midwest growers unite

[PhilCuisine]

SWC/TRONS Etc.....

SWC/TRONS Etc.....

here are some of my Phototrons in actions...Hope this helps.



Ms. O'Wreck 2 flowered on 1.7.09




Real Deal Matanuska Thunder Fuck flowered on 1.3.09 nuff sed...

http://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=754&pictureid=30266


Rainbow Kush(Hawaiian sat. x Purple Kush) flowered on 1.5.09




White Domina in veg....grew it twice and turned out with some crappy pheno...this time round looks like i gots the right pheno.

 

[abirdintheair]

is the hawaiian sativa in your rainbow kush from federation?

 

[PhilCuisine]

dont know...the strain was gifted to me by an old OG member...I hope IL. Med. Marijauna bill passes this year folks just heard some good news about it....Hope this helps.

 

[catman]

Awesome phototron Phil!

Here are two shots of my Bubble Gum from serious seeds with a little flowers on em!
They are day 25 in 12/12 and around 40ish from seed.

Indica pheno

Sativa pheno

 

[jonnybgood29]

hey baba, try a test..... mix up some solution, being sure to follow directions CAREFULLY since silica will lock everything up if not mixed correctly and very moderately! let the mixture sit for 24hours before use and recheck ph. the reason being that you may have water like i used to have..... so hard that you will get ph bounce!

 

[El_Professor420]

Ive always enjoyed ya work in them Phototrons Phil, I remember you fro my days over on OG ya always had awesome grows in the trons, you never cease to amaze me with ya grows buddy

 

[Bababooey]

Greenisgold: Thanks for the advice. Actually, I think that silica really helped a lot; I swear my plants look bigger and more lush than before. So I think it's an additive that actually is helping.
I didnt know superthrive could stunt a plant. I bought a bottle of it but have rarely used it since, mostly because I didnt think it made much of a difference... I know anything more than a drop a gallon is a no no.
I'm going to attribute the claw like leaves to the phosphoload. I'll continue to add back tap water till EC drops to 2.0 or so. The buds continue to grow, it seems like they're getting heavier by the day when I brush my hand against the closest branch. I actually WANTED stretch to stop completely cause I vegged these out so much longer than the other tubs that I didnt want to raise the lights TOO high.

PhilCuisine: Trons are looking good as always! Looks like you're going to have some frosty nugs to harvest within the next month. Never underestimate the power of the trons!

Catman: Impressive looking plants from such modest-sized pots! That sativa pheno looks like it's 90% sativa/10% indica. Hope it doesn't take too long to flower but even if it does the smoke might be worth it!

Jonnybgood: Yeah, I heard silica can cause big ph fluctuations. I havent checked my ph yet tonite but the plants look great so it'll be interesting to see if ph is still normal.


I use Chicago tap water, it's about 7.0 ph and 150-200 ppms; it's pretty good water, as far as tap goes. Lots of midwest peeps get their tap water from the Great Lakes and dont have any issues with it; I know PhilCuisine doesn't

Update on the closet:

6 NYCD, 3 Flo and 1 SDOG clone in the humidome. Mixture of perlite and vermiculite, watered down, as a moist bed. There's a towel and a heating pad underneath.

I'm using these Oasis Rootcubes to clone my cuttings in. First time using them. We'll see if they work or not... they were cut about 5 days ago, hopefully i'll see roots within another week or so...

