the pobs winter grow

[thunderpob]

hi all,

Starting my winter grow. 5x blueberry and these are beans that came from my previous summer grow and is my first from beans collected from my own plants

i grew this strain in summer in the same room and had fantastic results and i am looking forward to comparing the results

i am a bit worried about the temps in my grow room.

it's outside in a shed with the roof insulated and all walls etc covered in mylar

what is the best and easiest way of keeping the girls warm (at least at the roots)??

anyway will be posting pics soon ( ot much to see at the moment) but wanted to get my start date in the diary.

 

[FreezerBoy]

My cabs in the garage. Winter temps can go as low as high 30ºs. I do DWC and use an aquarium heater. That would work in an E&F res as well. If growing in soil or similar try propagation mats. Electric heating pads similar to waterbed or terrarium/vivarium heaters. You may want to separate mat and pot. Say, with a cooling rack for cookies or similar.

 

[thunderpob]

12 Days in Veg

Hi all,

well its been 12 days and all is well.





All 6 look ok (well apart from one but i will come to that later)

i am not sure how well Blueberry deals with lower temps, i am hoping that all that will happen is that the grow will take a bit longer so anyone with any experience of growing in lower temps feel free to pass on any hints.

this time i am using a 400w metal halide and a 125w eco grow blue spectrum for the grow phase. the 125w is right down on top of the plants as i have heard this helps with "nodal spacing" (what ever that is)

thanks for the advice FreezerBoy. i cant really use an aquarium heater as i grow organic in soil with rain water but i do warm the water to room temperature for a day or so before feeding so that should help the roots out.

actually i have been lucky with the temps as drops no lower than 15 c lights off at night so the insulation i installed worked well (i put some one the floor as well which seems to help)

one of the plants has very yellow leaves and i cant work out why. i started to feed them (half dose of Bio Bizz grow) 5 days ago so unless this one is particularly hungry little girl i am not sure what to do. heres a pic


cheers all

 

[thunderpob]

22 days in

not much to report

4 out of 5 seem to be doing ok and am quite happy with how they are shapping up. . The early three finger leaves have been a bit suspect in shape but that may be because i have been runner the nutrients a bit hot. The newer leaves look a better.

I have topped one of them and its only the second time i have done this so i am still a bit nervous that i am gonna screw it up





still having problems with one of the them, the leaves are yellow and the growth pattern is different.



the thing is, apart from the colour of the leaves it looks health with nice strong fan leaves...

 

[AbbieDoobie]

Hey, I grow during the winter, too, in my outdoor shed. It's really not that difficult. Check out my thread in the Rezdog forum.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=104974

If you got questions about winter growing, just send me a PM.

~Abbie

 

[sativa_cyborg13]

I have never thought of collecting and using rain water. Do you have to add anything to the water(calcium, ect, ect)? That is a great idea. Nice looking grow and good luck?

 

[thunderpob]

Hi guys, thanks for taking the time

Sativia - never really crossed my mind so probably a very good question.

Rain water is a good and free alternative if your mains supply is too hard as rain water is generally on the acidic side. (at least it is where ever i have lived i the UK) i test it for ph now and then and it ranges from 6.5ph to 6.2ph.
My mains water runs at a constant 8.7ph and it was costing me a fortune to bring it down and compromised the organic mantra, there was also a chemical/chlorine smell so you can never tell what they are putting in it along the way.

I don't add anything to it apart from ferts when the time is right. I do make sure that i bring it up to room temperature first though as the temperature is too low to put straight on the plants in winter.

AbbieDoobie - i checked out your thread, nice looking plants and i am gonna book mark to see how you get on (and how yours compare . they will be huge come February..!

 

[thunderpob]

Merry Christmas all.

4 week in now, about two thirds through veg (although i may flip them sooner...)
They have grown noticeably in the last 8 days since the last photos were taken and they look healthy (to my untrained eye) and disease free. i am watering by the weight of the pots and they are taking 4 litres between them every two to three days.

The leaves look a bit mal-formed in some places (cant really see it from these photos but i can see it) but other than that the growth looks good.










One is still a bit on the yellow side
but she seems to be improving since i stopped adding ferts to the water, not out of the woods yet though.



Had a friend round the other day and confirmed that they had been over feed. but he also said that they looked like they where doing really well for 4 weeks in considering.. which was a nice christmas bonus.

 

[AbbieDoobie]

Lookin' good. What a challenge growing the shed, eh? Fun fun fun... Have a nice holiday.

~Abbie

 

[thunderpob]

Hi all.

i started a thread in the infirmary as on of the is a bit yellow and showing a different growth pattern

i thought i would post it in. Blueberry Yellow leaves in early veg phase
looks like i have been over feeding

Hey Abbie - its never dull in the shed

 

[thunderpob]

31 days in...

Had a friend round today so had a spare pair of hands to help with some delicate repotting.

Managed to get a good look at the roots as we went along....
Bit worried about the brown in the middle, that cant be good...


We had way too much to drink and ended up naming them after watching two seasons of Spaced

We have Marsha, Colin, Tim, Mike and Daisy. Collectively known as the Spaced Crew.

Decided to give them a bit of a trim as we went long (before the drinking) and cut out some of the less vigorous looking growth. I think we went a bit too far...

Marsha - (recovering from yellow leaves nicely)




Daisy



Mike





Tim


and finally
Colin


Crew all together





They are looking a bit peeky but i am putting that down to the repotting , i'll worry if they haven't picked up in a few days.

