McB

Shit.. its been a while. 

Plants doing well overall. Flower cab build to commence this weekend so will transplant to 40l on Sat and give them a last week in the veg tent to recover

Veg tent now running a silly amount of light just for the hell of it. 400 sunmaster hps and I chucked in the apollo 8 spot for good measure. 

No light stress but I did bring out an underlying calmag looking issue with my soil. New batch is ready and shouldn't have the same issue as Epsom was added. 

Hit them with a fulvic and Epsom foliar last night. Ladies are begging to be flowered(calmag orphan excluded) 

Upped fishmix to 5ml/l

sitting having a bong admiring the girls, peeked inside the panel and thought it would make a cool pic

plant bottom right being a ballache, always has been lagging, almost dont want to flower her in this state, fifo my dear fifo

43 minutes ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

If you can give a first time grower a ease of mind to be cautious of certain factors but not over compensate for them, What would your advice be ?

understand why deficiencies occur, don't panic when they do. keep it simple, nature is simple, we are emulating nature.

water on a schedule, not "every now and then", dont cheap out on nutes, soil or fans, shit, dont cheap out, period.

as in life " dont sweat the petty stuff and dont pet the sweaty stuff"

lastly, failure is also a result, learn from mistakes, thats how we all started

7 hours ago, Batista said:

This seems too easy a solution to our problem.

https://shop.yourdoor.co.za/product/led-intelligent-emergency-bulb/

4 hours max ?

 

Issue is the cycles are different times. I have had outages in light and dark cycles. You would need to have that disabled during shedding in lights off cycle

158 plants, shows trays of clones...fml.

 so i suck at cloning and take 3 of everything,...now i'm dealing

Does come across like they were selling clones 

"158 dagga plants to the estimated value of R15 800"

 Radiology & Oncology I.T

11 hours ago, Smelly Joe said:

Right before lights go out I start up my emergency light. It's small and not that great but it helps to keep the light cycle going. 

 

But this load shedding is kak. My ballast packed up but it was probably due for an upgrade. Need to find new lights for the cab now. 

likewise with the emergency light,helps maintain cycle.

had the same thing happen with 1st load shedding that hit, got myself a reset-able apc power surge plug to safeguard my lovlies (after dishing out for a new ballast)

i am using a 650va ups with 2x 12v server fans, one as secondary intake and 1 as secondary exhaust .

Ironically eskom is actually just forcing a modified gas lamp lighting routine, well, very modified

https://www.cannabisni.com/2101/grow-bigger-and-better-saving-30-50-percent-on-your-energy-cost

Hi Liam, welcome, yes perfectly normal, new growth will stem from the leaf nodes.

lol, ignore the Spanish, best diagram i can find

2 hours ago, S420 said:

 

You sound like the right person to talk to if i ever have issues with these lights, you clearly know them well.  Ive split my  200 x 120 x 240 tent into 2 halves. I have the babies on one side and the 2 x 5 week cheeses on the other side each with one grow light for each side. When I first made the purchase the guy tried to convince me to stick with the 2 x 1000w hps he said I needed 4 x apollo 8 to completely cover my tent , but I knew that I would have a massive heat problem due to climate so I opted not to go that route. I havent completed my first grow on this setup as yet , but so far I feel like I have enough with these 2 apollos. Out of interest, what is the distance from the top of the plants on your setup ? How many are you running and how large is your grow area? Are you happy with the apollo you have ? 

any time, have just spent a few weeks with it in varying stages of repair and upgrade on my desk.
 regarding coverage, that's where the lense angle comes in , the 120 lense would give me a wider but less powerful grow area.

 i treat(and view) mine as i would a 250w hps, keep it roughly 40cm away from canopy, currently in a 1x1m tent.

happiness wise, its a mixed bag.

i experienced very short plants, cal mag defs and stunted growth

 that said i had a mindless obsession with Autos that may well also have been partially to blame for overly touchy plants and low yields. 

i foolishly opted to add 730nm  infra red to the spectrum trying to boost photosynthesis without properly understanding the emerson effect and i think i did yield a lot of damage.

those have been removed and replaced with blues, the warm whites i chose have also been binned for daylight 6500k diodes. so time will tell

Pics of spectrum changes attached

Top 4 updated bottom 4 old spectrum

 the panel will now serve as veg light (attached pic) and potentially late flower spectrum booster if i get power hungry enough.

looking at your plants the cheese seem to be perfectly happy under the leds, with the younger plants they look to be staying quite squat, something i noticed with my apollo

PE

1 hour ago, S420 said:

