Gator's Cage

re: symetricality

plants don't have OCD

but there's just something about dual exhausts ;)


Thank you for the info on the thin stems as regards the trellis. A friend grows outdoors using a cucumber trellis and the stems are more vine-like and thinner, but outdoors he still does very well. Trims all the fan leaves off and you have to be pretty close to see what he's growing. I prefer more portable arrangements in case I want to move plants indoors or outdoors, but it's a very efficient setup. Harvesting is kind of a pain with the plants all wound through there, but his cured buds are just fine.

Nice haul for 250w and 44 days, Mr. Gator ;).

You still planning on doing that zero-veg flat grow? I may be gearing up for one myself, using low-profile 24" long window-box planters, and either 150w HID or 220w T5.

Either of those two lights keeps my 8' x 10' aluminum storage shed toasty at night.

I like being out there, nice ambience ;).
 
Setting Sun said:
Thank you for the info on the thin stems as regards the trellis. A friend grows outdoors using a cucumber trellis and the stems are more vine-like and thinner, but outdoors he still does very well. Trims all the fan leaves off and you have to be pretty close to see what he's growing. I prefer more portable arrangements in case I want to move plants indoors or outdoors, but it's a very efficient setup. Harvesting is kind of a pain with the plants all wound through there, but his cured buds are just fine.
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Saw through the stalk (trunk?) at ground-level, manicure the plant, and hang the trellis upside-down?

Setting Sun said:
Nice haul for 250w and 44 days, Mr. Gator ;).
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Word. You've undoubtedly changed the minds of many who thought they didn't have the space, the money, or the electricity to grow their own great meds.

Setting Sun said:
"there's no sex in violence"


or at least there shouldn't be ;)
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True, that. The reverse doesn't always hold true, however. Sometimes it's a crime.

Occasionally, it's just Ms. Boots wanting something a little different, lmfao.
 
Propa Gator said:
They weren't even agitated by a breeze till near the end, yet had strong stems and relatively large buds. SS encouraged me to put a fan in the bottom blowing up - thanks Mr Sun, I won't grow again without one.
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you're most welcome PG. I was going to be humble and say that I probably stole the idea from someone else, but I don't recall stealing it, although I'm sure lots of other folks used that setup before I did.

One other benefit that I don't think has been mentioned is that bulbs and lights should last considerably longer when cooled in this manner.


A trellis inside or out has pluses and minuses. To tie each branch to it's own place in the light is a good thing, but... That wire gets in the way for maintainance, and stems grow thin without having to carry all their weight.
My next pair of grows will have no cage, but the plants must be stayed from the light.
Plants will grow/lean into the light without concern for being burnt, so they must be tied.
Just now, I got a big :idea:
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silly suicidal plants, you'd think in their fight for self-preservation, they'd head the other way when things got too hot


The way a sailboat's mast is braced against bending uses crosstrees and line. Thread and a popsicle stick might work on my girls. :) I'm so happy; I could chase my cat.
He won't run if I do, so I think I'll smoke another bowl. Yeah, that'll work.
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with you at the helm, she will sail well by and large.

anchor's aweigh on the Pineapple Express!
 
TorturedSoul said:
Saw through the stalk (trunk?) at ground-level, manicure the plant, and hang the trellis upside-down?
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Not sure if it would be easier to harvest the tangle wet or dry, but at some point, cutting the buds out of the trellis in nugs is pretty much unavoidable to avoid damage.

Just have to take the pics beforehand ;)



True, that. The reverse doesn't always hold true, however. Sometimes it's a crime.

Occasionally, it's just Ms. Boots wanting something a little different, lmfao.
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:)
 
Setting Sun said:
silly suicidal plants, you'd think in their fight for self-preservation, they'd head the other way when things got too hot
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Reminds me about a post that I read once of a grow that had two different brands of HPS lights. The plants near the boundary on one side grew towards the other bulb - and yet the side that had the bulb that those plants were not growing towards actually produced more. I remember wondering at the time if the one bulb produced more of a part of the spectrum that plants "see" more when they're chasing the sun in nature and the other bulb had a healthier spectrum overall.

Not relevant to what you were talking about, but it recalled the post to my mind.
 
TorturedSoul said:
Reminds me about a post that I read once of a grow that had two different brands of HPS lights. The plants near the boundary on one side grew towards the other bulb - and yet the side that had the bulb that those plants were not growing towards actually produced more. I remember wondering at the time if the one bulb produced more of a part of the spectrum that plants "see" more when they're chasing the sun in nature and the other bulb had a healthier spectrum overall.

