Hiding Spanish Girl In The Loft (vertical 250w Hps)

[Amnesia]

Looking lush in there net2-3. i like your vertical bulb way of doing things and will be interesting to see how they like it in full flower. A nice parabolic shade from greens would go perfect in your room i reckon!

All the best mate, Congratulations on the short ryder girl too.

[net2-3]

Cheers Amnesia, they certainly are doing well in there and growing at quite some rate, popping in each evening is a treat as there is a very noticeable change day by day at the moment

Vertical mode seems to be working well but I think I need to get some mesh in there now, they are getting crazily close to the bulb, within 8cm I reckon but with very little damage so the intake and fan under the bulb seems to be achieving what it was designed for

Not sure a parabolic shade would really work, the box is only 90cm high, the aim is for the buds to grow pretty much up to the ceiling and completely surround the bulb so hopefully I'll be getting the most from the lumens that I can, time will tell how this works out but so far so good. I had to get a bit innovative because of the awkward spaces in my loft and figured this should be more efficient than a scrog.

[Yamatoka]

hope yr not gonna grow yrself into trouble there Lookin forward to seeing what you do here, good stuff Net

[net2-3]

Day 7 flower (43 overall): 400W HPS

There have been some modifications of the box today to hopefully prevent me getting myself into trouble.

It only 30cm diameter but from experience so far this should be enough to keep the girls safe and prevent too much crowding of the bulb. Hopefully it'll be a good compromise between nice intense light and preventing much light penetration. I'm going to leave the girls to sort them selves out now rather than turning pots or training and hopefully they'll work out how to make best use of the light. I'm sure this will be a steep learning curve on how to make the most of this set up but I'm trying to get as much right as possible.

I think the vertical light is working well at the moment as stretch has been fairly limited. At last watering they had 1.5ml fishmix and 1ml OT Bloom (Cream Caramel 1 and the Flash Back had 1.5ml Bloom cause they seem hungrier).

The Plants

All looking slightly droopier than normal from being out in the loft.

Cream Caramel 1: Still growing really well with a nice structure from just being topped.

Cream Caramel 2: Also really pleased with how it's developing. It's light burn from practically touching the bulb on the leaf on the left, I've removed it now.

Flash Back #2: I really like the way the FB#2 is developing, it has not branched as much as the CCs and is developing really thick stems. Based on other people's experiences I'm hoping it should produce some nice fat buds.

Wild Rose: Forgot to take a pic of her while I was up there Not much to say apart from she's coming on much the same fashion as the others. Probably the smelliest though with a nice mixture of sweetness and spice

Short Rider: ( bizarrely rider not ryder btw) She's a bit cold as she's been out in the loft for a good few minutes, looking at the leaves I may need to lay off the feed slightly on her but she's coming along nicely but still a bit small.

The box

Canopy shot with them all back in, it's looking how I always envisaged it would when I designed it.

Full shot of the box, silver fan and fan below light are only on during lights on. Should probably build a shelf or mount the desk fan as its pretty much blowing air away from the extraction which could be a problem later on. The fan on the radiator blows on low setting continuously. It helps to circulate warm air around the box.

Temps at the moment are around 23-24 lights on and 17-18 light off but have dropped to 13 recently! I've put the Cream Caramels and Flash Back away from the radiator as they seem pretty hardy to the cooler temps.

Anyway hopefully I'll be able to report in soon with some early budshots

[Guest Nunsacred]

Interesting grow, and beautful plants.

I'd try to bring stem tips as low as possible now so that they still have vertical climbing room into the light and you don't have to do any more adjustment later on.

Once they've really got flowering underway they'll make the most efficient use of the light from their position at that time, so that's when to leave them to do their magic, and now is the time to make tough decisions about pruning/bending over, as the stems stretch.

Edited February 24, 2010 by Nunsacred

[Burton Red]

looking very nice....... don't worry about aiming 1 fan on the rad. If the other one is on then air will be buzzing around the room any way circulating any warm air.

That Wild Rose is a very nice smoke so look after that one very carefully

Burton

[net2-3]

Interesting grow, and beautful plants.