Current heights are :
Marsha, Daisy and Mike are 12 inches
and Colin and Tim which have been the most effected by the over feeding are 9 inches.

Probably at least two weeks until i start with any feeding which will probably be low strength Bio Bloom.
Still a long ways to go yet but i think i have now corrected for the over feeding.

I had to use some John Innes no.3, instead of All Mix i hope this wont feck it all up. i have a feeling it isn't "organic"....

 

[theHIGHlander]

looking good Bro ,nice to see the spaced family fighting back
growing in a garden shed sweet. dont this give you any greef in the winter with low temps and all?

keep it green
highlander

p.s the john innes wont harm anything. ive had a few good crops with that stuff ..
i used it when i could not get any all mix plus its on £3.50 for 50 ltrs lol..(yes it is organic)

i got sick of the trying to get the odd bag of all mix so i binned that and went coco nay looking back now

 

[thunderpob]

Welcome aboard Highlander.

I thought it was a bit of a risk temperature wise as i have only used the shed once before, in summer. Temps were a bit high that time round so i thought that in winter it would be worse (cold) and when the lights were on it would shine like a beacon to any nosy heli's armed with "flar" (the heat sensing camera thingy)

I got a bit anal about the security side of things so

A bit of diy quickly sorted this, i used some 2 inch silver sided, foam insulation in the roof, covered it in mylar and bobs your uncle. I have a temperature probe between the foam and the roof lining to check how well it works and man does it work well.

it's has been as low as -5c outside ambient and at the probe it's -3c, it only goes down to 15c inside the grow room (lights off).

when i checked it with the lights on, it goes to about 25c inside with the outside ambient temps being at around -4c and the probe temperature outside (at the probe) is still -2c which keeps the room secure from peeking eyes from above.

verdict - winter growing in a shed, sorted.

 

[thunderpob]

36 Days In

well the crew have come through their repotting nicely now they are looking perky again.

I am still having problems with one of them (Marsha) the leaves are improving but are the yellow side of green with pronounced dark colour vains.

Marsha




Tim




Mike





Daisy



Colin




I cant work Colin out. her growth pattern is totally different to the other four. Right now i am thinking possible Male...

Compared to my last grow these are are a lot more bushy but the growth rate is roughly the same(probably a little shorter), i am putting down to a combination of the reduced temperatures and the addition of the 125w eco lamp.

Did a check for disease and bugs whilst i was having a tidy up of the shed and i could get them out into the light, i am happy to report that it all looks clean and healthy no bugs under the leaves and no flys on the stalks.

Generally i think i need to start feeding again. It's been 20 days of nothing but plain water so i think i must be coming to the end of the fertiliser in the soil.

if you think this is a really bad idea then feel free to shout...

 

[thunderpob]

Had some snow last night and the insulated shed came through with flying colours.... phew

 

[thunderpob]

39 Days in Veg

Not much going on since the last update except that i think they are finally looking hungry and are starting to drink more. I i started feeding again tonight, 3ml per litre of Bio Bizz Grow and they are taking 6 litres of water evenly between them.

I'll keep the feed at the same level for the next couple of days so not to frighten them, then whack it up to 4ml and see how that goes for the rest of the veg cycle

I think they have about 10 to 15 days left in Veg

 

[thunderpob]

40 Days in Veg

No watering/feed today

4 out of 5 are doing well, Marsha is still recovering from yellow leaves but is finally getting there

I measured them today, they have grown between two inches and eight inches in nine days so some of them are really starting to come on.

Marsha 16"
Colin 11"
Mike 19",
Daisy 20"
Tim 15"

Tim, Daisy, Mike and Marsha are doing well. Colin has taken over from Marsha as the problem child , far smaller and has only grown 2" in the same time and it's still looking like a different strain which i know it cant be.

not sure what to do... the growth rate is so different that there has to be something up.

Anyone care to suggest a cause or a cure before i throw it over to to the guys in the Infirmary to get laughed at
still 80% isn't a bad hit rate

Colin 11"




Tim 15"




Mike 19"


Daisy "20


Marsha 16"


Crew

 

[AbbieDoobie]

Alright, thunderpob. Kickin' ass in the shed, I see. Too bad about Colin. Maybe overwatering? Not sure what's going on. Wow, a radiator. That's an awesome idea. Now why didn't I think of that? Hmmmm..... How high are you taking them in veg before you flip to 12/12? How much height do you have in the grow space? My tallest has hit the 30" mark and I got about a month still to go in veg. Not sure what I'm gonna do, lol. Hit her with FIM, I suppose. Lookin' good there, pob... Grow on...

~Abbie

 

[thunderpob]

Hey Abbie -
That radiator is a godsend it's got a thermostat built in and everything.

I have a little one in reserve that has been growing in a much smaller pot for the last 30 days so if i choose to send Colin to the big kennel in the sky i will re-pot the little'n and see how it goes. will be a good experiment i think.

Colin gets another 3 days, then i am going to give up, i have a small grow space and i think i may have to be cruel

I am thinking of flipping them in 5 days. They will between 23" and 25" by then i am pushing it at the moment as i have about 5 foot of usable height but i want them as bushy as possible.

i was looking at your grow the other day... man i hope you got some height in your grow room... because if you have a month of vegging to go they are going to be huge..

last time i grew in the shed i had to bend all of the main stalks over to stop them burning on the lights.

 

[thunderpob]

Quick update for you.

Got a new addition to the shed. Same strain but about 10 days younger.

I have just potted her up to a tall 4 litre pot

She is 9" tall and a bit pot bound.