K-Frat's Soil Skunk Diesel Closet Grow Journal -2012

[K-Frat]

Just noticed today that there was a white powder substance on top of my soil. It's not fuzzy or mold I don't believe. I hae been using RO water and no nuets at all anyone have an idea of what this might be good/bad? Hope it's nothing major from what I read it's just salt build up possibly but I have been using RO water will this still happen?

 

[dadums]

Did you rinse your per-light? It may be dust from that working to the top.

 

[K-Frat]

Did you rinse your per-light? It may be dust from that working to the top.

It was already mixed with the soil i just wanted to make sure it wasn't nothing serious before my next water and allow it back through the soil or remove it.

 

[dadums]

I've had that before and it didn't hurt. I think you'll be OK as long as it is just a little there.

 

[NLnovice]

Great set-up K-Frat,
I am subscribed and want to learn about skunk diesel. It's one of the strains I am interested in for a future grow. Those lights are great and a heck of a lot easier than my light bar. Those plants look great and seem to be growing quick. As for the white stuff on the soil it was tough to see but the way you described it sounds like perilite that got crushed in the soil and rose to the top after being watered.
I wish you continued Good Luck

 

[K-Frat]

Thank you for the encouragement and support! The lights are working great, I have had to adjust them before work and then when I get home just to keep them from growing into the light. They are growing like weeds!! I am planning on getting two more and a bulb they use for the fixture I have thats not being used right now(old black light fixture takes the same size bulb I tested it to see) I'm sure they are thirsty it's been a week since i watered them. I have sprayed them water to keep them content I wanted to hold off on watering until the nuets come in which will be tomorrow Hopefully it gets here before I leave for work so I can get to work on the feeding schedule. On another note I have a white shark clone coming as soon as it's established I have seen the momma and I must say I can't wait to to add this to the family.

 

[K-Frat]

big shout out and thank you to cory from BPN for the prompt service and delivery!

yesterday was once month since germination. Can't believe how much they have grown in that time here are a couple pics to show

Today I fed my girls with 2.5ml each of grow micro bloom. I wasn't able to get a ph level as my ph meter hasn't come in yet but I will have it by the next time I feed. They were slightly drooping because I held off a week on watering so that I could give them the nutes when they arrived. I was surprised at how much they grew even without water. I think I will be sticking to 1 week waterings instead of twice a week. My white shark clone is doing good and should be coming home with me this weekend!

 

[K-Frat]

woke up this morning to notice a hole in a leaf and a few yellowing spots. Found what looked like a spider mite. Sprayed a Fungicide 3 on it. Works for mold/insects/mites. Glad I caught it early I did not want to have to deal with an infestation. I will be applying for a 7 day schedule to make sure they are eliminated.

 

[NLnovice]

Your plants are beautiful. Sorry to hear about the spider-mites, sound like you caught it in time and are dealing with it. A question for you... How tall is your grow space? Those plants look like they are gonna be tall.

 

[K-Frat]

Your plants are beautiful. Sorry to hear about the spider-mites, sound like you caught it in time and are dealing with it. A question for you... How tall is your grow space? Those plants look like they are gonna be tall.

It's about 6 ft tall. I need to get another light in there soon or im going to end up fming. It is a sativa dominant strain so I fighting genetics when trying to stop them from getting tall There too tall for me to lst already and I don't want to take the chance of them breaking. I don't want to have to do either but if they continue to grow like they are then I will have to do something. Within the last week I have adjusted the lights almost every day. I am trying to keep them as close as possible to prevent stretching but at the same time trying to avoid them burning on the lights. Glad I don't plan on taking a vacation anytime soon because this is definitly a full time grow for me.

 

[donpaul.p]

great news on the bpn, my tap water is 7.1ph and after mixing the nutes in it lowers it to about 5.8, so its slightly low for pot plants, that range is ideal for hydro or dwc grows, but i use it at 5.8 as i have not got any ph up yet, my plants are growing like crazy so i dont think its much of a problem, you will notice a huge difference in growth over the next few days now your using bpn, it really is magic in a bottle

 

[K-Frat]

Happy 4th of July everyone! I just wanted to update quickly. Everything is good other than losing my biggest girl to unknown breakage yesterday. I woke up and it was broke and a complete break. I didn't think to cut were it broke and put it in some rooting gel to save it until it was too late. I simply tried to splint and support it then tape it off. It didn't work because how bad the break was. I am still kinda pissed over it not sure if it was the dog or what that got into it maybe my mini me idk... Either way R.I.P mary you will be missed the most. My other plany Amy is growing well except there is no growth coming from the main stem at the node. Is this possibly going to be a male? Mary had lots of under growth coming in when she broke and nothing on Amy. They were germed together any comments on this?

