Tex’s Farm: Perpetual CFL Micro SOG

[TexMex McDirt]

sgapetti - I have definitely learned that warmer temps are key for cloning. My temps in the summer would be high 70s to mid 80s, and that worked fine for the grow and cloning. Now in the colder months, my temps are running low 70s to low 60s. Still ok for the grow, but not the cloning. The indoor clone box stayed in the low-mid 80s and worked pretty good. I think I am still dialing in the watering routine. I have always let them get really dry to adhere to the wet/dry cycle. But I think I may let them get too dry, and that a bit more frequent waterings might help. We'll see, still playing.

Chloemobile - Yep, I love this hobby too. I have always read about the wet/dry cycle too, and that is something I am going to be playing with. Like sgapetti said, dry, not arid. I think I might let mine go too dry sometimes. Reading some PPK threads due to DocCrow's grow and they really never have a dry period and do really well. So, anyways, just gonna play with my watering schedule and see if anything changes.

audioguy - I love the GH Maxi products. I used to use the Schultz too, and this stuff kills it. I use the Maxi Grow and Bloom. I feed pretty much every watering now. I might throw in a plain water here and there, but nothing scheduled. My moms get plain water about every other watering.

Kushion - That is exactly what I like about the perpetual system. If I have a bad week, hopefully the next pull will be better just 2 weeks later. I posted that weak harvest mainly to show that it's not all puppy dogs and rainbows all the time, sometimes you have a blah outcome even when you think it's pretty much dialed in. I don't want to only document the good stuff here, I want to document all the reality of it, good, bad or ugly.

Cheers!
Tex

 

[TexMex McDirt]

So, more goddamn cloning issues. I thought I had a good cold weather solution, but no. Last try I had 0%. So, I got a reptile heating pad today. Going to wire it to go in the Mom/Clone/Veg cab. I am hoping (and praying) that it heats enough to let me clone there year round. During the warmer months when the cab was in the 70s and 80s it was great. But now that it is colder my temps are in the 60s. Fine for the grow still, but no bueno for cloning. So, we'll see if this helps. This is the one I got. Zoo Med Repti-Therm Under Tank Heater. Fingers crossed.

Happy New Year!
Cheers!
Tex

 

[TexMex McDirt]

Setup the new cloning situation. Confidence is not high and I am already thinking of other options. I am still not sure what went wrong with the tote in the box idea. I was thinking maybe not enough fresh air, but hell, some folks keep their clones under domes, so that can't be too different than what I was doing. I opened it up a few times a day to freshen the air. I may try to rig up a small computer fan to it and try it again. I may also try to block the light a bit, they were only a few inches from the bulb in there. It was a small bulb, but the last clones looked kinda cooked, so I am wondering if they were simply too close and might do better if it was indirect light. If anyone has any thoughts on this, please, love to hear any ideas that might help me.

Here is the the tote in the box cloner. Got 4 of 6 the first try, 0 of 9 the 2nd try.



Here are the new components, going back to the Mom/Clone/Veg Cab. Got a new extension cord coming in. Got the reptile heating pad. A 6x6 ceramic tile for it all to set on. A glass dish for the cloner to sit in.



Here it is all put together with 9 new clones. My A mom is pretty beat up right now. I have a new one vegging to take over soon.



Here is what is going on the flower Cab. I have my first few plants from the new B mom in here. I found her about 2 months ago.



This is the 1st plant from the new B mom to get chopped, this week sometime, maybe Thursday. She looks real purdy to me.



So, that is where I am at right now. Chugging along. Still battling the cloning, right when I had it dialed in these damn cold winter months screw it all up. It'll get figured out.

Happy farming. Stay safe.

Mahalo,
Tex

 

[Chloemobile]

Wow those are looking fantastic - B mom is def a keeper that looks like a nice fat bud stick. Just a little more light penetration downwards and the entire stick would fill out nice like the top. I am doing some vertical cfl grows in a very similar setup to try to accomplish this. Pretty much the only difference is the direction of the lights. But yours are coming out fine the way they are. If it ain't broke....

