Experimental Micro Grow CFL's - 1st time grower

onlycucumbershere said:

Ok bad news...

The break at the base of the stem has turned into an all out snap!

Luckily there are still two nodes below said snap so it should still survive through flowering... I'm sticking with my plan for switching on Monday, but I may switch earlier if I start to see new growth happening.

A few lessons learned here, to not be so heavy handed while LST'ing and to not start LST'ing so early on. And to just not rush the process.

Am a bit disappointed today and feel like I want it to hurry up and be over with so I can start a fresh with proper seeds or a clone. An experiment this truly is. Will try and get a pic up of my snap later.

I considered, planting a new seed today, to give it a week of veg and then flower with the rest, next week - any thoughts on this? Would one week of veg from seed be too little vegging time?

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you've learnt my sorry lesson.... same situation, gutting but they do come back..... but you've learnt at the right time though if that makes you feel any better?, lets hope thats one was male ..... keep going bro, your doing good and its starting to show!

growone said:

condolences on the break, i don't think you were early, some lst almost immediately
probably too much pressure, snapping is more about a woody stem and that happens with more mature plants
every plant is different, but this is how you learn

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skinitti666 said:

wow bro sorry to hear that.yea my baby is a monster.i just flushed it and it looked happier as i was flushing

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troutie said:

you've learnt my sorry lesson.... same situation, gutting but they do come back..... but you've learnt at the right time though if that makes you feel any better?, lets hope thats one was male ..... keep going bro, your doing good and its starting to show!

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Thanks guys! Positive vibes are helping
It's actually the one in my avatar - snapped at the steak in the soil and it seemed to happen slowly. I noticed the split early on in the day and tried to move my string to give it a little support. Came back later and the split had turned into a hinge lol held on by two little strings, so I put it out of it's misery and just hope for the best.

I think I'm going to start that new seed - another bag seed yes, but it may take my woes away with the magic of new life (hehe)

fella your stella! ...another new baby due then, have you binned the broken one?, cos i have seen people with breaks as bad as yours wrap it in elastoplast and its healed and grown on fine!.... but anyways i'm glad to see you comeback with a positive attitude

yeah, water over the dam but many breaks can be healed
some use a bit of duct tape,just have to be prompt after the break

Sheet I didn't know that! I'd have been straight on it, sewing it back together lol oh well... still two nodes left on it and maybe they'll do something, maybe they won't... it's all good as part of my first grow experiment eh.

This new seedling is also an experiment, of sorts.
I've plonked it in some soil in a tiny pot. Gonna give it the three or so days before Monday to hatch before switching. I may just leave it in this pot for the duration too, if only to see what results can be gained from the most extreme of situations. May even turn out to be a female and have a crop of it's very own! Or not - either way I lose nothing trying.

Incidentally the others are still fine - but I am now considering changing my training technique some how, as the circular LST could be a tad optimistic for a first grow. Most likely case is I'll still use the string but just make my adjustments more carefully.

its all about the learning i'm finding... and its hard work on my poor OLD head lol.... keep trying with the lst, you know how hard not to push em now... unfortunately, but who knows my disaster plant turned out to be one of my better ones ... and i've heard the same from a few others too lol

"This new seedling is also an experiment, of sorts.
I've plonked it in some soil in a tiny pot. Gonna give it the three or so days before Monday to hatch before switching. I may just leave it in this pot for the duration too, if only to see what results can be gained from the most extreme of situations. May even turn out to be a female and have a crop of it's very own! Or not - either way I lose nothing trying."

like it 12/12 from seed ... if thats what ment when i've heard it mentioned before?? (i've kinda been researching autos mainly as thats what my first few grows will be) ... all i can say is INTERESTING!! and i'm watching very carefully

I only read the first few pages, But I just wanted to suggest an Idea I had about warming the cold air going in. Use a dryer duct with the heating cable inside it. The cable should conduct heat tho the aluminum duct and warm the air as it travels through the duct inside the box.

Just a thought.

an idea for those cold winter nights .... i love the amount of great ideas that people come up with

nice one becorath

becorath said:

I only read the first few pages, But I just wanted to suggest an Idea I had about warming the cold air going in. Use a dryer duct with the heating cable inside it. The cable should conduct heat tho the aluminum duct and warm the air as it travels through the duct inside the box.

Just a thought.

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Welcome becorath
A neat idea for sure.

Hya cucumber. Did you sort out ya heat problem. I'm from the uk so I know what the winters are like. I use a 1 foot 60 watt tube heater with a thermostat. Got them both from screw fix for £22. Works a treat and mines kind of the same set up. Outside in a shed.

Strongy said:

Hya cucumber. Did you sort out ya heat problem. I'm from the uk so I know what the winters are like. I use a 1 foot 60 watt tube heater with a thermostat. Got them both from screw fix for £22. Works a treat and mines kind of the same set up. Outside in a shed.

