McBudz Perpetual Journal

[WheeloFortune]

I'm gonna jump in here to wildcat,

whenever I go away, I always F something up. lol, but here's what i think: get your sister to come out midweek of your vaca, just once, to move the lights up and adjust anything else that needs adjusting.

the problem with moving them up before you go is that the weaker the light field, the more stretch your gonna get, so while moving up the lights will make them have to stretch farther to get to the light, at the same time you will be encouraging them to stretch faster. lol. not good. might work, or they might still try to get up to the light while your gone. . . and better safe than sorry right?

if your system is stable, one visit should be good enough, so it's not like she has to make the drive every day.

one other thing to note on stretch, is that it is strain specific, so if you were growing rocklock, it seems like it might stretch a bunch, the others aren't stretching as much according to McB. I grow a strain that doesn't stretch all that much. not like McB's rocklock at least.

 

[wild95cat]

I'm gonna jump in here to wildcat,

whenever I go away, I always F something up. lol, but here's what i think: get your sister to come out midweek of your vaca, just once, to move the lights up and adjust anything else that needs adjusting.

the problem with moving them up before you go is that the weaker the light field, the more stretch your gonna get, so while moving up the lights will make them have to stretch farther to get to the light, at the same time you will be encouraging them to stretch faster. lol. not good. might work, or they might still try to get up to the light while your gone. . . and better safe than sorry right?

if your system is stable, one visit should be good enough, so it's not like she has to make the drive every day.

one other thing to note on stretch, is that it is strain specific, so if you were growing rocklock, it seems like it might stretch a bunch, the others aren't stretching as much according to McB. I grow a strain that doesn't stretch all that much. not like McB's rocklock at least.

Dammit! Sorry for gettin off track n jackin the thread! I HATE when that happens!!! I'll head over to or grasscity where I can upload pics no prob. Thanks for the help.
I'm gonna keep tabs on this grow McBudz. Keep up the GREAT work!!!

 

[McBudz]

Thanks or the quick feedback gunja! Any ideas how's to attach a pic to a reply???

See the how to post pics link in my signature..

 

[McBudz]

No shit??? I didn't know they shot up vertically so fast once in flower! A few of those ladies really stretched out didn't they? My canopy resembles yours at about week 2 right now.
I'm worried now. My woman and I are going to Cancun for a week next Sunday. If they stretch THAT much, they're gonna run into my 600W Digital HPS and burn! And I cannot risk burnt tops or worse, a fire!
The ladies are nestled safely in a DR120 with adequate ventilation, 8 inch ducting, 8 inch Vornado for the HPS, a 24" 500cfm fan pushing fresh air in from outside and one 'tent sock' open opposite that 24" fan up high to vent the hot, spent air. Oh, and a mini portable heater w/thermostat set at 76 degrees. Tent is Perrrrfectly adjusted. Doesn't bulge at all. Ladies LOVE it.

McBudz, in your expert opinion, should I raise the lights, the day we leave, a bit further than normal just to be safe? Or are they gonna be okay through days 21-28, and probably won't stretch all too much yet? I have nobody to trust COMPLETELY to take care of them...except maybe my sister, but she lives just within an hour away in the Oakland Hills. Don't want to burden her with this. But if I have no choice, she will...we're budz

hmmmmmmm.....not sure why, but this site doesn't have an 'Attach' button... not sure how to upload my pics....

day 21 to 28 shouldn't stretch too much more but that really depends on strain. I would to be safe back the light up about 18-20 inches off the canopy easily then if you have any stretchy looking ladies bend over with string.

Safest bet is call on sister .

 

[McBudz]

WOF pretty much hits the nail on the head here all points

I'm gonna jump in here to wildcat,

whenever I go away, I always F something up. lol, but here's what i think: get your sister to come out midweek of your vaca, just once, to move the lights up and adjust anything else that needs adjusting.

the problem with moving them up before you go is that the weaker the light field, the more stretch your gonna get, so while moving up the lights will make them have to stretch farther to get to the light, at the same time you will be encouraging them to stretch faster. lol. not good. might work, or they might still try to get up to the light while your gone. . . and better safe than sorry right?

if your system is stable, one visit should be good enough, so it's not like she has to make the drive every day.

one other thing to note on stretch, is that it is strain specific, so if you were growing rocklock, it seems like it might stretch a bunch, the others aren't stretching as much according to McB. I grow a strain that doesn't stretch all that much. not like McB's rocklock at least.

 

[BreakPoint]

helo McBudz. do you have less probs now with hydro? any regrets leaving soil? Also, any new info on feminized seeds going hermie? I looked into it after reading about your Twilights, and others have blamed the feminized seeds, regardless of strain, saying they go hermie at a higher rate. Thx in advance, and I appreciate all the work you share.

 

[McBudz]

helo McBudz. do you have less probs now with hydro? any regrets leaving soil? Also, any new info on feminized seeds going hermie? I looked into it after reading about your Twilights, and others have blamed the feminized seeds, regardless of strain, saying they go hermie at a higher rate. Thx in advance, and I appreciate all the work you share.

