1 Female re-veg, and two seedlings. 26 and 42 watt CFLs and Aero Garden Hood

This is the third thread I've started. Anyway I've made a lot of rookie mistakes and run into problems. Hopefully I'll get to a harvest in this thread, something I've yet to do.

I have one female that I'm reveging. Also I have two seedlings. These were from a seedbank 10 pack mix so I don't know the strain.

My grow box is 30in high, 23in wide, and 12in deep. Attached to the top of the box is an aero garden hood with the two standard CFLs. Not sure of the wattage. At the bottom I have two lamps one with a 42 watt CFL and the second with a 26 watt CFL.

For seedlings I am just using PH'd water and for the revegging female I just started using miracle grow NPK 24-8-16. I will start the seedlings on the miracle grow later.

Anyway that's my set up. Here we go again.

Pics are attached of my plants. Last pic is a before of the female I'm revegging...don't ask what happened...lol.

sub'd...again

My lamps are single socket. I see apparatuses that you can attach to make them double socket and hold two CFLs, but what are those called?? I did a quick internet search but can't seem to find them.

the Y splitter's i have a couple of them but dont even use them right now lol...anyways sub'd up home!

Thanks simplybaked, as my plants get bigger I will probably be picking up a few of those splitters.

I have added another CFL using one of those sockets with the aluminum reflector disc and a clamp. At first adding this extra light made the temp in my grow box reach 91 degrees!! But what I was able to do is unscrew the aluminum disc from the light socket. This left just the socket and the clamp. This helped two fold. I was able to get the light 2 in away from seedling and removing the aluminum disc reflector reduced my box temp to 85 degrees. Those light sockets with the clamp are quite handy and have many possibilities for positioning.

Right now I have the plants on a 20/4 light cycle. Now my desire is to have the light cycle that produces the quickest leaf/branch growth so I can go into the flowering phase sooner.

So the question is would 18/6 or 24/0 be better for quicker leaf/branch growth?? Or am I good at 20/4?? I am inclined to believe that 24/0 would be better. Thoughts??

well seeing as roots usually grow the most when lights are out i'd go with either the 20/4 or 18/6. I use 18/6 and have been for a while. I tried 24/0 on 2 grows and i just ran into too many problems in veg so i just stuck with 18/6 and its worked well for me. But i know 24/0 can be done successfully i just really dont care for it. 20/4 is also good i know people who swear by it. So really its all up to you homie good luck

What is the best light cycle during the vegetative stage, 18/6 or 24/?
And which one will help the ladies go into their flowering cycle with the less stress?

Marijuana plantes photosynthesize as long as they receive light as well as water, air, nutrients and suitable temperature. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants use the energy from light (primarily in the blue and red spectrums) to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water (H2O) to make sugar while releasing oxygen to the air.

Plants use sugars continuously to fuel metabolic processes (living) as well as for tissue building. The plant combines nitrogen (N) with the sugar to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. They are the substance of plant tissue. When the light is off, the plant's metabolic processes, respiration and growth, continue.
The plant can photosynthesize continuously so it produces the most energy and growth when the light is on, continuously. Continuous light does not stress the plant, which reacts somewhat mechanistically to it.

Plants under an 18-6 light-dark regimen are producing sugar only three quarters of the time. They are thus growing at only 75% of their potential. Leaving the light on continuously will result in bigger plants, faster, which leads to higher yields.


Source: http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2291.html

Being so impatient with my grow I am continuing to read and think of ways to speed up my grow and get the most from it. Well I see that many people use CO2 to help the plants grow.

Well i'm not a big time grower...just want a few nugs for personal use...so many of the CO2 setups were just too expensive and just plain impractical for my setup. But I came across the idea of producing your own CO2 with water, sugar, and yeast.

You can do your research on the idea but this thread has an excellent tutorial on home made CO2: https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/1362-home-made-co2-tutorial.html

I know what u mean about wanting them to grow as fast as possible. Im thinking about doing 24/0 lighting with my grow.

That bigger plant will probably take off soon especially with the mg. are u planning on transplanting it soon?

Sub'd, interested in the reveg

v1sual said:

I know what u mean about wanting them to grow as fast as possible. Im thinking about doing 24/0 lighting with my grow.

That bigger plant will probably take off soon especially with the mg. are u planning on transplanting it soon?

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I know I said that this was going to be a party cup grow, but the newbie jitters continue to get the best of me. The plant I'm revegging I already put in a container thats about 30 ounces. I used a tupperware container 7 in. tall 6 in diameter. Due to my limited grow space I would use up too much space using traditional planters that are lower and wider.

One seedling was planted in a similar pot (great value creamer 32 oz, lol). The other seedling is still in the party cup. I will most likely transplant to a pot similar in size to the others.

Well I studied the bulbs that I was using and found that they were 2700k which is bad for veg.

So now I have my re-vegging female and one seedling under CFL's with 5000k. The other seedling I am going to keep under the 2700k. They're all in the same small box so hopefully they'll all benefit.

