DarkSideoftheBloom: The Story So Far..

[darksideofthebloom]

Hello all. Like most of you, i'm an avid bud lover. being ripped off, strain inconsistency, lack of product, all the other stuff you have to put up with just to get some kind.. man, it gets old. if, for no other reason than to enjoy my bud from seedling to super smoke, running my own grow in an arguable aspect doesn't weigh heavily in the Pros versus the Cons, then please, prove me wrong. However, i feel it's safe to say that im surrounded by enthusiasts equally as driven and even more educated (major props!) than I; please, dig into my journal from day one. all tips, pointers, and anything conducive to my new girls' optimal health would be beyond appreciated.. your shoes are big, my job at this point is to sit back, respect, and be educated! Thank you!


My Grow:

A 6'x4'x2.5' gutted entertainment center (go big or go home, right?)
it consists of a 2 part veg chamber (one for clippings, clones, germination and one for matured clones and plants, and a mother) and a large flowering chamber.

-Vegetation Chamber:
runs 5 CFL bulbs, 2 fluorescent @ 540W/10,650Lm and one 120mm fan for exhaust
-Flowering Chamber:
runs 2 CFL bulbs, 1 fluorescent, 1 HPS @ 570W/34,425Lm and two 120mm fans for exhaust.
-Panda Film
-Humidifier
-Bootleg C02 rig (any cheap ideas??)
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[darksideofthebloom]

let's catch up..

Day 1: Germinated the seeds in individual shotglasses full of mineral water, pH 6.3.
Day 2: Labeled seeds for keeping record, Planted them accordingly in solo cups in pre-moistened Miracle Gro seed starting medium. (can't find fox farm anywhere close, waiting to find a good deal online) pH was 6.7.
Day 3: Plants #1 and #2 shook their seed casing and their cotyledons spread to soak up some sun. #3 had yet to fully rise from the casing, but has since.

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[Jericho]

Hey Darkside, Sounds good.

The pics need to be uploaded to the site it self. Cannot have outside links on the site. Site Rules

Apart from that sounds good and cant wait to see some pics.

What size HPS you using?

 

[darksideofthebloom]

Day 4: my girls are doing well! from what i can tell anyway. i haven't watered since the initial wetting of the soil, but it hasn't shown any signs of crusting or drying out. i have been gently misting the plants and soil to help the transition from the humidity domes (can't hurt, right?)

#3 has almost shaken her casing totally free...

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[darksideofthebloom]

Hey Darkside, Sounds good.

The pics need to be uploaded to the site it self. Cannot have outside links on the site. Site Rules

Apart from that sounds good and cant wait to see some pics.

What size HPS you using?

Thanks for the heads up man!!

I'm using a 250w HPS. it's top mounted to save some room, but the CFLs will be height adjustable (think this will work?)

 

[Jericho]

Hmm. Well plants will grow towards the brightest light source. How high would it be from the plants? Might cause some stretch in the beginning.

 

[darksideofthebloom]

well, the HPS is in the flowering chamber, so by the time they hit there i figure they'll be around 18"-24". i have slide shelves positioned in the box though, so i can adjust how high the plants sit as well.



by the way, im interested in this new jack horror grow you'll have going. def wanna keep posted on that!

 

[Jericho]

I was going to suggest putting some sort of shelving in there to help. When plants go into flower they stretch out sometimes to 2-3 x there size. So try keep them close to minimize any flowering stretch.

I Just put the seeds in some water to germ. Should be done im hoping tomorrow. And then will get them in soil. Need a few things from the hardware store and i will be starting a GJ.

P.s. If you want the picts to display on the thread then after you have uploaded them in the Text box at the top click on the paper clip and add the pictures.

 

[darksideofthebloom]

yeah, new to posting on the site so im just getting the feel for it. couldn't figure out at all how to get thumbnails on there - thanks for that! im sure much wont change in the next couple days, but i'll be keeping this journal updated - your feedback has been very helpful so far, keep checkin in.

 

[niteshft]

I noticed you posted your pics directly to your first post but only provided links thereafter, it's much easier for all if you would place pics directly to your post.

 

[woodydude]

Nice side by side setup, I have similar and love the fact everything is compact.
Am a little confused by you wattage and lumen count, I am guessing they are totals. If so, 540W and only 10k lumens is a lot of power used for not much Ln. Similar story with your flowering, 570W for only 35Kln, a 600W HPS will give you 90KLn.
You probably know this already and from the space you have there, they will certainly do a job for you but they both seem a bit on the inefficient side to me though I am very much a novice. If its what you have available, then some lush green growing mojo my friend. When you can, maybe look into your lighting.
Love the CO2 btw, I really fancy getting some myself but other priorities are sucking up the finance.
Peace
Woody

 

[Jericho]

I noticed you posted your pics directly to your first post but only provided links thereafter, it's much easier for all if you would place pics directly to your post.

