Hey Buddy's BlackJack Auto Soil Grow Journal 2012

[Hey Buddy]

a few old star wars figures would b cool lol if it was going 2 blow it would have.I have a smoke alarm near my grow just in case something does go wrong. what's your over all wattage now? and what's the brake down?

Good idea with the smoke alarm. Im always on edge about that. How do I calculate the over all wattage?

Im running the 400w HPS on one plug then on another plug a 6 socket extension with the fan, extractor fan and now another extension at the end of that one with the 6 x 20w cfl's.....maybe Ill run the 6 cfls onto their own plug where my PC is setup and not onto a shared extension.Ill be getting 2 or maybe 4 more cfl's for the craic in a few days-My house is kinda funny. Whenever the electric shower goes on, everything dims a little. Always a worry. Really cant wait to get the LED's man. For €250 Itll make my life a lot less stressful. I am gonna start the new grow soon too so I gotta allow for that also...

Temps are hanging around 85 Fahrenheit & RH has come down to 30%

Happy dayz

 

[pac-mon]

I had a flat that was like that when shower was on all the lights dimmed.
520 watts of lighting is good for 4 plants,think your fans will use about 50 watts each so about 620w all in.a 50inch Sony LCD can use up to nearly 300w

 

[Hey Buddy]

I had a flat that was like that when shower was on all the lights dimmed.
520 watts of lighting is good for 4 plants,think your fans will use about 50 watts each so about 620w all in.a 50inch Sony LCD can use up to nearly 300w

Nice....so I may get 6 more cfl's and have a total of 12 x 20W.Really push em-

Thanks for the breakdown. Ill take some pics of the girls on Monday with a good camera so we can see some nice close ups.



What's going on with your grow?? How much longer? 2 weeks?

 

[pac-mon]

I cut a branch today give it try when it's dry.it should have a couple of weeks but might bring it down early really just want to get my red cherry berry started smoked that in the dam last year it was lush

 

[Hey Buddy]

I cut a branch today give it try when it's dry.it should have a couple of weeks but might bring it down early really just want to get my red cherry berry started smoked that in the dam last year it was lush

Would you not get 2 setups going like Im planning so there's only a month or so in between each harvest?? Even with an Autoflower Im running out of patience! red cherry berry sounds good...great for sunny days I reckon. Fingers crossed you get a nice dry weight from this one

 

[pac-mon]

I want to have a good clean out b4 I start anything else. I had really bad fungus gnat problem and want to make sure there all gone b4 start over.it will b my 1st time with know seeds and have big hopes for them.it's soul destroying drying weed u loose so much,I'd say 2/3!

 

[RedLeb]

Hey Buddy what LEDs did you decide to get?

 

[Hey Buddy]

Hey Buddy what LEDs did you decide to get?

Well I've decided or should I say the Grass Gods have decided that buying 8 x cfl's for the seedling stage is the only thing I can afford right now and make a make shift box which I'm starting next week with 4 big bud auto s. This is separate from the 8 x Cfl's I just bought to help with the flowering of the blackjacks so I figure once the new batch of big buds is 2/3 weeks old Ill get a 240w Lighthouse BlackStar LED Grow Light flowering to take over for flowering then in a couple of weeks after that Ill get the Veg/Clone one and have both of them in a tent 2m wide by 1.5m deep which I found from a UK seller (everything is over priced over here) for only €200 incl shipping. One half of the tent will be seedlings/veg and the other half flowering so Ill hopefully have a yield every 4 weeks...

Well that's the plan so Im gonna try stick with it-

What do you think of the Macgyver light box?

I just noticed some yellow spots on the smaller plant. Any of you guys have an idea what could be causing it? I fed them yesterday for the first time on full strength. Maybe the small one needs a bit less? Im reading it might be a Manganese (Mn) deficiency....but that means Manganese may be unavailable to plants where pH is high and my soil is 6.8 but to be on the safe side I sprayed the leaves with pepper spray (not the type the cops are using) that has Mn in it- Ill be giving them some blackstrap molasses on Tuesday and that has Mn in it too....

