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100w cfl Stealth Grow

q3corn

Active member
Once you start expanding you start making space you otherwise didn't think you had. I have anywhere from 2 to 5 different micro cabinets going at any given time just to have a place to put all my damn plants, lol.
 

GanjaLion

Active member
That makes sense, the more space the more ideas! Im going to have to get to building hehe, I want to grow new strains but at the same time Id like to preserve these genetics if I can. Maybe I can look into meristem tissue culture and keep all the genetics frozen, just pop one out when I want to grow one haha
 

q3corn

Active member
Tissue culture costs money to maintain. I think the most cost-effective long term genetic preservation is seeds stored in a cool dry dark place. If you want to keep a single plant going, just keep fresh clones of it alive, even that's gonna be cheaper than tissue culture, although more time-consuming.
 

GanjaLion

Active member
True, I should self pollinate them next run. I would have to run them one strain at a time though so I can preserve them separate, I can always cross them later if I needed. I can move onto to new genetics this way, without totally abandoning my old strains.
 

GanjaLion

Active member
Flower

Flower

Flowering continues on! Took these pictures yesterday when the lights came on. Plant on the right chunking up packing on trichs, while jack herer still does wierd sativa things hehe. I added some close ups for comparison

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Jack Herer

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Mystery Clone

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GanjaLion

Active member
Lighting

Lighting

I feel like my 105watt cfl is losing some power this run, im thinking about taking some of these recommendations and trying out sils next run. I dont know much about these leds but im guessing I will need atleast 2 9w sils to cover my space and to replace the 105w of

cfl? I found these ge sils (the picture below is the spectrum of this bulb), but the spectrum seems like theres not enough blue for veg. Im used to using cfls though so im probably off, is this ok for veg or flower or both? Also wondering if sils run alot cooler or hotter than cfls, cause I can benefit from heat reduction.

Sorry for all the questions hehe, just feeling like light my loses efficiency fast and its time to upgrade as long as they dont run hotter than cfls.

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GanjaLion

Active member
Flowering

Flowering

Just noticed a ph problem so I figured I would update the journal hehe. Noticed some of the lower leaves starting to yellow off. I havent checked the ph on my tap water in a few weeks, I just been boiling. Not smart on my end hehe it fluctuated way up into the 7s since the last time i checked it. Going to let the soil dry out a bit then add a few drops of lemon juice next time to lower the ph when I water tomorrow. Definitely going to ph my tap water every time from now on. Ph is something I always check first when I see a problem and environment, I think the worst thing that can be done is start feeding right away thinking that its a deficiency. After ph and the environment check out then I move on to diagnosing that its a deficiency/efficiency/over/under/water. They still look good, the lady on the right is definitely more resistant to it. The jack herer seems to be enjoying it much less hehe. Jack is yellowing off some from the bottom, whereas the mystery plant just has some twisty leaves with no color change. Im certain I addressed the problem, definitely not taking my ph drop for granted anymore

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exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Why boil water for plants? Is there a reason or you just think this extra step will help somehow?
 

q3corn

Active member
I feel like my 105watt cfl is losing some power this run, im thinking about taking some of these recommendations and trying out sils next run. I dont know much about these leds but im guessing I will need atleast 2 9w sils to cover my space and to replace the 105w of

cfl? I found these ge sils (the picture below is the spectrum of this bulb), but the spectrum seems like theres not enough blue for veg. Im used to using cfls though so im probably off, is this ok for veg or flower or both? Also wondering if sils run alot cooler or hotter than cfls, cause I can benefit from heat reduction.

Sorry for all the questions hehe, just feeling like light my loses efficiency fast and its time to upgrade as long as they dont run hotter than cfls.

View Image


Your cabinet is about the same size as a few of mine, and I seem to have found the sweet spot is around 25-30 watts per square foot with LEDs, so something like your cabinet could take about 65 watts of SIL total. If you can split that into 6 11-watt bulbs or something like that then you're gonna be set. And the nice part about having multiple bulbs is you can mix up your color spectrum a lot. I have 2700k, 3000k, and 5000k SILs. I use the warmer colors in flower and the more cool/daylight colors in veg. Taking the plastic domes off the bulbs is a huge help there, it directs the light downward without the diffusion and it also doesn't have a material eating up precious light! You'll find that you can get away with only 4 bulbs in veg too which saves on dough.


LEDs have a longer lifespan and they don't produce as much heat as CFLs watt-per-watt since they're a little more efficient. I've got some bulbs that have never been replaced in 5 years! Granted they're not used often but they still work. Some brands seem to die off a little faster than others, but my Phillips bulbs have been power houses.
 

