Increasingly Ridiculous Enhanced Red Spectrum 700w+ CFL Array / MODSCROG

[StoopheadFred]

Awesome

Sorry I really don't mean to take up your thread with these questions, but do you think I should use a grounded extension cord or just a regular 2 prong?

 

[Terpene]

When possible, always ground.

To be fair though, I haven't run mine grounded. I have all of the plugs wired into a power strip, which has a trip, so I figure it's probably alright, but I always feel better with grounds tied in.

 

[Terpene]

Here's some more from under the CFLs:

Marley's Collie (Jamaican x Maple Leaf Indica) is going strong. Not too pissed looking for a plant I tossed into flower literally the day it did a barrel roll back to vegetative..

Hawaiian Snow is ugly, but continues to stack it on. Probably go till at least Valentines Day, but I'm in no real hurry..

Finally, the Flo male is ready to do damage..

 

[VerdantGreen]

looking good, you grow some great buds in that cab!

 

[StoopheadFred]

No kidding! You have absolutely made me a believer in CFL's and I am very glad I found your thread before I put together a jankey electrical strip with sockets setup!

Cheers!

 

[Terpene]

No kidding! You have absolutely made me a believer in CFL's and I am very glad I found your thread before I put together a jankey electrical strip with sockets setup!

Cheers!

Looking awesome! Are those 42w's? They look huge.

Anyone whos running the spiders - please post pics of your setups, plants, anything - I'm glad you guys like the design so much!

 

[trichogg]

Yea mon T,

I knew it was possible, but I was kinda sketchy about what my potency would be.. I did my first pollin tap with a 150w hps & now what you see in flwr is my crosses...
Nothing like running you own crosses tailor made to what you like..
The idea of crossing for personal stash instead of mothers, brilliant. I have a Purple Gorilla soon to be MILF I can't get rid of.. The guys partner that I got this cut from did not want to let too many get a hold of her... She's a beauty @ about 4ft also.

Trich.

 

[StoopheadFred]

65w actually! Got em for $25 for a 4 pack with free shipping... Too bad I can't find 65w 2700K lights for the same price or I'd really be cooking.

Also have you ever tried putting y splitters on these bad mothers? I'm headed to HD now to see if they'll fit.

You're an inspiration brotha, I want to try giving this selective pollination deal a go once I get up and running! Just out of curiosity, did I read right and are you able to pollinate a section of fem plant and not have to lose the whole plant to seeds?

 

[Terpene]

65w actually! Got em for $25 for a 4 pack with free shipping... Too bad I can't find 65w 2700K lights for the same price or I'd really be cooking.

Also have you ever tried putting y splitters on these bad mothers? I'm headed to HD now to see if they'll fit.

You're an inspiration brotha, I want to try giving this selective pollination deal a go once I get up and running! Just out of curiosity, did I read right and are you able to pollinate a section of fem plant and not have to lose the whole plant to seeds?

Four 65w?!! Damn, that will definitely provide more than enough light for flowering! Splitters are meh at best. Back in the day I used to work in lighting and generally speaking plastic sockets don't fare to well against heat/uv/life in general - so I went with the security fixtures cause they have ceramic sockets. I would advise that you stick to ceramic socket fixtures as the 65w draw a substantial amount of juice and put off some pretty good heat.

All of the stories about one male pollinating an entire room are either people worried about a single seed, or people who check their grows VERY rarely. Yes, if you place a male in front of your fans and put a group of females behind it - they will come up seeded. Yes, if you leave a male next to females for 10 weeks, they will surely be pollinated.

However, if you cull the male the day it starts to release pollen, you can use the branches like paint brushes. You'll know when the male is ready, the balls will open into little star shaped flowers and the leaves will have little bits of whitish yellow dust on them.

Depending on your location: remove the female from the location / wait till the wind dies down / turn the fans off. Once the threat of rogue pollen carrying on the wind is gone, pick a spot on the outside of the plant - I prefer a cola as opposed to lower branches as the seeds develop faster/stronger. Smack or rub the male flowers on the female pistils. One smack will produce close to 100 beans, so don't get too carried away.

Or, get carried away. My first cross was nothing but beans - I thought I needed to go heavy with the male branch after a stored pollen experiment didn't take very well - still came out as pretty good smoke, though admittedly the "husks" (calyxes) of the shells do tend the make the smoke *slightly* harsher.

