Diesel ryder CFL grow

Hey guys.

So this is my second attempt at growing and hopefully it goes better this time. Grew the original lowyder a couple years back and had terrible results (had cat/insect issues).

That being said it is time for round 2.

Soil: Fox Farm Ocean Forest
Lighting: CFL: 5 X 27 watt daylight
1 X 42 watt soft white
2 X 14 watt soft white

The plan:
Keep on using ffof for the entire grow. Add big bloom once flowering begins (will be throwing out the males). I also am thinking about purchasing led grow lights. I know there are a lot of scams on the internet. I'm curious to know if anyone on this forum has had an experience with them (perhaps a link to a forum about them????). Also, it would be great if anyone knows of reputable led distributer

So as of right now its day nine from planting and things we're growing great till last night....

I have MAD cfl burn on two of my babies. I will get pictures up later but i'm wondering if I should prun?

Also below is my current grow setup. I plan on suspending the lights becuase ill actually have time this weekend. Also a pic of one of the babies (not the biggest girl though)

Back the lights up a bit dude, seedlings are fragile.. DO NOT PRUNE!!! those are just babies..

Go to walmart and buy a $6 thermometer and make sure your temps at plant level are under 85F.

Get a fan in there! That will solve your burning problems.

Day 12:

So I've got the materials to make my hanging apparatus this weekend but I didn't have the time to set it up. That being said, I just spent the past hour re-adjusting my lights to reduce the heat.

I'm getting ff big bloom tomorrow and I'm thinking about Tiger bloom too. Are there any good organic substitutes for Tiger Bloom? (Any thoughts on this would be great since I do realize that they are still young-yuns).

Also as you see by my picks, my leafs are really close together. As of right now I've backed up the lights (to reduce heat) and get some stretch on them.

Any input would be great as this is my first indoor grow.

Also comments / concerns about plants would be great. (posted a pic of each).

Can anyone explain the dwarf plant?

sweet sweet nice little fat leaves

The little ones are looking good. Things will definitely be better once the lights are suspended, its always good to have control over them.

If you switch to anything, stay floro. Maybe look into T5s, they have tubes for blooming/vegging based on kelvin (6500k is good for veg/2700k for bloom) and fixtures that come with tubes for less than $100. If you continue with the CFLs, just remember: one 42 watt CFL puts out 2,700 lumens. You wanna aim for at least 3,000 lumens per square foot (at the very least, I am a floro grower and it always seems its about the At leasts' for us). You didn't list the materials you bought but if you dont already have them, consider the Y-split sockets, much more efficient.

midnightXsterling said:

The little ones are looking good. Things will definitely be better once the lights are suspended, its always good to have control over them.

If you switch to anything, stay floro. Maybe look into T5s, they have tubes for blooming/vegging based on kelvin (6500k is good for veg/2700k for bloom) and fixtures that come with tubes for less than $100. If you continue with the CFLs, just remember: one 42 watt CFL puts out 2,700 lumens. You wanna aim for at least 3,000 lumens per square foot (at the very least, I am a floro grower and it always seems its about the At leasts' for us). You didn't list the materials you bought but if you dont already have them, consider the Y-split sockets, much more efficient.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. Yeah I'm trying to get Y-sockets right now. I went to home depot but they didn't have them. And as for t-5s, thats my next step for my next grow. I'm keeping it cheap for this (which actually isn't happening haha). Where else do they sell y-sockets?

Day 17:

So some bad news. My biggest plant got root bound. At first I thought it was just dehydrated but that wasnt the case. It went from being completely healthy to being completely shriveled up in a matter of ten hours. Becuase of this, I've replanted all my plants into 3 gallon pots. Based on what I have read this should be more than adequate for jointdoctors' strains.

I wanted to wait till they had shown their sex before I re-potted them because a) I only bough 6 pots. and b) i didn't want to waste good soil on males.

On a better note, I'm pretty sure I have two females

Some more bad news: so that dwarf ended up having a rotted stem which is unfortunate. I decided to pull it when it wasn't getting any bigger

Also, just got the materials to starting hanging my CFLs so I plan on building that today.

Also, be looking forward to some pictures I'll be posting either today or tomorrow.

Here are some pics from day 18

Day 19

Started my plants on Fox Farms, Big bloom and tiger bloom.

Big Bloom: 2 tablespoons per gallon
Tiger Bloom: 1 tsp per gallon

Also I have moved my two known females inside. I also have set up a miniature fixture in my closest that will have to be modified. My five other plants are still outside at this point. However, I believe that three are male and the other two I haven't the slightest clue at this point.

Well it looks like the one may have gone downhill, the others look pretty healthy.

