# Grow Journal:  Chimera's Mental Floss in Water Farm 8



## Prodigious Puff (Mar 13, 2008)

To start, big thanks to Brad from Hemp Depot for getting my seeds here safely and comping me 5 seeds after I messed 10 up. Additionally, thank you Growdude for answering all of my Water Farm Questions. Hope to have your support on this one. Now for the specs:
-Strain:  Chimera's Mental Floss
-Space:  5' x 2' x 8' closet
-Light:  4 ft. 8 bulb Sun Blaze t5 Fluorescent
-Medium:  Start in Rockwool transfer to Hydroton in Water Farm 8 Pack

March 7:  Soaked seeds in Distilled Water. Soaked Rockwool in pH 5.4 Distilled Water.
March 8: Placed seeds in paper towel and put in tupperware under light. Removed Rockwool, return pH was 5.9.
March 9-10:  Tap Roots popped so I transferred 6/10 to rockwool
March 12:  Officially considered Day 1. 9 sprouts above ground. Lost 1, 1 looking weak, 8 looking good.

For now, that's it. I'm not going to lie, I will be needing some help on this adventure. I've been reading, researching, and planning this grow for about 8 months now, but you just can't prepare for everything so I ask for everyone's help when I'm doing something wrong. Thanks, and I'll update soon.


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 18, 2008)

Time for an update. All 9 Mental Floss plants are all looking great. I'm still just occasionally dunking the rockwool cubes in plain pHed water.  Tomorrow I am going to transfer the plants to their individual Water Farm buckets (filled with thouroughly rinsed hydroton) and hand water for a week. I'm planning to use *Flora Nova Grow* for nutrients, can I get some suggestions on which day and what dose to start with? I was thinking Day 14 at 100 ppm unless the plants start to yellow. What do you guys think? Thanks a lot, I hope everyone enjoys!


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## Joseph James (Mar 18, 2008)

Chimera is one of the greatest man!

You're gonna have a great grow...i can see it!


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 19, 2008)

JJU- Yeah man, Chimera's work is nothing short of amazing. I've seen a few test grows of Mental Floss and it is very nice. Plus I heard the hash was great, so I may have to try my hand at making hash.

Another update. Growth is still pretty much the same. I transplanted them into the buckets where I am hand watering every other day for a week or so. Does anyone have any suggestions on when and what dose to start nutes? Until next time...stay safe...


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 22, 2008)

I figured I would take some time to explain my setup. As stated earlier, I have a 5' x 2' closet, in which I have 8 Water Farms connected to the GH controller/reservoir (not in closet). Also stated earlier, I have a 432W 4ft. 8 bulb Sun Blaze T5 Fluorescent with GE 6500K bulbs in it. The light is on a home made pulley system. 

For venting/cooling I have a 6" Vortex inline fan attached to a carbon filter in the attack. The inline fan is attached to an inline thermostat that is set on 78 degrees.  

I have completely sealed the front of the closet off with a piece of semi gloss masonite (glossy white on one side (like a dry erase board) and masonite texture on the other side. I cut a 4' x 2' rectangle out of the masonite "wall" to make an opening that is covered by a 4' x 2' semi gloss masonite door that is held on by magnets. Additionally I have a 6" circular passive intake that ***** fresh, cool air in when the exhaust comes on in the attack. I'll try to get some pictures, just so everyone understands my setup.

I am planning on starting Flora Nova Grow nutes at Day 14 @ 100 ppm, does anyone have any objections to that ?

I'll get some new pictures up soon.


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## smokybear (Mar 23, 2008)

Sounds like a good setup to me my friend. I wish I could help you more on this but I have no experience with hydro setups. The only knowledge I have is what I've read so I don't want to give you advice and then be wrong. Potus is a pro when it comes to hydro so hopefully he sees this post and helps you out. If not, there are lots of members on here that are more than willing to help you out. 

The babies look good so far though. I wish you the best of luck and I will be following this one. Good luck once again. Take care and be safe.


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 23, 2008)

Thanks for the support, I'll ask him to come over for a look. Thanks again!