 

[Uncle Remus]

Wassup peeps

Been a little busy here, not to mention a flu bug going thru the house...Havent read or posted much here at IC so I thought I'd chime in

Baba: Here's how I use my Silica Blast with the DSD...Week 1 veg, 2.5ml per gal...Week 2 veg all the way thru to week 3 of flower, 5ml per gallon...After that none...The DSD produces some nice heavy buds, but thin somewhat weak shoots, which in turn makes her flop all over the place...Just a small shot of silica is all thats needed IMO...Kinda like the liquid KB Rez uses in his recipe, not too much

Claw leaves could be from short veg time for clones? My DSD will put out some goofey 1 and 3 bladed leaves until about the 2nd or 3rd week of veg, then she comes back with the 5 and 7er's



For all you MURDA peeps...If you are wondering what your water quality is, check the local Home Depot if one is in your area...I found a nice Water Quality at home test kit made by Pro-Lab there for around $10...It uses easy dip strips and measure the following:

pH
Total Alkalinity (ability of water to resist pH change)
Total Chlorine
Total Hardness (measure of calcium and magnesium in your water)
Iron
Copper
Nitrates

I tried it when I was stoned so I can only remember these results: pH 7.5 total hardness 100-120...Think I'm gonna pick up a bottle of hard water Micro next trip to the feed store...Maybe I'll do a test grow using a 50/50 mix of reg Micro and hw Micro based on my hardness scores

Pretty cool and pretty cheap...Anyone having any deficiency problems I would recommend getting one of these and test your water supply FIRST...Might help to eliminate a long term pesky problem you are having by simply adding what your water is lacking (usually cal/mag issues)

Might be the best $10 you ever spent

 

[greenisgold]

Don't get me wrong as I use silica blast in my soil grows, but I only use it once every 3 third watering and use 1\2 tsp per gal. I tried higher doses but the plants did not respond well at all. Just go easy is all.
The only time I use ST is when I transplant and I use 10 drops per gallon along witha 1\4 tsp of a good bloom nute. This was uncle bens' recipe from the og days and it works great. I have also used it at other times in veg and at higher doses and it f-ed my plants up real bad.
I'll have to pick up that water tester, but I guess baba and are neighbors, and I too like the water here. I came from cali and the water where I lived came out of reservoirs and was amazing. Basically it was water from the mountain run-offs.
I also remember those posts from OG in regards to the phototron-very cool.

 

[lostinethereal]

What's up everyone? Did everyone enjoy these few warm days we had after the snow melted? I sure did, hehe

Uncle Remus thanks for the tip on the water quality test kit, I ran out to Menards today but I forgot to look for one of these. Perhaps tomorrow when I run back to get the last of the stuff I need.

Baba, I hope you're able to get your pH or leaf curl problems under control, best of luck.

Phil congrats on the very early retirement. I can't wait to see the shots of the new location up and running.

Catman nice shots on the bubblegum. I love the wide green leaves on the indica pheno.

Over the last few days I've been doing quite a lot to set-up the box. I've got pretty much every last supply I could need besides a few little things. The fan is mounted, the diy cooltube is assembled quite nicely (could use a cleaning to get off the finger prints). At this point I just need to attach the cooltube assembly to the top of the cab, and connect 4" ducting to everything (filter > fan > cooltube > exhaust hole). Plug everything in and let it run for a day to make sure it's all running good. I have one vegging plant right now, this is a JLP SDxOG F2, OG kush pheno. Here she (*fingers crossed*) is doing a dry fit in the new cab.

 

[abirdintheair]

nice job so far on that SDOG lost

 

[dontstepongrass]

that looks more indica than my sdogs...

 

[Bababooey]

While high last night I had an epiphany (I often do when I'm high ).
I realized that I should be Keeping It Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.). Instead of trying to go for a perpetual harvest in my closet, I should just be putting 4 tubs in there at once, vegging them for 2 weeks, flowering them for 2-2.5 months, and pull like 2lbs every 3 months.
Seriously, the one tub in there that I vegged for 3 weeks is monstrous, i'm thinking it will give me 8ozs dry (2.5 pounds wet) easily. Times that by 4....
My problem was I was sticking clones in there that didnt have the root mass to support being under HIDs. Also, when you put clones next to monster flowering plants obviously light distance comes into play (a 400w 3 feet away is going to make a stretchy, skinny plant).
I had the perfect system (2x400w's, 2 week veg, 2 month flower) and I mucked it up by trying to make it a perpetual harvest.

