tryin' somthin' different

[bubbawhale]

Howdy guy's, got me some questions. Been growing since 73', but now I built a 48"x36"x72" grow room in my barn. My barn is insulated and heated but my grow room is super insulated and locked. I have had a garden since I was big enough to pick, that's right, pick. My dad planted, me and my brothers had to pick and clean so my ma could can. At the time I thought it to be quite cruel but I now realize the favor my dad did us. Back to the future, I've lived in Michigan my whole life(except 2 and 1/2 years over sea's in the service of our uncle sam in the early 70's, bad trip) and so I figure to put a little tropical climate in a very intemperate zone. Ah, where's the question you ask, where to start. I used a product called Tuff-R(I also used it in my hunt camp in the U.P. and liked it) on the walls. It has mirror like qualities(not unlike tin foil) and a small amount of "R" value. Is this a good choice or did I miss the mark? How about lighting? Yeh, yeh, yeh, I know, metal halide or high pressure sodium, this I've read. So, here's what I've got, a very nice two tuber. That's right, a two tuber. Ok, I also have a four tuber that I can put in instead but I would really like to stay with a vho flouresent system if at all possible. I've read some people use flouresent lighting with great success and not to much fuss. I am starting out with some Afgan seeds in dirt and maybe later try a little cloning but for right now, just an old dirt farmer. I have a 100 yard compost pile(yes 100 yards, me and me mate, Al Gore, are trying to save the world one bag of grass clippings at a time and can I say, It's breaking my back, ain't seen hide nor hair of ol' Al in some time now) and I collect 1/4 yard of fresh(right out of the ***) horse crap every day from the horse farm across the road. I hear a lot about different mediums but nobody says poo about good old compost ya know, mother natures finest. DO you think it's to hot? Well, that's about enough for now. If we get some answers maybe I'll ask some more questions, don't want to where out my welcome and believe me, I've got more questions. About all I can afford anymore since they took all my money in wall street last year in the depression. But I digress. thanks for the attention fellows. And ladies, I'm sure your out there growing to, right? Later.

Larry

 

[the chef]

Welcome to MP. Wow thats alot. Allot of your questions you can answer yourself by reading the forum jump. Stroll down there after checking out the site rules and as for your remaining questions we are all here! Not sure on flowering with floro tubes but anything might be possible! Fer instance: Whiteberry main cola dried and going into the cure jars. done with cfl spirals from start to finish!

 

[UKgirl420]

hello and welcome to MP
as chef said a lot of questions that you can find by reading but ill try and answer a couple
the reflective material idk ,is it really shiny or dull ...,(the shiney side of tin foil causes hotspots and isnt very good at all)but if its like mylar or panda film it should be good
ok just looked it up and it says alimunium refective insulation ,,so im guessing no ,,maybe someone else can answer that ,sorry
as chef said about the flouros ,im currently vegging and flowering under cheap spiral cfls ,so maybe invest in some of them for flowering but what ever you use you are gonna need at minum of 3000-5000 lumens per square foot for vegging ( 6400k brightwhite)and a minumum or 5000 lumens for flowering(2700k warm light)
test the compost ph before you plant the seedling

and most of all goodluck on your new grow eace:

 

[bubbawhale]

Trying to figure out how to access the forum jump, not to computer savy or just plain dumb I guess. Figured as much about the budding with floro's, so, I'm in the market for a mh light and ballast. Any thoughts on size? hum? Don't want to burn down the barn but certainly don't want to stop short of budding. I have one more question(for now) and it's gonna sound ignorant, well, that's what it is, ignorant, school me please. I still don't quite get why I should care if they are little boy's or little girls(I've alway's been partial to girls but the reasoning is some different). Maybe it's because I don't really care about growing smoke so powerful it takes your head off in two tokes, in fact I really don't like the cronic type pot. In the past I smoke them all(that's right, even the leaves, up here there are years the bud just don't bud, know what I mean?) so, all goes in one bag and gets rolled, em good. Or as good as it gets. I'm starting to ramble again and again I digress. Thanks.

(Figured the site rule out)
Larry





Larry

 

[UKgirl420]

Trying to figure out how to access the forum jump, not to computer savy or just plain dumb I guess. Figured as much about the budding with floro's, so, I'm in the market for a mh light and ballast. Any thoughts on size? hum? Don't want to burn down the barn but certainly don't want to stop short of budding. I have one more question(for now) and it's gonna sound ignorant, well, that's what it is, ignorant, school me please. I still don't quite get why I should care if they are little boy's or little girls(I've alway's been partial to girls but the reasoning is some different). Maybe it's because I don't really care about growing smoke so powerful it takes your head off in two tokes, in fact I really don't like the cronic type pot. In the past I smoke them all(that's right, even the leaves, up here there are years the bud just don't bud, know what I mean?) so, all goes in one bag and gets rolled, em good. Or as good as it gets. I'm starting to ramble again and again I digress. Thanks.

