Smokie's CFL Perpetual Auto Grow - 2016

[smokiebear]

Pulling up a seat, better late than never

You're just in time for photos! Welcome aboard!

Let's start with the made over tent.

Big B is now on her own pedestal, literally. Pretty fitting for her! A close look at her you say?

Who am I to disappoint?

Coming up with the next biggest in size, we have Britta.

She is not photogenic at all, BUT she's finally putting her heart into it.

We can't forget Ivy. I'm so proud of her!

The container in the front is going to be Candy Kush, who is germinating. I think I might end up doing another juice container for Ivy so she has a little more room. My game plan is to cut the bottom off of the solo cup, gently slice it up either side, and put that into the container with soil all around and then remove the solo cup like it's a delicate piece of art. That'll work, yeah?

 

[Stinky Snid]

The setup is looking nice and bright. Love the innovative design, very simple and effective. They will enjoy all that extra light for sure. Solo cup idea is good as long as you don't cut any roots, so don't wait too long. I delayed on my girl kalua and I ended up cutting away a significant amount of root matter. She's still slow in growth... But healthy, she must be working on her roots instead of foliage. A transplant would be better in any case where you can already see roots poking through the bottom of you solo cup. (assuming you put holes for drainage).

Keep the updates coming, hope your first week at your new job went well. Happy Friday!

 

[smokiebear]

The setup is looking nice and bright. Love the innovative design, very simple and effective. They will enjoy all that extra light for sure. Solo cup idea is good as long as you don't cut any roots, so don't wait too long. I delayed on my girl kalua and I ended up cutting away a significant amount of root matter. She's still slow in growth... But healthy, she must be working on her roots instead of foliage. A transplant would be better in any case where you can already see roots poking through the bottom of you solo cup. (assuming you put holes for drainage).

Keep the updates coming, hope your first week at your new job went well. Happy Friday!

You'll never guess what I did! She's in her new home, but roots got messed up. I'm going to give her 24 hours, and then I will do an update on all of the girls.

Coming in our next update: pony tailing, transplanting, accidentally breaking root masses, a murder, and photos!

 

[smokiebear]

February 16th update:

Day 25, Day 5 & Day 2: We have had a lot happen in the tent in the last 4 days. I'm just going to jump straight into pictures, and we'll go from there.

Britta

Britta, Britta, Britta... I cannot figure out what's wrong with you. I let you dry out completely, you're not happy. I water you, you're not happy. More humidity, not happy. Less heat, not happy. I've given up on you.

Well this explains a lot, doesn't it? Your roots didn't get very far, so it makes sense that you didn't want to grow. Goodbye my stunted friend.

Big B

Big B is the only lady left from the original girls. She is also my training test girl.

This was Saturday evening, because why not? She seemed to love it, so she got tied up again Sunday for a few more hours. Kinky one, she is.

Now the goal is to even her out, so I tucked some leaves this morning...

I need to find the coated paper clips I had set aside for LST and get her started ASAP. For now though, she's doing well.

Ivy

Ivy was such a surprise compared to Nessie. I couldn't believe it, so I transplanted her after Britta's murder. In the process of the transplant, I was breaking up soil, and accidentally broke part of her root mass. You'd think she'd be phased, but the picture below is 16 hours later, and she's an itsy bitsy bit bigger.

Hopefully she continues to keep on just keepin' on.

Ms. Norbury

Ms Norbury is our newest addition of Candy Kush and likely to get her name changed further down the road. She was planted Saturday morning, and I had to cover her twice because even though she has shed her shell, I could only see white. She pushed through again Sunday evening, and was still pale, so I covered her again. Yesterday morning, she was green so I stopped fighting her. She's a pusher...

All in all, the girls (that are left) are doing very well. Aboot time if I do say so myself!

 

[elkoholic]

I always enjoy seeing what you got going on in the grow room daily! Thanks for the updates

 

[Mittin]

Hey smokie

Big B is looking great!!

I'm curious what you will do with the youngsters when you switch Big B to flower?

 

[smokiebear]

Hey smokie

Big B is looking great!!

I'm curious what you will do with the youngsters when you switch Big B to flower?

Thanks Mittin!

All the girls are autos, so no worries there. I knew I wouldn't have room to do a veg and flower area, so this was my next best bet. This house needs a constant flow of smokables, edibles and oils. We have chronic pain, mood disorders, ADD and ADHD going on. As well as a mystery tumour, but some of us are not fans of doctors, so a mystery it will stay.

