The Magic Attic

[Arrakeen]

hey! started growing about about a month ago, but its taken me a while to get this journal up. Basically got some seeds off a good friend, then started outside while i got the room sorted out. i'll let the pictures do most of the talking for now..

lights; 50w LED from 'senled' (ebay store), + 100w 'growlush' CFL
soil from ever reliable front yard, its kinda sandy though, i live on the south coast of australia
and...i nabbed the pots from hard rubbish

hope the photos work!
thats all for now ::

 

[Setting Sun]

Your pics do the talkin' just fine and dig your magic attic

Your plants are looking nice and healthy.

regards,

SS

 

[Arrakeen]

Man thanks ss, i really appreciate it. I've reading through your lowryder grow - keep doing what you're doing man, you take some really nice photos as well!

And ah, the magic attic is having a... security overhaul... light has been leaking out through the tiles of the roof and could be seen from certain angles outside, if it was dark enough! aaaahhh! hahaha but its sorted now, i've ordered some panda film to seal it up and adjusted the lights (which have been 12/12 for a while now) so that they are only on during daylight hours and early morning. phew! more photos on the wayyyy, arrakeen out

 

[Setting Sun]

Man thanks ss, i really appreciate it. I've reading through your lowryder grow - keep doing what you're doing man, you take some really nice photos as well!

And ah, the magic attic is having a... security overhaul... light has been leaking out through the tiles of the roof and could be seen from certain angles outside, if it was dark enough! aaaahhh! hahaha but its sorted now, i've ordered some panda film to seal it up and adjusted the lights (which have been 12/12 for a while now) so that they are only on during daylight hours and early morning. phew! more photos on the wayyyy, arrakeen out

Yeah, a glowing purple roof would definitely go in the "not a good thing" column. Glad you could get that sorted out.

Looking forward to your pics!

regards,

SS

 

[Setting Sun]

Still waiting for those pics bro.

Hope everything is OK.

regards,

SS

 

[Arrakeen]

haha hey SS, thanks for checking up, everything is going just fine, only been having some delays with the panda film, its over at a mates house just gotta get over there when i have some time to spare... Anywho, here are some photo's i just took after battling with the lighting conditions.. half the photos i take come out really yellow, or with a kind of grey haze.. the plants themselves are actually really quite green and vibrant, and nice to look at by eye, its pretty fantastic. Going to try and borrow a proper camera and capture some more of the 'magic' haha

fair bit of stretching on the plant farthest to the right, i don't know what the deal is with that, it sprouted the same day as the smaller plant in front of it and they grew the same pace up to a little while ago. maybe just unlucky with variable soil quality? Also lately, its been pretty cold, maybe 10 degrees at night, and it isnt much warmer in the attic haha, but that hasn't seem to have put them off growing at all, which i really thought it might.... AND the LED array i had been using has been kicking itself on and off, i had a look inside and some wiring really needs to be resoldered, looks like real amatuer work, so thanks for some quality craftsmanship china, i guess i will be taking care of that myself shortly. Anyway thanks for reading guys, have a good one, arrakeen outttt

PS some pistils have been forming, fingers crossed for an all female set haha

 

[Setting Sun]

Glad everything's OK.

Your plants are looking nice!

thanks for the update,

regards,

SS

 

[Setting Sun]

and thanks for the heads-up on the LED panel soldering. I'll watch for that problem with the panels I'm going to use in a future grow.

regards,

SS

 

[Arrakeen]

thanks man, but yeah as soon as you get them, just take them apart and have a look.. save yourself the trouble later. And let me know what you're looking at buying haha, im real interested.

 

[Setting Sun]

thanks man, but yeah as soon as you get them, just take them apart and have a look.. save yourself the trouble later. And let me know what you're looking at buying haha, im real interested.

I already have two 55 watt panels and I'm patiently waiting on good deals for two more for a total of 220 watts.

What I want to do in the future, not to *prove* anything, but for my own benefit and knowledge, is to do three grows with the same strain using 220 watts LED, 250 watts HPS/MH, and 220 watts of CFL.

The LED's will be nice to have if the weather gets hot also.

regards,

SS

 

[Arrakeen]

that's a great idea man, there's not enough people willing to do comparative analysis with anything these days..

and here's todays pictures............

LEDs on and LEDs off, you can see how the CFL really outshines its purple colouring

and my question!
should i set up some kind of scrog net?
or LST?
or something?
i'm not sure im liking the way they are growing at the moment, i feel like my lighting is too vertical and they arent getting enough, any comments appreciated, thanks and have a good week everyone

 

[Setting Sun]

How much vertical space do you have for your plants?

