Uncle Ben's Gardening Tweeks and Pointers

Thanks UB,lots of great info here;also thanks out to,riddleme and Dave for some great links.I to got had by all the hype out there.One question,will the dnna-gro work ok with coco and will i need to add more mg?Thanks again,Stay Safe!!

Forget the question,dyna grow will work great has all 16 elements.cant wait to start growing smarter.thanks.

Uncle Ben, do you by chance have a thread just about harvesting and/or curing?

riddleme said:

The only grow journal I ever followed was Mammoths that used a timed drip feed system, he was a great grower that has retired from the forum, I learned a lot from reading his journal, can't remember if he explained his feeding system or not but I'm sure you can get a few pointers from this thread (I did)
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/181208-my-stealth-cabinet-grow-journals.html

Hope that helps

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Thanks for the reply, riddleme. I will start reading up on that grow journal.

I have a question about your watering technique outlined in your "calling all noob growers" thread. Could you give me a step by step of how you were watering and feeding? This is how I interpret your watering pattern.
1) Water until there is plenty of runoff.
2) After a couple days, feed with 1/4 strength nutes.
3) The next day, soak again until there is runoff. Repeat from step 1.

Is that right? So on average, water about 3 times per week and feed 2-3 times per week with 1/4 strength nutes?

lvnv said:

Thanks for the reply, riddleme. I will start reading up on that grow journal.

I have a question about your watering technique outlined in your "calling all noob growers" thread. Could you give me a step by step of how you were watering and feeding? This is how I interpret your watering pattern.
1) Water until there is plenty of runoff.
2) After a couple days, feed with 1/4 strength nutes.
3) The next day, soak again until there is runoff. Repeat from step 1.

Is that right? So on average, water about 3 times per week and feed 2-3 times per week with 1/4 strength nutes?

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First should of asked in my thread so to Uncle Ben please forgive the brief intrusion

and you have the basic idea down fine but you can't put it on a schedule, you have to watch the plants and learn to read em and water and feed when they are ready for it

it may be 1 day it may be 3, it depends on the combination of all things in your garden

I would say re-read my post again and if you still have questions ask me there

moobyghost said:

Uncle Ben, do you by chance have a thread just about harvesting and/or curing?

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Nah sah, I sho don

Uncle Ben said:

Nah sah, I sho don

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Will Sir, I am harvesting in 3-4 weeks, is that enough time to write one by then. lol.

I value your opinion above most, and for my first harvest, who better to teach me?

Just an idea sir.

moobyghost said:

Will Sir, I am harvesting in 3-4 weeks, is that enough time to write one by then. lol.

I value your opinion above most, and for my first harvest, who better to teach me?

Just an idea sir.

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The search feature is your friend. I just slowly dry 'em to the point to where the smaller stems crack, put into a baggie for the moisture to even out and burp the bag daily to release excess moisture until smokable.

UB

UB,
Great thread, I read the whole thing. Tons of very useful info and I thank you for sharing. I was curious if carnivorous plants like the Venus fly trap or a pitcher plant would be of any use for pest control? Would love to hea what you think.

Uncle Ben said:

The search feature is your friend. I just slowly dry 'em to the point to where the smaller stems crack, put into a baggie for the moisture to even out and burp the bag daily to release excess moisture until smokable.

UB

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I thought Id follow up with UB's advice on a good thread about curing over at ICMAG.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=156237

For those of us that aren't used to curing, it can be easy to burp too little or too much, which I did my first couple of times around. Using the advice in the thread, my buds are definitely better, and smell so much better now that I use a hygrometer in the jars.

UB is deeper or wider pots better to increase yield outdoors? Thanks for all your advice and infomation, I really appreciate all your help. Thank you UB!

Uncle Ben, Do you read/respond to PM's? I ask because I PM'ed you a couple of weeks ago and did not hear back. Thanks again for all the great advice you give here.

PeaceLuvPot said:

Uncle Ben, Do you read/respond to PM's? I ask because I PM'ed you a couple of weeks ago and did not hear back. Thanks again for all the great advice you give here.

