Max's PC Grow Box Journal - 2013

Thanks, okay so now everything seems to be done on the case and everything. Just growing now and nutes,. Its all sealed up so that no light can get in or out well id say its like 95% light proof with light being able to get in through the fan on the back and thats pretty much it :) Will post pics once there is more development, the chronic grew another 2-3cm since yest.
 
Maxximilian said:
Shit i didn't know that that was a big no no i thought because the light in the room is so far away that there would be no energy transfer so it be kinda okay. i'm working in sealing the box off on monday with some duct tape. Well shit things you do when you don't know. will this have affected the plants in a large way?

Anyways heres how its looking now with a new sucking thingy and how i made the filter. I can report so far
Black stuff is active carbon :P Brown stuff is a coffee filter.
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Here is a pic of what you want to look at doing,

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later on you want to get a even canopy so that your lights hit the plant evenly, bending plants helps keep it equal,

If your able to leave the door off during lights on, it should help with exchange, but i know whole part is to be discreate,

Good progress tho, keep it up!
 
jlt1202 said:
Here is a pic of what you want to look at doing,

April_14th_32.JPG


later on you want to get a even canopy so that your lights hit the plant evenly, bending plants helps keep it equal,

If your able to leave the door off during lights on, it should help with exchange, but i know whole part is to be discrete,

Good progress tho, keep it up!
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THanks a lot for that. Little update. I was doing some looking online on ebay and there are 60x60x140 grow tents for sale for roughly 90 euros. and seeing as i have a friends 250W hid or whatever it is not sure. So what i'm thinking about is if its worth getting that. the most important thing in this case if i do get it is to get rid of the smell of anything whilst the tent is closed. because id be putting it in my room as well and yeah i live with a few people in this flat and theres a maid etc that comes by wouldnt want anyone noticing.
 
I would keep the leaves on as long as possible try moving them out of the way, Plants store nutrients in their leaves. by removing the leaves you are setting them back and removing they nutrients before they use them. Plants do this naturally, leaves fall off as they reproduce because they are drawing nutrients out of them.(they are thinking im dying so ill make youngings) Why people let their crops defoliate, or why your pecan leaves fall off aas they produce pecans. There's lots of information on it out there. Look at dicots at any .edu website and can find a lot in regards to that. lots of growers on here cut them I have no idea why. If she Hermied wouldnt be the end of the world, you would have bud..and seeds!.
 
Albatross said:
I would keep the leaves on as long as possible try moving them out of the way, Plants store nutrients in their leaves. by removing the leaves you are setting them back and removing they nutrients before they use them. Plants do this naturally, leaves fall off as they reproduce because they are drawing nutrients out of them.(they are thinking im dying so ill make youngings) Why people let their crops defoliate, or why your pecan leaves fall off aas they produce pecans. There's lots of information on it out there. Look at dicots at any .edu website and can find a lot in regards to that. lots of growers on here cut them I have no idea why. If she Hermied wouldnt be the end of the world, you would have bud..and seeds!.
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There are many trains of thought on this, I like your view :)
 
Well I took the plants out after these pics and decided to take some more pics. Enjoy.

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FYI: Day 11 of having the two, Day 8 of flowering 12/12
Probably starting them on nutes tomorrow with their next load of water.
 
Albatross said:
I would keep the leaves on as long as possible try moving them out of the way, Plants store nutrients in their leaves. by removing the leaves you are setting them back and removing they nutrients before they use them. Plants do this naturally, leaves fall off as they reproduce because they are drawing nutrients out of them.(they are thinking im dying so ill make youngings) Why people let their crops defoliate, or why your pecan leaves fall off aas they produce pecans. There's lots of information on it out there. Look at dicots at any .edu website and can find a lot in regards to that. lots of growers on here cut them I have no idea why. If she Hermied wouldnt be the end of the world, you would have bud..and seeds!.
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if you are feeding your plants, and you remove its supply of nutes in the leaves, then the plant will search through the dirt for more nutes, and then send them to new leaf growth and make the plant grow.... got to think like a plant lol
 
I have a degree in plant and soil science. You are removing tissues that are storing nutrients in their cell contents, proteins (your building blocks..) carbs, starches etc. Also wounding them which will cause stress, open them up for pathogens, and reduce photosynthesis. Which is how the transform those nutrients into plant matter so. I personally think there is Zero benefit from it, but i read it and see it all the time, it simply makes no sense.
 
