First CFL Grow Using 30 Watt CFLs

thanks, isnt trimming roots to stop mother plants getting big, sort of keeping them bonsai, but thinking about it, if in untangles all the roots running around the edge of the pot and go half an inch in all the way round, i dont mean hacking half an inch off, i mean carefully break the soil off and untangle the roots and cut them all back then i could fill new compost in bottom of pot and all around the edges, that should give the roots a couple of weeks more growth and would push me closer to harvesting, i wont do it unless anyone has tried this before or know if it will work, i think its a great idea,

i need to make sure the problem im having is not just the age of the plants as it seems like its only the very old leaves that are affected, all the upper leaves and bud leaves are perfect,

i could check if its root bound by pulling it out the pot, but i wont mess with this till i know more about it, thanks for the idea though it may even be what the plans need, as when i took the top half an inch of soil away the rest was rock solid, all i could feel in the top inch was roots, i pushed my finger in a several places to get water down each hole and it was hard work getting down making sure i didnt break no roots in the process, i probably broke a few small ones but some where thick and i felt them strait away,

if they look better tomorrow then i know it was water, if they dont look better after this soak then ill let you know and we will try something else, the problem is i dont want to stress them and hermie them by messing about to much, but if their root bound then that is stressing them so its a lose lose situation unless i can get it sorted for sure.

give me a shout back if anyone has tried this root pruning on flowering plant, i know people do it with mother plants to stop them getting huge and keep them in the same size pot as the cut it right back then fill with new medium and it grows back keeping the plant a managable size its 3:40 am and im going to watch some trailor park boys, found a web site that has the whole lot from season 1 to season 7, it even has a trailor park movie on their, great show cant believe its not out over here, but my government wouldnt allow stuff like that, it makes the kids turn into pot heads and murderers and maniacs, honest, thats what they tell us so it must be true, the government done lie.

its like the new rule they have bought out for all the shops, they are now not allowed to have cigarettes behind the counter in view so all the shops now have got shutters or sliding doors hiding all the backy and cigs, so you never know what they got in stock the staff dont know what they got in stock and takes 10 times as long to find what you want as you cant point it out to them, this is only going to make kids want them more, if they are now hidden then their more interesting to kids, my government do everything backwards, their changing the cigarette packets to plain packets with no writing on or any design, this is to make them less appealing, is this really going to work, errrr i dont think so.

thanks for all the advice, ill give an update when the light comes on at 12, and i planted my out door plants the day before yesterday and its been real hot so taking some of coreys magic medicine to them and some fresh water and do some weeding.

has anyone ever grown tobacco, i purchased 500 seeds of the net, it tells me how to grow them and seems pretty quick to get the leaves ready for harvest and can be harvested all year, it says just take a couple of big leaves off at a time so the plant wont suffer, out doors they can fill a whole garden and get very tall, so im planning to grow these on my balcony along the edges so then i can get my real plants out in the sun without them standing out to much,
but im wondering if anyone has grown it and cured it for smoking, 10 cigs here are nearly £4 a pack, or $8 for 10 cigs, so thats getting expensive now, even petrol and diesel is nearly £1.40 per litre more in some places here so thats nearly $4 per litre, what the prices like in america, do they keep going up like they do here.
 
Re: first cfl grow using 30watt cfls

Quixilvir said:
Hey Paul, I didn't really have time to go through your whole journal yet, but I've seen you around the other threads doing your homework! First off, I'd like to give you some reps for doing your research, being ploite while doing so, and doing your best to make the most of what you have.
Here's my advice as far as growing goes...Be patient, don't "over love" your plants, and just watch how they behave. You will improve with each grow, it's inevitable.

My first grow journal here was with all CFLs, in a small space. Feel free to have a look if you wish, its the first journal at the bottom of my signature. Speaking of which, it would help you to add a link to your signature, as people will be able to read a post of yours, and then quickly go to your journal without having to search for it. Our good friend XLR8 was kind enought to throw up a link to your journal in one of his reply posts to you, over on his thread. +Reps to him for that:high-five:

Here are a couple pics of what can be done with CFLs, when money is scarse....
From my second grow, first 420 journal....