I transplanted the seedling out of the last party cup and now its in a 1 liter coke bottle. When I transplated I saw that the roots had already made it to the bottom of the cup. Pretty big root system for a seedling. So now all three plants are in they're permanent homes.

Hopefully now i'll be able to sit back and relax and watch'em grow. I plan to take pictures thursday which will mark 1 week from sprout.

I've been continuing my research on veg light cycles.

One way in which plants are categorized is by the way they gather and handle carbon dioxide. Cannabis is a C3 plant. It uses the CO2 it gathers during the light period, when it is photosynthesizing. Plants designated C4 also gather CO2 during the dark period for use during the light period. Many C3 plants, including cannabis, do not need a rest period. They continue to photosynthesize as long as they are receiving light.
The plant's photosynthetic rate determines its growth rate because the sugars are used by the plant to build tissue and for energy. Cannabis under continuous light will grow 33% faster than the same plants on an 18-6 light regime.

source: http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/3127.html

Cannabis is a light demanding plant. Professional growers keep the light on their plants using the 24/0 photoperiod for this reason. Plants that grow under 24/0 flourish and do not need a quantity of darkness in order to rest and perform photosynthesis properly. Plants that are grown in optimal conditions under 24/0 light regime grow vigorusly and the benefits of a 24/0 photoperiod can be seen actively in the results. More nodes are formed, more branches are created, leaf numbers increase, the plant is growing at its finest.

Some growers opt to use 18/6 as their photoperiod. This is 18 hours of light, six hours of darkness light regime. Under these conditions the plant will grow quite naturally but not as vigorously as the 24/0 photoperiod.

The 18/6 photoperiod expels 3/4 the amount of light that a 24/0 photoperiod does. Although this does not mean that a plant produces 1/4 less leaves,branches and nodes under the 18/6 photoperiod, it certainly does show the correlation between light and cannabis growth. As we have said already, cannabis is a light demanding plant. There are no problems associated with 24/0 and although some have attributed cannabis sexual dysfunction (the hermaphrodite conditon) to 18/6 photoperiod these problems are actually the result of heat stress.

A 24/0 photoperiod requires that your grow room temperature be kept well monitored. The 18/6 option is cheaper to run. You use a quarter less electricity and this will have an impact on your electricity bill. Also the 18/6 photoperiod will generally extend the bulb's lifespan. During the 6 hours of darkness the grow room is allowed to cool down for this period but a well maintained good grow room setup should not require a cooling down period.

24/0 and 18/6 both share the same problem though. Once you start the photoperiod you should keep that way especially when the plants near maturity (the preflowering stage). An irregular photoperiod can cause more males than females to develop. It can also cause sexual dysfunction to appear. Whether you choose 24/0 or 18/6 as your vegetative photoperiod try to keep that photoperiod unitl your plants are mature enough to express their sex."

My plants aren't looking as good as I would like them to...I'm changing over from 24/0 to 18/6. Reason I'm doing that is because I think they're suffering from a little heat stress. My little box just gets too hot. I'll probably veg another week or two before switching the lights...I wish they were growing faster...Learning experience I guess

a2302050127 said:

My plants aren't looking as good as I would like them to...I'm changing over from 24/0 to 18/6. Reason I'm doing that is because I think they're suffering from a little heat stress. My little box just gets too hot. I'll probably veg another week or two before switching the lights...I wish they were growing faster...Learning experience I guess

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yeh thats exactly what i was talking about, i experienced the same exact thing with 24/0 probably because of my box and the ventilation wasnt well enought to run 24/0 so i switched to 18/6 and seen tremendous difference in growth because my temps were down and stable. once i set my tent up i will give the 24/0 a try again to see if i can get it done. hope everything works out for you homie

you chopped the big leaves off your reveg plant? were they dieing? if not... i woulda left em.

corúm;4781347 said:

you chopped the big leaves off your reveg plant? were they dieing? if not... i woulda left em.

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Yeah they were dieing... Probably should have left them anyway.

I think i've figured out my problem...I am solemn faced as I say this...I have root rot...

This is drastic...I'm going to transplant...to MG Seed Starter soil mix...mixed with perlite.

I don't know what to say...I've experienced so many problems...I might take some time one day and write a thread on "what not to do" lol

Anyway, while situating my plants in my box I noticed a smell. After a little analysis I found it was the bottom of my planters. It was a rotten smell. My planters were not draining well. I had many holes but it just wasn't working. I think the problems were that my planters were too tall and that the soil didn't drain well. I did a soaking water and the run off smelled horrible!! I decided to transplant...

This is a point where I'm not sure if my plants are going to make it. but here's what I did. One by one I carefully uprooted the plants and put them in a cup of distilled water.

In their new planters I put a layer of perlite at the bottom and then used a 50/50 Potting soil & Perlite mix to replant. (MG seed starter and MG Perlite).

They're in their new homes. Pic attached