 

[StoopheadFred]

Man I'd been lurking in your thread for a good while, but never responded because I wasn't a member of this forum. Really glad I decided to sign up and chop it up with ya and I appreciate the info!

I got those splitters before I read your response... These things are exactly what I didnt want my setup to be like! Cheap plastic, cheap metal, just cheap and junky! I decided to hook them up anyways and only 4 of the 8 bulbs I had hooked up would light. Back to the store!

You're saying the 4 65w 6500k lights would work for flowering? Or would it be best to run some 2700k's in there as well? I've got a 28"x15"x60" cab, what do think about running 4 65w (260w) 6500's and 12 23w (276w) 2700's? If you think it would be better to run 8 65w (520w) and 8 23w (184w) for a reason other than the increased wattage I'll go that route! Ambient temps are 54-61 right now but it's winter so those will increase but my spot is always cold and doesn't get much light and I've got a 200cfm S&P TD-125 to keep the heat at bay. Planning on running 2 or 3 plants in a vertical scrog.

Sorry again for cluttering your thread, I can't send private messages yet!

 

[Terpene]

You're saying the 4 65w 6500k lights would work for flowering? Or would it be best to run some 2700k's in there as well?

I've pulled great looking bud with about 50w per sqft, but the closer you get to 100w, the better you do.

You would be surprised how much color temperature changes their growth patterns. But it doesn't really matter so much with actually inducing or sustaining flowering. In my experience, the redder your light spectrum, the more outdoor looking it turns out. Mine is a mix, but is definitely on the red end of things. Under bluer light they tend to really shorten, dense up and frost over a bunch more. (In most CFL setups, the latter is actually preferred!)

In nature, this would sorta make sense as higher elevations are exposed to a bluer light, which has more UV in it as it's less filtered by the atmosphere. UV has been shown to increase THC content, terpenes, you name it.

I've got a 28"x15"x60" cab, what do think about running 4 65w (260w) 6500's and 12 23w (276w) 2700's? If you think it would be better to run 8 65w (520w) and 8 23w (184w) for a reason other than the increased wattage I'll go that route! Ambient temps are 54-61 right now but it's winter so those will increase but my spot is always cold and doesn't get much light and I've got a 200cfm S&P TD-125 to keep the heat at bay. Planning on running 2 or 3 plants in a vertical scrog.

There's something I have yet to try. I would say start smaller, get used to the space and then work your way up. I figure with only 15 inches of space between the walls, those bulbs will be really close to the girls. Probably going to want around 500w for a screen that large (28''x60'')

 

[Chiefin]

Damn that's a lot of CFL action! Looks beautiful, keep up the good work

 

[2000pm]

Any more pics of those crazy flower structures under the LED? Looking great in there.

 

[Terpene]

Some pictures of my first setup to give everyone an idea of just how little wattage you can run. This 276w setup (2x3 area) was my first grow. As you'll see, even at 46w per sqft the bud size is pretty legit. They'll do even better in a screen.

 

[StoopheadFred]

Hey thanks for the encouragement and better pics of the setup! Didn't think about mounting the lights on wood, I was just going to chain them up but that seems safer and I could probably figure out how to run some sort of reflector as well.

I just really want to " go for the gusto" ya know? I've never grown before, but I figure I'd rather just get the setup that I'll eventually want and then my skills can catch up.

 

[Terpene]

Some shots from 1240's LEDs:

Napalm #2 (rascal fire og x destroyer) loaded up with f2s.

Hawaiian Snow (pollinated with same OG-leaning Napalm male)

 

[oneshot]

Why not 1-2 big 125W CFL bulbs instead of all of the spider setups? It looks great and it is certainly dialed in but I was just wondering.

 

[canavi]

How many days in are the snows? Those things look awesome.

 

[Terpene]

One - everyone told me it wouldn't work and I had several CFLs lying around at the time. I would love to see a spider setup running 4 mogul sockets and 125's that would be nuts! Talk about bright..

Cana - I honestly don't know, I just let em run till they amber over. Keeps me from counting down/freaking out about what day I'm harvesting. Based on the images I have, I would say somewhere around 7 weeks with about 2 months more to go.

My original really ugly Hawaiian Snow is just about ready for cut at 13 weeks.

 

[dagnabit]