When I get tents (maybe later this year, or maybe when I move to a bigger place) I'll have a veg tent and a flower tent so I can do the perpetual. But right now a perpetual is too tricky to have in my setup as is.
Whew, I feel better now that I actually have a plan. Anywho...

UncleRemus: Long time no see! The flu bug was pretty bad this winter, I even got sick once or twice and I usually never get sick...
I think the claw leaves came from the phosphoload, next time, if I use it, I'll only use one tablespoon per tub instead of two tablespoons.
Thanks for the tip about the water testing kit. 100-120 hardness, is that ppms? That doesn't sound like very hard water to me... my Chicago tap is about 150 ppms... Actually, for tap water 100 ppms is probably really really clean, an RO filter would be a waste with tap like that.
Also, if you use the hardwater micro, I heard you have to use cal-mag because the hardwater version lacks some of those elements...

Greenisgold: I think I was exaggerating the effects of the silica; whenever I look at my plants during lights off they always look greener and more lush than when lights are on. Still, if the silica helps with thicker stems and more heat resistance, i'll keep using it. It hasn't hurt anything, at least....
I might throw in some Superthrive in there also, although I also have Floralicious Grow, which has vitamins too, so that might be redundant...

LIE: Sounds like you've been doing a lot of work on the cab. Hope everything's running optimally for you. Your SDOG looks just like mine: short, bushy indicas... Gotta love those mostly indicas!
Mine are vegging really slowly, and Ive only been able to take a clone off one, and even that clone I think is dead because my dome was too humid (didnt even know it COULD be too humid when cloning, ugh). So it'll be a while fore I can even sex them....

Keep it green, M.U.R.D.A.

 

[jonnybgood29]

doing perpetual gets real tricky, trust me! i did it for 9 months and thought i was going insane, but it gave me the ability to cut the grows for a year and a half without buying any! had about fifteen pounds stashed for me and my friends!!!!!!!!!

 

[Uncle Remus]

Perpetual harvests are not TOO hard if you keep your strain selection down to 1 or 2 FAST flowering strains...If you can find 2-3 strains that you like (important obviously) that finish at 60 days or sooner, than its really a matter of getting clones to root in 2-3 weeks...That way you can root clones, preveg for 2 weeks, veg for 3 weeks, then thro them right in after you harvest...Total root/pre/veg time adds up to 8 weeks

Timing is everything...Between my C99 and my DSD I ALWAYS harvest every 8 weeks, regardless which strain (sometimes both at once) I run...I average 5oz's per harvest with a 400w and some cheapo HD/Menards flouros

Running 4-5 differnt strains, all with diff flower times makes a perpetual much more difficult...Unless you have the room to setup multiple flowering areas, your going to encounter diff strains at various stages of flower, and at various heights...Not to say it can't be done, but it's definately at lot of WORK...IMO this is where the 1k lights shine their best...I wouldn't even attempt it with a 400 lol

I would flower strains that have similar flower times then thro in 4-5 strains all with different finishing times...1 run do the 70 day strains, do the 60 day'ers next, 80+ next, and so on...This is what I'm working on doing right now, but first I have to master the discipline of Bonsai...My guinnea pig for this is gonna be my DSD cut...I like her, but she's a little finicky and I've kinda gotten bored with her...I plan on passing a bunch of clones to a friend then she's getting culled

And to anyone havng trouble rooting clones I'll say this one last time:

BUILD A DAMN BUBBLE CLONER ALREADY!!! SHEESH...Its the EASIEST and most FOOLPROOF method there is IMO...It works for me 100%, EVERY TIME, especially since I added a seedling heating mat...You can buy almost everything at the local Walmart and HD store for probably $25-35...BUILD IT!!! IT WORKS!!!

 

[greenisgold]

Baba- I hear ya. Last year I did the perpetual grow for two grows and that was that. My space is so small (19"x6') that I crammed 26 plants in one gal bags. Could of had 29, but I chopped 3 due to height. I just don't have the space/time anymore for mom's as the wife about freaked when the mom's were getting too big in a closet that she has her work cloths in. So now it's back to basics as I don't need all that weed. 8-12 oz's every 3 months is fine for me. I grow from seed now and I love it as it's always a suprise.
Peace out all!

