Headband PAR T5 µTent

overTHEman

Active Member
Hello RIU and micro-growing community. This is my first journal (and post) so bear with me.

Background
I have grown plants and tended a garden my entire life, nothing's better than playing in the dirt. I have always found much comfort and entertainment in a space that is alive - vegetables, flowers, trees, grasses, cotelyons, shrubs, ferns, etc. As a child, my favorite plant was a blue spruce bonsai tree that was kept next to the window in my room. I have come to believe that the relationship between plants and people is not only beneficial but necessary for growth as an individual.

Realizing that this symbiotic relationship could be applied to one of my favorite hobbies, I attempted a closet grow in my first apartment in college. It was a small closet with one "big" CFL, bugs, overfeeding, overwatering, and a lot of newbish confusion.

After that, I got together with a friend who had also shown some interest in growing. We put together a larger scale CFL grow in another closet. As many of you have experienced, the "collaborative grow" didn't/doesn't work so well. I did not have access to the plants and would not hear from him for weeks on end, needless to say the friendship was ruined. Worse yet; the plants dead.

Sometime and a few moves later, I tried again in another small space with minimal success. For all intents and purposes the hobby ended.

After stumbling upon "Marijuana Horticulture" and taking a how-to-grow class, the dots started to connect. I got in touch with a friend and we got a nice 2k flower/600w veg grow going. As we all know a 2k grow works. Well.

About a year later (today), the grow has started to deteriorate but is still in action. Plans were set by August to start a microgrow.




This community has given much to my knowledge of this specific branch of horticulture - thank you, RIU community. It's time for my first journal and I'm here to learn. Questions and comments are always welcome. Don't worry, pics are on the way.
 

maariic

Active Member
I like nice grows with nice pics. Go on bro! We won't go away with your grow. we will help having joy about this hobby!
 

overTHEman

Active Member


Grow Specs

Space: Lighthouse Hydro Grow Tent - 30"l x 18"w x 36"h.
Lights: 2' x 4 Bulb MAXLUME T5 Fixture
Ventilation: 4" suncourt + 120mm pc fan (exhaust), 80mm pc fan (intake), 8" airking clip fan + 6" RE fan from target (circulation)
Plant: Headband (unknown origin) from clone.



Veg Week 8


Extenuating circumstances prevented this grow from going as planned. Losing my job was probably the predominant reason. This prevented the acquisition of new bulbs/fans to begin flowering, so this plant has been vegging for awhile. The extreme LST is both a result of the veg time and the low ceiling.

Here is the tent at 8 weeks veg time. It's just been thrown together as best as possible for the last six weeks. I received the headband clone at two weeks of age since rooting. To the right of the plant is a bucket containing cuttings from Ms. Headband that are rooting as well as the discontinued yeast Co2 brewer. Underneath the fan is a Blackberry Skunk seedling.




A better look.





 

overTHEman

Active Member
Found this thread: https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/358190-led-without-leds-my-first-40.html - on halloween, read it all that night, and again the next.

Veg Week 9

These pics were taken immediately after a much needed watering on the day that new bulbs were ordered - one week before flowering.

Thirsty






This was sunday of thanksgiving weekend, the bulbs arrived on monday. Cleaned up and got the screen in there to keep any of the early flower stretching mostly horizontal. It will be removed before budding begins.



Plenty of room to grow!
 

overTHEman

Active Member
overTHEman, you sound like you're familiar with pr0f's T5 PAR/PUR thread. Are you? cn
cannabineer, hello! Thank you for chiming in on my first journal! I am familiar with the pr0f and his work. Due to the rate at which i refresh his thread, it will never leave my recently viewed pages. I have even read through your journal once or twice. ;)

Thank you again, I'd give some rep to you and maariic but I don't know how, nor do I know if it would even count! Good growin, cn.
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Thank you oTm, and welcome to RIU!! There's tremendous wisdom on this site, but it's mixed with "other" and requires some thought to tell this from that. So ... what T5 bulbs are you using , and do you have a wishlist based on the LEDs thread?

<edit> I see you've answered that ... nice choices!
<edit again> I always always wear sunglasses when I'm with my lighted grow ... those aquarium T5s put out enough UV that i fear fro my eyes. cn
 

overTHEman

Active Member
Flower Week 1

The bulbs have arrived! Per the pr0f's recommendations; 2 x fiji purple, 1 x blue (454), 1 x red (redsun).





 

overTHEman

Active Member
Thank you oTm, and welcome to RIU!! There's tremendous wisdom on this site, but it's mixed with "other" and requires some thought to tell this from that. So ... what T5 bulbs are you using , and do you have a wishlist based on the LEDs thread? cn
I have noticed some of the information you have described as "other".

