Been a Long Time Coming ~ Been a long Time Gone

Your Grandfather

Well-Known Member
Okay....so today the gang got their first taste of 'the real stuff'. Fox Farms Grow Big at full strength_ 1 teaspoon to US Gal.

Plants responded within 3 hours. You just got to love it when things go right. 8)
 

Your Grandfather

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the compliment H&S.

I'm really proud of the short spacing between the nodes. Gives me a feeling of accomplishment of some sort. :)
 

skunkushybrid

New Member
i am sure you know best. i am watching and learning tips from you as you have been in this game for a while.
"Originally Posted this on Tahoe58's grow"

I am working on a supplemental timer/variable dimming CFL lights to simulate the reds of AM and then PM, just makes sense to me. The sky does not go from night to bright daylight_at the flip of a switch.

So, in theory I'd like the 3k cfl's to come on gradually, be supplemented by the 6.5k cfl's and then turn off until "evening" when the process would happen again but only in reverse.


Had a few more puffs of the good nug and have a pretty clear idea of how it can be done. Must call friend tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it is do-able.

More pictures tomorrow. Jah Rastafar I
Yeah I'm aware of the non-dimmer CFL's but there ARE new cfl's which do not have that dimmer restriction, and are of the lower kelvin flavor (more reds) approx 3,000°K, rather than the 6~7,000°K which is closer to bright sunlight.

The initial problem I had was the timer, but, alas my fertile mind struck upon the idea of what bachelor pads use to set the mood lighting. Not like I would know.

But, as I understand it, the 'mood lights come on and then progressively_predicated on the programming by the user_fade to black, or anything else the controller is capable of. Well, if this is true, then, let the romance begin. :!::)

Just got to call of few of the mood lighting people in SoCal tomorrow. If I knew what key words to google, I'd save the phone calls.

Thanks for the encouragement guys :). When you live on the edge, it is hard sometimes to separate edge from non-edge and your touchstone helps bunches.
I'm doing a lot of thinking about wavelengths, filters, propagation of light, lumens per square foot, CFL's, reflective surfaces, soil & nutes and how they all kinda come together in a grow space and either play nice or not.

All of this was brought about by the ongoing controversy of CFL's vs conventional thinking. I respect the conventionalist and can not argue with their success, but the future was never found in the past.

Maybe the answer is just as simple as genetics_there was a fellow named Darwin once_also a guy named Achem (who had a razor) :) If the answer is genetics, then it is just a matter of breeding, Ja? V vill hav das gute zeeds, ja, und it vill vork vunderbar mit das cfl's licht bulben.

I dunno, I'm just thinking aloud. Or is that 'Thinking allowed'

Peace:peace:
you gave me my chuckle for the morn...hahahahaha.......I do believe thinking is allowed.....but there may be restriction for such behaviour a'loud. the whole debate on CFL and others makes me laugh. I know I know nothing - so I sit and listen (sometimes a'loud). I expect there are significant measureable differences in the properties of light from the different sources and their influence over growth - I like ur thought about the genetics - that might well be so. And possibly the original drivers to use CFLs - have been amended - we each approach this with our own spin on things, we take what we learn and discard what we want to, knowing full well there are likely consequences of doing so - maybe positive and maybe negative - but always only from the perspective of oneself and one's own goals and priorities. not measured against anyone else's agenda. all the best to you in your travel down that road to a better understanding.....
In order to entice you to read the rants, I'll post some eye candy - Pictures.

Long ago and far away in a strange land, where there was no internet, no cell phones, not even pagers, there was, however, dope smokers and dope growers.

In those days the struggle was how does a person successfully grow the magic herb outdoors much less indoors. The best thinking of the day was to find a seed strain which was environmentally similar to where you were. Meaning if the seeds came from Panama_tropical area_it would be silly to try and grow them in Minnesota_frozen tundra.

It was from these conversations and resultant efforts that strains like Northern Lights, the Cali strains all came about.

So, this rant is about the challenges we face today in developing a strain of genetics tied to cfl's. Why you ask? Because we know HPS, HID etc, while excellent and are the choice of professionals are soooo last century, and I don't want to live in the past.

/Rant Off

Enjoy the eye candy
I'm only page 6... so much I've already missed. I just couldn't go on quoting and quoting.... doubtless I shall have more to quote from the final half of this thread.

It makes sense through evolution that plants, in general, have a built-in adaptability to the changing spectrums of the sun. However, just because it's natural it doesn't make it right. We have all witnessed how cannabis responds to an unnatural environment, and by tweaking it we have learned to get the best from the plant in an indoor or unnatural environment. Also most of the genetics these days come from plants created from indoor environments.

