Jebus' Indian Haze and Brazil x KC grow journal

Just a quick update with some new pics. I'm almost done with the new box. I just need to make the carbon filters now. I also noticed the long sides of the box are not completely straight so there is a good little gap for light to go through. I'm going to drape some black cloth napkins over this part to block the light. It should work fine as long as they are hanging down far enough. I'm also going to transplant Ashley into a larger container and start to LST her so the branches are more spread out. Other than that nothing new to report.

Here are the grow boxes. The round one I have been using since around February. Same carbon filter and all. Hopefully it will still work when the girls are in full flower, but I'll probably need to replace the carbon soon.

The new box is almost done. I have attached the fans to the holes in the top of the box. Once I have built there filters I'll use flexible ducting to attach them to the fans. I'll also wrap the ducting in tape because I noticed on the last box that light could get through all the microscopic holes in it that appear from it bending. I'll probably also have to cover the outside in tape. Light shines through the bottom half that has tape on the inside. The top part is lined with mylar and no light gets through it. Plus when it is completely covered in black tape I think it stands out less. I'm kind of worried about heat with the new box. Right now I have one 60w, one 42w, and four 24w bulbs in it. Chances are it's going to get pretty toasty in there so I may end up reducing the number of lights in it.

They are super ghetto but they work. Not very stealth but no one has seen them and I don't plan on letting anyone near them. I'm the only one that knows I'm growing and I want to keep it that way (aside from everyone on the forum). Let me know what you all think of them. They took a long time to build, and if I ever do another I think I'll use a dresser or something. Putting the tape and mylar on the weird shaped boxes takes forever but is necessary to block the light from inside the box.

Noticing a lot more pistils on Tia and Marsha, but they are growing fast too. Not too much stretching in between the node but they are getting tall fast. I snapped a pic through the window to show how close they are getting to the lights. I need to finish this box soon. Hopefully it will be done tonight.

I transplanted Ashley into a larger container a few minutes ago. I had to cut her out of the coffee container because of its weird shape. I was a little rough with her but hopefully she didn't suffer to much of a shock. I mixed in a little high phosphorous bat guano in the bottom 4 inches of the soil. I figured by the time her roots get there I will be starting to flower. I also LST'ed her a touch to get a better spread on her colas. I think she will be a good producer when all is said and done. She was pretty stiff and one branch barely started to split off so I backed off that one a bit. I don't think it tore more than just the very outer part of the branch. I probably should have waited until she had time to soak up some water, but she has had strong stiff branches so I don't think it would have made much of a difference.

I think I may go a few more weeks with Ashley vegging to get her nice and bushy. It all depends on how fast she takes off now that she is in a larger container. I'll post some more pics of Marsha and Tia tonight to show their pistils, and if I get the other box done I'll LST them out a little more to get a better spread on their branches.

Looking good. The only thing I'd suggest is a little more nitrogen for ashley.
That and try yourself some smart pots for the next round. You'll be amazed at the growth rates.
SP's allow a good supply of oxygen to the roots as does hydro thus the reason for the insane growth rates.
I'm glad to see you doing well keep up the good work. +rep when it lets me

What are smart pots? Those that have the opening to water from below? That's what I put Ashley into. Now that you mention it she probably does need a good dose of nitrogen. Her roots had been spread through the last container for a while. I had though the discoloration was from the heat because the main cola which was bent under was still really lush and the tops were purpling a little, but there is a good bit of yellowish brown on a lot of the leaves. I'll wait a bit though. The new soil will feed her for a week or two no problem. Unless I should feed her anyways since most of her roots are still in the original depleted soil. I'll wait a few days and look for a change. If there isn't one I'll feed her.

lookin good man

MellowHaze said:

lookin good man

Click to expand...

Thanks Mellow!

Check it out. Also check Cruzer101 to really see what smart pots can do. Gumball knows!
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CC0QFjAB&url=http://www.smartpots.com/faq&rct=j&q=smartpots&ei=hXyBTLfpEYGisAO9rcTlAQ&usg=AFQjCNFj7GNgGXsNSzZHgTChn_FIvHhWPw&sig2=5GXllcGgIlkWhls5LrW0mg&cad=rja

yeah cruzer has trees, stalks the size of a mans arm!! no shit, really. he cleaned up and pruned the other day, and through away a FULL garbage can, the 80-100 gallon ones, of under growth!! but he has the best light there is, the sun.

Oh I've seen people talk about those. Air pruning so they don't create a rock hard ball of roots. I think I'll order 2 or 3 depending on the price.

You won't be sorry.
I started a new journal it's in my sig.

Just ordered two 3-gallon and one 5-gallon. With shipping it was $22.08. Shipping was $8. The pots are pretty cheap. I'll use them for my next grow. I think I'll do a royal kush since I have 5 beans and then one of my single bean feminized seeds. Probably do a little opinion poll to see which one everyone thinks I should do, but that will be at least a month away.

