Ace Sativas own Old Toker

[Old Toker]

And hey, I'm really quite sensitive... to plants and animals.

No doubt that you are a real sensitive guy. You went to the shelter and adopted a 3 legged cat. How much more sensitive can you get than that?

 

[Old Toker]

OK......Day 37 of 12/12. Still slowly working at pruning.....decided to give the girls a rest tonight to recover. Increased feedings from 6x to 8x starting tonight. Figured I'm growing in coco and have an 8 event timer.....why not use those last two waterings?
Anyway no drama tonight or whining about overgrown sativas....just some pics of the tops. Once again sorry for the quality....and I still can't figure out how to caption the pics.
Hope everyone's families and grows are doing great!
GT1
PH1
Zam1
Zam2
Mal1
Mal2
GT2
PH2

 

[deepwaterdude]

OT, they look excellent, very healthy and liking what they're getting! Didn't know you were in coco-you know how I love that stuff, and that explains the happiness your plants are exhibiting. As for added feed, why not? See what happens and adjust accordingly

I'm just watering once in the AM at the moment, but in flower they'll get 2 drenchings. I have pruner's remorse today, having taken about 20% of the tent... got about 2 million clones. Yep, you read that right, 400,000 per plant in a 3x3. Not at all lying

The other thing that hits me when I see you've got 8 plants in there is that I don't know if you know what you're in for yieldwise (should you yourself make it to the end of the grow); at just 4 zips each you'll have 2 lbs on your hands! Not at all unlikely in coco, with that light and 8 feedings a day, fer crissakes. And the strain list is a beauty, my god; all classic, tried and true, badass, only-in-the-know sativa. All the scary stuff I haven't yet grown from the catalog, beside my very Thai GT. Ballsy.
I know you don't want to count your chickens before they hatch, so I will-that's what friends are for and from over here it looks like you're gonna have to have a big BBQ in your future with all your Ace friends in from out of state That's a lotta primo poulet, and I for one am worried about your health should you go it alone. Anyway, congrats, and don't hesitate to call, dwd

 

[Old Toker]

Didn't know you were in coco-you know how I love that stuff, and that explains the happiness your plants are exhibiting.

Yah....after my experience growing outside in the woods with everything trying to eat, kill, or infect my plants....decided to try and control the environment as best as I could. Other than dealing with inside size restrictions....I don't really have any complaints. Had I known that YOU also loved coco....I would have just skipped the outside attempt and followed in the masters footsteps sooner.

As for added feed, why not? See what happens and adjust accordingly

Supposedly once the roots are fully established you can't over water in coco. Guess I'll find out fairly soon. Considering the stress I'm putting them through, I figure I'll try and increase their TLC.

I'm just watering once in the AM at the moment, but in flower they'll get 2 drenchings.

Why only two? Have you had problems with more?

I have pruner's remorse today, having taken about 20% of the tent...

Please....considering my situation....and WHEN I'm doing all this pruning it's hard for me to be too sympathetic to your plight. I know you know what you're doing.

..got about 2 million clones. Yep, you read that right, 400,000 per plant in a 3x3. Not at all lying

This is one of the things I like best about you (along with your sensitivity). You never lie or exaggerate. It almost makes up for your lack of tact when telling a newb that he has screwed up and is either going to kill all his plants or hermie them.

..(should you yourself make it to the end of the grow)..

See above

..the strain list is a beauty, my god; all classic, tried and true, badass, only-in-the-know sativa.

Thank you. The only strain I've tried is the Malawi....which I managed (barely) to grow outside this past Summer. Very potent.....which may account for some of my more "interesting" posts.
I'm hoping to get a nice cross section of different sativas so that I can decide what strain to grow out next. Hope to do some cloning and pheno hunting....once I sample these different sativas.

..my very Thai GT.

Are there any types of GTs other than the Thai ones? I've attempted to grow four of them. One fem GT had a branch about the size of a tree crush it when it was about 8 wks old. Another (standard GT) turned out to be a male (my eyesight is for sh*t) and I culled it. And now the two inside. All of them seem to have the same structure and incredible vigor. I love watching them grow. Really hope I get to try at least one this grow.

I know you don't want to count your chickens before they hatch, so I will-that's what friends are for and from over here it looks like you're gonna have to have a big BBQ in your future with all your Ace friends in from out of state. That's a lotta primo poulet, and I for one am worried about your health should you go it alone. Anyway, congrats, and don't hesitate to call, dwd

I don't have any Ace friends. I'm just using you until I harvest my two pounds and then I'm going to do what it seems almost everyone else does on ICMag. Delete my account and come back under a different user name.
Seriously....it is a shame that these archaic laws, and distance prevents most of us from ever meeting, visiting each other's grows, and smoking some of our grows. There are so MANY people on this site that unselfishly share their knowledge and advice that it would be fantastic to shake their hands and share a bowl. That said....I truly appreciate your concern for my health.