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 24, 2008)

Growth is slow, and cotelydons are starting to yellow. For this reason, I have began to add nutes. I mixed up a gallon of water at 55 ppm and hand watered the plants. If the plants react well, I will feed them 100 ppm on the next watering. The crappy pics below show the general condition of the plants, I hope you all can atleast see the basic idea.


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## trillions of atoms (Mar 25, 2008)

lookin good! make sure you got plenty of Oxygen and the right rezz temps and PH and lumen content and your well on yer way!!!!!!


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 29, 2008)

Growth is looking good, it's a little slow but I'm in no hurry. I'm still gradually increasing the nutes until they show small signs of burn. At Day 18, I'm still hand watering at about 150 ppm with no signs of burn. I've been increasing it by 50 ppm everyother day. My tap water is pretty hard, so as soon as I receive my Reverse Osmosis Filter (probably in about 4 days) I am going to start running the drip rings. I'm hoping that will really accelerate growth. I'm also going to get a bigger fan in there so I'm sure the stem are strong. I guess that's it for now, any questions, just shoot.


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## Growdude (Mar 29, 2008)

Looks good so far, I know they can be slow at first unless you have a nice rooted clone to put in them but they should take off really soon now .

Be careful with the nuted there still small.

Ill be watchin this one!


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## smokybear (Mar 29, 2008)

Lookin good so far. They will come around real soon. They are going to take off like crazy. Take care and keep us posted. Be safe.


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 31, 2008)

Thanks for the kind words. I lost my mother during my last move, so no clones for me  I'm not under any time constraints right now, so I'm trying not to rush the nutes. It's so easy to want to push your plants to optimize growth so I'm trying to avoid that mistake. I bought a new pH/ppm meter because my old one was wishy washy and my calibration liquid is not compatible with my new one. As a result, I had to guess about the ppm of my last feeding and boy am I hoping I didn't burn them. I'll find out tomorrow! Thanks a ton for stopping by, I'm glad someone is watching.


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## Prodigious Puff (Mar 31, 2008)

Day 19, plants looking good. Turns out my unknown ppm was 240, and surprisingly, no burn. I bumped it up to 280, and I'm going to keep it there for a little while (unless the plants start yellowing). pH is approximately 5.8. When I start the drip rings I think I might drop the ppm by 50-100 ppm to avoid burn. Does this sound reasonable?


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## Prodigious Puff (Apr 2, 2008)

Same Old Same Old, hand watering at 280 ppm at 5.8 ph. The plants are looking great. I'm going to start the drippers on Thursday, I can't wait!! 
     I'm not going to run the Reservoir until flower. I'm going to run just the controller and the buckets. Does anyone know if I should lower the TDS when I start to run the drop rings. My reasoning for this is right now they're getting watered 280 ppm once a day with no burn, but with the drip rings on, they'll get watered everyother hour for an hour....I thought that might burn them...anyone?? I'm going to do some research. Now for the pics!!


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## Growdude (Apr 2, 2008)

I would not go higher than the 280 with the drip rings on, mainly because the drip rings can spit nutes on the leaves and cause a burn.

if it spits on the plants try to bury the ring in hydroton to prevent this.


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## Timmyjg6 (Apr 2, 2008)

Can you not set the timing for the drip rings? If so, I would start the drippers to like 3 or 4 times a day for 15 min each. And do you have your lights on 24/0 or 18/6? Plus I am not sure if I missed it or you did not state it, what do you plan on flowering with "Light?&#8221; And how long do you plan on vegging?


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## Prodigious Puff (Apr 2, 2008)

Growdude, thanks for the help. When I start the drip rings tomorrow I'll have the water at ~250 ppm. I bought two 50 L bags of hydroton for that exact reason. I'm going to really pile the hydroton around the rings. I might even bury them if I can.