GanjaLion

Active member
Your cabinet is about the same size as a few of mine, and I seem to have found the sweet spot is around 25-30 watts per square foot with LEDs, so something like your cabinet could take about 65 watts of SIL total. If you can split that into 6 11-watt bulbs or something like that then you're gonna be set. And the nice part about having multiple bulbs is you can mix up your color spectrum a lot. I have 2700k, 3000k, and 5000k SILs. I use the warmer colors in flower and the more cool/daylight colors in veg. Taking the plastic domes off the bulbs is a huge help there, it directs the light downward without the diffusion and it also doesn't have a material eating up precious light! You'll find that you can get away with only 4 bulbs in veg too which saves on dough.


LEDs have a longer lifespan and they don't produce as much heat as CFLs watt-per-watt since they're a little more efficient. I've got some bulbs that have never been replaced in 5 years! Granted they're not used often but they still work. Some brands seem to die off a little faster than others, but my Phillips bulbs have been power houses.

Thanks for all the info q3corn I appreciate it and im excited to give them a try in the next run!

Why boil water for plants? Is there a reason or you just think this extra step will help somehow?

I boil it just to release chlorine. I dont boil too long cause I dont want to concentrate things like fluoride, nitrates, etc. Just enough to release the chlorine gas
 

GanjaLion

Active member
Mystery Clone Flowering/Close-Ups

Mystery Clone Flowering/Close-Ups

Up late with the plants light-cycle hehe. Mystery clone is turning out to be a nice plant. I can smell her through my carbon filter which is not great, but at the same time also great lol. I took these with an older smart phone but im going to invest in a real camera soon. Also going to post the jack herer pics tomorrow, jacks not quite as coated as this one but I like her adventurous/confusing high. Mystery clone starting to get trichomes on both sides of her sun leaves, she has a long way to go but I think she is going to turn out nice!

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GanjaLion

Active member
Flowering is looking good so far, I figure I would sneak a cloning update in first though hehe.

These clones below are all mystery girl (The Jack Herer bonsai moms are doing well too, didnt have them out for pics sorry!) .
I will need to give mystery girl a name soon cause im definitely keeping her.

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The mystery girl clones bathing in theyre solo-ponics cup lol

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Eventually they get transplanted into soil, starting off with a strong root system usually always ends up in super high quality. Some will be bonsais and some
will be flowered out. Im constantly taking a fresh supply of clones, to make sure im starting out with the healthiest plants

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Going to put a flower update right after this one tonight hopefully, since I know clones arent that exciting lol but alot of times necessary
 

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GanjaLion

Active member
Flowering continues! These pictures are 4 or 5 days old, but not so much has changed since then. Mystery girl buds are so heavy I had to tie them up to the jack herer main stalk and the beam that holds the light up to support her lol, next time I know she will need some super cropping on her stems right before flower. This way she will have more strength to hold up herself up hehe.

You can easily tell on the left the jack herer took a little more damage from the high ph water than the plant on the right, shes a slight shade less green and some of her pistils went orange a little more early than usual. Since catching the problem very early though im still seeing good results and things are thriving!

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Mystery girl has very large swollen calyxes, completely coated in trichomes. I havent been touching her too much to get the intricate smells, but she reeks of myrcene through my carbon filter lol. Im happy I gave this clone a chance.
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Jack Herer can see she has much smaller calyxes but many of them especially on the upper buds, also has much more pistils. Her trichome coverage is good but not as intensely resinous everywhere like the mystery plant. Her appearance is ok, but its her high I find to be special. She smells like sweet grass and citrus peels.
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This is a seed shell at 120x zoom, I took it through a scope with my phone sorry its a little blurry on the edges. Looks flesh like close up
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GanjaLion

Active member
Thanks zapr! Next time im going to give them a better veg, now that I know how the mystery plant flowers. Im going to know how to allocate the space for both of these different growing strains more efficient.

My 2 plans for improvement next run will be 1. not water with ph close to 8.0 for 2 weeks lol (I think if i was in a another medium besides living organic soil this wouldve done much more damage sooner) and 2. a better veg to fill out the canopy. Excited to harvest soon! and shes pretty much all calyx, look really easy to trim compared to the jack.
 

GanjaLion

Active member
appreciate it q3corn!! I didnt expect her to be this juicy hehe, I think she was rejected from her last home from being too lanky in veg. She makes up for it in flower though for sure!
 

GanjaLion

Active member
Thanks Mars! Yea with a better veg and a more efficient light, im going to really blow up this space with buds next time. Im thinking some form of LED or t5, alot of these t5 fixtures on amazon look like they will only last a month before malfunctioniong though hehe.
 

q3corn

Active member
If you already have a T5 fixture then the LED replacements are actually pretty good! You'll get a few years out of them easy.
 
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