I'd try to bring stem tips as low as possible now so that they still have vertical climbing room into the light and you don't have to do any more adjustment later on.

Once they've really got flowering underway they'll make the most efficient use of the light from their position at that time, so that's when to leave them to do their magic, and now is the time to make tough decisions about pruning/bending over, as the stems stretch.

Thanks for dropping in and for the comments. Your advice has been noted and taken. I spent an hour earlier training down some tips to be nice and low and training other toward the bulb to fill the gaps giving a nice even distribution of growing tips across the height of the plant.

looking very nice....... don't worry about aiming 1 fan on the rad. If the other one is on then air will be buzzing around the room any way circulating any warm air.

That Wild Rose is a very nice smoke so look after that one very carefully

Burton

Thanks Burton, the WR is coming on nicely and I'm definitely looking forward to her produce. I've moved that fan and have it blowing down onto the bulb now.

On a bad note I've squished a couple of Fungas nats recently and found a larvae today Think I know where these came from given other people's experience with the Westlands MP

[Burton Red]

On a bad note I've squished a couple of Fungas nats recently and found a larvae today Think I know where these came from given other people's experience with the Westlands MP

Had that problem myself. Try putting a lair of sand over the top of your compost. Read it in a thread on here somewhere. It works by breaking the fly, lave, fly, lave, cycle and it worked for me on my latest grow.

Burton

[net2-3]

Thanks Burton, I'm on the case with the little f**kers. Will get some sharp sand (stops the females getting into the compost to lay eggs) and maybe some traps tomorrow.

[Amnesia]

Little feckers those Fungus gnats eh?, i had them myself with my first grow but after putting a post up on here i found out that the sharp sand and fly traps work and eradicated mine.

This is the thread i made here. > Whats The Best Way To Get Rid Of Fungus Gnats?, "Gnat off" or Sharp sand?

All the best.

[net2-3]

No worries fellas, I'm not going to bother with traps unless I get a full blown infestation, it's only been two flies and on larvae so far. I bought some sharp sand today and that should hopefully nip it in the bud.

[kookachu]

Looking great, net. Really impressive plants.. total burning bushes! Love what you done with that thing around the light.. very inventive. Hope it all goes good for ya.

I had fungus gnats last grow and basically just put up with them for the last month... would just go kill them all every day and leave a bit of cider and potato slices out for them. I never used sand because I wondered how to get it out of the pots next time you need to water?? Any thoughts on it? I'm expecting them to turn up again this time around.

Edited February 26, 2010 by kookachu

[net2-3]

Looking great, net. Really impressive plants.. total burning bushes! Love what you done with that thing around the light.. very inventive. Hope it all goes good for ya.

I had fungus gnats last grow and basically just put up with them for the last month... would just go kill them all every day and leave a bit of cider and potato slices out for them. I never used sand because I wondered how to get it out of the pots next time you need to water?? Any thoughts on it? I'm expecting them to turn up again this time around.

I'm very pleased with how the plants are looking, thanks for your kind words. Hopefully they are all ready to put out some good buds. I'm beginning to think I would have been better with fewer smaller plants all a little further from the light. Might try this and make it a vertical Scrog next time with a wider cylinder of mesh

You just water onto the sand, it sits quite happily on top of the compost, I'll put up a pic for you to show the layer of sand. I think the life cycle is 35 days from egg to fly so if some are hatching out now I think it's worth me taking steps now to prevent things getting out of hand by the end of flowering.

Training is going well although the tips shoot straight back upwards so quickly so it's hard keeping any low. I'll keep trying but I don't have time to be retraining every day or two.

Bad news though, I think I need to start rationing the Tundra now

[Burton Red]

@ Kookachu... you just water as normal and leave the sand in the pots. pics in my 2nd diary if you need a look

Burton

[kookachu]

Thanks guys. Damn I just assumed it would sink into the soil, i guess that's why it's sharp sand? Is the stuff from wickes alright? Shit, I also thought their life cycle was like 5 days or something..