Ddint really have any problems with soil other than my first attempt at growing. Once past the learning curve both hydro and soil have things you need to look out for but I have have no real issues to speak of.

Leaving soil.. no regrets. I manage my reservoirs, don't have to individually keep track of each soil pot who needs to get watered and when.. dealing with runoff disposal under heavy 5 gallon buckets in a crowded tent is a lot of plant heaving. With hydro I spend a lot less time managing the GR.. and I have more plants and a pretty active system/cycle going on.

I havent had any more herm issues as of yet with my latest fem seeds. I am keeping a close eye out though. I am using different breeders than twilight.

With reg seeds you pay about half as much and risk 50/50 male and still have chance of herm as well.

Female you pay about double but only have maybe 10% risk of genetic herm I feel. I am just throwing that number out from my experience.

Once you have a stable mom you dont have to worry about herm.

So as needed I will still continue to buy fem only as I just like the odds better.

 

[BreakPoint]

I noticed u didn't seem to have second thoughts about transfering planted soil grows from soil to hydro. There must've been untold work involved, cleaning the root clump of soil? I can't imagine... but you never made mention of it. Wasn't that terribly shocking for the plants? (they looked great so I guess not, but they always say a transplant is the most shocking thing a plant will go through).

 

[WheeloFortune]

helo McBudz. do you have less probs now with hydro? any regrets leaving soil? Also, any new info on feminized seeds going hermie? I looked into it after reading about your Twilights, and others have blamed the feminized seeds, regardless of strain, saying they go hermie at a higher rate. Thx in advance, and I appreciate all the work you share.

.
I havent had any more herm issues as of yet with my latest fem seeds. I am keeping a close eye out though. I am using different breeders than twilight.

With reg seeds you pay about half as much and risk 50/50 male and still have chance of herm as well.

Female you pay about double but only have maybe 10% risk of genetic herm I feel. I am just throwing that number out from my experience.

Once you have a stable mom you dont have to worry about herm.

So as needed I will still continue to buy fem only as I just like the odds better.

I have a little comment here too McB, tell me to shush anytime you want.

There are no hard a fast rules to making feminized seeds, and different breeders/seedbanks can and do use many different methods to make fem seeds.

You can use light poisoning or some other type of environmental stress, or you can use chemicals like STS, gibberilic acid, or colloidal silver. The first kind uses stress to make a female that otherwise wouldn't hermie, hermie and make female seed. unfortunately all of the offspring will be able to hermie at the very least, like the mom was. Probably some of the offspring will be very likely to hermie, but this depends on how well the breeder chose the mom. The chemicals inhibit certain hormones in the plant and make female plants male by a slightly different method, which i don't want to hurt my brain explaining. If you go through the time of testing lots of female plants, some of them will NEVER hermie, even under a lot of stress. this would be a good candidate mom for the chemical method because if a breeder chooses well, you can have girls that will be virtually hermie proof, using these chemicals.

the problem is that no one tells you how they feminize their seeds. I've never tried to ask anyone before so maybe by email one could find out? but i pretty much trust to get good seeds that wont hermie or do anything else bad when i order from a decent seed bank using known breeders. if you want to get something off the radar, you get what you get. you can get bunk seeds once in a while even from the big guys, but oh well, if its only once in a great while, just gotta deal.

 

[McBudz]

I completely agree.

Its method specific and the fundamental genes. This is why if I see problems with multiple seeds from 1 breeder I choose not to use them again. Could have been a strain/ specific genetic issue and not so much the method but I don't trust that breeder anymore as I value my hard earned money and choose not to waste it on what I perceive to be ify breeding practices.

I still trust fem seeds in general though.


and to add more to this..

People who continually grow from seed see a higher risk rate as they are taking a step into the unknown for each and every new sprout.

If consistency and assurance and guarantees is what you are looking for then you need to grow out some plants find the most stable female and clone from there. No surprises, very consistent grows each and every time given all environmental factors are 100%

I have a little comment here to McB, tell me to shush anytime you want.

There are no hard a fast rules to making feminized seeds, and different breeders/seedbanks can and do use many different methods to make fem seeds.

You can use light poisoning or some other type of environmental stress, or you can use chemicals like STS, gibberilic acid, or colloidal silver. The first kind uses stress to make a female that otherwise wouldn't hermie, hermie and make female seed. unfortunately all of the offspring will be able to hermie at the very least, like the mom was. Probably some of the offspring will be very likely to hermie, but this depends on how well the breeder chose the mom. The chemicals inhibit certain hormones in the plant and make female plants male by a slightly different method, which i don't want to hurt my brain explaining. If you go through the time of testing lots of female plants, some of them will NEVER hermie, even under a lot of stress. this would be a good candidate mom for the chemical method because if a breeder chooses well, you can have girls that will be virtually hermie proof, using these chemicals.

the problem is that no one tells you how they feminize their seeds. I've never tried to ask anyone before so maybe by email one could find out? but i pretty much trust to get good seeds that wont hermie or do anything else bad when i order from a decent seed bank using known breeders. if you want to get something off the radar, you get what you get. you can get bunk seeds once in a while even from the big guys, but oh well, if its only once in a great while, just gotta deal.