These are day 27 or so of 12/12 once rooted. I have one in a 1 liter and 1 in 16 oz bottle. Comparing results to try to see which bottle I want to accommodate. But I'm running just about the same wattage of CFLS in soil with just some amendments and watering with tap water. Interested to kind of compare results.






=D

 

[Chloemobile]

Oh I also wanted to tell you about how I've solved the cloning in the cold. I have to clone in my garage which is around 40-50 degrees most of the time. I have a 2 gallon water cooler - the kind with a pour spout at the bottom and a twist off top. I cut out a hole in the lid and attached one of those cheap shop lamps that have an aluminum reflector. With a 23 watt cfl and the Insulation in the water cooler it keeps it in the perfect temp range. I adjust the temp by adjusting the lid to partially on or fully on if it gets warmer or cooler. I made a variation of the Walmart cloner using 1/2 inch PVC and it works fantastic I have already had two sets of clones come out of the watercooler clone room.


=D

 

[Kushion]

Well, Tex, we are on the same page again. I just purchased that same heat mat last week to put under my bubbler. I can't tell you how if it has improved things yet because I just hooked it up Saturday.

These cold temps are affecting everything though for me. Besides the clones not rooting as well, the flowering girls seems to be slowing down, certainly not stretching out as much and I'm getting much more purpling in the stems, which seems like a deficiency.

I'm still rolling along though. I did the math and I'm averaging about 6 g's a plant, which is only about 1/3 g/watt. I'm still hoping for more, but I now have 6 types of primo home-grown smoke on the regular.

Good luck with the clones. I bet the heater is the ticket.

 

[SirSmokeallot]

Wow those are looking fantastic - B mom is def a keeper that looks like a nice fat bud stick. Just a little more light penetration downwards and the entire stick would fill out nice like the top. I am doing some vertical cfl grows in a very similar setup to try to accomplish this. Pretty much the only difference is the direction of the lights. But yours are coming out fine the way they are. If it ain't broke....

These are day 27 or so of 12/12 once rooted. I have one in a 1 liter and 1 in 16 oz bottle. Comparing results to try to see which bottle I want to accommodate. But I'm running just about the same wattage of CFLS in soil with just some amendments and watering with tap water. Interested to kind of compare results.

View attachment 200697
View attachment 200698



=D

Sweet. When do u think results will b in? In the UK you can't find those 20 oz bottles! Is there that much size difference between 1 ltr and 20 oz bottle anyway?

 

[TexMex McDirt]

Chloemobile - Thanks tons for the water cooler tip! I am so going to set that up tomorrow. Another Home DePOT trip. A couple of quick questions... Do you do anything for air circulation or just open it like daily to refresh the air? How did you attach the shop lamp, aluminum tape? (That aluminum tape and duct tape seem to be my answer anytime I am stumped). Do you keep a thermometer in the cooler to see what the temps are? Keep up the good work, didn't you move everything to a bud's place due to a security issue? I'll be interested to see if you get a significant difference between the litre and 16 oz bottles. What strain is that? The Wampa? It is frosty as hell. Happy New Year!

Kushion - Happy New Year bud! I checked in on the heat mat about an hour after plugging it in and it barely felt warm to the touch. I am not at all optimistic that it will be the answer. But I am so going to set up the Chloemobile water cooler / ice tube cloner. Tomorrow. That may just be the answer to my cold weather woes. The cooler temps will certainly slow growth and stretch some. I believe the purple is natural to the cooler temps also. I don't think it is a defficiancy. But, keep an eye out for any other signals. I am also averaging about 6 g's per plant. I was hoping to try to dial that in but these damn cloning issues keep fucking things up for me. Damn cloning. I was able to give some friends a few nugs for Christmas. They all raved about how killer it was. It was so hard not to brag about how I cultivated it myself. But, gotta keep it on the down low, even with the best of friends. Good luck, keep us posted.

