Grow #2 - Sour Diesel IBL - 150w HPS

[sugabear_II]

bounty 20 x 30 is a pretty big cabinet - hard for the 150 to light that big of an are really strongly IMHO - I know when I had my 150 in the c25 everything stretched like crazy - instead I ran a 400 in there... but anyways

a 24" by 15" foot print is pretty ideal foot print for the 150 as it works out to 2.5 square feet giving a solid 60 watts per square foot.

-suga

 

[bounty29]

It actually works out great, that 12" deep one was too shallow to fit the fan I want (A Panasonic Whisper Fan, bathroom ventilator), and this one is a little bit larger than I need, so that's a big plus. I was considering larger cabs because I'm trying to convince myself to get a 250w. The little one would make that do 100wpsf, but I think after a grow or two w/ that cabinet I might be able to do that.

As soon as I'm moved in to the new place and confident in my money situation I think I'll be getting that $75 cab. Now that I've got that settled, I can draw plans for the internal design.

 

[sugabear_II]

bounty - with a 400 in the c25 - 29"wide x 20" deep it comes out to 100 wpsf which was pretty strong lighting but manage able - and that was w/o a cool tube or air cooled hood.

I hear ya' bout the 250 - I often thought of stepping up to one of those but then when it came time the 400 was just $10 more - so I ended up w/that - go figure - anyways if you can run the 150 on 12/12 and turn the top into a continuios supply of clones you will very quickly find yourself with more weed than you can smoke in my experience.

-suga

 

[bounty29]

I'm giving them a watering/feeding now, as soon as I'm finished I'll take some pictures. I'm giving them a 1.3x strength feeding, using 22ml PBP and 7.8ml CalMag. It comes out to an EC of 2.6 and it's at 5.9 pH. Pics coming soon!

They're looking kinda droopy because they went an extra day or two between waterings (My bad, worked a lot more than I was expecting) so I'll take some shots tomorrow.

As I've mentioned before, I'm planning on upgrading my cabinet when I move. I've drawn up plans for it in Google Sketchup and posted them to the semi-official thread here. Check it out, and if you don't know what Google Sketchup is, download it and give it a shot. It's relatively easy to learn, and if you have questions they're easy to find by searching google. What's everyone think of my cabinet?
ICMag Google Sketchup Database

I've been working on mine the past few days. I've got the base parts down, so I thought I'd get it uploaded. I still want to get the details worked out so it looks smooth, but that's just me being picky.

Bounty29 - 120w CFL Veg + 150w HPS Flower Cab

Check it out here!
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=958da9d4f7928c81aab25bbaa91ce8cc

Description
Cabinet Dimensions - 71"h*20"w*15"d - 2~sq ft ++++ 75w/sqft Flowering (150w 2700k HPS) ++++ 60w/sqft Veg (4*30w 6500k CFLs)++++120CFM 4" Panasonic Whisperline Fan pulling through SiS style carbon filter ++++ 8"*8" Darkroom Louvers (Light tight) act as intake and vent between veg and flower

I also made a chart of the strengths of my feedings. Check it out...

Numbers are per gallon

If this feeding plan works out all the way through I'll post up a little more detailed writeup about it. I've found it to be close to both the 100-100-200-50 ratio and the 4-2-1 (K-Mg-Ca) so I think it might work out. (Lucas formula is something like this)

 

[bounty29]

Day 52 Veg

Ok, I think I'm going to go ahead and keep these in veg until I move into my new place. They're starting to show preflowers, but I still can't quite tell what they are. This means they'll veg for 83 days. It's probably closer to 70 or 75, because the first three weeks for them were very slow. The one in the screen is filling it up nicely, especially the past few days. I'm still learning how to fill the scrog, it's a new technique for me. Anyways, here's some pictures.

Here's the runt. Looks fine, but I think it has a "slow" root system, which is just slowing down growth.


Here's a side shot of the scrog one, I'm glad I picked this one because it's got a lot of side branching already, the stretch could be crazy with this in a month.


Here's the scrog from the top. I'd say it's at about 20-30% in terms of number of budsites I'm shooting for. I've been moving it under the screen once or twice a day for the past four days or so.


And this is the LST'd plant. It's just recovering from the topping I gave it a week ago. One side is showing more growth than the other, you can probably see it in the picture.


I made a few changes to the new cabinet design. I think I'm going to get a Fantech 117cfm 4" blower instead of the Panasonic Whisperline. It'll probably be a bit louder, but it takes up less space in the cabinet. I think it'll be an even trade in the long run. This gives me another couple of inches, bringing the height of the flower room (floor to light) to 37", which I think is a little more than what I have now.

