Ognennyy's New Growroom Jackberry

Will definitely be taking this advice. I estimate I have another week or so before I can take cuttings from them for sexing, without significantly setting them back. Actually I'd like to have ya'lls advice on that as well. I may later on take pictures and see what you guys think as far as whether or not I can cut them.


I'm guessing two weeks for full rooting under 12/12, identify females, and transplant. I'm going to transplant max 16 into 12square pots. So yeah will definitely bury at that point.

This is interesting indeed. I wanna look into this one in a general botany sense. I wonder why this makes the plant bushier? Perhaps the plant's logic is, "hey if my stems are damaged then I probably can't support as much top-heavy weight distribution so I'll stay bushier and more compact" ? Dunno, but I definitely wanna look into hormone shifts during wound recovery. I believe, but am not positive, that absisic acid production is generally increased during wound recovery. I wonder if an increase in absisic acid leads to a subsequent increase in gibs.


I'm sure you all can't wait for me to report back my nerd findings lol


To all, have a very, VERY happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Stems --> Roots


Buried stems will actually turn into roots. Plant cells are known as "totipotent", meaning that a plant cell belonging to any tissue or organ, performing any function, if necessary can be converted into a cell of another type of tissue or organ. Cells' biochemistry changes, meristems form, and new growth begins. Marijuana is no exception. Thus we are able to propagate our plants by cutting and rooting.


Thank fuck I already have the Thanksgiving dinner dishes done. Usually they take til around 11pm. Time to drink some zinfandel and fall asleep.

 

Merlot from a box for me.


I wonder about the pinching too. I have tested and seen side by side effects from topping many times, so I know what it does. In 6 months or so I'll have data on pinching. Sounds like a cool tool to add to the box.


I love leaving the grow for a few days. This Sunday I will be returning home after 5 (!) days, and will be two weeks into flower, first time in RDWC. Can't wait!!

 

Update


Duc that's awesome man!! Can't wait to compare our plants, figure out what we're doin right & wrong. Now I REALLY feel like a mad scientist


Okay, been a bit since I posted on these guys. Before my wall of text, as you can see they've grown considerably since last post.





In my opinion my plants are too leggy and stretchy (a problem that I will address momentarily), as seen here





So what's been plaguing me...


1) The plants seem too leggy and have stretched too much for my liking


2) Plants have been suffering mild twisting / curling / yellowing dmg up top on the newest (highest) nodes


What other problems have arisen in consequence...


1) Plants aren't as bushy as I'd like them to be.


2) I have to top and pinch em all the time


3) I've had to move the light up to help with the issue, which in turn causes more stretch I think


So when I initially noticed the dmg in the upper sections, my conclusion was that it was hot spots caused by a bad bulb or reflector. I had been keeping the light around 12" off (400w MH). I noticed that moving the light up eases the upper twisting & curling a bit, so the light is now at ~24" above the canopy.





Anyone see the double-edged sword in moving the light up? It's going to ease heat dmg to upper leaf sets, but force the plant to stretch more.


While on this topic... has anyone else ever grown Jackberry here? Does it tend to stretch a lot? I wouldn't have thought so, being like 80% Indica. Or maybe since I had a buncha stretched-ass sproutlings after they germed til about 10 days in (when growroom was completed), the adult versions will be stretchy too... dunno.


So yeah yesterday moved light up to ~24" off canopy, watered all plants by bottom soak in 24 hour tepid plain water, and rotated them all around.


Today I picked up a 6" Active Air booster to replace the piece of shit Lowes $30 6" Suncourt. New one was $50 I believe. As opposed to where the shitty Lowes fan was mounted (on the light, pushing air up and out) I mounted this new one right on the stackboot at the exhaust port. Air seem to be moving much faster, but it's way way WAY too fuckin loud.


It's not the air movement noise, the fuckin thing hums louder than hell. Being mounted to a metal stack boot, which is mounted to the wall studs, you can hear the vibration at the other end of the friggin hallway like 20' away.