Most of the pics on the site at the moment are like that. There are some problems with posting pics for some people.

Makes no difference to me as long as they on MP site which they are. JMO

Good stuff Dark side. Will pop you a pm when i got new GJ started.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I am with Woodydude here--are you running 540W and getting only getting 10K lumens in veg and 570W and only getting 35k lumens? This is really a horrible lumen to watt ratio and your electricity bill (every single month) is going to be way more than it could be with more efficient lighting. You can get a 2' T5 that uses 110W and puts out 10,000 lumens for vegging and a 400W HPS will put out about 50000 lumens.

You really need to look at your watts vs lumens when purchasing lighting. CFLs are actually the most expensive (lumen to watt ratio) of any of the lights people use to grow and you will see this every single month when you pay your electricity bill. The simple facts are that, lumen for lumen, CFLs generally cost more to purchase initially, cost more to operate every single month, run hotter than a HPS, and produce substantially less bud.

I am not sure about the size of your space--dimensions are generally written length x width x height, but I can see that you have far more than 2.5' height, so am unsure of your sq footage. But you are going to need 3000 lumens per sq ft for veg and 5000 lumens per sq ft for flowering. I also do not believe that your computer fans are going to give you enough air exchange. Most of us here use centrifuge fans like Can, Eclipse, Vortex, etc. Computer fans will take virtually no resistance and you cannot put a filter on them.

I would recommend that you forget trying to do any kind of makeshift CO2 setup--they simply do not work. To be effective CO2 enhancement needs to be controlled, regulated, and monitored. It takes some big bucks to set up a CO2 enhancement system to be effective. If you have extra money to spend it would be better spent on getting better, more efficient lighting or better fans.

 

[darksideofthebloom]

Most of the pics on the site at the moment are like that. There are some problems with posting pics for some people.

Makes no difference to me as long as they on MP site which they are. JMO

Good stuff Dark side. Will pop you a pm when i got new GJ started.

Definitely! keep me posted on that! much green mojo to you

 

[darksideofthebloom]

woody - thanks for the mojo man. yeah, the amounts i have posted are totals. they're, however, totals for the amount of wattage that would be spent if they weren't CFL bulbs.. not really running that much wattage. i felt the ratio was pretty low, but like you said.. its my first grow and im just working with the max budget i can. i figure in the future many upgrades and replacements will be made. you say you have a side by side setup, too? i'd like to see some pics of that. could use some alternative blueprints for fresh ideas.

goddess - thanks for all the pointers! the cfl's are 26's and 34's, i believe. and i got my HPS (250w) from a friend for pretty cheap.. figured you must start somewhere, eh? also, was never much for any mathematics, so let me revise my growing space lol. LxWxH would be 6'x2.5x4.5'.. C02 can be controlled pretty well in a space this small if i just leave the fan on and go in and hang out with my girls for a while and rustle the air up a bit, right? i'll look into C02 further in the future. I'm taking your advice and making lights and fans my first priority. i figured sometime in the future i'd invest in a new HPS. Fans and Exhaust have been hell trying to figure out (thanks for the advice on brands!). i noticed immediately that 3 120mm fans just would NOT suffice. i'm maintaining stable humidity and temp though.. i'm hoping i can get through 1 harvest and get my feet wet and see what all adjustments i need to make before really, really going at it.

to all - please keep checking in, you're welcome to drop any piece of advice or criticism anytime. thanks again!

 

[darksideofthebloom]

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too elongated for day 5 (day 3 under full lights)???

 

[slowmo77]

i wouldn't worry about it. you can always bury it a little deeper when you trans plant.. can you get you light a little closer without it being to hot on the plants?

 

[darksideofthebloom]

i wouldn't worry about it. you can always bury it a little deeper when you trans plant.. can you get you light a little closer without it being to hot on the plants?

shouldn't be a problem. the CFL's dont get very hot at all. i've got it positioned abt 6-7" from the cotyledons right now. closer? they're mobile with ease, so i can go correct that now if need be.

 

[Jericho]

I used to keep my cfls about 2 inchs from the tops of the plants with a fan blowing across them so it doesn't heat up. I used to use the 32w cfls so heat wasn't bad.

 

[darksideofthebloom]

thanks slowmo and jericho for the heads up. i lowered the lights to about 3" above the girls. they just woke up and are ready for another 18 hours.. will be monitoring closely over the time and will keep you posted.

- darkside