250w HPS Club And Help Guide

Noob187

Noob187

Active Member
Hettyman said:
Yeah that's about right. I can't remember the exact science, but after doing some research heard that leaving the sugar leaves for drying slows the drying and improves the taste/quality. Whether this was because the leaves themselves added something, or merely the slower drying i'm not sure.

I have decided that there is rarely enough supar leaf trim on my budds to bother trimming it off. It's usually so covered in Trichs, and at low budd to leaf ratio that it just disappears in the grinder
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It definitely does, I don't think it has to do with the sugar leafs tasting good ('cause they don't) but the slower drying and them blocking out most of the oxidation from happening too soon. If you want aromatic and tasty MJ you should still trim it just do it after the bud is dry. Its a pain in the ass unless you trim off the tips of every leaf you plant on trimming dry because the tips dry and curl into the bud and make it a tediously slow process. For some of the better tasting strains you can leaf more leafs on especially if its just for personal but some patients complain about the leafs so I just trim most of em dry.
10acjed said:
Yeah I have no tried and true concept just yet as its my first grow, but the first chop i trimmed and hung, it was up too long, not total darkness and too hot so it ended up crispy and tastes like plant. Puts the dome out tho, so i can deal with the smell and taste.

This time I dried in a box with minor airflow, temp is around 75f so it only takes a couple days before I trim and jar. I took it down after 3 days, felt damp and gooey on the inside so I smoked a little to be sure, burned nice and clean. Jarred closed for 24 in darkness, then left jars open last night. This am they were a bit too dry for my liking, but still nice and sticky, closed them up and left them in the dark.

I leave my popcorn growth an extra 1 - 2 weeks after cutting the top kolas and 3 - 4 nodes down. Lets them fill in a little more. I pulled about 10g of popcorn per plant so far. Thats alot of butter lol...

Speaking of which any special butter making techniques? I found some online, but figured I would ask here as we all know how accurate the www is....


From left to right:
Jar 1: Popcorn from 2nd plant cut.
Jar 2: Popcorn from 1st plant cut.
Jar 3: Main Kolas from 2nd plant cut.
Jar 4: Nodes just below Kolas 2nd plant cut.

View attachment 2341933View attachment 2341934
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I dried them with 0 airflow :lol: I left them hanging in a dark box on some string and only opened it for an hour once a night for 2 nights so no light got to it. I think you should dry it out all the way, using this method it can take anywhere from a week to 2 weeks :wall: but once its dry it should be pretty much ready to smoke especially if you grow it organic or flush good. I still like to give it month or two cure after that to bring up the sweeter flavors and aromas thru fermentation, it differs from strain to strain when they'll taste "ready" because some taste great right off the plant. .
I think baking with oil you get a stronger product than the butter because oil extracts more of the cannabinoids. I tried butter once and I am not a fan, it worked but not that strong compared to every time I had brownies made the right way with oil and enough weed I got too fucked up it seems.
 
10acjed

10acjed

Active Member
Thanks for the tip, Im making a batch Sat.

I took the exhaust fan off, and just have it pointing at the box from outside right now, have 5 nice kolas hanging going to see if it slows it down a little...

Whats jared is curing nicely, still sticky as hell. I left the jars open over night, could feel the difference so I closed them up. Dry enough for me.
The aroma is getting better, first one i cut early but left the bottom growth, it filled in nicely. Has a nice sweet strawberry diesel smell. The other is more of a kush/diesel smell. Both have a strong fuely taste.
 
Hettyman

Hettyman

Well-Known Member
10acjed said:
Whats jared is curing nicely, still sticky as hell. I left the jars open over night, could feel the difference so I closed them up. Dry enough for me.
The aroma is getting better, first one i cut early but left the bottom growth, it filled in nicely. Has a nice sweet strawberry diesel smell. The other is more of a kush/diesel smell. Both have a strong fuely taste
  • Finished this round of trimming and jarring everything. 55g dry weight. Makes my total around 77g, and still have some more coming.​






  • Pretty decent for a noob with a 250w.....
    ​
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Forgive that sloppiness in quoting.

