Club 600

DST said:

First tap beer of the summer.
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heres to normal living....whatever that may be.
Slainte mhath.

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Cheers! To the New Normal.

Hi all. Long-time listener, first time caller. Early stage DIY CFL in cab, weird mix of Autos - have already managed to scare one into flower after 4-weeks. New Philips 600 arrives imminently, cab becomes nursery and i'm contemplating perpetual (from seed each time) Auto-grow. I know it's not the usual 'perpetual' as it will be new plants each time, but i'm phasing my grows to line up to how much i can smoke. Or is that how much i want smoke?! Anyway, i'm likely to make my journal a wiki because i keep forgetting everything i've learned - it's like i've got short term memory loss or something. Weird. Peace, love and bud. HN. (oh and props DST for breathing life into this forum for nuff time).

Will post pics of setup and current 'status' shortly. I am 4-weeks into Blueberry Kush + 2 randoms, + 2 weeks into 2 Randoms and 3 days into 1 x Big Devil Auto and 1 x Big Bug Auto. Goal is for 2 x 4oz plants each cycle as this is how much i normally smoke in that period. Photo cycle is 20-4 at the moment. Make-shift fan tower made from 5" PC Fans and old harddrive power adaptor. CFLs (5 of) are 55w (both 2000k and 6000k - 3150 lumens each), random LED is 2000k 100W (12,000 lumens apparently - lol) and another 250w Dual-spectrum CFL (15,000 lumens). Plants aren't showing too much stretch so light levels are good.

However, here's the list of things i did wrong to start with:-

1) Repotted my first 3 Autos from seedling pot
2) Repotted them into Ericaceous soil
3) Gave them too much water
4) Gave them unfiltered unadjusted tap water
5) Gave them too much light
6) Gave them too much heat differential
7) Watered from above (not below)
Added stupid amounts of mylar and burnt fan leaves
realised my catalogue of errors and: -
9) didn't have enough ventilation
10) was using the wrong light cycle

Results of these errors is: -

1 x Blueberry Auto 4-weeks above ground - 8" tall, excellent branching and close gaps between nodes
1 x Blueberry Auto 4-weeks above ground 6" tall, flowering
1 x Random Auto - 4-weeks above ground 2" tall - in a state of massive shock and recovering slowly
2 x Random at slightly different stage but both 2 weeks above ground. Very similar phenotypes by the looks of things
1 x Big Bud Auto and 1 x Big Devil Auto 2 days in the pot since germ.

HN out.

Interesting (maybe not!) line of debate. I respect (rather than fear) stuff I don't understand. I've been thinking about plant biology and evolution after reading lots about pH. As a frustrated nominally accomplished chemist, I flashed on rainwater and pH. Naturally occurring Nitrogen (N3) is a really stable molecule with a triple valent bond. Lightening is strong enough to break this bond releasing nitrogen rich salts into rainwater as diluted HNO3 (nitric acid) which lowers the pH to 6.6. I'm a soil and organic grower, question: my preference is to use pH 6.6 rainwater rather than pH adjusted tap water. Controversial?

I prefer it, but that’s a treat for my girls as I live in a desert. My tap water comes out at 8.5 with a tds of about 550. Calcium, gypsum, iron, manganese all in unusable form and in heavy presence. Citric acid does pretty well at dissolving and keeping it moving through the media but ro treatment is necessary. So ya, I love rainwater and so do my girls.

colocowboy said:

I prefer it, but that’s a treat for my girls as I live in a desert. My tap water comes out at 8.5 with a tds of about 550. Calcium, gypsum, iron, manganese all in unusable form and in heavy presence. Citric acid does pretty well at dissolving and keeping it moving through the media but ro treatment is necessary. So ya, I love rainwater and so do my girls.

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Nice. I'd like the desert rays if i could get them. I put my ladies in the sun when it appears, lock down is good for something!

We don't seem to get rainwater with a 6.6ph. I am sure last time I tested it was around 6...anyway, i have a water butt connected to my greenhouse and use rainwater all the time. It's what falls on the garden after all

I haven’t ever tested the rainwater here, I suspect it’s closer to 6 if not a bit less.

colocowboy said:

I haven’t ever tested the rainwater here, I suspect it’s closer to 6 if not a bit less.

