Hornet's DIY 250 Watt Insulated Attic Cab

[ratatata]

Looking good mate, keep it up.

I wouldn't let the taproot grow that long before transplanting into soil. And your seedlings look very stretched. Blue spectrum in the light and light distance is essential to avoid stretching. You should lower those floros.

I'm not sure if I'm seeing right but there is a layer or plastic-like thing under the bulbs. I would get rid of it, it restricts light.

[Headless Hornet]

Thanks for stopping by

ratata - thanks for the feedback. The seedlings were stretched. They shot up like that almost overnight. Plastic "greenhouse" was to keep the moisture in the peat pots...it worked well. Those seedlings were put in my cab right after that picture was taken. As you'll soon see, stretch is not a problem now.

Pics are from:

1. 4 days in soil

2. 11 days old

3. 14 days old

4. 16 days old

[Headless Hornet]

20 days in the dirt.

[Headless Hornet]

LST and FIM
Day 23 from seed

I've been researching LST and FIM...I will probably end up doing both on every plant. Today I gave it my first shot. I LSTed the 3 tallest, and I FIMed the shorter girls (or boys...or god forbid hermies). I'm anxious to see how much this stresses my plants or affects growth. I'm not sure I like the wire I'm using to LST either. I may give the "metal hook into the soil" method a try later. I'm a growing virgin, so I want to experiment...but cautiously.

Thanks for stopping by!

First two pics are LST before and after:

Second two pics are FIM before and after:

[ratatata]

Growing virgin or not, you're doing a great job. When are you planning to start flowering light cycle?

[Headless Hornet]

Originally Posted by ratatata

Growing virgin or not, you're doing a great job. When are you planning to start flowering light cycle?

Thanks for the compliment, ratatata. I'm not sure when to start flowering. I think the plants will tell me. I'm about 25 days from dry seed now. I'll probably veg for another 10 to 15 days. After that, I'm guessing 50 to 60 days of 12/12 under a HPS (I'm under a MH conversion bulb now).

Once the plants show their sex, I'll kick out the boys. I'll be happy with two or three girls left for full blooming. I think 3 will be a little tight in my cab, but with good LST I should be ok.

Keep the comments coming, thanks for looking in.

[Headless Hornet]

A basic beginner setup.

[whitehippo]

good luck, the only grow journal ive been following, hopefully youll keep us updated till harvest time

[Headless Hornet]

Training
The plants have been in the dirt for about a month. A week ago, I started a discipline program of FIM and LST. The results have been pretty successful so far. I've now got six well behaved bushes with multiple tops. I'm probably going to keep up with the LST and go pretty light on the FIM going forward.

I'm also pretty diligent about tucking my big fan leave down to expose more potential bud sites to the light. The plants look pretty small now, but I think if I had left them unmolested, they would be about 10" tall by now.

Environment
I'm on a 20/4 light cycle. My temps have been running about 75 during the light hours and around 65 during the dark cycle (i'd like things a bit warmer, but these temps seem to be working). My humidity stays pretty stable at 40%.

The Future
I will probably start flowering in about a week. Once the plants show their sex, I'll transplant the females (2 or 3) into bigger pots and continue. I'm expecting about a 60 day flowering period.

Pic 1
Overview of the cab.

Pic2
Shows results of week old FIM

Pic3
Recent FIM site

Pic4
My Number 1

Pic5
LSTing

What do you guys think? What would you do differently? Thanks for checking in!

[Headless Hornet]

Originally Posted by whitehippo

good luck, the only grow journal ive been following, hopefully youll keep us updated till harvest time

Thanks whitehippo. I plan to keep updating until completion, but I also have a grow journal on ICMAG (which I like better...seems like a more mature audience). If I disappear here, catch me over there.

I did the flip 5 days ago. Changed to my HPS bulb and the light cycle is now 12/12. I've given my first dose of Tiger Bloom (at 1/4 dosage). The plants have really taken off.

I'm continuing with the LST, but I'm running out of room. I hope they show sex soon so I can kick out the boys. I can keep three at most, two would be fine too.

Thanks to everyone looking in, keep the comments coming.
Here are my results so far.

[Don Piano]

Looks very nice. I had almost went with the attic idea myself but decided it safe to do elsewhere. The temps and humidity scare me up there. Sounds like you have a handle on things though. Like your choice on the alaska 5-1-1. Good stuff. Can't wait to see the outcome. Rooting for all females.

[Headless Hornet]

Originally Posted by Don Piano

Looks very nice. I had almost went with the attic idea myself but decided it safe to do elsewhere. The temps and humidity scare me up there. Sounds like you have a handle on things though. Like your choice on the alaska 5-1-1. Good stuff. Can't wait to see the outcome. Rooting for all females.

Thanks for peeking in, Don Piano. No temp problems so far. (I thought long and hard on how to avoid them) even though attic temps have fluctuated greatly. The box has gotten no lower than 65, and no higher than 80.

Don't root too hard for all girls....I'm hoping for three girls only (thats all I'm going to have room for). Any extra girls are going to have to try to survive outside guerilla style.

I checked in at your grow too. It looks very promising, you should have excellent results.

[420norm]

Very nice to see your ingenuity! I'm going to keep watching!

[Headless Hornet]

Originally Posted by 420norm

Very nice to see your ingenuity! I'm going to keep watching!

Sir or madam,

Thank you for your kindness.

[Headless Hornet]

I went hunting for sex today, and I found some...my luck though...it was a dude!

Actually, found the first male in my six unsexed plants. I'm glad this plant was one of the males, it was a weird pheno that was seemed slower growing with thicker fan leaves and less bud sites.

I'm one week into flower and I'm happy for the extra room. The remaining ladies need more space and light.

First two pics are of his balls (ball?)

Third pic is of me about to get medieval on his ass!