Smokefrogg's Lil Apartment Grow - 250 hps

[smokefrogg]

i came home from work today and noticed the smallest of the trainwreck plants had grown 2 - 3 inches, this happened on the main stalk which i had tied down for training, so i went ahead and moved the tie down point a few inches the direction i want it to go, attempting a little lst here and it seems to be working out well

here is a pic of the growth before i re tied it down, it is the plant in the back, the branch to the right, the angle isn't the best but i can't retake the pic right now as it is ZZZzzz time for the girls

notice in the same pic above, there are a couple really dried out leaves, this was the result of the heat and my craptastic venting system, this girl wasn't too tall though so she didn't get it as bad as the more mature girls

here's a pic of a handful of dying leaf i yanked off of one of the hindu skunk plants right before their lights out time

 

[smokefrogg]

flowers in effect - january 8 2010

massive stretching today! i checked this morning, and when i got back from work there has been several inches of growth!

on top of that, the flowers are beginning to flower! hooray!

this is the xj13, it looks like my training worked and i got 3 main colas now instead of just the 1 main cola =) the little bit of extra weight has then tipping a tiny bit, may need to get some support sticks this weekend!

here's a couple random pics, you can see some small flowers showing up!

 

[Unnoficial]

nice grow so far, is that a 250 with an enclosed ballast? and if so does it run hot? im trying to pick one of these up but am worried about cooling, although ill be in a larger space. and overall how u feel about that light you have there. thanks man. def subscribed

 

[smokefrogg]

nice grow so far, is that a 250 with an enclosed ballast? and if so does it run hot? im trying to pick one of these up but am worried about cooling, although ill be in a larger space. and overall how u feel about that light you have there. thanks man. def subscribed

hey man,

yes it is an enclosed 250 watt hps, i didn't do my research before i bought it so i got something cheap that was all in one...actually it doesn't put out that much heat, the thermometer right below the light sits at about 85 degrees, and as you can see my venting isn't too impressive

i did have a 400 watt hps in there for a bit, one with a remote ballast that was kept outside of the grow box, that was so much hotter though! i was hitting over 100 degrees! wtf?!

so i went back to the 250, for whatever reason it is much cooler even with the ballast built in?...i don't really get it myself lol

 

[smokefrogg]

small update, the stretch appears to have stopped at this point

the xj13 plant that had stretched a lot and was beginning to bend over it's 3 top colas, has now straightened upright reaching for the lamp, had me a little worried at first but now it is all good =)

 

[Unnoficial]

Cool, i wanted to use a 250 (if and when I get it) just like the one u have in a "open air" type setup, under a sink, idk if u can check out my other journals u can maybe get an idea of what space I'm working with, now my only worry is vertical space / burning the plants this way, overall heat will not be an issue since you say it runs rather cool

 

[smokefrogg]

flowers slowly gettin' bigger, a couple trained trainwreck shots - january 12 2010

things are slowly moving right along, flowers are growing a bit more each day, these girls seem to be wanting more water as well =) all signs of great health

here is a shot of the whole grow, i moved the light up a tad more right after i took this, don't want anything touching the light with sudden growth spurts

okay, here are a couple pics of the flowers growing

here are the same flowers as above, with flash turned on

lastly, here are a few shots of the trainwreck plants, you can see the bends from the training, i'll probably have to stake these guys up when the flowers get bigger and heavier

it's amazing how much they can bend

 

[smokefrogg]

Cool, i wanted to use a 250 (if and when I get it) just like the one u have in a "open air" type setup, under a sink, idk if u can check out my other journals u can maybe get an idea of what space I'm working with, now my only worry is vertical space / burning the plants this way, overall heat will not be an issue since you say it runs rather cool

hey man, i looked through both of your journals

i can't tell exactly, but it looks like you have a couple feet on each end at least, how much height space do you have?

