Quasi Ghetto Grow

[good2bkind]

No, the other grow is still (mostly) alive and well, but it's time I started some new adventurers, the 2nd grow starts!

I figure I'll just add it onto this journal. Don't who else did that, don't know if it's a good idea but I thought it would be cool to keep a chronological record of subsequent grows.

So, to sum up:

The previous posts are detailing a single female plant which is currently a couple days from 4 weeks in flower.

I started these seedlings Sunday night, and you can see they've all popped.

I put 3 in the plastic drinking cups, cutting two holes in the bottom for drainage, the 4th I had to put in a different cup and may have to put duct tape around it to keep light from the roots.

Currently I have three 12.5 "cool" floros-- they're actually 5500k, not the preferred 6500, but they're all I've got and this start is a lot better than the last time.

The obvious stretching of the plant in the back is from when I had it only under one light; hence, 3 now.

I still need to name them, going to use the female names from Final Fantasy X-2, one of my favorite ever games.

Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and that chick that led that one faction...

Ah yes, Leblanc.

I'll label the containers later.

I'm trying to see if it's a good idea just to do four at a time. You have a 50/50 chance of two being male, meaning you're generally going to be growing two females at a time, and that's all the light I have, so that could work perfectly.

Unless, of course, I get 4 males but these odds are pretty low.

This time though, I will veg a much shorter time. Last time I veg'd for months, as I didn't have the closet built.

This time, I'm thinking veg for 4 weeks or whatever's recommended, I forget.

 

[jimbizzzale67123]

there lookin better bro.... stay away from those clear cups and think about that light setup. The cups look like they are actualy blocking some of the light. U might be better off hanging them above.

 

[good2bkind]

there lookin better bro.... stay away from those clear cups and think about that light setup. The cups look like they are actualy blocking some of the light. U might be better off hanging them above.

No doubt ma man, no doubt. Guess I better overcome laziness and denial and build something so they shine from above... and still be ghetto, no doubt!

 

[kevintheskin]

trial and error buddy. thats how i learned. i actually used the same germinating kit. i started 132 seeds in it and it worked well for me, all of them sprouted, at first about 40 something were going but some were weak, my dog ate a few,ect... so now i got 12 really good ones. all about 2 months old and a foot tall. i cant wait to flower them!!!

 

[good2bkind]

trial and error buddy. thats how i learned. i actually used the same germinating kit. i started 132 seeds in it and it worked well for me, all of them sprouted, at first about 40 something were going but some were weak, my dog ate a few,ect... so now i got 12 really good ones. all about 2 months old and a foot tall. i cant wait to flower them!!!

That is funny dawg that you started that many at once, shit you was gonna open a shop like Amsterdam and shit.

I took Home's lesson, put the lights above but it managed also to be ghetto as always, which you can't tell from this pic but the damn lights are duct-taped to the bottom of the shelf:

 

[good2bkind]

This goddamn thing is not printing my pictures. Just believe me when I say I got the lights above the seedlings, with duct tape.

 

[jimbizzzale67123]

LOL duct tape keepin with the gheto them. Youll do fine I worrie about my plants all the time just recently solved a heat problem. Had them in my closet in my secret jardin that I grow in and th temps were like 83. I moved it out into my bedroom and hooked my cam fan duct to my A/C vent in my room and now the temp is around 75 its all about trial and error. No one grows perfect plants the first time and ghetto is never a bad thing youll grow some good ladies.

 

[mastakoosh]

g2bk you are definately gonna have to control the temps some if you can. even in the 90's is too hot and will stress and affect yeild. keep up the good work.

 

[good2bkind]

g2bk you are definately gonna have to control the temps some if you can. even in the 90's is too hot and will stress and affect yeild. keep up the good work.

Dude, you are right about that. Been over 90 every day and the damn thing basically stopped growing. The buds, such as they are, seem to be progressing, with a little bit of crystals now on the leaves, but the leaves are hardly there, they are so folded down. This is week 4 of flower, I think I still have 4 more weeks to go and I'm going to have to do something, somehow or risk losing this plant.