(Figured the site rule out)
Larry





Larry

ok larry ,,
the search feature is crap ,,just go to the main page and look at the sub sections ,then you will find stickys full of imformation
and you dont want males as they only produce pollen and very little thc (useful later on if ya wanna try breeding and making your own seeds )not enough to get a small buzz off
now the ladies ,,produce the fruits of the love given ,and that is what fowers into the buds we all like smoking so much
also are you thinking of the mh for vegging ?,,cause if you are on a budget i would recomend hps for flowering and stick with flos for vegging
and yeah learnin the site rules is allways a good thing

eace:

 

[bubbawhale]

Hi ukgirl, just missed your post. You snuck in on me but glad to talk to you and thanks for the answers. Thought about the cfls and just seems to me I would need a awful lot of them so maybe just buy a small mh which brings me to "how small" or of course "how big" should I go? You can probably figure out that I am easily confused and when I start thinking about lumens, kalvin, watts, I kiinda get that glazed look from far far away. Is there an easy fix i.e. 250 watts for 3'x4' or some such? Yes, quite right about the compost, very hot, must wait for older plants. Thanks again.

Larry

 

[UKgirl420]

ok so we are looking at 12sq ft (i think not to good on the old numbers )
so anyway going on that theory you ae gonna need 60,000 lumens
so a 600W mh
but if you buy a switchable ballast(takes mh and hps) you can then use the same light and just change the bulb to an 600 hps when it comes to flowering,
if im wrong ,about any of this ,some one please correct me eace:

 

[bubbawhale]

Ok ukgirl, gonna have to figure out exactly how to cull the males, but that is for later, much later. I also start all my vegatables from seed so floro is fine for that, usually I just put all my seeds in at the same time and plant at the same time and let er go, sun does the rest(little water now and again). With my new room I believe I'll grow to maturation inside. I'm figuring on growing maybe 3 plants at a time, does this change the equation for the lighting? 600 watt hps is good if I can use my floros to veg the plant? Did I mention I had questions? I'm a little anal retentive about new things. A budget is not really a problem but It's hard to justify $500 when most of the pot is going to be thrown back into the compost pile, I probably composted 5# last year and another couple more this year. Just plain don't know when to say when and I like to watch it grow. Been looking at fixtures on the craigslist and you can get a used setup between 400 to 600 watts for $100 or less but this changes everything again like heat, in my little room, insulated as it is it's gonna get hot so I'm gonna need exaust fans. Another discussion altogether. night night for now.

Larry

 

[bubbawhale]

Hey chef and ukgirl, rutted around some and found the forum jump and my questions were mostly answered, think I have a handle on the lights and exaust and the compost, even found the stickies ukgirl was talking about. I have my room and I bought sterile medium and pots, and pot seeds, by jov I think I've got it. thanks again and I'll be back cause I know I still don't know crap, just scratching the surface. Have fun.

Larry

 

[UKgirl420]

ok i have a question for you why do you threw most on the bud on compost heap

and you will identify the males very easily was they show ,they will have what look like little bunches of balls and the females will show themselves by 2 little hairs
well glad your finding your way around the forum

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

You want a HPS for flowering, not a MH. As UKgirl has indicated, lighting needs are figured by lumens per sq ft. The number of plants is really immaterial. If you only want to do 3 plants, you could make your room a lot smaller and go with a smaller light. However, if you are keeping your room 12 sq ft, I would go with a 600W light. Inadequate light will give you light airy buds with little substance. It is not that I am down on fluoros, it is just that they are more expensive than HPS and do less. Lumen fort lumen, fluoros cost more to purchase initially, cost more to operate every single month, put out more heat, and produce less bud than a HPS. Regardless of what light system you go with, you are going to need ventilation. I like to exchange the air in my space 3-4 times a minute.

Remember that just because a surface looks reflective, does not mean that it is. Mirrors are not reflective at all and are not used in grow rooms, so your mirror-like surface may be absorbing light instead of reflecting it.

In addition to being worthless to smoke, the males are culled out of the grow because they will pollinate any female plants. Pollinated plants can have 75% of their weight in seeds rather than bud. Since we are growing bud to smoke, the males are thrown out.

 

[PencilHead]

Welcome. If you'll start a thread in the Grow Room Set-Up and Design then everyone can find you and help.

On the other hand, with these two particular ladies helping, you couldn't be in better hands.

 

[legalize_freedom]

Welcome to MP...I'm a gander also...sounds like you should do a lot of reading in the resources section, get the basics down, and then we can help you iron out the finer details. Glad to have ya!

