Kirkyboi's First Go At Growing Journal

heres a pic of a cool tube.. youcan bring the light closeer and will keep the heat down
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check on amazon or even craigslist and look under "air cooled hood" or "air cooled reflector" and you should be able to pick one up for around 80$...This will make a large difference in cooling your tent because the light's heat will be sealed in an enclosure...and sucked directly out of your tent, before it gets a chance to heat the inside tempature of your tent.

You won't really need to make any major changes to your tent either, just hook it up between your carbon filter and the fan sucking air out of your tent...IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER..

carbon filter .>>...tubing.>>...air cooled light enclosure.>>..tubing.>>...fan sucking out....tubing...>

This should lower your temps a good 4-5 degrees...as long as you have a good airflow replacing what is sucked in...also...hooked up this way the output air will be much hotter than before, so if you have it venting into the same room as your tent, it won't do much good, so make sure you can have the hot air exit the room your growing in...will make a huge difference...

Hope this helps..




Also just a thought, if you do decide to put a lower wattage bulb in, make sure your ballast is designed to run that type of bulb...some ballasts, usually the digital ones will detect the bulb and set appropriatly, however the magnetic ballasts usually are set for 1 wattage only..and sometimes only one type of bulb...
 
Yeah i agree with these guys. If u had to of spent money it shoul have been on cfl/t5s/fluros that way u could get light real close to plants to get them started and very little heat. A cooltube is def the way to go for ur 600w. Sound advice above. If u have receipt for ur new purchases i'd just take them back to store and exchange them.
 
thanks again for all the info and advice and may i say i will defiantly have to go with the air cooled hood as i just did a test i replaced the 600w ballast and bulb to a 400w, i even had the intake pipe blowing on to the bulb and also a desk fan blowing on it to and guess what the heat still stayed at 84F.

I have the intake pulling air in from the bottom of my window and the out take blowing it out the top of my window.

So like i said i will have to take your advice and go with a cool hood.

Its strange tho as i can place my hand under the bulb about 4 inches down and i dont feel any heat?????

Anyhow here are a few pics of my girls so far:

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You may not feel much heat but it builds up over time, especially if u are venting into the same room as the tent as the intake will suck in the warm air extracted. Cant stress enough how much better fluros are for starting off. They are gentle on the plant compared to hot, high energy using HPS/MH, and they give the plant a chance to root in and get some substance before the intense light off a 600w.

Did u say this was your first grow? My advice is read everything u can and try to understand the biology of the plant. That way u will understand why something may be wrong or why u have to add nutes at certain ph etc. We all on a learning curve, be open minded and dont take criticism to heart. We all have our own ideas and opinions but as long as u can find something that works for u then u'll be sweet. Just remember simple is best and just because something has a fancy name or price tag it doesnt mean its best!

Good luck and keep us updated.
 
Thanks again for your comment and dont worry i wont take anything to heart all critiziem advice etc etc will be gratfully accepted.

Anyhow here is an update, i checked the girls the other day and noticed the roots coming out the bottom of the pots so i decided it was time to replant/transfer them to a new home, i popped down to our local shop to get all the stuff which is the following:

7 x 11 liter pots and trays
1 x bag of clay pebbles
2 x bags of 50 liter canna coco plus soil
the following Nutes:
Coco A
Coco B
Rhizotonic
Using the following mixture:
20ml of each to 10 liters of water.

I replanted them yesterday morning and took a look today and they look great and thriving, i have added some pictures for reference, hope you like.

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Kirky, they look happy and healthy as ever!! Great job so far!!
 
Dont mix rhizotonic with nutes, it works best at a low E/C. if u feel u must add nutes make them very weak. Also make sure u ph ur tank after adding nutes and especially rhizotonic because rhizotonic puts ph through the roof and can cause more damage than good if used incorrectly. I actually think rhizo is over rated, it is good dont get me wrong but i believe there are better products on the market such as House and Garden root excelerator.

They look like they coming along nicely though.
 
They coming along nicely. Expect rapid growth now u have big leaves! dont veg too long or u may find its a little crowded once the stretch of flower has finished.
 
Hey kirky!!!! Been a minute....wow your girls are looking good... Listen to these guys about an air cooled anything.....I wouldn't have a HID w/out it......it does make a difference pulling air from a contained tube space versus an open face of air space....that's crazy my man...you just wait you'll be thinking how much time on this you really didn't need to waste...not that experiences are wasted....keep em growing cause they look amazing....:hippy:
 
Thanks guys for the advice and the good comments, as for air cooled light etc i will defiantly purchase one for my next grow, as with this one it is a learning curve and to be honest it is going well infact the wife is more excited than i am LOL

I have however been able to keep the temp down to 77 - 78F which is what i wanted.