I just moved it a little farther from the lights. Even though they're floros, it looked like it was getting burned (it was as close as 1/4" in places, now it's about 2 inches), we'll see what that does and then tomorrow I can water with molasses again which tends to make the leaves a bright green (right now they're light green towards yellow, but seeming to hold).

 

[mastakoosh]

i tried to read to see if you have an exhaust in there but i didnt see any info on one. if you dont have one, a passive intake at the bottom and a hole with a fan exhausting at the top would help a bit.

 

[good2bkind]

i tried to read to see if you have an exhaust in there but i didnt see any info on one. if you dont have one, a passive intake at the bottom and a hole with a fan exhausting at the top would help a bit.

Yep, I got one. I have a passive intake at the bottom and an exhaust at the top, and I have two 8" fans, one blowing on the plants and one arranged near the top to blow outward.

When I first put in the 2.5 frozen water, you can feel that cool air is exiting the top.

But that only lasts about 4 hours before melted.

I have to remember too that I've never checked pH of my water so there could be significant issues there as well.

Thanks for checking in again, MK.

 

[good2bkind]

Here are two pics of the Lady, and one following of the duct-taped-ed sprouts.

Now, if you think she looks bad, she looks better than yesterday.

This morning she took over 1/2 gal of water with molasses, and hardly drained any, so she was thirsty.

You can see from the first far shot, my lights and the frozen 2.5 gal water I just now put in there.

Cab temps were at 98 degrees, obviously too hot, and they will continue to be.

Humidity was shy of normal, but our days have been slightly cloudy, lending some moisture. Usually the cab would be dry to very dry.

You can't see it in this shot, but above and to the right is my outflow hole, 4 inches, light protected simply by having the external aluminum outflow thingy point downward, as all the light in this room comes from above except for ambient, which is not an issue because of the 90 degree angle.

Behind the light with shroud is another cheap fan supposedly to blow air out. It just rests on that wooden bar I threw on there.

This plant has been a real trooper for handling my ghetto ways.

Next shot is trying to show the buds, which amazingly, still exist.

I have started to wonder: do I have too much light for this single plant? Is there such a thing as light overdose? I know some would say no, but who else is growing a single plant under all this light? Granted the buds love it, or are dealing with it, but what if it's too much, too hot?

Someone yelp if you think halving the light output would be a bad idea-- consider that at this time I cannot lower temps, maybe this is too much light.

I could try it for a day or two, afraid to try any more than that, but the plant is not faring well, and we still have four weeks to go-- at this point I have to keep her alive whatever it takes and what it would take is a fucking refrigeration unit which I would entertain, but I simply cannot incur that cost to my electricity, which is paid for by my landlord, included with the rent. She's home in the day, and if she's not already alerted to a daytime spike in electricity from two fans and 9 lights going at once, an a/c would def. be the kiss of death.

The frozen water has brought temps from 100+ to the 90's, but this is still obviously way too high.

The last pic is of my lil saplings! They, at least, appear relatively happy, since I'm starting them much better than the last crew, poor things (this girl is the only survivor of 8, and look how I treat her! I'm trash! lol)

1) closet/cab long shot
2) buds and curled leaves
3) sweet babies!

 

[good2bkind]

This is not a big or grand idea, but I was looking at the setup, how the frozen water thing is sitting over in the corner of the cab.

All that does is blow any cooler air out the blowhole, and the plant is still getting warm air outside the room, while I'm at work.

So I thought, okay, take the frozen thing, place in front of the passive intake on the floor.

I have two fans in there to blow the air out the top. If I can cool the air coming in, the fans will send that air out the top, and because of how it comes in through the bottom, the plant will get cooler air than it did before.

I'm pretty excited about this, not because it's a perfect solution, but because it's A solution.

