Headband PAR T5 µTent

overTHEman

Active Member
avrum, whatever it weighs there are plenty of sweet smelling nugsicles hangin up in there and that makes me happy!

PTO, there will be pics after work! Haha, I slept through the first three hours - boss wont be pleased.
 

overTHEman

Active Member
Tunes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq9m2QT0R6M

The buds have been hanging on the screen overnight; glad to use the screen again. Since then, the smell has turned from spicy sweet to grassy.
Take a rip and enjoy some pics. bongsmilie



Three Bud Sizes:










Medium and Largest








Smallest and Medium








Gratuitous Closeup






The final report and pictures will be posted when the buds have dried. Thank you for reading, I greatly appreciate everyone who has been along for the ride.

Happy Harvesting, RIU.
 

AssassinofYouth

Active Member
Looks excellent, now convince me to use the same spectrum, I am ready to flower but still can't justify the $25/bulb 8bulbs fuuuuuuuu.

Anyway great thread, you only had that minor burning misshap.
 

overTHEman

Active Member
wow oTm! You gona enjoy these nugs. Beautiful pics!
Oh yes, I will. Thank you, maariic, i'm glad you approve.

Very nice harvest man, those buds look frostyyy. :bigjoint:
Thank you sourtrees, I hope they smoke as good as they look!

Looks excellent, now convince me to use the same spectrum, I am ready to flower but still can't justify the $25/bulb 8bulbs fuuuuuuuu.

Anyway great thread, you only had that minor burning misshap.
Without the burn, things would have gone much better in this grow; not too worried, things will be better next time.

That's what I'll say about your lights too: they're worth the purchase but not cheap so buy them when you can or wait until your next flowering. No sense bustin your bank to get some lights.

Thanks for swinging in assasin. I'll post the bulb review in a few days, maybe that will convince ya.
 

overTHEman

Active Member
In Review

This grow was defined by a few major principals, each of which was experimental to my experience. The new growing situation, its experimental lighting, and the implementation of 99.9% organic gardening techniques are the three components that will be addressed in this review.

The tent measures 1.5'x2.5'x3' wlh from Gotham Hydroponics; it proved to be an effective microgrowing space and it fits in the surrounding closet with just enough room to run ventilation ducts. The two “exhaust” ventilation holes in the tent come with velcro covers and pull-tie seals; they’re on the sides of the tent and could be more useful in the evacuation of heat if placed on the top. There are large passive intakes on the lower bottoms of the left, right, and rear walls that are covered with a screen mesh as well as a “lightproof” flap. There are also small intake-fan/electrical holes at the bottom corners of the back wall. Given Florescent lighting and space requirements: 5/5 rating.

The ventilation system was an all-DIY project and though effective, was too expensive as there was no definite plan. The original idea was to use a single 4” booster fan to exhaust the cab while pulling air through the passive intakes. It was effective through veg at keeping the temperatures stable at 78F. This changed when flowering began and a carbon filter was required. The DIY filter was more duct-tape than carbon and it provided substantial resistance on the air stream. The 4” fan was not strong enough to push air through the filter and temperatures were in the upper 80s. In need of a quick fix, a 120mm fan and 80mm fan were purchased. The 80mm was installed as the intake in one of the 3” holes (fit surprisingly well) and the 120mm was added to the beginning of the exhaust line. This was enough to keep the temperatures less than 84F with the lights on. Due to the lack of pushing power, however, this ventilation setup could not fully remove the plant’s smell. With the closet door closed, it only smelled faintly of herb before lights on. When open, at least 1/2 of the apt smelled of burning bud and electricity consumption. After further research, a centrifugal fan would have been most effective. Final notes about ventilation: 80-84F, 45-60% RH, and minimal smell throughout flowering, expensive. Ventilation rating: 3/5.