 

[McBudz]

I noticed u didn't seem to have second thoughts about transfering planted soil grows from soil to hydro. There must've been untold work involved, cleaning the root clump of soil? I can't imagine... but you never made mention of it. Wasn't that terribly shocking for the plants? (they looked great so I guess not, but they always say a transplant is the most shocking thing a plant will go through).

I have never transplanted a soil grow into hydro.. I simply switch over systems after the last soil harvest.

I did take a hydro mom and transplanted to soil. That was tricky. had to message the hydroton out of the root ball as best as I could and try to get the loose soil to set into the root clump. I watered the root mass regularly 2-4 times a day with a turkey baster for a couple of days as the root clump itself with only a few hydroton balls and very little soil would dry up quickly. Once the roots grew out into the new soil all was good.

 

[BreakPoint]

oic. I found my error. wow that was one of the ?'s that got me to register... turns out u were waiting for the clones to put in the ebb & flow, I thought u were just waiting to put the soil mother into hydro, for whatever reason. Oh well, here I am! I've known you for about 2 years so it's good to be introduced finally..thanks for letting me interrupt your thread.

 

[McBudz]

oic. I found my error. wow that was one of the ?'s that got me to register... turns out u were waiting for the clones to put in the ebb & flow, I thought u were just waiting to put the soil mother into hydro, for whatever reason. Oh well, here I am! I've known you for about 2 years so it's good to be introduced finally..thanks for letting me interrupt your thread.

Glad to have you with us. Welcome to 420 Magazine

 

[BreakPoint]

thx for having me. 2nd mistake I made: 1 yr not 2. Quickly I see how important it is to be precise. I should finally start ph control...that'd help me practice fixing my precision problem.

 

[PHATBLUNT420]

Well imma be peaking in to see what you can do with the BlueWidow..
I grew it in soil with a 400W and it yielded the most of all the plants and had a nice fragrance to it, i even ended up with a BlueBerry pheno that smells practically edible..

Cant wait to see how it does in optimal conditions like yours..

+reps i sent ya a msg. hope to hear from you

 

[wild95cat]

thx for having me. 2nd mistake I made: 1 yr not 2. Quickly I see how important it is to be precise. I should finally start ph control...that'd help me practice fixing my precision problem.

Regarding Ph, I've been wondering if I can adjust the runoff Ph by keeping the water Ph at exactly 6.5?

Or do I try to counter the acidity by making the water more alkaline, like 7.0 or 7.5?

My runoff's been comin in at around 5.0 and I'm using Ph Up and Down to get my water to the correct Ph.

And thanks for the advice on the vacation scenario I've got coming up. She can be bitchy @ the beginning of the month...think I'll talk to my Brother In Law instead. I'm sure he could use the break!LOL

 

[McBudz]

Well imma be peaking in to see what you can do with the BlueWidow..
I grew it in soil with a 400W and it yielded the most of all the plants and had a nice fragrance to it, i even ended up with a BlueBerry pheno that smells practically edible..

Cant wait to see how it does in optimal conditions like yours..

+reps i sent ya a msg. hope to hear from you

I feel like the BW is going to be a good sticky producer. Cant wait to see how she ends up either. I hope my pheno is more Blueberry smelling/tasting than widow.

 

[McBudz]

Regarding Ph, I've been wondering if I can adjust the runoff Ph by keeping the water Ph at exactly 6.5?

Or do I try to counter the acidity by making the water more alkaline, like 7.0 or 7.5?

My runoff's been comin in at around 5.0 and I'm using Ph Up and Down to get my water to the correct Ph.

And thanks for the advice on the vacation scenario I've got coming up. She can be bitchy @ the beginning of the month...think I'll talk to my Brother In Law instead. I'm sure he could use the break!LOL

I usually try to counter the acidity by adding pulverised dolomite lime to my soil. About 1 cup or so for a typical 1.5 cuft bag of soil should help. ideally you want the run off to be around 6.5 plus or minus .2.

 

[wild95cat]

I usually try to counter the acidity by adding pulverised dolomite lime to my soil. About 1 cup or so for a typical 1.5 cuft bag of soil should help. ideally you want the run off to be around 6.5 plus or minus .2.

Do you add the lime into the top 2-4 inches of soil or take the entire root ball out, shake off the bottom 3 inches and add dolomite to THAT soil???

 

[McBudz]

Do you add the lime into the top 2-4 inches of soil or take the entire root ball out, shake off the bottom 3 inches and add dolomite to THAT soil???

typically i add it to the soil before planting in it. If ph is too low and is causing problems I would do try to transplant into a larger bucket of soil/lime mix and try to mix up into root ball as good as possible. If its more preventative I would mix into top layer of soil as best as possible and eventually it will make its way down into he soil.

Best even way is to mix soil and lime first though.