Micro Adventures with Mr. Sparkle

[Mr. Sparkle]

Wow, I forgot about this thread. That is some beautiful craftsmanship on your PC cases man, and your plants look fantastic as well. Great job. Love the plant photos with the dark background.

Thanks Lost, and thanks for stopping by again, and yep the plants are moving along doing pretty decent, im still tweaking things slowly, and running into the odd issue, but all is well



As for some recent thread updates before the ones on the weekend, well the Orange bud seedlings are all doing well, and so is the Jack Herrer it already above soil and working on it first set of leaves. What isn't going is the damn Auto Mazars there doing shit all, so after i lost one seed because it came from the package with a broken shell, which i was oh well about, the remaining three are still at this moment struggling to throw out a tail, when i started germinating them 5 days ago, ive been using some tricks that works for struggling seeds, but they seem either a bit too old "dried out" or a tiny bit green when they were harvested as all the tails initially came out with a green cover which typically comes from slightly immature seeds from what i know of my past experiences.

Kinda shitty, One might make it, the other two probably wont, Guess that recent buy 3 get 3 free deal was a bit to good to be true.

Anyways to move on, the Ice Bomb will be finishing up shortly, by the weekend by the latest. So ill have a pic of that before i chop it.

As for the Auto's in Bogan, the Dark Devil is going along decently for running almost dry a couple weeks back, it has a very nice sweet smell right now, and im liking it.The other two autos are limping along due to those early issues, so saying that with the autos you have to be on point with them, which is what the autoflower community says, but i have to back that up, cause if you mess up just a bit your screwed for the grow.

I would still like to see if i can get the autoflowers to work, but Im running low on my initial autoflower seeds i picked up, so with my remaining 2 Think Different and 3 Dark Devils, i'll be making some feminized seeds from them, grow quality be damned, that way i just have some more seeds to really play around with to get Bogan more dialed, as these auto have shown that i didn't have that box as dialed as i thought, actually far from it...

Its all good in the end though.

Other than all that, gonna change the programming for the watering a bit, as i've noticed the valve dumps need to be a bit longer to evenly water the trays, and still need to fix Bogans tray for a proper flat bottom plus angle it evenly instead of the drupe it has now which is causing issues for the far side.

Oh and trimmed the mothers as well, they were getting out of hand, could of gave me 12 clones though.

 

[Tbonegrower]

Keep on killin it man! This thread is awesome!

 

[Gnz]

I have a friend thinking of ordering some of those dark devil seeds, I don't think he'd realised how unstable autos were. Will be interesting to see if you can get them performing reliably at this scale.

Thanks for your advice too, here and on my thread, really appreciated!

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Thanks for your advice too, here and on my thread, really appreciated!

No problem that's what this forum is for isn't it , as for the Dark Devil, i have to say very nice smell on the one currently beats out everything i have in my other box, and its growing well for being punished, the unstable-ness really i think comes down to me as i wasn't looking to heavily at that box, as 90% of the action happens in my other box, so it kinda got neglected and i wasn't following it as much as i should.

And don't take my issues with the auto mazars as common, they just got the brunt of all of it, apart from the seed issue.

But growing at scale with them would definitely be easier, as autoflowers in micro grows so far have shown to me that if you mess up your pretty much done, where as with bigger pots/containers grows you have a bit more buffer.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Sunday Update:

Bogan i finally modified and the tray now has a flat surface to sit on and is angled slightly, might need a few tweaks with the angle but i'm happy, also Bogan seems to be running on the dryer side for whatever reason, cleaned the sensor probes but had similar readings so modified the programming and dropped the value at which the valve dumps.

The Dark Devil is going well, its running low on nitrogen, just seems nute hungry, the other auto's are minuscule, but i'm running them out for now. We have 4 seedlings , 3 Orange bud - Dutch Passion, 1 Jack Herrer - Seedsman with a possible 5th Auto Mazar - Dutch Passion that might pull through, but it's struggling, haven't had a bad batch of seeds like that since some Cannacopia seeds i bought a few years back.

