250+WATT CFL Kush

So i had originally started this in just the bubbleponics forum but got ZERO replies in all my posts so i thought id move it here seeing as how i was treating it as a grow journal anyways.

to get up to speed

so this is a supposed Royal Kush strain. I had 2 seeds..safe to say they came from a herm so im hoping for fems.

started them in rockwool. rockwool got moldy and i found the rapid rooter plugs and did a transplant. ran those in a plate until i made my diy cloner the other day. figured id throw the plug/seedlings in there since they were like an inch tall.

the seeds cracked like 10 or so days ago. got rapid rooters 6 or 7 days ago and put into the cloner 2 days ago.

i was using just ph'ed water and superthrive. the cloner has MMMMIILLLLDDD flora nova grow and was running 18/6 with water spray 24/7. as now you can see its been 2 days and not much growth has happened but they are really droopy. i decided to turn off the misters with nutes to go to hand feeding with ph'ed superthrive water as im not sure if theyre being overwatered or needing nutes really.

i am noticing the understand to the roundish leaves are purple and so is the stem slightly. is there something im doing wrong?

my ph is roughly ALMOST 6. its a reddish orange so id say like 5.8 or close to 6. superthrive is mild too. im prolly just being too impatient as youll see in the last pic my plant thats done the best has shot a root out the side of the plug and its developing the spines and hairs that make healthy plants...

was using 26watt daylights but my town has the pleasure of a hydro store now so ive been acquiring 125watt daylight cfls in my own homemade hoods. i know im getting 2 more in 3000k either 175 or 200 watts. even another daylight spectrum possibly. the 4 noobie cfls are being retired for once i have cuttings to root in the cloner. going to build a tent out of a pvc frame and black plastic soon as well..no need yet as i dont need to seperate light sources.

so ill try and keep this updated and look forward to contributing. its been awhile since i was back


quick pics..sorry their from my phone.










decided to scrap this setup i was using above. the rubbermaid developed slime in the few days i was actually using it. so i replaced it with an straight black tote and redid my aero setup inside.

These pics are from 2/7/11





as of yesterday(2-7) i again redid my setup. well not redone since the cloner will still be used once we get back to that step.

i had to transplant though before the root system got too much to setup with the netpots.

i had addressed the droopy leaves by going back to just ph'ed water with Superthrive. I guess the nova grow was just too much and the plant wasnt ready even though i was doing MMMMIIINNNUTTTEEEE seedling nutes.

I again swapped them to 5g buckets and this time and added the ph'ed water with superthrive as well as nutriboost and nova grow(again partial strength). Now we have droopy plants again and spotting. Im draining right now and replacing with just ph'ed water and superthrive. maybe theyre not ready yet again. i have been told our water has a high ppm(until i get a ppm meter idk) so maybe that plus my nutes is just too much.







however now that ive been using ph'ed water the yellow is spreading and the spotting is getting worse. my ph is correct, and its not higher than 73 on the lids so its not heat. guy a the store suggested that i wasnt giving ENOUGH nutes and thats the problem. idk really if i should continue with the plain water or the nutes again. ill try and get another pic up of what they look like currently to get a 2nd opinion.

heres pics of the yellowing. the other one isnt anywhere near as yellow but has like pure yellow speckles(?) developing on a a leaf or two.

they look young to me for nutes remember the guy at the store need to make sales so beware.. i dont start nute for at least the first 2 to 3 weeks sometimes longer but be careful with the nutes and you should be alright they still look good..Rep to you and keep it up..Peace

yea right now its ph'ed water and just superthrive. my other buddy told me to only use water too..ill keep going till tomorrow and see how it goes..on a side note these cracked about 3wks ago...

reading your journal now stinkbudd...odd choice for the veg lighting time..for the past 2 weeks ive been running 24/7 as ive read it keeps stretching down. idk if thats true or not so well see...i realize strain does matter too..

paintkilz said:

reading your journal now stinkbudd...odd choice for the veg lighting time..for the past 2 weeks ive been running 24/7 as ive read it keeps stretching down. idk if thats true or not so well see...i realize strain does matter too..

Click to expand...

Yeah lots of people sware by the 24 hour cycle but remember plants need darkness as well to thrive, and ive never had any trouble with my light schedule ive tried 24 hours from sprout but to me it slows the overall growth of the plant..If you want to do a test run try it put two plants side by side and run one 24 hour lights and the other 16/8 for two weeks and see which one is larger and healthier at the end..I did this and thats how i came up with my schedule..sometimes i use a escalating darkness schedule dropping my lights on time ny one hour every week until it's time to flower..they both have proven well for me..Peace

well another day, another entry

still no nutes. only ph'ed tap and superthrive. hoping the lower leaf problem is just from what the nutes DID before i switched. ill see how they look in the morning. Also switched to 18/6.

Question:
Could there be an issue with nutrient uptake with my water? its rather cloudy...ph is drops and im going for an orangish yellow..high 5-6. maybe i need a cal/mag supplement?



heres the "runt" that when i transplanted ended up having the more impressive root system. the yellow in the pic is mainly CFL lighting. I also raised them slightly as i think the lumen output might have been a little intense for them. these are each rated for 10k.


