Radogast 2 - Return of the Clones

[Radogast]

A bit of drama in the garden room (where vegging happens.)

Life at home was demanding and I did not visit the plants yesterday. Today around 5PM I opened the door to discover the Late Veg CFL array was dark. I moved the lighter weight, cheaper version of 4x4ft T5 CFL from the smoking lounge/trim area to replace the late veg lamp. One of the bulbs wasn't working and I ended up tripping the GFCI circuit twice before I could get all 4 lights lit (I told you it was a cheap fixture.) - so that was the drama.

I don't know how long the light was out, but it could have been up to 40 consecutive hours of dark. A couple of them were rather wilted. The late veg girls are primed to go into flower at the change of a light cycle, so I am leaving the veg room lights on for the next 24 hours before I return to a 16/8 cycle. - - I checked just now, and the lights are on and the girls are no longer wilted. Here's to a full vegetative recovery !

 

[grimmreefer]

Might be a good time to put some of your bigger veggies in flower. I have heard 24 hrs + dark is good right before flower. Supposedly increases sugars.

Take a toke!

 

[Radogast]

Might be a good time to put some of your bigger veggies in flower. I have heard 24 hrs + dark is good right before flower. Supposedly increases sugars.

I've never had more than 5 at once in my flower room.
There are 4 in it now, but adding 6 more to make it 10 would be over crowded.

My plan is harvest 1 and add 2 more to the flower room at the end of the month.

My goal is to graduate 1-3 plants into the flower room at the end of each month.

Take a toke!

You really like your blunts dontcha - I've now seen this photo 3 times tonight

 

[grimmreefer]

I wish I had that kind of patience. You know what you want and when you want it! When I have a problem I panic and usually skip a step.

You have made your rounds tonight I see, that is me....

stoned and bored.

 

[Growlow]

Sorry to hear about the drama mate. You know my roll of the dice on that topic has not been to my favour in the past 12 months. I'm sending nothing but positive vibes your way my mate. Love and light brother!

 

[SBG]

Hey Rado have you ever tried making a Nicotine and garlic spray for the mighty mites you have. I did this summer on the deck and it did wonders. Three sprayings in two weeks and they were on the run.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Dont be too miffed. I drunkenly left my lights on all night one day last week. They got close to 36hours light before I realized and switched the timer back on.

 

[Happy Hemper]

Do'oh... well we are only human eh CC

 

[Radogast]

Sorry I have been skimpy on the updates. Caretaking my wife and working from home would seem to leave me with more hours, but I am now the primary cook and grocery shopper in the house, as well as oncall for work that kept me awake ALL NIGHT. I glanced in the rooms this morning and almost everything looked fine.

I lost my third clone attempt of Hani, she grew roots in the cloner, but kept on flowering, then failed the transition into soil. With less than a month to harvest, I won't be trying another clone. I'll try a reveg, and then maybe a clone of the reveg .... but, at this point I believe have lost my Hawaiian Skunk genetics. I have more seeds, but Hani was my favorite smoke so far.

Breeder seed Janice is also resisting cloning, she had two fail in rockwoll, 2 failed in the daisy cloner, and now 1 of 2 shrivelled rather than make roots. Janice has dark colored leaves and a dense growth habit that makes me think she can be a good performer despite the spider mite bites. Her resistance to cloning is unfortunate.

I could not get back to the grow rooms before lights out tonight, missing a spray day. I'll mix up some more neem oil spray and get in some spraying around noon tomorrow

The last few days saw a touch more flowering stretch on Janice, Lachesis, and Snow Queen. I think they are almost done with the stretch.

Northern lights Stella and the second Snocap clone are bulking up in late veg. They will be ready to step into flower when Hawaiian Skunk Hani is harvested.


I know, I know. Without pictures, it's all just talk !

 

[Growlow]

Not at all man. I can relate to not having as much time as I'd like to paint the full picture. You might not have had a thousand but it was a good solid punt if I may say so! Cheers

 

[Radogast]

Updates on lights

My Sunleaves Pioneer IV T5 CFL for the late veg area stopped working about a week ago. A T5 CFL from the trimming/smoking area has been installed as a replacement. No switches, no external breakers or fuses, it just stopped working.

While I was taking a picture of HWS Hani C1 yesterday, a Nanolux OG 600 digital ballast started flashing overheating and powered off the HPS 600 lamp on the right of the flowering room.

Purchased 1 year, 7 months ago when I started growing, both the T5 light array and the HPS ballast are under warrantee. I found the receipt from when they were purchased from a local hydro store, which has since closed. We will see how well warrantee service is from these companies.

 

[Radogast]

A look at the flower room

With the ballast failure of the right side light, I arranged all 4 girls in flower under a single 600W HPS on the left side of the flower room.


Clockwise from the tall girl in the back right: 3rd week Snowcap Snow Queen, breeder free seeds Lachesis, Janice, and 8th week Hawaiian Skunk Hani

Snow Queen

Lachesis

Janice

Hani

 

[SweetSue]

Look at that, we both find ourselves light-challenged going into the final dance. Ain't life grand? I think they can make these lights of a quality that will last many more years with little effort. Sorry to hear of your challenges Rad. I'll be watching to see how your brood adapts to having to share.

Best of luck on the warranties. Too much flux in the market this early in, isn't there?

