Wall-Unit Fluorescent Grow Op

[THeCloset]

Welcome to my grow journal.

This is my second grow and hopefully not my last.
I am sorry to inform you that as I just discovered this site, I will be joining you half way through the grow.

Previously, I grew what ended up being two females in a 7 cubic foot (2 foot wide by 1 and 1/3 feet deep by 2 and 2/3 feet high) hollowed out dresser. I used four compact fluorescents of various wattage and ranges. Because of my height limitations, I used the LST technique. The Grow failed mostly, all I got was 1/2 Oz of dull bud (although I suspect I harvested far too early). The oil made from the remains, however, made it all worth it.

Hopefully, This grow will grow much better. Join me as I finish this grow, and hopefully harvest some clones to start the next one.

[THeCloset]

My new grow is contained within a hollowed out wall unit.

There are two sections: A 3.5 cubic feet (1 1/3 foot high, 1 1/3 foot deep and 2 feet wide) starting/cloning area with a couple of compact fluorescents; and a 10.5 cubic feet (4 foot high, 2 foot wide and 1 1/3 foot deep) vegging/flowering area. Now, I have no height restrictions (actually I do, obviously, it's 4 feet). One bathroom exhaust fan provides adequate ventilation and also included in the ventilation is a crappy little carbon filter that slightly reduces odour.


The larger area is lit as follows:

Lighting

Two 48" gro-lux 40w wide-spectrum T12 tubes standing vertically
shining up and down the plants 1900L X 2 = 3800 Lumens

The two plants stand in a horizontal line with the fluorescent fixture, so one plant is always inbetween the light and the other plant. For this reason the plants are switched every day. Also the plants are rotated 180 degrees halfway through the day. Pictures will clarify.

Above The Plants

one 45w warm cfl- 2900 Lumens
two 14w warm cfl's - 800L x 2 = 1600 Lumens
one 26w warm cfl - 1700 Lumens

Total Watts of Fluorescent light - 179 w
Total Lumens - 10 000 Lumens

I started my first grow with bagseeds and did ok, but the seeds were tiny brown shitty seeds. The bagseeds I'm using now are larger and greener and they came from better dope too. I germinated eight seeds in some toilet paper. All eight germinated successfully. I planted five in peat pellets (pucks of peat moss that expand under water).

I started the plants in the top, smaller section under two 14 watt and one 26 watt warm compact fluorescent lights. I know cool would have been better but I used what was available.
I grew the young seedlings under 24 hours of light for about two weeks and then ran out of space.

[THeCloset]

Just before I ran out of plant space, I ran out of root space. So, I bought some medium sized plantable peat containers, they're grrreat. Just plant em whenever the roots poke through. I filled them with the following soil mixture.

Soil

70% Premium Potting soil with slow release fertilizer

Nutrient analysis
N - 0.08%
P- 0.24%
k- 0.08%

30% - Organic Starter mix

This shit is quite light and loamy which helps make up for
the heaviness of the potting soil. Also it includes many
organic materials including sphagnum peat moss, composted
softwood bark fines, horticulutural grade vermiculite,
major and minor organic nutrients, and a wetting agent to
increase absortion of water.

I also added quite a bit of broken up eggshells into the mix, maybe 10%.
Then I mulched the soil with a full, even coating of ground eggshells. I watered pretty well everyday and later every other for the first 6 weeks.

Then I moved the plants down into the large grow zone. (155 watts fluorescent light producing 10 000 lumens)

I vegged my five plants on a 16/8 cycle. An even longer night than the reccommended 18/6.

I Think that the result is slower growing, more healthy plants, under the idea that roots develop at night, and better roots equals better plants. I vegged for about 5 weeks.

At some point i transplanted again, directly planted the peat containers. I think the new pots are 8" diamater and 10" high. Prolly too small but they'll have to do as I have no more horizontal space.

Then I gave them 12/12 for a week so I could determine the sexes, destroyed
the three males and put the two females back to 16/8.

A week later they went through a week with no water.
This mocks a natural drought. During this time they exploded.
Doubled in height. So I flushed them deeply (mocking the heavy
rainfall that follows a drought) and put them down to 11/13, starting the flowering stage after 2 weeks of the seedling stage and 6 weeks of vegetative growth.

I figure that thirteen hours of darkness ensures enough time to establish
a healthy budding process. They've been this way for a week now, and when it seems there's about two weeks left (about a
month and a half from now), I will flush them clean of all
crap once more and put them down to 9/15.
I've read that this light cycle allows buds to fully mature. Some people
give their plants 36 hour darkness right at the end to finish it off as well.

Fertilizer

Throughout vegging, I fertilized every other week with miracle gro All Purpose
liquid concentrate plant food with micronutrients applied at 1/4 strength.

Nutrient analysis
N- 12%
P- 4%
k- 8%
Micronutrient analysis
Fe - 0.10%
Mn - 0.05%
Zn - 0.05%
EDTA (Chelating agent) - 1.18%

Upon flowering (A week ago) I began fertilizing with a slow release
all vegetable fertilizer. It consists of little balls of
fertilizer which are applied to the soil and are slowly
broken down as you water your babies. It has an N-P-K
reading of 5%-10%-10%. I apply it the soil at a little
under half strength in addition to the weekly 1/4 strength liquid solution (now with honey for the flowering stage)
The reason I fertilize with 1/4 and 1/2 strength chemical
fertlizers is because I like to fertilize partially
with chemicals and partially organically.

Organics

I apply ground eggshells, used coffee grounds, the contents
of used tea bags, and honey to the soil as organic fertilizers
they leech their valuable nutrients into the soil
with every watering and never burn the plant. Feed the soil
and the soil feeds the plant.

