Ramblings of a Grumpy Old Dreamer

[Kaptain Kron]

Kessil is honestly the way to go if you have to go panel its not worth spending the money everyone else charges when you can pay way less for a lighthouse blackstar from gotham hydro. Sure they dont have some of the bells and whistles but its about function over all that stuff and they get them built in china to save on costs while using US made components. That being said ill be moving over to kessils soon from my blackstar or combining them because the kessils just have so much more penetration at a lower cost. The only drawback is lighting footprint which can be solved IMO with a halo like construct that spins or a light mover in a line depending on how u want to set it up. Grumpys got the kick ass LED's but they as he said should NOT be classed in with panels whatsoever its completely different technology. Panels you are very limited to the style you can grow with pretty much scrog only for lack of penetration but the scrog nugs turn out REALLY nice. I prefer the versatility of the kessils. I hope that helps you a little bit go check out kessils website they really explain the differences and show it too.

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

My next SCROG is getting close to being switched to 12/12.

I started with 4 clones of Magic Bud which came very close to being dead - I was about to toss them when I noticed roots.
I initially trained them to have 2 branches each.


5th January - clones in individual hempy pots.


14th January - all 4 clones in one hempy pot.
At this stage they had already been topped to promote side branches and when repotted into the large (290mm square) hempy pot, I lay them down with about a 45 degree lean to further promote branch development.
A bit like LST, but without any stress or in fact any training - just lie them down and let them grow.
They even had exposed roots due to laying them down - but the plants didn't care, nor did I.


19th January
They didn't object to being laid down - branch development progressing well.


25th January, about ready to have screen fitted.
The screen was fitted after this photo was taken - I'll take another one in a few days time just before I switch to 12/12.
I have around 25 - 28 tops on the plants, each one to become a cola and all to be flowered under a single 36w light with cheap ass general purpose nutes.
This one is looking like it will be one bushy SCROG.

I have another clone that is growing balls due to Colloidal Silver treatment, I will be applying a bit of pollen to one cola when the time comes.

 

[SCARHOLE]

Subscribed
looks good grower.

 

[joe macclennan]

hey grumpy i pmed you before i found this thrd,sorry i see you are using the magenta kessils for flowering. do you use the blue kessils for veg too? if not what are you using?

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

hey grumpy i pmed you before i found this thrd,sorry i see you are using the magenta kessils for flowering. do you use the blue kessils for veg too? if not what are you using?

Just PM'd you before I read this thread

I use Purple for Vegging (switched away from CFLs a few weeks back) and Magenta is for flowering.

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

Here is a thread that is well worth looking at if you have an interest in grafting ...

HOW TO: EASILY GRAFT A MARIJUANA PLANT ♀ TUTORIAL ♀ Step By Step ♀ VIDEO + PICTURES by marijuananation

My last attempt at cloning looks like it has succeeded but it is unlikely that I will use my old method again, marijuananation's grafting method is far easier and probably much more guaranteed to work.

I'll post pikkies later of my grafting attempts.

 

[WalterSausage]

G.O.D. - I'm subbed to this thread - as I really want to see how these Kessil scrogs work for you.
I'm wishing the best for you, and plan on copying your setup ...depending on how things go.

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

Welcome aboard.

The beauty of my SCROG system is the screen is attached to the pot which allows me to drag the whole lot out to work on the plant in comfort and rotate the plant to ensure even light coverage.
Light coverage should be at the optimum level as the screen is made to fit the footprint of the light when hung at the preferred height ... 40cm height = 52cm footprint.
The SCROGs may be small in area but they produce plenty of bud for a single user - although I've already lined up someone to take any surplus.

A friend who has been selling pretty good smoke for the last 25 years was totally amazed (and shit-faced) after he sampled some of my Red Dragon buds.

Being a very heavy smoker (easily 40+ cones a day) he packed a bowl and lit her up. A minute later he had a smile on his face and his eyes were looking like piss-holes in the snow.
10 minutes later, he packed a second bowl ... and he was still gripping the bong 20 minutes later, still not smoked.
After the second cone he commented that a third cone would be unwise - and being a long time stoner who does "unwise" things - he had a third, and was unable to do much else for the next 2 hours.
I did tell him that my smoke would shit all over his commercial buds.

He doesn't come across much in the way of Sativa dominant buds in his dealing and it was like watching him get high for the first time. He doesn't want my buds to sell - he wants some for his personal smoke.

Red Dragon is definitely a nice smoke and is a great way for me to end a 5 year smoking break

 

[WalterSausage]

G.O.D. - very cool, and inspiring to hear.
Keeping the screen and pot as a unit totally makes sense.
I'm here to learn, and will totally be taking this all in.
The time you're spending to share some hard learned info is greatly appreciated!!

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

Just an updated photo of my Red Dragon mini-SCROG ... the last of my soil grows.

It's now about 4 weeks since I switched to 12/12 and based on my previous grow, the SCROG has another 6 weeks till harvest.

Did I mention that I love Red Dragon ... it certainly won't be my last Red Dragon grow - my next Red Dragon grow will be using my home made feminised seeds, I do have the original genetics grafted for later use but I need to grow from seeds to finish off the Colloidal Silver experiment.

OK, here's the photo - 6 weeks to go.

