Looks like damn nice start early in the season! great job Mikey. I was noticing the hydrofarm t5's them seem to be doing a nice job for your vegging gals. Always wanted a set of those out but lately ive been only growing outdoors as the new baby kinda put the kaibash on the indo. I know what you mean about trying to match the same light regimen as is outdoors. Is the weather getting close to a point you could harden them off outdoors? And man that Alpha D cross looks like its going to be a heavy hitter. Very impressive start!! for being a bit rusty you sure couldnt tell it
One other thing i wanted to mention, have you ever tried bubble cloning? back in my glory days of mass producing cuttings for the various patients in the local coop of multiple strains. I built a couple large DIY very simple cloners i used to call them the magic boxes lol.
Its basically nothing more than a heavy guage black tote usually you can find them in black at any office supply in virtually any size to meet your needs. However i did things slightly different from the average run of the mill setup. I used a hydroponic diaphram air pump with a manifold for 12 hoses on it. Any hydro shop has them. This way you can run multiple airstones and the more the better. I found that the round tube type worked best and then the blue stones next.
I also did alot of counter feeding and over time i had it down so good that my cuttings would not loose a single leaf while rooting. Ill see if i can find the link and send it to ya. Its worth a read
Keep up the good work peace.
Thanks much appreciated! yeah those t5's are badd ass I am really happy with them for early vegging. The only reason they are doing as well with the larger plants, though, is because of the cross spread from the denser light coming from the 400, 600, and 1000W mh's. once the plants get about 2 ft tall the middle and bottom growth gets kind of stringy.
I wish the weather was really getting close. For those big ladies going out on the spring run... I just transplanted them a week ago, so they need time to get nicely settled in their pots, and get some solid healthy veg growth too. They have about two weeks maybe a little longer before they can go outside. I have been watching the outside temps very closely, and weather predictions. Unseasonably warm winter on the west coast this year. But still not quite good for putting them out. If they had a little hothouse set up with some plastic around them to insulate heat, and a little bit of supplemental lighting to keep temps up and keep em going strong, then I would have plants out all year. That is in future plans, but things are just getting started so will have to work up to that. For now, just going to keep at it how it is. For any mature plants, if I put them out before May they will go into flower, since the idea is to get a jump start and get them nice and big and mature before going out.... the soonest I could see putting my full season plants out is May, maybe end of April.... BUT, the outdoor site is the same for the spring and full season crops and spring run harvest should be mid to late april, leaving a couple weeks while trimming to clean up and get prepped and set up for full season.... which reminds me, I think I am really going to need to get a couple pairs of hands to help me around then, just too much for one person.
I like your cloner idea- would like to get something just like that going too. Maybe over the next few months I could get something like that together. Just need a parts list and should be pretty easy to figure out. For now, Im gunna go ahead and use what I have because this next batch cant wait.
Anyways, could you find somewheres that has a list, and shoot me a link to that diaphragm air pump?
Yeah that Alpha D x OG is turning out to be my favorite too. got a couple of those going for the spring run (the one I LST'ed). Not really expecting much off of those 4 under the 400W HPS, maybe 5-6 ounces, been thinking more and more every day about just throwing them outside to finish, actually... just thinking about it... lol the 400W has been like a heater for me, have hardly had the houses heater on accept at night when the light is off.
Fucking stoked!!! Just noticed a water line I could tap into with a water hose to bring into the room immediately!! been stressing about all the back and forth trips a couple gallons at a time I have been going through to do the watering, now I will have water right there and won't have to wait for those damn gallon jugs to fill up, which took for ever!
I've been doing a bunch of math and really hoping to see some savings on my electricity bill from cutting the light times and installing the electrical in the room. Hoping with those savings, and switching a couple vegs lights off once the spring run ladies go out.... hoping to match what I turn off MH wise with flowering room lights that I turn on- still saving a few extra bucks dropping from 18/6 to 12/12. I'm itching to get the flowering area set up, obviously.
inside temps are getting higher though, as the weather does continue to heat up. No way getting around putting in an AC unit.... luckily it won't need to come on much, at least until I do get a spot sectioned off and start flowering.....