Sardonic's First Grow

[Dr Dog]

That is funny seeing that wee one in that big ole pot!
Seedling are looking good though

 

[Sardonic]

haha yeah. i hope that isn't bad for the plant at all >_<

how much longer do you think I should wait until transplanting?
btw, thanks for following the thread, the community here is quite nice, but why wouldn't it be, everyone's high

 

[Green Tucan]

how old are those seedlings in those last pics u took? I also have some seedlings going and I actually had to transplant mine because the stems just got to freaking tall lol.. so i repotted them in deeper soil and put soil around their stems so they could have better support. Although it was very nerve wrecking transplanting those little fragile guys. Although they seem to have survived it I think because I see that they are growing a bit more now.

 

[Dr Dog]

That seedling tray you are using should have holes in it, I would wait until you see roots starting to pop through the holes, that way you can be sure they have a good base, you can try to transplant now, but bad things can happen if you try to early, there is a bunch of us with plants that age right now, why don't you wait until we have started transplanting, it will not hurt your plants to wait a little longer.

And you are welcome, I try to help where i can

 

[Sardonic]

my guess would be those seedlings are about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. I'm not absolutely sure; it's my first grow, I neglected to properly log their ages and what not >_<

and that sounds like a plan, Dr Dog ^_^

 

[Sardonic]

Help!

Help!

I woke up this morning to find this









they have all been getting plenty of sun (save the last two days when it rained). So why is this little one so droopy? It looked like it was close to death.

So, I put some more soil in all of their individual containers to add more support for the stems until transplanting time. I also gave them all some water.

any suggestions?

 

[Dr Dog]

sometimes they don't make it. But I would suspect it may be a watering issue, try using what I do, a matchstick, to prop them up, and yo want to shelter them from any wind, it would not take much to knock over a seedling that small

 

[Sardonic]

i figured it had to be watering.

do you think it was over watering or under?

and thanks, that's a great idea. a lot better than my high solution (I made a complicated string/straw setup) ^_^

 

[Sardonic]

If you're interested in wiring, then here's what you'll need.

150w HPS Ballast
Medium Base 150w HPS Bulb
HID Socket
Ballast Box

Buy a bag of wire screws at Home Depot, a couple extension cords, some wire strippers, and you're good to go. Make sure if you get a medium size bulb, you get a medium base, same goes if you want to use the mogul size, get the same base and bulb so they fit. I used a mogul sized bulb the first grow, but switched to medium, because they put out the same light, and the medium is about half the size of the mogul, so it's easier to fit in my aircooled hood.

I got a 6"x6"x4" electrical box at Home Depot to put my ballast in, and I have a PC fan resting on top of the open metal box blowing into it, keeping the ballast at room temperature. The ballast will get quite hot, and there will be some vibration, so you'll want a way to have some air moving over it so it doesn't become a fire hazard, and some kind of vibration buffer. I've got mine resting on a few pieces of rockwool, none of the vibrations travel through to the cabinet.

That's what the wiring should look like. The before and after is for a security light like you were looking at, if you want to get one of those instead of the individual pieces.

A note: The ballast I linked to on 1000bulbs is a multitap, which means it can be wired for 120v, 208v, 240v, 277v.

I'm not sure where 208v and 277v would be used, but 120v is what the electrical sockets in the USA are.

There's a wiring guide printed on the ballast, I used that with the help of a few pictures like the one above, and had mine put together in like 20 minutes.

I got my light today .

i have to run by home depot to get the wire screws and such. i'm excited, and quite overwhelmed. this thing looks like it'll be a toughy to put together >_<

 

[Sardonic]

man, i'm really lost with this light assembly >_<. are there any tutorials that you guys could point me to?

 

[Dr Dog]

what are you lost with, all you are really doing is removing the photosensor and adding a switch,not that difficult, but if you don't feel comfortable doing it, you may want to wait until you do, no sense burning your house down for a few plants

 

[Sardonic]

ah i see. thanks for the advice

I have a fellow grower coming over to help me out ^_^. I'll be taking pictures of the whole process so hopefully other newcomers can learn too

 

[Dr Dog]

well I kind of work in the electrical field, so that diagram makes complete sense to me. But he should have you do it, then you will learn. Next thing you know, you are popping em out like crazy. Wiring is pretty simple, just make sure everything is grounded and all the connections are secure and tight.

But good luck with it, I will check out how you made out in the morn

 

[Sardonic]

well, he's unsure of how to put it together also >_<
there has to be a tutorial or something somewhere!


[edit] I am following this tutorial:
http://www.gardenscure.com/420/lighting-reference/40953-1000bulb-com-hps-assembly-journal.html

 

[Sardonic]

that tutorial I mentioned ends early, so, I'm a little less lost than I was, but I'm still lost.

I've been trying all day to figure this bad boy out, and i'm sure it's easy as balls. my friend has me scared to wire it incorrectly and electrocute myself though .

anyway, here's how it is right now:

the porcelain was shattered on my mogul hid socket that arrived, so i've gotta get a new one. anyway, i'm using it temporarily (just to verify that the light actually works for a few secs, so it shouldn't over heat). This socket has two wires coming out of it, one black and one white.

right now the white wire coming from the mogul socket is intertwined with the wire titled 'A2 LAMP'. The black wire from the socket is intertwined with a wire also called 'A2 LAMP'. one of the "A2 LAMP" wires connects to a white container labeled 'LAMP IGNITER', and the other connects to the ballast.

I have an extention cord, with one wire connecting to a wire labeled '120 volt', and the other connected to 'COM'.

there is a wire called 'A3 com' coming out of the Lamp Igniter, it's connected to a wire coming out of the ballast caled 'A3 com'


i've plugged it in, and i hear a little buzzing inside the ballast, but the light does not come on.

please help

 

[Dr Dog]

The buzzing is what the ballast should be doing, with the mogul cracked it is probably what is going on, but I dug this up for you.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=36344&highlight=hps+security+light

 

[Sardonic]

I'm no photographer.

I'm no photographer.

thanks Dr Dog, that adds some clarity. I'll wait until my electrically inclined pal gets off from work and we'll start working on it again.

EEP. as if I didn't have enough on my plate, now my plants growing outside are sick

 

[Sardonic]

I don't think that thread is what I need. The diagrams it have are very different from what's in front of me. ex:

that ballast has 3 wires coming out of it. The one I have has 6 (that's not including the 3 non-used voltage wires).

I can't believe it's this complicated to find a tutorial on how to do this. 1000bulbs should at least have a simple HowTo for us who don't work in the electric industry and don't want to electrocute ourselves.

 

[Dr Dog]

Bro I can't see what is wrong with your plants it is too blurry. almost looks like they are over watered, but I cannot be sure.

Is that diagram what you have in front of you? Where did this diagram come from

 

[inverse]

use macro mode when you take pictures to make sure theyre in focus

in the meantime, try and diagnose it yourself
http://www.growfaq.net/growfaq/97.htm