 

[Kaptain Kron]

Just received my kessil the other day these things are no fucking joke, some people are turned off by wondering how 36w of LED could grow their plant. Let me tell you after pluggin this thing in i have no doubts whatsoever it hurts my eyes waaay more than my standard panel and the beam of light that comes out of these suckers is so fuckin intense its almost unbelievable for and LED i mean this light looks SOLID like a SOLID beam lol trippy kinda. I already want another one to run in concert with this one and my standard panel over a 2x3 foot scrog, mmmm

Lookin real nice grumpy. Can't wait to really give my kessil a test on my smaller 2ft diameter table.

 

[SCARHOLE]

Coooooooooooooll.
Leds are insane now days.
Nasa is betting on em to grow food on mars. Theyll be the future IMHO.
Plasma an Induction lights takes to much power.

Got a pic of it in action for us?

 

[Kaptain Kron]

yeah ill upload one tomorrow, got a little vid i think too if i didnt delete it. Makes my eyes hurt this thing is too legit, i like induction better than HID but induction still has problems at least the screw in bulbs do, the ones with seperate ballast are supposed to be nice but eh i still dont know about it. I think ill stick with my kessil/blackstar for now

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

... continuing on from the photos in >>> post #42 <<< , here is the latest photo of the Magic Bud, four plant, hempy mini-scrog ....



It was switched to 12/12 2 days ago, and has had 2 12 hour dark periods.
I topped the strongest branches to further induce branching and to give the smaller branches a boost in growth.
This plant looks like it is going to go ballistic during the stretch and should definitely fill the screen.

As usual, the screen is fitted to the pot and measures 52cm across ... the holes in the screen are about 1 inch square.

 

[WalterSausage]

Grumpy - looking good!
If you have the time, I'd love to see a side view of how your screen attaches to the pot some time in the future.
Also, is this screen lighted by just one Kessil??
Thanks for the updates!!

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

Grumpy - looking good!
If you have the time, I'd love to see a side view of how your screen attaches to the pot some time in the future.
Also, is this screen lighted by just one Kessil??
Thanks for the updates!!

I'll take a side view photo soon, but this photo may give you an idea.



There are 4 legs that are made from plastic hanging plant pots (the hanger part) strengthened with bits of 2mm wire.
I drill holes in the corners of the pots and poke the plastic rod into the hole, the wire takes the weight of the screen which pretty much sits on top of the legs held in place by the "clip" type end of the hanger.

The whole contraption would just twist and collapse but I then secure each edge of the screen to the pot with tightly tensioned string.

The mesh of the screen is about 1 inch square so you can see from the photo that the legs are small, only clearing the pot rim by about 3 1/2 inches.

I'll definitely take a pikkie to explain it better.

Each pot/screen combination is made to fit the footprint of a single Kessil light, I have 2 Magenta lights and flower 2 plants at once ... eventually I will have the flowering staggered just right and be able to harvest every 5 to 6 weeks.

 

[WalterSausage]

There are 4 legs that are made from plastic hanging plant pots (the hanger part) strengthened with bits of 2mm wire.
I drill holes in the corners of the pots and poke the plastic rod into the hole, the wire takes the weight of the screen which pretty much sits on top of the legs held in place by the "clip" type end of the hanger.

The whole contraption would just twist and collapse but I then secure each edge of the screen to the pot with tightly tensioned string.

The mesh of the screen is about 1 inch square so you can see from the photo that the legs are small, only clearing the pot rim by about 3 1/2 inches.

Thanks Grumpy - I went back through this thread and looked at your post from 01/19, and now it all makes sense.
Didn't notice the round screen before, but I understand why now as well......
After looking at your photos of post 42, one can see this Magic Bud grow is coming along at a decent clip.
I can't tell you how much I want these Kessils to work!!!

 

[Grumpy Old Dreamer]

Thanks Grumpy - I went back through this thread and looked at your post from 01/19, and now it all makes sense.
Didn't notice the round screen before, but I understand why now as well......
After looking at your photos of post 42, one can see this Magic Bud grow is coming along at a decent clip.
I can't tell you how much I want these Kessils to work!!!

The Kessils definitely work, and work VERY well considering they're only 36w actual power consumption.
The trick is trying to maximise the yield from such a focussed compact footprint, that's the reasoning behind the tailor made screens.
My current Red Dragon SCROG is only covering about half the area of the screen, so even though the yield will be impressive (for a 36w light), there is room for improvement.
The Magic Bud is looking like it will be comming close to maximising the potential of the light as screen coverage is pretty good and there is still more growth before I let it through the screen.

I think that the holy grail of 1g/watt is easily achievable with Kessil lights and one (or both) of my current grows are on track to achieve that.

I have clones of Barney's Farm L.S.D. - 4 clones of each of 2 different phenotypes, ready to take over the screens as soon as the current grows are completed - 4 to 5 weeks to go for the Red Dragon and maybe 8 or 9 for the Magic Bud.

 

[SCARHOLE]

Man, 36w is all? They look BRIGHT! How many lil bulbs in them?

Imagine if you put Them on some light movers you could get like 2+ gr/W yeilds?
Run 4-plants per light ?

What about acrylic grids (they transfer light great from the edges) for the scrog lit with leds (Kissel)...
If laid across the whole length the Kissel would light em even when the light on the mover isnt directly over em.

 

[steverthebeaver81]

those led lights are pretty badd ass lookin. and sounding. whats the lumens output?