it would be good to get some kind of a fan pulling air from the area, maybe one blowing along the bottom of the glass shield on the lamp as well

i think your grows are pretty awesome, can't believe you did it with just cfl, the first one does look like a bunch of popcorn nugs, not huge or anything, but man they look tasty! i hope you can fit a light into your space and not cook the girls, it looks like you got everything else dialed in, the lamp upgrade i'm sure will make the buds just BLOOOOW UP!! =)

i have a small cfl area, one of the fans had an issue, it hit 100 in there and almost cooked all my little clones argh, my bad, a couple seem like they'll pull through since i fixed it, i didn't think it could get that hot with just cfl bulbs, fixing the tiny little usb computer fan pulling air into the box drops the temp down to mid 80s! amazing what just a bit of airflow can do...i'll be more careful with cfl bulbs and heat from now on

 

[smokefrogg]

truckin' right along - january 18 2010

sloooowly budding =)

xj13

hindu skunk

the girls

nice buds forming, thank the good lord for beautiful plants =)

that's it for now, happy farming!

 

[smokefrogg]

growing growing growing - january 19 2010

some better pics of the flowering, i've deduced that i have to take the plant out from under the grow lamp in order to get a half way decent pic with our cam

hindu skunk

xj13

trainwreck - i have 2 of these, this one, which is the scrawnier one, has much denser buds than the other, more trichomes too, this is going to be one frosty little girl! makes me wish i was able to let them veg longer and get a bit larger

 

[Unnoficial]

Thanks for the reply. Funds are low right now and cant afford toget the 250 . But I guess it's kinda good for now since realizing I have 3/5 hermies!!!!! Ugh! That's the last time I try topping or fimming, too much stress must have triggered them during a crucial vegetative growth period. I learned my lesson... READ and learn more.
Anyway, I'll leave the more determined setup for next time around. Which will be something similar to your setup.
Keep up the good work, I'm not gonna lie, I'm totAlly jealous of ur beautiful babes.

 

[smokefrogg]

Thanks for the reply. Funds are low right now and cant afford toget the 250 . But I guess it's kinda good for now since realizing I have 3/5 hermies!!!!! Ugh! That's the last time I try topping or fimming, too much stress must have triggered them during a crucial vegetative growth period. I learned my lesson... READ and learn more.
Anyway, I'll leave the more determined setup for next time around. Which will be something similar to your setup.
Keep up the good work, I'm not gonna lie, I'm totAlly jealous of ur beautiful babes.

wow, i'm sorry they hermed on you, just try to put a tiny bit away each paycheck and before you know it you'll have no problem upgrading the lights!!

my mom is an old school hippie, she would always top her plants, but after doing quite a bit of reading in books and online i have found that it can really stress the plants out, even causing them to herm =( after i read about that, i was scared to top, and i was scared to attempt any fimming either, i would do very very light pruning and trimming instead, only removing things that appear to be >50% dead or real close to it at least...so i didn't get any cool quad colas or anything from fimming, but everything was pretty stable

the one thing i did do is a small amount of training, mostly on the xj13 plant, i wanted a couple of the big side branches to get more sun, what wound up happening is 2 of the bigger side branches caught up in height to the main one, so it looks like i wound up with 3 main colas that way, they are all the same height and same bud thickness right now

my reading tells me that if you can train the plants, and get as many of the side branches to be the same height as the main one, then when it's time to flower, everything at the highest point of the plant will get hormones to grow phatter, lol if that makes any sense =)

 

[smokefrogg]

must rig up lamp to be higher and some flowering pics with orginal gameboy for scale - january 24, 2010

as you can see below, i have an issue with the lamp being raised up all the way, and one of the plants getting dangerously close

one idea is to drill into the ceiling panel, use some loop bolts, hang the light off of those, that would give me 1 1/2 - 2 more inches, hoping that will be enough

if it isn't enough, then i might be forced to bend the tallest plant, it's the xj13 by the way, i really don't want to attempt any bending/training while they are in flowering, lest they get stressed and ruin all the hard work thus far

here is a grouping of pictures showing each plant from a top view, with an original gameboy in the midst for scale, this is an original gameboy, the biggest sized one, don't get confused because it's yellow and not gray, this is NOT a gameboy pocket or gameboy color, without further ado

flowering started on new year's day, we are 3 weeks and 3 days into it

hindu skunk plants

xj13

trainwreck plants

 

[BigSkyBudTHC]

nice work man. check out my trainwreck grow if you want. lots of pictures.

