KJ's T5/CFL 1st Time Grow

Nobody! come on, someone has a link somewhere that can help with these leaves.

Ok, so Mr Dumb Luck was on my side again...

The clones are growing pretty fast, it's clear I have to do something quick. I walked by my 1st growing shelf system, the Gorilla adjustable shelves. Grabbed the tape measure and they are 34" wide, the clone closet is 36" wide!

All I have to do is put the shelves in the closet and cut a plywood shelf to fit on top of the shelf (cut holes for the uprights if needed). Then I'll have an adjustable shelf system inside the clone closet. 1/2 the plants on the top, 1/2 the plants on the top. Then I can get cheap grow bags that's fit about 12 per shelf. Maybe 12 1 gallon bags will fit. It's about 26x36 = 936 sq inches, that's 78 sq inches per plant. Or about 8"x 8" each. Should work for the footprint part, the height will end up about 2' once you count the lights.

One other note:

I mentioned about the light system not being for sale anymore on Amazon. Probably should have ordered sooner. I was thinking I could call Apollo and ask them to sell me 1 600W ballast setup with bulbs near the price I paid for the prior one. I already have the cool tube shipped to me.

The cool tubes sell for around $50+ The timers run about $12. The ballasts are about $120~150 The bulbs are in the $25/30 range. So it was really a pretty good deal for $160 for a complete system.

So I'll probably give them a call direct, heck maybe they'll even give me a discount. I do still have both the bad ballasts.

On ballast has a blow fuse, I might be able to replace that fuse, test it, if it works, ask them for a discount on it!

OOOOHMMMMM, OOOOOOOHM, now breathe karl, good in, bad out. OK, My plants will do that sometimes after applying calmag. Karl, this is hydro, If you're using a complete regimen, and suspect a deficiency, this is what I'd do, this is deep water culture if I remember right, next time you apply nutes, mix your solution to the bottom end of your acceptable Ph range, go ahead and run it, and let the Ph go all the way to the top of the acceptable Ph limits. This will ensure that ALL the necessary nutrients will be available to the plant as the Ph rises through the ranges that the plants can utilize them. If you do have a deficiency that should fix it. You have alot of foliage there karl, at this point you need to be looking at the overall health of the plant in general. I have things happening, I'll post pics, that are abnormal, possibly, but at this point they are still super healthy, and will finish just fine without a lovely cosmetic appearance. Your plants are LOVELY!
 
Well ok, I'm a 'nervous Nelly' sometimes :D...

It's a soil grow, and the soils is a few weeks old, but should still have good nute content.

Maybe this is just what normally happens with all plants. I have an Oak tree in my yard, it had dead branches and a hole in one side. A pro came out and examined all the trees. They were all in excellent health, and everything was either normal or fine.

I'd just hate to see this stuff spread around.

The biggest fear is not catching something in time and ruining everything when a simple fix would have saved everything.
 
Well here's the latest version of the clone closet:

Added the mylar sheet to the back side, still need fans, duct, etc...

The shelf fits near perfect side to side, but the closet is much deeper than the shelves which are 14"

So I'll either just use some plywood and cut holes for the uprights, or just do something like what I have in the pic.

It doesn't use all the floor space, but I'll have to wait and see how this all plays out.

The upside is that it's adjustable, I can create 2 levels pretty easy. I can even run new clones on the side if I cared to.

I might get creative about lights on adjusters attached to the very top, but that's another day...

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The Gorilla shelves are a kit that has two halves, you can attach the two halves either side by side, or top-bottom. This is 1/2 of the kit, I can cut down the other half and put it on top. This requires the shelf supports to remain exactly at the joint between the two halves, which might get in the way of the plants. I could also weld them together if that's an issue.

Either way, this will get me by for a while longer.

Given that these shelves are a pure 'after thought', I'm pretty happy it turned out this way.

The clones/teens look great, several are getting pretty tall and plenty of new growth.
 
Well ok, I'm a 'nervous Nelly' sometimes :D...

It's a soil grow, and the soils is a few weeks old, but should still have good nute content.

Maybe this is just what normally happens with all plants. I have an Oak tree in my yard, it had dead branches and a hole in one side. A pro came out and examined all the trees. They were all in excellent health, and everything was either normal or fine.

I'd just hate to see this stuff spread around.

