Mr. Farmer's Unstable Environment, 400W HPS, organic ....

[Mr. Farmer]

Due to some technical difficulties, I had to shut down my first journal, but now I'm back in action. I was really missing having one up as this is such a great way to keep track of progress and get good, positive vibes from others. So here we go.

My closet growroom has been up and functional since January 1. This might be the easiest New Year's resolution I've ever made. I'm running a HTG 400W HPS with the cheapo bulb, EarthJuice Grow and Bloom nutes, and a neutral soil mix consisting of SunGro MetroMix, perlite and worm castings. Temperatures are unstable, but I've got to where I can keep them between 60 and 85 degrees.

So far I've produced 9 grams of Lowryder. Don't let anybody tell you Lowryder doesn't smoke. Just not a huge bang for your buck.
5f4e2b11.jpg8ba55cf9.jpgIMG_2605.jpg

Now on to the PowerSkunks. I ended up vegging these ladies for over 60 days! First I was waiting on the Lowryder to finish up, then I went ahead and planted 5 Northern Lights seeds so I waited for those to grow up before I flipped the switch to flowering. Unfortunately, I ended up having a complete sausage fest with the NL, all 5 were males. Unbelievable. I believe I just pushed them too hard with first transplant at 9 D/O then nutes at 13 with the flip at 27. They also lived their whole life under the HPS.

I did, fortunately, get 2 out of 3 females with the PowerSkunks. Their names are Venus and Serena. We are currently 10 days into flowering.
IMG_2612.jpg

Venus is lanky and abit ugly, but still a heavy hitter. Some of the longer branches just got bent over so they are laying flat at the moment.
IMG_2610.jpg

This is Serena. She got the looks.
IMG_2607.jpg

A peak at Serena's trunk.
IMG_2618.jpgIMG_2620.jpg

So, now I wait. I've read reports of PowerSkunk taking up to 14 weeks to finish, but I'm gonna hope for 10. They both have good light and the weather is starting to warm up around here, so conditions should be just about right for growing.

[griswold46]

i'm blown away man. i'm surprised those hooks are holding that mainstem down. you don't have anything tied down with string?

[hydr1]

you got your shit twisted man! nice!

[Mr. Farmer]

Alright, got the girls out tonite for a good watering and cleaned the underbrush up and pulled pins. Left only one pin on each holding down the neck as it's still a bit springy. The plan right now is to pull Serena around week 10 and then let Venus have the light to herself for another month or however long. Went ahead and tied down the top and one of the strong side branches on Venus which had gotten tall, so she's pretty wide and even right now.

Here's the pair after I got them put back in. The lights currently 12" off the main canopy with some runners getting up to 7".

IMG_2634.jpgIMG_2635.jpgIMG_2640.jpg

These are pictures of Serena au natural. She's just doing her thing.

IMG_2626.jpgIMG_2627.jpgIMG_2628.jpg

A couple of tops have gone soft and are leaning over. They are putting on pistols but can't stand up on their own. Put a stint on them to try to help them recover from pinching the tops to close to flipping the switch for flowering. Give it at least a week beforehand to recover. Hope that makes sense next time I read it.

[BrummieFarmer]

Nice bro, nice. Very Sativa dominant? Those cfl's are called Envirolites by the way. 125w each which converts to alot of lumens for a flouro. Thanks for your comments my ex-colonial friend.

[hydr1]

these fucking plants look bomb! look at all those bud sites! wow!

[Mr. Farmer]

Thanks chums. G13 says the PowerSkunk is 75% sativa and these girls are definitely showing it. Looks like the key is to use a bigger wider pot. Venus is staying much more compact than her sister but they are still getting there stretch on. Game time is approaching though. I should have some fresh pics up later this week, can't wait to compare them to last weeks update.

I checked on the EnviroLites, but I would need to buy a converter to take your 240 volts to 110. Probably just go with cheapo CFLs for now.

[BrummieFarmer]

Oh, now I get ya my sister-country compadre. 110v. Wounder, as we say over here. Theyre like the biggest cfl's you ever saw. I picked up an extractor fan today for 25 dollars your money. It moves 200m3 an hour. It's sposed to be a bathroom extractor. Apart from the carbon filter there is NO fucking difference to my horicult' fan apart from the $50 carbon filter. Over here 150mm vent that moves 200+m3 is easy £150($200ish). Canaventurism!! Anyway I'll keep my eye on these. Dont forget to look at my thread- 'multi strain' in indoor journals. I got more pics.