I do not apply honey directly into the soil, but dissolve
it into the 1/4 strength liquid fertilizer with warm water
every other week, and just with warm water (no fertilizer)
on the alternating week starting when the plants begin
budding. This increases bud size by up to 20 % and
makes the buds taste better. Another good source of sugars
is molassess. Table sugar however wont work.

So my watering schedule is ( and I always use dehumidifier water for it's purity) every sunday- Plain water
Wednesday - Honey/water
alternating wednesday - Honey/water/nutrients

I'm going to watch for soil gunking to to excessive honey, if it occurs I will switch to applying honey every other week.

So here I am, past the initial 8 weeks and just finishing my 1st week of 11 hours on/13 hours off light cycle. I have consumed about half my vertical space. I have many small flowering zones consisting of a couple of long white pistils and a couple of nicely forming actual flower zones (clusters, not just pistils).

After 9 weeks i anticpate 7-8 more where you can watch and learn, and hopefully we can teach each other. I hope to get some pictures up real soon, so stay tuned.

Wallunit grower - THeCloset

[THeCloset]

Now for my inquiries.

Will honey work? I know molassess is used, so I simply assume honey will. Any insight?

the 10 000 Lumens I have consist of 3800 lumens of T 12 Wide spectrum tube fluorescents
and 6200 lumens of warm (red spectrum) compact fluorescents. I understand these are good for budding.

Is 10 000 lumens for 10 cubic feet, 1000 lumens/foot enough to produce serious buds?

Does anybody have any insight on the Above mentioned flowering schedule of 11/13 and later 9/15?

[urgr8estfear]

Will this yield serious buds?

With fluros I yield about 0.33 gram per Watt.
Do your math : 0.33*155 = about 51 grams.
If all goes without disaster.

[THeCloset]

That would be nice. I even discovered that I did that math wrong I actually have 179 watts of light, but eighty is in wide spectrum 4 foot tubes. Will that alter the calculation much?

179 w * 0.33 g/w ~ 59 g

How did you come up with this conversion rate?

Let x = conversion factor for 40w T12 wide spectrum fluorexcent tubes
(99 w * 0.33 g/w) + (80 w * x g/w) = 33 g + 80x g

Now all I need is a value for x

ANOTHER QUESTION

Should I replace my T 12's with T5's? Are they readily available? Do I need to change ballasts for these?

[senior_ganj]

Originally Posted by THeCloset

Now for my inquiries.

Will honey work? I know molassess is used, so I simply assume honey will. Any insight?

the 10 000 Lumens I have consist of 3800 lumens of T 12 Wide spectrum tube fluorescents
and 6200 lumens of warm (red spectrum) compact fluorescents. I understand these are good for budding.

Is 10 000 lumens for 10 cubic feet, 1000 lumens/foot enough to produce serious buds?

Does anybody have any insight on the Above mentioned flowering schedule of 11/13 and later 9/15?

Sounds like you have your shit together and are on your way to seeing some great buds. Not sure about the honey, sure it's adding sugars to the soil, but I don't know whether or not they are able to be absorbed by the plant, not to mention to possibility of pests and problems with it accumulating in your soil. But personally, I don't have any experience with it.

Generally, 2500 lumens per square foot is recomended, but less can always be done. Just keep those bulbs as close as you can and watch em. You may even want to think about putting those CFL's you have by each main budding site to help bud growth.

I haven't seen anything on the 11/13 and 9/15 schedule though.

If you don't mind, I'll be pulling up a chair. Any pic updates coming later???

Your lighting schedule is worrying! Keep it simple. There's a link in my sig to a thread which will interest you.
Also be very careful of Miracle-Gro....a lot of people on here have had bad experiences with it and really slate it.

The watering sounds great though! And it does sound like you are doing well....can we see some pictures?

[THeCloset]

Thnx senior and squidgey. Do pull up a chair. I'll be uploading some pictures tonight.

[THeCloset]

Here are some of the pictures I took today.


1. The Wall Unit

2. The Upper Chamber - used for young plants (currently being used to germinate pepper seeds, yes we pot growers DO like to grow other things as well)

3. The Exhaust Fan

4. The Exhaust Port - PVC piping stuffed with a charcoal filter and a bounce sheet
There's an identical port at the bottom, only w/ no fan, acting as the air intake.

[THeCloset]

Here are some pictures of the way I have the lights set up

[THeCloset]

Here Are Some pictures of my bagseed plants beginning their ninth week of growth (since germination). Just finishing their first week of 11/13 light cycle.

Pictures 1 and 2 - Here they are in the unit, the one on the left is 27" tall and is flowering a litlle more heavily than the one on the right which is 28" tall.

Picture 3 - small flowers on the 27" plant

picture 4 - Aerial view of the 27" plant

picture 5 - Tiny flowering sites on the 28" plant

[THeCloset]

These are what I figure I'll try to clone

Picture 1 - 2 inches, no flower, 3 sets of leaves - working on it's third, mother 28"

Picture 2 - 3 inches, no flower, 4 sets of leaves - working on it's fourth, mother - 28"

Picture 3 - 3 inches, one flower, 4 sets of leaves - working on it's fourth, mother 27"

Picture 4 - 4 inches, no flower, 4 sets of leaves - working on it's fourth, mother - 28"



What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

[wwaylon99]

What about when you bud like, r you goin to bend the plants over or wut. Seems like there is no more space. Lookin good so far.

[THeCloset]

I'm not sure what you mean by WHEN I bud. Im past the first week of budding now.

Yeah I may end up bending them over a bit.I haven't consumed all the space yet, If you look closely at the second picture in the above post "Pictures of my plants"
You can see that the pots are actually sitting on upturned pots and stacks of tiles.

I just measured, and I have 10.5 inches left to work with.

Do you think that the plants will grow another 10.5" on top of their current 27"-28"?