CFL Stealth Box veges and herb

ekofux

Active Member
End of 33/10

Did a little more investigating on the plant i transplanted. SHE's still growing just fine. I'm 100% on it being female now and quite excited.

My other two are still not showing much of any sign of a sex. If they both end up female I'll probably transplant the shorter one and just toss the one that got stretched early on in its life (it's much taller than it needs to be because of this)
 

OVOXO

Active Member
Day... 13? update.

Have 5 sprouts transferred into small foam cups. Going to continue growing til they show their sex and focus on the females. Will weed out any that don't grow right, sick, pests, etc.

One of them has a very long stem, as it was the fastest growing, yet furthest from the bulbs.

View attachment 2132219
The reason why the one plant grew the fastest and has a really long stem is because its stretching move the light closer to it
 

ekofux

Active Member
Day 35/12

No real update today. Some burnt leaves on my female, but nothing disastrous. (She got a little out of hand last night on the growing)

But anyway, pictures.

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Nice shot of the female's pistils
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What up bro?!!

I see you've been coming along nicely!! Glad you got a female! YAY! I'm late responding to your recent posts, but I would NOT put my girl back into veg now that you have started flowering. I know some folks do it and some strains can take that stress just fine; however, since you don't really know what strain you are growing, I wouldn't risk stressing your girl out like that and possibly causing her to hermie. You've come too far and given too much of your love, time and energy for that to happen. Your plants are looking really nice. If it turns out that the other two are females, can you put one outside and keep the other two indoors? I've had to kill plants for various reasons over the years but it always makes me feel sick to my stomach to have to kill a female ... especially a healthy one! The stretchy one will still produce bud if she's a girl ya know? Or maybe you have a friend that grows who could take her? Anyway, wait to see what sexes you have in those other two ... you may not need to even concern yourself with killing a female. Happy growing and thanks for the updates. I'm looking forward to see how things pan out!
 

ekofux

Active Member
What up bro?!!

I see you've been coming along nicely!! Glad you got a female! YAY! I'm late responding to your recent posts, but I would NOT put my girl back into veg now that you have started flowering. I know some folks do it and some strains can take that stress just fine; however, since you don't really know what strain you are growing, I wouldn't risk stressing your girl out like that and possibly causing her to hermie. You've come too far and given too much of your love, time and energy for that to happen. Your plants are looking really nice. If it turns out that the other two are females, can you put one outside and keep the other two indoors? I've had to kill plants for various reasons over the years but it always makes me feel sick to my stomach to have to kill a female ... especially a healthy one! The stretchy one will still produce bud if she's a girl ya know? Or maybe you have a friend that grows who could take her? Anyway, wait to see what sexes you have in those other two ... you may not need to even concern yourself with killing a female. Happy growing and thanks for the updates. I'm looking forward to see how things pan out!
Howdy.

I decided not to re-veg them as they took to the transplant seemlessly. I currently have 2 females now in the early stages of LST'ing. (I got em bent over to save on space and expose more of the stem) I had one other plant left but I wasn't sure what it was, was going to put it in a window but I have relatives visiting for a week starting tomorrow.. so I had to cut it. STEALTH BOX FOR MORE THAN ONE REASON! ;-)

I had to put a duct tape cast on my newest female while LST'ing her. Went just a little too far and snapped her sideways. Doing fine now though, just 24 hours later.

Flower growth seems to be doing pretty well. I see new hairs every day and noticeable swelling in current flowers.

cesNY.jpg


Final resting place of my box. Completely unnoticeable in the dark, or if you don't know you're looking for it.:mrgreen: (ignore the dust. who has time to clean when you're growing?)
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Looking great! You should be able to remove that tape within 24 - 48 hours. These girls heal themselves remarkably fast in my experience. I've torn many a stem during LST!! Too bad you had to kill your 3rd plant but hey ... like you said, it's "stealth" for a reason! Are they smelling up the room yet? If so, how are you going to handle odor while the family is in town? :-/
 

ekofux

Active Member
Looking great! You should be able to remove that tape within 24 - 48 hours. These girls heal themselves remarkably fast in my experience. I've torn many a stem during LST!! Too bad you had to kill your 3rd plant but hey ... like you said, it's "stealth" for a reason! Are they smelling up the room yet? If so, how are you going to handle odor while the family is in town? :-/
It seems to be all healed up, however the tape refuses to come off and I don't feel like risking a razor blade into the stem. That particular plant is already starting to form a nice top cola, and that's all I'm looking towards growing. (I figure since I'm using CFL's, it'd be better to focus on one top cola rather than multiples)