 

[dadums]

Sorry for your loss.. Damn gremlins tipped one of my girls over lucky no harm done.

 

[K-Frat]

Sorry for your loss.. Damn gremlins tipped one of my girls over lucky no harm done.

Yeah I almost feel like I need to setup an alarm system when im sleeping because thats when they like to strike. I was super pissed and realised if I wouldn't have left the door open,(I left it open because I have a ceiling fan and the air blows lightly into the closet) that none of this would have happened. I put a hook latch up high so if the room door is open it would be a miracle to unlatch that and get into my ladies again!

 

[NLnovice]

Sorry to hear about your loss, at least it was in veg. still and not like 2 weeks to harvest. Hopefully the others will have huge yields to make up for her absence.

 

[K-Frat]

Thank you for the kins words and support! I came accross this thread just now its old and unfinished but almost exactly what I am considering.Using T8 shop lights to the extreme As of now i do not have enough lights. This weekend i will be getting more of the samelights then purchasing a 2ft 4 tube flo fixture. I will then hang the 4 tube above and put the ones i started with on the walls 2 per wall on three sides. When flowering i will change 1/2-3/4 of the bulbs to 2700k. Depending on the end results this time and one more run through of this setup I might consider flo lights for veg and then hps for flower. Want to do 2 runs because there has been hiccups along the way this time and next time I will not as much waiting for shipments and money to purchase what i need

 

[K-Frat]

I add two more of the exact same lights today also added 2 T12 soft light for a temp thing and 2 CFL 2700K until I get my finishing lighting figured out

Clone is in the middle im nursing it atm hopefully the extra light will help

 

[K-Frat]

Feel like my head is going to explode with all the info and reading I have done this past week. I want to share what exactly I have as far as lighting so I can get some input here before moving forward with decisions. I would also like to add that I have seen alot of people start out with CFL/Flo tubes then switched to HPS. I do not want to fall victim to that. I realise how much better the flower and yields are but I Have also seen tons of sucessful cfls grows out there and have recently seen one in person that was amazing. Now onto the numbers:

Bare in mind that I am working with what I can find laying around and most of the money spent so far has been on flo lights. Also the sq feet of my space is 6.8 sq feet

4x17w 7800k flo tubes
1x23w 2700k cfl
1x13w 2700k cfl
1x20w 24" T12 cool white
1x30w 4' T12 cool white


Input on suggestions are always welcome! I have been looking at getting three 105w 2700k CFL bulbs for flower to hang and then put the flo on the side as mentioned before as side lighting. I have had so much stretch on one of my ladies im considering fming her . I am far from done vegging and if it's going to grow 1.5 the height it is now it will out grow my area easy. All things considered next go round with cfl and flo will probably be learing scrog

 

[dadums]

I'll send you a pm with a link to supercharge t8s

 

[K-Frat]

Ty for the link I have been pointed in that direction once before and will consider this as an option. I have noticed since my installing my new addition of lights that my girls are happy. The leaves seem to "cup up" towards the light and stretch their leaves towards it. I sprayed them down with a spray bottle and they rewarded me back with a sweet mint/skunky smell it was awesome! It reminded me when I got the bag I found the seeds in. I consider myself lucky to be able to get seeds out of a great batch of high grade not quite medical but very close. Didn't mention before but my weekly watering came and went. Fed them 1/4 nutes again last part of the res i had mixed. pH was at 5.8 I know it's a little low but close will try to get some pH up and pH down to keep it between 6.0-6.5. Noticed a little burn on the leaves at the tips and a spot or two on fan leaves, was thinking about raising it to 1/2 but will give one more go around with 1/4 before raising to get them more used to being fed. My White Shark Clone is responding well to the nutes and to the new addition of light will def be a project in it's own nursing it back from a cutting but will be a nice short bush when it takes off. I have a friend who is growing some of the same seed as me and his are bushy and short while mine are lanky and tall mainly because of the light difference that we have. He has 7 of the wallyworld lights when i only started out with two definitly can see the difference. so far a couple more weeks and he will be ready to flower!