Gastanker's 600+w Organic UV Grow

**Gastanker** · 02-09-2011, 05:30 PM

Starting up again but keeping it small and classy. I'm going with just two feminized chocolope seeds from DNA Genetics. Never grown this strain before but have really enjoyed the end product.

I just recently grabbed two General Electric 8 pannel fluorescent X-ray lamps for free from my local Kaiser who has switched over to digital X-ray photos versus prints. Will be using these in conjunction with a 1000w hps. I'm thinking I might set it up so that the light "moves" during the day - something like the left lamp on , then the left and the HID, then the HID, then the HID and right lamp, and then end with just the right lamp. My thoughts are more energy savings based than plant health although I suspect the supplemental spectrum will be beneficial. In my opinion 12 hours of direct 1000w is a bit overkill in a 4x4 tent (should have purchased a 600w back in the day).

I'll be growing in Happy Frog soil with organic nutes - mostly bat guano, bone/blood meal, organic cal/mag supplements, and kelp emulsion. Tent is 4x4x6. My hood is way too tiny but is sealed and being vented by a 440cf/m fan. All air is initially pulled through a small carbon filter in the tent before leaving my window. I have a second exhaust for my portable AC unit which is not currently in the tent.

Started germination of seeds 7 days ago. They both popped on the second day and were put into soil on the third. They are currently under 2 23w CFLs receiving 18hrs a day.

All comments are welcome.

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**tomahawk2406** · 02-10-2011, 07:20 PM

love that set up man

**Gastanker** · 02-10-2011, 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by tomahawk2406

love that set up man

Why thank you. I've been turning on the lights and sitting in there itching for my tiny seelding to get bigger. I must have seasonal affect disorder because it makes me feel great! Praise the light!

**Gastanker** · 02-13-2011, 03:56 PM

Just placed an order for a 600w dimable to 400w lumatek digital ballast. This way I can start em under floros and gradually step it up with 400w and 600w of MH before transitioning to the 1kW HPS.

Started a couple more beans today. One more femmed Chocolope, two indica dom seeds an old hippie vet gave me, a kush x goo i've grown before, a white russian x white russian, and a mystery kush goo x ?.

The two vet seeds popped and are in soil now and here are updates on the first two chocolope I put into soil a week or so ago. Fed em both with bat guano tea today.

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**Gastanker** · 02-15-2011, 11:22 AM

The tri-nodal returns!

Several years ago from the same set of seeds I ended up with a plant that was tri-nodal versus bi-nodal. At every node this plant grew three leaves and three bud sites. From the looks of it I ended up with another! A true tri even down to the cotyledons. Super excited as this grew out beautifully before. Might have to seed her up and see if I can develope a strain that carries this trait more often than not.

This is my last tri after being accidentally topped. You might be able to notice the 3 fan leaf groupings:

Here are my two current Chocolopes:

More seeds popped and started another 4 Spider Goo (kush x goo hybrid) and one unlabeled cross I made at somepoint.

**rjl** · 02-15-2011, 11:51 AM

A great thrill for me to see those little tap roots projecting form the beans. This is the biggest hurdle for as I have been trying to germinate unsuccessfully for some time n ow with older seeds that many won't pop. great start, man

**Gastanker** · 02-15-2011, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by rjl

A great thrill for me to see those little tap roots projecting form the beans. This is the biggest hurdle for as I have been trying to germinate unsuccessfully for some time n ow with older seeds that many won't pop. great start, man

I have great sucess with this method:

Scrape the outside of the seed with a serrated knife or sand paper. Fold between a wet paper tower with all of the seeds pointing the same way. Fold that into aluminum foil and place in a warm area (i put in my veg box) on its side so that all of the seeds are pointed in the correct direction. This really helps maintain straight root tips.

Thanks for dropping by!

**Gastanker** · 02-15-2011, 04:04 PM

transplanted the older two plants into larger pots (1 gallon). Will purchase 3 or 5 gallon smart pots for final transplant.

Tiny veg box is pretty full now.

**suchnsuch** · 02-15-2011, 04:16 PM

Love the lighting setup and your Chocolope's lookin dope! Tri-nodals are sick!

Harvest should be off the hook.

**Gastanker** · 02-16-2011, 08:48 AM

So some drama with my ballast order. I checked my e-mail and had the following letter from the seller in my in box:

"Date Ordered: Sunday 13 February, 2011 The comments for your order are: Thank you for your order with www.urbansunshine.com. Unfortunately, there was an issue with our paypal account at the time of your order. We did not receive any payments from 2/12/11 to 2/13/11. Please check your account to see if there was a payment deducted from your account, and if so void/cancel it right away. You can also call paypal at 1-888-221-1161. The payment should have gone to [email protected] any other account would be incorrect. We greatly apologize for the inconvenience this causes.

If you would like to continue with your order please place a new order on the website and use this coupon code ( e4606bb098 ) to receive an additional 10% off your order. We have tested the paypal payment process extensively and what ever issue caused the problem over the weekend is no longer in place. Paypal payments are currently coming through fine. Again we are very sorry for the trouble this issue has caused and hope you feel comfortable giving us a second chance.

Thank you,
Jason O’Brien
Urban Sunshine

Contacted paypal immediately to cancel the payment but they told me it had already gone through and that I should contact the seller.

Turns out the seller's paypay account was hacked and all payments directed to a third party. The people at urbansunshine were super nice about and it really apologetic. After taking down my number they called up paypal again on my behalf and called me back and walked me through filing an online claim. As of now I have still sent my money to a third party but even so urbansunshine said they would ship out my ballast immediately with upgraded shipping and then when I do receive my refund from paypal to just call them back and pay them then with a 10% off discount for the hassle.

Very professional of them in my opinion - for a second there I thought I would be out a couple hundred and a ballast for 10-30 days or however long paypal takes to do its thing.