No noticeable smell yet, in fact they've been smelling a little less than they did before. Only have family here for a week, so I'm not too concerned about any smell building up fast enough to be noticeable. My plants will be harvested long before I have any visitors again, so we're all good. I do however have a ghetto air filtration system ready to go whenever necessary.

One thing I've been noticing is that my first female seems to be wanting to grow leaves rather than buds. This might just be a matter of maturity, I suppose. The girl that's forming the cola is about 3-5 days older than the other. (It was the one that stretched out during seedling stage) I'm sure they're different strains, as well. The younger one has slightly skinnier, slightly longer leaves.

Anyways. Back to my herb-less week long family visit. :finger: Need to find a way to distract them while I find someone who can smoke me out.
 

ekofux

Active Member
Day 38/15 picture update.

Just wanted to grab a quick pic of the top cola forming on my slightly more mature plant. The other one still seems to just be growing more foliage.

OKEKf.jpg

EDIT: Here's the full size for anyone who wants a closer look http://i.imgur.com/OKEKf.jpg
 
Nice!! Especially for only being a little over a month old! Do you think you may have an autoflowering strain there? That could be why she is progressing much faster than the other one? Like you said though, it could just be a matter of maturity. It's cool that you don't have to worry about smell for now, usually after they start flowering they stink like crazy. Would love to see a pic. of your ghetto filtration system! I am always looking for ideas on how to make one as my inline fan and carbon filter setup is too freakin' noisy!! Damn man, I hate that you won't be able to get blazed for a whole week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIKES!!! You'll need to make lots of store runs ALONE!! Oh yeah, before I go, how are the two ladies holding up in the grow space together? Are they getting crowded at all or do you think they will both have plenty of room as they mature? Holla back real soonMuch Grow Love
 

ekofux

Active Member
Nice!! Especially for only being a little over a month old! Do you think you may have an autoflowering strain there? That could be why she is progressing much faster than the other one? Like you said though, it could just be a matter of maturity. It's cool that you don't have to worry about smell for now, usually after they start flowering they stink like crazy. Would love to see a pic. of your ghetto filtration system! I am always looking for ideas on how to make one as my inline fan and carbon filter setup is too freakin' noisy!! Damn man, I hate that you won't be able to get blazed for a whole week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIKES!!! You'll need to make lots of store runs ALONE!! Oh yeah, before I go, how are the two ladies holding up in the grow space together? Are they getting crowded at all or do you think they will both have plenty of room as they mature? Holla back real soonMuch Grow Love
No clue if it's autoflowering. I have no idea how auto seeds are produced, but I suppose it's a small possibility. The seeds I used this time were just a mixed bag from various different buds over time. It seems to be really filling out, though, lots of new pistils bursting out from everywhere. The other one is growing buds, but it seems like they're wanting to grow along the stem more than the top.

My filtration system is just the insert that used to lay inside the chest. I have it propped up against the back of my box where the fan blows into it and out a small hole in the top. If need be, I have some carbon ready to be rigged up inside said hole. I'll see what I can do about a pic at some point when I have it set more permanently. Currently it's just there to cut down on noise.

As for smokeage this week, not gonna happen at all. I have 0 herb and no way of getting any. I'm going on day 5 of total dryness and let me tell you, it sucks a big one.

Last but not least, space isn't too much of an issue. I figure I might have to bend the tops over as they swell up and grow taller, but no big deal. The two of them together does cause them to collide a little, but I'm not worried. As far as I'm concerned, I just have a 2-plant SOG setup going on. The fan leaves intertwine a bit, but nowhere near enough for me to suspect any problems (especially with the way the fan keeps the leaves moving a bit.)