I know I needed more air movement through my hood. I know that the shitty Suncourt says like 140 CFM but there's NO way it gets that much since it's designed to have a furnace pushing from behind it. This new fan is rated around 150-180 CFM I think. So just having the new fan should give more air flow, but I also wanted the added benefit of pulling the air out as opposed to pushing. But I can't think of how I'll pull that off.


Whatcha think on this one? If I move the fan back down to reflector-mount, pushing outa the room, will I gain any benefit from having upgraded the fan? Would I get better heat removal if I had another 6" booster (same type, active Air) on the inatke of the hood, blowing air in? Using another inline fan is not an option as I won't be able to manage the noise due to the geographic situation of the light.


I also put a window box fan in the room (just til I get my hands on an oscillating fan), blowing over the canopy. I hope that will help even out heat in the room and take some stress off the poor baby upper leaves.





Tomorrow I am ordering a 600W Digitek Dimmable Switchable ballast and an oscillating fan. I was considering a 600W HPS Digilux bulb to go with the new ballast. I talked to a really cool employee from plantlightinghydroponics.com the other day who gave me a lot of his time and advice, it was excellent customer service. He said Digiliux are a great bulb, equivalent to the Eye Hortilux, and Digilux bulbs are actually designed for use in a digital ballast. He recommended them.


What I'm wondering is should I go with a Digilux or an Eye Hortilux? Eyes are made for magnetic core ballasts aren't they?


Anyway, please feel free to comment on the booster fan situation, as well as Digilux vs. Eye Hortilux.


Here is an up close shot of one of the Jackberries.





This is the only remaining Kush in the grow room.





There's more I could say but I think I wrote enough of a book for tonight. Happing grow to all and peace!

 

And to set that fan up....odor control, then light, then fan and out of the room. That should suck out (seems more efficiant than pushing from the front of the light and through it) most of the heat from the bulb.

 

Gonna assume pH is fine. Since I moved the light up and they've had a few days now to recover from pinching and topping, they're as healthy looking as I could ask for. Furthermore, their medium is 50/50 promix and homegrown bacterially dominated compost, and EWC added. I just trust my little microbe hood to do their work and regulate the pH.


Last but not least, I really don't trust the pH test kit I have anymore due to several suspect incidents. I wish I knew a reliable way to test the pH of the soil just for shits and giggles.


The stretching, ah yes that damn stretching. To be honest I now realize it was more their lack of bushing (lack of good candidate branches for cutting) that had me more concerned. But, I'll give em a strict regimen of pinching and topping til flower to keep em where I want em, and of course bury when transplanting.


Preventing stretch and keeping em good and bushy in future grows... I may switch strains. I remember last time I grew a blueberry strain their stems were pretty thick and leggy too. Maybe it's the strain, even though more than likely it's me being nub. Second I will entirely omit alfalfa meal from my soils. It contains folic acid I believe which promotes stem growth and strength, and Tricanterol the growth hormone.


I'd like to get the light closer, of course, even though they seem to be thriving with the light up at 24" + the new addition of a box fan blowing over the canopy. To get the light closer though I suppose I'd need the inline fan. I really don't know if I can mask the noise of a second, constant day-cycle running inline fan. I don't wanna get a 6" and speed control it, cuz that causes enough motor hum from the 6" I already have in an insulated box. I don't wanna drop to 4" though cuz that drops from 450cfm to like 180, and the booster fan I have on there atm claims nearly 180cfm. Would a 4" inline, though, actually achieve closer to the advertised 180cfm than the booster since the inline is more designed for pulling through lotsa twists and turns in the vent line?


Gotta have a new ballast, Res. Can't flower with a 400w MH so that's a no brainer.


What I'm really wonderin from ya'll is could I go ahead and flower these guys before rooting any cuttings for sex?


