Strawberry Haze CFL soilless organic LST grow

This is my second grow with this growbox setup. The intent is a small yield for personal use with two plants, hence the CFL lighting.

The soilless mix is as follows:
6 parts Sunshine Mix
2 parts perlite
2 parts earthworm castings

On the first grow, I also used 2 tablespoons of powered lime per gallon as a pH stabilizer, but I am not using lime this time, as it raises the pH. I've read that the pH for this strain needs to start at around 5.8 and slowly increase to 6.5 during flowering. I'm not going to worry too much about pH unless there are visible problems, but my mix started off at 6.7 and my RO water is 6.7 and tap water is 7.7. As the peat starts decomposing and fertilization starts, both should tend to lower the pH. Hopefully, all these factors will keep me in the right ballpark, as I didn't adjust for pH during my first grow, but maybe that strain (Blue Mountain Jamaican) was more robust?

I built a lighting fixture that will accomodate up to 6 CFL bulbs. I have available 5-42W 6500K for veg and 5-42W 2700K for flowering, but I will combine to provide a more complete spectrum.

The growbox is small: about 1 foot deep by 3 feet wide and about 3 feet high from the top of the planter to the height where the light fixture can be raised. Therefore, LST is critical to both maximize yield and limit height.

Feel free to comment anytime.

Here are some pics of the setup. Nothing too fancy. The grow cabinet was purchased from a hardware store. I just put plywood on the back instead of the cheap cardboard that comes with it.

The inside of the cabinet is lined with mylar to maximize the use of the CFL light energy.

I've installed a vortex blower which is sucking the air through a carbon scrubber and then out the back of the box. I've got a variable speed controller for the blower to help with temperature control and to provide the air exchange. Right now it's on minimum because I only have three bulbs going and the outside temperature is pretty low. The carbon in the scrubber is about 2 years old, so we'll see how it works during flowering. The smell of this strain is supposed to be pleasant (fruity), so I'm not too worried.

I've cut out two holes in the back bottom (left and right side) for inlet air, each the same size as the fan exhaust hole near the top. This will ensure sufficient air flow. I've put black plumbing 90 degree elbows in these bottom holes to act as light traps to remain more stealth.

I used the paper towel germination method on Jan. 2 for two of the feminized seeds. Both sprouted on Jan. 4 (call this Day 1).

I planted each in a small cup of the soilless mix and put the lights about 8" above the cups, with ziploc bags covering the cups to create a humidity dome. On Day 3, the stems emerged from the soil, and I removed the baggies. I then dropped the lights to about 5".

I'm giving the seedlings a light spray watering once a day. The pics are from Day 4.

I'm into Day 17. My digital soil pH meter is crap (never reads off of 7). I'm using RO water now since these plants like the pH in the 6-6.7 range.

I started LSTing a couple of days ago, once the 3rd leafset formed. The first three pictures are the 'good' plant. You can see the stem bent out of the soil with a piece of metal from a coat hanger.

One of my plants looks like a mutant - right from the beginning. It isn't forming the nice leafsets, and looks more like a head of lettuce. The last two pics are this plant. I'm sure this is genetic, but should I keep growing this or will be production be non-existant? Right now, it's not taking up height or space to interfere with the good plant, so I wanted to see it through more.

I used full strength nutes (Pura Vida) yesterday, and so far it looks like the girl has handled them fine. I'm continuing to LST, and pretty soon she'll be near the edge of the planter, and I'll start working her around.

I caused a slight tear in the stem when I LST'd yesterday. I removed the hook and let it grow naturally, and I think she'll be fine.

I've since used some computer wire to slightly bend the stem (lower down from the tear) toward the edge of the pot.

The lady is starting to smell nice now. The next watering will be full strength nutes (the second such one). I'm taking it easy with the LST on the main stem due to the slight tear, but I'm still moving it a bit to keep the height down.

The lady is looking healthy. She's drinking a lot - 1.5L/day - the RO water is doing the trick - no pH balancing required.

Still no white hairs, but she's feminized so no worries. I need to start flowering in 10 days to make the 11 weeks right before my vacation.

I'm also going to try some bubbleponics (hydro) and make a couple of clones (right before flowering). I got all the parts and put a 4.5 gallon bubbleponics setup together. I'll take pics once I get going.

I finally saw some hairs on the main cola. It looks like I have 10 nice future buds sites due to the LST. I fertilized today, and will water twice before I will try taking two cuttings prior to flowering.

Here are some pics of the lady. She's growing big and drinking a lot . Still bending the branches to expose the lower bud sites.

A took a couple of cuttings from near the base of the lady, which wouldn't receive any light anyways. I then gave her a fertilization, changed out the lights to the 2700K, and set the timer for 12/12 to put her in flower.

Watered the lady today. She is starting to smell now.

I setup a small bubbleponics 3-4 gallon system with parts bought in walmart, HD, and online. The cuttings that I placed in rockwool within a cloning dome are now in the bubbleponics system. The netpots were filled with hydroton rocks around the rockwool.

I put the humidity dome on top of the plant. Is this necessary? I'm planning on keeping it on until roots show out of the bottom of the netpot.

Am I supposed to fertilize? I have not yet. I was going to wait until roots showed, but will this be too late?

How is the distance of the CFL?

Thanks for any help in advance

The lady is really stretching. She grew into the lights and burned the leaves on one flower. Gave her the first bloom-heavy fert today.

I'm scared I'm going to run out of height !!

Here's my clone setup. I bought GH micro and bloom ferts.

I filled my tote with 10L of tap water at 64F and pHed down to 6.5 with 1/4 tsp of pH down. I added 3 mL of micro and 6 mL of bloom as per the instructions for cuttings. This brought the pH down to 6-6.5.

I am having difficulty with the cheap HD water pumps as the pressure drops and the water flow stops up to my net pots. The water wiil slow to a slight trickle out of the manifold valves, so not enough pressure to get up to the pots. I took the pump apart (not dirty), put it back together, and it starts working for a few hours. Could the airstone bubbles be affecting the pumping?

Removed the weakest clone. She was not rooting. The other one is yellowing quite a bit. Tested the pH and it was 7-7.5. Thought it was supposed to go down, so not sure what's happening. adjusted back down to about 6.5.

On the plus side, it looks like by wrapping the pump in cheesecloth that my flow hasn't slowed down in 1.5 days.

The flowering girl is looking good though. The vertical stretch has slowed down. Gave her another watering, so the next one will be fert.

Well the lady is starting to outgrow the box. I moved the lights up as high as I could. Hopefully the growth slows.

I killed the cuttings because they hadn't rooted after two weeks. Just as well because there is no room in the grow box.

The lady is starting to grow some nice buds. No signs of resin yet, but I can't wait!

Well the lady has outgrown her home (about 4.5' tall now), so I had to string the lights up outside the box. I've essentially kept a grow box by opening the doors and putting the cabinet backing in the front to create the enclosure. I put a blanket over top for the roofing and to control the air flow through the back air holes and out the scrubber and fan.

I can start to see resin now forming on the bud leaves.

She's liking her new home outside the box!