Please stop posting things like this, you are snow balling my depression, best harvest yet is 36g, and growing for a year. But to be fair, most of my harvests have come down a week or 2 early due to mites, money, or some other monumental cock up...fingers crossed this time :) oh, and I haven't had a harvest from my HPS yet, all CFL

Seriously though, congrats!! Enjoy that real sticky icky icky
 
Hettyman

Hettyman

Well-Known Member
Good morning all!! I was gonna chip in last night after, but been getting some "cheese", and fell asleep with the laptop on, and luckily the spliff finished. (RUI ADMIN - the spell check doesn'y have "spliff", really?? lol) Oh and this is the first time I've realised why they called it cheese, rolled one a few nights ago, then scartched my nose...low and behold, cheese smell!! That said, I had also not long knocked one out, and not bothered washing my hands :) But seriously it just goes to show how for years ppl have been selling claiming it's cheese, or NL, or Widow or something, and it's all Bull!! I never believed it when i was 18, and I sure as hell don't now i'm old.

Anyways, yesterday was pretty interesting for me in terms of growing. Had a breakthrough in my feeding knowledge: previous N def's, weren't actually N defs, but Cal/mag shortages, preventing the Nitrogen being used. Bought epsom salts, gave the plants a little with just water, and 4 days later I have an abundance of Nitrogen, cos the plants can now use up everything that got locked in the soil. Got some lockout white tips, too dark leaves, and had to flush. the good news is, it's a lesson learnt, and the plants I have in Veg, also had a small Cal/mag dose, then just water, and are looking much better already. Happy Days!!

Also, the plants in veg, being healthier, have just reached the size where the CFL has to be raised at least an inch every day, now that there is sufficient leaves to catch all the light and grow becomes exponential.

My Aurora INdica seedlings went into there first pots.

And I popped into my grow shop to by some buffer for my pH pen, and 3 hours later I had to drag myself away to answer my wife's lunch break phone call. Made me a new friend. Which have almost identical interests, and life stories. Which is good, cos most of my smoking mates are back home 80 miles away, and also, lets it face, there are worse ppl to be friends with then your Hydro shop owner.

I also found out that I had been using the Biobizz feeding schedule for the All-Mix soil, when I use the Light-mix stuff. Another corner turned in my growing career :)

The combinatoin of these factors means that I have gone from nearly giving up, to having new enthusiasm in just 48 hours.

Hope you are all having similarly good days in the grow room :)
 
10acjed

10acjed

Active Member
Hettyman said:
Forgive that sloppiness in quoting.

Please stop posting things like this, you are snow balling my depression, best harvest yet is 36g, and growing for a year. But to be fair, most of my harvests have come down a week or 2 early due to mites, money, or some other monumental cock up...fingers crossed this time :) oh, and I haven't had a harvest from my HPS yet, all CFL

Seriously though, congrats!! Enjoy that real sticky icky icky
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36g under cfl is pretty damn good.
 
Hettyman

Hettyman

Well-Known Member
Yeah, but we talking about 280w CFL lol. Thats why I decided to go HPS, just wasn't worth the electricity bill.

IN fact, as II have workmen coming round quite regularly at the moment, I have done away with the CFL grow room temporarily as it's easier to take down and hide 1 tent every time. This means that I have all 4 plants in there, and they are loving it!! Don't think that i'll bother much with CFL pre-flower cupboard anymore.

Still it's handy as a back up in case I have too many plants at once, it can buy a couple of weeks to let a harvest plump up :)
 
10acjed

10acjed

Active Member
Hettyman said:
Yeah, but we talking about 280w CFL lol. Thats why I decided to go HPS, just wasn't worth the electricity bill.

IN fact, as II have workmen coming round quite regularly at the moment, I have done away with the CFL grow room temporarily as it's easier to take down and hide 1 tent every time. This means that I have all 4 plants in there, and they are loving it!! Don't think that i'll bother much with CFL pre-flower cupboard anymore.

Still it's handy as a back up in case I have too many plants at once, it can buy a couple of weeks to let a harvest plump up :)
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I still have my T5, doubt I will ever use it. Puts off just as much heat and uses as much power, while not being able to cover the same area.
250W can handle 4 plants, I just did it. Over a z per plant avg. Its a tad warm in my box so they are a little loose and fluffy, but smokes just fine. My box is big, but I utilize about a 24 x 30" area. Going to keep the light a little higher next time and see how it comes out. I tried keeping it 4 - 6" from the tops, but I think 6 - 8" would be better, give a little more space for the heat to escape. Thinking about getting the exhaust fan for my SS2 and maybe splitting my intake and running some duct... Ahh, just early thoughts, should focus on finishing off this one......

Im fortunate not to have the issue of moving anything, mine is in a spare bedroom closet, you cant hear or smell anything outside of that room. Even if someone has to look around we can kill the fan n light for a little bit and shut the closet door. Plus my friend/ co grower has medical issues, so ppl tend not to mind if it smells a little like weed in her place..
 