The mothers are moving along, can start grabbing clones off the new C99 mother and Cherry Bomb, the Orange Bud mother will probably be leaving, as her yields on the clones are well less than desired, thus why i'm running out my last 3 seeds.

Also just changed back today to straight maxigro nutes at around 600ppm, just cause it looks like they will benefit from some more nitrogen.

Ashla, is doing just fine, no real issues, everything is getting watered evenly and thoroughly with the longer valve dump time, might need to shorten it by a sec but its working and i'm gonna try running the plants a tad wetter till any potential issues might show, if not they seem to be benefiting from more water, as with my current mix i'm running, i think i've been running it a bit too dry, but we will see.

The Bubblegum XL's and Critical by Royal Queen Seeds are starting to fill out after i had to harshly chop them back two weeks ago due to my absence.

The threes clones are doing well, the Orange Bud's are slowing their stretch, the C99 wasn't so the other day i crushed the stem in between nodes in a few places, you just squeeze till it goes soft, but this causes a slight bit of injury to the plant which causes them to beef up those areas by repairing the damage, and in turn takes some of the focus away from stretching, so were just trying to slow it down a little bit, still might not be enough though.

As for the 6 plants well into flower, their yields have and will suffer from becoming a jungle when i was away and had to trim them 2 weeks ago, But the two Sin Mints are looking frosty, the Orange Bud clone is minuscule, but it seems to be it characteristics compared to the others, the one Krakatoa is actually doing nicely, the Lemon Kush Clone in the back corner, is beefing up nicely and still has weeks to go.

That leaves us with the Ice Bomb - Bomb Seeds it's right around 9 weeks which is the breeder's time for it, and i was gonna chop it this weekend, but it had its own plans, as it decided to throw out a last burst of growth just when i thought it was done, so it's gonna be another week, only some outside leafs are really seeing much amber trichomes so we are still good for when i like to harvest as a lot of that stuff will be trimmed off. The smell is whatever to me at the moment, so ill probably not be re-vegging it. But i included a close up photo to show the last burst of growth on it, and who doesn't like the odd bud porn now and then.


Part from all that, also moved back to a straight maxibloom nute mix it's also around 600ppm, but might tweak it later, or just do the occasional maxigro 1:1 mix if they seem to need more nitrogen.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Side post not really update related but i bought some new Philips 14.5w led bulbs to play with and do some testing.

First i cut off the dome which in the process scratched two of the LED chips but they still work fortunately, but then after having the dome off realizing that the domes could just been popped off with enough force as they were just held on with a flexible silicone glue... But did some testing and they only consumed 12w and if at the actual lumen output is 1500 lumens that gives them around a 125 lumens/watt efficiency with the ballast which is the same as what i'm getting out of Bogan at the moment with its homemade COB's lights as the Meanwell Ballast i used only have a "0.78-0.82 power factor" for efficiency, and Bogan is more efficient than Ashla for reference.

Thats pretty awesome needless to say, and that there available for cheap at big box stores now and will beat out most home build COB systems, definitely price wise.

So got me thinking that i might either build a new cabinet/box to utilize them as i have had some cfl/floro cabinets and boxes in the past that did Very Well, that now could be done the same with 60% the energy. Or if i can easily disassemble them i'll try and remote mount the ballasts and mount the LED boards to my own heat sinks, for an upgrade in Ashla when the time comes. One thing i have learned is i would much rather have multiple less bright and less hot individual sources of light that just a couple brighter hotter sources that leave dark areas and have hot spots that plants can't go near without burning, like how Ashla currently is with the two larger COB's. So we will see ashla might get a new 4-5 bulb/heatsink upgrade, or i might make a new box for fun.


Oh also even though im trying to burn through all my seeds to find keepers to make my own crosses, i ordered some more, was a pretty good deal with free shipping but i got a small sampler of 16 seeds for a bit over $1 a seed , 5 seeds of 3 types and a freebie.

