Volksball's First Grow: White Widow Feminized Grow Journal 2018

I upgraded the ventilation in the tent to a straight cool line to the reflector with a 440cfm fan. I have a dedicated 203cfm for the carbon scrubber.

My lights are at 20" but the light being so cooled now, the temps are down in the tent ro 20 degrees. Does the mean that the plants can handle the light even closer? Or should I just leave it? I also have the option to raise the ballast to 750w.

Tough decision. I can also lower the speed on the new fan to bring temps up?
 
its not just the heat... light intensity is a factor too... be careful
 
Emilya said:
its not just the heat... light intensity is a factor too... be careful
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Everything I've read says that my plants can handle 18" at 600w with a properly cooled reflector. I'm running roughly 500w right now with an over cooled hood. I have the light at 18" and a small space heater to bring the temps up from 20.3 degrees to hopefully 24ish. Still low, but more tinkering will figure it out. New fan setup below.

Day 23
 

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clean and efficient.. i like it
 
Good morning,

Here's a look at the girls on their 25th day from planting.

The temps were at 26 in the tent after putting a place heater in it and lowering the fan speed.

They seem happy, but the tallest girl is still showing her signs of heat stress. They're not getting worse, but I'm guessing it's just the stress marks from the weekend? She seems to be growing upward and outward without difficulty, so I'm not too worried. Should I be?

I'm assuming that she will slow her upward growth to fit her comfort zone before she burns, but I have my doubts. She just wants to keep on growing! I raised up an inch to get her back to 18". I suppose a side effect of me raising back to 18" will be her growing to offset my adjustment?

Humidity is in the 47-51% range and the heat will fluctuate from 23-26 at the spot I have my thermometer - about 3 inches from the top of the canopy. I can assume a degree-ish difference up there.

Thanks.
 

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You are fine... oftentimes the effects of a burn never go away... but she has moved on. She is going to grow vertically no matter what you do with the lights... she is not necessarily chasing your moving light. Too little light and she would really take off vertically trying to find the light... but under a strong light she is not inclined to stretch like that, so she will remain short and happy to work on other things since light is not a concern. Between you topping and training them and the good light, you can be assured that your plants are not going to get out of control and take over the vertical space in your flowering room... you are managing these tall outdoor plants well so as to grow indoors under the restrictions you have put them in.
 
Emilya said:
You are fine... oftentimes the effects of a burn never go away... but she has moved on. She is going to grow vertically no matter what you do with the lights... she is not necessarily chasing your moving light. Too little light and she would really take off vertically trying to find the light... but under a strong light she is not inclined to stretch like that, so she will remain short and happy to work on other things since light is not a concern. Between you topping and training them and the good light, you can be assured that your plants are not going to get out of control and take over the vertical space in your flowering room... you are managing these tall outdoor plants well so as to grow indoors under the restrictions you have put them in.
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Perfect. Thanks.

I suppose I'll pick your brain re: topping/LST soon. I know the time is coming and it's likely inevitable, but having to take a pair of scissors to my plant's head sounds better in theory than in reality. Ha.

The time draws near (queue the Imperial March).
 
Killian said:
Sounds like your on the right track. I run 600 HID as well and 18" is fine. I use my little clip fan to blow across the top of the canopy horizontal to the light. This helps a lot also.
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Ok. Thanks! If it works for you, it likely should work for me too.
 
volksball said:
Perfect. Thanks.

I suppose I'll pick your brain re: topping/LST soon. I know the time is coming and it's likely inevitable, but having to take a pair of scissors to my plant's head sounds better in theory than in reality. Ha.

The time draws near (queue the Imperial March).
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My plants are a bit ahead of yours, so I invite you to look at how I am doing the LST in my tent. After that 2-3 topping it is natural to train the 4 tops to move to the 4 quadrants of the container before allowing them to take off vertically. This opens up the center for light and air and for the lesser nodes to rise up to the top, probably at least doubling the yield that you would have gotten without the extra work.
 
Emilya said:
My plants are a bit ahead of yours, so I invite you to look at how I am doing the LST in my tent. After that 2-3 topping it is natural to train the 4 tops to move to the 4 quadrants of the container before allowing them to take off vertically. This opens up the center for light and air and for the lesser nodes to rise up to the top, probably at least doubling the yield that you would have gotten without the extra work.
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That's what I've read and I won't complain about doubled yields.

2-3 topping? I just know topping.

I'll have a look at your plants and follow what I see re LST.

Should I be doing both now? Or when the girls are where yours are at?
 
I wait till the 5th node has just popped up to where if I wanted to, I could nip it right off. Instead, I cut between nodes 2 and 3. This drastic little cut is the most productive topping you can do and by waiting so long to do it, you have massive fan leaves and at least 2 others of good size, ready to provide energy to move on after the cut.
Topping at 2-3 creates 4 main tops
Topping at 3-4 creates between 3-5 tops and takes forever to resolve
Topping at 4-5 or anywhere above that, creates 2 tops
 
start with those first little starter leaves, the cotyledons... that is node zero.
The first true leaves, your big fan leaves.... that is node 1, and then you count up from there.
Please note that it is important to wait till node 5 has risen up off of node 4 and it gets tall enough that you could top it way up there without any trouble... At this point the plant is robust enough to be able to handle the 2-3 cut without going into deep shock and within 24 hours you see rapid growth in the 2 nodes below to rise up to the top to take dominance. Do it too early and the plant will sit there giving you a dumb look for 3-5 days.
 
Emilya said:
start with those first little starter leaves, the cotyledons... that is node zero.
The first true leaves, your big fan leaves.... that is node 1, and then you count up from there.
Please note that it is important to wait till node 5 has risen up off of node 4 and it gets tall enough that you could top it way up there without any trouble... At this point the plant is robust enough to be able to handle the 2-3 cut without going into deep shock and within 24 hours you see rapid growth in the 2 nodes below to rise up to the top to take dominance. Do it too early and the plant will sit there giving you a dumb look for 3-5 days.
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Ah ok, thanks. So by my estimation, my 5th node is rising up? So soon enough. I'm counting by looking at my pics, at work. I can take a better count at home.

What does the '2-3' represent in the technique?
 
2-3... cutting between nodes 2 and 3

best i can see in the pictures, you are just about there
 
Emilya said:
2-3... cutting between nodes 2 and 3

best i can see in the pictures, you are just about there
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Sorry for all the questions. You've been quite patient so far. If the topping method is to cut between 2 and 3, why would I wait to cut after 4?

In your earlier message you say that you cut the 5th when its tall enough, but instead cut between 2 and 3? That produces 4 main colas?

Sorry, I might be a bit confused and don't to screw it up.
 
volksball said:
Sorry for all the questions. You've been quite patient so far. If the topping method is to cut between 2 and 3, why would I wait to cut after 4?

In your earlier message you say that you cut the 5th when its tall enough, but instead cut between 2 and 3? That produces 4 main colas?

Sorry, I might be a bit confused and don't to screw it up.
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you wait till after 4 so that the plant is big enough to manage this severe topping without stress. The plant can handle the stress, but I would rather veg her out for an extra 5 days rather than have her go into shock for 5 days after the cut.

And no... I don't cut the 5th, I just wait for it to happen. Cutting between 2 and 3 produces 4 main kolas, every time.

No worries on all the questions... I totally get how intimidating this is. Do a search on Uncle Ben's Topping method for more details.
 
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