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It just rained here man and i caught a bunch, i'm gonna do my Bill Nye thang and check my actual pH

So something is up with my calibration. I get my rainwater pH to 6.4, which I don't believe given what you guys said. I think it is more likely to be 6 or lower. Gonna get me a more accurate measurement before I start thinking 'fact' about this stuff. Still, i'm determined to feed the ladies only rainwater as an experiment. This isn't my 1st grow, and last time I used Canna nutes in veg and flower and i was unconvinced to be honest. There's no doubting plant biology is affected by the micro climate and growing medium, but i'm determined to prove myself either right or wrong on this grow.

Today i named my plants, it's a tradition i get into as i've convinced myself that forming an anthropomorphic bond with your plants has got to be good right? So in order of ground pop we have

1) Tina
2) Turner
3) Cuba
4) Libre
5) Mork
6) Mindy
and 7) (my problem child) i'm calling Gavin.

Peace, love and Bud. HN, out.

Am rooting for Gavin, lol.....Go Gav Go!!!!

I tested mine and it was 5.7. I adjust my water to 5.7 now using phosphoric acid. I am giving the blueberries 4.5.

DST said:

Am rooting for Gavin, lol.....Go Gav Go!!!!

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Gavin has turned a corner. Something about his grow medium wasn't right so i took a bold decision and dug him up this morning. He had the tiniest tap root I've ever seen, about 1/4 the size of the above ground plant which was about 3". I put him in some decent soil, sprayed him with rain water and crossed fingers, toes and eyes. I looked in on him and the gang earlier and it's like he's gone 'fuck me, finally' and he's spread open and gone uber green. I think he's my new favorite. In other news, a very weird occurrence. Mork has disappeared. I mean like gone. I don't get it. I've even sifted the medium and no sign. I think may be he did a bit of 'nanu nanu' and is now on another astral plain. Peace out Mork, peace out.

question team 600 - my philips light arrived. I've not run HPS so have no idea on heat generation / dissipation and what steps i need to take to minimise my IR footprint from the eye in the sky. Will a cool tube sort that out or are there other options / alternatives? Muchos, HN

HotelNovember said:

question team 600 - my philips light arrived. I've not run HPS so have no idea on heat generation / dissipation and what steps i need to take to minimise my IR footprint from the eye in the sky. Will a cool tube sort that out or are there other options / alternatives? Muchos, HN

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a frequently asked question. you'll need a reasonable extraction fan to deal with heat generation. cool tubes have their plus and minus points. I find them useful, others call them fool tubes. anyway, 5inch / 125cm extraction fan like a Ruck or some other brand. there are millions.
as far as being a footprint for the eye in the sky, I wouldn't concern yourself with 1 light. if the light is inside a tent or grow cab, inside another room inside a house, it could be anything generating heat. not enough to throw suspicion imo.

What’s up 600. Back to creeping around here, and nice to see all the good grows going! Nice to see some of y’all “old timers” still going strong after all this time. Haven’t grown anything in years, but the wife is itching for me to start something up. In-laws are moving in for a bit, and I might be throwing the tent back up in their closet for a single grow (they are down, but not sure if they can deal with fan noise and light at night). Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and say hello. Hope everyone is well.

Just saw the thread title and got a surprise.

It's not LED but the good old HPS.

I'm a user and have been for a long time, always come back to the trusty 600 watt HPS.

Here are a pics pics from my previous grow which ended with just shy of 23oz so nearly a gpw.

Don't usually weigh but was asked so here we are.





Current grow will be under the same.

KK26 said:

Just saw the thread title and got a surprise.

It's not LED but the good old HPS.

I'm a user and have been for a long time, always come back to the trusty 600 watt HPS.

Here are a pics pics from my previous grow which ended with just shy of 23oz so nearly a gpw.

Don't usually weigh but was asked so here we are.

View attachment 4601179View attachment 4601181



Current grow will be under the same.

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nice. does what it says on the tin!!

Happy Father's Day!

Was a cracking Fathers day. Even got to watch a football match live on the TV, albeit with Fifa2020 soundtrack lol. Better than hearing the moans and groans of the players though I guess.

here's ma wee side cab with the single 316cmh

have a great week, kids summer holiday start next week haha.
peace
DST