SOME BACKGROUND INFO: Strain: Unknown. Just call it purple. Method # 1: 2 in bubble buckets (RUMPLEFORESKIN - THANK YOU.) Method # 2: 12 in slabs. 4 slabs, 3 in each. Total Plants: 16 Location: 1 of the carports in my garage. Built a small room within the car port with an AC duct running into the manufactured room. Lighting: 2 x 1000 watt lumatek digis. Food: GH via lucas formula with BCUZZ stimulators (BCUZZ grow & root in veg & BCUZZ bloom in flower) per label's instructions. Both methods used the same nutrients; I filled the buckets from the reservoir that the slabs' drip irrigation system fed from. TRADITIONALLY I have been doing 5 gallon buckets filled with lava rocks with a drip irrigation system feeding and draining back into a reservoir. I traditionally do 9 plants that get to around 3.5 to 4 feet and produce about 115 grams per plant. My traditional set of nutes is GH - 3 part feed with fox farm big bud and monster bloom for ripening the buds. THIS ROUND WAS A COMPLETE EXPERIMENT FOR ME........ THIS ROUND/JOURNAL i did 2 plants in bubblers and 12 in slabs - 4 slabs, 3 plants per slab with a drip irrigation draining back into the reservoir. Both systems brand new to me. Also, I tried the lucas formula for the first time. These are the 2 lamps & ballasts. 1000 watters a piece fed by lumatek digis. I know there's 3 lumateks up there but i only power 2 at a time. **** For anyone contemplating digital vs magnetic ballasts or whether or not to buy lumateks...They are far superior to magnetic ballasts in all aspects....Temperature, noise, electricity consumption, boot up time, size/style is very James Bond lol......They are, however, a little bit more expensive. I have read a lot of threads out there on why they are terrible, blah blah blah. Magnetic ballasts are a thing of the past, its 2008, move on. OK enough of my propaganda! Moving on.... ***** I had to run the 240v from the house through the attic and into the garden. Many multiples of 10 feet later, the 240v runs into another fuse box I built which is wired to a timer to control the lights in the garden. The 1st pic is the reservoir for the drip irrigation for the slabs. Everything drains back into the reservoir. Those red and blue things inside the reservoir are the PH and TDS readers from the Hanna meter in the 3rd pic. That black block in the reservoir is the pump which is controlled by the white timer in the 3rd pic which turns it on a few times a day for feeding. The 2nd pic is the GH dual diaphragm air pump for the 2 bubblers. This is the exhaust system, nothing too fancy, just wanted to get some air exchanging. Its a small carbon filter and an inline fan pumps the the air through the filter and out the wall. I will mount it up on the pole 1 of these days! Here is an overhead shot of the garden - THIS IS AFTER I CUT DOWN HALF OF THE PLANTS TO MANICURE. In the 3rd picture you can see the height markers. First off, the plants grew very tall. 5 footers all across. I even had to bend the center growth of the slabs 90 degree and under the net because they were growing into the lights. PROBLEM WITH THE SLABS. Grew very tall, always looked very healthy, however stretched like crazy between bud points and produced extremely SMALL buds and tons of foliage. However, the buds were BEAUTIFUL. This picture is of the main stem of one of the plants in the SLABS. About 2 feet long but look how much foliage and how SMALL the buds. But look how purple and I wish I had a better camera so you can see how much trichomes and how sticky. The last 2 pictures, believe it or not, are main colas from the slabs which have been manicured. So disappointed, practically depressing over it. ******** If anyone has experienced the same problems and could please help me out with some insight on why this happened and how to avoid in the future. I would truly appreciate it. I have a feeling it had something to do with way too many plants and not enough light. I have a thread in the general growing forum in regards to this: http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/261452-small-bud-sizes-back-half.html#post2889796. ******** In comparison, this is a picture of one of the bubbler's buds...this is actually one of the VERY MANY side shoots. Its about 7 inches long. Love that purple baby! Whoo! (taladega nights lol) SIMILAR PROBLEMS IN THE BUBBLERS: Now, this is a picture of another side shoot of one of the bubblers. Do you see the similar characteristics of the problematic buds produced by the slabs? All the foliage, All the purple but look at how small the bud is. These 2 pics are the exact same bud, just different angles. Look in the background of these 2 pictures so you can see what I was talking about in regards to the colas produced by the slabs. That is the main cola of one of the slab plants. I had to bend it under the nets because they were growing into the lamps. See all the leaf growing wild. This is an extra clone i had that i stuck in soil for fun. This was my very first experience with soil. Was actually a very good one! Very easy, no maintenance. Hardly ever fed her and she stayed healthy at all times. I once went like 1.5 weeks without feeding and didnt even seem to phase her. I know she is small but she spent more than half of her life under the shadows of the massive tree that grew out of one of the bubblers. In conclusion...bubblers were pretty cool. Very easy to setup, maintain and clean up. I have not looked back since trying it out on this particular grow.
awsome setup, shame about the slabs bud production, never heard of them but by the looks of it, not the way to go for those after yeilds.
Cork I don't blame the slabs, I just messed up BIG TIME lol. I have a buddy who came out great with same strain and same system but had 5 slabs spread out over 3 x 1000 lamps. Im just surprised the main colas came out so little. I had 4 trays crammed pretty much under that 1 x 1000 lamp in the back. MJ Thanks!
Not too hard. You just need to go into your house's main fuse box. Look for the breaker that runs to your stove or washing machine or water heater, etc. Remove the cover so you can see the insides of the fuse box. There are 2 cables leaving that breaker (which run through the wall and end at the outlet). You disconnect those 2 cables and plug in the neg/pos cables from your routing cable and then plug the other ends into your remote fusebox where you can then produce more breakers for 120v or 240v etc. The hardest part is building the fuse box - but just let an electrician build you one. It shouldnt take them more than an hour.