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[MEGA] 2010-2011 Community Growing advice, tips, tricks, & experiences

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HighonLife said:
Papa: what are some strains you'd recommend for growin outdoors in Texas?
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sativa dominate strains are ideal......look for the ones that don't have such a long bloom time....some sativas have to flower for 12 or more weeks.....I couldn't recomend a specific strain as I've been doing everything indoors for about 15 years.... the last thing I grew outdoors had a relation to what was called panama red.......the calyxes actually had a red vein in them.....awsome..

look at some seed catalogs and you'll find some good recomendations..
 
okay........another thing you should know about HID lights...and its not a good thing,...sorry....anyway, they lose up to 30% of their brightness after about 18 months or so. Just out of normal wear.....you're going to have to replace them, even if they're not burned out...:(
 
guy at hydro shop said for best results changing the bulb every 12 months would be ideal... Figure in for basic business practices and yea, 18 months sounds about right.

Can anyone shed any light (haha) on the different bulbs being proffered as growing lights versus the standard that comes with the setup?

Is the marine guy family or just a roomate? Seems to me like honesty might just work, especially if you plan on getting your card anyway. Then maybe you could even move it inside and not have to worry. Play up the fact that by growing your own you can remove yourself from the 'undesireable element' as well as saving money. Also, because of his botanical backround, you might just get some sweet ass advice... Just a thought, I know my former marine family members would probably just kill me and my plants.
 
Coming along nicely Prelude :)

HoL- Super Silver Haze is one of the shorter flowering sativa's, considering it's got Haze in it.

GreenHouse seeds have all the sativas/haze's you need.
 
hehe, its hard to keep up with me, I edit my posts like 3 times every time, haha.

I can't wait to get my HID setup, I just can't find a store that sells ballasts. So im kinda lost, the place I work has ballast, I tried to unscrew it from the wall so I could take it home, but I couldnt get it off for the life of me.that thing was crazy. Anywho.

The marine is family.
Unfortunatly. lol
Though, recently he has started drinking alcohol, and smoking ciggarettes (he started with non alcoholic beer, and tried hiding smoking for about 6 years, he still smokes ciggerates in the corner of the house so no one sees, haha)
Anyways, my sister has her card, and she used to live here, and they were fine with her growing/smoking, they just are against me using weed illegally I guess (which, by all means is stupid to me, but, hey, ,cops are the same way, gotta have a peice of paper saying you can smoke otherwise God hates you) lol

And as for growing weed, if you had 4 oz, from your plants, don't you think they'd tried to go after intent to sell? I mean, cops in texas are serious assholes, thats no joke.


So, does anyone know where I would be able to purchase a ballast,
and , was kind of wondering, if I do have ph problems, wouldn't using lemon juice be better, as its more natural, I dont know what ph + and ph - is even made out of...chemicals would be my guess...

Anyways, If I were to get HID, would I be able to veg and flower with it, or would I need a MH as well, as HID does cause alot of stretch growth from what I hear....

Does one ballast fit both bulbs? and how much wattage would I want for 2 plants when it comes to HPS/HID.
 
Aladdinslights
Lumatek 400W 120V HPS/MH Electronic Ballast 140.00
201582-1 hydro lamp cord plug 9.90
Shipping 22.31

Transaction Total: 172.21
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Something from the DIY section at a grow forum. He already had the light (400w HPS) but the ballast was from a warehouse and weighed like 35lbs, was also way to big for his confined space. He bought this digital ballast that can handle either HPS or MH

He used 400w for small cabinet grow... 400w is probably more than enough for you. You could get away with 150w and some suplimental cfls if you intend to keep it small.
 