Anyways, pictures from earlier today. In the 2nd pic you can see where my older girl is starting to really fill out and bursting pistils from everywhere possible.

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EDIT: Might do a quick video update later on when I turn on the lights just to give a better idea of what I'm working with.
 

ekofux

Active Member
Day 42/19 picture update.

Got a chance to take a few good pics of the buds forming. PLEASE CLICK THE FULL SIZE LINKS, RIU's resizing won't show the full detail.

Pic 1 and 2 are of the slightly more mature girl, who is doing very well at filling out with buds.

Pic 3 is the other which I'm becoming a bit confused about, you can see it's growing buds, but very sparingly. As if the plant is focusing all its energy on growing foliage. (Not to mention the leaves are growing much differently.)

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Full size: http://i.imgur.com/8jipt.jpg
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Full size: http://i.imgur.com/NY2PL.jpg
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Full size: http://i.imgur.com/vf2XO.jpg
 
Both girls look good bro. It will be interesting to continue to observe the growth of the second one since she's growing so much differently than the first; however, like you said, it's just a maturity issue. The second girl looks like she has the potential to put off several bud sites. That first girl's growth really does remind me of some of the autoflowering strains I've grown. I can only imagine how much you wish your girls could hurry up and grow since you are without your medicine right now! I feel your pain bro but hang in there ... it's only temporary!
 

ekofux

Active Member
Both girls look good bro. It will be interesting to continue to observe the growth of the second one since she's growing so much differently than the first; however, like you said, it's just a maturity issue. The second girl looks like she has the potential to put off several bud sites. That first girl's growth really does remind me of some of the autoflowering strains I've grown. I can only imagine how much you wish your girls could hurry up and grow since you are without your medicine right now! I feel your pain bro but hang in there ... it's only temporary!
Well the second is only a couple days younger, and I haven't had any that have grown like it, nor have I seen anyone else grow that looks much like it. So I suppose we'll see what happens. I'm hoping that it's bud growth will explode sometime soon. Also considering giving it a small fert shot, however I stopped giving it nutes about a week ago as it was getting nute and light burns on the tips of the leaves.

I'm also afraid that if the other IS an auto-flower, that it won't live up to its full potential under 12/12 light. I suppose it couldn't really hurt it much, though.

And as for my dry spell, relatives are hitting the road in 12 hours. I'm already a few beers into the celebration going on inside my head. But knowing my luck, I'd be willing to bet I won't be able to find any bud tomorrow, or just really crappy shake. Sending out texts to different sources as we speak to see whats what. Fingers crossed.

EDIT: I plan to get 5 or 6 more seeds started and thrown in a window somewhere secure about a week or two before this grow's harvest. I'd love to have a mother plant to take clones from, but I have nowhere to keep such a plant. I love the short budding of clones, and would work perfectly in my box. Oh well.

EDIT EDIT: I picked up another socket splitter yesterday, so I'll be adding a 3rd bulb after they leave. (The spare bulb I have is currently in the bathroom, as the lights in there all burnt out and I don't want to be a bad host making them use a pitch black bathroom lol)
 