Not relevant to what you were talking about, but it recalled the post to my mind.
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Complex plant, complex problem. Are we men so very different?

If Ruthie is saying "Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want", you may be Stuck Inside Of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again. Bob Dylan said that.

I'm fascinated that plants may point to one spectrum/intensity, while 2nd choice was actually better for health/growth. Even with my last, my early(rushed) harvest consisting of the most solidly crystalline encrustations I have ever seen, I'm not yet convinced that HPS wouldn't yield the same quality. Maybe a bit less gross weight. Maybe, but quality is largely genetic destiny, and I the grower am merely an enabler.
With sated olfactories :)
 
Gator - just got back from my buddy's house where I had tried to get him to go vertical with a 600 HPS - the plants looked thin and spindly though, long internodes, and I think it's because he kept turning them instead of letting them get used to the light from one direction... and had the light too high. What do you think about the notion of turning vs. non turning... do they get dizzy?
 
OB-1Gardener said:
Gator - just got back from my buddy's house where I had tried to get him to go vertical with a 600 HPS - the plants looked thin and spindly though, long internodes, and I think it's because he kept turning them instead of letting them get used to the light from one direction... and had the light too high. What do you think about the notion of turning vs. non turning... do they get dizzy?
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I'll preface this with "I am not a vertical grower." My opinions are only my opinions.

Turning plants? Rotate them constantly - easier said than done, lol, especially for hydro growers. Single-plant containers and LP turntables salvaged from the local Salvation Army, maybe? 33 1/3 RPM? The REALLY old ones had a selection for 16 RPM. Turning by hand is just that - turning. It's not constant rotation where every bit of the plant receives strong light often.

Bulb too high? Remind your friend about the whole "bulbs throw 90+% of their light to the sides (not out from the tip)" thing.

If turning by hand... Can he do it at least every couple minutes? lmao
 
Accepting asymetricality is not intuitive. Results speak to me, and though I may put small lights behind or above vert colas, I won't be turning them. If I didn't have to wear a Rube Goldberg hat to design/build a vertical mover, I think an advantage could be gotten. Months back, there was a super duper mix-master looking spinner grow box. It looked :rofl: funny.
I had tried to get him to go vertical with a 600 HPS - the plants looked thin and spindly though, long internodes
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SS is right now getting more stretch with HPS than with LED. I believe his LED is well engineered for plant's need, as is the white light of CMH. And yes I agree that the bulb must be below the tops, which will not catch direct light. The right strains will sticky up anyway.

I've been cutting my 400w run, and have sticky fingers. And I reek of funky pineapple. If I go to the all-night grocery for some pastry, my friend at the cash register will wrinkle her nose and laugh at me. Everybody shopping this time of night gets sugar crap for the same reason. Only a lucky few stink of pineapples. I doubt those others are even conscious :)
I smoked only one small bowl of popcorn from the last batch; it was good. All the best was/is pre-spoken for, and I still have a supply of DM Pure Pakistani #18, which smells/works better as time goes by. I will need to aquire another DNA capsule of this for personal re-supply.

This is 5 of 8. They had 51 days.
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Some of the rest
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How's that for quoting outta context?
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Propa likes to punctuate, Gator likes to play.
Bel, you speak true. It is my pleasure to be caught and corrected, but...
My olfactories are still saturated, and they gonna be skunked for a while :yahoo:

This is the seven plants, the eighth is a no-count dwarf.
The extreme lollipop GWS grew one large meaty cola, bottom center.
It extenx 8" down past those two large round buds at the top of that thing.
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Sad thing^, an entire plant. Why didn't it just die?

GWS freak
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First 400 CMH run was OK, with learning oportunities. Fan leaf removal seems progressive, done reasonably. All the popcorn in the 250 run were popped with crystals, and heavy hitting. I will try to catch a close bud shot or two as these fly through. Fancy camera is on my Santa list. I want a car, but my bike is good for me. I want a big effen house, but not a mortgage. I want another hit of that scissor hash, but I'm too stoned to arrange it.
:oops: I lied RoorRip
 
No, man, look at the budlet growing from the base of the leaf.
 
Setting Sun said:
"there's no sex in violence"


or at least there shouldn't be ;)
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The Democratic Republic of Congo has unfortunately proven this untrue.

Thanks for sharing your work, Gator. I could eventually see a variant of this grow method being build into a stealth like bud box. Of course, then it would be sold for thousands of dollars!
 
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