 

[bounty29]

I think they're both male, I'm about 80% sure of it.

 

[bounty29]

Day 58 Veg






Alright, here's some pics. To start it off, here's my best shot of the preflower. Both plants have ones that look like this, and from what I've seen it looks male. Am I wrong? Please?


Here's some other shots, they're looking good. The LST'd plant started to look like it was having a mag deficiency, but it's gotten better since then. It showed after my last watering and has gotten better since then, without me doing anything. I'm trying to decide if I want to flush tomorrow or keep feeding. You can see the lighter green in the new growth near the center of the plant. Either way, there's about 50 budsites right now, and I've topped once and tied down once, that's it. Definitely more new shoots than my Scrog plant, and they're all much more even, I'm really impressed with this technique.


The Scrog plant is doing well, much branchier, so a better choice of the two for scrogging. The plant is lifting the screen up, so I need to find a better way to secure it.


And here's the runt. I snapped the stem in a couple places, I want to see how it reacts. It'll probably take a few months to see anything, but it looks like I might have to start over so I'll just trash it.

 

[The Budfather]

looks male to me..... mos def male actualy

 

[bounty29]

Well I just gave them a flush, I'll keep them alive until I'm 100% sure about them being male (I'm at about 99.5%, I just can't bring myself to chop them.)

Oh well, this will make the move easier. I can take apart this cabinet now and start working on my new one. I think I might go out and buy it tomorrow.

 

[Guest]

Hey Bounty -

Love your thread. I have 3 of the little darlins going myself.

Man, I'd get those babies flowering. 80 days of veg is enough. Flip the lights, and you'll have your answer in a week or two.

Keep the faith on M/F ratio. Many times I have set aside a plant, sure it was a male but waiting for confermation, only to have the nub sprout a hair.

And if there is any way possible, get yourself some decent light my friend, 250 wt bare minnimum, 400wt so much better.

My SD should be sexing in the next week, so I know how you feel. M or F?????????????

The Kid

 

[bounty29]

Nah, I got a 150w HPS, I'm happy with that for now. I'm still learning, and I might upgrade eventually but what's the point unless you know how to maximize what you're working with?

I'm waiting to flower because I don't have this cab set up to flower plants this large or this smelly. As soon as I move to my new apartment I'll be using a new cabinet, which will give me a lot more space to work with, and a filter capable of containing the odor of SD IBL in flower.

These are all for personal use, so I'm in no hurry. I'd rather wait another month but harvest another oz of quality bud, because I'm going to have to start all over with the next grow.

The plants are going well, I'm actually away from the grow for a couple days. I think I fixed the deficiency by giving them a flush of 0ppm water. I'll resume feeding Tuesday night when I get back.

 

[bounty29]

Plants responded well to the flush, I just fed them again last night. Instead of 17ml PBP and 6ml CalMag, I gave them 17ml PBP, and 3ml of CalMag. They're looking really good today, so I think I'm going to stick with those numbers and see how things turn out.

I want to start flowering but if I do, transporting them will be a whole lot more difficult. I can fit them in a box right now, but after they stretch 2-3x I don't know if I'll be able to.

I don't think I'm doing very well training the Scrog, but I'm extremely happy with the way the topped/LSTd plant is turning out. Here's an overview of the cabinet, and a sideshot of the topped/LSTd one.





Still not sure about whether they're female or not, the last plants I grew were so much easier to sex in veg. Oh well, we'll find out eventually.

 

[tngreen]

lookin killer bounty! LST is much more fun than scrog anyway!

 

[bounty29]

Alright, good news! The LST'd one, my favorite, is.... FEMALE!

The runt, which I wasn't too fond of but kept around... MALE!

The Scrog'd one, which I'm getting sick of... FEMALE?! It's got the same type of preflowers as the LST'd one, but I can't find any pistils yet. I found a couple spots with pistils showing on the LST plant so that made me 100% about it being female.

The apartment I've been living in has just been sold, so the owner is having an inspector look at the place sometime this week. I'm going to chop the two larger plants up, get as many clones as possible, and put them in the fridge until I'm all moved in to my new place and my new cabinet is up and running.

This will be my first time taking clones, so I'm hoping it works. I'm going to be trying several new things at once so I'm preparing to be let down, but I'll keep my hopes up! I'll probably take some pictures of all my cuttings, but other than that there probably won't be anything new for about 2 weeks or so. I'm hoping I can get my cab all put together so I can get everything running again as soon as I move in. Thanks for stopping by everyone!

