Hello everyone, I've got these small plants, the first one maxxed out at 9 inches tall and the second stopped already at 10 inches. I got greedy and planted two more. Picture 1 is the metal filing cabinet hidden in the back of a narrow, 18-inch-wide closet. I have to keep this whole grow hidden from occasional visiting kids, an unknowing girlfriend, and a landlord living next door. The cabinet is (outer dimensions) 16"x19" and 40" high. Picture 2 are the plants in the cabinet. It has three 105W CFLs (two 6600K and one 5000K) in parallel on a chrome, 3-socket bathroom fixture bolted to the side. There is only a 12V PC fan exhausting air at the very top backside, at the same level as the bulbs. Picture 3 shows the plants out of the cabinet. The buckets are 4 gallon wastebaskets cut down to about 2 and a half gallons. Soozie (far left) is 50 days, Hazel (middle) is 35, and Wendy and Mollie (right) are 20 days since germination. They're all regular Lowryder, feminized. Picture 4 is Soozie, the 50-day. She and the others have been on constant light (24/0) from the first day, with occasional light feedings. Picture 5 is the top of one of Soozie's buds. This is my first try at a grow. I've been inspired by this forum, especially interested in small stealth grows. I guess like most people posting here, I've come to the experts for any advice on increasing yield in this situation. For example, how much would switching bulbs to 2700K improve things? Would including some dark hours help the buds fill out? I'm not sure, with my inexperience, how much time is left for the first plant. The pistils are still mostly white, so maybe their is still some hope for a growth spurt. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
I dont know if i read right, Darkness is essential to flowering, they need to be on a 12/12 light cycle.
Well, Lowryder is autoflowering. I read that constant 20/4 is best for these, but I thought I'd try 24/0 since I was trying for a continual harvest in one box. I guess that, for regular strains, you need to put them in 12/12 to trigger flowering. Both Soozie and Hazel flowered automatically when they were at about 3 weeks old, and the new babies (20 day) just broke out their first pistils yesterday. Would more flowers pop out now on the older ones if they were switched to 12/12?
This is an AWESOME grow. Going to 2700k now that they're flowering will help increase bud density and yield tremendously. I look forward to seeing more!
im no expert but when i grew my autoflowering ak47 x lowryders (auto lowlife ak) they budded way too slow until i changed the light cycle. i went to a 20/4 cycle first and saw no noticeable difference. I then went straight to a 12/12 and it definitely seemed to do the trick. buds started getting fatter and at what seemed to be a faster rate. Cannabis plants arent naturally autoflowering. And with a natural cannabis plant, leaves intake power (sun) during the day and the buds then use that power at night to grow (of course there's a lot more to it than that but this gives a basic picture). Autoflowering cuts out the 2 step process making it a 1 step process. Keep the 4hr dark period imo. p.s. your plants look gorgeous! But looking like a small yield???
Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the comments. I think I'm going to get a 105W, 2700K CFL bulb. But this may take a few days or a week if I order it online. Soozie is almost 2 months old, and has been flowering for 4 weeks. The leaves aren't turning yellow at all, and I'd like to speed her along a bit. Pistils just now turning slightly tan/brown in a few places. Also, I think I might take both Soozie and Hazel out of the cabinet at night, so they get some dark time. Perhaps that will help fatten up their buds and get the resin going. There might be a problem---my apartment is going to stink if I do that, as the a carbon scrubber only works if the plants are in the grow box.. Perhaps Wendy and Mollie (the three-week-olds) can stay at 24 hours light for a while.
I disagree. Cannabis ruderallis does naturally autoflower, and the buds do not only grow at night. They cross bread plants to get the autoflower gene into more potent cannabis strains. Its not like they simply whipped up some freak plant in the lab. Anyway check out these Blueryders I grew under 24/7 lighting. http://forum.grasscity.com/attachme...284401d1255365371-dwc-grow-guide-dsc02905.jpg
if your plants are autoflowering on their own, theres no need to switch the light cycle. AF plants sometimes need to be put on 12/12 to trigger flowering because the breeding is sub-par. just means it wasnt an auto. yours are, I'd move ahead as previously scheduled.
315watts thats a lot of lights for a few plants, but thats a good thing!! Watch your heat as you only have 1 PC fan so make sure its working hard but hopefully extra height should gives space for heat to rise into. Also be carefull as the cabniet is metal so dont want that to be touching any connections as you will be in for a shock. But looking very nice and plants coming a long niceley. Also as its an auto flowering goin 12/12 is not needed but through in a few hours of dark as its always good for a plant maybe 18/6 or something. Wont hurt. As for when they are ready use the time scale given for very rough timing but look at the triches and depening on the high you want they should be cloudy and amber.
You're right. 315 total watts is pretty high for a such a small space. Heat is an issue, yes. It got really hot on the top of the cabinet the first time i tried all three bulbs at once. After lining the top with a piece of reflective emergency blanket, it's not nearly as bad. The plants themselves are in a pretty warm situation. I don't know the exact temperature. The plants as close to the bulbs as I can get 'em without touching. One leaf was touching a bulb and it got toasted on the edges, but the rest of the leaf is fine. I'd like to maybe add another fan, but not sure if it would be better to have it as another exhaust fan, intake fan, or simply to blow on the plants. A problem is that I have to keep the noise down, though.