Here's a question. In the new box I have a few options for what wattage bulbs I can use. In all I have 8 sockets. I had a box with 6 sockets once and had all 26w cfl's. Temps were usually around 95 during the summer when the house was around 70. So I can do all 26w bulbs or less and leave some sockets empty. I can also use 42w bulbs which I have noticed tend to stay a bit cooler. I think the built in cooling fan works a little better in those. I also have that 65w (300w equiv.) but it blocks one socket so it essentially takes up two sockets. I could also do two 65w and four smaller bulbs or even three or four 65w. I'm thinking about trying four of them but am not sure how the heat will be (better or worse than 6-8 smaller bulbs).

The 23w are usually around 1600 lumens
The 42w 2750 or so
The 65w 3900 lumens

I have heard adding the lumens from all the bulbs is misleading. One 65w may be better than two 42w. Is this correct? Would four giant honkers be better than eight smaller ones even though the total lumens is less?

If you know how lumens work when considering multiple bulbs then please help. I want to really pump them full of light while still keeping temps down. The room is usually between 75 and 80 degrees, leaning towards the higher end. Once fall begins though it will be much better.

Well the one for sure thing I can say on this is with more lights you have better control of the light footprint.
Light can be more easily focused where you need it most. Have you thought about a little 70 watt hps from home depot?
I got one pretty cheap and took out the ballast (or transformer in this case) and placed it outside the cab.
Something that would help combat the heat is a little diy yeast and sugar co2 bottle. Seems to have
made a significant improvement in my girls. Even though it's not sealed they continuously expel co2 right onto your plants.

Yeah I've done the co2 bottles before. Plus I make mead so I could always run a tube from the airlocks to the grow box. Down side is they don't last very long, especially if you use just plain refined sugar.

Funny, I was at Lowe's earlier and thinking about getting a few more of the 65w cfl's when I saw the 75w hos and remembered you mentioning that in your old thread. When I build a real cabinet I think I'll get one. They are only like $40 I think. Then I can use my current grow boxes for mother veg cabs.

lumens dont add up, but they do spread out. for instance, you have a 1600 lumen and a 3900 lumen. well you do not have 5500 lumens as you may expect, you have 1600 in one area, and 3900 in the other area, so you spread lumens around your plant, but dont add them as you add them, make sense?

you know i will be honest with you jebus, i hated moving cfls every fucking day. that is why i got a CMH. now i have done some tuning, but I have a PC case with less than 1 sq foot of space, and I have a 100 watt CMH that is 9200 lumens, and the 30 or so watt ballast in the power supply hanging off the back.. Temps started at 87ish 1 or 2 inches under the light, to around 84 1 or 2 inches above the pots. My recent tuning has brought temps down to 84ish 1 or 2 inches down from the light, and 78ish 1 or 2 inches above the pots. what I am getting at is you have greater control over your lights with 1 or 2 HID as opposed to a bunch of CFLS. you control the heat shield/cooltube or what ever. and remember, those CFL's make a bunch of heat too. just some food for thought. i aint telling you to switch, but a 70 watt hps in your new cab with maybe 2 6500k 23 watters for side lighting, would probably do you wonders.

That's exactly my plan for my next box, which is box number 5. I should have started off right form the beginning. Would have saved me a lot of money.

Well I have tested the new box and it is running hot so I am finagling with the lights to bring down the temp. Right now I have a 60w cool light, two 40w cool whites (sylvania from Lowe's, which stay a lot cooler than the GE brand from Wal-Mart but is much more expensive), and a 26w daylight. The temp right before lights out was 95 and change and had been right around there for about 45 minutes or so. I have two strong fans inside taking up a lot of room and pointing straight at the lights. I also haven't put on the air filters so once I do I can expect the temps to rise some more.

Some other bad news... Tia is turning hermie. Lots of hairs all over but there is one branch with no hairs. Upon closer inspection I saw male flowers starting at the nodes on this branch. I'm leaving it for now just incase I am wrong but I think it is wishful thinking. There was another branch with mostly hairs but a few nodes had male flowers instead. If it only affects those two branches I may just chop them off and see what happens. I'm not too surprised. I wasn't exactly gentle with them as they were growing up.

No problems with Marsha from what I can see although she seems behind Tia in development for some reason. Maybe some super minor light leaks have been messing with them. I accidentally turned on the lights earlier today about 30 minutes before they were suppose to come on, but they were only on for about 5 seconds.

I have the two of them in the new box now and was able to LST them a little better. Ashley is in the round box bow and doing fine. I adjusted her tiedowns and extended her dark period by an hour to 17/7. In a day or two I'll go to 16/8. Then about a week from now I'll give her a full day of darkness and then start her on the 12/12 cycle.

Yup, I can no longer fool myself. Tia is a hermie. I only found male flowers on two of her branches though so I just chopped both branches completely off. Now I need to stay vigilent and look out for new bananas. No problems with Marsha though. She's all woman as far as I can tell.

Bad luck!