My CFL Christmas Project

Alright so I think its time for another update... Wed. December 29:

Ive been blessed with a couple more days of Cali sun and the plants are loving it. Besides that, theyve been on 24/7 lighting, still from the same 3 23w cfls (1 65k/2 27k). Santa was extra kind this year and brought me an amazon gift card which I promptly spent on new supplies. In the mail, shipping to my secret college lair in SD, are the following items:

1). Light Bulbs - 1 each of 19w 65k, 50k, and 35k; 6 23w 27k
2). Electric - 3 lamp cords w/ socket; 3 socket y-adapters; 2 power strips
3). Pots - 2 #1 Smart Pots
4). Misc - 5 1in. hoop hooks

My Plan is to switch the 3 bulbs I currently have in the mini-fridge back to the PC Case. Then fit the cords with the y-adapters with 1 23w 27k bulb and 1 of whichever 19w (35k, 50k, 65k) each. This plus 3 23w 27k bulbs in the light fixture I already have will give me:

195 watts; 13,251 lumens

I have also cut a much larger passive intake hole in the fridge and will be putting two more pc fans in there for circulation/to help out the exhaust for when I put the filter on. Ill update pics of this boring stuff later when I get down to SD on Friday.

Now on to the plants:



Its hard to tell from these admittedly shitty pics, but there is some LST going on on PU. Lately its been pulling the hooks out of the ground, gunna have to get some string instead

Thanks for taking a look!

Also, wanted to post up some info I found helpful:

" CCT Rating in Kelvin Light Color; Effects:

5000-8000: Deep Blue/Purple - Excellent for leaf & stem growth

4001-5000: Light Blue - Good leaf & stem growth

4000: Neutral White - Promotes Normal growth

3700-4000: Warm Neutral - Promotes rapid growth

3000-3700: Warmer Yellow Neutral - All stages of growth, promotes
photosynthesis activity.

1500-3000: Hot Orange or Red - Promotes flowering.

Keep in mind that natural sunlight measures about 5500k most of the daylight hours. "

Well Murph, long story short, I suffered a disaster. Thank god these little seeds were strong...Here they are, like a week after being poisoned. I'll sum it up real quick...Fungus Gnats+Spinosad+Reaction with soil=MASSIVE nutrient release...They're lucky to be alive and actually have had a nice growth spurt in the past 3 days. Cant say so much for the clones, one is almost definately going to die, the other might rebound, we'll see in a week. No biggie Still smoking the 2010 outdoor!

Oh shit dude, my sympathies! Good thing youre well stocked hehe... Ive been down in SD since new years eve but Ive been raging it until now. My smart pots, bulbs, and some other stuff had arrived on friday, so I just re-potted the little ones and gave them some water w/ molasses and a 1/2 dose of MG nutes. Ill post up an update tomorrow night when I get the rest of my equipment

Oh yea also want to mention something: before I got this thing all set up I had my pots with soil in them already, just sorta sitting outside. Today when I was re-potting, I found 3 or 4 worms IN the pot with the seedlings. I didnt put them into the new pots, but wanted to know, is this good or bad to have happen? Ive studied a little about vermiculture (sp?) but dont really know if it applies in this case. Thoughts?

Smartpots are the shit, huh? I have some 30 and 45 gallon smarties ready for spring, and the hydro shop sold them 20% off, so I got them cheaper than if I had purchased direct!! As for the worms and shit...well, i really don't know. But man, you might get other kinda bugs you don't want if you leave them outside. I mean, I've never had big problems with pests outside, but i dunno, i heard grow rooms should ideally be sterile, enclosed little ecosystems. But worms, they're the shit, sign of healthy soil. Keep up the good work!

Haha yea man Im down for having some worm poop in my soil. I just came home and found a bunch of packages waiting for me , but then I found that all but one were books for this quarter ...AND, the parts that I did get ending out being the wrong size . With a little fenangling I think I can still do the lights the way I originally planned. Anyways, I hope to update tomorrow when everything else should finally be here.