2 x fiji, 1 x blue(454), 1 x red(redsun). It's a small setup so an even 50/50 r/b spectral output was the idea here.

A wishlist? haha, most definitely - 2 super actinics, 2 coralwaves, 1 redsun. In addition to the current bulbs, those would be plenty to play with, given my small space/fixture.

Once I finish up here, I'll stop on by your new journal - i see you've been working!
 

overTHEman

Active Member
Flower Week 2


Plant has grown up to and through the screen in most places. Branches are long enough to be pulled back - space underneath the screen is disappearing rapidly so fans were moved on top. Remote thermometer (not the milk one in the last pic) was hung near exhaust fan. Completed construction of DIY vermicomposter and added bedding/leaf material and soaked with compost tea.


Lots of growth!






 

overTHEman

Active Member
Flower Week 3 (12/12/11)


Yesterday was the last day of the screen, I should've grabbed a pic before I took it out - it was almost completely full! Using a screen through the early phases of flower proved beneficial at the larger grow, so I stuck with it. If done this way, buds can get squished as there isn't stretch left to get them through the screen. It's often best to remove it before too may buds start to swell.

She's drinking loads and is very happy. I spun her around today just incase the spectrums don't mix at the edges of the tent.

















Now everything's up to date. Unfortunately, there's no fast-forward!
 

overTHEman

Active Member
Week Four of Flowering



New calyx growth is coming along quickly and the stretch has all but stopped. The lights are keeping the internodes tight and a canopy is starting to develop. There have been two real problems so far; 1. fungus gnats, 2. burned/deformed leaf tips and edges. The gnats are most likely due to the recent addition of an intake fan with no filter and the close proximity to the new composter. The burns on the leaves are most likely the result of over application of guano tea; the deformation/holes look like they came from the screen but could be a rootzone issue.

To combat these things, a few steps were taken. 1. Gnats; as composter establishes its microbiology it will no longer house the gnats. Since they have moved into the tent/organic soil, perlite was applied to the top of the soil (not my first choice but effective). 2. Burns; watered with plain water today and added worms to the soil to aide in decomposition of matter containing phosphorus.

This plant will receive light teas from now on, most likely ewc and molasses to keep the microbes alive. Anyone have a take on this? Can those two feed the plant sufficiently for another four weeks? Perhaps the addition of kelp meal would be appropriate?

As far as the gnats, does anyone have a quick remedy for them? The perlite seems to be working but a plan B would help. Apple cider vinegar and sugar in a container wrapped with glad cling wrap with holes was very ineffective. The wrap was removed and some (~ 10%) got trapped in the vinegar solution but the entire end of the apartment smelled like vinegar. :wall: Suggestions?



On to the pics!






With flash for more natural colors:


Here's an example of the deformed leaf:


Burns:


Pile of dead Gnats/precompost.





Happy plant, happy grower.
 

overTHEman

Active Member
Malagua from the tap. It's very hard well water ~ 500ppm, 8-9ph. From a 200ft deep well, it comes to the tap unfiltered and loaded with nutrients. It smells slightly of eggs in the summer and feels slippery between your fingers.

The egg smell. When the wife wanted a pool, we got our water tested and the smell was finally explained. Our water is LOADED with phosphorus and iron. This is the water that the plants receive.

Ms. Headband has finally taken as much as she can handle. The feedings usually consist of EWC, kelp, and JAMAICAN BAT GUANO - phosphorus... d'oh.

Going to go easy on the teas from here.



Happy growing.
 

overTHEman

Active Member
just wanted to send a big up to the guys over at reefgeek. their site is easy to navigate and checkout, painless. they processed and shipped the order within 24 hours (as advertised) and the packaging was excellent. They even included candy.

Thank you, reefgeek.

www.reefgeek.com
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
oTm, you asked about fungus gnat control. One of the more creative tactics I've read about is the use of cinnamon ... it apparently knocks'em way back. But since you've added worms to the mix I don't think cinnamon would be such a good idea. There are nematodes that are used to control the gnats, and I'm guessing they'll leave the worms in peace. Can you source the right nematodes? cn
 

overTHEman

Active Member
Very nice job overTHEman! Thanks for sharing, I'm subbed and very interested in this PAR T5 grow =D
Psytranceorgy, i'm honored - thank you for stopping by. Though we have never spoken (and you're on the LEDs :P), your contributions to the PAR discussion in the pr0f's thread have answered many of my questions and motivated the experimentation with this bulb setup. thank you. Nice TGA genetics, i'll swing by your grow after work.
 
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