Dr. Kundilini

Dr. Kundilini

Well-Known Member
brettsog said:
hey folks. just to let you guys know i have started my next grow. im growing 1 ak48 fem and 1 amnesia fem. 130w cfl for veg and 250w hps for flower. this time im growing in coco. using lucas formula. 6ml micro 9ml bloom per gallon for coco with a teaspoon of epsom salts to help with mg probs.

ak48 is already under the lights and the amnesia is almost to the surface. will post pics once the actually show some progress.

i have germinated them in rockwool cubes and put straight into final 2gl or 8ltr pots. will be vegging to 12-14" in height. im probably gonna top them both at the second node as well to get 4 tops each. wanna try and keep these low. although i am almost tempted to scrog, not sure. will decide in the next few days. id also like to have a moan as i have lost over an oz of my white widow crop to mould. really not happy. but you live and you learn. the rest of it is a pretty good smoke already. been curing for 10 days. smell is a lot nicer, taste isnt so great. tastes very green.
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Brettsog...I will be watching this one. I have a couple of AK48 (fems) as freebie from nirvina(sos). I have no idea how to treat a fem, so it will be a learning experience for me. Have a great grow.
 
Dr. Kundilini

Dr. Kundilini

Well-Known Member
I have two lights in the CFL box just hanging from shop light reflectors. I dicided I could do better, so I purchased one section of 7"X24" transition air duct @ about $4.75 US. Two Mogul bases @ $7.00 ea, two Mogul to standard adaptors at about $6.00 ea. The 1" X 4" ends were scraps on hand as were the screws, chain, electric cord, metal brackets and paint. For under $30 US I built a double light reflector, capable of converting from standard bulbs to MogulDSCF0771.jpgDSCF0772.jpg HID, by removing the adaptorts and changing the electric cord to a ballast connection. If I hade went with standard based the cost would have been more in the $15.00 range. I installed it yesterday afternoon and very pleased with the reflection and intensity. My HPS tent is kicking the CFL tents butt as far as flower growth and development, but I still rely on the CFL's to seed/veg/clone things and also grow a few to finish. Not a bad reflector for the $$ and time(about 4 hours total) in it.

I wish I had taken photos while it was being built, to show how easy and cheap to make with just a few hand tools.
 
Hettyman

Hettyman

Well-Known Member
10acjed said:
I still have my T5, doubt I will ever use it. Puts off just as much heat and uses as much power, while not being able to cover the same area.
250W can handle 4 plants, I just did it. Over a z per plant avg. Its a tad warm in my box so they are a little loose and fluffy, but smokes just fine. My box is big, but I utilize about a 24 x 30" area. Going to keep the light a little higher next time and see how it comes out. I tried keeping it 4 - 6" from the tops, but I think 6 - 8" would be better, give a little more space for the heat to escape. Thinking about getting the exhaust fan for my SS2 and maybe splitting my intake and running some duct... Ahh, just early thoughts, should focus on finishing off this one......

Im fortunate not to have the issue of moving anything, mine is in a spare bedroom closet, you cant hear or smell anything outside of that room. Even if someone has to look around we can kill the fan n light for a little bit and shut the closet door. Plus my friend/ co grower has medical issues, so ppl tend not to mind if it smells a little like weed in her place..
Click to expand...
Temps here have dropped rapidly, which means I have my bedroom window open and plenty of cool CO2 filled air is passively sucked into my tent. Combine this with the 4" exhuast and small fan under the bulb, and what do you get, plant tops up to 2" away happily, and a canopy temp of about 23c.

I rent, and the work men know my landlord, so Its tears a-go-go. Can't wait to own my own place!!

I remember you mentioning that you share your grow with a med at her house, I hope its helping her :)
 
Hettyman

Hettyman

Well-Known Member
Brettsog and Dr K, My first grow was Ak48, strong, pungent, fruity/tangy, good yeilder and literally indestructable...you'll enjoy growing them fo' sho'
 
Hettyman

Hettyman

Well-Known Member
Sorry to be hogging all the posts, forgot to add this pic. Where my hand is, that's currently no more then 23-24c, which means even the lower branches of my plants are only 10" away.

I'm really hoping to nail it on this harvest
 
10acjed

10acjed

Active Member
Hettyman said:
I rent, and the work men know my landlord, so Its tears a-go-go. Can't wait to own my own place!!

I remember you mentioning that you share your grow with a med at her house, I hope its helping her :)
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Glad the temps leveled out for ya.. We are on str8 A/C 365 here, maybe get a break for a few weeks in the winter. But its fine for me, less unexpected changes. Only down side is best I can do now is 84f/75f high/low.

