Growing on balcony in Thailand - Please Help!

Just to answer Tuxo's question, I think i will veg for about 2 weeks, the reason why is below in an extract from the book "Buds for Less See More Buds" in the book the guy changed the light scedule on day 16.

Why force the plant out of its vegetative stage and into the flowering stage so early?
CFL lights have limited penetration. They cannot maintain a healthy plant larger than
20 inches (51 cm) in height. Many new indoor growers think a bigger plant means
more buds. Well, they may be right, but more buds do not mean a larger yield (more
weight). A large plant grown under CFL's may have many small fluffy buds, most
weighing less than. 5 grams (. 018 ounces). A smaller plant can produce buds that
weigh 1-15 grams (0. 04-0. 5 ounces)! Not only will a smaller plant produce the same or
more in weight, it will do it in a shorter period of time. A smaller plant, 20 inches (51
cm) or less, can utilize the limited lumens of a CFL better than a large plant because
the light is shining over a smaller area.

Just keep height in mind, use some lst and topping techniques. Veg area looks nice, should work quite nicely.

I like those lamp bases, where did you find those?

Cheers for the positive feedback guys, I picked the bases up at a hardware store not far from me. It was a lot lees hassle than i thought it would be to get the equipment and on my last visit i even saw a HPS light for sale, only trouble is that the ballast was attached and i think its just gunna generate too much heat. Still looking for a good grow room supplier who can ship to me my last bits of equipment, anyone got any recommendations?

You ever considered an LED light? There's some perfect ones for your space.

Its not something that Ive look at yet Viagro, I will do some research on them. Cheers buddy.

I'm getting great results, and with 36w Kessil. Never seen a plant perform like this. There are other good flat panels, but I can't believe what I'm seeing with this light.

Beware, though, there's a lot of crap out there.

Cheers!

(I'm not selling anything...)

Got anything going yet Carlito. Intersted to see

Hi people, sorry for the lack of updates, been busy finishing my work for the rest of the year and Ive not had much time to myself recently.

Anyways ive run some tests on my room and as originally thought my room is way too hot. I'm averaging about 93f with the lights and fans on and its not getting much cooler than that when the light are off. It doesn't matter how many fans i have on or add, in fact the more i add the worse the heat problem becomes.

I was wondering about you guys over in the states, how do you keep your room temps down in places like texas or southern calirfornia? It must get pretty hot over there too. The immediate solution i thought of is that there is an air conditioning unit in the room where my veg room is, and that i would re-wire it to a timer and use that to keep the temps down. only thing is that it would cost a bomb to have it running like 18 hours or more a day. So than plan has gone full circle and what I now plan to do is like many have advised on this thread and to start the plants outside and just move the plants to the veg room for a few hours of extra light a day (with my air con on to keep temps down). Then flower the plant only on the balcony.

I'm still looking for a company that will ship me some last bits of kit (ph equipment and odor control, but i'm running into problems with the international delivery side of things. Can anyone recommend a company? Just one question on this subject, if i'm only vegging the plant indoors for a few hours a day will i still need some type of odor control? If thats not the case then, i'm more or less ready to go.

anyway guys i hope all of this makes some sense i had to speed type this out, as i'm running late for work. I will check back later for your comments and hope to stat asap.
Cheers people.

Greners.com ships internationally.

You should be ready to go. But if you're only vegging a few hrs a day, you will be flowering before you know what hit you.

I use LEDs to keep the temps down. I bought a Kessil magenta from Greners, and a Blackstar 240w from Gotham Hydro.

Cheers for the recommendation Viagro, i will check it out in a bit. just to clarify though, i will be vegging my plants for 18 hours a day for about 2 or 3 weeks. however, on this 18 hour light cycle most of the growing we be done outside and i will be bringing the plants inside for an extra few hours of light each day. after about 2 or 3 weeks of this process i will then move the plants outside permanently, giving them a natural 12/12 light cycle.