SirSmokeallot - 1 litre = 33.814 ounces. So the litre is almost 14 ounces more than the 20 ounce bottles I use. I will also be very curious to see what Chloemobile's results are. I use the 20 oz mainly following Dr Bud's method. He always said he had trouble keeping them from growing into trees with anything bigger than the 20 oz. So that is what I went with. Happy New Year!

Cheers,
Tex

 

[SirSmokeallot]

Happy new year to you as well Tex. I also want to emulate Dr.Bud's method as it is perfect for small personal growers and to keep costs lost my first grow will be in an old PC that I bought for £20, which I am currently constructing now. My idea is that I will use the PC grow box in the future for clones or mothers, once I dial things in and build another 1x1x1m box.

In the UK we have access to 500ml bottles, and I was thinking about using them instead? What are your thoughts? They look very similar to the bottles you and Dr.Bud use.

Also a couple of questions if you have the time: 1. do you think it's ok to use white or silver gaffer tape instead of mylar in my PC grow box? and 2. what kind of yield can I expect on my plants if I have a limited grow space of around 10" (the PC box is 15.5" so if I take 5.5" off for the bottle and lighting that would give me around 10" of growing space).

Thanks a ton for your time and detailed description/pictures in this thread and your first grow box thread.

 

[TexMex McDirt]

SirSmokeallot - According to my friend Google, 500ml = 16.907 ounces. So it's close, just shy by 3 ounces. That is a good idea, get that PC going to start and then build a Cab. Use the PC then for moms and clones. Main issue growing in small spaces is controlling size. There are tons of PC grows in the micro section. I don't read many of 'em very often since that isn't how I grow, but I have looked at a few that have been very impressive. My first cab I covered the interior with that silver aluminum type tape. It was ok I suppose. The plants in my micro SOG get anywhere from 12-16 inches. So you might need to do some training, SCRoG, LST...

Good luck, keep it simple, have fun.
Tex

 

[Chloemobile]

Hey tex you got it all right on aluminum tape and a thermometer sitting at soil level. No air movement for mine I think it helps with the humidity to not have it.

Yeah my cab is at my friends house finishing off a 1 liter plant then I built a new one out of a collapsible clothes hamper with 3 26 waters a pc fan and a pencil cup scrubber lol to keep my last 16 oz plant alive. my dog ate my mom a 1 liter plant a 16 oz plant and all the soil while I kept the plants outside till my buddy had my cab. What a bummer. I have a few rooted clones too that I'm trying to keep alive in a make shift cab in the garage haha. I'm just about done building a really nice stealth cab that I'm going to make a thread for once I get it running. Hopefully the stealthness will be better for my security. It was more of a panic thing from my fiancé but all is cool and chill again.

Still running the wappa. Love the smoke.



=D

 

[TexMex McDirt]

my dog ate my mom a 1 liter plant a 16 oz plant and all the soil while I kept the plants outside till my buddy had my cab. What a bummer.

Dude, that is damn funny! It seriously sucks. But it's damn funny though. I'm glad to hear your security issue is worked out. Better to be safe. My wife is always super paranoid. Looking forward to seeing your new digs once it's up and running. I'm going to go build my Chloemobile water cooler clone factory now. Got all the supplies today. Time to assemble. Will post it later.

Mahalo,
Tex

 

[Chloemobile]

Cool man! I hope it works out it would be really cool to finally give back to a place that has given me so much info.

Man I was soooo pissed at my dog lol I like it less overall after that incident. Kind of kicked me while i was down. It's really my fault obviously but damn can i catch a break lol. The bonsai mom was in a 2 liter and was a beautiful little bush - it was going to give me a nice amount of sensi. On with the future though.

In my garage its about 50 and I had the lid halfway on. It got colder a few times and I just put the lid on a little more never completely though.