Saying that i have a thing for cheap seeds cause i have found quite a few really nice plants through cheaps seeds in the past especially when compared to the seeds that i have spent 10+ times the amount for from supposed reputable breeders... If wondering whose seeds are that cheap, i picked up a small sampler of some KC Brains, from a seedbank that isn't a sponsor here, KC Brains gets a bad rep sometimes but i grew out some of his Bahia Blackhead seeds in the past and i really enjoyed them, looking forward to running the rest of them when i can. But i found a lot of that bad rep comes from new growers picking up his seeds cause there cheap then running a badly done grow then blaming the genetics on the results, and then having a lot of people repeating those comments but having never run any of his genetics themselves. So his Bahia Blackhead impressed me enough i got a small sample of a few of his other strains, so we will see what happens

 

[HuffnPufferfish]

yeah im with ya on the lightspread vs intensity thing

 

[Arf]

Saying that i have a thing for cheap seeds cause i have found quite a few really nice plants through cheaps seeds in the past especially when compared to the seeds that i have spent 10+ times the amount for from supposed reputable breeders... If wondering whose seeds are that cheap, i picked up a small sampler of some KC Brains, from a seedbank that isn't a sponsor here, KC Brains gets a bad rep sometimes but i grew out some of his Bahia Blackhead seeds in the past and i really enjoyed them, looking forward to running the rest of them when i can. But i found a lot of that bad rep comes from new growers picking up his seeds cause there cheap then running a badly done grow then blaming the genetics on the results, and then having a lot of people repeating those comments but having never run any of his genetics themselves. So his Bahia Blackhead impressed me enough i got a small sample of a few of his other strains, so we will see what happens

KC Brains Mango and Haze Special are ok. Both can produce indica dominant indoor phenotypes.

I use the Phillips 14.5W 3000K and the 18W 6500K for the males, and seedling veg. Great lamps.

 

[Navigator]

Agreed on the cheap seeds. I have run corner-store convenient gear/strains, and for the most part had favorable results. I believe good phenotypes can come from anywhere, even bagseed. But I am going to have to eat my feedback cause I just bought some higher priced gear. Haha. Maybe for many there is a correlation of time spent nurturing plants to the amount of money spent on seeds...

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Don't get me wrong if a strain interests me enough i'll get it, but getting cheap seeds is just easier to spend money on and i usually grab stuff that i wouldn't normally go after just to try it, as it makes no sense to me to drop $15-$20 a seed for something i wouldn't normally desire and or have vetted that they are are what i want.

Such as alot of couchlock heavy indica's as they aren't my thing, but through cheap seeds i found some that don't have that effect for me, but are very nice and are true to the breeders characteristics, mind you harvest time plays a factor in that, but still.

I just need to decide what i want to run next after the next harvest/thinning/rearranging cycle. Was contemplating either some C99 or Lemon Kush Feminized seeds i made just to see the possible slight variability verse what i currently have as mothers, or run something else such as Dutch Passion's Blueberry, or some Nirvana's AK48's i have yet run, or something out of the whole whack load of different freebies i've acquired, or go back and go through some of my personal crosses i've made and see if anything really nice came out of it, or i guess also doing a feminized seed run with the auto's so i have more auto seeds to play with without having to buy more, which is something i was considering and mentioned in an earlier post.

Could Let all you decide ? Make a list, post it and count the votes in a couple weeks when i should be able to start 3-4 more seeds.

I don't know just letting my mind wander with ideas..

 

[Gnz]

Putting in my vote for 3x pot spaces.
1. One of your fem C99's.
2. AK48 or something sativa heavy from the freebies.
3. Fem seed run on one of the autos.

What do I win?!

 

[Goats]

Putting in my vote for 3x pot spaces.
1. One of your fem C99's.
2. AK48 or something sativa heavy from the freebies.
3. Fem seed run on one of the autos.

What do I win?!

would definitely like to see more of that C99 from a a few pages back!

 

[Navigator]

Dutch Passion's Blueberry FTW!!!!
The aroma, flavor, and experience. Mmmm Mmmm!

Great Fall/Winter time crop, get the temps below 50F at night during flower and watch the anthocyanin turn those buds purple.
Just popped a BB bean myself. Could be in my next run.