These plants (2 of them stuffed into a 2x2 footprint) were left to grow naturally, with no topping, LST, FIMing or anything. Now, I am in no way saying you should do that, I'm just trying to showcase that the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) method, WILL get you your meds. It's also the easiest way to start learning.

Take your time, and don't stress too much about the plants, or they will stress too, and your end result will suffer.
Also, if you do happen to get a male, do not kill him...Try to seperate him, and collect the pollen. It sounds to me like you may benefit from creating some seed stock for yourself, so as to keep you from having to buy more seeds.

Hope this helps, Good luck to you:Namaste:
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Goddamn son. Im gonna take that on board.
 
miwa said:
wheer i'm at ...cig...20 in a pack $6.00...I QUICK SMOKING when they were under $3.00 a pack....gas prices crazy up and down...now here $4.00 per gal...
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where i am it would cost around $10 a pack for the cheap ones, and fuel has gone down but still $22 a euro GAL. atleast we don't have that piss water you guys call gas.

And donpaul chill about the yellowing, when i'm in late flower i rarely have any fan leafs left let alone green ones.

If there going yellow and you can easly snap them off it's normal on lower leafs. the leafs are like solar panels, once there a certain age they stop being able to produce a good amount of sugars so the plant kills them off.
 
thanks for all the advice, seems prices of cigs and petrol are lot cheaper still in the usa, a gallon here would be around £5.20 to £5.80, which is about $10 per gallon, £1 worth of fuel gets us about 10 mile depending what you drive, so $2 for 10miles, pretty fukin shitty if you ask me, thats why i cant afford to drive anymore, then the road tax at £180 pre year or $360 ish per year, then mot £50 per year $100 per year, then insurance as well, takes the piss it really does.

Thanks everyone for all the advice, but i have got some news, so just before i go to check my outdoor grow i thought id share it with you, now it seems my plants where very very lucky to make it this far, i just opened the door and i was so surprised to see none of the leaves drooping and resting on the pot, none of them curled up and dying, the leaves inside the buds have started growing, the buds are twice as fat as they was last night and some buds have grown an inch taller over night.

so its looking good, my plants where needing a drink, looks like i gota keep my best bowls under the plants, no more curry dishes for a while, im just about to take some water to my outdoor crop if its still their, ill let you know when i get back,

but thanks for all the advice, but it seems my plants suffering was due to me not having a dish under each pot to catch the run off, the water was running off into my sink and then when in grow room it was just dripping onto a towel, so not sure how close to death these plants where but couldnt of been far off, im so shocked at the difference in the buds, they are really twice the size they was yesterday and some on the nl x bb have grown a whole inch taller and twice as fat, my plants look a picture of heath now, and the soil was uncovered all night and no signs off any flies, still may have eggs in compost but with it draining that quick i dont think they will be around long, the plants will stay in the dishes full time now, all the water in the dishes haas gone, im going to mix up full strength bpn goodness when i get back and give the plants about 1pint each as ive probably been flushing all the goodness out the soil each time i watered, they must of just got enough to survive, surprised they not gone hermie on my ass, looks like i caught them in time, the difference is amazing, from dying looking plants yesterday to happy plants today, with buds twice the size they was, im a bit concerned about the leaves getting bigger in the buds. but their covered in trichs and looks totally amazing, even the nl x bb is putting on trics, the buds must of been so dry, they really have expanded and grew over night.

and no more flies, none in pots, none on papers, so when these hatch if they do i should be ok thinking i got it in time

looks amazing people, a simple thing like fast draining compost could of killed these 2 plants, no matter how often i watered they just wasnt getting enough, run off was to quick to get the comopst wet they drank everything out the dishes over night.
 