"if you are feeding your plants, and you remove its supply of nutes in the leaves, then the plant will search through the dirt for more nutes, and then send them to new leaf growth and make the plant grow.... got to think like a plant lol"

Actually it's just the opposite. The plant has to reduce it's uptake until new growth is established. Plants don't think.
 
oldman60 said:
"if you are feeding your plants, and you remove its supply of nutes in the leaves, then the plant will search through the dirt for more nutes, and then send them to new leaf growth and make the plant grow.... got to think like a plant lol"

Actually it's just the opposite. The plant has to reduce it's uptake until new growth is established. Plants don't think.
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yup. Works offs osmotic pressure and the gradient it produces within the plant to deliver the salts (nutes) to the plants
 
Albatross said:
yup. Works offs osmotic pressure and the gradient it produces within the plant to deliver the salts (nutes) to the plants
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Slightly over complicated for me.

Way I see it, if a plant has a controlled environment. Plenty of light, air and moisture. It will grow. Nutrients will give it the further fuel it needs to grow to it's full potential.
 
What is Up everyone. So The ladies still for no in my mind just got their first dose of Canna Terra Vega 5ml in 1L of water i'll see how they take it. Also a few weeks ago i recall watching a youtube vid called super cropping i did that to two of the stems or branches dono what to call them that were growing too high did one yesterday on the chronic its looking great again today. Did one today on the euphoria which was a bit silly as i did it without the ladies having some nice juicy water in them and she snapped a bit, but i fixed her up with some scotch tape she should fix nicely and possible have some budding in the broken area. Will post pics tomorrow after first day of nutes.
 
oldman60 said:
"if you are feeding your plants, and you remove its supply of nutes in the leaves, then the plant will search through the dirt for more nutes, and then send them to new leaf growth and make the plant grow.... got to think like a plant lol"

Actually it's just the opposite. The plant has to reduce it's uptake until new growth is established. Plants don't think.
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They react to survive, just like any other plant or animal does, if there is a issue with a stem the plant will cut off circulation to the stem an let it die off, causing stress to a plant WILL slow growth for a small time but result in more lush thicker grows, otherwise you will get low yeild and only get dense buds from the top cola which only can hold so much weight
 
I'm seeing some trends from posters in the thread. I'm going to make some comments to these trends. Take it as you will. It's just my opinion based on my learning and experience.

1. Waiting until flower before starting to defoliate.

Comments: Not preparing in veg is like not having an hour of foreplay. Sure, you'll get off, but the build up from foreplay may just make for an awesome explosion. Preparing, by defoliating in veg makes tighter internodal spacing (more bud in condensed area). You learn in veg if your strain likes defoliation by how it responds over the next 5-8 days. This can mean bust or boom, and if your strain doesn't like it in veg, you'll have wasted far less time than if you were to find out 3-4 weeks into an 8 week flowering period. Besides, can't we all say we'd love to see more bud in a tighter area thanks to closer internodal spacing? i.e. more yield per cubic foot.

2. Taking only a few leaves at a time, over a longer period to prevent stress.

Comments: I lol at this. They won't stress out! They will just put even more energy into creating more nodes and with that an explosion of even more leaves. All in a 5-8 day period. Or would you rather spend two weeks pulling just a few leaves at a time and not really do much of anything? I've posted pics of the progression in veg from a fully leafed out plant, then stripped, and regrowth results @ 3, 5, 7, 10 days after stripping in my journals and (I think) in this thread. Don't worry about stress! Hit'em hard. They recover insanely fast, and I believe the results are much better than long, incremental, minimal defoliation.