Well, I can grow it up to about 4 feet max. Ive got the space, the head room about 8 ft,
This plant will probably only be 3- 3 1/2. ft, my last was 2ft when i found it was male , and took it down.
 
get your HID's from a hyrdo store or you can even try craigslist?

if you are getting one kind (MH or HPS) go for HPS but if you have the means for it you should get a switchable or seperate balasts

I prefer the switchable balasts because you can wire everything how you like and just switch the bulb when babies are ready for flowering :)

Theres also conversion bulbs (run HPS on MH or HPS on MH) but you lose a small amount of power
 
Alright... HID primer...
*HID lights include both MH and HPS
*MH has a better spectrum for veg, while HPS has better spectrum for flower
*MH = Metal halide
*HPS = High Pressure Sodium
*When using HID lighting systems, it's important that the bulb, socket and cord, ballast, and power cord are all compatible. The ballast and must be the same wattage and spectrum as the bulb. The cord sets don't need to be the same brand as the manufacturer, but there are several different connections that are not interchangeable
*HID systems are either MH or HPS, unless it's one of the newer digital ballasts. Do not assume this is the case, unless it explicitly advises. You must use the correct bulb.
*Ballast cord sets are usually long enough that they do not need to be mounted adjacent to the bulb, and in fact can even be in a separate room.

There are countless online retailers that sell complete HID lighting systems, ballasts, bulbs, cords, sockets, hoods, reflectors and everything else you'll ever need to grow high quality pot. PM me if you seriously cannot find one, or need a good, reliable, cheap shop. California also has plenty of retail hydroponic shops, so there's bound to be a few near you. You'll find the shops have wildly different prices on the same stuff (at least in my area of Colorado), so shop around for the best deals.


pIIt2, In an earlier post, I did indeed misunderstand your method for ph'ing your water.
 
....also could get an exhaust fan to deal with the heat a little bit

i havent read through this whole thread but if your in california (not exactly sure if you are?) get your card if you dont have one already and grow to your limit. I think its kind of a waste to just do 2 plants especially if your going to invest in HID's.... If you invest in HID, you might as well grow to your potential and not make it wasted effort
 
Has anyone used any Ice box heat exchangers, i was looking at them, from what ive read they seem to be very efficient at cooling , I was thinking of buying one for my closet....Anyone know about these?

eh, never mind, looked into this, seems like wayyyy too much of a hassle
 
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Also, If I were to go for a 400-600 watt digital HID ballast, how many plants would I be able to grow comfortably? Anyone have a rough idea?
 
Prelude2TragedyII said:
Also, If I were to go for a 400-600 watt digital HID ballast, how many plants would I be able to grow comfortably? Anyone have a rough idea?
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I'd say 5 or 6....there is a standard of measure concerning the lumens of illumination per square food....I don't remember what the formula is. I veged 12 plants under one 400 watt MH......flowering is a different story..once I had transplanted them into bigger pots, there was no way I could light up that much floor space with just one light. I added another one and it worked out fine......you could also use a light mover...

When I switched to the 1000 watt HPS, I just raised the light up enough to cover the area I needed and one light does the job okay....its still a little bit of a stretch to think that the outter edges of the grow are receiving enough light...I should probably install the light rail to move it back and forth and light the grow better..
 
Gave a small amount of nuts, 5-1-1, Some organic fish stuff...anywho

NL-2-05.jpg


Looks like its doing alright, little bit of droop in the leaves, and a little bit of upward cudling due to the heat, right now its running at 82. So, not bad, but it had hit 88 earlier in the afternoon for a few hours....

Thanks Pap.
I was thinking of just starting off with four, seeing how that turns out.
Just so I wouldnt having to be stretching myself thin.
What about vegging with both MH and HPS? Anyone tried this?

I was thinking maybe in the future, I could have 8, 4 vegging under a 400-600 watt MH, and 4 running under HPS, ofcourse, this would be when I get my heating temps settled, and I've got some type of technique to growing...

Now, my outdoor plant , doesnt look good at all, it's been stretching, ALOT, but it's not really pushing out leave quickly at all. Im wondering if I should start feeding it nutes, or just let it grow...I've only got 275 watts on CFL for the other plant, I dont think I'd be able to split that in half and still have as healthy of a plant, but, these are all experiments for me I assume, guess we will find out, again, thank you all.
 
Also, another pic of indoor , Im gonna take some pics of the outdoor tomorrow, if I remember. Will be a lower quality since its from my phone and not my girls....


NL-2-5.jpg
 
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