Also used some of my black plastic to cover the tops of the netpots.

O'k it would have served you well to flush after the nute situation my bad for not saying that at first, but if you just transplanted then it's no need to anymore just keep it going with the super thrive and ph'd water for now they wont be long before they are old enough to eat..your doing o'k the fisrt leaves will be the first to go anyway no big deal..

well..still trying to figure out if my water is hurting the plants. its still cloudy and today i noticed the a pale greenish color to some foam buildup like at the water mark in the bucket and where the surface of the water meets the hoses and what not.

thinkin i might switch to distilled.....

on a side note a friend surprised me with a juicy fruit. so i stopped at the store on the way home and grabbed a bucket. Distilled water ph'ed to 5.8 roughly, superthrive, nutriboost and just shy of 2 tsp of Nova Grow. I dedicated 1 cfl to it. for the next few days im going to rethink my layout and what im trying to get out of it. the more i think the more i want like 4-6 plants perpetual grow with a 4 or 600watt hps. think i have my veg lights nailed(might get 2 more still.)

foam


now the layout


roots


and a closeup

got myself a PPM pen today. checked the clone and it was at 240 so i pumped it back up to 600.

anyone know if itd be safe to top my clone?

well another update.

my ppm pen is awesome. opens up a whole new realm to this experience and allows me to actually understand a bit better as to whats going on. switching out my seedlings buckets with distilled water and nutes now. also found a film at the bottom of my sick looking plants bucket. shouldnt be there as i dont believe i have light issues...unless its from the holes for my air tubing. either way ill tape those up and do the entry through the side of the ring like i should of done from the start.

going to up my clone to 900....see how she likes it. also want to top it mainly for height purposes as i got the clone pretty stretched...need it more inline with what i have going on and can handle. will probably throw the top into the cloner and start my clone cycle up!!

heres the pics!

They are looking real good man an excelent start..

new growth is looking good. 900 ppm seems a little high to me. i think somewhere around 450-600 might be more like it. less is more in some cases. i have seen some grows that never get over 900-1200 at full bloom.

yea i increased the amt of water and put to 800. if it doesnt like it ill cut it back. i started thinking i needed more water as only about half my root system was in nutes.

pretty sure i burned this shit out of my clone. i actually had ppm at 700. took solution out and added more distilled..now its right around 520. still too much?

yea i know..but thats what this is all about..strain differences and seeing what it can take.

it obviously was too much hahah

on a side note i had to supercrop my plant because it was going to touch my light and id like to keep all the plants a manageable height. my problem is i cracked the stem bending it over.

think i should of just dealt with the nute burn before i went to the supercrop cause now i realize my plants just completely stressed out. the stem has turned purplish all the way down to the "break" where i cropped. i taped it too in case i did crack it too far.

but its obviously working...the new growth is already looking for light and making it grow gnarly.

also to cope with the nute burn i switched to tap water. but my water is still almost 400ppm...should l go for distilled with like 1-200 ppm nutes? its showing 380 and doesnt seem to be eatting it..the water levels moved slightly though. i thought i had it down low enough to stop the burn spead but ive noticed a tiiiinnnyyyy spot develop so i t hink its NOT QUITE there...



thanks guys...no where like RIU.

heres a further update..having some issues. i have another thread in the problems forum though so if you can help or suggest, please do.

i topped one seedling. was debating on doing both. Also topped the clone too and getting string today to LST as i supercropped the bottom and its growing back out now. going to try and address teh P deficiency and see how it goes. ive been broke and have had no Distilled water...and my tap water is 400ppm...so when i burned my clone and caused the p def i had to put it into tap water and it doesnt have any nutes but still sits at 400 so idk if the plant is even getting what it needs so ill solve that today hopefully by getting more distilled and doing a MILD nute solution. i figure superthrive, nutriboost and 200ppm of flora nova shoudl be good to help nurse it back to health. then atleast i know the PPMs are truly what the plant needs rather than this crap in my water.

think my res might be causing issues as the solutions are pretty cold. can this cause a problem for nute breakdown? seems like i always find nutrients settled at the bottom of the res. well heres pics either way though..

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Hey man I'm just droppin by, I'm doin a cfl kush grow as well, you lookin pretty good, she's recoverin nicely.

been a bit since my last update so i thought id share some pics and get a little advice.

my seedlings are spotting with light spots on the leafs. idk what it is, ph is good and its not nute burn i believe. i just switched my clones nutes and burned it again..im getting pissed off as this is only 580ppm and again its burned and so slow going in veg idk if its going to stay in with the kush when they enter flower..

however progress is nice now that i dont watch them everyday for growth. however idk if im going to build a chamber anymore as id like to bush the hell out of these and thinking of using all my closet space for that...ill just replace my closet door with something i can vent in and out of i think. need to soon as flower time would be in the next 3wks and i either need my 600watt hps or a few 200watt cfls and carbon scrubber...really need a scrubber soon as even in veg these things are starting to stink.