 

[HuffnPufferfish]

blueberry all day err day


ive found a melon/cherry smelling haze plant in my bagseeds, its just luck

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

What do I win?!

Mmmmm Pictures of a grow taken weekly , oh wait we are already doing that...



Ok here's the plan, In about 1.5 weeks or so i'll be moving 5 plants to flower in Ashla, thus giving me 8 spots in Bogan after the harvest of the Dark Devil, and a week or two after that depending on harvests In Ashla, 3 or less plants will be coming back to be revegged, so that leaves us at 5 available spots in both.

So lets say 5 plants in 1.5weeks or so we will try for 2 C99 seedlings "or what i believe are C99 i'll explain later" and 2 Blueberry and then wait till the last of the current autos are finished and then run possibly 3 Dark Devils or the Two Think Different i have left, one of either will be reversed with colloidal silver or at least attempted to do a seed run, just because i only have 6 total auto seeds left at the moment and i would prefer not to buy some more autos seeds until i get things dialed a bit more, and then we also have backups to play with.

Also i took some clones today that will be either backups or stalled till there is room, but we will see if they take as i'm trying something a bit different than normal as my clone taking ability with these boxes is pretty bad compared to other boxes i've had in the past, so i'm cloning elsewhere using ambient light, instead of using Bogan. Saying that i'll potentially have some C99 and Cherry Bomb Clones if it goes well.

Oh and i tweaked the programming abit more in both boxes, Bogan is running dryer than i want, its either the sensor is a little wacked, or i have been running it way too dry...

*Almost forgot to add the C99 seeds are self made fems i did a year or so ago, now the mother was c99, and i had a reversed female c99 that pollinated it, but i was doing multiple seed runs so something else could of got in there instead, we will see, and i potentially might of got them mixed up with some other seeds at one point...

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Gonna revise the plan, we will be either running all my remaining C99 "5 Seeds" or Blueberry "4 Seeds" all at once behind each other, reason being is it will give me a few more plants to compare and make selections with if i think they are worthy for me to keep, and if i have space i'll throw in a random single seed to fill it out.

To note, ill be redoing and slightly upgrading the sensor in Bogan, as the reading is too low for my liking, and something seems off, so we will see if that's the case.

 

[Navigator]

You'll have blueberry out the yang! Love it

 

[ReikoX]

I can't remember, must be that Juanita bubble i made.

Are you doing 12/12 from seed or vegging in Bogan but had some autos in there?

 

[Goats]

I can't remember, must be that Juanita bubble i made.

Are you doing 12/12 from seed or vegging in Bogan but had some autos in there?

i believe i recall reading earlier in the thread the autos were just a few he had laying around so he threw them in the veg tower. i believe the seeds were vegged a bit before entering the flower tower!

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

Bogan is a 18/6 light cycle, and i typically veg photoperiods for right around 2.5-3 weeks before they go to flower in Ashla which is a 12/12 cycle. But yes Bogan does have the odd auto in it, i'm just starting to play with them, so a bit of a learning curve, i picked them up to try them out as ive never tried auto's "Keeping an open mind" and they have come leaps and bounds since even a couple years back so i grabbed some to fill out Bogan, as it would be half empty if they weren't there.

Not that it was asked but I have done 12/12 from seed many times, and still do it occasionally, but i found even with the 3 weeks of veg for my small plants i get better results, as the 12/12 ones can't build a root system fast enough when their stretching for light as Ashla is usually at least half full.

Saying that a typical cycle from seed to harvest for a plant only takes me between 11-14 weeks for most genetics, with 12/12 from seed i might get it to finish a week less, but it's not worth it imo... The longer autos aren't really better time wise when you have genetics that take 11-14+ weeks, so it's really no difference to me vs photoperiods, but the 10 week and under stains are intriguing... Like the current Dark Devil, i could harvest it now and it would be tasty and it's only at like 50 days from seed, but to me its not done yet but its looking pretty good for taking the abuse it has taken.