Im in a Tough spot and dont know which way to go ...?

[Dreamscape]

hey everybody

I'm in kind of a tough spot here and i'm not quite sure what to do ...



- I started my first grow in soil under a T5 8 bulb flouro roughly 80 days ago.

I'm left with 8 plants that i've stunted a solid 5 times.

3 x Williams Wonder IX-1 (heights @ 6" , 9" and 9")
2 x Chimera C4 (both 9")
1 x Nirvana White Rhino ( 14" )
1 x Nirvana bubblicious ( 11" )
1 x Super Silver Haze ( 11" )

The good news is that at day 60 I finally got them into a stable soil mix when I transplanted them all into 1 gallon smart pots. So for the past 3 weeks or so they've been growing steadily without anymore stunting.

Also my focus will be shifted to the Williams Wonders and the C4's and I will most likely end up giving the 3 single plants away to friends unless one of them gives a significantly better performance than the rest.

HOWEVER ... they are still @ 80 days of Veg and 90% of them aren't even at 12" tall. All are showing female pre-flowers though so thats a plus. Although i'm guessing that from the stunting a few of them may end up going hermie but who knows ...



- Right now I have 2 = 4 foot x 8 bulb T5 flouro lamps. I'm only running one at the moment.

I also have 4 = 600w Lumatek ballasts with bulbs and 4 Daystar A/C reflectors. These are in boxes and will run whenever I need them to.

I also have the means to construct one of Kootenays Vertical POTRACKS so I was thinking of selling 3 of my Daystar A/C reflectors and using those 3 bulbs for the vertical.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=110670




- Originally I was thinking that I would top each of these 8 plants and plant those tops as clones. And then take whatever course of action would get me the most cuttings as fast as possible. Either :

a.) I take the topped stunted plants and flower them out leaving the clones to grow into mothers.

or

b.) I take the topped stunted plants and leave them as mothers while I flower out the clones.

Again i'm focusing more on which will give me the most cuttings the fastest ... which as this point i'm guessing would be to grow the clones into mothers. I think ??

I'm guessing the flouro's have lended a hand in keeping my current plants only growing 1 - 2" a week but i'm also guessing they haven't quite woken up fully from their stunting yet ...



- So taking into consideration the equipment I have what do you guys think I should do ??

Should I put the current plants I have under one of the 600w HPS and see if they start to spike in growth ??

Should I just keep them under the flouro lamp and put their topped clones under the 2nd flouro lamp or a 600w HPS ??

At this point I'm not sure what direction I should go but I know I need to take one of these possible paths ...

anything constructive helps
all the best
~ dream

 

[Sleepy]

First grow...

flip to flower.

worry about cuttings another time.

fine tune your setup...get a few cycles under your belt first.

don't over complicate.

 

[Dreamscape]

I'm a fan of the KISS method but either way i'm going to TOP and clone the tops. If I fail than I fail ...

I do appreciate the input though

 

[cashmunny]

So you think lack of light stunted the plants? How many lumens do those 8 bulbs throw? Could be a lot of things. Grown from seed or clone?

 

[Dreamscape]

The plants were stunted from multiple things.

First was leaving the humidity dome on too long when they were babies

next was leaving the light up too high causing crazy stretch when they were babies

next was temps being too high

after that was being transplanted twice in two days , and not gently either.

Overwatering

THEN lack of nutes ...

... it was a wild ride and i'm finally on relatively stable ground

Grown from seed and i'm not sure about the lumens ... they're great for babies and cuttings and keeping moms from overgrowing. not so good for veg or flower. really slow growth compared to HPS.

 

[cashmunny]

The plants were stunted from multiple things.

First was leaving the humidity dome on too long when they were babies

next was leaving the light up too high causing crazy stretch when they were babies

next was temps being too high

after that was being transplanted twice in two days , and not gently either.

Overwatering

THEN lack of nutes ...

... it was a wild ride and i'm finally on relatively stable ground

Grown from seed and i'm not sure about the lumens ... they're great for babies and cuttings and keeping moms from overgrowing. not so good for veg or flower. really slow growth compared to HPS.

If they were grown from seed there is no need for a humidity dome. The dome is to limit transpiration from the leaf surface in clones which have little capacity for water uptake since they have no roots initially.

Each 4 foot T5 bulb has an output of 3000-5000 lumens, so that's about 40,000 lumens on the high end. If you've got the light up close to the tops, which you can do since they are so cool, and assuming your reflector covers about 8 square feet (4x2), you've got 5000 lumens per square foot which is plenty for vegging plants. Especially small ones.

You can run 80F degree temperatures easily if you are talking about air temperature. 90's maybe not. My experience is they start to wilt a little at about 95 degrees air temp.

I'd bet on the cause being transplanting shock first, then overwatering. If they were grown in soil, lack of nutes really shouldn't be an issue. Maybe too many nutes if it was something like miracle grow soil.

Cannabis is hardy though, it'll bounce back. Just remember to keep the soil moist but not soaking wet. Adding some perlite to the soil next time will help with drainage and overwatering issues.

 

[Dreamscape]

Thanks for all the info.

I'm currently running the MoonShineMan Mix from the organic soil forum with about 35% or so big chunky perlite in 1gallon smart pots. Overwatering is actually somewhat hard to do because of the pots and perlite ... its actually somewhat of a pain because the water tends to dry out a bit too quick for my tastes ... i'm in there every other day watering but I guess thats just the price to pay sometimes

 

[cashmunny]

Thanks for all the info.

I'm currently running the MoonShineMan Mix from the organic soil forum with about 35% or so big chunky perlite in 1gallon smart pots. Overwatering is actually somewhat hard to do because of the pots and perlite ... its actually somewhat of a pain because the water tends to dry out a bit too quick for my tastes ... i'm in there every other day watering but I guess thats just the price to pay sometimes

It is suprizing you were able to overwater with such a good blend of perlite in there.

Handwatering is a pain with good drainage. You've got to stay on top of it. I handwater also a 50-50 sphagnum moss-perlite mix and I do it daily. Sounds like you've got a winning setup. I'd say it was transplant shock and maybe lack of light from the fixture being too high then. Drop those lights right on top of the plants. I mean 1 inch away or even barely touching. You really can't get fluorescents too close.

Taking clones and flowering them will take a little time depending on how quickly you can get roots to form. Cloning is real black magic. Some people have great success some don't. I don't

I think you're fine, get ready to be happy. Veg them as long as you can space providing. The longer the veg, the bigger the harvest.

 

[Dreamscape]

I think at this point my first move will be to switch out the 4 foot , 8 bulb , T5 flouro for a 600w HPS to give them a boost in growth for cuttings

I've heard about lots of people not having luck with their clones ... I think i'll just end up buying one those EZ clone bubble cloners just to keep it simple.

It might be a bit expensive but in the long run i'm sure by saving me from lots of stress it'll be worth it.

 

[Lazyman]

The ezcloner 30 is a scam, there's not enough water in it to keep the submerged water pump from overheating the water and cooking your cuts. Get a 60 at the minimum, the 120 is better, even if you never fill it it will work much better than the 30. Or there are numerous DIY threads on how to make your own.

 

[Dreamscape]

Yeah ... after reading through a shit ton of cloning threads i'm not sure what i want to try.

between the bubblers and the coco cloners and the rapid rooter cloners ... I'm just not quite sure what I want to try.


Although I do have a bunch of light warrior and a bunch of rapid rooters as well so maybe mix the two ... i'm not sure.