I have not done any testing to determine how strong the light is neither have I tested the draw at the wall. I have read that the old units draw 250 something watt (under spec but old articles/videos)  but I haven't found any recent articles. Mine run full spectrum all the time. I did not even know there was a choice of lense (or that you could adjust lens angle), mine is probably the default, whatever that is.

i ordered mine direct from cidly in china a few years ago, they make(made) up the panel to your spec, spectrum, lense etc.

standard is 90 and i insisted on 120's for more spread, not sure if it was the right call.

spectrum wise , i lost one 660nm red led on one spot , so had to open up to replace, so updated spectrum while i was at it.

there was a big fluff job done on wattage of leds initially with the HID equivalence claims, hence i ask actual draw.

the 8 spots use "3w" diodes, 15 per pod, 8 pods, max power if all diodes are driven at full 3w(700ma) is 360w.

however the 3w monacre only actually indicates its max ma rating being 700ma, that doest mean they are running at full tilt.

as i remember it the 360w were overrated, and the newer panels were rated at 260w or similar, but could be wrong, as my panel is easily 5 years old if not more 

On 11/20/2018 at 9:28 PM, S420 said:

2 x Apollo 8 360w 

If i may ask, what spectrum and lense angle are you running on the 8 spots.

my 8 spot apollo was recently updated spectrum wise and im wondering if my choice of 120' lense.

have you checked actual draw at the wall?

57 minutes ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

So if you don't want ducting running through the house are you able to go out the door and straight  up into the roof ? 

considering the stairs im going to venture the "roof" may be someone elses floor

40 minutes ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

I would suggest a hole in the door for ducting (much cheaper and simpler than the wall route) but then you have ducting on the other side of the door so not too sure how discreet you want it to be @SouthernSmoker95 ?

 

pretty much waht i was thinking, low level vent in door assuming its near a fresh air intake, would have to exhaust elsewhere to avoid recirculating 

51 minutes ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

From recent research i've done, it seems that CBD strains are a bit more intricate to grow than the traditional THC strains? 

How have you found your grow compared with a regular THC strain ? 

im a big fan of KISS, this lady arrived too large for micro cab and with a possible case of the thrips(dirty girl), so she got a pyrol spray and soil drench and suffered cfl burn for a few days.
i couldn't do it anymore, took 4 clones and put her outside.
in two weeks i have fed her fishmix once and the rain has done the rest

as you can see she's happy

1 minute ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

She a kinky girl huh? 

Did not even know you had a mom, thought your grow was from seed.

now i get the...YET 

 

3 rooted clones in the tent too 

Charlotte's angel Mom got tied down a little. 

1 hour ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

Can you explain your "Life Altering" experience @McB? Sure i'm not the only one that would like to know your journey with such a high cbd to thc ratio.

Only have had store bought CBD and i feel i need to grow my own to understand its full capabilities.  

well, as with many my focus has been high thc, that being the milestone embedded since pre canna enlightenment days of seeded swaz and bush missions instead of school.

the "strongest" buds topped out as the best and we hailed even elevated to legendary status the malawi golds and the durban poisions of old(wow, dp still makes me smile, what a story).

now in my mind this translated into thc content and for many years that was the milestone of good smoke for me, getting as baked as possible for as long as possible and still walk,talk and function enough to get passed parents.

passing the teenage "smoke it if you got it" years nearing adulthood i started replacing big pharma anti depressants and mood stabilisers with bud and my understanding of my needs started to change, im hyper af, restless leg syndrome to the point i could be a thrash metal drummer and sleep less than most people i know.

Bud helped with this a lot and knowing the above i stayed away from sativa strains and set indica as the new gold standard for my needs.

the couchlock coupled with brain melting thc worked for many years, but also strips a lot of primary response speed in muting the multitude of random background threads and sub threads that are my average thought process.(fine for 10pm, not so great for a lunchtime toke)

add this to a little bit of age and shit starts getting ludicrous, forget conversations mid sentence, miss nuances and ultimately become what appears to all and sundry as a "forgetful stoner". this overall leads to one sad mofo facing the reality that his intake is finally affecting his productivity and hence potential income. 

 Enter Charlottes, i got 0.5g, never had so little last me as long.
flavour wise i get an interesting pine\junipery flavour off a lower temp dab, almost sweet in a sense, i frikken loved it.

brain is fully functional, yet calm, no dumbing down of response time, no rambling of a million ideas at once,no drifting off  on a tangent mid meeting, or god forbid presentation, complete body stone, calm, no fidgeting, anxiety managed, shit it even helped with my fibromyalgia...just fucking sorted is what it does

my only sadness is that i dont have more yet...YET

2 hours ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

Is this a cross from Charlotte's web?