so happy to hear that evrything is looking up:thumb: and I hope it continues to do so for you bro! cant wait to share a spliff over the net:cheertwo:
 
just leaving the door but even quicker update, all the lower fan leaves are now stretching for the sky, its not just the leaf that got better so did the stem the leaves are on, the leaves are no longer resting on the pot, some of them now are half as high in the air as the whole plant, i think i been very lucky no to hermie them, who knows i might of, to early to tell, but the difference from yesterday is amazing, got one other problem now, it fukin stinks like weed round here, think someone must be growing some dank smelling weed in my block of flats, ;)
 
the plants are 100% better, no fly's either so looking good so far, im just mixing up a new batch of bpn magic and ill give them a good drink, i didnt over water last night in case it wasnt the cause of the problem but the temps here are in the high 20's so ill need to water more often but ill leave the dish under this time, all the water in their last night was gone when i opened the door, so even if the soil drains to quick the roots can drink it up, the buds are looking fatter and fatter now, im thinking i probably flushed the soil everytime i watered and the roots could only take in what was rushing past them and once it was gone it was gone, possibly why the grew slow in veg, perhaps, so im mixing up a new batch now, im not planning on leaving the dish under all day if it still has water in, ill give them 4 hours to drink what they can then ill drain the rest away, i dont want to go from 1 extreme to the next.

more good news, my outdoor plants are still where i left them, no signs of bugs of any sort around them, and i thought the sun may be to strong as they have only been ticking over under a 30watt cfl since sprouting, but i got their today with big bottle of water and they didnt even need it the ground was still moist, even with this sun we been having, so i did water around the plants no directly where the plant was as i didnt want to drain them, but in 2days they have grown a whole node and about an inch taller, just gota hope for a fem,
now i have left them for 2 days and the ground was still moist i think i should be able to check on them in say 5 days and see how they are doing, then ill leave them to it if they are still ok on their own, so all been well ill have at least 1 fem out of the 2,
 
thats sweet don! I know the plants that Ive grown out side that once they take root you dont have much to take care of. that said the more you visit the more likely someone will take notice. but if you dont watch out those girls will be 6 feet tall before you know it. I grew some in my garden, planted them inbetween my tomatoes witch also grew great. then the weed whent nuts and the tomatos were no match. sure I had 6 foot tomatoes but know I had 7 foot grass plants. so I geuss what I am saying is dont visit to much but be prepaired to do alot of lst or trim or even topping. because the do grow like weeds:thumb:
 
thanks, this time i had left it 2 days since planting so i could check ground condition with this hot weather we are having here, so i had to check in case the ground was dry, it wasnt it was fairly moist so i think the water is ok unless we have a major drought, so ill give it another 5 or 6 days and check again, and if all is good i may start lst early or wait till they get bigger, un decided yet, but then i plan on only checking on them every 2 weeks, their pretty well hidden and knowone goes where the plants are, loads of dog walkers around but im far enough off the tracks to not been seen getting in or out, its surrounded by brambles and nettles and took me ages to find a way in, but i did, i make sure i know if anyone has been their as i put sticks and stuff across the exits so if anyone has been their i will know, but its well out the way, animals might munch on them and thats about it, but i think im ok where they are, unless they do get 6ft tall and then they would possibly be seen if someone smelt anything from a distance, i think im ok where they are.

my plants have had a good drink of bpn, didnt give loads as i had watered late last night, so just enough to have some sitting in the dish for them to soak up but only small amount, this should replace what got flushed out each time i watered them. they look 100% better the yellow leaves are turning green again and no longer wilting their all reaching for the light, i raised the light as well as it was getting warm at the top of the plants

ive got a good idea about the temp now so not using temp gauge i think i got it pretty sorted, buds look amazing now, i dont a small amount of lst on the nl x bb to open it up a bit, as i spotted loads of inner buds that was getting no light so i pulled the plant open and its pretty much looking like double the amount of buds it had before i opened it up, couldnt see them as the plant was covering everything up,

on the special kush im am starting to get a couple of orange hairs here and their, not sure how long they have got left ill need to look with the microscope, id think at least another couple of weeks or longer, but now ive solved the water problem it looks like the buds are now growing a hell of a lot faster than they have, they really doubled in size and started growing like crazy.