Yeah it is, I mean she would have it regardless of whether or not we grew, but take out all the bs of doing that and add in the quality of jar cured fresh bud and you just cant go wrong..
Unfortunately she is in the hos for a spell, got pnemonio, not too bad tho should be out in a day or two.. Happy to say she is finishing her chemo and seems to be free and clear for now.

She rents as well, but nobody comes around like that. Just have to worry about the normal friendly traffic, not that they would ever snitch, but you know how ppl are, they hear you grow and instantly think you have garbage bags full of weed laying around to give away... LOL She just tells ppl that the carpet is wet thats why the fan is blowing.
 
10acjed

10acjed

Active Member
Hettyman said:
I'm really hoping to nail it on this harvest
Click to expand...

My motto is go big or go home :) until i have a variety of jars laying around im doing 4 plants each time, vegging for 3 - 4 weeks, or long enough to get the second 5 leaf out so I can top them.... If I run out of space ill just bring a bowl and dressing and eat some salad LOL
 
stoneslacker

stoneslacker

Well-Known Member
SAM_0550.jpgSAM_0551.jpgSAM_0558.jpg

Ain't she a beauty Clark? I still have the power cord but couldn't find the video cord. Oh well if I really want to disappoint myself I can just download the emulator. I think I'll relive it's greatness in my memory. The two models posing with this computing giant are from my last blueberry grow.
 
Dr. Kundilini

Dr. Kundilini

Well-Known Member
Hettyman said:
Good morning all!! I was gonna chip in last night after, but been getting some "cheese", and fell asleep with the laptop on, and luckily the spliff finished. (RUI ADMIN - the spell check doesn'y have "spliff", really?? lol) Oh and this is the first time I've realised why they called it cheese, rolled one a few nights ago, then scartched my nose...low and behold, cheese smell!! That said, I had also not long knocked one out, and not bothered washing my hands :) But seriously it just goes to show how for years ppl have been selling claiming it's cheese, or NL, or Widow or something, and it's all Bull!! I never believed it when i was 18, and I sure as hell don't now i'm old.

Anyways, yesterday was pretty interesting for me in terms of growing. Had a breakthrough in my feeding knowledge: previous N def's, weren't actually N defs, but Cal/mag shortages, preventing the Nitrogen being used. Bought epsom salts, gave the plants a little with just water, and 4 days later I have an abundance of Nitrogen, cos the plants can now use up everything that got locked in the soil. Got some lockout white tips, too dark leaves, and had to flush. the good news is, it's a lesson learnt, and the plants I have in Veg, also had a small Cal/mag dose, then just water, and are looking much better already. Happy Days!!

Also, the plants in veg, being healthier, have just reached the size where the CFL has to be raised at least an inch every day, now that there is sufficient leaves to catch all the light and grow becomes exponential.

My Aurora INdica seedlings went into there first pots.

And I popped into my grow shop to by some buffer for my pH pen, and 3 hours later I had to drag myself away to answer my wife's lunch break phone call. Made me a new friend. Which have almost identical interests, and life stories. Which is good, cos most of my smoking mates are back home 80 miles away, and also, lets it face, there are worse ppl to be friends with then your Hydro shop owner.

I also found out that I had been using the Biobizz feeding schedule for the All-Mix soil, when I use the Light-mix stuff. Another corner turned in my growing career :)

The combinatoin of these factors means that I have gone from nearly giving up, to having new enthusiasm in just 48 hours.

Hope you are all having similarly good days in the grow room :)
Click to expand...
Hettyman, Don't give up! Things will and do go badly sometimes. Last year was a disaster(in a manner of speaking) in my grow tent. Here is a short list; chemical fert burn, high heat and humidity, bugs...gnats, flies, leaf discoloration and dropping and the grand finale...a mature queen mother Sativa, that had rendered about 9 beautiful clones, turned HERMAN....CRAP, that means every clone followed the mother and late, late into budding, every last one went Herman. My only female(Indica) was partially fertilized and after that, she stopped developing the buds and began maturing the branches with seeds. I was able to salvage a few good buds, and the Hermans were dried and were ok, but it could have been so much better. This year I resolved to be more astute and pay attention, even more than last year. Trying to make fewer mistakes and avoid the same mistakes. Your 36g dosen't sound too bad for the amount of plants you had. Let us never quit, but strive to improve with each attempt. It is bound to get better, my friend. Take your new found enthusiasm and run with it.
 
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