     Timmy, the drippers are on a timer (timer has 15 minute intervals). I've read on MP that is nearly impossible to over water in these Water Farms. Obviously, it is very possible to overnute, so I don't see any problem running the drippers 1 hour on/1 hour off as long as the nute mix isn't too hot. The lights are on 18/6. I've done a few soil grows in the past on 24/0, and I got horrible male to female (12:3 haha) ratios. For that reason, I'm trying 18/6. I've got 8 (430 watts worth) of T5 fluorescent bloom bulbs for that light (shown in my first post). Honestly, I'm not really sure if I want to use fluorescents for flower. I do LOVE that lights covereage. I have two 600 W HPS on hand too so I might throw one of those in there. I can't do both because the two together is FAR too hot even with their cooled hoods. Finally, I'm going to start flowering whenever they're ready. I'm in no rush...I've learned that in this hobby patience is key...hope that clears things up. Let me know if you have any advice. Thanks!


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## smokybear (Apr 2, 2008)

Everything is looking up for ya PP. Great work there my friend. I would definitely throw that 600 watter in there when you switch to flowering. That will increase your harvest exponentially over those floros. Keep us posted on your progress. Take care and be safe.


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## Timmyjg6 (Apr 3, 2008)

?Yeah i would use the 2 HPS's for flower and not worry about the Floros. And also i would not run your drippers that much when they are little baby's, you want them to dry up a little so the roots can reach. I am just saying work your way up to the 1hr on 1hr off.... Good luck..


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## Prodigious Puff (Apr 5, 2008)

Drippers started 1 hour on 1 hour off on Day 24. 
Water~255 ppm, pH 5.6.
The plants are looking great and seem to love the drippers! Check them out!


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## smokybear (Apr 5, 2008)

Looking good PP. Great work. Keep us posted on the babies. I will be pulling up a chair. Take care and keep us posted.


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## hachiroku (Apr 5, 2008)

amazing, looking great! haha, i think since we have so much in common, we should have another thing... AMAZING PLANTS!!! haha, im definitely going to keep up with this and mimic a lot of what you're doing! check yo pms, i had an additional request


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## Prodigious Puff (Apr 11, 2008)

Update: Nutes ~750 ppm @ pH 6.5. I'm going to change the water soon and bring the pH down. I put some panda film on top of the hydroton to prevent the leaves from getting wet. It didn't quite go as well as I wanted, but it worked.

Hachiroku- I tried to get some close ups for you, but the way I have things set up it's tough. I also threw some stuff from General Hydroponics website on here...it has a lot of good info on there.
http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/instructions/GH_Controller_inst.pdf

If anyone has any advice, speak up.


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## smokybear (Apr 11, 2008)

Looking great so far PP. Nice and healthy my friend. Keep up the good work and keep us posted. Take care and be safe.


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## Prodigious Puff (Apr 23, 2008)

I started flower 4 days ago, Day 39. Plants look great, but I have 4 confirmed males, 1 confirmed female, and 4 undecided. As is consistent with my previous grows, the strongest, sturdiest, and best looking plants are all males. Tomorrow I'm going to kill the males, put a 600 W HPS in there, and change to Bloom nutes. Check out the pics, and I'll keep you all updated! Until then, stay safe!


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## Prodigious Puff (May 12, 2008)

It's been a good while since I updated, so I decided I'd throw some pics up. I came out with 5 females-- 1 runt, 2 regular sized, and 2 monsters. I took them off the controller and moved them to a new room.They're all getting Flora Nova Bloom at about 1700 ppm. Check out the pics, and let me know what you all think!!


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## FLA Funk (May 12, 2008)

I think your doing a great job Puff. They all look lush and healthy. Awesome grow thus far, keep truckin. Pic 5 is my favorite, send that to AT&T. haha.


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## maineharvest (May 12, 2008)

Lookin good!!!!!!   All the Mentals ive seen before had some nice colors to them.  You didnt get any of the pheno in any of yours??


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## hachiroku (May 13, 2008)

thanks man for the close ups! the diagram also works AWESOME. I knew how it worked, but wanted a more detailed setup of how the 'pros' do it as to see any flaws and perfect it if i could. looks great. i opted to just stick with the flood table. ive got too many plants to go with one of these set ups.. just wouldnt be cost effective ya know? they are looking amazing though! im hopin in a month mine will be as big as these babes!!!


