Strawberry D-Light

Ive most recently been looking for a chronic autoflowering strain when i came across this:

SAGARMATHA SEEDS: Strawberry D-Light (Strawberry Cough x New York City Diesel)

I found it at a few different sites now, some have it under their autoflowering section and others do not...

Is it indeed an autoflower?

Has anyone had any experience with this particular strain?

Has anyone had an experience with :
www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/ OR www.sensibleseeds.com OR www.highestseeds.com/ ?


Joan Figgens

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"Is it indeed an autoflower?"

Flowering : Photoperiod

Not autoflower.

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"Has anyone had any experience with this particular strain?"

I'm enjoying a Volcano bag of Elite's Super Strawberry Diesel (Rez Strawberry Diesel X Lemon Larry) and it's phenominal. Like Sag's S D-lite + Lemon Larry.

Right up there with Bubblegum for taste and three different phenos with effects from stupefying stones to euphoric highs. Ranges of Diesel to a light sweet strawberry taste.

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"Has anyone had an experience with:"

Just Attitude, the Mercedes Benz of seedbanks at Ford prices. Very dependable.

Sagarmatha is a top shelf breeder.

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Killer strain. It's weird there isn't more smoke reports on this strain. it's strawberry cough x sour d x nycd. killer high and strong most people don't finish a bowl or joint. if they do their most likely on another planet...

Hobbes said:

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"Is it indeed an autoflower?"

Flowering : Photoperiod

Not autoflower.

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"Has anyone had any experience with this particular strain?"

I'm enjoying a Volcano bag of Elite's Super Strawberry Diesel (Rez Strawberry Diesel X Lemon Larry) and it's phenominal. Like Sag's S D-lite + Lemon Larry.

Right up there with Bubblegum for taste and three different phenos with effects from stupefying stones to euphoric highs. Ranges of Diesel to a light sweet strawberry taste.

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"Has anyone had an experience with:"

Just Attitude, the Mercedes Benz of seedbanks at Ford prices. Very dependable.

Sagarmatha is a top shelf breeder.

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Click to expand...

Very helpful thank you very much hobbes.

I't does however spark a new question for me... Is there a high yielding autoflower strain with a decent THC% ?? almost sounds like every growers dream a high yielding autoflower that is potent.. i could only hope =)

I'm really interested in a high potency autoflower... but something that would be maybe a little less as potent but have higher yields i would consider..

Joan Figgens

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"Is there a high yielding autoflower strain with a decent THC% ?"

The most potent I've read about are the AK47 and White Russian crosses:

http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/lowlife-seeds/lowlife-automatic-white-russian/prod_625.html

http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/lowlife-seeds/lowlife-automatic-ak47-autoflowering/prod_427.html

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There is an AK47 X Diesel autoflower that would give you some Diesel taste and AK47 potency.

http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/lowlife-seeds/lowlife-automatic-ak47-x-diesel/prod_745.html

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"almost sounds like every growers dream a high yielding autoflower that is potent."

Do you clone? You can get more potency, yield, taste from a photo period plant in less time - from clone - than an autoflower from seed. You could harvest an Endless Sky plant every 42 days, 500 g/m2 SOG, extremely potent.

What do you find appealing about autoflowers? The short seed-to-harvest time?

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No I've never cloned... I wasn't even aware of the positive effects of cloning until now..

The grow that I have in mind would obviously have its intentions to harvest every 80days or so. And with the limited amount of space that I have as well as the security issue of hiding it from the old lady is what drew me towards the autoflowers.

I intend to do the entire grow inside a custom box that I'm in the process of construction that will be in the neighborhood of 6.5' tall 2.75' (33") wide and deep. equipped with 660w of CFLs and FLTs (fluorescent tubes) and I had originally planned to grow just 1 large plant and harvest every 80days or so.. but having done some reading on some other people set ups it looks like a box of that nature could hold more than just one.

If I were to use a photo period plant and clone it, I'd prolly have to have separate rooms for seedling/clones and for vegging. Could that be done in the same amount of space that I'm looking at using now?