 

[Bababooey]

Jonnybgood: Damn, that's a lot of weed. If I had 15 pounds, yeah, that would last me and my buds a long time... maybe a year and a half also. I like the thought of putting the growing stuff away for a while, even though all my stuff would probably get rusted sitting in storage that long, unless I just kept it in place, in which case it would just get real dusty...

UncleRemus: I was thinking the exact same thing about the difficulty with a perpetual flowering room: how do you deal with plants at different heights? The plants just in will be half as tall as the ones that finished their stretch.
And then you add in the additional variable of different strains needing different times (my Flo looks ready to take at 8 weeks, my NYCD might take 11 weeks) and unless you have multiple lights or some sort of benches or tiers, you'll have trouble managing the light coverage of plants of wildly different heights...
Phosphoload helps with that, though. It stops stretch within inches, or immediately if you add 2ml per gallon.
Funny that you mentioned the bubble cloner. I was thinking of giving my bubble cloner another run, this time with some sm90 in there to ward off bacteria and algae.
Also, I was thinking of buying an EZ cloner. Not that I want to pay that much money for a cloner, but if it works 100% it's worth it to me, no more messing with cubes or pellets or domes. So far ive been reading up on them and sometimes people have problems with them, especially if their room temp is close to 80. My room sometimes gets to 75 or so so it's iffy if the ezcloner will work well for me; i think it might but i dont want to spend a bunch of money and find out it's shite.
I also plan on keeping bonsai moms, i'm going to start some new ones once i get these effing clones to root! I had to throw away my SDOG clone, it was withered and dying. The Flo and NYCD clones are hurt but still look viable. SDOG might be touchy to clone...

Greenisgold: My closet is about 2ft by 8ft, plus it's real tall. 8-12 ounces dry sounds like a good haul from your space. And if it's dank, yeah, you couldn't smoke more than an ounce a week of it. Well, I mean you COULD, but after a certain point you're just wasting it.
It does mean that you can smoke up your friends a lot.
Man, you must go through a lot of seeds! Do you ever make your own so you can run those strains again and not continually have to buy seeds? I guess it's nice though, having that variety. What's been the best strain you've cracked, all around?

Shot of the closet, showing the disparity in size and vigor of the tub that was vegged for 3 [EDIT] weeks and the other tubs; the one in the middle got no veg at all, the one on the left got a few days.

Another angle.
I was so stupid. All along all I had to do was veg the tubs for a few weeks, and I would have had bountiful harvests every 3 months! Keeping it simple, indeed.
There are a few things I don't like about this, however:
1. If the strains all have similar flowering times, I would have to harvest them all within a short span of time. That's a lot of trimming, but that's like complaining you have too much weed.
2. If they have very different flowering times, that will extend the turnaround time of my closet. Still, not a big issue, i'll still have plenty of bud, just not as efficient as i could be...

I was also thinking that I would need a lot of clones at one time to run 4 tubs at once, but that big tub has only 4 plants, so I could possibly get away with only using 16 clones for 4 tubs. I guess I could run 8-10 clones per tub and reduce my veg time down to 2 weeks or even a week and a half... it could be flexible like that...

 

[El_Professor420]

Here ya fellas go some shots of my SDOG at 5 weeks flowering

 

[dontstepongrass]

i run perpetual and have to say i can see it starting to pay off... i constantly have a tent full of nice buds (with some early and mid flowering too)

uncle remus is right about timing being important as well as the ability to have clones ready and rooted on demand...

also i run sog with handfed organic soil, instead of hydro... perhaps that makes it easier for me to feed my perpetual with strain and stage getting something a lil bit different

 

[abirdintheair]

damn baba, where'd that tub of bushes come from? nice to see you making big steps forward