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I can tell you that he does, but it depends on the type of question, we all get tons of PM's and we only have so much free time, I can tell you that I bend over backwards to help folks that read a bit and ask for clarification. As seen in some of UB's post we get folks that say "didn't have time to read the whole thing so how does this work" we get real tired of those (and by we I mean all of the growers that help here)

but if someone says I read this whole post and have a question, hey we all admire folks that take it upon themselves to learn and better themselves.

And PLEASE understand I am not picking on you I am writing this for everyone that may read it, I have no idea what you pm'd him about

Hope that helps everyone!

also, a question i have been pondering-
pots, .......short and fat OR tall and skinny

uncle ben,

what are your preferences

riddleme said:

I can tell you that he does, but it depends on the type of question, we all get tons of PM's and we only have so much free time, I can tell you that I bend over backwards to help folks that read a bit and ask for clarification. As seen in some of UB's post we get folks that say "didn't have time to read the whole thing so how does this work" we get real tired of those (and by we I mean all of the growers that help here)

but if someone says I read this whole post and have a question, hey we all admire folks that take it upon themselves to learn and better themselves.

And PLEASE understand I am not picking on you I am writing this for everyone that may read it, I have no idea what you pm'd him about

Hope that helps everyone!

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Hey, thanx for the reply. And I took nothing you said as offensive or directed right at me. I for one totally appreciate ALL of the time and effort the vets around here take to help others. Thats one reason I get mad when I see some of the posts asked on these forums that blatantly show the user has done no reading whatsoever before posting. To me that is disrespect to you guys, that put all that time in. I keep my mouth shut, cause I am all about Peace, But it still makes me mad.

Anyways, I wasn't asking my question in anyway except to maybe hope UB just missed my PM. If not, then he just didn't want to answer me, which is cool as well. Peace.

Hey UB, I was wanting to give griffin's spinout a try but I can't seem to find a place that sells it. I tried googling it and only came up with a site that sells containers already treated with it. I don't want pre-treated containers, I want to do it myself. Where can I find this stuff?

Am having trouble posting.

If your PM is cultural related or real basic, I may ignore it. Sorry. Save the cultural questions for the forums please.

Someone recently found Griffin's, don't remember where. Check out the Griffin's thread.

UB

You dont want to use short, fat pots. What happens is more of your root mass ends up in your perched water table(this is where water pools but wont drain). Your roots will either use it up quickly if they're big enough, or they'll begin to drown in it if they are small. This is why taller pots are better. Ive heard of people using bread bags with good results.

thanks dave-

Uncle Ben,

I would love to be a test case in increasing yield. If you have time give me some suggestions.


I usually flower 6 plants in a 4' x 4' area.
Lighting is 400w HPS....standard bulb.
I I run a circulation fan (but in no longer oscillates)
I run full power FF nuts including the solubles. I run one feeding of those according to the chart, then plain water the next feeding and so on
Temps usually stay in the upper 70's and a RH of about 30% with lights on
Lights off RH varies, and temps get to low 60's
I let my girls grow natural...i.e. no top no FIM etc.
The pot I use to pop my taproot in is where they finish....i.e. I do not transplant.
Pots I use are probably 10" in dia. I would guess a 1 gallon or 2 at best.
I use FFOF soil.

VEG
I already know your not in favor of 24/0 lights, but that is my current setup.
I try to keep 6 in there as well with 2-26w CFL which have the more white appearance, and 2-42w CFL of the more orange color
I only use water while I veg because 1) FF feeding scedule is too fucked up for me to keep track of who got what, and 2) I figured the soil could sustain the plants until they go to flower.

Yield on 6 plants is almost always 6-7oz.

It seems as though I could improve on that I just don't know how. Any help is much appreciated.


EDIT: finished plant height is about 24" for hybrids and up to 30" on Sativa leaning. I also try to veg long enough to get 10-12 nodes before flowering. A little less for Sativa due to height. I don't move my light I move the plants. I try to maintain the tops at no closer than 6" from the protective glass on my light hood.