Cuz not only would that be more potent like you said.. it would also cut out the fact of ordering seeds every couple months or so or whatever it would be by just clipping and cloning. I would def need to do some reading and research on cloning before I hop into it though. Do you recommend any threads for 1st time cloners? or do you have some personal experiences you could share?

thanks a ton for all your feedback thus far. You've really been an amazing help

Joan Figgens

Joan.figgens said:

The grow that I have in mind would obviously have its intentions to harvest every 80days or so. And with the limited amount of space that I have as well as the security issue of hiding it from the old lady is what drew me towards the autoflowers.
Joan Figgens

Click to expand...

Glad to know I'm not the only person running a total stealth operation. My experience is that photoperiod plants can be just as stealthy as autos. The method I use is to have a regular garden as well where I grow tomatoes, lettuce, basil, peppers, etc. A few strange leafed clones are lost in the mess. Pay no attention to that locked cabinet behind the boiler...

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"6.5' tall 2.75' (33") wide and deep ... it looks like a box of that nature could hold more than just one."

My plants take about 1.5'sq - I have a 36" x 96" grow space and can fit 14 CCOBs and either (2 horizontal straight stem plants in 5 gallon buckets or 12 x 8" pots on a shelf).

In your 33"sq I could do 4 CCOBs in 5 gallon pots Depending on the strain the yield would be 6 to 12 cups (1.5 to 3 liters) of cured bud per plant (hung dry, trimmed, bagged, jarred - 4 weeks).


"equipped with 660w of CFLs and FLTs (fluorescent tubes)"

Rule of thumb is 50W HID per square foot for flower - 33"sq = ~7.5'sq; need 7.5'sq x 50W = 375W HID. So you would go with a 430W HPS lamp in a 400W magnetic ballast (ballast kept outside cabinet) that would give you 125 Lumens / Watt compared with 66 Lumens per Watt with a 40w CFL.

The difference in lumens between CFL and HPS is converted to heat instead of light.

660W CFL = 43,560 lumens + all heat released in cabinet

430W HPS = 53,750 lumens + some heat released in ballast outsed of cabinet.

HID = easier to get a big yield of potent bud, in the shortest flowering time.

660W CFL = 230W more than HPS; 19% less lumens, I estimate 310W more turned to heat than HPS (230W + 81W) (81W = 19% of 430W). Heat stress.

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Joan.figgens said:

The grow that I have in mind would obviously have its intentions to harvest every 80days or so. And with the limited amount of space that I have as well as the security issue of hiding it from the old lady is what drew me towards the autoflowers.
Joan Figgens

Click to expand...

Glad to know I'm not the only person running a total stealth operation. My experience is that photoperiod plants can be just as stealthy as autos

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"Do you recommend any threads for 1st time cloners? or do you have some personal experiences you could share?"

I made some bubblers for cloning and vegging, to me it's the simplest, fastest, highest success method of cloning.

3 gallon bucket and lid (black, light cannot go through)
large aquarium air pump
6 small air stones
2 aquarium gang valves (3 outlets per valve)
tubing
drill, bits
2" hole saw
2" net baskets and neoprene inserts
copper tubing or plastic disk to hold air stones on the bottom.
aquarium thermometer
50W aquarium heater
Masking tape & pen

Hole saw to drill 9 holes around the rim of the bucket, one in the center for the aquarium heater.

Drill a hole to size for the thermometer.

Drill holes in the bucket, just below or around the lid - so the air tubing can fit through. I find it easiest to cut out a square from the top of the bucket wall to just rest the tubes in.

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Your cuttings should be around 3", 2"-2.5" of branch or stem and 2 nodes above.

The stem of the cutting must be green, not woody or you will have trouble rooting.

Heat water to 80F

Give at least 4 hours dark each day

Don't put the bubbler directly under the light, off to the side but it should get some light.

If your tap water is good to drink it should be good for cloning. Don't evaporate the chlorine.

Label the clones, or the neoprene inserts, as you clip and put them in the bubbler. Strain and plant number.

If you're handy with a razor knife scrape the side of the stem to open another rooting area.

I'll post some other stuff as I think of it.

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660W CFL = 43,560 lumens + all heat released in cabinet

430W HPS = 53,750 lumens + some heat released in ballast outsed of cabinet.