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## smokybear (May 13, 2008)

The ladies look fantastic! Great work so far. Going to be a nice harvest for you very soon. Keep the pics coming my friend. Take care and be safe.


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## Prodigious Puff (May 13, 2008)

FLA Funk:  Thanks for the kind words. For some  I don't think AT&T would appreciate the pics as much as we do here at MP!

Maine: Man I am hoping and praying that color will start showing in the next week or so. You are right though, most do have purple hues. I'm not a dealer so purple is not THAT important, but it would cool to have!

Hach:  I guess I misunderstood what you were wanting! But I could not aggree with you more!! I was checking your grow out yesterday, and for the number of plants you have you're doing the right thing with the flood table. GROW ON you got good things coming your way!!

Smoky:  Glad to see you still here!! I can always count on you. I was checking out your journal yesterday and man them buds you chopped look good!! Can't wait for the final pics and weight.

1700 ppm was a little hot so I'm going to run 1500 for the rest. I'm going to do some research tonight and get an enhancer of some sort just to give them a little kick in the rear end!

Can anyone recognize the bug in the first pic?? Saw him today and spent like an hour trying to kill him!! I don't see anymore, but I wanna be as proactvie as I can!! ANyone?? Thanks for the kind words everyone!!! Stay safe!


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## hachiroku (May 13, 2008)

Thanks man. Im trying to clean up the set up a little more. I still have another 4x8 tray to go up eventually when i need the space, as well as three more 1000watt lights. im bouts to head out to home depot now to fufill the never ending list of stuff you need. UGH!

im still afraid to take clones lol, im unsure if my cloner will work properly! 

no luck on the picture.. i almost gave up though because SERVER BUSY gee miny crickets. i had to reload that crap 10 times!


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## Ilikebigbuds (May 14, 2008)

your plants are looking beautiful!
I am using the same grow system and thru my experience I have found keeping the buckets seperated is easiest for me. I was having trouble controling the ppm and php with them all connected. 

I also found covering the rings with hydrotron works well. I run the drip 24 hours to keep the air moving thru the water

but I do love the set up with the air forcing the water into the rings, everything is so easy to keep clean and move around.

maybe after a few grows I will try to hook up the resoviour again, but for now I like them seperate.

I'll be watching your grow and learning! thanks again


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## Prodigious Puff (May 15, 2008)

Hach:  Home Depot...aahh I love that place. I used to associate it with workin' with the ole man so I hated it...but now I love it. Like they say, "With age, you'll learn to love ______." HOME DEPOT. It's funny you mention the server busy b/c I tried to post in your journal for like 10 minutes and finally gave up b/c it KEPT doing that!

I like big buds and I cannot lie!! Haha, I love your screen name...simple but clever...I wish I were able to think of stuff like that, but I'm just not creative. I went to the single units for the exact same reason, so I'm right there with ya! I also keep saying, "One day I'll try the res again."  but it makes such a good container to keep all my nutes, pH up and down, and meter supplies in!!!

Bought some Floralicious Plus and Kool Bloom today, both of which are enhancers. I'm going to snap some pre pics today and then mix some new nutes...I'm stoked! Stay safe, grow on...I like big buds and I cannot lie.


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## hachiroku (May 16, 2008)

haha, yea, i think its about time for an update to good 'ol server. these things are really looking intense though, you think i could use floralicious and kool bloom in my grow with all my other stuff? (advanced nutrients 3 stage, hygrozyme, liquid karma, superthrive) And the more important questions, would i notice a difference by using those two products?! 

Im stoked for more pictures! Ive probably already said this, but your set up is CLEAN which is sexyyyy. haha


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## Timmyjg6 (May 16, 2008)

yeah them water farms are nice... So i decided to build my own. I think it cost me around $20 each..


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## hachiroku (May 16, 2008)

haha, my next question is going to be weird i know, and you cant compare apples or oranges, but do your best! how would to compare a flood table, or a water farm? for growing larger quantities, and assuming you had a limited space? What are the pros and cons? I could see optimizing space with both methods, but i think you would use less nutrients, and less water would be required? am i right, or are there other methods? 

whatever happened to them bug/s?! Get em outta there?!


