GG7's Indoor/Outdoor Grows!

[OG13]

If the turbocloner is supposed to be so great w/ the fan and all, it's too bad you have to spend a bunch of money on a cycle timer.....It's nice they stood by their product, but any decent company/store should for things like that (infant mortality). Just wondering

 

[Goldengoose7]

Yeah... I must admit, I was hoping for a higher degree of cooling from that fan than I am getting in my cramped closet grow room.

However, the primary problem with my situation is that I can't keep the cloner in an area that can maintain the steady room temp of 69-75 degrees recommended in the TK owners manual. The correct ambient room temp is crucial in maintaining the optimum water temp of between 67-72 degrees F.

My T48 cloner resides in a 9 foot by 2.5 foot closet that shares that space with a 4 foot long, 4 tube high output T5 fixture, the 125 watt CFL above the cloner, and all within a west facing room! During the summer, this guest bedroom is the warmest in our house unless the central AC is running. Often times, this room will hit 80 degrees by 11AM, long before the rest of the house hits 72 and activation of the central air. A problem now that I have so much going on in there that generates heat of its own.

If the TK didn't have the additional cooling fan, the water temp with the unit running 24/7 would likely be much, much higher. I have read that the water in an EZ Clone machine can easily hit 90 degrees unless a cycle timer is used. The TK never got even remotely close to that high in my tests. Highest it got while running non-stop was 75 degrees, but even that is higher than ideal for root growth and oxygen levels.

I chose to add the timer because I want to maintain that ideal temp of 72. Yes... I could have just used one of the cheap mechanical timers I already had around that can do a 15 on and 15 off 24/7, but I wanted something more controllable and thus the purchase of the ART-DNe. It cost me $65.00 delivered, which when compared to all the other things associated with the MMJ industry, isn't much.

As for them stepping up when the pump broke... Yeah, you would expect any respectable company to replace the pump with a new one under warranty, but they didn't have to also include at no charge, that extra pump or the extra set of collars. The combined retail value of those two extras with shipping is well over $100.00.

If anyone asks me which brand of cloner to buy, I am still going to recommend the Turbo Klone hands down over anything else out there, for all the the reasons above.

Speaking of which...

Today's the day folks! A bit later this morning I will be taking a new batch of cuttings from my two Blueberry mother plants as well as a few cuttings from my two Purple Urkle clones that have produced some impressive new, node dense shoots! All will be headed for the Turbo Klone and hopefully our first successful multi-cutting Cannabis cloning session EVER!

Stay tuned!

 

[Goldengoose7]

Clones in the House!

Clones in the House! - Round #2!

I just got done preparing the final few clones and placing them into our recently field tested Turbo Klone T48 clone machine!

It was definitely a challenge with the Blueberry plants to find more than one of two suitable shoots to remove from the plants! I didn't want to remove any of the major growing tips especially because BOTH plants are starting to set blooms already!

Yep! I was really surprised to see them beginning to enter their flowering cycle when our hours of daylight are still close to 15 hours! The Purple Urkles have been into the early stages of bloom for the last week, but I chalked that up to them spending almost 10 days in the Bloom Room before I pulled them out over the excessive stretching issues.

Anyway...I managed to get 10 Blueberry cuttings and 7 Purple Urkle cuttings.

Even though I watered all the mother plants a few hours before I took the cuttings, I was surprised to see that the Urkle cuttings began to wilt within seconds of them being cut from the mother plants! Not sure exactly why this was happening, but I decided to take more than I originally had planned in case some of them don't make it.

The Urkles are marked with a label on their collars and you can spot all of them by their less than upright appearance! Hopefully, they perk up after a few hours in the cloner?

The new cycle timer is working great so far, and it is nice to have such a wide range of ON/OFF setting options to choose from. Because of the wilting issue with the Urkle cuttings, I decided to change my previous ON/OFF time to a longer ON and shorter OFF to hopefully rejuvinate the Urkles over the next day or so.

In my testing, I settled in on a cycle of 3 minutes ON and 7 minutes OFF. This kept the water temp stable at 3 degrees below the ambient room temperature. I plan to go back to that interval as soon as the Urkles recover. If they don't recover, then I will yank them and focus on the Blueberry cuttings which didn't suffer from this odd wilting issue.

Water temp is currently holding at 67 degrees , so I can afford to let the pump run longer for awhile. PH is currently holding at 5.5, but I expect it to rise a bit from the cloning gel being washed into the water. Will check the PH again in a few hours and adjust as needed. Looking for a final water temp of 71 degres F, because that will give me a degree to play around with in case it gets hot in there after the AC shuts down tonight.

To better keep an eye on the water temp of the cloner, I setup one of my many webcams to monitor the remote temp probe via our local network!

Saves having to go in there, open the closet doors and check directly.

