So yesterday was a bit stressful. I had elaborate plans to restructure my whole set up, but a few snags were hit along the way. Suffice it to say I'm glad yesterday is over.
I began by removing the males from their pots and transferring them to their new home, a trash bag. Removal was actually quick, easy, and painless for the plant. I snapped a couple shots once removed to show the root structure.
They were so damn healthy, I wish they weren't fucking males...
As I mentioned before, a fixture of 4 cfls fell on my two girls yesterday. One took the brunt of the damage, the other only lost one branch. When the lights fell, the weight broke some branches, causing the broken part to appear like a flattened worm that could no longer support the leaves. One branch on the thinner girl appeared to be producing new growth, and was likely going to be another bud site. Seeing as it was already damaged and going to die, I decided to try and clone it. Unfortunately, there was little stem for me to use, as I didn't have much choice where to cut it. I dipped it in some powdered rooting hormone and stuck it in the soil, maybe 1" deep.
Here she is...
Should I cut off those fan leaves near the base of the plant? It would create some extra stem I could bury to help get the roots going...
Once that situation was taken care of, I moved on to expanding the space. I didn't want to remove the shelf they were on completely, so I got some 2x4's and created an in-between shelf! Now I have much better distance from the hps (so they don't get burned!) and all 12 cfls are back up and running! The only draw back is the placement of the t5's...they're a little too high now, so I may move them later today.
Notice where the mylar ends and the white begins on the left wall...this is where the shelf used to be. I added at least 1.5 feet.
In this one you can see the distance from the top to the cfls and the hps (also note how empty it is looking in there...pulled another male today--4 total so far)
I had also planned on setting up my veg space yesterday...looks like this is going to have to wait. I bought parts to create two more 4-cfl fixtures (~$20 total), but am not quite ready to set it up yet. Soon though.
Note the empty space on top...
That's it. I didn't take any pics of the damaged plants this morning as I had already put them back in the space. I'll get some later though show the damage. Again, its not the end of the world, just a preventable tragedy.