You know nasa do crazy tests all the time, changing atmospheric pressures to grow plants with different coloured leaves. The plants actually evolve/adapt to suit conditions...

I need to look more into light... but i'm more philosopher than mathmetician and I find numbers hard to concentrate on. Excellent read, i'm going to finish the rest now. thankyou.
 

skunkushybrid

New Member
amazing what a bit of reading can do... refreshes things forgotten and helps make connections with the questions of now.

While reading about lumens and lux, it struck me that red and blue are on opposite ends of the spectrum with green in the middle in regards to what the plant registers. So we only really need strong light from the red and blue spectrums. Yet cannabis will flower quite happily if only one type of the spectrum is available. Which suggests that cannabis takes light from both intense ends of the spectrum throughout its entire growth. Does this make it better? By all accounts, and from my own limited experience, yes. But what difference between bud flowered under blue, and bud under red? For this there is very little determined affirmation. You see my point? If natural is the way to go, why is it that cannabis can adapt to a world not of this earth (well, you get what i mean)?

Just because the sun falters is no fault of cannabis, and as indoor growers we get to create the environment for the plant.

I'm still unsure of lumen ratios with HID and fluoro's... but fluoro's never seem intense enough... I can't look for long at my 400w hids, red or blue. Yet fluoro's never seem to hurt my eyes. If they could ever put out, what my unscientific brain calls, a high intensity... and actually hurt my eyes to the degree of HID's I might change my mind.
 

Your Grandfather

Well-Known Member
Wow, thanks for the comments.... you just sprinkled some "grow big" on my mental synapses 8)

I am thankful of your kind comments. Paraphrasing Jim Morrison - I'm an intellectual with the soul of a clown and have the ability to blow it at the worse possible moment.

Somewhere around here, I have a dissertation on the effects of light propagation and production of THC, but you think I could find it now? Tahoe58 has a copy and hopefully he has a better filing system than I :)
 

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skunkushybrid

New Member
Glad to have helped, but I was merely trying to return the favour... that is what these boards should be for. Reasoning should always play a big part. it's okay to know a plant does a certain thing in a certain way, but we must strive to understand the reasons why. This is a higher level of learning that I feel is lacking a little on this site.
 

skunkushybrid

New Member
A picture of numbers... lol.

Great attention to detail. The larger fan leaves are also on the bigger plants. Is this because they have more room to spread out? I've noticed that if you give cannabis the room it will fill it.

Like an indica strain i recently grew. It had a tendency to grow a straight cola, but give it room... and you got side branches.
 

Your Grandfather

Well-Known Member
A picture of numbers... lol.

Great attention to detail. The larger fan leaves are also on the bigger plants. Is this because they have more room to spread out? I've noticed that if you give cannabis the room it will fill it.

Like an indica strain i recently grew. It had a tendency to grow a straight cola, but give it room... and you got side branches.
I try to give each plant as much room as it needs, causes some problems when a person is trying to do a controlled test, but we do what we have to do :)

Need to smoke some good.... and reflect on the numbers and try to understand what they are telling me versus what my eyes see.

One thing I can tell you is - Do not use Miracle Grow Organic, it is like trying liquid oxygen in a DWC. LOL
 

skunkushybrid

New Member
One thing I can tell you is - Do not use Miracle Grow Organic, it is like trying liquid oxygen in a DWC. LOL
Worse than that... I had a set of plants that just never got over the overnute. i'd flush and flush, then any time i tried adding feed they'd overnute again. I only tried it because everyone on here said how rubbish it was...
 

Your Grandfather

Well-Known Member
And lastly. A fresh experiment ~ peat pellets versus soil mix. Remember this is only the beginning, it does not take into account the ph of the peat and also does not factor in the amount of 'adjustment' it takes to go from peat to soil.

On first blush, it appears, peat is better than soil_at least the soil mix I have.

I really like the peat and gatorade top combo, it allows the tap root to learn how to seek out the moisture, which is at the bottom of the cap.
 

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skunkushybrid

New Member
trouble with seed plants is that they will each have different growth patterns. Like the most vigorous one in your peat mix, could be because it's a male.
 

Your Grandfather

Well-Known Member
trouble with seed plants is that they will each have different growth patterns. Like the most vigorous one in your peat mix, could be because it's a male.
Statistically speaking you are correct. But that doesn't make him bad, because after all I'm trying to do something here, not just grow some weed. :):hump:

Imagine a world of femenized CFL seeds. That work like super silver haze or white widow or train wreck and can be grown under cfl's with 'reasonable' yields. Power to the people
 

skunkushybrid

New Member
That'll be a great day for cultivators all over the world!

I have noticed in your other experiment that there seems no difference in growth in the different sized pots. like the plants are growing in their own way regardless of the root space.
 
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