 

[gorilla ganja]

Hey OT,
Have the girls stopped growing taller yet?

GG

 

[Old Toker]

Hey OT,
Have the girls stopped growing taller yet?

Hi GG! Yes....they have finally stopped stretching.......either that or all my pruning has shocked them. I doubt it's the latter as they are continuing to drink and the buds seem to be thickening.
Hope all is well with you and yours.

 

[Tangwena]

Hey OT just found this thread I am salivating at the mix of Ace plants you have. They are my absolute favorites all in the one grow. its a bit too much to watch but I will take short peeps so as not to get too excited.
You have some fine growers telling you what to do or not to do. But it will not matter you have got them to the sweet stage and now its just a short run home.
i take my hat off to your taste in plants they are all good, especially the GT and Zamaldelica my favorites after all the others which are good in their own ways.

Nice pics can you get any closer on the buds I need to get close to get excited enough to finish what the other pics started.
Tangwena

 

[Old Toker]

Final update until late Sun or Mon. Going out of town tomorrow afternoon and won't be back until midnight Sun.

Girls seem to like the 8x feedings. No indications that something is wrong or out of balance...so far.

Added another gadget to my growing collection.....a Titan Controls Zephyr 1. Got it on Mon and been fine tuning since then. Seems to work fine....but the photo-electric eye is a PITA. The unit needs to be mounted in the grow room with a clear view of your light(s). In addition.....you need to run your A/C (or heater) power cord to the device and another power cord from the Zephyr1 to a power outlet. So in my case that's two more cables into the tent and this device hanging high on the screen with both cables plugged into it.

IMHO.....putting a timer on this thing so that it could be mounted outside, along with the cables would work a heck of a lot better. The temp probe wire is thin and about six feet long and wouldn't be problem to bring into the grow area. That said.....so far this thing works like a charm. Turns the A/C on/off whenever it needs to in order to maintain both your day and night temps. I like it.

Had to change my DTW to Drip to No Waste. Wont be able to empty the catch pans (litter boxes) that the pots are in so I changed the watering times to saturate the pots....without runoff. Hopefully a couple days won't do too much harm. Some growers do almost their whole grows without any runoff. Surely my spoiled girls can handle a few days....even though it's slightly less....they ARE still getting fed 8x daily.

Guess I'm going to find out how well all this automation is working when I get back.

Happy Easter (or whatever) everyone! Be safe.

 

[Sarcclash]

Hey OT, just noticed you are using textile pots. Can't quite see from the pics but it looks like there is mold on the sides. If so, the same happened to me in a micro grow.
Not sure if it's the dreaded white mold posters here have scared me silly with. Sprayed them down with 3% H2O2 and repotted into hard plastic pots.
Take no chances and you run no risks.

Best of luck, fellow sativa head.

 

[Old Toker]

Nice pics can you get any closer on the buds I need to get close to get excited enough to finish what the other pics started.
Tangwena

Welcome Tangwena!!! Been a long time reader of many of your posts. Especially the Malawi Cob thread. A classic! Hope to try cobbling some from each of these girls.

My only camera is my phone. Sorry about the quality of these pics but hopefully it will help with your PH and GT fix.

First two are Panama Haze
Next two are Golden Tigers
Just noticed you mentioned the Zam also---last two.
Enjoy!

 

[Old Toker]

Hey OT, just noticed you are using textile pots. Can't quite see from the pics but it looks like there is mold on the sides. If so, the same happened to me in a micro grow.
Not sure if it's the dreaded white mold posters here have scared me silly with. Sprayed them down with 3% H2O2 and repotted into hard plastic pots.
Take no chances and you run no risks.

Best of luck, fellow sativa head.

Hey Sarcclash.....thanks for dropping in! Fortunately it's not mold....it's just salt from the nute runoff. Appreciate the heads up though!
Regards.....

 

[gorilla ganja]

Hope you have a safe trip Old Toker.
Enjoy a little vacation and some good food. Try not to eat to much, or are you up to 8 feedings a day as well??

Hopefully when you get back the girls haven't moved out of that little tent and taken over the house.

Peace GG

 

[Old Toker]

Hope you have a safe trip Old Toker.

Thanks for the well wishes GG!
Unfortunately I may have lied to you in my last post. I thought all the girls were drinking OK, but I may have been mistaken. Two seem to be drinking less. Just noticed it this AM and did not have time to isolate the problem....so all I could do before leaving town was to reduce their water supply by half. Each of my pots have two 1/4" drip lines with open Ts. I just tied one line in a knot for each plant that doesn't seem to be drinking very much. If it's just that these particular plants need less (they are smaller) then one feed line should be adequate for a couple of days. If it's something else....I'll just have to deal with it as best I can when I return.