 

[RedLeb]

I like CFLs & have 2 x 85w fixed together that give out nearly as much light as a 180w LED.. they run a bit warmer, and cost a bit more to run but at 1/5 the price are a good buy..

I have 1 red spectrum 2700k (flower) and 1 blue spectrum 6400k (veg) ... once again they seem better together...

There's a guy on Ebay (Green Lamp) who sells them, and good quality grow tents... you might like to look at... I suppose all carriers to Eire are going to be expensive though..

Now you've got into strong feeding you might find the leave burn a bit, its a trade off if you don't get it exactly right!

 

[Hey Buddy]

I like CFLs & have 2 x 85w fixed together that give out nearly as much light as a 180w LED.. they run a bit warmer, and cost a bit more to run but at 1/5 the price are a good buy..

I have 1 red spectrum 2700k (flower) and 1 blue spectrum 6400k (veg) ... once again they seem better together...

There's a guy on Ebay (Green Lamp) who sells them, and good quality grow tents... you might like to look at... I suppose all carriers to Eire are going to be expensive though..

Now you've got into strong feeding you might find the leave burn a bit, its a trade off if you don't get it exactly right!

cool...I wonder how long this guy 'green Lamp' will last on the post as once I mentioned a youtube seller and it got ousted. Maybe if its not one of the 420 sponsors, it cant be mentioned. Ill check tho- Thing is buying from a UK or US seller is actually cheaper than buying from an Irish seller for some reason. Our economy is struggling so retailers have to jack up the price to be able to reach their overheads and in doing so they drive away customers to the Uk and beyond...

So you think its good to have the 6400k spectrum in there too when flowering? Does it help balance the whole thing? Im gonna buy a few more cfl's for this grow and attach them higher up to boost the top of the canopy so maybe Ill get some 6400k ones instead??

Wow this guy is selling 10 x 85w Energy Saving CFL 2700k warm light Bulbs for €150

Total lumen output would be 5500 x 10 which is 55,000 lumen!!! The sun is 10,000 lumen! This has to be looked into!

But saying that, the LEDs are more expensive to buy but cheaper to run so I gotta stick with that plan- Once I have my own wind turbine, Ill use everything possible-

 

[pac-mon]

I'd just get the flower bulbs since u also using ur 400w I got my 3 45w from green lamp quick delivery no probs

 

[Hey Buddy]

I'd just get the flower bulbs since u also using ur 400w I got my 3 45w from green lamp quick delivery no probs

Ah but I need something for the seedling stage of this new grow and I cant use the 400W anymore....cant risk having a high electricity bill so I may hold off a bit and get a 90W UFO LED light for seedling stage that will cover 4 plants and is cheap to run...costs around €150 inc shipping so Im gonna mull over it a few more days...if I can find my old electricity bill then I can calculate what Ive used since and take it from there.

Green Lamp has a few nice deals tho..very hard to resist!

It actually works out cheaper to buy from green lamps website than on ebay...save on shipping-

 

[pac-mon]

if your useing cfl's for seedling/veg stage you'll def need a 6400k (blue) buddy.

 

[Hey Buddy]

if your useing cfl's for seedling/veg stage you'll def need a 6400k (blue) buddy.

Sound, Ive made a note of that pac-mon- How long are you going to cure your smoke? Im reading that A GOOD cure takes 4 weeks, and some conisours (mispelled) cure it up to 6 to 8 weeks!!!

Yikes!! Also. Did you flush before harvest? I'm reading you don't necessarily have to-

A critical look at preharvest flushing

You might think I'm a bit mad but I've decided to get rid of the 6 x 20W bulbs that are giving off a total of 6960 lumen and replace them with 12 x 23W Cfls that will give off a total 19200 lumen ....so the grow room will have a total lumen of 69200 lumen which is 17300 lumen per plant. Give the girls a real bright future!