Plus, I'm kind of afraid of messing up a photoperiod to be honest. Starting with the easy stuff and learning from there.

 

[arteekay]

SmokieBear! Only you can prevent forest fires!

Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna pull up a chair and grab some

 

[DeanB]

I use

Pro-Mix is soilless; its main ingredients are sphagnum peat moss, perlite, 2-3 weeks worth of starter nutrients, limestone, and a wetting agent. The sphagnum peat moss base and perlite, allow excellent water retention along with air pockets for circulation. Pro-Mix has a good pH balance with the added limestone. It's recommended for plants requiring a growing pH between 5.5-7.0

The first time I used it I added more perlite and after a while the perlite kinda takes over and as the plant eats away at the soil. The mix constantly need to be watered. Then after the perlite takes over, the mix becomes hard like concrete. I was poking holes with a chop stick to try and break up the mix and get air/oxygen into the root zone. It sucked. I've used the mix without adding perlite and it works great.

Your mix has Humus (organic matter) in it and is Hot for seedlings. Typically the Humus should be sitting on the bottom, so as the roots grow and the plant gets bigger it can handle the nutrients by the time it gets to it. Hopefully yours will be alright.

 

[smokiebear]

SmokieBear! Only you can prevent forest fires!

Hope you don't mind, but I'm gonna pull up a chair and grab some

Welcome RTK! Glad to have ya. Have all the popcorn you'd like, but be careful, I like my cannabutter strong!

I use

Pro-Mix is soilless; its main ingredients are sphagnum peat moss, perlite, 2-3 weeks worth of starter nutrients, limestone, and a wetting agent. The sphagnum peat moss base and perlite, allow excellent water retention along with air pockets for circulation. Pro-Mix has a good pH balance with the added limestone. It's recommended for plants requiring a growing pH between 5.5-7.0

The first time I used it I added more perlite and after a while the perlite kinda takes over and as the plant eats away at the soil. The mix constantly need to be watered. Then after the perlite takes over, the mix becomes hard like concrete. I was poking holes with a chop stick to try and break up the mix and get air/oxygen into the root zone. It sucked. I've used the mix without adding perlite and it works great.

Your mix has Humus (organic matter) in it and is Hot for seedlings. Typically the Humus should be sitting on the bottom, so as the roots grow and the plant gets bigger it can handle the nutrients by the time it gets to it. Hopefully yours will be alright.

That's exactly why I've dialled back on nutes, but that's the plan for the next update. Spoiler alert; I'm winging it!

Ivy and Big B are in the promix organic, and have been since day 1. Both pots have been topped with premier potting soil (the same stuff you have under another name) mixed with 10% vermiculite because I was out of perlite. Ms Norbury is in solely the potting/vermiculite mix.

Once these girls are closer to the finish line, I'll be cooking my own soil me thinks. The appeal is almost too great not too.

 

[arteekay]

Welcome RTK! Glad to have ya. Have all the popcorn you'd like, but be careful, I like my cannabutter strong!

Challenge accepted!

I'm more worried about my waistline than my headspace.

 

[smokiebear]

Challenge accepted!

I'm more worried about my waistline than my headspace.

You don't wanna visit here then. I'll take a picture when I make popcorn next but my base recipe is popcorn, cannabutter, Smarties (Canadian not American), and whatever sour candy we have.

It's not waistline friendly either, but I mysteriously lost 95 pounds so I'm okay with gaining 20 back

 

[smokiebear]

February 18th Update:

I'm going to change the format of my updates a little bit since all the girls are on completely different days.

I mentioned on another thread my "stealth" method, so I thought I'd post it here as well.

Generally the tent is closed, but I was already half way through pictures when I remembered. A few friends saw it (closed) and told me I didn't need to save that much of my kid's things... if only they knew!


Big B - day 27

Big B got fed yesterday (day 26) at 1mL micro, grow, bloom and 0.5mL B1 per liter (which is what she took). This is her second feeding at this level, fifth feed total, and her next nutrients won't be until day 31 or 32 depending on when she's dry. I am completely winging the schedule now. I'm doing one water PHed, and the next with nutrients. She's getting watered every 3 days at this point before she's dry.

She woke up on the right side of the bed this morning, perky and lovely. I know she loves the abuse though, so I tied her down! Really, I'm not sure who is enjoying it more, me or her...