The one I showed you earlier was the 1 liter in my cab at my friends house. Here is a photo of the 16 oz in my laundry hamper hack.







Don't mean to hijack just wanted to share pictures if what I was talking about.


=D

 

[TexMex McDirt]

OK, so I have set up the watercooler cloning chamber. We'll see how it does keeping them clones warm in these cold winter months so they can actually root! I am optimistic.

I bought this bad boy at Home DePOT for $9.97.



I cut a hole in the top lid just a bit smaller than the shop lamp reflector.



Using my good friend foil tape I attached the shop lamp and put in a CFL bulb. The pic is a 9 watter, that is what I had handy. I swapped that shortly for a 19 watter I stumbled across. If the temps don't get high enough I will buy a 23 watter like used by Chloemobile and see how that does.



And then the clones got dropped in. This obviously wouldn't be a solution for a large scale grow, but for my humble needs, it is looking great.



And here she is all set up and running.



I am going to see how warm it gets. It is about 50 in the attic now. I just closed this up about an hour ago. I checked the temp about 20 minutes ago and it was at 66 degrees. I just checked it about ten minutes later and it was at 68 degrees. I just looked again it is at 69 degrees. So it is warming up. Hoping to see it get to the high 70s to low 80s. Fingers crossed. Wish me luck!

I also chopped 4 plants last night including that first fat B clone. I will post up weights in a few days.

Happy farming, stay safe!

Mahalo,
Tex

 

[soursmoker]

Let me know how that cloner works out for you! Remember me mentioning aloe vera as a cloning gel. Well I cut 5 clones, 4 were dipped in the inside of an aloe vera leaf, and 1 in cloning powder. (the aloe vera plant did not look the happiest so I'm sure it isn't an accurate representation...) But either way two of the clones that were dipped in aloe vera rooted and the 1 clone that was dipped in cloning powder rooted.
Lol so kinda weird results but it definitely works! I order some 100% organic aloe vera juice, and will do a test. 9 clones in aloe vera and 9 in cloning powder.

Will come back and let you know how it goes.

 

[The Hummus Monk]

Nice growing TexMex! Looks like you've got some good buds ripening up!

 

[quinoa64]

So, I got a reptile heating pad today. ... This is the one I got. Zoo Med Repti-Therm Under Tank Heater. Fingers crossed.

Oh sweet, I was looking at seed starter heating pads and they're all like 22 inches long. That one is 6 x 8 which is a great size for just a few clones or seedlings. And cheaper!

Just goes to show, when looking for solutions it's good to remember the other hobbies where environmental control is really important: cigars, reptiles, and home beer brewing.

 

[TexMex McDirt]

Hummus Monk - Thanks! Appreciate you lookin' in.

quinoa64 - That heating pad did nada for me. Some folks think I got a defective one. It barely got warm to the touch. I am now trying the watercolor cloning chamber inspired by Chloemobile. So far it seems to be working great. It is on the same timer as my mom/veg cab. When the light goes off it gets cool, but with that one single bulb in there it is holding in the high 70s to 80 and the clones look really healthy. I am waiting to really brag on the idea until I am certain I have it working good.

Cheers,
Tex

 

[TexMex McDirt]

So I have 2 Northern Lights Moms now. The original, I am just calling her A, and a new one, calling her B. I just chopped and hung the 1st B plant. Here she is dried. 6.5 g's. So right on par with everything else so far.



I am also loving the Chloemobile water cooler cloning chamber. It is sitting at 82 degrees and the clones look healthy and happy. I am going to give them till Friday I think and then check em. I am a week behind on my regular perpetual schedule due to these damn cloning issues. But hopefully the new winter time cloning chamber will set me back on track.



Happy farming, stay safe!

Mahalo,
Tex

 

[Chloemobile]

Very nice. Seems pretty consistent at 6.5g. Are you satisfied with that on a consistent basis or are you changing things subtly to try to increase?


=D