 

[Guest]

Alright, good news! The LST'd one, my favorite, is.... FEMALE!

The runt, which I wasn't too fond of but kept around... MALE!

The Scrog'd one, which I'm getting sick of... FEMALE?! It's got the same type of preflowers as the LST'd one, but I can't find any pistils yet. I found a couple spots with pistils showing on the LST plant so that made me 100% about it being female.

The apartment I've been living in has just been sold, so the owner is having an inspector look at the place sometime this week. I'm going to chop the two larger plants up, get as many clones as possible, and put them in the fridge until I'm all moved in to my new place and my new cabinet is up and running.

This will be my first time taking clones, so I'm hoping it works. I'm going to be trying several new things at once so I'm preparing to be let down, but I'll keep my hopes up! I'll probably take some pictures of all my cuttings, but other than that there probably won't be anything new for about 2 weeks or so. I'm hoping I can get my cab all put together so I can get everything running again as soon as I move in. Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Congratulations on the female SD, very cool.

So sorry to here that after all this work, you have to chop your baby down.

Of course, there is a lot of great information here about cloning, but my two cents:

Don't keep the cloning medium over-moist. The stems rot and the roots have no reason to go looking for water.

Humidity of 80% + the first three days is critical.

Watch the PH of everything you do closely.

Heat is critical. Can't be too high (80+) or too low (>74)

I started my cloning career at a 0% success rate. I'm now up to about 80% success.

Sending positive vibes your way and hoping the next we hear from you, you'll have your functional cabinet up with a few sweet looking clones!!

Good Luck

 

[bounty29]

Well, that wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I chopped the male plant at the base and threw it to the side, and then proceeded to cut every growing shoot off of each of the other plants. There were about 20 from each of them, so I sure as hell should get at least one successfully rooted plant from each batch, if not, I might want to look into another hobby

The scrog plant's roots were amazing, great development, nice and thick. The clones I took off that plant all look a bit retarded, because they're all twisted around and bent from the weaving in and out of the screen.

The LST plant's roots were kinda lacking from what I saw, though that might be because I topped it twice, which might've stalled root growth along with veg growth. The clones from this plant are all very uniform, I'm feeling good about how I went about this. I cleaned up my grow area, so now the only illegal plant matter in my home is in the crisper drawer of my fridge.

I can't wait to get back in action, I think if I can root at least six solid plants I'll do a sog style grow for this round, minimal vegging. Six 2 liter bottles would fit really well in the cabinet, so I'm thinking about going that route.

 

[Guest]

looking awesome so far bounty! i love your setup bro!

 

[bounty29]

Alright, my grow has resumed!

I took all the cuts out of the fridge tonight, recut them, put some rooting hormone on them, and put them into jiffy pellets under a humidity dome. They're sitting at the bottom of my newly constructed cabinet, which I am very pleased with at the moment.

There are two 15w cool white bulbs about 1.5' above the cuts, and the inside temperature is 72f. That's at the bottom of the cabinet, inside. Outside, on the top of the cabinet, it's about 76f. That worries me a little, because it's the beginning of the summer so it's only going to get warmer, and I don't even have the HPS on yet.

 

[TBug]

High bounty! Looks great! me likes your cabinet too! Ive never put clones in the fridge before, but ive herd of folks doing that without any problems. So, you should be set to grow!
I'll be rooting for ya! ...lol ...pun intended.
Peace and keep em' green, bugout

 

[bounty29]

Alright, so it's been a week with the clones. I don't see any roots, and about half of them are dead. I think the problem was the refrigerator. I think I might've misunderstood, but I put water in the bag with the cuts. It looks like they got saturated and then just kind of rotted.

It looks like the ones that are alive, will stay alive, because they haven't gone downhill at all from the beginning. I'm hoping they show roots by 14 days, I'm not going to really check until then, I figure the more I check the longer it will feel like, so I'll just let them do their thing.

Anyways, here's what they look like. Temperature is a steady 73 degrees, and they're under a humidity dome. Should I take it off and let them breath now? The RH is around 70%, will that be enough for them to be alright?




So as of now it looks like 3 cuts of the LST plant and probably about 10 of the Scrog plant. I'd really like to keep at least one of the LST cuts to flower out in hopes of getting both phenos. Well, expect another update in a week or so.


Edit: Wow, I just looked at the pictures taken as soon as I planted them, adn the ones a week later. They're all in the same position, and the ones that are alive really look good. They've spread their leaves, and they look a somewhat healthy shade of green, a bit yellowish though