Yeah, stupid education! Haha, books are good, not as exciting as marijuana growing equipment, but good nonetheless. Hope things show up soon

Alrighty I finally got some time to do at least a quick update, Wed. the 5th:
So I fucked up a little bit with the transplant . I didnt cover enough of the stem on PU and saw some yellowing of the lower leaves before noticing. I got some more soil in there and finally turned off the lights, starting them on their way to becoming beautiful ladies (knock on wood). If I remember correctly, this means they were vegging for about 4 weeks. Here they are after a few stressful days:


You can still see a little yellow on PU, but its an improvement over yesterday so Im not too worried. The other box I had them sprout in was fucking ridiculous, if you remember. I filled the bottom with about and inch or so with little rocks to help the soil drain water while keeping the soil from flowing out the holes. When I transplanted, I noticed that the little divider had indeed kept the roots separated. On the flip side, lots (and lots) of roots had woven themselves into the rocks at the bottom and when I pulled out the plants I couldnt help but tear quite a few of these roots off . Anyways, I think that might explain why theyre having an extra hard time with the new pots. I also think that old pot was stunting the larger plant (well, a factor in that stunting, at least).

The mini fridge is still under construction . Some of the parts from amazon are taking forever/werent right... I went ahead and did it ghetto DIY style (like all my shit lol) because I wanted to get more light and specifically warmer light. Right now the plants are under 3 23W 2700s and 2 19W (5000k and 6500k). Basically, this is half the light I was planning on having on them at this time, and Im kinda disappointed/frustrated. Until the last few things get here, I can do no more...

Hey just keep at it man. I ran into lots of obstacles when it came to building a grow box too. You just need to find ways to adapt

More power to ghetto DIY...I just finished this tent yesterday, it cost me about 40 bucks, not including the lights.

if its ghetto it's bettow!

Metasynth said:

More power to ghetto DIY...I just finished this tent yesterday, it cost me about 40 bucks, not including the lights.

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ZenithXalaga said:

if its ghetto it's bettow!

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Sorry guys got caught up in school a little bit there. Anyways, Meta, I saw your tent the other day; that things rad! Soon the ghetto gods will smile upon me, but before I pay homage to them I must first care to my plants. Theyre getting FUCKED UP!

I think its the water here. Dont know the ph but I think that may be the issue... Ill post pics when the lights come on, but does anyone know if theres a specific water I can buy right now at Vons/Ralphs that is known to have a stable ph? Thanks!

Just buy drinking water, cheap brand is okay, thats good for a quick fix. Are you letting your water sit in open containers for at least 24 hours before you water with it? If your water has a lot of chlorine, that'll mess you up. But yeah, i'd go with drinking water for now till you figure things out...get a 2.5 gallon jug for like 3 bucks. I don't think the brand matters.

Yea I leave the water out for a day or two at least. Ill head to Vons in the morning and just get a fat jug of something. Hows everything coming along at your place?

MurphMan said:

Yea I leave the water out for a day or two at least. Ill head to Vons in the morning and just get a fat jug of something. Hows everything coming along at your place?

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You know, it's good now. My computer died a few days ago, but after a trip to Fry's I realized it was just the power cable, so I just updated my thread. Stop in and see how the babies are doin.

Pics:



*note* thats the actual color of the bottom set of leaves, not some weird reflection.

Alright so I went to Vons and got some Chrystal Geyser this morning and gave them each a .5L and let them drain/bask in the sun. Tonight they are looking a little better

Id get distilled water. The yellowing may mean your plant isn't getting enough nitrogen. Which could be caused by nutrient lockout from ph issues

Yea so I guess I got the wrong water (Chrystal Geysers).... Didnt think Id be able to fuck that up but in the end I did ahah. The plants are still suffering so Ill head to the store asap, and pay more attention to the labels this time

Hey Murph, everything good?