Smartfood's Chrystal Grow Need Pro Advice!

bluntastic

Active Member
i have a very similar set up to yours for my seedlings.. i use those jiffys with same humidity but at about 73 degrees in my box but then i also have each seedling individually greenhoused in a 2 liter and plastic bag. if you do the greenhosue thing you just got to remember to let fresh air in there 1-2 times daily n when i do this i blow on the plants a little to atleast give them a little wind stimulation. this might be the reason why the plant growth is so slow becuase there has to be fresh air inside each little greenhouse... how close are the lights to the plants and if your using cfls now i would just save that 400w for flowering
 

smartfood

Well-Known Member
Got a bit more wind blowing on them and have been watering more often. They're looking a bit better. The high temp has been at about 83, normally at about 80 though. I'm thinking about moving them under the MH just because it's at a different location and will be cooler (better fans). Here are some pics so far. They're growing uncovered and are at this point 11 days old I think. They're looking a lot better today than they have in about a week. CFL's (4x1380Lumen daylight) are about 1.5 inches away with a 40CFM computer fan blowing on them. Really doesn't feel like 80 degrees in there... but that's what the themometer says.
 

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smartfood

Well-Known Member
1.5 is pretty damn close id put em back to between 3-4 inches away
You may be right. Went and visited them today, opened the door and the temp guage said 92.... So they're heat-stressed pretty bad, but 4 of them are looking pretty good. Nice dark leaves. Will the others recover? Do plants recover from that and go on to grow well? I'm thinking they may need to be covered still? They're pretty young and seem to dry out within 14-18 hours from really wet soil. Thanks for the advice Bluntastic, I'll move the light back up ASAP
 

smartfood

Well-Known Member
Alright they've all been moved (2 days ago) + some soil added to their pots (Fox farms). They're under a 400W MH and seem to be doing well; the light is about 3 feet away right now. Been working it down about two inches/day from 4 feet away. 5 of them seem to be recovering pretty well. The others are very stunted. I'm still working on getting the temp down (it's an ongoing process). They were averaging between 86 and 90F or so, they're now down between 78 and 83 for the most part. I'm working on modifying my scrubber to pull from my light hood and push taht hot air out of the space. Here are the most recent pics (literally taken two minutes ago).

The seeds I ordered also arrived today in the mail (Satori from gypsy nirvana). They were ordered, I kid you not, 6 days ago. I'm on the west coast btw. Great people there. Got freebie haze x skunk 1. Since these are so far behind and Satori is supposedly heat resistant, I'm considering starting about half of these to replace the Chrystal that don't look like they're going to make it. Any thoughts on this?

I'd appreciate any advice on this!
 

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smartfood

Well-Known Member
Heat has been a continuing issue (80-87F), even with all the air-flow I have in there. On the bright side, it's been heating my room. So I didn't want to drop $100 on an in-line scrubber + shipping, so I decided to modify the one I had. I took the air filter off the outside and measured it: less than 6 inches in diameter. Went to Home Depot and bought some 8 inch ducting for $13.
So here it goes:
1) put the scrubber inside the tube and sealed it around the fan with Nashua tape. 2) insulated the fan area with a towel + more tape (significantly reduces noise level). 3) Hung it up with the exhaust pointing out of the box. 4) Attached an 02 Cool Fan (Wal-Mart $2) to the light hood by cutting away most of the plastic and using pieces of thin cardboard as washers. 5) Jimmy rigged a wire extension to an AC adapter for the fan. 6) Fit the other end of the ducting over the fan carefully so as not to touch the blades. 6) Added an ass-load of tape to hold it in place. 7) Added a secondary muffler over the exhaust fan (Not pictured). Vwalah! Within an hour the temp inside the muffler area was 110F, with the temp inside the grow space at about 79-82F. So the temp is down a bit, but the setup definately seems to be pulling much of the hot air out. $15 later, the kids are happier and their parents are worrying less.
 

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smartfood

Well-Known Member
Popped 6 Satori seeds in a CD case and put them on the water heater. We'll see how they're doing tomorrow. Heat resistant Mandala says--let's hope so!
 

smartfood

Well-Known Member
Well, I've got 5 that are growing pretty well now, along with 3 stragglers. Satori seeds haven't cracked but they've only been warm for about 24 hours, so we'll see tomorrow. Here are a few pics of the kids thus far.

