturally not all outside experience translates the same way into an indoor growing environment, but I imagine that a lot of what I've learned gives me the experience to adapt quickly to growing from seed to harvest indoors.

As a lifelong outdoor soil gardener, I chose to make my first indoor grow a soil experience. I have read a lot about Hydro, but for me that is a bridge too far at this point. Down the road, that might be something that may peak my interest, but right now, I want to translate my outdoor soil growing experience to an indoor environment with as little stress as possible.

I'm a bit of a pack-rat, so my indoor grow space is being developed on the fly mostly from materials I have at hand.. I make a penny shriek when leaving my pocket, and point to fact, I'm just growing a weed indoors, instead of trying to eradicate one outdoors. (yeah, that's a joke...get used to it. I have a dry sense of humor, and I just love to burst the bubble of people whose pants are just too tight!)

So....I got the seeds and started them the same way I have done with my tomatoes, peppers, etc --. Water soak 24 hours, paper towel wrap until tap-root appears, and then drop sprouts into individual cups with Miracle Grow Seed starter mix placed under a simple shop-light with one WW and one CW fluorescent bulb, and grew them to transplant stage with 24/7 lighting.

That got me here after 7 days:

More to come, once I've seen that I'm doing this posting correctly....

Namaste.... RK

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Well, no good intention goes unpunished.

I’m used to just taking my Solo cup seedlings and planting them outdoors in the garden and watching them rocket to the sun. Not so much with transplanting indoors into a soil medium intended to be their final destination.

I read somewhere that when using FFOF soil, that one should saturate the new medium before introducing seedlings to the new pot. I felt it counterintuitive, but did it anyway, and yeah, that’s REALLY WRONG!

Doing this, I got a batch of seedlings that were transplanted into water-saturated FFOF soil and couldn’t breathe. I’ve probably lost a good week of growth on these ladies due to “over watering” at day 18 of veg.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Well..that was a bullet dodged!

I’m at day 22 of veg, and haven’t added a drop of water since transplant. I’ve learned about the “pot heavy” method of learning when to water and think I’m still a few days from adding more water.

I’ve also read that many indoor soil growers abdicate the first couple of inches of soil to the atmosphere. In short, that means that by not covering the top of their soil, they abandon those critical inches to active root growth.
There is widespread talk about waiting until the first couple of inches of soil is dry before watering a plant again.

I’m thinking that this wastes an opportunity to enhance root growth in this zone and am planning to do what I would do outdoors and “mulch” the top zone of my pots to minimize evaporative loss in this zone, which may encourage root growth in this zone that would further enhance the ability of the plant to grow to it’s maximum within it’s limited space.

Here is my growing space that is right now developing at the same rate as my plants.

Has anyone here studied Bonsai? I have.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Re: RKâ€s Radical Soil White Widow CFL 12-1 Lighting Grow Journal 2016

Ok folks here is what I have for you at veg day 32.

Yup I made some mistakes. I over-watered at transplant time and almost suffocated my babies. That probably cost me a week or more in development including the time lost to topping. While I had a 100% germination rate from seed, I chose to sacrifice two plants that were exhibiting bad growth. I’ll chalk this up to poor genetics and get on with the remaining 8 plants that appear to be thriving.
This might be a good time to discuss start-up costs since this is my first grow. As I’m a bit of a pack-rat, some of what you see in my photos has been scrounged from available materials. I can document the significant purchases here.

7 ea,
Philips 433557 23W 100-watt T2 Twister 6500K CFL Light Bulb, 4-Pack
That’s about $ 90.00 plus tax

3 ea,
Tripp Lite 20 Outlet Bench & Cabinet Power Strip, 60 in. Length, 15ft Cord with 5-15P Plug (PS6020)
That’s about $157.00 plus tax

28 ea,
Leviton White Outlet-to-Socket Light Plug-R52-00061-00W
that’s about 58.00 plus tax

Add to all of this about $25.00 in incidental expenses and we come to a hardware start-up cost of approximately $330.00

As a first time indoor grower, I’m at a loss here for experience even though I have considerable experience as an outdoor gardener.