I read that with a contained atmosphere like one in a stealth grow cabinet you want to circulate the box's volume 2 to 3 times every minute. Having calculated the box's volume to be roughly 50cu.ft. I was planning on having 2 90cfm 120mm fans on the top of the box for the exhaust. one running all the time. the other hooked up to a thermostat controlled plug that would regulate the heat. while using a 5" x 10" light trap passive intake at the lower end of the box to naturally replace the exhausted air with cold air without any light escaping.

would a ventilation set up such as that work for a 430 HPS bulb?

The box was to be constructed out of ply wood or MBF... Do I have to worry about the HPS heating the box to the point of ignition and causing a fire?

those were kinda the reasons I had chosen CFLs...

If that HPS would work safely in such a box I would consider it. I just don't want to burn my house down ya know =p lol.. but obviously an HPS would increase the yield and potency..

and I feel like such a noob for asking haha but its ok cause I kinda am... whats CCOBs ? lol

Thanks again for your input and information

Joan Figgens

So I'm up pretty late right now, inhaling some inspiration and love from this chem-dog I came by. Have the day off of work tomorrow, unfortunately to go to a wake for a friend from school... cancer =/

But so I'm blasted and I was doin a little research on some HPS set ups and kinda answered my own question but came up with some new ones.

I was looking at running a Cooltube with a 400w HPS (not sure what brand or model.. any suggestions?) and a Lumatek 400w Digital Ballast - 120v.. and have 6" ducting with and outside air intake and an inline 6" 188cfm fan on the exhaust side of the Cooltube exhausted out the top of the box. The ballast mounted on the outside of the box obviously..

And the Cab. temp. would still be regulated by the 2 90cfm 180mm fans as stated earlier. one always running one on a thermostat socket..

Do you think a set up like that would run efficiently and SAFELY in an all wooden cab? I for some reason can just picture myself burning down my house haha..


I was also thinking of still running the 4 dual bulb 48" fluorescent work lights. with 1 Daylight Spectrum and 1 Warm Light Spectrum during veg. and 2 Warm Light Spectrum for flowering.

And if I was to go with (4) 5gal Buckets.... could I LST them for max yield? or would I want to grow 4 large single cola plants? I was thinking of rigging up like 4 more 48" bulbs to put between all for plants to get interior light along the full length of the plant as well as outside with with other FLTs... what do you think? waste of money or no?

Would I veg and flower with the HPS? or would I need a light set up for veg.? I remember reading something stating 9600k daylight or full spectrum (blue spectrums) are better at promoting vegetation and 2700k warm or soft white light (red spectrums) are better for promoting flowering... With the HPS would I still want to balance out with some blue spectrum lights? I've heard 60/40 or 70/30 ratios of blue/red for veg. and red/blue for flowering.. any thoughts on that?

Thanks again,

Joan Figgens

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"would a ventilation set up such as that work for a 430 HPS bulb?"

If it would work with 660 watts of CFL it will be overkill with 430 watts HPS bulb (400 watt ballast).

****!! CFL (tubes, HO, whatever) put out more heat per watt than HPS/MH ****!!

Hard to get one's head around - the CFL bulb will be cooler to touch per square inch, but there are so many more square inches that much more heat will be released, inside your cab, than with HPS/MH. High Intensity Discharge lights like HPS/MH are more efficient than CFL lights - more light is put out per watt, so the excess energy with CFL must come out in some way - heat.

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430 watts of CFL will put out MORE heat than 430 Watts of HPS.

430 Watts of HPS will put out more lumens and PAR watts than 430 Watts of CFL.

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Bottom line - you will produce much much less heat with a 430 watt HPS bulb than with 660 watts of CFL. And you'll get more potent bud, more of it, quicker.

CFL will work, but not as well as HPS/MH. With CFL it takes more growing skill to get the same results as the same wattage HPS. HID will be cheaper to set up than CFL - bulbs, fixtures, extension cords for that many lights, the fire hazard ...

That is all I'm saying about CFL vs HPS.

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"The box was to be constructed out of ply wood or MBF... Do I have to worry about the HPS heating the box to the point of ignition and causing a fire?"

If you keep the bulb a half foot away from the wood you'll be fine.

"those were kinda the reasons I had chosen CFLs..."

Unless you're a CFL enthusiast, or have dozens of CFL bulbs AND fixtures lying around, and can't afford a good light ...