Well bro, you have inspired me. I have grown in a closet as well as a grow tent, but I have yet to design/grow in a stealth box. Since I've been following your grow so closely, I thought, "Hmmmm .... I want to try that!!" So the plan is to use two rubbermaid totes. I've already wired up my PC fans (1st time for this so I was really stoked) and they are quiet as hell. I can see needing more of them down the line but for now this is sufficient. I'm about to work on my lighting and placement of another fan for additional airflow. I will only use this setup for vegging though. This time around I will veg. for about six weeks because I am expecting family to come into town and stay for about a week, maximum two. If I start my indoor beans now and the family comes at the end of June as planned, I will be vegging a total of 6 - 7 weeks once they are gone. I have never vegged that long but am eager to as I know the plants will be very mature by then and should bud quite nicely once I transfer them to my grow tent under my 400 watt HPS system. I won't have to concern myself with smell while they're in the veg. state, and I'll keep the rubber tote setup in my bedroom closet where NO ONE should be!!! That way I can attend to the plants in private to make sure they are not growing into the lights, etc. The one thing that bums me out about my impending grow is that I will have to LST to keep the plants low and I REALLY wanted to try scrogging. But hey, plenty more grows/methods/experiments to try in the future so ... I'll put that on the back burner for now. Okay, as for your girls, you won't get the full potential of your autoflowering buds under 12/12; however, I've grown autos along with non-autos before and still got a nice little bit. I didn't flower under CFLs though so ... we'll see. I will say this though, every autoflowering strain I've grown/smoked had me blazed, so hopefully what you lose in yield you will make up for in potency. BTW, really crappy shake will be a welcome to your head/body after a week long drought!! Glad you are going to throw a few more beans in some soil to get your next grow started as these girls finish up. You have about 4-6 more weeks to flower you think? If so, your other beans will be nice and ready to throw into flower by harvest time. As soon as you harvest and throw your "window sill" beans into flower, put some more beans on the window sill! LOL! At that rate/from that point, you can start a pattern of harvesting about every two months eh? You should have no more droughts after that man! I was thinking about doing this as well but because I am more addicted to growing than smoking, I was concerned with having so much bud lying around. It takes me awhile to finish a jar of bud hence I still have some from last year! But ... I can't stop growing! I LOVE all of my plants, veggies, cooking herbs, peppers and fruit trees, but nothing gives me the same joy as growing sweet, sexy Maryjane! I really wish I could keep a mother plant too for cloning, but sometimes, depending on circumstances, I have to take a break between grows so ... I'm like you on that subject -- just no where to keep such a plant. Maybe one day we will be free to grow like we want to and be in complete canabliss! LOL! WOW ... I forgot you were only growing under 2 lights man! Damn those plants are doing well for so few CFLs! The girls will love the 3rd CFL addition, and NO you can't have folks pissin' and crappin' in the dark so ... yeah, you were a gracious host for making that sacrifice and putting the 3rd light in the bathroom for now! LOL LOL LOL!!! Holla later man, gonna go and take some pics. of the sprout that came up this a.m. after dropping in soil just this past FRIDAY! Gotta love Mandala strains!
 

ekofux

Active Member
Well bro, you have inspired me. I have grown in a closet as well as a grow tent, but I have yet to design/grow in a stealth box. Since I've been following your grow so closely, I thought, "Hmmmm .... I want to try that!!" So the plan is to use two rubbermaid totes. I've already wired up my PC fans (1st time for this so I was really stoked) and they are quiet as hell. I can see needing more of them down the line but for now this is sufficient. I'm about to work on my lighting and placement of another fan for additional airflow. I will only use this setup for vegging though. This time around I will veg. for about six weeks because I am expecting family to come into town and stay for about a week, maximum two. If I start my indoor beans now and the family comes at the end of June as planned, I will be vegging a total of 6 - 7 weeks once they are gone. I have never vegged that long but am eager to as I know the plants will be very mature by then and should bud quite nicely once I transfer them to my grow tent under my 400 watt HPS system. I won't have to concern myself with smell while they're in the veg. state, and I'll keep the rubber tote setup in my bedroom closet where NO ONE should be!!! That way I can attend to the plants in private to make sure they are not growing into the lights, etc. The one thing that bums me out about my impending grow is that I will have to LST to keep the plants low and I REALLY wanted to try scrogging. But hey, plenty more grows/methods/experiments to try in the future so ... I'll put that on the back burner for now. Okay, as for your girls, you won't get the full potential of your autoflowering buds under 12/12; however, I've grown autos along with non-autos before and still got a nice little bit. I didn't flower under CFLs though so ... we'll see. I will say this though, every autoflowering strain I've grown/smoked had me blazed, so hopefully what you lose in yield you will make up for in potency. BTW, really crappy shake will be a welcome to your head/body after a week long drought!! Glad you are going to throw a few more beans in some soil to get your next grow started as these girls finish up. You have about 4-6 more weeks to flower you think? If so, your other beans will be nice and ready to throw into flower by harvest time. As soon as you harvest and throw your "window sill" beans into flower, put some more beans on the window sill! LOL! At that rate/from that point, you can start a pattern of harvesting about every two months eh? You should have no more droughts after that man! I was thinking about doing this as well but because I am more addicted to growing than smoking, I was concerned with having so much bud lying around. It takes me awhile to finish a jar of bud hence I still have some from last year! But ... I can't stop growing! I LOVE all of my plants, veggies, cooking herbs, peppers and fruit trees, but nothing gives me the same joy as growing sweet, sexy Maryjane! I really wish I could keep a mother plant too for cloning, but sometimes, depending on circumstances, I have to take a break between grows so ... I'm like you on that subject -- just no where to keep such a plant. Maybe one day we will be free to grow like we want to and be in complete canabliss! LOL! WOW ... I forgot you were only growing under 2 lights man! Damn those plants are doing well for so few CFLs! The girls will love the 3rd CFL addition, and NO you can't have folks pissin' and crappin' in the dark so ... yeah, you were a gracious host for making that sacrifice and putting the 3rd light in the bathroom for now! LOL LOL LOL!!! Holla later man, gonna go and take some pics. of the sprout that came up this a.m. after dropping in soil just this past FRIDAY! Gotta love Mandala strains!
It's great to know I've inspired someone!
I'd kinda like to be able to replace my big fan with a few smaller PC fans, but there lies some issues there, so until then I'll stick with the slightly noisy modified 8" desk fan.
But the stealth boxes are a great thing to have on hand, even if you do have a nicer setup. I'd love to have a closet grow room, but I love the security of my stealth box and it's doing fairly well. Depending on how many CFLs you use, size of planter, and my little bit of experience, I'd say after 6-7 weeks your babies will be just ready to burst. I wouldn't worry much about LSTing if you want to scrog em. I've seen many people combo LST and Scrog methods. I've even considered doing it myself. Only issue is you'd be a bit lop-sided and may have to sacrifice some bud sites.

