my messy growing...

[Pistil]

Good news, thank you!

I would love to save these plants, even the new one if possible… just to have another chance to have a female… maybe it would be better to re-transplant them in 3 single pots asap? Yep, probably it is...

The temperature at the top of the plants level is just the one that does not hurt my hand if i put it there for a minute, dunno the degrees but seems "comfortable" to me. Just that tallest plant was in a "burning area".

Nutes are the GHE tripack FloraSeries. It's a kit that consist in 3 bottles: Grow, Bloom ad Micro. It comes with a PH liquid test and with a sample bag of dry PH down.

The soil is an italian product, a pre-made one called "plant saver". Its made by Irish peat, a mix of blonde peats, "perlite", humic substances ad natural nutrients.
- organic carbon on the dry: 30%
- humid carbon on the dry: 7%
- organic nitrogen on the dry: (N) 80% of the total N
- C/N factor: 48
- total copper in the dry: 150mg/Kg
- total zinc in the dry: 500mg/Kg
- peat: 70%
- electrical conductivity: 0,5 dS/m

It's arabic for me^^' But it says: "3 in 1", it saves, stimulate and feeds your plants! So i trusted it, lol

 

[sMACkaddict]

any updates?? Im fascinated! GOOD LUCK!!

 

[Pistil]

Hi and thanks for the interest!

Actually is going well, i had to kill a male but i have 2 female, probably 3, and another shy plant who don't want to show its sex yet.

Plants are slowly growing and bushing, surely at a small ratio if compared to what other growers here are able to obtain… but they seems healthy and becoming good girls, so they are more than welcome in my life!

I'm waiting their sexual maturity (alternated stems) to transplant them and to buy an hps lamp for starting the flowering… i couldn't be more satisfied atm!

Anyway, as Growdude suggested, i do not have enough light power to grow all the 4 plants, so i'll have to chose the best two and to try to make the others to end their life cycle outdoor…. and these are all the news for the moment

I'll post new pics when the babies will show something new, even because i will probably need some help to choose the best two plants. I'm aiming to have a more professional setup in the future but i want to gain at least a bit of experience before investing more money… and i also want to check my electric bills before considering to buy more powerful lamps. But, hey, at least i'm already growing and i'm really enjoying the experience!

I'll keep you all posted!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I am glad things are going good for you. I look forward to seeing pics of the plants.

In regards to a better light....however much it costs to run, it is cheaper than buying your bud.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

:clap:

females...females...females

 

[Pistil]

In regards to a better light....however much it costs to run, it is cheaper than buying your bud.

You know i'm paranoid, it's happened that a guy have been caught because of his electric bill here, it was on a recent newspaper. Well, he was growing in a semi-abandoned house he own so someone have noticed that discrepancy. Mine is a normal (lived) house with computers, TV and all the rest to justify the bills but i would like to check how many difference the lamp make. Once i'll have this data i'll be able to choose if i can safely hide a 400w or a 600w lamp in my electric bill.

Thanks to all again for the advices and for rooting my plants!

 

[getnasty]

You can hide it in your bill. Your electric bill isn't going to be an astronomical 100$ a month for one lamp. I think my bill jumped up $40 total when I started using the air conditioner and fan/light. So maybe $20 for the light.

 

[Pistil]

I think that here we have the most high electric bills of all the Europe BUT, if you talk about just 40$ it can't be too much even here... good news!

I'm tempted to buy a 600w hps, very tempted...

 

[Rosebud]

Do it if you can. You won't be sorry. I started out with a 400 and quickly got a 600. I use them both.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

if ya havent purchased yet why not get a 600 switchable/dimmable...just got one...came with MH and HPS..and can dim....400....250..

 

[Pistil]

I'll do!
I'll also try to prepare a better grow room while waiting for the flowering days, thanks all again!

 

[Pistil]

Hi all, this morning i had to take some shots of my garden so i thought to post an update of the plants.

First two plants are female, the third seems a female but i can't be sure for the moment. The fourth is not showing its sex yet.

How they look? They seems pretty healthy to me, apart some lighter leafs at the bottom of some plants. Are they growing in an acceptable way? Are they already screaming for bigger pots?

Thanks again for all the help! I would be lost without your advices!


Edit: Added a more sunny pic.
(I can't resist to bring the plants to the sun a bit when it's so powerful as today)

 

[Roddy]

They look healthy, but a touch stretched out....have you thought to maybe tie them down a bit. I'd bend them in half allowing the side branches to grow up allowing the gals to get fuller. I Don't break the stem when bending, am gentle and slowly bend her down until where I want, then tie her off.

 

[Pistil]

Hey thanks! I'm going to gently bend and tie the first and the third plants so they become tall as the other two… i was almost sure that this was needed/adviced but it's way better for me to have a confirmation. Tomorrow i'll do this job, i need a bit of time and relax to be sure to do it correctly… and tomorrow, hopefully, the third plant will finally show its gender in a more perceptible way... can't wait!

 

[Rosebud]

They look very nice Pistil. Green mojo to you.

 

[Pistil]

Hello nice persons!

I would like to ask you some other questions, if possible, because i updated a bit my messy grow room and i have a plan for a new light system.

I'm going to describe you the new situation and the plan so that you can evaluate it. As always, do not expect nothing professional from me because i can't save so much money for these things at the moment… it's just my messy stile going on

- Pots:
I finally made a repotting in 15lt buckets (~3.9625807650000002 gallons), i liked their shape more than the vases that i was able to find so i bought them and drilled their bottom to let the water drain.