Hey Rad, I haven't caught you in real time in quite a while. Have a great day, hear?

Edit: I forgot to say how much I like Hani's buds. They look like little rockets getting ready to take you to wondrous places in your mind.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Oh wow that sucks. I'm sort of realizing I probably need more light too. Thought I had enough in my little box but these plants look like they will soak up anything I give them.

 

[Radogast]

Look at that, we both find ourselves light-challenged going into the final dance. Ain't life grand? I think they can make these lights of a quality that will last many more years with little effort. Sorry to hear of your challenges Rad. I'll be watching to see how your brood adapts to having to share.

I have space enough for these 4 girls, they are all about 18" in diameter.
I was planning on graduating 3 girls into the flower room in another 2 weeks, I'll need a solution for that.
The digital ballast didn't over heat at 75% for 30 minutes, so I might run the 600W HPS at 450W if it works out that way.

Best of luck on the warranties. Too much flux in the market this early in, isn't there?

Sunleaves is a big company. I expect them to stand behind their warrantee. Nanolux tech is not as well know. We will see.

Hey Rad, I haven't caught you in real time in quite a while. Have a great day, hear?

Edit: I forgot to say how much I like Hani's buds. They look like little rockets getting ready to take you to wondrous places in your mind.

I haven't been around much, or spending much time on gardening. I'm being Mr. Mom, nursing assisitant and working from home. I know you appreciate how much time it takes to sit in on the blood thinner nurse visits, chauffeur to doctors visits,and provide meals and water many times a day. I cope with the extra work by spending more time watching TV and less time reading - sigh.

Hani's buds do look good, although her leaves make me think her roots didn't keep up with her vegetative growth. I need to do a trichome check. It has been a week. She could be ready any day now.

Thanks for the hugs

Oh wow that sucks. I'm sort of realizing I probably need more light too. Thought I had enough in my little box but these plants look like they will soak up anything I give them.

It was a little disappointing to dicover I had a 3 year warrantee that covers this failure as opposed to a 1 year electronics warrantee. My imagination saw an LED replacement this month. That thought has come and gone. Even if warrantee attempts fails, I will probably find a cheap ballast an adequate replacement At the time of purchase, I saw the flexibiity of multiple power outputs, stagered start times at lights on, and optional MH lamp usage as big plusses. A low price and a longer warrantee clinched the decision for me. The salesman talked of 10% less power draw, but the difference is more like 2-3% less power draw. Since the savings are in the ballast area as opposed to the lamp area, there is about 25% less heat shed from a digital ballast.


There are obviously maximum and minimum values for how much light to provide in a given space.
I don't know at what floor space 1000W HPS yields more than 600W. I would guess it is somewhere around 3x3'. In my original assessment, it didn't seem likely to yield so much more or so much better quaity that it could justify the exta $30/mo per light on my electric bill.

Trying to compare PAR or uMol ratings and price between different vendor offerings is daunting, and seems near impossible.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Ya I don't think you will ever get straight forwards information from manufacturers. You kind of have to buy the lights, get a light meter, and just experiment with your space.

 

[grimmreefer]

Sucks about the lights Rado! Don't know how your schedule is but the trade show in Boston this weekend will have some great show specials. Its also nice to talk to the people that manufacture, market a specific product . I'm hoping to walk out of there with a new tent.

I can't remember if you said you went last year but I walked out of there with thousands of dollars worth of freebies... well worth the price of admission.

 

[Radogast]

Sucks about the lights Rado! Don't know how your schedule is but the trade show in Boston this weekend will have some great show specials. Its also nice to talk to the people that manufacture, market a specific product . I'm hoping to walk out of there with a new tent.

I can't remember if you said you went last year but I walked out of there with thousands of dollars worth of freebies... well worth the price of admission.

I haven't been to a trade show in Boston in the past.

I have barely left the house in the last 3 weeks except for doctor, hospital visits, pharmacy and grocery store.
Tomorrow I'm going to take the failed CFL array, ballast, and original receipt over to the warehouse that took over from my hydro store that closed last winter.
They said they can do warrantee stuff if I show up around noon.

Thousands of dollars of stuff sounds like a lot of stuff !


FYI: There is a free ticket for Hynes this weekend at indoorgardenexpo.com /ticket/

 

[SweetSue]

I haven't been to a trade show in Boston in the past.

I have barely left the house in the last 3 weeks except for doctor, hospital visits, pharmacy and grocery store.
Tomorrow I'm going to take the failed CFL array, ballast, and original receipt over to the warehouse that took over from my hydro store that closed last winter.
They said they can do warrantee stuff if I show up around noon.

Glad to hear about the warranty. Good luck with that.

Is everything ok Rad?

 

[brightlight]

Sucks about the lights Rado! Don't know how your schedule is but the trade show in Boston this weekend will have some great show specials. Its also nice to talk to the people that manufacture, market a specific product . I'm hoping to walk out of there with a new tent.

I can't remember if you said you went last year but I walked out of there with thousands of dollars worth of freebies... well worth the price of admission.

Go to website & usually can get a free pass. Easily hundreds of $$ worth of stuff.....if you can carry it all. I never miss out here but they skipped NorCal this yr. Most grab & dash, which mfrs. expect but dislike. If you talk w/ them, they often pull out more stuff to give you. Worth it whether you grow synthetic or organic. Best single event to not only get stuff but learn a lot.