 

[North Fork Hermit]

lived in Michigan my whole life(except 2 and 1/2 years over sea's in the service of our uncle sam in the early 70's, bad trip)

Welcome bubbawhale, ah yes, early '70s, Southeast Asian war games--USA, second place--consolation prize, some of the best weed [at the time] ever smoked.

 

[bubbawhale]

well UKgirl, I throw alot of pot away becausse I just don't need it. Let me try that again, I grow more than I can smoke, ain't no way I'm sellin any, ain't no way I'm givin any away, ain't no way I'm lettin anybody know I'm growin, so, The extra goes to the compost pile. OH yah, what I throw away is not bud it's bush which brings me to my next question, more stupidity comin right up, do you folks smoke the leaves or just toss them? Now for you Hemp goddess, my room is also for starting my vegtable plants so shrinking it isn't an option, so, I think 600watts hps looks like it to me. The changing of the air I'll have to work on, I know I need a vent and fan system so I'll think on it some. And I'm sure we'll be talking about pistols and pollen balls very soon, I didn't realize the importance of culling the males but I got some pictures to help me and with you guy's helping I'm sure we'll get there. PencilHead, I believe your right about the ladies! legalize_freedom, I knew I wasn't the only one growing the evil weed up north, good to hear from you. Again, thanks for the help and advice.

right friendly place
Larry

 

[pcduck]

This is way confusing for me.

1st you have so much weed that you throw it away.

2nd you want to know if we smoke leaves

3rd you never realized the impotence of culling males

Makes one wonder if you have any experience:holysheep:


But anyways Welcome to mariP and let yourself become an experience grower and not whatever those previous statement were meant to accomplish

 

[bubbawhale]

Hey pcduck, does sound kinda silly when you think about it, so I'll try to clear it up a little for you. I grow it for fun mostly and like everything else I do I way over kill, for example last year I grew 116 tomato plants, understand that only me and my wife are left at home. My youngsters are all off on their own. But I wanted to try growing many different varieties, as a conseqence my garden just keeps growing in size and my wife just keeps complaining. Understand I have 5 acres so size, in this case, really does not matter. I also have a 6' rotitiller on my 35hp John Deere so, again, size doesn't matter. I just enjoy growing things. Now about the leaves, my son says he knows a guy that grows with "Hydroponics", I really don't know anything about that but he say they throw away the leaves and I've always put the whole plant in the bag. I just don't know the etiquette? Culling, I have always grown outside in my corn, rarely did I ever get flowers but when I did It was a treat, just like a novelty, I really didn't notice a difference in the smoke but I don't smoke very much(I'm getting old). I built my room basically for my vegatables and figured while it's there I might as well try growing my pot in there for a couple of reasons that probably only make sense to me. One is stealth, letting people come to my garden and pick my extra vegatables was always a little scarey to say the least, that stops that. Now on to the bud, the reason I rarely got flowers is because I had to pick my plants early because of the people coming to pick my extra veggies, this cures that. As to wondering if I have any experience, no I don't. I grow a mean cob of corn, I grow a nice heirloom tomato and my compost pile is a thing of beauty but do I have any experience in grow rooms, absolutely not! Meant to accomplish, hum? I meant to explain what I was doing, what I had, what I've done in the past, and what I would like to do. Well, that's it in a nut shell. I hope you understand a little better now, I freely admit to being ignorant to the bone about growing marijuana under electrical lighting in a man made environment but I'm getting there with your help and a little luck. Hope to talk to ya soon and thanks for the input and a chance to explain.

"with a little help from me friends" Joe Cocker Woodstock "69"

Larry

 

[high before and after]

Hi! I have experience with compost and HPS.

Some composts are too hot unless you give it time to lie fallow like mushroom or steer manure among others. Kitchen waste compost mixed with leafy compost is great, brew compost tea for best results. You can never apply too much compost tea. Human urine is great for fertilizing but it can burn your plants so try to determine how much is too much, or just throw urine in your compost pile, much better. It also does the job of activating your compost, whatever the hell that is.

Flourscents, you can use flourscents to veg and flower but the yields will be much lower. Ideally you should use flourscents to veg and HPS to flower. Great care should be taken to NEVER touch the HPS lamp with your bare hands- the oils can cause the hot lamp to explode.

Don't let water touch it either! If any of these things get on your lamp accidentally, shut the thing off immediately and when the lamp is cool again wipe it with a glass cleaner and soft cloth, don't stratch it either.

Good luck, and may your barn not burn down and your harvests bountiful.

I should add that exploding HPS lamps are extremely rare when it is used safely.

 

[PencilHead]

3rd you never realized the impotence of culling males

Dang, Duck, I know it was just a slip of the left pointy finger but that's one funny typo...

Reminds me of my red-necked cousin, Leon, when he went to get his vasectomy. He wore a tux--he said if he was going to be impotent, he was gonna damn well look impotent.

 

[PsyJiM]

Welcome to MP !!!!!