Just asking as i know thats the OG CBD strain.

This is as much as i know. have had extract from this strain(same cut) and was blown away, apparently not the greatest flower to smoke though. effect was life altering, so she will be in my extract rotation for the forseaable future

https://www.dutch-passion.com/en/cannabis-seeds/product/cbd-charlottes-angel-seeds/

1st prize "Medical", Highlife Cup, Netherlands 2018

Charlotte’s Angel is a sativa dominant variety with high CBD levels, 10 to 16% and low THC levels, always below 1%. It’s a non-psychoactive variety offering medical benefits without the high, delivering a strong body effect and a calming, anti-anxiety experience. She takes 9-12 weeks to flower and comes with a herbal aroma with piney diesel undertones. Genetics come from Dutch Charlotte (CBD rich clone) crossed with Red Angel (clone-only Amsterdam CBD variety).

Charlotte’s Angel is popular with cannabis lovers that want to enjoy a joint without getting stoned and is suitable for making concentrates. You get a satisfying experience with the same taste and aroma as a high-THC variety. You feel medicated, yet you are not high, it gives the user a positive feeling of well-being, it is almost impossible to explain unless you’ve tried it! Dutch Passion’s first low THC variety, CBD Charlotte’s Angel®!

Getting close to flower. Ladies putting out nicely. 

Soil mixed for upcoming flower transplant. 38l fabric pots and 200w of hps per plant should do nicely under a scrog. 

Outdoor Charlotte's Angel looking happy 

18 minutes ago, NPKGuy said:

Good luck on that fault finding....  been there. 

Cobs running at 50w adequately spaced will still require less head room than large sodium's.  I have a mate uk side who uses those vero29 chips to great success in 1.2m tents.  Once we have access here in Sa to more of the global market offerings without needing to spend 30-40% markup over int prices, ill prob do the switch as Ill need less airflow and therefore less fan power which would make my tent quieter.  I don't mind spending the extra on eskom due to the fact we still pay very a very low price internationally for our electricity and I do about 2 grows a year which keeps me plenty stocked up.

im with you on the cooling saving, noticing the difference cooling a 400w hps over the panel by a lot.

seen a few recommendations for the vero's in smaller spaces, mostly international though.

the scary thing is i did a little price comparison exercise with pandagro co out of china(i assume)

building from locally sourced components, excluding shipping,using cxb3590, glass lense and meanwell driver i cannot affordably beat their prices diy!

thier diy offering at 75w craps all over my rs components cart total. sadly this doesn't take customs into account.

very interesting and at times entertaining read so far.

 i'm still solidly in the hps camp but i will say that the sprinkler analogy makes sense.

having grown with a cidly apollo 8 and now since under hps i can honestly say there isnt really a comparison, but that isn't the arguement here. 260w vs 400w isnt really fair.

facing the exact issue mentioned above, lost a bank of leds, now the fault finding begins

the qb and similar smd appeal to my fidget-er\gadgety side and i will probably convert a cfl micro cab to them in time just for shits and giggles as i seem to have a stupid amount of random heat syncs and coolers lying around from gaming/overclocking days

surely cobs required headroom cuts them out for your average tent or god forbid closet grower, my thinking is you would have to dim so heavily to get it to work in available headroom you would lose a lot of oomph

Well we are going to need fresh air intake and somewhere to exhaust the hot air. Preferably in flower vented via carbon filter but we will get to that. 

So... Can you make holes or is this a rental. Where is the closest outside air source you can pull air from. 

i have to say that in my opinion  cfls's are false economy for anything more than veg and seedling.
even on the larger wattage your drop off is so severe they really are better suited to micro grows due to proximity needed to canopy.

lets think about this, thinking out of the box in a sense.

you put a frame on wheels in there, lights hang from frame, plants on table in frame, whole thing wheels on out of there to be worked on, i see roughly 1x1.5 scrog there potentially.

 i think the key will be air exchange here, before lighting choices are considered, where will we intake from and vent too

Looking at the available space I'm going to guess about 1m across 1.5 to 2m deep. The issue here will be access to your plants and as you mentioned ventilation. Fresh air is essential. 

Cobs require a bit of headroom so that may be of concern. Possibly look at a quantum board type led solution if you are stuck on led as your lighting choice. 

Personally. I would use the area as it. White walls will be plenty reflective. I'm assuming there is a door to that area by the latch middle left. 

personally prefer plastic cups, hold up better and dont really discolour, easier to cut away too. prefer cups for ease of removal as batista mentioned, always seem to damage rootball in seedling trays