i loved the vid of the scrog, did it give any details on veg time, 1 plant produced all that under a scrog, would be good to know how long and what light he used, any ideas
 
Allways happy to hear good news. that scrog was awsome I was worried at first that he was gonna get caught before he pillfered all those buds lol. been thinking about trying that myself. dont think it takes longer to grow but the labor is intense from what Ive read. but if you got the time why not?:circle-of-love:
 
That scrog does look awesome, I almost went to SCROGs my self. But you need to veg it for like 4-6 weeks sometimes more usually. Actually cruising around on this site trying to get scrog info is what made me run into the 2l hemp. The way i look at it is yes a scrog can produce more in a single run than a 2l hempy SoG, but when you take into account the veg time. After 2 Scrog runs you cold have had 3 2L Hempy SOG runs..:D Just my thoughts, though I will say a scrog is kool to look at!
 
alls well me thinks, i did see 2 flies in the kush pot but they got squashed, not seen none since, got fly traps up just in case and nothing on them, they have now had a good drink and the leaves look a lot better, i guess the pots was heavy due to root mass and plant mass, so i was lifting it up and compairing it to a pot with dry compost in and thought in never needed water, for all i know they may need water every day, so for now im looking at every 2 days and feed till it starts to fill the dish then leave it to sit, if its drank all the liquid ill leave the dishes their, if after 4 hours their still liquid in them then ill take it out to prevent any root rot.

im really hoping things are back on track, it seems i was lacking in the water department, the buds got huge over night so they must of been drying out, now the bud leaves in the kush have got really fat, not grew longer but all puffed up so i think i was close to losing the plants with no water, but now it looks like its ok, i might have problems with flies but i should be able to keep them in check, im thinking their fruit flies now and not fungus gnats, so think ill be ok,

ill try sticking some slices of potato on top of soil and see if i get any babies in their, i lst to open the plants up and they look better for it, so all been well i rescued them in time, and if it wasnt for the flies i may never of paid that much attention to the plants to notice and could of lost them, it seems the flies where a sign or problems and plant leaf dying, so they showed me where i was going wrong now im killing the little bleeders, thanks for the help guys but you can stop buzzing around my garden now, any that dont leave will be squashed as and when seen.

im trying to grow some tobaco on my balcony, not sure how to cure and dry it but i got some advice and how to grow, so im off to plant some tobaco seeds, golden virginia it says could be self suficiant for bud and baccy soon by the sounds of it, not sure on the curing method it says honey can be used in a week mixture to make it have different taste to it, so i got to read up on that now,

thanks for looking in on my grow and all the advice with my plants, im thinking their sorted now but these problems usually get worse before they get better so ill be checking more regular now,

since the lst the plants are now covering a bigger space so im hoping this will prevent any pm issues with buds touching other buds.

reps to you all if i can give it,
 
Bigpappa1983 said:
That scrog does look awesome, I almost went to SCROGs my self. But you need to veg it for like 4-6 weeks sometimes more usually. Actually cruising around on this site trying to get scrog info is what made me run into the 2l hemp. The way i look at it is yes a scrog can produce more in a single run than a 2l hempy SoG, but when you take into account the veg time. After 2 Scrog runs you cold have had 3 2L Hempy SOG runs..:D Just my thoughts, though I will say a scrog is kool to look at!
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+1

Scrog are great for tiny grow areas but you need a few weeks to get nice tall plants then screen them up and they bush up like LST ie all the side branches become main colas, you do it too early and you won't have as many colas. each node = 2 cola then add you main original top as a single and always top them early or your only have one side to work with.


this journal is soooo hard to keep up with lol, Paul your towel under the plants was probably wicking the water out of your soil making them dry too fast.

late flower leafs snap off easy when you pull them down, they shouldn't be too wilted just light yellow maybe some spotting. leafs that need water should be rubbery and NOT snap easy when pulled down, if fact there very hard to remove without cutting. Mite help you tell when it's just old leafs. I normally have most leafs dying off 10-12 days before harvest.