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"I was looking at running a Cooltube with a 400w HPS (not sure what brand or model.. any suggestions?) and a Lumatek 400w Digital Ballast - 120v.. and have 6" ducting with and outside air intake and an inline 6" 188cfm fan on the exhaust side of the Cooltube exhausted out the top of the box. The ballast mounted on the outside of the box obviously.."

Sounds good but go with a magnetic ballast first time around - electronic are not as reliable yet. Only get an electronic when you have a magnetic to back it up. For bulbs - Horticulture, Argo, Sunmaster ... there are a lot of good ones. Cool tube is excellent for a cabinet but has poor light distribution for a larger setup. Best cooling air cooled hood.

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"6" 188cfm fan"

Which fan? Vortex or squirrel cage? I use a ~400 CFM vortex with a 1000W, but in a larger grow area.

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"Do you think a set up like that would run efficiently and SAFELY in an all wooden cab?"

It should run fine, just put your fan and light on the same plug so if you loose your fan your light goes off. Use good reflection - like reflectix or mylar - instead of paint. The paint may release odor at high temperature and Reflectix will protect the wood from the heat.

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"And if I was to go with (4) 5gal Buckets.... could I LST them for max yield? or would I want to grow 4 large single cola plants?"

5 gallon pots: top and LST. One 5 gallon pot single cola will fill up your whole cab - they take up a lot of space sideways. If you're going SOG style (single colas) go with smaller pots and smaller clones, pinch off the bottom third of branches to make the plant concentrate on the top bud (popcycling I think it's called) - more yield and better bud.


"I was thinking of rigging up like 4 more 48" bulbs to put between all for plants to get interior light along the full length of the plant as well as outside with with other FLTs... what do you think? waste of money or no?"

Side lighting is good but with a 400 watt, good reflection and CCOB growth, you won't need side lighting in that small space. UVB lights (reptile lights) are good for side lighting during flower to promote trichome growth. A 400 watt HPS is good for about 9" of penetration into the canopy, best to keep the plants short.

Stick to the basics at first, one light is more than enough to worry about starting out. The best bud is produced with good growing skill and basic equipment, gadgets just complicate things when you're starting out. And will most likely cause you problems rather than help you.

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"Would I veg and flower with the HPS?" or would I need a light set up for veg.?

MH for veg, HPS for flower. You can get a switchable ballast for both, or a convertable MH bulb for your HPS ballast.


"I remember reading something stating 9600k daylight or full spectrum (blue spectrums) are better at promoting vegetation and 2700k warm or soft white light (red spectrums) are better for promoting flowering..."

Correct. 2100K for flower, upper K for veg. I use a 10,000K HO CFL for veg, keeps the nodes short - I'm switching to a 175W or smaller MH for better growth. If you veg with HPS you will get tall stretchy plants. If you flower with MH it takes longer for the transition into flower but you'll get tighter buds. Some people like MH buds more, I tried it for a year and I find that it takes longer to flower. You can switch you lights around during flower for the best results (ie 2100K for the first two weeks of flower for transition / 20,000K for the last week of flower for trichome production).

"With the HPS would I still want to balance out with some blue spectrum lights? I've heard 60/40 or 70/30 ratios of blue/red for veg. and red/blue for flowering.. any thoughts on that?"

Some HID bulbs come with both an HPS an MH section in the same bulb for more balanced color, I haven't tried one yet. Other people have used the UFO LED lights as supplemental lighting with good results. You can use UVB supplemental lighting during late flower, HO CFL tubes for side lighting. I've tried a lot of different light options and I'm back to the simplest: 600 watt Horticulture HPS, 2100K for flower. I've got lots of reptile lights (UVB) but they get in the way and the higher wattage ones (I have a 160W spot and 8 x 30W florescent) put out a lot of heat. I like experimenting with the UVB from time to time. After I get my small MH ballast for veg I'm going to get some LED lights to hook to my Light Rail as supplements.

Supplemental lighting is good, but don't worry about it your first time out. A good MH and HPS (full spectrum) bulb will do fine, concentrate on not cooking your plants and cloning.

And odor protection. Next to a locked door and a closed mouth the most important part of growing.

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Did I miss anything?