I read up about LED's like you said, and i'm impressed. However light CFL's i'm using dont generate much heat and there not the main cause for the extreem room temps. bassically its the outside air temperature thats causing the high room temps. with absolutely everything off the room is still to hot. And believe it or not this is supposed to be the cool season here right now. I think the only way for it mate, is to use my air con unit to cool the place down.

One other thing i thought of, was that a lot of people say the plants need absolutely 12 hours of proper darkness a day, my balcony gets dark but i wouldn't describe it a pitch black as such. Anyway does anybody think this will have a serious effect on my plants? Look forward to your comments. Cheers.

Carlito100 said:

...bassically its the outside air temperature thats causing the high room temps. with absolutely everything off the room is still to hot. And believe it or not this is supposed to be the cool season here right now. I think the only way for it mate, is to use my air con unit to cool the place down.

One other thing i thought of, was that a lot of people say the plants need absolutely 12 hours of proper darkness a day, my balcony gets dark but i wouldn't describe it a pitch black as such. Anyway does anybody think this will have a serious effect on my plants?

Click to expand...

Duh...I guess I should've figured that out. I understand, I just figured you were growing indoors, with climate control.

Regarding light, you might have a problem triggering the flowering stage, unless you grow autos. It doesn't take much light to cause problems.

Quick update guys. Everything is all set up and running. I have the AK-48 already potted and is looking healthy (so far). However I'm still waiting for some other seeds to germinate. The AK-48 was potted at about 6am yesterday and spent the day out on the balcony and then i brought in into my veg room at 5pm and gave it additional light until 11pm. Gunna keep the plants on 18/6 light cycle for a few weeks and then take them outside.... hopefully for flowering.

Anyway guys thanks for your help i will post my progress and pics here soon.

Happy New Year.

Just one thing i forgot to ask.

When my 2 day old plant is in out on the balcony should i place it in direct sunlight at such an early age, or should i place it out of direct sunlight until it gets a little bit bigger?

Ive got another question as well guys.

As i mention before in this thread, the balcony at night time is not 100% pitch black darkness, although at this stage (vegetation) the plants are not on the balcony at night but when i change over to flowering on the balcony on the natural 12/12 light cycle that we get here i want to make sure that they flower with no problems.

Anyway guys ive been thinking, and i thought that maybe if i buy a big ass trash can and turn it upside down, add an air intake fan and cut out some small exhaust holes, then place it over my plant at night then it might give it that bit more darkness that it needs.

What do you guys think, does this sound silly to you, will i end up killing my plant or do you think it might work?

I'd grow autoflowers. That way the light/dark does not matter.

Oh and the AK48 is a VERY, VERY stinky plant. It'll smell like you just did a bong hit for about 100 feet around the plant in every direction. Just a heads up.

taking plants in an out all the time might cause problems. I'd veg indoors under some fluorescent lights or cool white cfls...then after a month flower outside.

honestly in your situation I'd seriously consider just being an indoor gardener. More security...more control. You absolutely can do the whole thing with cfls. I did just that with AK48 twice...got about 2 ounces
of VERY dank herb on each plant.

Carlito100 said:

Ive got another question as well guys.

As i mention before in this thread, the balcony at night time is not 100% pitch black darkness, although at this stage (vegetation) the plants are not on the balcony at night but when i change over to flowering on the balcony on the natural 12/12 light cycle that we get here i want to make sure that they flower with no problems.

Anyway guys ive been thinking, and i thought that maybe if i buy a big ass trash can and turn it upside down, add an air intake fan and cut out some small exhaust holes, then place it over my plant at night then it might give it that bit more darkness that it needs.

What do you guys think, does this sound silly to you, will i end up killing my plant or do you think it might work?

Click to expand...

I like the autoflowers advice, but you need substantial hours of light to avoid problems. I'm using a 24/0 schedule with good results.

If you do use a trashcan, why not just set it right side up and use the lid to regulate exposure? You could even wire some sort of light fixture in the lid, if you wanted. The trashcan scrog I saw was done in a regular metal can, and it was wall-to-wall buds...but not too tall. He just regulated the light by putting the lid on at night and taking it off in the morning.