You can never have too much light i dont think!! Maybe have light that is wasted due to its placement but thats it. As for a new fam, yeah get another in there, i would say at the top (exhaust) and make sure you have a hole near bottom for a passive intake. So this means your hot air will be sucked out faster replaced with cooler air from bottom of cabinet. Try get a fan on the plants too for added strength to stems and just keep the bulbs cooler so plants can get a little closer. But i would say do the exhaust first.
Thanks all. And thanks, too, kc36. i've seen some of your expert advice in this, and other, threads and really appreciate your experienced help. I agree exhausting more hot air at the top of the cabinet would be the priority. New, cool air can come in passively elsewhere. There isn't much air turbulence inside the box right now, just air getting sucked out at one spot in the back, so I worry about the plants not getting enough CO2. And Phoggy! Holly Schmidt! That is one massive Blue Ryder! I'd love to know your secrets to getting plants like that. Here's another pic of Soozie, the oldest plant, now at day 52.
Cheers but i am no way experienced only grown a few times and had 1 plant i have taken to flower a few years back rest have been cut short due to one reason or another. But glad im helping. I have spent a few years on other forums so picked up little bits. Thanks
ok corvoid whats up my man, your babies look good i would def. start with 24 hours constantly and then like some other guy said try to switch to 18 hours of light , i think that would help with the younger one ok about the lights, 2700 kelvin (k) would be good , especially for flowering take the aluminum foil out of there and get some mylar, aluminum can cause hot spots and burn leaves. Now the most important part, its gonna be harder and harder to keep the smell from your landlord and girl, especially if you dive into growing other strains my blue cheese grow stunk up my whole house and even a little outside the only thing i can do is get some air freshners this time and maybe that will help a little, but the smell is intense Those babies look fuckin great for your first grow man im impressed keep it goin, and you get a plus rep from me man
Thanks very much edwardvanhalen. Well, it's been 24 hours continuous light with all these lowryders. And I haven't switched any bulbs to 2700K...still just the two 6500K and the one 5000K. It's getting pretty cramped in the filing cabinet. Wendy and Mollie are now 26 days old, flowering, and getting pretty big. Hazel is now 41 days, a bit bigger than Soozie, with more delicate, lighter green leaves, and forming a nice fat main cola. Picture 1: All four plants in the box. I can't wait to get Soozie out of there and smoke her. Picture 2: Here they are out on the table. From left to right: Soozie (day 56), Hazel (day 41) and Wendy and Mollie (26 days). Picture 3: Here's Soozie. Finally, her pistils are browning up. Trichs are only 10% amber, the rest clear or cloudy. Do lowryder fan leaves ever turn yellow on the buds?
you should switch to flowering cfl bulbs (2400k, or 2700k), i would def do this if i were you your oldest plant should be done in a couple weeks , you wanna make sure you dont chop it too early you wont have enough room to grow other strains that grow bigger than lowryder cuz that cabinet thing is too small if you plan later on growing somewhere else def get more lights, one or two cfl's wont do the trick i have 9 on my one plant, the more light the better yield i believe nice grow
Hey edwardvanhalen, Yes, I'm going to try a 2700K, 105W CFL sometime soon. Good advice. Next paycheck though...one bulb is $30. I'm actually surprised the bitches are doing as well as they are with these high-blue spectrum bulbs. And I'd like to try a different strain on my next grow. These Lowryders going now are actually "Little Devil" from Ministry of Cannabis. I was very pleased with MofC..my seeds arrived in 5 days from Holland, all were female and germinated 100%. Soozie's genetics seem a bit different from the others..her leaves are darker green and tougher, and she's smaller overall. But they're all tiny plants, so I'm happy. Next, I was going to plant a lowryder/hindu kush feminized auto from Lowlife. The description is that they'll be around 12 inches (taller than the current grow) but likely produce better buds and resin than the original lowryders. I think I'll just do one plant in there and see if I can get her to fill the space.
yeah i guess the temp doesnt matter that much on cfl bulbs, but i think it does you might want to get some mylar for your filing cabinet , that would work great no aluminum foil o and remember when your watering your babies to keep the water about room temp what i do is, i take my gallon of cold water and just put it in the tub of hot water, and then when the water is luke warm i drown my baby with it i always like to overwater, because its easy to overwater, but its harder to know if your plant is suffering from underwatering to me the way i do it is i water until a good bit of water comes out the drain holes, but do it what way you feel is the best good luck
Thanks again, eddie..... Yeah that's not aluminum foil...it's just some metalized tape around the edges of the file cabinet drawers to help in light-proofing the cracks. I'd love to find a little bit of proper mylar...where would you find just a small amount of it? I only need a maybe six square feet. Inside the file cabinet (you can't see it in the photos) is a lining of emergency blanket. Amazing how having that blanket stuff in there helps keep the top of this metal cabinet cool to the touch. I bet mylar would be even better. As far as water.....yes, I leave the water out for 24 hours before I mix in any nutrients or molasses, so I think the water temps have been ok. The only problem I've had so far was that Mollie grew out a side branch really quickly one day, and it touched a bulb, which fried it. Oh well... cutting that branch off was no big problem....it's crowded enough in there. Interestingly, after cutting that branch off, her main cola stretched up a bit.