Auto 250w cfl Cupboard grow - 3x Ultra Lemon Haze

Just a bit of techincal info:

Pots: The ULH autos are each going in 3 gallon smart pots. There is a heat stunted/mutated AKR in like a 2 litre pot or something along for the ride

Lights: 1x125w white spectrum cfl for propagation and 1x 250w red spectrum cfl after 1-2 weeks veg (gonna eventually use 2x 125w red cfl in a twin reflector hood to spread the light and heat)

gonna be on an 18/6 light schedule (because i feel like a bad dad making them work with no breaks) but this may be reduced if the fans are too loud (stealth grow)

Soil: Biobizz light mix AND added perlite AND 'J arthur bowers' garden lime (for cal/mag and stable pH) and Myco madness for soil/root bacteria

Nutes: ALL AT 1/8-1/2 strength:

Superthrive from week 2-4
Baby Bio veg feed from week 2-5 at 1/6th strenth, and from week 5-7 at 1/8th strength
Dutch pro Auto flowering BLOOM nutes A+B from week 5-finish, starting at 1/6th strength and working to full strength by week 8
Humbolt nutrients 'Honey ES' (molasses) from week 4- finish (this will feed the soil bacteria that i will be adding from week 1-4)
some PK13/14 for around 1.5 weeks at heavy flowering, im guessing this will be around week 8 (gonna use this in the lightest concentration because its so pure)

ALL FEEDING AND WATERING WILL BE pH BALANCED with humbolt nutrients pure silicate called 'structural integrity' and using a simple pH test kit

Ventilation: 240m3/h extractor with a 4" rhino carbon filter. 180m3/h intake, plus a 9" desk fan for internal circulation and a 6" desk fan on the reflector

Using a 'powerstar' light contactor so my equipment doesnt overload my timer



^ some pics of one of my ULH from my last grow (my first grow ) I was happy with how well the genetics were lol coz my management was crap! I learned alot though, so theoretically, ill produce even better buds this time. We will see! (they flowered under 20/4 photoperiod last time and went under 18/6 for the last couple of weeks)

*I originally started with 2x 250w cfl's but it was way too hot (hence the stunted AKR and heat stress) so turned one off.

*thanks to slipon for encouraging me to get the superthrive and molasses/bacteria

got 100% germination here how i did it:

1) put 3 ULH seeds in a small pot of water and the single AKR seed in its own small pot of water and put them in the dark for 12 hours.
2) after 12 hours i poked each seed into the water to test if they sank, which they all did
3) then used the moist paper towels method to germinate
4) as soon as the root was coming out like 1cm, i put the seeds in the propagator in a seedling tray to keep them moist, each one about 2-3mm under the soil. and left them under the 125w cfl light, ready to recieve their first rays as soon as they surface.

SO they are officially 2 days from opening the packet, and i hope they continue to please

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I would invest in an electrical propogator, and you can do the paper towels phase in there. I would have got one this time but the store ran out so i had to wrap my sealed sandwich box in foil (to keep it dark) and placed it about 6" under a 125w cfl. This kept the box WARM to the touch...which is optimal. And the seeds were cracking open after like 5 hours and had 1cm roots after 10 hours.

seeds germinate by water permeating through the shell and activating enzymes. If youve done biology then youll know that enzymes have optimal temperatures. To get the best out of your seeds youll need to supply them with the optimal environment (dark, warm, moist and sanitary) and keep an eye on their development

Just a quick update: 3 days from emerging from the soil. Looking healthy, i think ill repot them tomorrow evening or saturday afternoon into final pots

8/21/2012

All plants under just one 250w cfl because of unforseen heat issues. I think the 240 m3/h extractor would be fine but the outddor weather is so hot here that it doesnt provide any cool air to circulate the growroom. I will go back to using 500w for a week at the last week or so of flowering. And ill use 500w through winter too.

Was just gonna give the AKR to my friend but i decided to repot it to a smaller container. It seems a bit mutated from the seed so its not much concern to me now, but if it gives me a free bit of smoke ill take it!

The third ULH i got, just topped it just above the 5th node, at 2 weeks from seed. Dunno how it wil turn out. Ive heard to top at the 2nd node, but i was on holiday so shit happens. Ive just topped this one for experimental purposes. The other two ULH are both on their 4th nodes now.


Razor cut at 5th node, woops, rookie camera job!

8/25/2012

19 days



^ Just a couple of group shots. The ULH in the front right corner is the one that has been topped at the 5th node




^ My mutated (i think heat stunted) AKR and the topped ULH






^ some rust spots appearing on a couple of the ULH. This could either be calcium deficiency or from heat stress. It may be damage from when i had both lights on (i started this grow at 500w), which has only just started to show. I wouldnt think it was calcium deficiency so soon, but im just gonna see how it develops and if it gets worse then ill get some cal-mag. I thought the garden lime i added would provide enough calcium/magnesium. So we will see! Hope you enjoy my grow

8/27/2012

3 weeks today

i think they are growing really well, but the rust spots have got a bit more pronounced (ok ill say it, worse) but like i said before i think its just heat stress showing up from when i had both lights on, the new growth looks good. I was also wondering if its the baby bio nutes i used for veg feed. Even tho i fed at 1/6th strength, i just dont think its a good enough quality feed, ive had it for years too, so its prob just pure acid by now. Gonna get good organic veg nutes for next grow im not using this one any more.

this is the topped ultra lemon haze, as you can see the top two shoots are growing out fast

my new temp probe is showing 30oC, which i believe is the top end of the healthy range :/ a couple of the leafs beside where i stuck some wire into the soil have drooped, so i might have peirced a root or something.

my other ULH, she is growing very nicely. All of my plants are getting bigger by the day so im really happy. The only thing im concerned about is heat stress and nute burn.

the mutant AKR. I will say no more.

water info. I think its purified by RO, but its shop bought. Its got pretty low values compared to alot of others so im only using this especially.

Hope you enjoy!

8/28/2012

just moved the reflector up and had to move a few things round my growroom. Pretty depressing doing all this again lol i didnt think id have to buy any more hardware, but i think im gonna need an air cooled reflector. I presumed the cfl's would be fine because ive got ventilation but the ventilation really needs to be going to/from outdoors not my room lol its still way too hot. Even after moving the lights up another foot, the temp probe is reading even higher than before at 32oC so i wont be surprised if they get alot more heat damage before they start to flower. I think the reflector is so wide that the heat has problem gettin up and round it, which i didnt think would happen. It has these vents in the side which are advertised as 'allowing the heat from the reflector to rise up through the hood' but its a load of bullshit because when i place my hand above one of the vents its cool like shade, but underneathh the reflector is crazily warm. Well, this is only my second grow, so its not surprising ive come to another obstacle. Its just ive spent sooooo much money on the shit i got and it just dont work together think i might do a seed run straight after this and then just sell all my shit and get a completely new set up in a tent by my window, instead of in my cupboard which is on the other side of the room to the window.

I hope this helps anyone else planning on making their own set up! Ill update with pics on friday morning, so hopefully they will still be healthy