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Hi Strongy, thanks for passing by. I'll have to pass your way to check your set up out. Shed setups should be a grow genre in itself I think. It's different to most others cos it has the perils of being outside but with the advantages of being inside. Under rated it is

Your suggestion is a good un. I've still to test out my heating cables before I know if it's going to work and I'm trying not to dusturb my chamber too much right now as things are pretty fragile. So I'll prob so my test right before I need to - this weekend. But I have no doubts that it'll be okay-ish

yeah man it's hard not to fiddle.... but when stuff's gotta be done .. you'll just have to go steady, i make sure i have everything ready and set up before i open the doors, and then i try to be as careful and quick as possible

Might be worth testing that heater, sooner rather than later. Took me about a week to sort out my temps inside and what a pain in the ass that was. I also had a problem with condensation, Man it was everywhere and I ended up putting a small intake fan in to sort that. Nightmare, but this is my first grow and a bit of a learning curve, but I'm still enjoying in it.

troutie said:

yeah man it's hard not to fiddle.... but when stuff's gotta be done .. you'll just have to go steady, i make sure i have everything ready and set up before i open the doors, and then i try to be as careful and quick as possible

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It's impossible not to fiddle! lmao
You're good to have that patience - I started my seeds first then built everything around them lol. But I do hear u, about the careful bit, I'm feeling that one this week... But as for the quick lol I can waste an hour easily by just staring at them!

Strongy said:

Might be worth testing that heater, sooner rather than later. Took me about a week to sort out my temps inside and what a pain in the ass that was. I also had a problem with condensation, Man it was everywhere and I ended up putting a small intake fan in to sort that. Nightmare, but this is my first grow and a bit of a learning curve, but I'm still enjoying in it.

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Thanks for the up, sounds like sensible advice - I'm just assuming my temps will be fine. Trouble is got to find time to do it... I don't really mind if it's a few days late as I'd like some more veg action from these babs anyway
Glad to see you're enjoying your grow and you sorted your air flow so early in Keep it up!

onlycucumbershere said:

It's impossible not to fiddle! lmao
You're good to have that patience - I started my seeds first then built everything around them lol. But I do hear u, about the careful bit, I'm feeling that one this week... But as for the quick lol I can waste an hour easily by just staring at them!



Thanks for the up, sounds like sensible advice - I'm just assuming my temps will be fine. Trouble is got to find time to do it... I don't really mind if it's a few days late as I'd like some more veg action from these babs anyway
Glad to see you're enjoying your grow and you sorted your air flow so early in Keep it up!

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yep!... like i say just keep telling yourself that one was male...and your bo okies bud .... yeah mine we're germing before i started on my wardrobe too... seems ages ago now ... but was only two weeks lol.... and yeah i only got my intake fan wired today so thats 2 weeks and i think i'll still have to fiddle with it...

you waiting till monday for your update mate?... i'm gaggin

troutie said:

yep!... like i say just keep telling yourself that one was male...and your bo okies bud .... yeah mine we're germing before i started on my wardrobe too... seems ages ago now ... but was only two weeks lol.... and yeah i only got my intake fan wired today so thats 2 weeks and i think i'll still have to fiddle with it...

you waiting till monday for your update mate?... i'm gaggin

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LoL

Actually.... I'm testing out my heat cables now, in response to strongy's advice. There could well be problems so it's best to work out them kinks before flowering eh...
So what that means is that I'll have some hardware updating once I've collected my final results - and a little porn too

You'll also get to meet my new friend - a spider that's taken up lodgings in my chamber. He looks like a predator so he can stay hehe
Tho tbh, I've seen less and less of those annoying white moth type flies since I updated my exhaust system.

Heated cable test #1

Nominal chamber temperature with door closed - 25.1C
Again, with door open after ten minutes - 20.1C
Both steady.

Current test is cables ON, lights OFF.

I don't know the actual temp outside, but I'll assume it's between 10C and 15C ish. (just checked google and it says 12C good guess!)

Cable has been laid superficially across the base of the chamber, but intertwining the pots. There was lots of cable (I only used the one 4m) and it is definitely 50W.

What I want here is to find around 25-30 degrees, assuming that ambient temps are at 12C. That way I know it'll work well enough during the cold months giving me roughly 15C of warmth when it's going to be zero outside. That would be perfect.

So effectively, the results of this test, dictate whether I use the second cable or not. or if I need to make any further adjustments.



Tests were taken at 12:20am, and further data will be collected at 1:00am

Okay...

Cables ON lights OFF fans ON
22.8C

Heated Cable test #2;
Cables ON lights and fans OFF
currently undergoing, and results'll be here in half hour (I should think that'd be enough time to get a good idea)

I'm hoping for more like 25C from this test.
That would be awesome, to have a definite 13C for 'off' cycles. I wonder then if both cables would be too much... back in half hour-ish

27.8C
with no fans and no lights.

That's a good thing!
If anything during flowering I can have my fans on timer to exhaust the air every half hour or so for 10 mins ish which should keep my temps nice through cycles.

That's 15.8C on top of external temps. Which is awesome!

I guess the next test is actually doing it! lol

Though I'm thinking that due to my dark cycle being during the day, I need only have my cables on a timer to come on once or twice an hour. That may be a better alternative to the fans on a timer - my neighbours may be able to hear the fans in the day but won't detect the heat signature

And the porn...



Okay, so my seed, which you can't see yet.
Two lighter green plants, one of which was snapped (u may see the snap here) but these two seem the more eager growers and they smell already
And two darker green plants, which look quite cabbagey but.

Nice to see you testing your heating. That's been the hardest test so far, the nighttime temp up here is about 6C. I've got a freezer (good job its a toploader) in the out house that I've turned side on so the heat from the back is close to my cupboard and my intake (put a filter on intake). Average temp over last 5 days were low 19.8C high 29.9C.

Nice looking spider you have on guard.