Spin's Perpetual Grow - CFL - Closet Cab

Hi, I've been growing since february of this year, have put in alot of reading, taken alot of advice from fellow RIU members and have enjoyed lots of lovely, homegrown bud ever since.

My first grow was fully CFL and successful (a little above 5oz from 2 plants) and I have decided to stick with what works for me.

I moved straight to perpetual at the start of June. Putting a new plant in approx every 2-3 weeks and I've reached the point now where each time one comes out a new one goes in from the veg box. I've tried a few strains through the summer (belladonna, cheese, indica and 'funky', a friends own hybrid, which was a bit crap!) and settled on belladonna and cheese as the strains that are best suited to my conditions.

The cab is a low wattage lower area, 750x1000x750mm tall, which at present contains just a single 65w 6400k CFL, however in the coming days this will be upgraded to a 300w. The upper area contains 250w, 2x85w 2700k CFL + a single 65w 6400k, this will soon receive the 65w from the lower cabinet.

I've seen varying degrees of success (a cheese plant produced just 12g! whereas everything else has been between 1.5-2.5oz).

I'm growing in soil (west+ from b+q) and use biobizz bloom and biobizz topmax as my nutrients, along with a bit of eggshell mixed into the soil and the occasional random item thrown in (for example I have twice now experimented with adding a pint of flat coca cola a week or so before the end)

Those strains look badass man, great job!

Yay for upgrades! I received my new light and it was a 300w rather than a 520w

Upper cab now: 300w 2700k, 2x85w 2700k, 2x65w 6400k, 600w total (real watts)

Lower cab now: 300w 6400k

Going to build some new doors for the cab this afternoon, hadn't made any improvements since the start of june.

nice dude, looks like you got your shit down +1

Going a bit mad with cab improvements. Added remote control fan/lower cab lighting, put a full size door on and temps are looking great (28c on a warm late summer afternoon).

The plant which I added coke to has shown a sudden burst of new bright green bud growth today, which encourages me to let her keep going a while longer (still have enough of the last crop left to last a week maybe). I will chop the most mature parts 3 days before my tin is empty, leaving the rest for a week then taking it all down, chucking a new clone in and the circle of highlife continues

Because I have done a fair bit of changing today I thought I'd throw up some more pics.

I still need to tidy up the wiring (zipties to the rescue!) but this a pretty stealthy setup, I think. My next planned improvements include improved extraction, noise reduction on the air.

Some of my other related interests include using timelapse photography to monitor progress, as well as USB thermo/hygro readings, which enables me to tune my fan speeds to keep the consistent 28c I like best.

Chopped Betty down this morning, on the lines drying for a few days, hoping to get a decent weight. Got about 5g I chopped and dried early as a taster tonight

nice growing spindles!have to watch how it goes
!!

Haven't posted in a long time, grow still going strong.

I was recently given an indica that was fully vegged and 3 cheese cuttings, I topped and LST'd the indica, repotting it into my own medium (soil/perlite) and stuck her into 12/12 about 10 days ago..bleedin' thing has gnat eggs, so I've spent the last 5 days killing gnats and trying to prevent spread (seems ok, tbh). The cheese cuttings had been in the propagator for over 2 weeks, didn't look too healthy but have moved into their first pots this morning.

In addition to that I have 1 cheese at about 4 weeks flowering, a belladonna at about 3 and a belladonna that has just gone in, as well as a couple of bella clones which I am mothering for cuttings (took 8 this morning).

I'll try and update this a little more often, since I have found in the past that keeping a good journal helps to guage progress/give evidence of what works.

Added 300ml flat coca cola per plant in upper cabinet.

Transplanted clones all taking well, 1 under a bottle for a little extra humidity.

Cuttings all looking healthy.

2 vegging bella looking healthy.

No sign of further gnats.

Apparently STILL fighting gnats, big thanks to my mate supplying the infected plant. I'll apply neem over the next few days to see if that kills the cycle, they had an application yesterday but there was still evidence this morning.

The transplanted clones (3 cheese, 1 indica) are adapting to their new pots quite slowly, probably got them out of the propagator a little early. Some TLC should sort that.

The cuttings in the propagator seem to be doing ok.

Flowering cab:
Belladonna #1 (9th generation clone) is looking healthy, but yield will be lower than I'm used to based on the skinniness of the buds. She is approx 3-4 weeks into flower and I am used to 1.5-2oz per plant in this setup for belladonna. Watered liberally yesterday to remix the coke through the soil. Lower section neem sprayed as a precautionary measure.

Cheese is looking great, lots of bud sites, all building well, with healthy, juicy buds. Plenty of trichomes (more than is usual for cheese). Approx 4-5 weeks in flower. Watered very liberally (about 1 litre) yesterday. Lower section neem sprayed as a precautionary measure.