3. Indica vs Sativa

Comments: I have not grown Sativa. My experience is limited to Indica dominates with the exception of recently growing two Martian Kush which are supposed to be mostly indica but have massive insane stretch. Indica dominant plants are obviously bushier and more squat. As a result they are also much leafier and thus light penetration is more limited through so many leaves. Indica plants get even tighter internodal spacing through defoliation in veg. And in flower these nodes tend to generate plenty of small sugar leaves for transpiration and become very solid good sized nugs all nice and close together. Again, more bud per cubic foot. Being shorter, in the most simplistic terms, your light tends to have to travel a far less distance to go from top to bottom of plant. This means more light by HUGE margins is delivered per cubic foot. In a sativa grow, your plant is obviously taller and naturally less light per foot as you get so much further away than you would with the indica.

4. Overall not delivering enough light to the plants.

Comments: This imo is the biggest sin. After all, the whole idea behind defoliation is to deliver tons more light. I believe in this wholeheartedly. Not enough light is generally as a result of too low wattage per sq foot or cubic foot. I direct you to this light depth chart: how far of a distance? Lets look at 400w HPS for example. According to the chart, optimal distance range for a 400w hps is from 5" to 21" away from the bulb. This means that anything further than 21" from the bulb is not receiving enough proper light. Or basically, more than 21" away it's getting less than 5200 lumen. For example, at 36" away from the light, it's getting about 1700 lumen or 1/3rd of optimal. If your plant is 5 foot tall, you probably have more than three feet or 60% of wasted plant and growth period! That's HUGE!

Yet with a 1000 watt light, you're also only getting optimal penetration 36" away from the light. Notice the light is 2.5 times stronger, but the penetration is only about 75% further. That's Diminishing light. So even with a 1k watt light we're really only looking at a maximum height of plant at about 26 inches or so. WOW! READ THAT AGAIN! (this obviously only applies to horizontal lighting)

However, if we can get 10-12 oz from each plant less than 30" tall, under 1k watts, is that not quite a boon? Or does one believe vegging 3-5 weeks longer to get a 5-6 foot tall plant with donkey dick colas yielding 16oz is more efficient? Personally, I'd rather have 10-12oz with 7-9 gram big buds (dry) and tons of 2-4 gram buds, and have used 3-5 weeks less power with huge $$ savings.

If we were under the sun, growing 6 foot tall indicas, the plant would be getting over 10k lumen (I know we dont really measure in lumen, but it's good for this context) from top to bottom. That outdoor plant is not so limited to proper light as the 1k watt or worse yet the 400 watt 6 footer would be.

Some personal observations:
OMG, dont center your rectangular hood in a confined space! While your hood may be 25" x 35", the light will not really send equal amounts over that entire area. Take a look up into your hood with the light on and you'll see. My hood is 35" WIDE. But the receptacle is inbound a substantial distance from the outer edge. To further complicate things, the bulb is x long and the element doesnt even start producing any light x number of inches further in. As such, I have 12-13 INCHES from the receptacle edge of hood too the point of light production. This means everything "behind" that 13" is getting less direct light! My results have shown now through two grows before realizing this, that the plant in that specific area of less direct light is at least HALF as dense at harvest. Sure the nugs are big, but they are light as hell and fluffier. While any other buds, even those from the same plant but directly under the actual direct lighting are tons heavier. I now have my hood shoved further to the inside edge of the tent and expect much better results. This actually makes me lean further to the idea that two medium sized hoods with 600w bulbs, bulbs facing opposite directions would yield well more than the 20% more total wattage so long as I keep my plants under 28" tall.

More importantly however, is that above seems to prove out even more how important direct light is to the overall yield and density, which even further illustrates how defoliation can be so beneficial when done properly.
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This was from Member of month winner 2012 October Bassman, he explains it lil more thoroughly WHY you want to do this stuff
 
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