Will be hooked up on Thursday or Friday-

 

[pac-mon]

I only gave nutes a couple of times so no flush required.iv only cut a couple of branches not sure how long il leave the rest and not sure about curing but funnily enough I got a glass jar today, in the past iv just smoked once dry might try n do it right this time.not easy sitting with nothing to smoke when uv a jar full

 

[Hey Buddy]

I only gave nutes a couple of times so no flush required.iv only cut a couple of branches not sure how long il leave the rest and not sure about curing but funnily enough I got a glass jar today, in the past iv just smoked once dry might try n do it right this time.not easy sitting with nothing to smoke when uv a jar full

Yeah man, that's another reason why I want to have 2 or even 3 separate grows going. The idea of leaving buds in a jar for that long in my books is a form of torture but not if you have a batch that's already being cured for a few weeks.It'll take 6 months for me to get the ultimate set-up going but I really have nothing else to do so it'll be worth it-

What colour are the trichomes now?

 

[Hey Buddy]

ok day 45 and I've fed em today on full strength so fingers crossed they like it...red stem is still there but is getting better. I imagine it to be gone by the end of the week. Tallest is 33 inches so they are at their tallest. Temps are around 27 Celsius & Humidity is hovering 30%

They are filling up nicely....

As you can see this plant has some brown spots!! Im not too worried.....yet!

They look like they want a hug. Anyone know why??

 

[RedLeb]

Hey Buddy, looks like thinks are going well with you..

Just been checking on other journals using LEDs and there are quite a few comments on the need for extra calcium - magnesium supplements from the start of the grow....

"I have needed to up the cal-mag even further on the coco PE's and am giving them a steady diet of 9ml/gallon. This seems like crazy amounts to me but the plants just look better and better. Knowing what I do now, I think the plants would be even larger and further along if I had known this from the beginning. I should have vegged from day one using bloom nutes and heavy cal-mag. I would certainly recommend this to any new LED growers that are going to use Coco. I wouldn't be surprised if my ladies need even more as we are going into the stage of flowering where I am used to seeing mag deficiencies. I am going to try and stay ahead of it and hope it works."

Also might like to keep the lights slightly higher than suggested..

"To be clear these LED lights can still pump out a ton of lux. At 12" or closer to the LED panels, the intensity jumps up there to crazy levels. As in the same peak readings I could find under a 600W hps. But my plants can't take being that close under the LED's or they start bleaching."

This seems to be pretty much what I'm finding.. You might like to bear it in mind when you get your LEDs underway.

 

[Hey Buddy]

Hey Buddy, looks like thinks are going well with you..

Just been checking on other journals using LEDs and there are quite a few comments on the need for extra calcium - magnesium supplements from the start of the grow....

"I have needed to up the cal-mag even further on the coco PE's and am giving them a steady diet of 9ml/gallon. This seems like crazy amounts to me but the plants just look better and better. Knowing what I do now, I think the plants would be even larger and further along if I had known this from the beginning. I should have vegged from day one using bloom nutes and heavy cal-mag. I would certainly recommend this to any new LED growers that are going to use Coco. I wouldn't be surprised if my ladies need even more as we are going into the stage of flowering where I am used to seeing mag deficiencies. I am going to try and stay ahead of it and hope it works."

Also might like to keep the lights slightly higher than suggested..

"To be clear these LED lights can still pump out a ton of lux. At 12" or closer to the LED panels, the intensity jumps up there to crazy levels. As in the same peak readings I could find under a 600W hps. But my plants can't take being that close under the LED's or they start bleaching."

This seems to be pretty much what I'm finding.. You might like to bear it in mind when you get your LEDs underway.

Nice one RedLeb...you just saved me a whole lot of headache! Im having a problem with my gals tho. Definitely a deficiency of some sort. Some of the leaves have brown spots and are curling up a bit so maybe its too hot or something?

Any ideas?

 

[RedLeb]

Doubtful its too hot... What feed & how much did you give them.. ? I singed the edges of mine with less than 1/2 strength.. easy done..