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## Timmyjg6 (May 16, 2008)

Have you looked into Slabs... My next setup will be all Rockwool slabs.. Heres a link to a you tube video of a system i am referring too... 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0siVpjUn8FE
And you can customize the trays to fit your growing area... Its just a spiffy dripper set up.. Absolutely great for using clones, and doing SOG..

Sorry did not mean to jack your thread...


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## Prodigious Puff (May 19, 2008)

Timmy:  No problem man, jack it all you want, as long as folks are getting helped. I love the water farms, I also was going to build them until I got this 8 pack used off Ebay for $155 shipped. It was a steal plus it kept me from having to round up parts and spend time building it.

Hach: The floralicious plus and Kool Bloom definitely gave the girls a boost, in fact, my tallest one stretched back up in the lights again! Man I was mad! That said, I think they would definitely help you if used right, HOWEVER, when I buy my enhancers (nutes to add to the main one, in my case Flora Nova Bloom) I like to stick to the same manufacturer (in my case General Hydroponics). I know this is a little bit overboard, but oh well I still do it. This way I know I am not overdoing/underdoing any one element. If I were you, I'd check out what Advanced Nutrients has in the way of enhancers like carbo load or super bud blaster. Read their descriptions, check out some feeding schedules and then determine which one you think will be best for your beautiful gals.  As for your other question, for growing the number of plants you have (alot!) I agree with Timmy, go with the rockwool cubes/slabs. I think it's a much more cost/time/labor efficient setup for doing a SOG type grow like you got. Drip Systems seem to be good for harvesting fewer but bigger plants whereas rockwool seems to be good for harvest many smaller plants (but DONT GET ME WRONG slabs can give BBIIGG PLANTS!!)  Honestly though, in my opinion, Alot of Drip Buckets=pain in the butt!! Just think, you have to build ALL of those buckets, buy & clean a ton of hydroton, and then manage them....sounds like work to me. I'd probably go with the rockwool slabs or cubes with dripper stakes. Take this info with a grain of salt though b/c I've never grown with rockwool, but one thing I'm for sure of is I wouldn't grow 15+ plants with a waterfarm or waterfarm like setup that's for sure. FINALLY, the bugs are gone, I closed some holes in the room and killed that one, haven't seen any since. 

Update:  The first four pics were taken on May 14, the day I added the floralicious and kool bloom. The last four were taken today May 19. It may be hard to tell in the pics, but I can definitely tell a difference. The last pic is a bud growing out of a SUN LEAF...CRAZY!!! It's so cool. I'm getting really excited, I've had to buy my smoke for the past month b/c my previous grow stash ran out, so I can't wait to have a plethora of stash again!! Thanks everyone for stoppin' by and as always, stay safe!


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## Timmyjg6 (May 19, 2008)

Looking good bro... Yeah i think i am going to go with slabs on my next grow iv already started to buy the stuff.. I am thinking 4 3' slabs with 4 clones per slab. And place into flower as soon as the clone is rooted...


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## streamit (May 20, 2008)

very nice setup nice and clean your efforts will be rewarded


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## Ilikebigbuds (May 20, 2008)

oh man Puff those are looking super good!

I just started adding micro bloom and it has really made them green!

isnt growing fun?!?! I love it!:farm: 

these next couple of weeks will be so exciting for U and all of us watching!

:bump:


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## Tater (May 20, 2008)

Looking good man way to grow!


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## crazyc411 (May 20, 2008)

mental floss is such an awesome looking plant, good job :afroweed:


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## Prodigious Puff (May 21, 2008)

Thank you everyone for the kind words, but that bug is back and it is doing weird things!!!Apparently I didn't catch it! Check this out and see if someone cannot identify it:

 Pictures 1, 2, and 3 show what I am about to explain right here. The bug is grey with red eyes and has 6 legs (near impossible to tell from pics, see pg2 for a little better shot of bug). I caught him and he is currently in a zip lock bag. He sits on the sun leaves, and (this is the weird part) shoots small droplets of water out of his rear end. This causes puddles (about the size of a quarter) to build up on whatever the droplets land on (usually a sun leaf, it's very strange to me). Look in pic 1 and 2 where you'll see a small whitish grey spot (the bug) and then on the next sun leaf down, a small puddle of water. Picture 3 (zoomed out) shows the same but shows that he is up high and launching the small small water droplets down to the next leaf. Very, very strange (atleast to me) anyone have any idea of what he is and why he's doing it...there's only one bug I looked for about 30 minutes.


