2x3 Homemade Cab Grow - 1st CFL - Advice Welcomed

KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Day 10 from seed. Nothing new really, little burn on the leaves, but I think they'll be just fine. Had to pull the lights back a bit.

Transplanted today to some suitable soil. Turned out not only was that miracle gro complete shit, it was infested with fungus gnats. They have been taken care of, and the babies are happy in their new home.

Temps holding steady at 75 degrees, with humidity at around 20%. I would like to raise the humidity, but not sure how to go about doing that. I think I might put a bowl of water in there and set it on a heat pad so it can evaporate, and moisturize the air a bit. Anyone tried this?

Wish this part was more exciting, I promise it will get better.

I am also thinking of doing some LST to one of these. Can't hurt to try.
 

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KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Going a little slow, but after the transplant, and a minor gnat problem, they are starting to look really good. I imagine the growth will speed up significantly here in the next week or so.

I added a few things, one I built a reflector for the lights out of posterboard IMG_4896.jpg(.25 cents) and two, rounded the corners of my cabinet with posterboard, so much light gets lost in the corners.. seems like..

The reflector is working great, until they get bigger it's a long way to the top of the cabinet.

They are very happy, and very perky.

IMG_4902.jpg IMG_4888.jpg IMG_4890.jpg IMG_4891.jpg IMG_4897.jpg



Thanks everyone for looking.
 
lee harvey

lee harvey

Well-Known Member
nice fixture there man im planning on something similar but im going to drill two holes instead of one. nice work man
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
ZenithXalaga said:
Cool hope the gnats are history
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]

Gnats are toast man.

Just updating for my own personal reasons. Seems like a good way to keep track of it all.

One little lady is looking strange, and has from the start. Not sure what's going on here, but it is growing slower, and has a strong purple hue to the leaves, although it is hard to tell by the photo.. First set of leaves are completely fucked for some reason, but it doesn't seem to affect the rest of the plant. Not been treated any different than the others, but certainly has a uniqueness about it.



Meanwhile the other two girls are growing magnificently all of a sudden. Once again, no special attention or anything, but they are looking great.






Temps are holding steadily around 75-77 Fahrenheit day time, and right at 63 Fahrenheit at night. humidity between 20-38% depending on how recently I have watered, which has been once every 2 days.

Thinking about doing some major experimenting with these guys, as they're just bagseed, and I'm just having fun.

Ideas so far, LST one, FIM another, and just top the hell out of another. Been reading some really good material I found about adding flavors by mixing pure flavor extract in the water the last week or so, something about the sugars will break down in the buds whilst curing. If you do it right. Either way, it's all about fun for me, so why not give it a shot eh?

Any ideas or suggestions you guys might have are surely welcomed.
 
ZenithXalaga

ZenithXalaga

Active Member
When you flower, I hear adding a tbsp of molasses to a gallon of water really improves the taste of the bud. PLUS molasses has micronutrients that are good for the soil anyways. And its very safe, I've heard there isn't a thing such as tooo much molasses either but I wouldn't add more than 2 tbsp. Less is more. Im gonna be doing lst myself so id like to see you try that. Check out my grow in my sig man.
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
I wasn't really speaking of improving the flavor so much as I was changing the flavor.

Here's what I've dug up so far, and it seems like an interesting concept, and the science behind it holds up pretty well I think.

I didn't write this



Adding Flavors
People pay a lot of money to get seeds they think will grow pot that smells like blueberries or
chocolate or something else. Often these strains are hard to grow or may not be as potent or high
yielding as other less expensive varieties. People want to know if orange bud smells and tastes
like an orange. With the proper techniques you can make your favorite variety smell and often
times taste like anything you want. You want to do this without ruining the cure. It's no point
having blueberry pot that burns your throat or doesn't get you high. Do not pour any syrup or
similar flavorings on your pot. The sugar will make it very harsh and you are inviting mold. There
are better ways. The best flavor enhancing starts while the plant is still growing. You can do a
certain amount while it's curing and you can even affect the smell/flavor somewhat after it's been
cured. There are two main approaches, inside out and outside in. You can apply flavors inside
the plant while it's still growing and you can try to add flavors after it's been harvested but this is
from the outside. Anything you put in your plants water will affect the taste of the finished product
particularly if you harvest it right afterwards. I learned this about 20 years ago the hard way. I
fertilized using fish emulsion right before I topped the plant. Bad move! The resulting top smelled
like fish and had a foul taste. What you want to do is select a flavoring that is very concentrated.
Lets take orange for an example. You could use orange juice but if you could find concentrated
orange extract you would have less pulp etc to deal with. You will find some concentrated flavor
extracts in the grocery store. Want your pot to smell like vanilla? Vanilla extract is cheap and
readily available, so is lemon extract (cooking variety). Other extracts can be found in stores that
specialize in baking supplies. Let’s say you can't find any of that and you want to use what you
have on hand. I took the example of orange flavoring. If all you have is orange juice you could
use that. I would suggest filtering it first to get out as much of the pulp as possible. A coffee filter
works well but it'll take a while to filter it all. You may have to change filters a few times. Those
with hydroponic units will shudder at the thought of a lot of goop going through their system.
That's why I suggested the concentrated extracts if you can find them. It's important to do this
shortly before harvest. For one thing, most extracts including the ones you make up yourself
have a lot of sugar in them. This sugar will ferment and decay rapidly, even more so in a hydro
unit. With hydro I recommend putting the flavoring in the water between 1 and 3 hours before
harvest. This rule isn't set in stone but I heard from one grower who used a sugar based clearing
solution on his crop and less than 24 hours later the water was foaming from bacteria growth.
Plants draw up solution fairly quickly so one hour should be enough for some of the flavoring to
reach the top. Three hours should not be enough time for bacteria to grow but you will want to
dump out the solution right afterwards and clean out your unit. If you read the SU of Mar 27 you
knew to use plain water for a few days before harvesting your hydro crop so all that will be in the
water will be the flavoring.
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KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Here is the rest