What I have in mind is to save some time. I was gonna veg them for another 2-3 weeks, cut 2 from each, flip to 12/12 on 600W HPS, then just pull the males as they show. My only concern is, once the males show is it too late and they will have pollenated the females? What I'm trying to achieve here is cutting back on the waiting period of 2-3 weeks for clones to root / show sex.


So suggestions and comments please on the "brute force" flower approach, and possible use of 4" inline fan for light system ventilation.

 

Ironic...


I just looked up the specs on Vortex fans. Oddly enough it turns out the 4" and 6" both list 49db for their noise level, the 6" having a slightly higher rpm and much higher CFM rating. So in other words the difference in noise will be the 6" pulling more than twice that of the 4".


So I guess truly it's a no brainer to get the 4". If I use a 6" I'll have to dumb it down to half speed with the controller to make the noise tolerable. If I do that, I'm only pulling a few more CFM now than I would with the 4" at full blast. The difference is, running a 4" full blast doesn't cause extra motor hum noise like switching a 6" down to half speed does.


Well, guess that sums that one up.

 

Some thoughts


Was reading through ResinRubber's response to a post of mine here http://forum.growkind.com/showthread.php?t=43914&page=2 I did a quick mental assessment of my grow room to see if I was meeting the guidelines Res gave.


1) The no 90 degree bends issue. I have only one 90 degree bend in my room at the moment, very visible in most of my pictures. It is the passive intake at floor level near the plants. If I don't have any 90s there, how am I to prevent light escaping into my bedroom?


This issue is fairly insignificant at the moment. Recently the temps in the grow room never go above 73-74, my inline room vent fan hardly ever comes on.


2) Guess I should get my hands on neoprene. As of right now I took three bath towels, folded them over four times each, stacked one on top of another, and on top of those three towels sits my box fan. Doesn't make too much noise.


Unfortunately I'm stuck with the booster fan for another few days. Three days ago I had removed it, because it (violating Res's rule #3) was directly mounted to a stack boot, that in turn is mounted to the framing of the room, and could be heard a mile away. I didn't feel like replumbing the HVAC lines twice, so I just put the booster on the light and it blows straight into the room. This is doing well to remove heat from under the light, but my room smells like weed cuz of the positive pressure it creates lol (it draws air from the attic, and forces into the grow room).


I feel like I have things under control in there now as far as ventilation and temperature control. I wish i could keep night temps up a little higher, but hey... one step at a time. The only issue then that is bugging me, is how the newest sets of leaves always look yellow / really small and kinda a little twisted. Temps being in optimal ranges now (well, not too hot is what I mean) I can't figure it out, so I ask...


Is it completely normal for the newer sets of leaves growing in to be kinda yellow, and slightly twisted?


I have some new equipment ordered. I should expect its arrival within a week or so. 600W dimmable switchable Lumatek digital ballast with a 600W super blue Digilux HPS bulb, 20x5" pots for cloning new rounds, 16x12" pots for finishing in flowering, and most importantly a 4" 180CFM Vortex inline fan.


Based on having heat dispersal and ventilation pretty well under control right now, I assume I'll be ok with a 600, having a 180CFM inline fan pulling air through the vent hood.


I think I'm going to get the new equipment installed ASAP after arrival. I think most of the plants have shoots that could make good cuttings now, so I'll cut 1-2 from each just in case I want a mother plant (which I don't think I do, cuz I wanna switch strains). This I'll do within the next week most likely. I'll give em a week to recover from topping / cutting stress. I'll transplant them to the 12", give a week for transplant shock recovery, and then 12/12 them. There's the plan.


Incidentally, regarding the stretching... I dunno if this is coincidence or what. My first grow with dutch passion blueberry, the plants were all stretchy. These Jackberry (blueberry derivatives) are stretchy. There is one Kush in the room, and it is short and bushy as hell. So yeah I think I'm gonna choose a new strain, that will be shorter and bushier, for my next grow.


Anyway, thoughts on the new leaf yellowing / twisting? Is it normal?