[Mr. Farmer]

Alright....called in sick to work today, but was feeling just good enough to get a good start on my veg cabinet.

Final dimensions are 5'x4'x30". Turned out to be alittle bigger than I imagined, but I think I'll be able to get it semi-stealth. Gonna throw some clothes on top of it, add a curtain to the front then hang a bunch of clothes up in front of the whole thing. Anyway, should have plenty of room to throw in some vegetable seeds for the outdoor garden.

So far everything was just stuff I had laying around. Keeping it ghetto for now. The light that is hanging will be used for fresh clones and not much else. Should have the rest of the lighting up this weekend then maybe start some seeds next week.

IMG_2642.jpgIMG_2643.jpgIMG_2644.jpgIMG_2646.jpg

[BrummieFarmer]

Nice setup. I'm fully into clandestine type grows. I just found a 150mm vent (outake) that sucks 250m3 hr for like 50 dollars. I'm making my own carbon filter again tomorrow and maybe I might do a step by step thing.........? Yeah if you can grow for fuck all, thats what it's all about. Never buy into cannaventuerism and slapping hydro stickers or a ganja sign or maybe a canna-affiliated name an triple the price. Hardware stores and garden super-markets sell everything we need and more, without the inflated prices of Hydro shops, not knocking them as some things you cant get without them but boy, do they prey on ill-education!!

[Mr. Farmer]

To the business at hand. I wasn't really digging that monstrosity I built in the closet, so I went out and purchased the Home Depot Custom Grow Box. The kit includes a 6'x30"x20" wardrobe, 6 26 watt CFLs, bathroom fan w/ducting, motorcycle tie down, light bar w/splitters and 6' power tool replacement cord.

Also purchased 2 plastic bins to put my stuff in as I shopped so all my shit wasn't laying out for all to see. Going to turn these into a worm farm for castings. Still need to put in some intake, it slipped my mind while I was shopping so my eyes will be looking to put something together at work tomorrow.

[Mr. Farmer]

Slowly but surely, the girls are coming along.

IMG_2666.jpg

Got some new wheels!!

IMG_2669.jpg

Here's a couple good looks at Venus. There's some brown spots you can see in the middle picture that looks like spider mites to me.?. I've had a few ladybugs wander in but they all end up croaking.

IMG_2677.jpgIMG_2678.jpgIMG_2671.jpg

[Mr. Farmer]

3rd times a charm....rearranged my room again, but I think I got it this time.

Here's my newly added intake. Aluminum goes to the flowering closet while the white duct goes into the veg cab.

IMG_2693.jpg

Intakes are hooked up to a window A/C via some 4" drain hose attachments, zip ties and my favorite tool, duct tape.

IMG_2691.jpg

Now you see it

IMG_2690.jpg

Now you don't

IMG_2692.jpg

Temps are now down where they should be for veg. Seeds will be getting planted soon.

IMG_2694.jpg

Looks like the PowerSkunk is done stretching. Heights of tops range from 18"-24".

IMG_2687.jpg

[badger]

Originally Posted by Mr. Farmer

Here's a couple good looks at Venus. There's some brown spots you can see in the middle picture that looks like spider mites to me.?. I've had a few ladybugs wander in but they all end up croaking.

I think that brown spotting might be strain specific. I am growing power skunk and NlxPower Skunk from G13 Labs. The power skunk did the same thing as it got older into flower. After about 4 1/2 weeks in the leaves started getting brown spots starting at the bottom. These eventually became holes in the fan leaves and they fell off (or were cut off). Pretty sure its a symptom of nitrogen deficiency as the plants work towards maturity. If I were you, I would give it a feeding of veg nutes now just to keep it going until the end of harvest. If they are turning brown and you got 5 wks+ left you might wanna give it a lil nitrogen boost.

[Mr. Farmer]

Thanks for checking out my grow, man. I was definitely debating on giving them some N sometime in the next few weeks. Right now, I'm working on just feeding them plain aquarium water for the next couple of waterings, letting the plants use some of the nutrients they have stored up. I'll see where they are at in a week then maybe hit them with a tiny shot of N to get to the finish line.