Indoor At last photos

[Dopey Jim]

Thanks for the tip Coop much appreciated.
Although I will enjoy growing the photos my concern is that they won't finish early enough, we get wet autumns down here that's lead me to lose a lot to rot over the years

 

[Red eyed c]

That's the trouble with our country mate the wet weather is always lurking,it's just something we can't control so just gotta cross yr fingers.it is a killer though after months of loving them to see it lost to bud rot mate.were due a nice summer bro last years was so shitty

 

[Dopey Jim]

Yeah people go on about the Brits and the weather but they should try living here!
Every year I think "this year has got to be good weather, we're due it" but no.
If I could just persuade my missus to move to Spain, all that good weather and liberal dope laws, sounds like heaven to me

 

[Red eyed c]

Thats why we grow autos mate,our short summer window and autos go hand in hand.but Spain does sound very appealing and its some were me and the wife have discussed moving to.if you do wanna do outdoor photo strains check out these that will be hitting the AFN seed store soon https://www.autoflower.org/f54/2012-highrise-seed-discriptions-6134.html

 

[Dopey Jim]

I
I have had terrible problems with heat stress again.
Rummaging around in my shed I found this old fan from a knackered laptop and a charger from a long dead phone and decided to do some splicing. I've heard of others doing this but never tried it myself. Not being in anyway competent with electricity I confidently expect myself to be at least mildly electrocuted if not actually burnt to a crisp, having been catapulted across the room in a lively and unseemly manner first.
but
hey presto it works really well! and sends out a cooling and consistant breeze.
I'm going to tape up the exposed wires and set it to blow across my lights.
Hopefully this will cure the problem.

 

[Dopey Jim]

Having had a look at Stunted's grow box i've decided, after my next grow and everything has moved into the garden, to dismantle my grow room and start again.
The problem that I have with the current one is that I made it to grow photos, so it is way too tall.
Unfortunately sketchup is just too complicated for me! I think I would need one to one tuition to use it, so I'll probably just post photos as I go.

For those of you with good imaginations this is what I'm planning:

A three chambered closet, the main chamber big enough to hold 6 autos in 2 rows of 3.
The left and right chambers will be for access, electrics, storage etc.

The whole to be lined in mylar and 4 CFLs, 2 from each side making a total of 1000w.

Mounted above the lights (again one on each side ) will be 2 computer fans used as extractors to draw off excessive heat from the lamps and heat and moisture from the growbox in general.
This air will be vented into the left and right chambers that will then have passive vents to dissipate air to the outside.
I may or may not vent this air through crushed charcoal but because I grow in my shed odours aren't really of great concern.

At the level of the top of the pots there will be 2 computer fans blowing air in to aid circulation and help to prevent stale air and stimulate stem and leaf growth.

At the bottom of the grow chamber will be a large plastic tray, filling the entire floor and approx 4 to 6" high, this will be filled with sand and incorporate a soil warming cable attached to a thermostat. The reasons for this are to heat the grow box and the root run (to help stimulate root growth) and the sand will remain damp to help keep humidity levels stable.

The 6 pots will be 8 to 10 litres (I think I will be using those lumpy pots, bubble pots I think they're called) and will be fed and watered by a passive gravity drip system, the reservoir being mounted on top off the grow box.
The surplus water will drain through the pots down into the sand bed and out through a drain hole into a bucket ( to be used for my tomatoes).

I think that's it.
Any suggestions, amendments or ideas will be welcome, obviously the whole thing will be mucked about with until I'm satisfied but my general aim is to try and get as stable a growing environment as I can.
All I need to do know is work out the measurements and build it.
Simples!

 

[Dopey Jim]

Had a good session in the grow room and greenhouse yesterday. Although it's been frosty as soon as the sun is up temperature and light levels sky rocket!
The AAs in the greenhouse are still growing well, one has shown to be a male so I've potted him up and put him in the pollen chamber with the now failing Dr Feelgood he's provided me with enough pollen to get some crossed seeds from my AA female also enough to keep in the fridge until the Himalayas are ready.
The Himalayas are growing really well as are the seeds I ordered from Herbies.
They all got fed according to their needs.
AA female, 6 weeks, got sulphate of potash to help flowering and ripening, baby bio for the nitrogen and phosphate, seaweed extract to help the soil flora and fauna, all at low levels to avoid over feeding.
AA seedlings got super phosphate to boost the roots and baby bio.
HBD got super phosphate and baby bio.
The AA male got potted up but also got a small dose of super phosphate, sulphate of potash, baby bio and seaweed extract.
The Gnomo and Royal AK have only just come through so they have been left alone.
I have tried to cover all feeding needs but at low doses.

The plants are thriving despite one or two dips down to 10c due to the cold snap we're having and the additional fan see!ms to have stopped the heat scorch on the female AA spreading to the newer leaves, despite the scorched leaves looking bad I've left them on because there's plenty of green to still photosynthesise.

Hope to post more photos tomorrow but still at least 3/4 weeks till harvest, oh well!

 

[Dopey Jim]

These are my latest pics' taken today (9/2/12).
From the top we've my pollen box where I keep these horny males seperate from my girls, the knackered looking one is the DR Feelgood he has given me a lovely load of pollen, enough to do my HBD. Behind him is my new male AA ready to grow on and shed for collection and pollination.
Next are my seedling Gnomo and Royal AK both are only a few days old.
Then my AA that also has a branch of crossed Dr Feelgood, you can't see it on this pic but the seeds are swelling nicely, she is 6 weeks today from emergence so I will probably give her another 4 weeks because I harvested my last AA too early and I think with those sativa genes she be better for a longer grow.

Next are 3 of my 4 Himalaya blue diesel, these are accelerating like mad and are only just over 2 weeks since emergence.
Next are some shots of my propagator including my self seeded AAs that I've stuck out there, as you can see they're thriving but stretching a little in this weak winter sun.
Then a pic of my lean to with the patch where I'll sow my main crop of autos throughout the summer, covered in black plastic to warm the soil and suppress any weed growth.
These pics make me very, very happy,
oh the antici..............pation! (for any Rocky Horror fans out there)

 

[Dopey Jim]

Bloody, bloody, bloody, bloody,
one of my himalaya blue diesel (feminised) as turned out to have bollocks, so that's a loss on grams of bud but a gain on pollen, which I will use for pollenating one of the other females.
For some reason I feel I'm going to like this strain, it grows very well and apparently will take a hefty nute regime, I'm going steady at the moment to see how it reacts but will steadily increase feeding as the weeks go by.
Also another AA has proven it's self to be on the wrong side of the fence, so I've gone from 8 potential females to 6 potential females, colloidal silver production is looking more and more attractive.

Also got the electric bill in for the last five months, when my 1000 watts of cfls have been on 24/7, holy fucking crap my missus was not happy! I got tutted at and she pursed her mouth up like a dogs bum, still eh, never mind she likes a good complain!

 

[Northern Grower]

Must be nice getting ready for the outdoors I am months off.

Good luck with the grow mate.