I think SCROG is usually done to limit vertical growth, but it also creates bushy plants with lots of buds.

Your plants look a little stretchy, but not too bad. They're generally looking healthy to me.

Maybe someone with SCROG skillz can chime in and help.


Lookin' good bro, and thanks for the update!

regards,

SS

 

[Arrakeen]

Thanks man, well my main reason for thinking about scrog was so that i could get better light distribution, across a flat canopy, perhaps this would rectify my stretching issues?

I have about my own height (~180cm) of free room at the tallest point of the roof, but since its a triangle (~90 degree angle) i suppose it's a little different... Hmm, i might just try making a net tommorow while i get the panda film set up - thanks again SS, have a good one

 

[Setting Sun]

Thanks man, well my main reason for thinking about scrog was so that i could get better light distribution, across a flat canopy, perhaps this would rectify my stretching issues?

I have about my own height (~180cm) of free room at the tallest point of the roof, but since its a triangle (~90 degree angle) i suppose it's a little different... Hmm, i might just try making a net tommorow while i get the panda film set up - thanks again SS, have a good one

I think you would get things a lot brighter if you could build a sort of full or partial tent around those plants with some panda film and contain the light so it reflects back at your plants instead of disappearing into the darkness.

If it gets hot up there, you could leave the top and/or one side open and I think your plants would still get lots more light. Whatever you do, keep it safe up there.

regards,

SS

 

[Arrakeen]

I think you would get things a lot brighter if you could build a sort of full or partial tent around those plants with some panda film and contain the light so it reflects back at your plants instead of disappearing into the darkness.

If it gets hot up there, you could leave the top and/or one side open and I think your plants would still get lots more light. Whatever you do, keep it safe up there.

regards,

SS

We're definately on the same level man

And here are some quick images.. I was incredibly tired after crawling around for a few hours getting this all set up... I can't even begin to explain how much of a hassle it was.. Ugh! So I spent the rest of the day outside my two old friends, beer & book.. Good times were had..

The panda film is great though, I'll have some outside shots up later, arrakeen outttt

 

[Setting Sun]

I bet you were tired crawling around up there hanging that stuff up.

It's a labor of love or we would never be doing crap like that, LOL!

Your plants are going to love it.

Hope the beer was cold and the read was good.

regards,

SS

 

[McBudz]

looking good. I see a bit of leaf curling on some of the pics, what are your temps and what is the pH of your runoff?

Like SS saids I would try to contain that light somehow so it refelcts back to the lights. Make some light movable walls cover with panda film whit side out. Look into those foam boards they sell at staples for science fair project poster board things.. Or build a hanging polyvinyl frame bult of pvc pipe around it similar to Harry Red's setup. Anything to help get that light back to the plants.

 

[Arrakeen]

It's a labor of love or we would never be doing crap like that, LOL!

Your plants are going to love it.

Hope the beer was cold and the read was good.

Haha, too right SS, thanks

looking good. I see a bit of leaf curling on some of the pics, what are your temps and what is the pH of your runoff?

Hey mcbudz, thanks for asking but at the moment I have no way to check for pH, but i think the curling is due to a little heavy handedness with the nutrients on my part, and probably the really cold nights we've been getting lately, around 10-16 celsius. ..
Which is one of the main problems of having this set up in an attic, during the day its a very pleasant temperature, but at night it plummets. The only real advantage I have then is lack of windchill... which I seem to have inadvertently recreated with fans.. sigh

And thanks for directing me to harry reds construction, i'll likely be doing something similar soon, i've just been mounting everything so far using the existing ceiling joists etc.

I'll hopefully be taking some good photos soon, thanks guys

 

[Arrakeen]

and here they are:

check this last photo, take a look at the plant at the back left, notice anything strange about the leaves?

 

[Setting Sun]

Thanks for the pics!

They're growing nicely!

That one in the back looks sorta mutant but need a closer shot to get a better look.

One question out of curiosity......................

what's your access to the magic attic like?

Do you have relatively easy access as far as getting up there to tend to your plants, haul water, etc., or is that sort of a hassle?

Until I checked out your grow for the first time, the thought of using the attic above the garage never even entered my head, but I installed one of those drop-down ladders a few years ago, so it wouldn't be too much of a hassle if I ever move things up there.

My setup is pretty stealthy now in my corner of the garage, but setting up a grow tent up there would be super-stealth. Not sure how it would work in the summer heat-wise, but I'm sure it would work otherwise and odor control wouldn't be much of an issue unless I grew something so stinky that you could smell it from outside the house.

Just some semi-random sativa thoughts

thanks again for the update bro!

regards,

SS