Stay tuned for more photos of the garden and the clone's progress in the next few days.

Next on the agenda...

Blueberry Mother plants head into the Bloom Room tonight at 6PM to begin their 11 week flowering cycle using the experimental 14/12 light/dark cycle!

You can read all the details and add your comments and flowering cycle experiences in my new 14/12 thread!

 

[Goldengoose7]

Blueberry Mothers Head to Bloom Room!

Now that we have successfully obtained another good crop of cuttings from these two plants, and also considering that they are starting to flower even before they start receiving the 14/12 bloom cycle, I felt it was the right time to move them from outside into the Bloom Room!

I must say, that I am rather proud of how gorgeous these two plants have become! Especially considering that both of these clones were rather sickly for the first two weeks I had them to the point that I came very close to tossing them!

That was before I had joined 420, so unfortunately, I never thought to take any photos of them when they were those 4" tall little twigs with the yellowing leaves and the thin little stems! Sure wish I had now! The before and after would have been more striking than you could ever imagine!

Blueberry mothers under the Hydrofarm Designer Series 4 foot x 6 tube High Output T5 fixture. Tubes are staggered this time around with 6500k and 3000k very high output bulbs. In the front is a Sun Systems 125/250 watt CFL fixture with a Feliz 2700k CFL.

Also new for this flowering session are three conventional 40 watt CFLs with fixtures to act as additional side fills. Each bulb puts out 2900 lumens, which gives me an additional 8700 lumens on the plants I didn't have before. I got these for really cheap, so if they don't end up bringing much to the table, there isn't much out of pocket expense to worry about.

Until my PnG 14/34 timer arrives next week, I am going to run the lights on a conventional 12/12 cycle using my Intermatic timer.

WOW!

BUSY DAY TODAY!

Stay tuned for progress shots from all of these various projects as well as updates on our GDP clones in our next installment!

In the meantime...

Happy 4th of July everybody!

 

[papatater]

Plants are lookin great Happy 4th of july

 

[thspot]

isnt it the 3rd?

 

[Goldengoose7]

Decided to make the webcam monitoring of our cloner's water temp semi-permanent.

As you can see, the water temperature inside the cloner has now reached the ideal temp of 72 degrees F. Now the challenge will be to keep it from rising any higher than this. In a 9 x 2 closet, in the middle of summer!

 

[papatater]

Your plants are lookin awesome Goldengoose7 cant wait to see those young girls turn into some mighty fine ladies. Thspot i new i wouldn't be on puter much so I jumped the gun I hope you had a nice I to. Keep up the nice work

 

[Goldengoose7]

Thanks Man! Appreciate the compliments and encouragement!

I'll have some update photos in the next few days.

Stay tuned.

 

[THsea]

Lookin' good AuGoose!
Can't wait to see some budding sites on them blueberries!
Really cant wait to see how your new light scheduling turns out!
ya know I'll be around!
I don't have any questions today just perusing

 

[Goldengoose7]

Weekend Update!
Blueberry Clones in Early Flower • New 16/34 Timer in the House • Grand Daddy Purple Into Bloom Room! • Turbo Klone Progress!

Hi everyone!

As promised, here is the latest update on some of my current grow projects including new photos!

Blueberry Clones 1 and 2 in Early Flower!

First up today are some shots of our Blueberry clones that have just completed WEEK #1 in the Bloom Room. As you will see in the following shots, there are pistals popping out all over the place, and the plants have added about 3 inches in height since they went onto the 12/12.

14/34 Light Timer in the House!

I received that special timer that can run light cycles beyond the traditional 24 hours. There are some accuracy issues with this device that has caused me to delay employing it as the Bloom Room's lighting controller right now. (I have heard back from PlugnGrow and they informed me that this timer was discontinued because of this dial setting/actual hours ON/OFF issue) I am running it on a test bench with a single bulb and monitoring the on off times to make sure that the dial settings are within 20 minutes of the actual settings. Since there is literally no other timer on the planet that can run beyond the traditional 24 hour cycle, I am willing take a week or two, monitoring this device and determining where on the dial I need to be to get a solid 14/12 ON/OFF.

(For those who may be curious how I am doing this: I have a webcam monitoring the single Christmas Light plugged into the timer, running a time-lapse movie with a 20 second refresh rate via EVOcam. I can then go back and review the movie to locate the exact spot in time where the bulb comes on or goes off, and then log that time)

Eventually, I will have enough cycles to determine whether or not this timer is consistent with its ON/OFF time and where on the dial the knobs need to be set to get a specific value.

In the event that this timer proves to be inconsistent with its ON/OFF cycle times, I have already arranged for a full refund from the factory since I didn't learn of the manufacturing defect until AFTER I purchased the device. A fluctutating ON/OFF period of more than a few minutes would obviously NOT BE GOOD for a Flower Room light timer!