I’ve also decided to maintain an almost religious dedication to the 12-1 (gaslight routine) for my first grow, come what may. I hope that my documentation of this entire process may help future first-time growers understand the process.

I also hope my efforts will stimulate a conversation among both long-time growers, and first time noobies that won’t devolve into a battle of entrenched ideas.
Let’s see what happens……more to come as my grow matures.



Can't seem to upload images...will try again later. They are important

 

[Grebs]

Looks nice. Are these all white widows? Where did you get them from if I may ask. I got mine from Crop kings

 

[ghostfacee]

You are legendary lol your diy is so nice


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[Regnad Kcin]

Hey Grebs, Got the seeds here: at Robert Bergman's site.
Great service, discrete packaging. lots of great info on the website.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

You are legendary lol your diy is so nice


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TNX, GF, but not at all legendary. Just a really cheap-ass old fart digging around in the garage looking to save a few bucks. I'm also interested in breaking new ground in the indoor growing arena.

The 12-1 gaslight growing routine got my interest from the start since I just recently had a new "smart meter" installed on my house by the local electric company. Between that, and the projected cost savings going from an 18/6 to the 12/1 I thought the worst that could happen was a bit of a stall in growth rate. Saving electric and keeping off the fed's radar seemed like a good idea.

It also seemed a good idea to show everyone how this routine works from seed to finish.

I'm a patient man.

 

[SweeetExide]

Hey RK nice work so far !
Tip to find water times, fill another pot with soil that's dry to compare to one you think needs water.
Spiral CFL put out light in a sphere outward from the sides. Not as much from the ends. Try adding a reflector to aim the light down.
Good work adding the reflective material on the sides and ends ! Trap all the light and vent the heat !

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[SweeetExide]

Some ideas to pour over

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[Regnad Kcin]

Hey RK nice work so far !
Tip to find water times, fill another pot with soil that's dry to compare to one you think needs water.
Spiral CFL put out light in a sphere outward from the sides. Not as much from the ends. Try adding a reflector to aim the light down.
Good work adding the reflective material on the sides and ends ! Trap all the light and vent the heat !

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Great idea about the “lift method” for determining watering time!! I also have a small glass rod that I’ve begun to use inserting it all the way to the bottom of the pots and removing it. It’s similar to the way one tests if a cake is done by inserting a toothpick into the batter. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. I’m finding it similar with the glass rod. I can tell if the soil is still wet if the rod comes out clean vs. coming out with soil attached.

Yup about the reflectors and CFL light mounting…thought about that and tested it. As I’m a photographer, I’ve used a light meter to test light output. I first thought about mounting the bulbs laterally, but the building logistics didn’t warrant the effort. The light output was virtually identical mounting laterally vs mounting vertically, plus it was a ton easier to just mount them this way. I’m sure I’ll probably regret that once the ladies enter flowering, but hey…one has to start somewhere~ LOL.

The current photos are shown with all my reflective material temporarily removed so that everyone can see the structure. I didn’t invest in a professional “grow tent” since I found a source to buy “Emergency Space Thermal Blankets” that are 52” x 84” and only cost $0.98 each! That makes them almost disposable and you’ll probably see them hanging in my future grow photos.

 

[SweeetExide]

Excellent idea with the glass rod! And my initial thought would be mount the light bars on a horizontal line and reflect the top light back down with a reflector.

You could also buy or salvage individual reflectors for each bulb, focusing the light down on each bulb. But I find this way adds more hot pockets compared to one large reflector.

I tried to post a link on the app on my phone last post but failed.



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[Regnad Kcin]

Excellent idea with the glass rod! And my initial thought would be mount the light bars on a horizontal line and reflect the top light back down with a reflector.

You could also buy or salvage individual reflectors for each bulb, focusing the light down on each bulb. But I find this way adds more hot pockets compared to one large reflector.

