Obi's Aurora Indica - Indoor - T5 - Perlite Hempy

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/Obi
 
Tead said:
2 gal each plant..... seems like a lot.

If your hole is 2 or 3 inches from the bottom, you're probably holding less than 1gal in the bottom of the bucket.
Is this the standard level of watering?
I really wasn't planning on that much runoff in my grow... do I need to adjust my plan? I may have to implement some sort of drainage configuration better than deep 'saucers' under my pots.

I swear... every time I peek at your grow, I come up with more questions.
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I would estimate that after run off my plants/containers held about 1.75 gallons. By the time I began watering the third plant I wised up and stopped feeding the the full 2 gallons and produced slightly less run off.

Please note: I am watering less often than I should be. My last watering was 7 days ago. That's a long time for a hearty plant in a hot box. The buckets and media were close to bone dry. I ought to be watering twice as often so the plants don't pendulum with such extreme between wet and dry.

Life events have simmered down a bit and I really want to tend to the grow with more regularity now that I've flipped the light schedule to 12/12.

Less extremes, cooler temps and uneventful.

/Obi Wan
:Namaste:
 
Governmentchz said:
That canoeing could be an indicator of slight mg def too. You might consider increasing CaMg to 2.5ml/gal or so. Most CaMg supplements say 5ml/gal.
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Thank you for the tip. Much appreciated!

My experiment with raising the light to cool the canopy helped to some degree but not to the extent that I liked so I dropped it back down to about 10 inches last night. I was running 5ml/g CalMag for the first few weeks. Perhaps I should have left it at that level since I'm using the RO water.

Bumping up the CalMag and taking notes.

Grow it!
/Obi
:thanks:
 
Obi Wan said:

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/Obi
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The few taller branches are the double mains of each plant produced by topping earlier in the grow. The stems of those are so robust that I cannot really bend them. The best I can manage for LST is pulling side branches away to let light penetrate around the central mains and into the canopy.

This could be interesting at the end of October. Space is a premium for sure.
 
Obi Wan said:
The few taller branches are the double mains of each plant produced by topping earlier in the grow. The stems of those are so robust that I cannot really bend them. The best I can manage for LST is pulling side branches away to let light penetrate around the central mains and into the canopy.

This could be interesting at the end of October. Space is a premium for sure.
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And, you're up to the challenge...you're creative and resourceful...
 
Hi Catman12,

To your credit, I cleaned my T5 reflector with a smile as I swapped in a few red bulbs the other day.

I've been thinking about how quiet things have been here lately. Then I realized all the journals I've been following have completed and everyone is already well into in their next grows!

I'm off to find out what everyone is up to...


/Obi
:volcano-smiley:
 
As I opened up the cabinet this evening my senses were immediately greeted with something different. Something other than the mixed glow of the newly added 3000K bulbs. It was subtle. It took my mind a good minute to figure it out and then it struck me. A strange child like grin, the likes I haven't seen in a long, long time appeared on my face and I let out an involuntary "huh". It was lemon. Without a doubt, lemon. My mind just couldn't add it up at first. All I could see was green but everything smells like a yellow lemon. After catching a whiff of my hand after tending to a leaf I could clearly smell something that resembles a stinky Lemon Pledge wood cleaner smell.

Glorious. Will it last? We shall find out together.

/Obi-Wan Cannabinoid
:Namaste:
 
Obi Wan said:
As I opened up the cabinet this evening my senses were immediately greeted with something different. Something other than the mixed glow of the newly added 3000K bulbs. It was subtle. It took my mind a good minute to figure it out and then it struck me. A strange child like grin, the likes I haven't seen in a long, long time appeared on my face and I let out an involuntary "huh". It was lemon. Without a doubt, lemon. My mind just couldn't add it up at first. All I could see was green but everything smells like a yellow lemon. After catching a whiff of my hand after tending to a leaf I could clearly smell something that resembles a stinky Lemon Pledge wood cleaner smell.

Glorious. Will it last? We shall find out together.

/Obi-Wan Cannabinoid
:Namaste:
Click to expand...

Beautiful! The grin and especially the LEMON! I am honored to "find out together" Obi...and I am quite sure it will indeed last. :peace:
 
Awesome Obi Wan, your T5's are working great for you.
 
Thanks for the encouragement everyone. It keeps me going.