Sorry for the shaky top view photo... My arms are aching from shoveling the 60cm+ of snow we've had over the last few days. I wanted to include it though so y'all can see how she looks from the top.


Ivy - day 7

I slowed her growth with the transplant, but I expected that. She is still growing though, even if it doesn't look like it when I check on her once an hour...

Ivy had 1/2 cup of plain water yesterday, and won't get water again until she's light.


Ms Norbury - day 4

Ms Norbury is still a wee bitty baby, but she is catching up to Ivy. I'm glad these two were planted so close together (time wise) because there is very little info on Ivy. I will likely be comparing them closer to the end as 70-80 days seems to be average for Ms N, and listed as the average for Ivy is 56-90 days by the seed company.

Speaking of harvest time, I would like to do a staggered harvest (I think that's what it's called where you harvest at different stages). I want to a) have a variety of highs off Big B, and b) would like to find what helps the best.

Last but not least; a family shot!

Have a fantastic day everyone!

I'm off to medicate since I've had this typed since before shoveling, waited because the site was down, finished shoveling and feel like I've been hit by a train. I'll be in the garage if y'all need me! .

 

[hydro1000]

Great coverup with clothes and keep sakes!! Love it you will need some music to cover up the fan noise!!

 

[Stinky Snid]

I'm off to medicate since I've had this typed since before shoveling, waited because the site was down, finished shoveling and feel like I've been hit by a train. I'll be in the garage if y'all need me!

It's been a hell of week with snow shoveling around here, eh? Can't believe the amount of shoveling I've done in the last two days. Once the chore is done, it's off to the garage aswell for a relaxing and we'll deserved medication. Have a good night on this snow less day, hourray

 

[smokiebear]

Great coverup with clothes and keep sakes!! Love it you will need some music to cover up the fan noise!!

Thank ya, thank ya. I have a floor fan outside the tent that runs basically 24/7 as well, so you really can't tell. It's in my room, and I can't sleep without the floor fan, so it worked perfectly.

It's been a hell of week with snow shoveling around here, eh? Can't believe the amount of shoveling I've done in the last two days. Once the chore is done, it's off to the garage aswell for a relaxing and we'll deserved medication. Have a good night on this snow less day, hourray

I want it to be above zero, but I don't want more snow. Not that Mother Nature wants to listen to my requests judging by tomorrow's forecast. May you get lucky and have someone plow or blow your driveway for you! I'll be bringing goodies to the neighbour with the snowblower tomorrow and asking him if I can borrow it. Ours is broken and although I can fix a car, snow blowers are not my forte.

That reminds me, I'll need to shovel the box of the truck too. Dang, I'm gonna be ripped if this keeps up. Someone get me a strain for increased appetite!

 

[smokiebear]

Quick update (real update tomorrow, cross my heart);

Big B has white pistils!!!

Andddddd, I worked my tushie off all week and ordered myself a 300w LED light. That's all I'll say since it's not my ideal sponsor light (yet), but I'm bloody excited that mystery shopping can do that for me!

 

[smokiebear]

February 20th update:

Since we ended the last update with a family shot, let's start with one today!

We have two new plants in there, parsley and sweet basil. Because, why not?

Big B - day 29

We are currently waiting for Big B to dry out. It's been cooler in the house the last few days (24 in the tent), so she's not drying out as fast. That's okay, I can wait.

I'm a proud mumma, can you tell?

Ivy - day 9

Not much to say on Ivy. Waiting on her to dry out as well.

Ms Norbury - day 6

There isn't too much to say on Ms N either. Still growing, still doing well.

LED should be here between Tuesday and Friday. It's a 100 x 3w light, and says it covers 6 square meters. That seems absurd though unless I was growing some shade loving veggie. What height should I start it out at when it gets here? 20"?

I also got some supplies today to DIY a carbon scrubber. I'll be picking up a duct fan on Tuesday morning (the store said wait and they'll be on sale for 1/2 price). It's coming together!

 

[arteekay]

All looking FINE smokiebear, great job!

 

[STIHL LOGGER]

Looking simply amazing smokie! Big B is looking super. Great job on the bondage! Id take one of those cfl splitter rigs and move it over to Big Bs side. She has enough foliage to love more light. The lil ones dont really have alot of surface area to need that much light. Kick Big B some lumens and shift gears!! Weeeoooo

p.s. I use exclamation points alot.. im not yellin.. I just get so excited seein pretty plants.