AKGramma's Perpetual Grow

arteekay said:
Yo gramma! Been absent for too long. Looks like you never got an answer on supercropping, did you end up trying it? My understanding is the supercropping will cause any growth below the supercrop to get a boost, but I'm not sure it'd speed up the maturation of the male parts. Maybe more, or slightly bigger, but is that really important to you? A little pollen can go an awfully long way...

Love the shop stools, was one of the first things not directly related to the plants themselves that I "splurged" on. Quickly became two even. :)
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OMG! Someone is still reading! Thank you for stopping by! I realize all this is boring as hell without pics, but it's either the journal or scribbling it down on paper, like I did for my first grow.

The pots are getting too heavy and the plants too bulky for me to haul out for pics, so am waiting for something interesting to happen to share. If I'm going to play WWE with the bins, I want it to be worthwhile. ;)
 
I'm reading still. . With cfls. I count the wattage that is actually being drawn. For example, a 23 watt CFL puts out the same amount of light as a regular 100 watt incandescent , but that's light, I count wattage. I currently run 230 watts by using 10 of the 23 Watters strung together. Or, others count lumens, so my 230 watts would be about 15,000 lumens.
 
AKgramma said:
Here are pics inside my closet, where I have pinned the branches to the walls to open up the plants some. These vary from 3 to 4 months in veg, and have been pinched back about 3 times. They are under a mix of cool white and daylight 100 Watt output CFLs (8 bulbs).

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My apologies if I struck a cord, but when you say you're running 800 watts when it's actually 184 watts, I thought you might want to know. Big difference in actual watts. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this before. Especially when you are talking about getting an L.E.D. light, that would be the next step I would go instead of adding more cfls. :thumb:
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I'm running 10 bulbs in each space now. Maybe going by lumens rather than watts makes more sense for CFLs. More of the Daylights in Veg and more of the soft white in flower.

I seriously considered LED until I read that there was a heat issue. When you live in a trailer, you don't want any heat issues. These places go up like paper when there's a fire!
 
I like the trellis idea but somehow you gotta get lights down below. I used a power strip with some 23 watters plugged into it. Not all cfls bulbs have the same amount of lumens. I have some 23 watts bulbs that have 1450 lumens and some with 1600 lumens. Where watts is the same. Don't worry about what direction you place the cfls, up, down, sideways, because the plant will follow the light. Get them some hours of direct Sunlight when you can. See if you can get your helpers to work for you and move them.
 
My plants are so big and unruly now that I HAVE to point bulbs in every direction! They have grown up around the bulbs. :MoreNutes:

And yes, I DO have bulbs with splitters placed low. I had moved them to take the pictures, which is why you haven't seen them.

No more room for tie-downs, either, so I switched a second area to 12/12.
 
DeanB said:
They look really good :thumb: I used 14 of the 23 watt cfls to flower 4 plants in 1 gallon pots with very little Lst done. That was 322 watts at 20,890 lumens. Also the help of direct sunlight whenever it made an appearance. Mine didn't get as big as yours are now, I can't wait to see the buds!
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The difference in size is probably due to the fact that I've let mine go 4 month in veg. I'm still getting used to how fast BBLs grow compared with Sativas. Bud formation is to be seen, and even the clones have not shown sex yet under 12/12. The proof is in the pudding.
 
Yep, I am still watching but this sunlight and warm temps lured us outside for the last week. Soaking up the vitamin D as it were. Sorry to have missed so much.

Yep, 3-4 month veg girls would stress my setup for real. I never let them go past 2.5 or they would hulk their way out of my tents. No wonder the pots are too heavy to move!

Bob ;)
 
I'll probably have to be more diligent in how long I veg. But I'm urged on by the giant plants some people are posting in the gallery. We Alaskans are legally allowed 6 plants period, so with this grow from seed, I'm trying to grow em big, then cull all but one male and bring me back under the law, with leeway for cloning and sharing.