Orange hairs are a great sign your near the end, This grow I'm doing now will be the first time I have a microscope/eyelupe to see the trichs, I normally wait till 80-90% hairs are orange/brown/pink then harvest.

PS I saw ur trying to grow tobacco, Ive done it before and if you harvest the leafs at wrong time it tastes like shit. other then that my curing was just to hang it in my kitchen cupboard for a few weeks, it did taste better after 2-3 months tho. worth a go but they don't grow that well (outside) here mate and i'm closer to france then the midlands if you know what i mean

PPS
The hermie/males that are growing in my garden with the tomatos are looking a bit down but the soil is ROCKSOLID from the last 3 days of heat we've had. they are still very much alive and well tho. so if you don't want to check your secret grow then don't, they should be good for a bit. it's shocking how little water they need outside.
 
your not on the small island very south of me by any chance i lived their for ages, crazy place well laid back, loved the place.

anyways my pots where sitting on old video boxes the towel was under them to catch the water dripping off the video boxes, so it wasnt wicking the water out, it didnt need to, i got a cup of water and poured it in the top of the pot, before i finished pouring it was coming out the bottom and now into the dish, i poured it back into the cup and it was the exact same amount, what i have done now is worked the top inch or 2 of soil making sure i dont break any major roots and now their in bowls to soak up the water, the leaves where rubbery and i couldnt pull them off, i usually pinch them off but these wouldnt even pinch off, i pulled the dry ones off and the worse of the yellow ones, they was like multi coloured leaves, a sort of light green and yellow marble affect, these where all hanging down, their not now and i think their getting their colour back, either way the buds are twice the size they was yesterday so im really thinking it was lack of water.

the nutes im using are blue planet nutrients, i was so lucky to get these as their sold by word of mouth in the usa, but someone donated me some and paid for postage, so ive been using that and it still gives decent levels of N all the way through the grow so the leaves should not die off as much, the plants look really healthy now, im just worried about these flies coming back, but im that far in flower now i think by the time they have caused enough damage to the roots ill be harvested by then, but now i know im watering properly and they have had a good drink today then i can really let them dry out now for 3 or 4 days and see if that kills the little critters,

the orange hairs are few and far between so got a way to go yet, my leaves where so rubbery i normally break them off with my nails when i prune in veg but these where like some super rubber stuff, i just couldnt get through it with my nails so cut them, the leaves i left where wilted and starting to curl up, now they are looking a darker shade of light green and has less yellow marble affect in the leaf, so if it wasnt for the flies i never would of looked that close at the plants to notice the problem, i had been watering the plants in my sink so didnt realise how much run off i was getting i watered and waited till the tun off slowed before putting them back in grow room, but now i know how quick they was draining im surprised they lasted as long as they did, this could be why the veg stage was slow to grow, possibly the soil drains to well, from now on ill be using a bowl under all the plants in the bigger pots from now on, they drank up everything in the bowls last night and drank up everything that was in their today, i fed full strength nutes today as i only gave a weak mixture yesterday followed by plain water and thats when i noticed the run off problem, i think the problem is solved and just in time by the looks of the leaves.

im amazed how many pages my journal is, most of it is me paniking or rambling on, sorry people,

thanks for all the help and advice, it really did give me some encouragement, i got the flies under control, i think, only the next 2 weeks will tell

i only planted my outdoor plants the day before last and even after all the sun we had the ground was still damp, its like next to a boggy area so the ground is good compost slightly up the hill a bit, i went to water today and the ground was like it was when i planted them, but i took nutes with me so watered around the plants and done so more weeding, its in a country park type place, im sure their ok where they are, its a nightmare to get to, but if it was easy for me to get to then it would be easy for someone else, the average hiker or dog walker woudnt venture their, the only problem i may have is if people set fire to the place again and the fire brigade dont get their to put it out, but i think im far enough off the beaten track so dont think i have problems with things like that, ill give it 5 days this time and go check, like i said if i lose them then i lose them, i needed to get my numbers down so it was either bin them or stick them outdoors, if i get anything off them then its a bonus, but if not then i have lost nothing as they would have been binned,
 
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