250w HPS users....

[VerdantGreen]

Very nice!! Will get humid though. Hope you have good extraction, your NL will not like it humid, I reckon.

Good stuff though...

thanks man, ive got a ruck temperature controlled 4" inline fan - it stays on the lowest speed most of the time but has the extra capacity if needed - expensive but i only wanted to buy a fan once!
havent had any humidity issues yet but ill check the maxmin readings to make sure!

 

[Wretched]

masta masta

 

[StrainCollector]

Anyone in Canada selling their full 250w setup? I've been looking for ages for a good deal.

 

[Wretched]

As I said earlier.. harvested, and I took pics (about 2 weeks ago )

man those girls look nice what were you feeding them for flowering and how much??

 

[ixnay007]

Flowering they get plagron alga bloom.. pretty much at the recommended dosage on the bottle

 

[FarmerGreen]

Germinating under 250 watters

Germinating under 250 watters

How young do you guys let your seedlings go straight under the 250w HPS?
I'm pretty new to the whole 250w thing, used to do 400w but now I've got a real small box which fries everything I put in there- I'm hoping switching to 250w will do the trick.

But yeah, straight from seed, a week or two into hatching, how young can they handle it?

 

[limey]

How young do you guys let your seedlings go straight under the 250w HPS?
I'm pretty new to the whole 250w thing, used to do 400w but now I've got a real small box which fries everything I put in there- I'm hoping switching to 250w will do the trick.

But yeah, straight from seed, a week or two into hatching, how young can they handle it?

I put seedlings under a 125w 'blue' CFL as soon as they germinate and veg under that before putting them under my 250w HPS. The relative cool of the CFL means I can bring the lamp down close to the seedlings soon after germination, which seems to help them grow straight and not stretch much.

I have found that it helps to poke the seeds well into the rockwool cubes I use for seedlings - if they ride too high in the substrate they seem to push themselves out of the cube a little, which usually means they fall over (not that that's fatal, I simply prop them up until they have established stronger roots)

I read that planting the seeds after they have cracked and started to show root also helps to prevent this pushing out, stretching and crookedness but to be honest I am fairly fearful of damaging the germinating seeds in the transplanting process. I do though presoak for 12 hours in pH adjusted water that has been treated with a v low concentration of hydrogen peroxide (as a fungicide) - this has really upped my germination & seedling survival rates to nearly 100%

Welcome to 250w growing anyway, am sure it will work wonders for you

 

[growMEDS]

I'm rockin a 250 hps in a DR80 for flowering. Pics in my diary.
I veg with 3 - 26w 6500k cfl.
It's my first grow.
Everybody is welcome to come join in! :smile:

 

[K.J]

Thought I'd show all of my fellow 250 growers what our recent harvest looked like. See the link in my sig for details.

 

[FarmerGreen]

I do though presoak for 12 hours in pH adjusted water that has been treated with a v low concentration of hydrogen peroxide (as a fungicide) - this has really upped my germination & seedling survival rates to nearly 100%

Welcome to 250w growing anyway, am sure it will work wonders for you

This is interesting, tell me more. Is there a thread about it somewhere.

Germination is the most annoying part of growing weed

 

[limey]

This is interesting, tell me more. Is there a thread about it somewhere.

Germination is the most annoying part of growing weed

I took my technique from a section on germination in Big Book of Buds 2 and followed it pretty much to the letter.

It involves (simply - I hope I remember rightly) presoaking the seeds in pH adjusted solution (pH6-pH6.5) of water and 0.5% hydrogen peroxide. You can buy dilute hydrogen peroxide from any pharmacy/drugstore. You will need to calculate the quantity of peroxide very carefully, taking account of how much water you are using and how what the concentration of the peroxide solution you are using is.

So, yes, I presoak the seeds over night and plant them in the morning, as described above. I also presoak the rockwool cubes in water pH adjusted to pH5.5-pH6 as they tend to be a bit alkaline.

Not only has this helped me up my germination rates it also has greatly improved the health of the seedlings. I used to find that 10% of so of my seedlings died off in the first week post germination and when I pulled them from the rockwool to inspect them, they often had a dark tap root which, I am told, indicates a fungal infection.

PLEASE please check the required concentration of hydrogen peroxide before using this technique because if I have got my facts wrong and you use too strong a solution, you will kill all of your seeds (it's strong stuff)!! I will try to remember to check the book for you...

 

[FarmerGreen]

...so tell me. Once in the rockwool (I've only ever germinated in soil or tissue), how often do you need to keep reapplying water to keep it moist enough for germination?
Spose it depends on your lights and fans.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

PLEASE please check the required concentration of hydrogen peroxide before using this technique because if I have got my facts wrong and you use too strong a solution, you will kill all of your seeds (it's strong stuff)!! I will try to remember to check the book for you...

I've been doing this for years. Just 3-4 drops of 3% from a kids cough medicine dropper is plenty of H2O2 in a cup and a half of water. I used to add a dash of city tap water but they're using cloramine(sp?) in some places now and I don't know enough about that to recommend it..


Soak them for 24 hours max and then pop them into your medium, pointed tip down. Keep them at 75F with reddish light nearby and you'll see sprouts in 18-48 hours. Healthy as a horse too.