Pic 4 is a shot of top cola of my tallest plant that stretched into the lights after I added the enhancers and everything...mmmaaaddd....

Enjoy the rest of the pics, they look pretty good. Thanks everyone, and stay safe!


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## Ilikebigbuds (May 22, 2008)

I have seen that bug before in my out door gardens, it eats leaves.

I'm sorry I can't give you a name.:confused2: 

do you use any kind of fruit and veg. insect spray?  something thats safe to use on veggie gardens that kills insects.

I would try that if your worried about that little bugger multiplying and eating up all your fan leaves.

by the by - nice planets


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## Prodigious Puff (May 22, 2008)

Okay, well I'm glad someone has seen that kind before. I'll go buy some spray just in case I see anymore of his kind. Thanks for you help ILBB!!


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## Timmyjg6 (May 22, 2008)

When you first threw the seedlings into the water farms did you just throw the 1" rockwol into hydroton or did you place them in a bigger cube first? Its important to use a bigger cube so they don't dry up as fast and it delivers the nutrients better than hydroton..


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## maineharvest (May 22, 2008)

Looking good man!!  Never had any bug problems, thank god, so I have no idea what your acid pissing bug is.  I just cut 20 mental clones about three days ago and i hope they turn out as good as your pretty ladies.


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## Prodigious Puff (May 22, 2008)

Timmy: I like your diction. I _placed_ the seedlings (in 1" cubes) in the water farms, I was very satisfied with that method. I had no problems with drying and I watered every other day for a week and a half or so I think.

MH:  Haha, acid pissing. Wow, 20 clones is going to give you a lot of bud. Mental Floss produces, well, prodigious yields. I've seen bigger, but I'm very happy with the size of the plants/buds for the amount of time they've had and the lighting I have them under. Are you going to do a journal? I'd like to see if you get the purple pheno I've heard of!


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## Prodigious Puff (Jun 5, 2008)

Been a while, figured I'd throw something up. Trichs are stil cloudy/clear, I'm waiting paitently....stay safe, any questions shoot.


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## Timmyjg6 (Jun 5, 2008)

Looking nice bro, so do you flower under florescence's?


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## Prodigious Puff (Jun 6, 2008)

This is my first time to flower under the flo's. Right after I started flowering this Mental Floss, my friend asked to borrow one of my 600W HPSs. So I figured I'd perform a little experiment and see what the flo's could pull. I bought 400W worth of t5 fluorescent bloom bulbs and threw that Sun Blaze t5 up. Conclusion:  The buds aren't bad, but not as dense as the ones under my other 600 HPSs.


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## Ilikebigbuds (Jun 25, 2008)

well? what happened?
did you harvest?

:holysheep:  dont leave me hangin!


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## Prodigious Puff (Aug 7, 2008)

Woah, didn't mean to leave you folks hanging there. Problem is, I took the harvest shots, then the dried shots...everything fine and dandy right? No, next day ole girl comes over trying to borrow my camera. YIKES! So I trashed those pics asap...I'm not even gonna lie man I felt like I was burning books!

For what it's worth:  final weight was 4 oz., hardly anything spectacular but I learned one lesson: I'll take an HPS over a T5 anyday. The Mental Floss was a good smoke. Out of the five, I got two phenos: One was pretty couchlocky like. The other was more along the lines of an up high, but I couldn't get anything done on it! So basically what it amounted to was me walking around all day thinking about weird stuff and not actually doing anything productive. Maybe like a kid with ADHD. Anyways, hope you guys ain't too mad I left you hangin this long...I'm such a hypocrite...I used to get so mad when folks didn't finish their threads. Thread closed, I wash my hands of this issue.


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