I'm happy to say as of approximately 9:00PM EST I have been heavily medicated. Took a while to get ahold of any, but patience will prevail!

I won't be able to grow my window plants too awfully much, just until they're noticeable from a distance. The day I step outside and can distinguish the leaves from outside the window, I'm takin em out. So I can't plant them too early.

I muchly respect your love for growing, I can totally relate to that. The highlight of my year is summertime with my garden (and now my "happy crops" as I'll call them). Something about the growing of new life is a very great experience. Even if I do eventually tear them apart and dispose of them in some way
:-P. Speaking of my garden, I have almost everything planted and it's looking great. Took a lot of blood sweat and tears to get it going (goddamned tiller) but the payoff will be seen soon. Currently I have zucchini, cucumber, eggplant, corn, green beans, tomato and jalapeno in the ground. Just a couple days ago the corn and beans SHOT out of the ground and no signs of stopping. Had to pick up a new hose to reach it the other day, and boy am I glad I did. Have a week of 85-95 degree weather and 0 rain in 8+ days.

Anyways, 3rd bulb is set in my box. A 4th will be coming along shortly, just a matter of finding the right affordable bulb without having to buy a pack of 5 of em or something. Have a strong feeling I'll see a huge noticeable different in growth.

But I'm out, happy growing and stoney toking
:bigjoint:



 
YAY!! You are medicated and have your mind right! LOL! I'm glad to hear it man; even though I don't smoke all the time I feel a sense of comfort knowing that when I am ready to medicate I have it on hand ya know (like tonight)!!! Your weather sounds like mine in that we have not gotten much rain and the temps are up in the high 80s although it feels much hotter because we have extremely high humidity here. I am literally hot and sweating by 8:00 a.m. when I'm out in the garden!!

Anyway, I'll have to take a pic. but my box turned out cool for my first time, I just have to mount a small circular fan in the lower section. My newest sprout is still outside getting some natural sun since she is so young, which gives me plenty of time to test the box before I put her, and the other seed that hasn't broken soil yet, in there. The first thing I've found is that with all the lights on and just the two pc fans going, the temps got up to 99 F in about 20 minutes. The strains I am growing are supposed to have been bred to withstand high temps; but that's just too high for an environment that I can control you know? So I'll test again once I get the other fan going, and maybe put an extra hole in the tote to ensure good airflow. I'd at least like to try to keep my temps at no more than 90F. I may have to remove some of the lights eh? Especially since I see how well your grow is going with half the number of lights I'm using --- I think I'm probably in overkill mode with the lights. What are your temps usually at in your box?

