dRtJmPr's t5 LST grow

Biff- I began to read through it and there were some strong controversial views on use of bulbs. I have 1 T5 blue 3K and the other three as the 6.5K spectrum during my flowering. The opposite during veg. The hormones elicited in the plant are significantly different due to the lights, hence, phytohormones. I've had good results using all red spectrum t5's but this time around I switched it up after learning a bit from the plant physiology course I took prior to graduating. I'm not an expert but I like to apply what I learned and try to be creative with it. I'm down to learn for sure. I think the one blue bulb during flowering is helping the structure out overall and it should be helping with the chemical changes just because blue light has a higher level of excited electrons to donate.

Either way, thanks for the read!

 

Good question... usually 3 oz's of quality organic Durban Poison. It's not really a heavy yielder and if I really wanted more weight, I should be going with an indica or indi/sativa. I just love the pure sativa conversational motivational feel. I don't really need to increase my appetite or be couch-locked that much.

This is the first time using a training board though and I used a 10 gallon smart pot my last time around. I used all blue t5's for veg and all red for flower last time as well. I think I've dialed in a better feeding schedule as well. The two fans are helping out due to positioning and cooling. We'll see what amount she'll push but I think 3 under t5's. Could be more because of the changes I've made though.

She's smelling great, super piney. The leaves are slowly getting frosty. I created another tea with bunny droppings, earthworm castings, and bat guano. Probably feed in a few days and get some updates up. Tomorrow is a water only feeding.

 

Sweet! Thanks for the info about the T5's. I'd like to go to an 8 light setup and try this. I'd like trying new things. I'll let this run it's course and reinvest into the wider spectrum to see if I get even better results.

It's only 3 weeks into flowering going on 4. Feeding is getting heavier and they're looking fuller each day. You're right that you can get the lights super close and it penetrates the canopy fairly well. A lot of the lower stuff is blooming but my guess is that they'll be light and airy... I don't want to trim away the leaves what-so-ever though. I've had great results using 5 gallon buckets and training smaller plants... Maybe I have HIGH hopes but we'll see... the ride will end mid-January.

 

Picture update: She received a heavy feeding with the organic tea. I mixed in some Great White with this tea prior to watering to help balance any microflora and mixed the wet muddy top soil with hopes that it takes to the deeper soil and roots. After waterings, I often have to cover the roots back up (they're anchor roots). I'll take a picture next time to explain it better and provide a visual of the stem size and literally how horizontal she's trained. Part of the stem that is bent down into the soil is really anchored in because the cells decided, "hey, we can root here... let's secure this beast".

Anyway, you can see a difference in last week to this week. I really wish I had an 8 bulb setup because she is such a cluster#$@!. Plus I like the idea of the different wavelength bulbs that could be used. My panda film hood wrap is doing it's best to concentrate light within though so that the sides are getting pretty good penetration. I mean, it is one plant, it's getting a great concentration of light and is starting to near the end of the training board. I retrained it a little today before the pictures. Lastly, I put water in the overflow dish so that the bottom roots are taking in regular water. Putting nutes in the bottom dish always seemed to wick up the smartpot and concentrate into a salt compound which would make cleaning the bags a pain in the ass.

Tomorrow I will be repotting my vegging buddies. 30 gallon with a higher nutrient concentration of organic mix substrate that I put together today. It involves black gold (1 year old horse manure) from a buddies ranch, earthworm castings, rock phosphate, cottonseed meal, a few pinches of kelp meal, greensand, soil sweetener, a lot of perlite, some vermiculite, and a decent amount of fox farms Ocean Harvest Soil Blend. I'm putting the 5 gallon smart pot into the 30 gallon. with the 5 gallon a few inches raised....

 

I was just reading another journal and began to ponder, is there a correlation that showed an increase in GC members and the progression of the tv show "Weeds".

Correlation between dispensaries and the show: "Hell, if Doug can do it, I can too".

