nineandfive wrote:Its just kinda weird not to rest. Almost not natural. You figure that everything in this world at one point or another needs to rest.

It's only weird for animals not to rest. Nope, cannabis mother plants can live happy, healthy, long lives (for years) under 24/0. This is a case where mother nature is a limiting factor. Plants use photosynthesis to turn light into energy and use stored energy during dark periods to stretch, trying to find more light. Vegging under 24/0 maximizes potential photosynthesis. If you skimp on lighting potential results suffer.

If you're happy with 18/6 for autos then use that. Once you get an average yield try 20/4 and compare. The neat thing about gardening is that there is no one, single, "right way" to grow. Results vary.

No your right i agree! I

Where were we? After 5 weeks from sprouting one dwarf is just over 20 inches and maybe slowing down and the runt is 14 inches(sheesh). Speak of a dwarf. Now I don't know what to expect around the bend, first grow. But I have to anticipate the harvest date so I can tailor the watering schedule. I just gave a dollop of bloom nutes last water on account guidance in a forum that suggests grow nutes till growth slows or stops. Now if the heart of the harvest window based a 9 week grow falls around June 16th and in order to flush the last 2 weeks, that leaves maybe 2 feedings left and barely used bloom nutes. This is starting to look more art than science.

As for light, the powers that be at CLW believe autos do best under veg spectrum all the way through. They're not alone but in the minority on that one. Then they'll be under 235 watts max the whole grow. They do say flip on the uvb the last 2 weeks, if I know which are the last 2 weeks. And of course I'm going to have to start peering at pistils and trichomes. Wish me luck.

Any opinions on autos and bloom spectrum? How about a whoozywat for trichome peering?

Watered 'em up. A thought. Since I have 160 watts of cfl 6500k light in there wouldn't switching the 440 to bloom only benefit with wider spectrum? CLW may be a little stodgy on this.

Latest pix and the war room.

Xylem wrote:Now if the heart of the harvest window based a 9 week grow falls around June 16th and in order to flush the last 2 weeks, that leaves maybe 2 feedings left and barely used bloom nutes. This is starting to look more art than science.

As for light, the powers that be at CLW believe autos do best under veg spectrum all the way through. They're not alone but in the minority on that one. Then they'll be under 235 watts max the whole grow. They do say flip on the uvb the last 2 weeks, if I know which are the last 2 weeks. And of course I'm going to have to start peering at pistils and trichomes. Wish me luck.

Any opinions on autos and bloom spectrum? How about a whoozywat for trichome peering?

Xylem wrote:Watered 'em up. A thought. Since I have 160 watts of cfl 6500k light in there wouldn't switching the 440 to bloom only benefit with wider spectrum? CLW may be a little stodgy on this.

I'm not so big on flushing but I agree; I've often said that growing is part science and part art.

Brandon over there at CLW is one smart, educated, dude; while the veg spectrum *might* be better for autos, the added w/sqft from running the SS440w in flower mode might help more but more red might also mean more stretch. Since I like HPS (which leans red) I'd take the added watts. The full cycle lights have merit too but I've avoided autos so without more testing it's "use what you got" and experiment later.

It doesn't have to be exact, we've had growers use uvb the entire grow, entire flower, last 2-4 weeks,etc. If you think you're close to 2-3 weeks, you're close enough.

You can get a cheap radio shack pocket microscope or a better USB scope like RKY found. I think they even make a cellphone camera adapter/gadget for inspection.

Hell yea! I bought 2 60-100x I Phone microscope off ebay for $7 brand new ! Thats kinda the same question i was asking to ... So what are you running the lights on ? Veg or Bloom? And if you run the Veg mode can you still use the UVB?

nineandfive wrote:Hell yea! I bought 2 60-100x I Phone microscope off ebay for $7 brand new ! Thats kinda the same question i was asking to ... So what are you running the lights on ? Veg or Bloom? And if you run the Veg mode can you still use the UVB?

I've been in veg the whole time.

UVB bulbs have their own switch, independent.

I see pH down in the picture so I assume you're keeping an eye on it.

SisterMaryElephant wrote:I see pH down in the picture so I assume you're keeping an eye on it.

Are you referring the yellow and drooping of lower leaves?

I didn't recognize that as ph down. I'm not prepared for that and will have to research. Every watering and feeding has been ph adjusted to at least 6.3 and usually more up to 6.8. No clue what the soil ph is. And at the present time no clue how to fix except maybe flushing.

No, I meant that I saw a bottle of pH down in a picture but if you don't know what the pH is, you should. 6.5 is the soil target I'd be going for.