C-99 under 220w of PL-L CFL lamps

[VerdantGreen]

nice grow, those nugs look lovely.

do you really think it helps to trim lots of leaves?, i do scrog and find it hard to trim any.

stay safe,

V.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

nice grow, those nugs look lovely.

do you really think it helps to trim lots of leaves?, i do scrog and find it hard to trim any.

stay safe,

V.

I trimmed at day 19 only this second run. I originally thought the second trimming I did ended up being a bit excessive. The root mass was pitiful though, due to my improvised drip through lava-rock, and I'm thinking that may have been the main contributing factor to the meager harvest.

I guess I won't know for sure since I'm using hydroton this time and only trimming once; changing two variables blows any comparison ability.

On a side note, personal experience with the lamps has led to design ideas for the future.
My main focus is designing a compact reflector for 4 or 8 lamps. The majority of the heat is generated by the socket and the first inch of the element. I'd like to design a reflector that puts the hottest parts of the lamp into a covered air flow. There isn't much light coming off of that portion of the lamp anyway so it would do nicely to have that part out of the flower chamber. (not sure if you can follow me by my description).

The other issue is the lack of intensity from the tips of the lamps. I don't have a reflector so the output is much less than with any real reflector. I figure overlapping the tips by an inch should cover that up nicely for me. This would allow me to put 440w into the cab, once I upgrade the fan. Still need to do the math to keep it at about 5K/lmsqft.
Edit: If you've already mounted the lights, you might want to mount a couple 23-42w coiled type CFL's under the sockets, depending on how far away they are from the nearest wall. I had a significant drop off of growth in that area, again, that I initially attributed to the LED on the power bar. I've moved the power bar and had the same lack of growth in that area. Ha ha to me.

If you have any better reflector than a white or mylar ceiling, you'll need to do your own research. I'm thinking you'll get much better results than I have.

 

[VerdantGreen]

I trimmed at day 19 only this second run. I originally thought the second trimming I did ended up being a bit excessive. The root mass was pitiful though, due to my improvised drip through lava-rock, and I'm thinking that may have been the main contributing factor to the meager harvest.
....

has anyone ever done a 'side by side' on this leaf trimming thing? i know many people swear by it, i'm a keen 'regular' gardener and i have loads of books about it. never once have i read the advice to remove leaves in order to increase flowers/fruit.

i wish i had C99 - sounds like a great smoke

stay safe

V.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

Awesome grow show dude!

 

[capullo]

Great

Great

Really great! Good work and wonderful lights.

 

[bitpoop21]

I would get rid of the rocks and let the roots go into the water.
this way you can lift the tops and see the roots and how there doing.
I did a bubbler side by side with the waterfarm.
the bubbler won hands down.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I did a bubbler side by side with the waterfarm.
the bubbler won hands down.

Unless you live in a hot area.
I used to recommend dwc/swc and now won't touch it. Unless I move to a cooler climate it's just not worth the hassles and expenses.

The issue was actually the lava-rock, water doesn't drip through it the way I was expecting it to and only a small portion of the rock actually got wet in the bucket.. This second run is with hydroton and the results are like night and day in their difference.

Sorry, no photos.... figure I'll post a before and after chop-shot on harvest day.

 

[maxx8246]

Dude really nice.. I'm really loving the PL-L lamps. I dont know if your wrote it down but how much weight did you get off the plants?

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Dude really nice.. I'm really loving the PL-L lamps. I dont know if your wrote it down but how much weight did you get off the plants?

No idea. Most likely around an ounce and a half, considering how quickly I went through it. The harvest was pathetic, but not because of the lights. This second run is at day 39 using hydroton and they're already looking almost like my harvest pics only chunkier. Definitely a root structure this time

Still have 30 days to go and stretch has stopped completely. Looking forward to some fat nugs on this run.

 

[growMEDS]

Nice work bro! :smile:

 

[bbing]

Lava & Lucas.....like your style kid.

 

[medicine_man_bc]

wow man, super nice for cfl

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Hate to say it but no pics again

The two sweet diesels were chopped about 3 weeks ago... very early and immature but still enough to fog my brain uncomfortably. My neck and back have felt awesome though!