If you are a soil grower it's even easier. You might think it would take longer for the flavor to work
its way through the plant but this is not the case. All you have to do is let the plant dry out a little
before your apply the solution. In other words, schedule a watering just before harvest. Naturally
you were giving your plants plain water for several days to a week or two before harvest. Give the
plant the water with the flavor when it's a little bit thirsty and it will draw it right up. One hour is
more than enough time for this to happen. After harvest it's important to give it a good cure.
Resist the temptation to fast dry some of the weed to try it out. You will find it's even harsher than
it would be normally because you have added some sugar to the plant by way of the flavoring.
The curing process will take care of the extra sugar and give you nice mild smoke. It will also
have the flavor and aroma you are looking for. I'm sure I will get a deluge of email asking me
what the exact formula is for the flavoring. I can hear it now "how many drops of Bosco per
gallon?" First of all, I don't know what you want. You may want something that smells exactly like
an orange or a blueberry and doesn't smell at all like pot. As far as I know that's not possible.
You would probably ruin the pot if you succeeded. What some people think is a nice hint of
strawberry may be way too strong to the next person. What one grower thinks is very blueberry
may not smell or taste like blueberry to his friend. I suggest that you don't treat your whole crop
this way while you are experimenting. Dirt growers will find this easy because they could use
something different in each pot. Hydro people may want to isolate a plant or two with the solution.
This wouldn't be very hard because you wouldn't need circulation for the short period of time it
would be soaking in it. Other things you could try are guava, pineapple, grapefruit, passion fruit,
cherry, mint or even pina-colada. Stronger and more concentrated flavorings will have a more
pronounced effect than more dilute products. You may need gallons of orange juice to get what
you want but a half ounce of concentrated strawberry essence might do the job nicely. I may start
collecting recipes and have an issue of the SU devoted to peoples’ favorite recipes sometime in
the future. In short, experiment and see what works for you. The other approach is to use
something in the curing process. People have had good results with orange peel, lemon peel or
other citrus peels. This will only give a bit of odor, it's not as strong a technique as the previous
one I mentioned. For those who just want a hint of something this may work fine. It's important to
watch very closely for mold when curing. The moisture from the peels may promote mold if
you're not careful. Let the herb dry for a day or two before you add the peels This might work a
little bit with pot that's already cured and dried but it's less effective at that point.
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ZenithXalaga

ZenithXalaga

Active Member
That's pretty cool man. I've heard of some people using koolaid packets but I haven't heard of whether it is successful or not.
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Quick update..

Added 3 more bulbs, 26w, and built a new fixture to hang the lights from.



2 of my baby girls are looking good. I named this one Sven.



However, my other baby, which I've come accustomed to calling "What the fuck?" is getting stranger by the day.

I've grown a lot of pot in my time, but I've not seen a plant so compact before. It has just as much growth as Sven, but like, 1/8 the size. The growth is extraordinarily compact, the leaves are very thick, and the new growth comes out purple, but turns green as it gets bigger..

Weird shit man. Same genetics as the others, same soil, light, blah blah blah...



May consider pulling it, and letting the other 2 feast off the glorious unused light. Dunno.:sad:
 
ZenithXalaga

ZenithXalaga

Active Member
If light is a precious resource in your space as it certainly is in mine, I'd just get rid of it. The better genetics of the other two will probably make up for it. Or you should just put it on the outside so you may get something from it, but it doesn't take anything away from your two prize plants. Looking good though.
 
KingJalopy

KingJalopy

Well-Known Member
Not much to update lately, growth has been slow due to me being broke and not having nutes.

I went ahead and did the banana peel and coffee grind thing and it seems to be working.

The did show sex, which is weird. I did nothing to provoke this, but it happened. They are all females. I wish to keep growing them for awhile, I hope they aren't trying to flower on me!

I used LST on 2 of them, and FIM'd the little bastard one for fun. They are at the edge of the pot now. Smelling pretty good lately as well.

Heres a pic of the pistils from one of the babies, Sven I think.:lol: Excuse the quality, my lens is made for wide shots, and I don't have a telephoto. It is through a magnifying glass as well.
IMG_5179.jpg
 
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