AND....just to make sure that I know that the Gods in the universe don't appreciate newbie growers leaving their grows unattended while they leave town.....my new Zephyr 1 quit working in the middle of the night. Just unplugged/removed it and plugged the AC unit back into the outlet. Set the temp to 69f. That temp has been working just fine for months until I decided to get tricky and automate it. Lights off temps stay 68/69 and lights on in the high 70s....max 80.

Hope you and yours have a great holiday weekend!

 

[Lammy]

You probably should not plug your air conditioner into a zephyr or any other controller like that. just as you should not run your HID lighting through those plug-in timers. All of that stuff is just a fire waiting to happen. I know the way they package and sell that stuff it makes you think that it's made for it but it's not. They list the rating in Watts for that stuff but it's meant for a resistive load like a standard incandescent light bulb or an electric heater or hair dryer or something. If you want to make something to work for that you can get relay contactors from Grainger. I just set up 2 split a c's and have them wired through relay contactors because in the winter months they tend to over cool during lights off so this way I can plug them into the same timer as the lights. but it probably won't be needed for the rest of the year

 

[konopenko]

What a brave attemp Old Toker! Vertical - Ace sativas-is right way & Jah approved imo

 

[Old Toker]

You probably should not plug your air conditioner into a zephyr or any other controller like that. just as you should not run your HID lighting through those plug-in timers. All of that stuff is just a fire waiting to happen. I know the way they package and sell that stuff it makes you think that it's made for it but it's not. They list the rating in Watts for that stuff but it's meant for a resistive load like a standard incandescent light bulb or an electric heater or hair dryer or something. If you want to make something to work for that you can get relay contactors from Grainger. I just set up 2 split a c's and have them wired through relay contactors because in the winter months they tend to over cool during lights off so this way I can plug them into the same timer as the lights. but it probably won't be needed ded for the rest of the year

Sorry Lanny for the abbreviated reply.... Still out of town and trying to use my phone. My ballast/light are plugged into an Instamatic 101....so I'm fairly sure that it's heavy duty enough. The AC is NOW plugged directly into the outlet... I am going to change that when I get home... if my house has not burnt down, or the police are not sitting in my driveway, and my plants are still alive.... I'll explain when I get to my computer. Thanks for your concern.

 

[Lammy]

Do you mean intermatic? Spa or parking lot timers? Wired correctly thoses will work. I continuously had issues though no matter how tight I tightened the Trippers on the dial they would come loose a few times a year.

 

[Old Toker]

Yes... Intermatic... sorry about the spelling.

 

[Old Toker]

What a brave attemp Old Toker! Vertical - Ace sativas-is right way & Jah approved imo

Thank you Konopenko! I definitely love me some Ace sativas. What's the saying....Go big or go home? I did both..

 

[Old Toker]

Do you mean intermatic? Spa or parking lot timers? Wired correctly thoses will work. I continuously had issues though no matter how tight I tightened the Trippers on the dial they would come loose a few times a year.

The only problems I've had with the timers (so far) is that my crappy eyes have difficulty figuring out what time the trippers are pointing at. After a couple of days of adjusting them....I've managed to get them where they belong. Then just "tenderly" tightened them down with pliers.....so far they are holding.

I know I should not use any of the Zephr/Titan controllers for large amp draws....and under most conditions I won't.....BUT....when I go out of town next time.....my peace of mind would rather have something not QUITE good enough....than take another chance of a fire. Just not risk tolerant when it comes to fire. I know....I know...Using a Zephyr/Titan controller could actually be the cause of a fire. So I think I may have found a compromise. The problem (as I understand it) is that these controllers are too light weight to handle regular "tripping" (on/off) of heavy amp drawing devices such as ACs and 1000w ballast. And that is the problem with the Zephyr1. It's switching the AC on/off possibly multiple time per day. So I am not going to use it any longer (not to mention it's not working).

However I need something that will turn off the biggest generator of heat, and IMHO the largest potential cause of a fire in my tent...the 1000w bulb...if the temp gets too high. I'm thinking 90f is as hot as I want it to get before the light needs to be switched off. I'm willing take a risk that when that (hopefully only) once in a blue moon risky situation develops....if it ever happens...that the following product will shut it down. HLC-1e High Temp Shutdown by C.A.P. http://www.thehydrosource.com/cap-hlc-1e-hid-lighting-controller-hi-temp-shutdown.html

If you know of some other (heavier duty) device that I can use to kill the light/ballast before it gets too hot inside the grow area...please share it with me. I would certainly sleep better.

Appreciate the help and advice Lammy!