Anyway bro, I'm buzzing tonight so excuse the excess chatter!! :blsmoke: Before I go, I also realized that the way I have my tubs stacked, I probably won't need to LST afterall. There's a pretty good amount of height available since I am using 21 gallon totes. Nevertheless, I'd never heard of combining LST and scrog so it's good to know that I can do that if I ever need to! Anyway man, I need to lay my ass down. LOL!!! You know I'll be checkin' in and I'll post a pic. of my box next time. :-)

Much grow love
 

ekofux

Active Member
YAY!! You are medicated and have your mind right! LOL! I'm glad to hear it man; even though I don't smoke all the time I feel a sense of comfort knowing that when I am ready to medicate I have it on hand ya know (like tonight)!!! Your weather sounds like mine in that we have not gotten much rain and the temps are up in the high 80s although it feels much hotter because we have extremely high humidity here. I am literally hot and sweating by 8:00 a.m. when I'm out in the garden!!

Anyway, I'll have to take a pic. but my box turned out cool for my first time, I just have to mount a small circular fan in the lower section. My newest sprout is still outside getting some natural sun since she is so young, which gives me plenty of time to test the box before I put her, and the other seed that hasn't broken soil yet, in there. The first thing I've found is that with all the lights on and just the two pc fans going, the temps got up to 99 F in about 20 minutes. The strains I am growing are supposed to have been bred to withstand high temps; but that's just too high for an environment that I can control you know? So I'll test again once I get the other fan going, and maybe put an extra hole in the tote to ensure good airflow. I'd at least like to try to keep my temps at no more than 90F. I may have to remove some of the lights eh? Especially since I see how well your grow is going with half the number of lights I'm using --- I think I'm probably in overkill mode with the lights. What are your temps usually at in your box?

Anyway bro, I'm buzzing tonight so excuse the excess chatter!! :blsmoke: Before I go, I also realized that the way I have my tubs stacked, I probably won't need to LST afterall. There's a pretty good amount of height available since I am using 21 gallon totes. Nevertheless, I'd never heard of combining LST and scrog so it's good to know that I can do that if I ever need to! Anyway man, I need to lay my ass down. LOL!!! You know I'll be checkin' in and I'll post a pic. of my box next time. :-)

Much grow love
Howdy, glad to hear your box is coming along. I'd say the temps are just a space vs. light problem. My box tends to build up quite a bit of heat after the bulbs have been on for so long. I really need to invest in a 2 dollar thermometer lol. I haven't really had any problems with heat really effecting my plants, though. I think the airflow I have going through it is enough to keep a little constant breeze on them.

As for the LST/Scrogging. I've seen pics around with it beautifully done. I would assume the best way would be to bend her over and focus the lights on the secondary growth, allowing the main stem to be neglected a bit (maybe a FIM or top job?) just until they all reach the same maturity. From there you could LST further into a screen... and voila? Possibly?

Anyways, you take it easy on the greens :bigjoint:
 

ekofux

Active Member
Day 47/24 update

!!CRYSTALS!!
!!VEGETABLES!!
!!RAINBOWS!!

Not much to mention today. Mostly just some nice pics to share.

Tiny crystals are starting to form rapidly on my budding girl. The other is still doin it's thing. Seems like she's setting up to put forth a large yield, but this has yet to be seen.

In other news, my vegetable garden is in business. I have almost everything planted, just a matter of picking up some more seeds. Currently I have cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, jalapeno and green beans planted with corn (this way the beans vine up the corn stalk and becomes much easier to pick). The heat wave and lack of rain coming through here has been posing some problems, but I try my best to keep everything cooled off with the sprinkler.

Anyways, that's that. Be sure to check the full size of the crystal pic.
Peace out.

Girl 1 (Kath)
PDz2K.jpgzKiRx.jpgFull size: http://i.imgur.com/zKiRx.jpg

Girl 2 (Kim)
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Aaaaand a garden pic with a nice sprinkler rainbow and my 'other' girl.
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