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Hobbes, I agree with most of what you're saying about lights, but there are a couple of errors:

While you want the most light per watt you can get, all that light eventually ends up as heat. This means that weather you have 400 W of cfl or 400 W of HPS, you still need to get rid of 400W of heat from the cabinet. Vented light fixtures allow you to use less cooling air because the exhaust temperature off the light can be hotter than the cabinet.

Locating the ballast outside the enclosure is a good idea, but not because you're moving some of the 400 watts out. The balast consumes additional power above the rated wattage of the bulb. With a 400w magnetic balast, it might be more than 50 watts for a total power consumption of 450w. Of course cfls have their ballast built in, so it shows up in the bulb wattage.

I've been designing industrial cooling systems for 20 years now, so I'd be happy to go into depth on vent rates, strategies, etc. when I'm not typing on my iPhone.


-Q

hobbes you rock

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Thanks QG.

I've thought about watts in watts out now and again but never researched it. And I did not know that the CFL and HID ballasts are rated different - CFL rating includes the ballast for watts in, and HID ballast rating is watts output. Is this correct?

And if we have 1 x 400 watts HPS bulb and 8 x 50 watts CFL they will both produce the same amount of heat in the cabinet even though more lumen will be produced by the 400 watt bulb? Is the heat balanced by conversion of the extra HPS lumen to heat? Does the light spectrum matter? (Assuming the HPS ballast is outside the cabinet.)

Could you look at my Ohm's Law / lumen figures to see if the comparison is correct please.

We would need two seperate comparrisons - one for efficiency and a second for wattage used inside the cabinet and converted to heat.

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400 Watt HPS - 58,000 Lumen (132 par watts)

4 amp x 120 volt = 480 watts drawn from plug, but only 400 watts of heat released in the cabinet. JF is most concerned with heat and PAR watts inside the cabinet.

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To get the same Lumen in CFL as HPS:

40 watt CFL = 2,800 lumen

58,000 / 2,800 = 21 bulbs = 840 watts inside cabinet.

To use 660 watts @ 75L/W = 49,500 lumen, but it's not going to be near the PAR watts of horticulture bulb.

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wow that is a cornucopia of knowledge right there! thanks so much for sharing Hobbes.

it will be overkill with 430 watts HPS bulb

What if I set both of the exhaust fans on the Thermostat controlled outlet so they would only kick on when heat becomes and issue? Still overkill?

And a weird side question.. for lights off temps. If I was running a stealth grow inside a house during the winter months when the inside temps. of the house can get pretty warm... is there a secrete for always having 60-65 degree lights off temps.? maybe running the fans durring lights off... or piping in some cold air from outside the house... that might be too cold and hard to regulate the temp. just a thought...


Sounds good but go with a magnetic ballast first time around - electronic are not as reliable yet. Only get an electronic when you have a magnetic to back it up.

I was reading that the digital ballasts run 100% silent.. thats's what drew me to them. I'm trying to make this set up as stealth as possible.


Cool tube is excellent for a cabinet but has poor light distribution for a larger setup. Best cooling air cooled hood.

Would it be a wiser decision to go with a reflective hood that has 6" ventilation wholes on both sides like the Daystar Air Coolable Reflector from Hydrofarm?

Would that make it easier to change from MH to HPS when the time comes?

I was interested in the cooltube because it separates the lights ventilation from that of the cab... ie. I don't have to filter the exhaust from the light. Would I have to do so with a normal hood?


Which fan? Vortex or squirrel cage?

I'm looking at the Hydrofarm Inline Booster Fan 6" 188cfm


One 5 gallon pot single cola will fill up your whole cab - they take up a lot of space sideways.

Could I go with a single 5gallon and LST it to 4 main colas? would that yield more than one single main cola?


I found a 400w MH conversion bulb for the HPS setup I'm looking at. I would run the MH for veg. until she's as tall as my cab can safely have her.... (how close can the plant(s) get to the MH or HPS set up? Then switch it out for the HPS for Flowering and possibly 4-8 2700k FLTs along the sides just because I feel they'll help spread light along the foliage.. and like you said the HPS only penetrates 9" of the canopy.. So maybe the extra lights will help stimulate the plant during flowering.. idk I' for some reason stuck on those tubes in the corners haha...