Its a good time for you to think about doing something like this
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html
I swear to you you'll be glad that you did.

Day 22

So good news, I have a total of 4 females. I think is a real good ratio considering I had seven that made it to flowering (1 root bound, 2 root rots).

I have not set up my closet grow to support four, 3 gallon containers, So I'm using some desk space at the moment too.

Here are some pictures of all four plants. Been keeping the same feeding schedule.

Hey Snak,
thanks for the link. I'll take a look at it. But I thought the lowryder strains weren't meant to be topped. Can you comment on this?

So its been awhile since I've updated my grow log so here it goes

DAY 25

If you look at the pics, I think that I might either have a magnesium deficiency or a iron or a combination of both. This is because some of my plants have "burn" type marks on the tips which is either a calcium/iron/magnesium deficiency.

I bought some cal mag plus and have begin adding 2 tsp per gallon of water.

I checked the pH of one of my plants and found it to between 7.5 and 8. So I also bought some earth juice natural down (I forget how much I added but the watering ph was around 5 after I supplemented).

Again, some old grow info. Thought I'd update the grow log.

DAY 38

Nutrients (per gallon):
3 tablespoons of Big Bloom
2 tsp of Tiger Bloom
1 tsp of Cal Mag Plus
2 tablespoons of Black Strap Molasses (every other watering)

I know I'm getting some major CFL burn on my big plant, but its tough to get the CFLs super close.

Also, my grow set-up has been modified. I've added y-sockets to my lamps (10). I have added 3 more soft white 42 watt bulbs. In terms of overall wattage, I'll get back to you on that. I try to keep the ratio of soft : daylight, 3 : 1. Also, added something that I like to call the octo-cfl . A room lamp with 5 twistie lights. Each twisty has a y-socket. (yes, I know octo is the prefix for 8...haha).

Do NOT top them. U r right about the autos not liking that. Especially the diesel ryder, which grows a nice (in my case 18 inch) top cola above the lower branches that is a solid stick of bud. If you topped that, it would not grow back by the time the plant finished flowering and you would defeat the intentions of the breeders, that bred for this long top cola. There is little side branching so that you can grow many of them in a small space. My diesel ryders' top cola continued to stretch above the lower branches untill about week 6 from germination. Looking good.

lookin good bro! I gotta get some good nutes cause I want my next batch to be taller than 6" like the last one was. MG sucks! Hows the smell? Do you use a carbon filter? I made one and ran it all the time and never smelled them untill I opened the tent.

drumbum3218 said:

Do NOT top them. U r right about the autos not liking that. Especially the diesel ryder, which grows a nice (in my case 18 inch) top cola above the lower branches that is a solid stick of bud. If you topped that, it would not grow back by the time the plant finished flowering and you would defeat the intentions of the breeders, that bred for this long top cola. There is little side branching so that you can grow many of them in a small space. My diesel ryders' top cola continued to stretch above the lower branches untill about week 6 from germination. Looking good.

Click to expand...

Thats what i thought. Thanks for the input. I only have one really tall one at this point. I think hes one of the "unusually" tall phenotypes (he does have some major side branching though). I have three others that aren't as tall. One really stout one is expanding faaar beyond the three gallon bucket.

Hope i get some pics up and some input from you expert growers!

420roofer said:

lookin good bro! I gotta get some good nutes cause I want my next batch to be taller than 6" like the last one was. MG sucks! Hows the smell? Do you use a carbon filter? I made one and ran it all the time and never smelled them untill I opened the tent.

Click to expand...

The smell is kind of knarly but supposidly diesel ryder is known for that. I'm not usesing any solution to that at this point altough i wish i had. All of my plants are above 6inches but i have to let you know that my cfls are EXTREMELY close ( placed within 1-2 inches), so i get the occasional burn but i think it is worth it. But i've read about carbon filters and i hear they're good especially if you have the exhaust air going through them.

DAY 65

Harvest Day

Check out the fruits of labor.

Lessons Learned:

Had some serious rot on my super stout and wide plant (the one that looks like it could have some purp in it in the pics). Lost 90% due to rot. Also, it was extremely close to the dirt to the point that it was growing nodes into the dirt. Also, due to this fact, I had been water from the top, assuming that the water would make it down to the base since i could not get to it any other way. I've learned not to do this with super dense plants. Also, I have learned the lesson of stretching.

those are sum fat midgetslol.,.,lovely harvest smoke report?

wow! Now thats how the dr is supposed to look! that looks great man. sorry to hear about the rot though. Im almost ready to start my 2nd attempt at the dr cfl. this time im definately going to use fox farm. well, let us know what you weigh out at. have fun bro!