I am remaining cautiously optimistic that the settings descrepancies will only be related to the actual dial markings on the face of the timer and that the actual cycles themselves will be consistent from one ON/OFF cycle to the next.

GDP Clone #2 Into Bloom Room

Next up are a couple of shots of one of our GDP clones that we decided to put into the Bloom Room today. The plant is under our second tier light station composed of a Hydrofarm Designer Series 2 foot X 4 Tube VHO T5 with staggered 6400k/3000k bulbs. In addition to the T5, I have added a 40 watt CFL side fill which brings an additional 2900 lumens to the table. I may eventually add a second side fill as the plant grows larger. Will have to wait and see if that is going to be needed or not.

This is GDP #2 and was the middle grower in terms of growth rate and overall health between the three clones. The plant measures just over 15" from the base of the stalk to the the growing tip. I expect it to at least double in height between now and WEEK 8 of a flower cycle, and with only 41" of total height for this second light station, I figured I better get it in here now rather than risk another "Purple Urkle" situation.

Turbo Klone T48 Cloning Session Going Well on Day 8

The clones in the Turbo Klone are doing well. Took off the Humidity Dome 4 days ago and the cuttings had no problem with that. Root buds are just now starting to develop, so I added 3 ml of H&G Roots Excelurator to the reservoir and adjusted the PH back to 5.8.

Water temp has been holding within 69-75 degrees depending on the time of day, but I am not going to sweat trying to keep it at precisely ONE specific degree. Everything I have read about this process states that 69-75 F is the "comfort zone" of water temp for an aerocloner, and that is what I have settled on. The cycle timer has definitely helped in maintaining these temps and not letting things get too hot.

The macro on my camera is not that great, so I am not going to attempt any photos of the actual root buds right now. I will wait until there are actual roots growing from the clones and then share some photos with you then.

Today marks the end of Week #1 of this first official cloning run, and we appear to be right on schedule!

It is a good feeling to finally have what looks to be a 100% success rate, with every single cutting developing multiple root buds by day 7 of the process.

Bravo Turbo Klone!

Well... That about does it for this update. I will post another one later today or tomorrow for all the plants outside. Light levels are too low at this early morning hour for any decent photos, so those will have to wait until later today.

Stay tuned and thanks for checking out my Journal!

Cheers.

 

[OG13]

Glad to hear you got the Turbo Cloner dialed in.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Glad to hear you got the Turbo Cloner dialed in.

Thanks Man!

It is a relief to "finally" have a cloning process I can count on when I need to regenerate my stocks.

Stay tuned for another update later today with photos of our various outdoor plants.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Weekend Update 2
Outdoor Grow Progress Photos


As promised, here are some photos of all the various plants out back!

Purple Urkle Clone #1

This White Rhino seedling is not a seedling anymore! (5 weeks since germination)

Grand Daddy Purple #1

Grand Daddy Purple #3

Northern Lights Seedling #1 at 5 Weeks since germination

Last but not least...

One of the FOUR original Purple Urkle clones I made using the traditional Rockwool and cloning gel technique. These gals are just now starting to actually grow!

Only took 4 weeks! :icon_roll

So thats all for now! Stay tuned for more updates in the future!

Cheers.

 

[papatater]

Beautiful Man!!!!!!!! they are some good lookin plants

 

[Goldengoose7]

Beautiful Man!!!!!!!! they are some good lookin plants

Thanks Papatater!

I will post another photo update this weekend. The Blueberry's are really starting to flower now, but by Saturday, they will be even more impressive!

I'm also keeping an eye on that Purple Urkle clone last pictured in my last update. As soon as that gal hits 15 inches tall, she is going to join the GDP clone in the Bloom Room!

 

[Goldengoose7]

Latest News on 14/12 and Beyond Light Cycle Experiment!

I regret to report that the iGS 11L 14/34 timer I purchased earlier has turned out to be too unreliable to use. I used a time lapse webcam schedule to monitor the on and off cycles. Lets just say that PlugNGrow was wise to discontinue this product for sale. Some moderate inaccuracy may be fine for something like a 1-30 minute cycle timer, but when you are dealing with 14 hours ON, and 12 hours off, you can't have the timer adding or subtracting up to 70 minutes on either side, and doing it slightly differently every single time.

So... After coming to this conclusion I was left with a burning question... HOW am I going to pull off a 14/12 cycle without this timer?

I contacted the manufacturer, PlugNGrow up in Canada and told them where I was at. To my delight, their Head of Customer Relations contacted me first thing the next morning and worked me a very sweet deal to replace my defective 11L cycle timer with one of their slick new iGS15 Multi-Timers! All they wanted from me was the shipping and handling costs!! This timer sells for $350.00, which is almost 3 times the price I paid for the 11L! They didn't even want the 11L back! They told me to keep it and do with it what I pleased!