Back on topic..... Awesome nugs there Bill O'Reilly!!

 

[limey]

PLEASE please check the required concentration of hydrogen peroxide before using this technique because if I have got my facts wrong and you use too strong a solution, you will kill all of your seeds (it's strong stuff)!! I will try to remember to check the book for you...

Have checked (and edited): it's 0.5%. As the man says, a few drops of 3% in a cup (though I do slightly anally measure mine precisely).

 

[FreezerBoy]

How young do you guys let your seedlings go straight under the 250w HPS?

You can germ directly under multiple banks of 1Ks. Your girls will laugh in the face of a 250. They're designed to hatch under the full strength of the sun.

Just drop your seed sideways into the pre-drilled hole (or make your own at a depth of 1/4") and cover with a thin piece of rockwool. No presoaking of seed or cube required. Keep it moist and warm.

Cracking seeds prior to planting simply increases chances of death by exposing roots to unnecessary danger. Whatever soaking them in paper or water will do, it will do just as well in rockwool but, rockwool will protect the roots. Plus, you're planted.

I used to find that 10% of so of my seedlings died off in the first week post germination and when I pulled them from the rockwool to inspect them,

Never remove a plant from rockwool unless you're trying to kill it.

 

[limey]

You can germ directly under multiple banks of 1Ks. Your girls will laugh in the face of a 250. They're designed to hatch under the full strength of the sun.

Well, yes, you can but I germ perfectly happily under my 125w CFL and, years past, the 250 MH I used was fine too. Laughing in the face of 250? well, they seem to smile anyway

Just drop your seed sideways into the pre-drilled hole (or make your own at a depth of 1/4") and cover with a thin piece of rockwool. No presoaking of seed or cube required. Keep it moist and warm.

No presoaking required maybe but I still think it's advisable. Rockwool has a 'natural' pH of over pH7. If you dont believe me, check a decent grow guide

Cracking seeds prior to planting simply increases chances of death by exposing roots to unnecessary danger.

By and large I agree and I have never had to do this but some people report their seedlings have difficulty shucking their shells during germination and so scarifying the seeds (typical technique is coarse sand and seeds shaken in a small matchbox) is often recommended.

Whatever soaking them in paper or water will do, it will do just as well in rockwool but, rockwool will protect the roots. Plus, you're planted.

Yep, that's why I germ in rockwool

Never remove a plant from rockwool unless you're trying to kill it.

Agreed. Whenever I have removed a seedling from rockwool it has been after the seedling has already died. Incidentally I usually also set rockwool cubes into 3 inch rockwool blocks very soon after germination, to ensure that the tap root can develop with no risk of damage. Word was, back in the day, that insufficient space for tap root development had a significant impact on plant gender, with inhibited growth causing plants to turn out male. Never seen any science to back this up though so it may be another growers' myth. But in any case, good tap root development early on certainly promotes health growth later.

 

[limey]

...so tell me. Once in the rockwool (I've only ever germinated in soil or tissue), how often do you need to keep reapplying water to keep it moist enough for germination?
Spose it depends on your lights and fans.

Yes, it will depend on the environment in which the cubes/seedlings are kept. I keep the cubes in a lightly misted propogator til the seedlings emerge then pop 'em stright into rockwool blocks, which themselves go fairly quickly into my hydro rig.

Always hated the tissue method but it seems to work for other people.

 

[VerdantGreen]

hey limey! i dont use the tissue method either - compared to most seeds, weed seeds germ very quickly and being a keen regular gardener i am used to waiting a week or two for most seeds such as tomatoes to pop up.
couple of days for cannabis seems like nothing.

i just soak beans for 12hrs or so and into the soil. takes away the risk of damaging the fragile root tip at it's most fragile.
each to their own i guess!

this is a pic of my 250 personal med cab, organic soil, modular scrog. 34 days.
im quite pleased with the canopy for saying that i have 4 different strains that had to be flipped at the same time.
back left is NL (this was the least stretchy, couple of gaps in the canopy there)
front left is 420 (burmese xFI )
back right is Martian Mean Green
front right is Sharksbreath.,

good thing about modular is that you can still get the pots in and out and that you can adjust the height of each screen.

same canopy at 60 days. the NL is coming down. If you are interested in more details/pic on my cab etc then check my new grow diary - link in my sig

big respect to all the 250 growers

V.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Well, yes, you can but I germ perfectly happily under my 125w CFL and, years past, the 250 MH I used was fine too. Laughing in the face of 250? well, they seem to smile anyway

I've germmed under a 23 watt CFL. My point was, these are designed for the sun. They blow their nose on our puny 200,000 watt lamps. What, we only have 250 watts? Yeah, they're laughing at us.

As to presoaking rockwool, I can't improve on 100% germ rate so, why bother. Your mileage may vary.

 

[limey]

As to presoaking rockwool, I can't improve on 100% germ rate so, why bother. Your mileage may vary.

Yeah, I used to lose about 20% but actually the pH consideration I think is more about % of girls than the germ rate. Canna have done some interesting research on this. My germination rate was upped by the use of the peroxide, so slightly different factors. Of course, it all depends on the quality and age of the seeds and how well they have been stored...