497W CFL Bubblegum Semi Stealth DIY DWC Wardrobe Grow - The Summer of Knickers

[Knickers]

Well I put 2 of my 10 Serious Seeds Bubblegum seeds in wet tissue paper under cling wrap today. They're not on a heat mat but I expect them
to crack in the next 2 days. They're then going to hop in the AG to veg for a week or two while I set my cab back up.

They'll be going into a DIY DWC with polystyrene collars to veg into a scrog until appropriately filled. They're not fem seeds so I if I get a male I'm goin to seperate him and do a seed run if both plants grow well. Two males and I will germ more seeds. Two females and I will clone an grow mothers.

I have 9 x 48W and 1 x 65W globes, a mix of 3000k and 5000k temps. I'm going with some sort of flat lighting fixture to cover the 150x60cm chicken wire screen. I also need to install ventillation and Mylar (emergency blankets).

It's going to be very hot here over summer, 40degC plus temps for more than a few weeks.

I'll put up pics as soon as there is something interesting to show!

 

[Knickers]

Well not really interesting, but heres the restricting factor of the grow ;

 

[swampbud]

Knickers, like the cfl grow. will you change to other lighting after flower (mh,or hps)? Good luck hope they turn out to be girls. I'll be watchin to see how she goes.

 

[Knickers]

CFLs end up being quite expensive so I dont want to upgrade my lights for as long as possible. I figure I'll finish this grow with CFLs, and then see whats happening after that. Honestly I'd rather own a property and grow outdoors so this whole growing thing needs to fit in with other things I want in life. Anyway cheers for the good wishes, and hope you enjoy the ride!

 

[Knickers]

Alright well my seeds were popped this morning and I planned on planting them in the AG today. Unfortunately my mate who currently has it wasn't able to get it back to me, so there is an updated picture from a minute ago showing tap root growth.

Pics are 12hrs apart.

Can someone please word me up on the impacts of keeping your popped seed in wet paper towel for an extra 24hrs? If it's critical to prevent them from staying like this, what is a good temporary solution?

 

[Knickers]

Right well I did the clever thing and asked that question in the right place and got my answers thanks

I picked up my AG from my mates place today as I was very uneasy leaving the popped seeds in paper towel for any extra time. I soaked some rockwool in water (didn't have pH down grrrrr... again at mates place!), shook the water out, then cut it to fit into the AG pods.

I poked a hole down the middle with a meat skewer and inserted the seeds tap root down as gently as possible. I felt like there was minimal force used, however there was a bit of poking to get them properl in there. I then put a little cap on top to keep light off the seeds, put the rockwool in the pods, and the pods in the AG with white plastic collars.

This is what the seeds were like when planted:

The transplant and the setup:

So now I have to fit out the cabinet as I said before... I'll update with the progress and may start a build thread too, not sure yet Anyway, they'll need the be coming out of the AG in 2 weeks max so I have a bit of time thankfuly.

 

[Knickers]

Nothing to report for today. They havent broken the surface yet, however I should be correcting their pH this evening once I get my pH down back.

 

[Knickers]

Alright I lied! Both plants broke the surface during the day, though 1 plant is around 6hrs more advanced than the other. Pics will be up tomorrow if I can find the time... Helping a mate LST his grow and hopefuly set up his cabinet for his scrog.

 

[Knickers]

Pics as promised!

These are the 2 lil Bubblegum sprouts. The first individual pic is of the more "advanced" sprout: seems about 6hrs ahead but #2 is catching up it seems.

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#2

 

[tmsculli]

Looks good so far brother, keep it up

 

[Knickers]

Thanks for dropping by sculli!

Updated pics, around 12hs since the last 3:

#1

#2

 

[Knickers]

Daily update. The roots were showing last night, and Ive added a root pic of each plant. #1 is still taller, however it has much less visible roots compare to #2 which has caught up.

I added 2x15cm bubblers. pH was down to around 6.5, bringing it down 0.5-1.0 per day as I didnt have my pH down when the plants went in.

#1

#2

#1

#2

I need to name them.. suggestions lol?

 

[MidnightBaker]

some sexy plants you got going.

 

[kntrl]

Can we get some overall cab shots. Kind of confused on your settup

Thanks

 

[swampbud]

Lookin niicce. #2 must have been jelous of 1 cause didnt take long to catch up root wise looks more advancde.

 

[TheMightyS]

i'll be watching soon to be running my own CFL grow as electricity costs are an issue to me. Thinking of using those big CFL bulbs tho, anyone know anything about them? (150W eq to 300W eq)

Lush green colour atm tho buddy!

 

[Knickers]

Currently the 2 seedlings are chillin in an AG whilse I sort out their cab. I moved house last week so have higher priorities right now than building. It will most likely get done next week. I'll have plant updates this evening, however temps were very high last night and I'm afraid this slowed growth slightly. Turned the lights to 16/8 for heat reasons and dropped a couple of ice cubes in the res for a quick fix.

 

[Knickers]

i'll be watching soon to be running my own CFL grow as electricity costs are an issue to me. Thinking of using those big CFL bulbs tho, anyone know anything about them? (150W eq to 300W eq)

Lush green colour atm tho buddy!

My first suggestions is for you to read the stickies in the cfl sub foum. From there and from others experience you'll see the major drawbacks of large CFLs is less lumen per watt and more heat

 

[Knickers]

Alright well I have been without pc net for a couple of days hence no updates, however I have photos from yesterday and today to continue the flow so here we go:

Yesterday:

#1

#2

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#2

Today:

#1

#2

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#2

The other night it was still 27degC at midnight, and the minimum was 20degC at around 6-7am. I had the small cupboard door vlosed with the AG running in there, not expecting it to be such a hot night. I did the finger test on the res in the morning and it was warm close to hot to touch! I chucked in a steady supply of ice cubes and opened up the doors and the temps were fine within an hour, but wow that was a scary experience! Not closing the door any more, and the weather is slightly cooler (mid to high 20s now).

I went round to my mates place today to help his LST his 2 DWC plants. They're both clones from my last bagseed, unfortunately I mislabelled them so cant be 100% theyre from the good plant. They're on 18/6hrs lighting right now, and have great low temps considering we had 36degC here the other day (in spring) as theyre in a great spot. Their light fitting is similar to what I plan, except I'll be using 48W globes and will squeeze a couple more in there. Anyway, heres a few snaps of his grow which I will be turning into a scrog as soon as he has a cab. Its going to be my practice grow so I have some scrog experience for these Bubblegums!

Before LST.. runt in the foreground.. the poor buggers roots were dry at one stage as her misters broke, but shes back up and running now!

After the LST. Used green bonsai style plant wire as the plants need to remain mobile. This is more just to train them for going into the scrog.

The lights can be rotated to face down or sideways which is nice for quick adjustments.

And these are the runts roots... the bigger lady has almost twice as much

He is using 8x26W red and blue spectrum CFLs, around 1/2 strength veg nutes.

 

[Knickers]

Alright starting to plan and prepare the cabinet now. The inner dimensions, and the dimensions of the screen therefore, is 1100x540mm. I'll have plenty of vertical space as I have 1630mm to play with, and doing a DWC scrog with CFLs means I need barely 1000mm.

Pics of cabinet, same as I used last time, but this time it will need good ventilation for summer temps.