I think with this solution, if I rotate the frozen water regularly, I can bring the cab temps down to 89 degrees.

Still too hot, but it's in the 80's, and it's all I've got.

pic1)
There are two lower levels. The cab itself is raised, with air coming through a 4" inlet in the middle. Above that is the raised shelf you see, this has a light baffle built into the bottom so that light does not enter through the bottom, but air can. You can see the sweating 2.5 gallons of ice. Basically my plan is to put this in front of the door when it's closed, cooling all incoming air.

Notice that new growth on the stem is green and healthy (even growing buds)-- this gives me hope!

pic2)
Kinda hard to imagine from this angle, looks like a damn robot, but this is my air out system, pointing mostly downward to block incoming light.

Did I mention that this plant has little to no smell (veterans are like, yeah, because you have little to no buds, noob!)?

When I smell the plant it smells exactly like the mint we used to grow for our tea. There is a slight skunkiness, but even our homegrown mint had that.

Obviously the plant would stink more if it were healthier, and there's only one plant, but I think it may be safe to say that this is a low-smell variety (something called 'Superbud' from High Grade Seeds).

pic3)
Better shot of the outflow. So 80's!

pic4)
The outflow, and the 2nd fan.

These fans have been running 24/7 for the past 5-6 weeks.

 

[mastakoosh]

man she is looking better. she looks like she wants to be fed a bit. i am glad you got the temps down and anything that pops up you are finding solutions and overcoming it. that is impressive. i think you can get a nice thick cola on her if you continue to work with her. props on this grow so far.

 

[good2bkind]

man she is looking better. she looks like she wants to be fed a bit. i am glad you got the temps down and anything that pops up you are finding solutions and overcoming it. that is impressive. i think you can get a nice thick cola on her if you continue to work with her. props on this grow so far.

Really? I'm glad to hear that I am afraid the poor girl is gonna die. You mentioned feeding.

See, I posted a help thing about the folding leaves and someone told me I should hold back on the nutes, so I have, that was well over a week ago, I think, no nutes since then.

But I had never really noticed much problem with the nutes, and I'm thinking I need to give her more again, maybe just half the amount to start.

She's been in this soil a long time, so there can't be much left in there to feed her.

Thanks again for sticking with this grow and reading up, mad props on the Homer Simpson/Hulk avatar!

 

[Dr.BrownThumb]

a little late but subscribed...

 

[mastakoosh]

Really? I'm glad to hear that I am afraid the poor girl is gonna die. You mentioned feeding.

See, I posted a help thing about the folding leaves and someone told me I should hold back on the nutes, so I have, that was well over a week ago, I think, no nutes since then.

But I had never really noticed much problem with the nutes, and I'm thinking I need to give her more again, maybe just half the amount to start.

She's been in this soil a long time, so there can't be much left in there to feed her.

Thanks again for sticking with this grow and reading up, mad props on the Homer Simpson/Hulk avatar!

thanks dude, it could be ph issues that have caused some lockout.but like you said give them a 1/2 dose of some nutes and see if they react positively.

 

[good2bkind]

1/2 nutes, week 5

DrBrown, thanks for subscribing.

Mastakoosh, I did give a 1/2 dose and it seemed to be better. I'll do it again next watering.

The temps are as bad as ever, one of my 2.5 gal frozen containers burst when I put it in the hot closet. Luckily there wasn't much spillage and the problem was because I never put an air hole in it, der.

But I did notice the leaves are finally getting sticky stuff.

Well, not the leaves, as there are hardly any and they're all curled, but the little leaves near the buds all have crystals on 'em.

 

[good2bkind]

pic1)
Can't see the hairs in these pics, but at least there's buds

pic2)
Closeup of said buds

 

[mastakoosh]

pic1)
Can't see the hairs in these pics, but at least there's buds

pic2)
Closeup of said buds

right on bro. it looks like she liked the feeding. next feeding step up the nutes just a bit and see if she likes that. keep up the good work and keep trying to battle those temps.