Indica has finally started to show. This is the gnat infected plant and the leaves show obvious signs of damage from the larvae that are clearly running wild in the soil. Heavily neem sprayed and fed neem mixed water yesterday. Day 1 of flowering dated at 19.1.11, I'm told that these average 9 weeks for flower, so expected harvest date set at 22.3.11

Belladonna # 2 (10th generation) looking really positive, has been in the upper chamber for a few days and should show flowers in the next day or so. Typically Bellas take 6-8 weeks for flowering.

I brought my data lead home from work, so will take some photos later.

Pics:

1. Bella at 3-4 weeks
2. Bella on the turn
3. Cheese at 4-5 weeks
4. Indica, Just turned, gnat problem evident

great job, looks very nice

The indica has started flowering for real, dated as yesterday, fed the flowering bella and cheese quite liberally, did some retying on the lst and took a few fan leaves from the cheese where I felt they were obstructing light to buds.

The clones in the propagator were taken in 2 batches, with 4 bella clones from the plant that has just gone into 12/12 in one batch and 3 bella from 2 different plants which are in veg and 1 indica. The first batch is showing the first signs of roots poking out but look pale and unhealthy next to their neighbours, which appear to be thriving.

Gnats are still reappearing in small numbers and the sticky traps are catching them, will order some gnat-off as the neem seems inneffective.

Bought a green light bulb today, was considering setting up the time-lapse recording again and getting 24/7 capture going. That, of course, means me getting off my lazy ass and building a pc to attach.

No new gnats seen, supposed to be heading to growell with a mate today, so will grab some gnat off.

Clones in propagator, still batch 1 looking limp/unhealthy, 1 plant shows some roots, but will give it a little longer before I transplant to ensure strength. Batch 2 looking very healthy, still no roots, both sets of cubes were less moist than I like so I gave them a good saturation with some fresh water. Batch 1 are behaving like plants with ph problem.

Indica bud growth is looking healthy for a starting plant, quite happy about her (although she is going to be huge! really had to do some major tying down already, will clearly have to continue to keep height under control)

Bella #1 and cheese are pottering along nicely.

Bella #2 is looking vibrant and healthy, lots of new growth, I expect flowering to start in the next 48 hours, will mark when she does.

Transplanted an indica and a cheese into larger pots, both showed healthy root growth and are progressing well. 2 clones from same batch are slightly behind and I am keeping them under cutoff coke bottles for now, to try and boost them prior to transplant.

Of the 8 cuttings in the propagator still only 1 is showing root growth outside of the cube, the cubes were too wet, imo and I have moved them under a dome in my flowering cabinet to try and balance that out through the day today, after 3 hours they are showing signs of recovery. I'm hoping to get at least 2 cuttings into first pots in the next few days.

The cheese showed it's first orange pistils this morning, which was a pleasant suprise.

After just 4 days in flower the indica is looking great, really impressed with the growth rate of the buds, really glad I have cuttings in the pipeline from this mother, since she looks like a keeper.

Bella #1 is slowly fattening up, will be quite a low yield, based on how it looks (3/4-1oz)

Bella #2 is looking very vibrant and healthy, she is going to be a big girl

Fuck I hate gnats! I bought a G-Mac clone from a dispensary in Cali, and the fucking thing had gnats. I spent the next three weeks of my grow battling the little buggers, ending in a treatment that ultimately worked, but nearly killed all my plants. Thanks for stopping by my thread, seems like you have a bit more of the mad scientist thing going on than I, but I think that is purely due to my monetary restraints. Keep up the good work, brother!

Cheers for looking in meta

I took a few pics today, so I'll try and sort the pics into individual posts to log some thoughts about each plant.

First up, the cheese. Started flowering some time around xmas 2010, didn't really pay any attention, so not totally sure on age...looks to me like she has 2-3 weeks to go at least, the first orange pistils have been showing for a couple of days or so.

I gave her 750ml aged water today and trimmed away a few fan leaves.

There are lots of smaller buds on her, all of which are looking pretty juicy, imo.

Next up is the indica, this is the one that came with the gnat infection. She was very stretched when I got her so I topped her and tied the rest down, have been continuing to retie as she has gone into flower.

She is 5 days into flower and I'm pleased with the results so far, as the leaves show much sign of stress from the gnats, however the buds are forming up nicely. She has plenty of bud sites and several strong branches will produce some healthy sized buds, I expect.

This belladonna is dated as started flowering sometime early january, again, not really sure on exact age as I wasn't paying attention at that time. She was quite small when she went in (I realised I was running low on plants to go into flower and threw her in a little early to at least have something to smoke in 8 weeks). As a result she is quite small by bella standards.

An interesting growth pattern is the fact that leaves branch in 3s, rather than pairs, leading to an unusual bud shape. No other clones from the same stock have shown this trait before and I will be watching the developement of the next bellas with interest.

She has perhaps 4-5 weeks left to go, is really cristally and is starting to plump up nicely.