Now that is what I call standing behind your products! THANK YOU PlugNGrow!

It shipped out today from Canada and I expect to receive it sometime next week. Once it gets here, I plan to install it in the Bloom Room and start observing how the plants react to a 14/12 instead of a 12/12! I will of course keep you all informed of what differences I observe by giving the Blueberry Kush an extra two hours of daylight per day, while maintaining a 12 hour dark cycle too! (A 26 hour day basically)

The iGS15 can run cycles as long as 78 hours ON or OFF and everything in between, so there will be unlimited combinations of light cycles to play with over the coming months and years!

Thanks again for following my journal!

 

[Twelve12]

Awesome grow. There are tons of grow journal on this site, seem that I have missed this one. Have to catch up on the reading.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Awesome grow. There are tons of grow journal on this site, seem that I have missed this one. Have to catch up on the reading.

Welcome aboard Twelve!

Glad that you finally found our journal! WE've got a lot going on right now, and soon it will be the height of flowering season, both indoors and out! Should be interesting to say the least!

 

[Goldengoose7]

Weekend Update for Saturday - 07/16/11

As promised, here are the latest photos from the various grows! I am going to start off today with some new photos of the Blueberry Kush plants in the Bloom Room. The flower tops are starting to develop now, and the various Colas are filling out nicely so far.

Blueberry #2
This plant had its growing tip removed 4 weeks ago. The result was the emergence of four main Colas instead of just one center Main Cola. - Three of the four are shown here

Blueberry #1 Close-up

Cola Closeup of Blueberry #1

Blueberry 1's Main Cola from another angle using Macro Focus

Closeup of one of Blueberry #2's four main Colas

From another angle

Now on to the outdoor grows!

First up we have the latest photos of our two remaining GDP clones. GDP #2 if you remember is now in the Bloom Room entering her second week of flower cycle. Nothing new to report on her yet. Hopefully next week!

GDP Mother Plant #1 - Now Four Weeks Since Arrival

GDP Mother Plant #2 - Now Four Weeks Since Arrival

This GDP plant was starting to have a leaf curl problem, so I transplanted it into a larger 10 gallon pot which seems to be slowly resolving the issue.

Next we have shots of two of our four second generation Purple Urkle clones that were originally taken on June 6th using the traditional Rockwool and Clonex Gel technique. Not sure if it is the strain, or just the way things go with this method up here, but these things TOOK FOREVER to FINALLY ROOT and get growing! Here we are about to hit week #6, and they are just now starting to grow at a normal rate! Sure hope our Turbo Klone reared progeny fairs better in that regard! :icon_roll

Flashback!
Here is 2nd Gen Urkle Clone #1 back on June 21st

That same plant today

Purple Urkle 2nd Gen Clone #4

Speaking of the Turbo Klone...

Root development is still underway, although not as rapid as we had hoped or expected. I added the Roots Excelerator to the water as directed, as well as some additional Clonex cloning solution because the lower leaves of all the clones were beginning to turn yellow. I've been cutting those off as they loose all shades of green, and I hope that roots will start to develop more rapidly sooner rather than later!

Today marks Day 14 of the process. All I can surmise from both this cloning session and my previous attempts with Rockwool is that Blueberry and Purple Urkle are "Stubborn" strains to clone! Anyone have any input on that possibility? I have read that Blueberry is one of the harder strains to clone successfully, but have not heard about Urkle being equally stubborn.

And Finally...

Last but not least, we have the latest photo of our Blue Cheese mother plant as she begins her agressive ReVeg effort! It took four weeks before this previously flowered and harvested plant reverted back from flower to renewed vegitative growth! For awhile I was worried that it wouldn't survive, but our brilliant summer weather seemed to give her the shot in the arm she needed and she is now looking great!

I figure I can probably start taking cuttings from this original plant in another week or two!

Blue Cheese Four Weeks After Harvest

Fortunately, I had the foresight to take some photos of this plant on the day of her harvest to document how beautiful her flower buds and Trichome coverage was! The plant's flower tops were a beautiful shade of blue that was truly remarkable to see in person. The photos didn't really do her justice!

Even so... I have taken the advice of many of my friends here and entered two of those pre-harvest photos into the July "Plant of the Month" contest!

Blue Cheese on June 10th, 2011 - The Day of Harvest After 8.5 Weeks of Flowering

The poll is officially up now. Our entry is listed at the bottom of the poll because we just made it under the wire by entering our Blue Cheese plant on the day of the entry deadline. We welcome your support and vote for our BC Lady!

Well... That about wraps it for for this week! Stay tuned for our next photo update soon! Thanks again for following our journal!

Until next time... Have a GREAT WEEKEND!

Cheers.