 

With the organics feedings, it just depends. I've learned when I've put too much in or too little from the use of it with different plants as well as MJ. Rock phosphate is long term slow release. A medium release cottonseed meal can help release it and provides med release of Nitrogen. The soil sweetener makes the soil more acidic as well. Anyway, I really try to grow a good microbe culture to help release nutrients and prevent any bacteria or fungi that is not going to benefit. It's essentially providing the soil with a probiotic... which offers the roots more readily available nutrients. The 30 gallon smart pot helps decrease watering (although I HAVE got to water every 2 days). Smart pots certainly dry out quickly... which is a benefit because it helps allow oxygen to the roots. I will say, my 5 gallon smart pots slow the growth of the plants and the soil pH will adjust much more quickly. I think it has something to do with the heavy watering and salts building up on the bags quicker.

Overall, I try to provide slow, medium, and fast release organics. I find it difficult to burn with organic teas if the water color looks right and I feel that the nutrients mixed in are within reason. I've read the recommended doses of each and mix accordingly. Furthermore, I use a lot of perlite and some vermiculite in my organic soil mix and those just have more to do with holding the water or tea so that the roots can get around to using them. So the increased size of the smartpot helps support the amount of organics that the roots can absorb and from what I've experienced with outdoor grows and read, the larger the rootball can get, the healthier it will be. It will stress a lot less easily and more likely be female, it does help support the structure, and then there's the available nutrients.

I've done 5 gallon smart pots... they're not as big (the plants). It appears to me to be a limiting factor when going organic. I will say, chemical in a small pot will work just as well depending upon the set up. Anyway they get stressed easily, and the pH and salt build up always seemed to be the biggest problem in a 5 gallon.

30 gallon is not a huge deal... I also recycle my soil amendment from the grow once it is done. I boil it all in a big beer brewing pot which helps pasteurize the mix... and I add new organics as well.

I agree with your incite on weeds as well.

 

Thanks for the Sub Arizona! Hope this provides you with some ideas and helps bring things forward for ya.

I fed and retrained yesterday. Domino Foods called and said the sugar's coming. She's getting frosty and the buds are firming up for sure. I'll post new pics that I plan to put up on the 12th. This past feeding I had added some "Great White Mycorrhizae" to the tea a day earlier... I'm thinking I'll see some benefits.

I cleared out some lower canopy leaves that were drained of nutrients and on their way out as well. Gotta keep it clean to keep pests down. All in all, I'm happy with the progress. I am a little nervous that one of my vegging plants has balls though. We'll see in a few if they develop.

 

I look forward to following yours as well. Badboy fixtures have really dropped their prices since I looked into t5's four years ago. I always felt they were overpriced but now, I saw their 16 bulb set (approx. 4 sq. feet) for a bit under $375 is very reasonable. The wide spectrum is something I really want to try just to elicit greater hormonal responses and allow higher energy levels to occur in the photosynthesis reactions. Technically, that and the progressive light schedule are on my "wishlist" for my next project.

 

Oh yeah, tomorrow morning during watering, I'll get some pics. I think everyone will be pleasantly pleased. I'll be giving them mainly bat guano tea... it has some remnants of the last mix though.

It's gonna' be a tough day having to ski the morning and come back to water plants... the things I do! Hah haaah!

Anyway, I'll try to post them before I take off to work.

 

So I broke the LCD screen on my camera prior to taking pictures today (hoody pocket, leaned forward on box and beep beep beep, I f'd it up). Anyway... I switched it over to the auto-focus which kills the sugar look and makes everything yellow. New LCD screen is $20... I'll install it easy peasy.

Autofocus is an utter disappointment though and washes out my pics... the colors aren't as true either. I'll have my camera fixed prolly by the 18th or 19th... just in time for new pics to update the progress.

So, forward to the slideshow

You can kinda' see the sugar on the 2nd picture. I blame the camera and not knowing what exactly it's focusing on.