This T5 of mine is a beast. Dimensionally, in my cabinet, it's a handful and like most I struggle a bit with heat in such a confined space.

That leads me to an LED Cool Tube type setup. As an accessory or self contained unit, who makes a Cool Tube LED unit and where do I buy it? I haven't really seen anything readily available on the market. With the popularity of the emerging LED technology there seems to be a huge market potential to be explored there. Surely I am not the first to consider the need but I lack the engineering background to do it safely as a DIY project.

My next light upgrade will be switching to LED. From what I have come to understand I will gain a good amount of light with the upgrade but I will not save much, if anything, on heat output compared to my big T5. I will have better airflow in the cabinet which may help overall but I'd like to seal off the light system so I'm not over working my carbon filters day in and day out.


Happy growing,
/OBi Wan
:Namaste:
 
I am going to try to be more attentive to the plants during flower. Mostly meaning I will be monitoring their water level more closely and trying to feed/water more frequently but with less volume.

The plants have tolerated the 100% strength nute regimen pretty well. The previous feeding strength (first transition to flower nutes) was as strong as they will ever receive. There are signs of just a kiss of burn (1mm-2mm) found on only a few leaf tips. I think that's about perfect. Nutrient strength will only decrease during the grow from here on out.

I want to swap out the remaining (4) 6500K bulbs for 3000K but I'm going to stick to my plan and wait do it until Oct 1. I'm running one week at 12/12 with 50/50 blue/red color spectrum to gently nudge the flower hormones to kick in. After the first week of mixed light I will have them under all red bulbs until harvest.

I have no scientific reason for my lighting and feeding transition plan other than it feels right at this point in time.

/Obi Wan
:Love:
 
A few closeup pics of the Aurora Indica plants after about one week of light transition.


​

/Obi
:Namaste:
 
Additional observations aside from the emerging female pistils:

Plants
  • General stem and leaf color seem to be pretty consistent throughout each plant.
  • Stems are very robust and woody. Thinner stems are pencil width or better so far. Main stem is thumb width at the base, sturdy at the topped location, and the dual mains are too thick to bend or LST effectively at this stage of growth.
  • Odor throughout veg stage has been manageable with carbon filters. Odor strength now seems to be increasing weekly. I believe my current dual filtration system will be adequate to finish the grow.
  • During veg odor was mainly pepper, spice and a little stink.
  • Very late veg/early flower odor has also been taking on a pleasant, lemon citrus smell.

Containers
  • I think 3gal/11L hempy containers would be sufficient.
  • I am happy with my decision to use 5gal/19L hempy containers. I think it gave me an extra day or three of buffer when I was not able to care for or water/feed the plants on time.
  • No issues with the perlite/vermiculite 90/10 mix so far
  • Even with the relative safety of a hempy bucket I am still prone to under watering and would like to smooth out the wet/bone dry cycle just a little. Perhaps eliminating the bone dry part...

Light
  • Functional and mostly unremarkable
  • Creates heat with the best of em

Fan/Filter
  • 8in carbon filter --->6in 450CFM fan--->6in carbon filter
  • Lots of air circulation
  • No smell

Cabinet
  • I am 100 percent confident there are minor light leaks in the cabinet. I never got around to properly sealing up the holes for duct work and incoming power cords. The doors have a miniscule amount of light leakage, too.
  • The cabinet is very easy to work with/in. It's not too deep so I don't have to reach out far for access which saves wear on my back
  • It has some sound proofing qualities
  • It has some sound enhancing qualities
  • It has no zippers
  • Easily lockable

Environment
  • We survived the summer months. There was a day here and there where the temps topped out a little too high or the plant grew too close to the lamp and a leaf got a little crispy. It was corrected early enough..
  • Temps have begun to slowly drop but my RH in the cabinet is on the rise recently peaking at 70%. Maybe that was a fluke. I'll continue to monitor RH closely.

Nutrients
  • General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Micro, Bloom, CaliMagic, pH up/down.
  • A very easy to follow and administer schedule.
  • 100% strength GH Flora Trio is right at maximum level for these Aurora Indica in my selected grow medium. Very minor nute burn on only a few leaf tips
  • I bought medium sized bottles of nutes which is far too much. I have on hand perhaps a 2 to 3 year supply. It will go bad before I use it all.
 
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