 

[hotsxyman911]

nice grow just went through your journal, you have been doing very good, just a simple question if you dont mind, what dispensary did you get your clones from because im from socal and im looking to just go buy some clones but dont know of the dispensary that has any in the OC. thank you for response =]

 

[smokefrogg]

nice grow just went through your journal, you have been doing very good, just a simple question if you dont mind, what dispensary did you get your clones from because im from socal and im looking to just go buy some clones but dont know of the dispensary that has any in the OC. thank you for response =]

hey man, thank you!

3 are oaksterdam clones that i got through lapcg in west hollywood, it's on santa monica blvd about a block 1/2 west of la brea, these guys always have the oaksterdam cuts in stock, as well as the lovely full color oaksterdam catalogs to tease you with =)

the 2 trainwreck girls are from eden therapy in hollywood, about 1 1/2 blocks east of highland on santa monica blvd

 

[smokefrogg]

nice work man. check out my trainwreck grow if you want. lots of pictures.

yours are phat! definitely going to time things out better and let the trainwreck veg longer next time =)

 

[Unnoficial]

for sure, from now on, I'm sticking to lst, my first attempt at it was that last grow of mine, and was delightfuly surpised. I'm getting anxious for ur buds man, more pics!!! Haha

wow, i'm sorry they hermed on you, just try to put a tiny bit away each paycheck and before you know it you'll have no problem upgrading the lights!!

my mom is an old school hippie, she would always top her plants, but after doing quite a bit of reading in books and online i have found that it can really stress the plants out, even causing them to herm =( after i read about that, i was scared to top, and i was scared to attempt any fimming either, i would do very very light pruning and trimming instead, only removing things that appear to be >50% dead or real close to it at least...so i didn't get any cool quad colas or anything from fimming, but everything was pretty stable

the one thing i did do is a small amount of training, mostly on the xj13 plant, i wanted a couple of the big side branches to get more sun, what wound up happening is 2 of the bigger side branches caught up in height to the main one, so it looks like i wound up with 3 main colas that way, they are all the same height and same bud thickness right now

my reading tells me that if you can train the plants, and get as many of the side branches to be the same height as the main one, then when it's time to flower, everything at the highest point of the plant will get hormones to grow phatter, lol if that makes any sense =)

 

[smokefrogg]

tie that girl down! january 25 2010
so the xj13 was getting out of control

it's a beautiful plant, but so bloody tall!

i still remember a few weeks back, about 1 week into flowering, woke up at 7am when the lights go on and watered, all was well, got back from work with just 15 minutes to spare till it was lights out time for the girls, i opened the door and took a look....HOLY FRICKIN' CRAP! the xj13 had put on like 3 inches on 3 of the shoots, so i then had 3 main colas that i knew would cause me issues

on the advice of mi madre and a couple kind folks on the riu forums, i had decided to tie the girl down and attempt to train it in mid flower

i was worried because i do not want to stress these girls out, i have never gotten a grow anywhere near as close as these girls are right now, so i'm walking on eggshells with them

anyways, i tied her down, gained a few more inches of clearance between the tops and the light, i will be adjusting and re tying down on a daily basis, as needed. if the bends end up having too much weight on them, then i can makeshift a support tied onto the gardening stakes i suppose

without further ado, here we can see i have much more ceiling clearance!

 

[smokefrogg]

for sure, from now on, I'm sticking to lst, my first attempt at it was that last grow of mine, and was delightfuly surpised. I'm getting anxious for ur buds man, more pics!!! Haha

i'm trying to get some close up shots, the cameras i have here suck, or maybe it's user error lol

i even tried taking some pictures with the camera pointed through a magnifying glass, sounded good in my mind but didn't work out so well in reality, ha

i'll try some more in a few moments, 25 days into flowering now! man i'm gettin' anxious!