To be honest also since feeding them the nutes etc they have just gone crazy, tommorrow will be 3 weeks into the grow and the results so far are shocking to me (bare in mind i am a novice), i have uploaded more pics to show my little (not so little at mo) girls off:


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Wow Kirky...the ladies are looking really good....they really seem to have exploded since the previous set of photo's you posted...great job!! Very interesting looking leaves, really cool looking plants with tons of branches, which means later, tons of buds... :) The only thing I noticed about your photos, and this is just a suggestion...but the leaves look like there "canoeing" or the sides are curling upward... This is usually an indication of heat stress.... the leaves do this to increase transpiration, its trying to "sweat" more to cool itself down...so you may want to check your temps at the canopy level and make sure your sitting lower than 84...this is where my plants seemed to show heat stress and start doing this....

Otherwise the leaves look healthy and green and the growth seems really solid!! just try to make sure your thermometer is working properly and that your tent stays cool.. :)
 
That a boy kirky!!!!!!the girls look Stella.... I Agree with the canoeing with icemud....maybe keep that tent open alittle during light hours..or higher your lights ATAD...next time that new cooltube will be the difference maker for you..Other wise they are hella healthy.....nicey...:ciao:
 
Thanks guys, love the feedback, i did notice the curling on the front 2 plants but was not sure why......i was thinking at the time that it could of been cause by the desktop fan i have got running as they are closet to it and they are the only ones affected so i will do both, move the light away further and move the fan and hang it.

I have been so adamant with this grow to learn more and get as much advice as possible, this place has been excellent and you guys are brill with all your help.

Thanks alot
 
Hey kirky...you still want to keep the lights close, just not so....and the lower blowing fans are great for stem strength and branch building strength...but only lightly, not a full hurricane on those bitches...just simulate a real light breeze...the curling isn't from the fans....:ciao:
 
CannaVince said:
Hey kirky...you still want to keep the lights close, just not so....and the lower blowing fans are great for stem strength and branch building strength...but only lightly, not a full hurricane on those bitches...just simulate a real light breeze...the curling isn't from the fans....:ciao:
Click to expand...

Agreed......

Kirk u may also want to start thinking about how big u want the plants to finish. Bare in mind the plants will double if not treble in size in a short time during the flower period. In a tent that size i'd be lookin to flip lights pretty soon.
 
Cultivator said:
Agreed......

Kirk u may also want to start thinking about how big u want the plants to finish. Bare in mind the plants will double if not treble in size in a short time during the flower period. In a tent that size i'd be lookin to flip lights pretty soon.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice...here is where i am currently still learning and would love to have some feedback/advice if possible.
When do you think i should start putting them into a light and dark cycle, now or say in another week.
Also how many hours of light and dark should i put them through.

I know there are answers all over this board but everyone is different and there are different timeframes etc etc.

Any help would be greatly accepted
Thank you
 
Hey Kirky, the ladies are looking great...I would wait at least another few weeks to flip the lights personally..those plant's are still babies and the longer you let them veg, the larger of a yield you will produce in the end.... It seems that your tent is abou 6' tall and your plants are only at about 12" by the looks of it...I would start doing LST *low stress training and start gettting those branches tied down...you will have more tops to produce bud, as well as give your plants more time to develop a stronger base to bud from.... you can really flower anytime and they will go thru a 2 week stretch where the size will almost double to triple...(not always) depends on the strain...

This will not occur until you u switch your lights from your current light schedule to 12/12...12 hours on, 12 hours off...This tells the plant that the "winter" is coming and to get into budding for reproduction before the season ends...(buds)

I would suggest you wait until your plants are at least 18" high or even go up to 24 inches before flipping to flowering light cycle....If they decide to grow too high, you can always supercrop them after the stretch to produce bigger buds and cut the height down to where you want it...

The way I look at it...you spent all this time and money to grow...why not wait a little longer and get the most out of your efforts instead of getting too anxious and not letting them develop fully....and cutting down your yield... there is no right or wrong way to do it, but thats my philosopy...

Things are really looking good though and your doing a great job...definitely check out LST!!!
 
Thanks for the advice icemud....

As for LSTing them i will do that tommorrow as looked up a lot of info on it, just a little nervous as on most of the girls the stem are very thick and dont want to snap it at all so i will ween it down gradually over the next few days and leave them on 24 hour light for about another 3 weeks.

I was thinking also a about a week before flipping the light i would do some supercropping that way they have the rest of the week to heal before flipping.

I will get some more pics up in the next few days as and show the results of LSTing them.

Thanks again dude

Oh forgot to mention i measured them so far and they are 10 inches at the moment
 
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