- Cabinet:
Because of the new buckets i had to double the grow area and i made it adding a second cabinet in front of the old one but specular to it. Then i covered the sides of both cabinets with some cheap "car sunshade" that i found at the market. (Seems that they rocks because the amount of light that i'm perceiving seems the double of when i was using aluminum foils) I'm also planning to add two supports for better managing the lamp height asap.

- Air/heat management:
As you can see from the pics i left one side of the cabinet half open to let the air of that big fan (it's a normal fan but very powerful) entering and cooling the plants and the light. (this works so well for cooling the 250w MH lamp that i'm placing it a bit more close to the plants)

- Darkening:
The new, strangely shaped, cabinet cannot be closed and i'm planning to make the dark period darkening the entire room. The window have a roll-up shutter that is very effective for closing out the sun light. I checked and i have only a light leak under the door but seems pretty simple to fix it. I'll lock the door during the night to be sure that my wife or my daughter will not be able to make mistakes.

- Timer:
I'll put a timer on the light but i thought to be also an human timer manually opening and closing the shutter. This because the fact that i have to dark the entire room. Some trusted friend could substitute me if one day i'm busy or away. I'll leave the shutter opened during the 12h of light while, during the night, the room seems to be large enough to do not suffocate the plants.

- Lights:
I gave a look at the dimmable kits but they are pretty expensive, almost the double of "normal" kits. So i thought to buy a cheaper one (half price of the other) that comes with a 600w HPS + a 600w MH bulbs but i want to check what you think before placing the order.



Finally the questions:
- Are those new pots big enough for the flowering?
- Will my big 50w fan be enough to cool a 600w lamp as well? From what i'm perceiving i would say yes but i can't be sure.
- If, during the night, i'll leave a very small stripe of the shutter opened to let some more air to circulate in the room will this affect the plants sexuality? (that window have only the moon light that can enter during the night because i'm far from every kind of city lights… but will get more light at the end of the sunset and at the beginning of a new day)
- Is the 600w MH light an useless power for my future vegetative phases? (I think i would have no more than 10 little plants vegging per time resulting in 4/5 females to be flowered)



Reassuming… i'll have 12h of light with the window opened and the fan strongly operating… and the 12h of dark with the fan slightly operating (nights are not so hot here neither during the summer) and the window almost totally closed or completely closed with the available air of a ~5x6 meters room.

Will this messy thing works if i'll follow the entire process with attention? Please be honest and show no mercy, i'll try to do my best to fix what's need to be absolutely fixed.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!

 

[4u2sm0ke]

:ciao: Pistil

I see some issues when flipping to 12/12....we need to have complete darkness during 12/12....no open windows aor any light entering the room during dark cycle...another thing is heat?....what and how are you controling this?...an asculating fan wont be good enough..from the pics it looks like ya ahve the light too close to the plants...when setting up the light you can use the back of ya hand to set the lights hieght....hope this helps
:48:

 

[Pistil]

:ciao: 4u2sm0ke, thanks for answering!

If i'll keep the room completely closed during the 12h of dark will the air in that ~5x6 meters room be enough for let the plants breath for 12h? I could change it only in 12h of light in this case.

And, about the heat, i have to invent something... i seen that the cool tube kit for a lamp is pretty expensive (more than the lamp kit itself), maybe i could try to follow the THG DIY cool tube instructions or, at least, to add a small vent that continuously blow some air directly on the bulb... i'll think a bit about this.

Edit:
I thought to add some prices of the stores here:
- kit 600w MH+HPS bulbs + reflector + power supply = 169€ (this is the one i would like to buy)
- kit 600w HPS bulb + reflector + power supply + cool tube + centrifugal vent + carbon filter + tubes = 312€
- kit cool tube only + centrifugal vent + carbon filter + tubes = 179€

 

[Pistil]

Hi nice persons!!!
First of all, sorry for my discontinued presence on the forum… i'm super-busy on a project that do not leave me neither the time to breath, but i'm sure i'll be able to save more spare time in the following months!

A little update on the messy growing:

I found two males so i have just two female left but i'm happy anyway because this is my first grow and it's going on in some way… i started my first flowering 5 days ago, under a sparkling new 600w HPS lamp

In the first day of flowering the plants have even suffered by a chemical burn… almost half of the leaves of both plants have been damaged by a substance that i had to work with in my house… maybe just a couple of cloud of this thing touched the leaves (just the leaves) but it has been enough, i was desperate! And all is happened in ten minutes for a distraction! (the burn damage has been instantaneous)

I thought to try to re-veg but, at the end, i left them in the just begun 12/12 period.. even because i've been too busy to invest time in better following the plants

Anyway, as i said, today is the 5th day of flowering and the plants seems to feel better. They are discarding the most damaged leaves and going on with something as a "veg-recovering-half flowering" phase. They are throwing new grow and new pistils at the same time every day, maybe slowly but it's still noticeable.

I'm still hoping in a pretty decent harvest, what do you think? Too stress for them for making good buds? (I thought to do not remove the damaged leaves to do not induce more stress to them)

Your faithful Pistil

 

[Heake1978]

nice updating your plant grow. keep updating. worth to read and to see your pictures. will see in its flowering days.