The biggest fear is not catching something in time and ruining everything when a simple fix would have saved everything.

I'm sorry karl, I was bustin thru a pile of emails cuz my nets been down for a coupla days.
 
And here's the basic concept I was talking about to get the lights on the side. I didn't want to use my 'working' sawhorse, but I'm not using it at this time and I'll have to search for some brackets. it's not long enough for the whole side of the grow and the tubes are veg still (I don't know if veg tubes will matter, after all, the sun has full spectrum)

So here we go, a good cheap reuse of the lights that were just sitting there.

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One of the other tube veg light will probably end up in the clone closet pretty soon, but now the clone closet has 8 100W CFLs, so I think they're ok for now.
 
Noticed some stuff on the leaves of the clones. I've been spraying them with PH'd tap water and I have no fan in the clone closet. Does this look like simple 'water spots' like what you'd get on your car if you don't dry it off?

I was thinking powdery mold or something, but it really looks like water residue buildup from spraying the leaves too much with no fan.

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Again, this is just the clones, not the primary grow.
 
I added the double fan in there and I might just wipe off the leaves. From the looks of this it really looks like hard water or chem build up. I don't know what mold looks like but this really doesn't look like what I would expect mold to look like.

Also, in addition to the 2nd 600W HPS, I ordered the PPM meter. It was about 1/3 the price the local shops were asking.

I expect everything will be here about Tuesday, and then I'll has TONS of light!

Buds continue to thicken, they've taken on a 'fuzzy ball' kinda look, I've been moving the plants around to share the light. Because the 2nd HPS is a gull-wing, I might call them and see if I can keep the cool-tube and send back the gull wing. My concern is that the small 5000BTU A/C just isn't going to cut it.

Outside temps are in the mid 70s right now and that 5000BTU A/C has been on full blast since I installed it. Sadly I just don't think that baby A/C is worth a dam. I don't have central A/C right now, but I have the portable A/C near ready to go.
 
Looks like residue, I get the same thing with a cool mist humidifier.....never been a problem, you can see your water has a pretty high mineral content.

yea, my water has a HUGE mineral content!

I have a portable room A/C that takes tap water and runs it thru an exchange, it stopped working. I tore it apart and it was FILLED with mineral deposits. I must of removed a cup or more of mineral deposits and it still had more.
 
New bud pics:
You can see a lot more hairs and they are starting to take shape. Today was a Nute watering day no CaliMag this time.

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The 2nd HPS is 'in the mail'. Probably looking at Tuesday. It'll be nice to give these girls some breathing room. I'm keeping an eye out for a used 10K+ BTU A/C on CL. I'd like to get one of those 25K BTU ones but those are hard to find at a good price.

Noticed what looks like 'frost' on one, maybe the trichs are coming in. I'll have to check if the macro lens is going to be enough or I'll have to buy one of those USB microscopes.

This is the PPM Meter I ordered: HM TDS-3. It's $16 and they wanted about $60 at the local shops.

HM Digital TDS-3 Handheld TDS Meter With Carrying Case, 0 - 9990 ppm TDS Measurement Range, 1 ppm Resolution, +/- 2% Readout Accuracy - Amazon

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Well I got the HM TDS-3 meter today. Total was about $26 with shipping/tax/etc...

Tested it out and was surprised by at least one thing.
Tap water was 41 Standing 1 day water was 37 and when I ran some water thru my 'brita' type filter it went UP to 101!

The filter is pretty new, just ran a few gallons thru it so it might need to get the charcoal or whatever flushed out, but I didn't expect the PPM to rise!

So is 40 a good number for tap water?

I understand that the important number is the run off number, but that'll have to (or at least should) wait for the next watering.
 
Well I got the HM TDS-3 meter today. Total was about $26 with shipping/tax/etc...

Tested it out and was surprised by at least one thing.
Tap water was 41 Standing 1 day water was 37 and when I ran some water thru my 'brita' type filter it went UP to 101!

The filter is pretty new, just ran a few gallons thru it so it might need to get the charcoal or whatever flushed out, but I didn't expect the PPM to rise!

So is 40 a good number for tap water?

I understand that the important number is the run off number, but that'll have to (or at least should) wait for the next watering.

IDK, I'm afraid to test mine..LOL!
 
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