Tonight I chopped the two C-99s as well as the single Trainwreck and Princess Diesels I had in there. Day 67. Just a hint of amber on the C-99. The others could have gone a bit longer but hey, all in the same bucket.

The C-99 alone is about 2 ounces. Dramatic difference from the first harvest, hydroton is soooo superior to lava-rock for drip. Kills me to think how much I lost on that first harvest. Bah! Anyway.

No third run for the cab just yet.... Using the pump to set up my 1K HPS with a drip system, will get another pump for the cab later when I upgrade it. Still have yet to scrog with those PL-L's and looking forward to it.


Thanks for dropping by everyone, I appreciate your spreading the word on these lamps. I'll snap a pic of the C-99 dry and see if I can get it posted when my computer is fixed. (my computer died... this is an ancient laptop in a cave I'm using)

Stay Safe!

 

[medicine_man_bc]

wow man, super nice for cfl

 

[ItsAllOver]

Hey homie. To start, awesome DIY grow. I really like this setup!
But my 2cents are as follows:

1 cent) The issue you are having with the lava rocks is called (in the beer brewing world, anyway) channeling and is caused by water following paths of least resistance through a medium (usually the sides). You know that already. But what you may not have thought of is to better design your manifold to facilitate the passage of water through the whole medium to solve this problem. In brewing, people use a rotating arm (sparge arm) that drips the water over the grains to extract the sugars for making beer. Of course, you don't have to (and it might be hard to) use a rotating arm, but could simply design a manifold that disperses the nute solution, and lots of it, more evenly and fully over the top of the hydroton. Like a drip ring around the stem, but more beefy and less drip, more downpour! Did you look at the root system when you redid the grow with hydroton? I'd be curious to see how that worked. And was your manifold modified at all?

Another cent) I think that the trimming done on the grow you posted with pictures was excessive. Buuuuuuuuut! I have never done a side-by-side experiment, so I can't make any real scientific claims! However, I can't help but think that it detracts from the plants ability to absorb light and produce buds, even though the light that it IS able to absorb is very uniform throughout the whole plant. Man, it's tough to allow oneself to do an experiment when you are stuck in your ways and want to just get the meds finished, haha, otherwise I'd try it somehow. Maybe I will, anyway. I'm curious about it.
Trimming is something I've always done some of at the start of flowering, but never know exactly how much to remove.

Anyway, good work, especially with CFLs, for all those haters out there!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Overall, the system did ok. Just a PITA to work with when checking nutes. I seriously want to upgrade this thing.

1 cent) Did you look at the root system when you redid the grow with hydroton? I'd be curious to see how that worked. And was your manifold modified at all?

Exact same manifold, full buckets of roots this time.

Another cent) I think that the trimming done on the grow you posted with pictures was excessive.

Yeah, I've actually done a complete 180 on my thinking about trimming. This second harvest I found a really decent popcorn bud growing underneath the plastic at the base of the plant. Light exposure doesn't do crap for buds.... definitely only going to trim leaves for air-flow purposes from now on.

Thanks! ;D

 

[ItsAllOver]

Good deal. Keep up the good work

 

[facelift]

On day 19 you trimmed all the leaves. On day 23, just four days later, the plants regrew all the leaves. On day 65 you harvested some bic sized buds, that eventually dried into pencil buds. It seemed to me that the plant was force to spend a large chunk of flowering time and energy regrowing leaves to collect enough energy to produce a flower.

That's what happened to your buds. Now if I can only keep mine from doing that.

I think the plant would benefit by less pruning and if you're itching because of low light levels, trim the leafs farthest from the light.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Trimming will only be done for air-flow reasons from now on. Yep.

 

[severian]

Sounds like you are moving on to HPS? I want to thank you for your teachable threads. I have a C99-Skunk strain that looks like a clone of your plant. It will be going under 220 pl-l, scrogged, and 10 gallon ebb-n-flow. I'll be posting my diary in a few weeks and I hope you drop by with some helpful tips. Muchas gracias.