I tried to post a link on the app on my phone last post but failed.



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TNX Sweet! You are an astute contributor.

Trust me when I tell you that horizontal vs. vertical mounting of CFL bulbs has little if any difference in light output per square foot. The one aspect that I'm thinking will come into play is that when the plants come into flower. The flowering stretch may place some blooms into a dangerous proximity to the CFL bulbs. Then again, I've been reading some conversations that seem to indicate that the switch over from the 12/1 lighting routine in veg to the 11/13 gradual decreasing of light during flower, may decrease the flowering stretch. I wouldn't know since I've never done this before. For that reason I'm being particularly anal-retentive in my documentation here.

It would seem that there are a couple of schools of thought here.

The traditional 18/6 veg to 12/12 flower school projects a 30-50% additional stretch once one moves from veg to flower.

A very few people who have used the 12-1 (gaslight routine) have indicated that once one moves to the gradual decreasing lighting regimen when moving to the flower lighting routine, that there is no significant stretch.

Those watching this thread who are using HID or LED lighting won't really have experience with this idea. HID and LED growers are all placing your lighting at least a foot or more above your plants. CFL growers are placing our lights within an inch or two of our plants to maximize light output without burning the plants.

More to come as my experience expands.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

I'm not sure how to get this thread on the radar. I can't even seem to find my way back here. Can anyone tell me how I can flag this thread so that I don't have to spend huge amounts of time trying to find it again?

 

[AussieBlueTHC]

RK's Radical Soil White Widow CFL 12-1 Lighting Grow Journal 2016

Looks like a LOT of work wiring up all those lamp holders. Wouldn't it have been easier with 4ft tubes? Credit to you and well done. I reckon it will do really well. Plants love Fluro if you have enough of it.


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[AussieBlueTHC]

Go to subscribed posts. Or your profile and your posts.


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[Regnad Kcin]

Looks like a LOT of work wiring up all those lamp holders. Wouldn't it have been easier with 4ft tubes? Credit to you and well done. I reckon it will do really well. Plants love Fluro if you have enough of it.


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tnx AB... I started out thinking that 4ft tubes would be the bee's knees! I've always used them in spring to start my tomato and herb seeds as I did with these ladies, , but when measuring the light output of the long tubes, I found than modern CFL's are more efficient and produce more light per watt than the long fellows. The CFL's I'm using are also rated at a higher color spectrum (6500K) than the long tubes available. The consensus of opinion seems to support that the blue light is better in veg.

The upfront costs are more significant than long tubes, but in the long run, the initial investment may actually pay off in just the first grow due to lower electric costs.

The current setup is just costing about 600 watts spread out over about 17 square feet.

When I switch to flower, I have a dozen more CFL's with a warmer color spectrum (2700 K) that I'll be able to easily add to the mix. in the extra plug slots that I hope will "trick" the plants into "seeing autumn" as I gradually reduce light from 11/13 at the beginning of flower to 9/15 just before harvest.

I'll post a lighting schedule and more pictures later as I move forward through this experiment.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Has anyone here done the 12-1 Gaslight routine who can speak to the stretch when moving from veg to flower? There seems to be some conflicting testimony. Some say there is little if any stretch in flower when moving from veg lighting to flower lighthing....others say otherwise. Any help here would be very appreciated.

How much stretch should I anticipate when I move from Veg to Flower?

RK

 

[Regnad Kcin]

No comments, observations, or opinions of any kind? How is this conversation not on anyone's radar?

RK

 

[Regnad Kcin]

What is the point of continuing this journal if it is only going to be met by silence?

I don't enjoy talking to myself, and I don't need to post a record of my efforts or ask questions if no one is going to show interest in participating. I know what I'm doing, and think my efforts may be of some value to the community, but I'm not going to spend the effort if I'm not going to obtain any information of value in return.

Someone please respond or this is going to be the end of it for me.