How to avoid 90 degree bends on an intake, without leaking light?


Thumbs up or down on my soon-to-be equipment setup.

 

Was hoping for some thoughts on the questions in my previous post, as soon as one of you more experienced types has a free moment

 

I found it helpful to plug some of the holes in the bags. Water loves to just run out of them and not soak in. Your not going to want to slowly water the plants when it takes 20 minutes each. Lower the light may stop the stretching.

 

OG


I am currently looking to upgrade my airflow. I will be adding a 6" axial fan with a HEPA intake filter. The filter will make the intake light proof. Also keep unwanteds from entering your space.


Is that 180 cfm inline also pulling through a scrubber? if so You may find that your cfm is greatly reduced. The 600 will through more radiant heat than a 400.


I believe the EYE bulbs have been updated to work with a digital ballast. I am currently running the EYE with my Quantum ballast with no issues. But any of the three mentioned will give you great results.


Good luck man

 

Wow hadn't actually ever thought of that. That's a good, creative idea! As of right now I just dump five gallons of water into a big rubbermaid and let them soak there a few hours until they feel really heavy. Admittedly that is kinda a pain in the ass.


With regards to the light, unfortunately what I discovered was that I must have it a minimum 20" away from the canopy to avoid damaging the top-most leaves. I'm sure I can attribute this to several "nub" factors in my ventilation setup, and that if the vent system were more efficient I could get it closer. More on this in a moment.

Wow that HEPA filter idea is pure fuckin genius!! I'm definitely going to try that. I was also thinking that since my exhaust is 6", with a 6" fan of course, I should have 2x6" passive intakes for max efficiency. Unfortunately I'm not sure that will be entirely feasible.


The 4" Vortex 180CFM inline will *not* be pulling through a scrubber. I have a 6" Vortex that does that, but it never comes on cuz it's cold up there, so my room starting to smell like weed lol. I think I'm going to just force that 6" to come on for an hour once a day or something to get rida the smell. Anyway, my 4" is only for pulling air through the light's vent hood.


Damn... in retrospect I wish I'd gone with the eye. But I've no option now besides to give the Digilux bulb a shot. Perhaps someday in the near future I can upgrade to an Eye.


Intermission...


All my equipment arrived this morning, and this is why my ventilation setup is still a bit up in the air. I will most likely install all this new equipment over the course of the next few days (final exam time right now, so I'll be doing upgrades whenever I get the time). I'm upgrading from a 400w to a 600w light fixture, and from a loud and weak booster fan to a nice 4" Vortex. So many new factors, I'm not sure where I'll end up.


Instead of boring people with listing all my thoughts, I'm just going to choose a vent configuration and try it. I'll see if it works, and if not ask for help.


In any case, I'll post pics later this week of the new light, vent setup, and the plants.


TY everyone for your contributions. It really makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone in this Peace to all, and grow on!

 

Woohooo!


Got that 4" Vortex installed for pulling the air through the reflector. Kudos Res, of course you were correct. It pulls way more air than the booster, and is much quieter.


Fuckin ballast is gonna be a pain in the balls. It comes with some weird fuckin plug pre-wired into the output side. I took the cover off to see if I could just directly tie in the wire goin to the reflector, as I did with the magnetic ballast I currently have. No such luck.... the wires are all stuck in there with some hard black shit (the RF shielding, I assume). I don't fuck around when it comes to electrical safety, so gotta go buy a new friggin cord now to run to the reflector from the ballast. The digilux bulb looks pretty cool.


I'm second guessing the 12"x12" pots I ordered. They're bigger than they look online. I have the grow room floor space for 16 plants in 12"x12" pots, and I think the 600w light outa do the trick. I thought that 12"x12" pots would give a bigger yield than like 6" square or 9" square. I know for sure the plants will get bigger, given a 12" square than a 6" square. But is my thought process correct, in that if I finish them in 12"ers instead of 6"ers, my flowers will be larger?