The use of PAR T5 lighting was a pleasing and effective method to maximize the return on investment in this small space. During the planning stages, the tent was intended to be a seedling/clone; a 2 foot 4 bulb T5 fixture with 6,500k bulbs was purchased under this assumption. When the plan changed, a decision had to be made: get a small HPS, switch to CFLs, purchase 3,000k T5 bulbs, or a combination plan. Out of the actinic, I stumbled on the pr0fesseur’s thread. He offered a way to maximize ROI using the T5 fixture through the implementation of aquarium bulbs. A combination of 50/50 red/blue was recommended for a 4 bulb fixture. 2x Fiji Purple, 1x UVL Red Sun, 1x UVL 454 were purchased and installed from ReefGeek. This combination was very successful. It produced healthy, green growth with compact internodes while using only 96w of electricity with little extraneous heat. During flowering, the buds developed quickly and started packing on the trichs. At the time of purchase, the Fiji Purple was believed to be 50/50 red/blue; however, I believe that it is dominant in the blue spectrum and until this can be confirmed or denied from multiple sources, it should not be the “base” bulb. Please note that this bulb is unique in its output and similar results with different “purple” bulbs are yet to be shown. If a four bulb fixture is used, this could be better employed as a filler bulb in a red dominant combination: RedSun, Coral Wave, Fiji, RedSun; Fiji, RedSun, Fiji, RedSun; or RedSun, 454, Fiji, RedSun - for example. Given the space, heat, and resin production: 5/5 rating (with room for improvement).

The most familiar part of this grow was the organic gardening principals. These were reinforced by the mid-grow reading of Teaming With Microbes. The soil consisted of the following: 2 CropCircles Coco discs, 1 Gallon Sunshine Advanced #4 mix, 1 Gallon Vermiculite, 1 Gallon Hydroton Clay Pebbles, 2 Cups Espoma PlantTone. MycoGrow was added to the rootball at the end of veg and would have been most effective from the start. Compost was added to the top of the soil three weeks into flowering, this allowed enough biological activity and nutrition through flowering. The plant experienced burning through the excessive application of Guano tea. This burn caused the plant to produce leaves later into flowering than preferred and could have been avoided if the teas had been limited to EWC and Molasses. The improper application of 5/5 principals gets a 2/5 rating.


Summary
This grow was a wonderful learning experience with pleasing results. After four days of drying, the bud has been jarred with a grassy smell. Over the course of the curing period, the spicy-sweet pine smell is likely to return. It smokes smooth, expands in the lungs, and stays lit for an entire bowl; the effect is mentally relaxing with the addition of physical couchlock upon higher dosing. The bud is comprised of more resin than calyx material and when combined with the 25g pre-cure weight, it reinforces my belief that the burn had more of an effect than I originally thought. Overall, it’s high quality medication from a pleasing experience with definite room for improvement.

Rating of the outcome: 3/5
Rating of experience: 5/5

Thank you for reading, I greatly appreciate everyone’s contributions and encouragement.


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Final Pictures














Thank you RIUers and PAR T5 community.

Happy Growing.
 

Psytranceorgy

Well-Known Member
Rating of experience: 5/5

Thank you for reading, I greatly appreciate everyone’s contributions and encouragement.


- - -


Final Pictures






Thank you RIUers and PAR T5 community.

Happy Growing.
oTm that is one hell of a thoughtful review sir, thank you! and werd 2u my brother that is a legit harvest! anyone would be a happy camper with that pile o nuggs on their desktop! Good show man! are you going to make changes to your spectrum moving forward or whats the plans on the future? Love your style man rock on and enjoy that headband :leaf::leaf::leaf:
 

overTHEman

Active Member
nicely done sir, lots of useful info here! whats the next move?
Loved your final review, was greatly detailed. pics were also great. +rep good sir.
oTm that is one hell of a thoughtful review sir, thank you! and werd 2u my brother that is a legit harvest! anyone would be a happy camper with that pile o nuggs on their desktop! Good show man! are you going to make changes to your spectrum moving forward or whats the plans on the future? Love your style man rock on and enjoy that headband :leaf::leaf::leaf:

Thank you guys for all of the love and respect, I appreciate that you've read and followed. The review was dry, sorry about that... I was going for volumes of information content. Luckily, there's nothing left to write about this grow.

Next time? Same lights over a shared-bed style SOG. Four blackberry seedlings have already popped and two are on their first three bladed leaf sets. These are the first plants in the veg bin! A new thread for this will start soon, probably by the end of the week.

Now it's time to sample the "Pile-O-Nuggs".
 
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