With all 4 of my grow areas, I am set up to go gaslight or flower, depending on how crowded they get. Easy enough to handle, as long as I keep it at one or two plants per. I also generally harvest only 1 plant at a time, and jar each plant separately, because each plant's buds, so far, have been different in looks and smell.

I wonder, however, if I should JUST keep the strains in separate jars, and mix the buds from the same strains, even if there is a month difference in cure date. What do you all do? (Does yours last long enough to keep track?) :laughtwo:
 
I keep 'em separate in jars or seal-able bowls. No mixing for sure as even within breeds I see differences in affect, likely due to harvest times and growing subtleties. I even kept separate two girls that were harvested at the same time but one grown in felt and one in plastic as the plants were so different. Now after cure they are almost indistinguishable so I guess it wouldn't matter.

Bob ;)
 
Time for some photos! Nothing near as beautiful as my friends who use LEDS and HPs, but I've conquered the Borg mites, added more bulbs this time around, and have vegged 3 - 4 months.

Staring with BBL #1 and #3 in the corner, in veg. #1 on the lt is the one that had lost all its leaves except for a few on each branch. I had tied it down hard, and now it's revegging.

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This one is on the rt, BBL #3, next to #1, is showing male characteristics. The pics do not do it justice, but those buds are definitely not veg or preflowers.

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The closeup, as best as I could get:

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Now we go to Tritops and BBL#5 in another veg area. No sign of sex.

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Now to the area I just switched from gaslight to flower. BBL #2 is huge and still growing. BBL #4 on the rt is more male-like, that is spindly, like #3.

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And finally a closeup of my poor remaining OGK, who has survived a prolonged war with the Borg Mites, left in flower for 3 months, and is finally showing trics. She is accompanied by 1 juvenile clone and 3 baby clones for sexing.

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OK! I have a MALE! :cheertwo: This morning I found those weird balls all over BBL#3. And it is still in veg!

Now, remind me: should I trim off all the unproductive branches in order to force development of the pollen? Should I move it to 12/12 or just move it to the living room, where I can keep an eye on it?

I need an answer ASAP!
 
Are you planning on a natural germination or collecting pollen? Or some stage in the middle? I would tend to isolate, flower and collect pollen. Then germinate branches as I saw fit. There might be some branches getting pollen you don't wont but nothing like a pollen bomb going off in the tent.

EDIT: That wasn't super clear of me, I would remove him from my normal grow environment and somehow flower to collect pollen in a controlled manner.

Bob ;)
 
Dr Bob said:
Are you planning on a natural germination or collecting pollen? Or some stage in the middle? I would tend to isolate, flower and collect pollen. Then germinate branches as I saw fit. There might be some branches getting pollen you don't wont but nothing like a pollen bomb going off in the tent.

EDIT: That wasn't super clear of me, I would remove him from my normal grow environment and somehow flower to collect pollen in a controlled manner.

Bob ;)
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Oh, I'm NOT going to let him sow his domesticated oats all over my grow areas! LOL! I plan to isolate him and bag up the branches close to them popping. But what I need to know is: will trimming off the extra veg branches be beneficial to developing mature pollen? If I can keep him small, he'll be easier to handle.

Also, I can wheel him out to the living room, where I can keep a continual eye on him. I dont want him wandering off, getting drunk and debauching the whole grow room. Even baggies can leak.
 
AKgramma said:
He's basking in the sunshine in my living room till I can give him a haircut. Decided to get a few other things done first online before that. he can use the real light boost.
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I took an led and emptied a closet, mounted the light in there and put all my Broheim plants in there. I also put a twister I am going to hit with silver thiosulfate tonight. My girls are in the basement, my closet is on the 2nd floor. I am thinking that's enough separation and will make sure to always visit the girls BEFORE the boys.
 
AKgramma said:
Oh, I'm NOT going to let him sow his domesticated oats all over my grow areas! LOL!
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:rofl:

I have always let male plants grow tall and do their own thing without training. My suspicion is that they would take to training just like a female but I don't know first hand. I don't see how it would affect pollen production but this isn't my area of expertise for sure. Shiggity and Cannafan would be better to comment than I.

Bob ;)
 
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