I do plan on lining the ENTIRE cab with Mylar... as well as caulking every corner and seem of it to ensure its separate climate.

Thanks again,

Joan Figgens

Hobbes,

yup, you're right. The only good reasons to use cfls are limited space and low first cost. Serious grows use HIDs for good reason

More lumens per watt (assuming the plant can use them) is always good. When you convert electricity to light, you get a mixture of infrared light (radiant heat) heated air, visible light, ultraviolet light, and electromagnetic radiation (radio waves). Unless there ate light leaks from the cabinet, the light (IR through UV) bounces around inside until it is absorbed by a surface (that's where the 5% goes in 95% reflective walls) or provides the energy for a chemical reaction (photosynthesis for example). The electromagnetic radiation also gets converted to heat, but not necesarily inside the grow enclosure since the walls are transparent to radio energy. In the end, 98% or more of the energy going into the grow room gets converted into heat which must be removed one way or another.

I've also been looking more and more into having a smaller separate room for clones.. maybe something in the neighborhood of 3ft tall x 33in wide and deep.

I'm just not grasping some things about cloning though...

How quick and tall do clones grow?

Will I ever have to worry about a clone getting too big?

Do they need to be supplemented with Nuts? or just water?

The set up you stated earlier.. could you show me some pics... or kinda clear up for me how that set up would be set up and operated? maybe some prices or stores I should check out?

Would I use a MH or FLTs for the clones?


In all reality I would most likely plant one main Mother in the large box. let her veg. to max height. Then chop off about a third of her lower branches to concentrate her for flowering. I would take those clippings hopefully around 4-8 and set them up in this smaller box with this hydro clone set up. Once I harvest the Mother plant I would immediately swap in 4 of the clones into the larger box and let them veg until max height... and start the cycle over again.

Would I be able to keep clipping and cloning even from cloned plants?

This would be nice because I would essentially always have something vegging and as soon as I chop one harvest the next harvest is already started..

cutting down harvest times pretty dramatically I would assume.. and With a photo period plant the cloned plants will be more potent? is that right?

Did I just come full circle and make sense of this entire clipping, cloning idea? haha

Thanks,

Joan Figgens

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"What if I set both of the exhaust fans on the Thermostat controlled outlet so they would only kick on when heat becomes and issue? Still overkill?"

LOL! I was kidding about the overkill, the more CFM the better. To a degree. Leave the air on all the time, even when the light is off.

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"is there a secrete for always having 60-65 degree lights off temps.?"

Not really necessary, keep things below 80F with lots of air exchange and you'll be fine. Sometimes my attic gets 90F+ and the plants are fine.

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"I was reading that the digital ballasts run 100% silent.. thats's what drew me to them. I'm trying to make this set up as stealth as possible."

Not 100% silent but much quieter.

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"Hydrofarm Inline Booster Fan 6" 188cfm"

Will this be powerful enough to push air through a filter? Where are you venting? Odor control is one of the most important issues in stealth growing.

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"Would it be a wiser decision to go with a reflective hood that has 6" ventilation wholes on both sides like the Daystar Air Coolable Reflector from Hydrofarm?"

No, stay with the Cool tube, best for heat removal and with a cabinet the light footprint will be fine.

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"I was interested in the cooltube because it separates the lights ventilation from that of the cab... ie. I don't have to filter the exhaust from the light. Would I have to do so with a normal hood?"

IMHO this is the most important issue of the thread. I would put a 90 degree elbow on the intake end of the cool tube, point the opening down, and have the air from the garden go through the tube, through and air filter, through the fan, and exhausted where is best. Leave an air intake hole at the bottom of the cabinet (middle of floor if you can raise the cabinet floor an inch). The fresh air will cool the cabinet, get lots of O2/CO2 to the plants, cool the light, and then be filtered.

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"Could I go with a single 5gallon and LST it to 4 main colas? would that yield more than one single main cola?"

It depends on the strain. Some breeders recommend a growing style in their ads.

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"(how close can the plant(s)"

After your light has heated up put your hand beneath it, back of hand up, leave it there for half a minute. If it's too hot for your hand it's too hot for the plant. The heat safety zone for a 400W is about 8"-10", with a Cool Tube 6"-8".

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