Update: one of the Satori has cracked :)
 

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smartfood

Well-Known Member
5/6 of the Satori have cracked and are now in FF soil (24 hours). Still hoping for that last one :)
 

Rope Smoker

Well-Known Member
Heat has been a continuing issue (80-87F), even with all the air-flow I have in there. On the bright side, it's been heating my room. So I didn't want to drop $100 on an in-line scrubber + shipping, so I decided to modify the one I had. I took the air filter off the outside and measured it: less than 6 inches in diameter. Went to Home Depot and bought some 8 inch ducting for $13.
So here it goes:
1) put the scrubber inside the tube and sealed it around the fan with Nashua tape. 2) insulated the fan area with a towel + more tape (significantly reduces noise level). 3) Hung it up with the exhaust pointing out of the box. 4) Attached an 02 Cool Fan (Wal-Mart $2) to the light hood by cutting away most of the plastic and using pieces of thin cardboard as washers. 5) Jimmy rigged a wire extension to an AC adapter for the fan. 6) Fit the other end of the ducting over the fan carefully so as not to touch the blades. 6) Added an ass-load of tape to hold it in place. 7) Added a secondary muffler over the exhaust fan (Not pictured). Vwalah! Within an hour the temp inside the muffler area was 110F, with the temp inside the grow space at about 79-82F. So the temp is down a bit, but the setup definately seems to be pulling much of the hot air out. $15 later, the kids are happier and their parents are worrying less.
What department did you get the 02 cool fan in? for two Bucks thats cheaper than what i was looking at do you know how many cfm it puts out?:peace:peace man:peace:
 

smartfood

Well-Known Member
What department did you get the 02 cool fan in? for two Bucks thats cheaper than what i was looking at do you know how many cfm it puts out?:peace:peace man:peace:
It was actually right next to the light bulbs, off to the side of the garden/bbq area. It puts out quite a bit of air, I'd guess around 70 CFM on high, 40 on low. It's mostly plastic and not the quietest fan, but you get what you pay for. For $2 it was a hell of a deal. They only had two and I bought them both. They're also sold on ebay, but for way more (like $5 plus shipping). Good luck!
 

smartfood

Well-Known Member
how is the temp now with the new fan
Better for sure. Temps range between 77 and 82. 5/6 of the Satori are now growing; they spouted long stalks for some reason though, They didn't have a reason to stretch, but did anyway. I'll update with pics tonight.
 

smartfood

Well-Known Member
Hey, here they are at about a month old now. Height growth has been slow, but they're bushing out pretty nicely. Trasferred my top five into the 2 gallon pots; thought about doing an intermediate transfer but decided to just transplant shock them once.
The Satori seedlings seem to be doing pretty well with one exception (in the pic below). It's leaves are very curly and the undersides are purple--very different from the other seedlings.
The Chrystal, which is now probably a month or so old has been heat-stressed a few times, but now the temperature is pretty constant (71F to 78F). As you can see in the pics the tips of some dried up and are crispy to the touch. Other leaves show some yellow spotting.
I was giving them really light nutes, but stopped at transplant and have been giving them pure PH'd water.
Water PH has been 6.4-6.8 on watering, temps as described, 400W MH bulb (industrial bulb), they're in Fox Farms Ocean Forest Potting soil with MG perlite (3.5 : 1 ratio of soil to perlite). The Chrystal has been in the new pots for 5 days now. The Satori seedlings are about a week old since germination. Circulation is good (110CFM exhaust + intake).
Been watering the seedlings daily, the 5 chrystal in the pots every other day (about 300mL of PH'd water)

Problems:
Yellowing on some of the leaves
Slow Plant growth
Purple underside of leaves on one of Satori (phenotype?)
Withering on some leaf tips

I would greatly appreciate some help on this one! Thanks in advance guys!!
 

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smartfood

Well-Known Member
Left for work this morning, lights were on. Came home and the plug had been pulled out of the wall... My cat probably jumped on it. The lights were off for a maximum of 10 hours.
The Chrystal is about a month old, Satori seedlings about a week old. They have been on 24/0. Should I switch them over to 18/6 right now or just throw them back on 24/0?
I really don't want to end up with any hermies... I need advice, and I need it fast!
 

smartfood

Well-Known Member
The Chrystal, which were originally pretty stunted, have recently bushed out quite a bit and are just solid balls of dense growth, but still only 3 inches tall. In the pics you can see the 5 Chrystal which have recovered, 3 that haven't and 5 Satori seedlings that are growing fast. Temp has been relatively constant since recent exhaust modification (72F-79F). Had a lighting issue as mentioned previously, but took some advice and am just going to go with it, putting them on 20/4 from here on out. This has been a hell of a learning experience to say the least. Looking forward to smooth grows in the future. Here are some pics :peace:

Nevermind, Rollitup isn't letting me upload right now. I'll try again tomorrow.
 
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