proggyjammer

Just make sure to get the 120V! Some of those 60's are 277 volts! But yeah they have some pretty bright ones on there!

As far as this is concerned I'm on 120V in the states. My HID is only 100w so including any overhead for startup, and including any power drawing for air pump and water pumps, fans, etc, I have a pretty simple setup, so I should be okay, but those of you using 400's and 1000's or using several bulbs, keep an eye on your current!

I'm thinking of ordering one of those 55-60w CFL's but contemplating if by the time it gets here I will be past seedling stage! But it could always be added in addition to the HID for extra light. Plants like light! lol

SmokeaJoint

CFLs are always a great tool IMO because you can surround the entire plant with light. If they get there late, well they will boost the lower growth something fierce, eh?

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Dandaweedman

As per usual
String out 10 lightbulbs from a 15 amp curcuit and then plug a hammer drill in and watch the world go black LOL

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proggyjammer

I like that idea. Always great to add lighting to where it is needed. I'm so excited, lol.

I am going to try the local electrical supply house here in town and see if they have any 55-60w CFLs and possibly buy 2. I have an extra lamp I can use on the seedlings, too, and that would be a great step up. One 23w stepped up to two 60s!

Lol, I can only imagine what kind of blinding light setup you have in mind Smokeajoint!

Deuces

proggyjammer

Have to add, LMAO!!

HAHA

farmergiles

Those new fangled mcb things are great!

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SmokeaJoint

I had a stealth grow cabinet last summer that, when opened, rivaled the brilliance of the sun. I had up to 12 CFL bulbs in there at a time with space for 2 plants and regulatory equipment. All hardwired into the cabinet. And those were just some 30 something watt CFLs.

With 200 watt models, man... I could do some GROWING!!!

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proggyjammer

Wow that sounds pretty impressive, man. And hell yeah you could do some growing with the 200's. As you probably may already expect, be aware that when you jump up wattage they increase size almost proportionally. You would think it wouldn't necessarily be a linear relationship, but it is. My 42 watt bulb is nearly twice as big as my 23 watt, so I can only imagine what a 200w cfl would look like! Just keep that in mind.

Yesterday I put them under one 42w which is a step up from the 23. This is just to get them to the HID. 42 was the highest I could find at Menards. I even asked around there. I bought 2 of them, but I'm having a problem with my other bulb socket, so I'm only using one 42 watt, 200 watt equivalent.

I found out yesterday that cfl doesn't mean get them as close as you can without touching the plant, lol. I put it so close actually that I had the seedlings growing up in between the coils of the bulb, but not actually touching any of the bulb AT ALL! Unfortunately even this was too close. I kind of scorched one of them. But I'm not getting rid of her, no no! But I did find out that you need at least 1" or so, when people say 1-2 inches, that is about what they mean literally. The other girlie is loving it, looking very healthy, and the stressed one will snap back I hope.

I found a page describing how to increase the chance of getting female from seed. The key is 3-4 weeks into veg, which I think they mean 3-4 weeks from sprout. This is when the plant starts to select its gender and there are different factors that affect it's choice. Check it out!

If the information is correct, then it is an epic page, especially for someone like me who has a simple set up and doesn't have the experience or setup yet do do things like cloning.

Kind of sucks that I scorched my girlie yesterday, but I'm not giving up on her! I think she will be okay! On the second hand, the other one is doing exceptionally well.

Rome wasn't built in a day, so I'll just keep rolling, and let nature do her work.

^^ Edit: I'm smoking a bowl and going back to bed for an hour! HAHA! ^^

stoneric

I think influencing what sex a plant will be is one of those old wives tales Dan was talking about.

proggyjammer

It might be. I mean there could be something to it, though.

Perhaps plants are genetically predisposed to be more likely to become female if they are in such an environment that is good for the plant, and if you get outside of this range it could tend to go male.

Take humidity for example. It says higher humidity yields more females. Tends to. He's not saying 100%. But this could be because if it is humid then that would be a good environment for seeds to fall and grow. A dry environment might not be a good place for a seed to fall, but a good place for a male pollen donor to blow pollen from.

I believe in someof the theories of Evolution, without getting too much into that, I believe smart traits developing in plants and animals that help them survive, and this kind of shit happens.

If you start getting really hot and dry plants it says they tend to go male. This would make sense too.

It also says stress during the 3rd & 4th week might cause it to go male. Seeds don't like stress.

So just assuming, if you grow your plant(s) and take the time to measure and track all of the necessary things, you will tend to get more females anyway, according to the article, at least.

Overwatering, underwatering, temperature, and humidity - those are the 4 - and then of course they talk about how having high P/low N during veg can go male, but just do your nutes right, and you'll be fine. But all of the things they specified that tend to go female, that's the way you would want your plant anyway. Males tend to grow out of the less ideal environments.

But I hear ya here too. It could be just kind of like smoke & mirrors. Until someone really does a controlled test nobody will really know if influencing plant sex is possible, or if it is more or less random.

The test would be:

1. Gather about 100-500 good seeds taken from one male pollenating several of one cloned female.

2. Have several isolated grow areas for vegging, each with similar lighting but different temperatures, humidities, and any other aspect you want to test. But in each grow area these things would need to be constant.

3. Grow about ten plants in each grow area with the pre set environments.

4. Wait and check the sexes of the plants.

5. Document.

I'm not sure if this guy has done this or if his research is based off a real study. He could just be going off of his own assumption from his own experience.


I think growing your plant in the environments described for female plants will be good for the plant either way.

Just thought I would rant for a minute, lol.

farmergiles

I'm not so sure - it would seem conditions in the first 2 weeks or so of a seedling's existence do play a part.

Slightly acidic conditions, no stress and a reasonable abundance of N seem to encourage female expression of genetics.

We need some proper scientific experimentation- because mj is considered illegitimate by law our knowledge is curtailed.

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Dandaweedman

I think all plants should get optimum conditions as well but you is still gonna get a male/female ratio.
If anything would encourage females it would be in use on some other type of plant already... ok there are chemicals for that EWWWWWWW

Most of the shit (supplements) they sell nowadays are smoke and mirrors.
Course there are some that do exactly what they say they will too, but that doesn't include making you more chicks.

Our female/male ratio is 67%. It's been as high as 70% and no lower than 65% over all the grows we have done. I would have to go to the logs to do a grow by grow.

I always wanted to use the 125 watt CFLs, they just look badass.
Don't you have to use a mogul fixture with a 200 watt CFL and a regular socket for a 125 watt?

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farmergiles

Yeah I'd say I get around 2/3 female. But surely the initial genes are 50/50 male to female ? Why do we have so many females?

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SmokeaJoint

According to an old Rasta man I know who grows weed, he says that if you see a lady trying to turn hermie, give her a good shake, loosen the roots a bit and it will halt the herm.

Never gnna try that myself but if it works for one o yall, lemme know.

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proggyjammer

When talking about what temp to have your grow room, are they talking about the temp of the plants, the roots, or the overall temp of the room?

farmergiles

The temperature of the canopy is important, it should be about 28- 25 Celsius when the lights are on ideally.

The temperature of the roots is also important, it shouldn't go below 15 degrees lower than the canopy when the lights are off.

Of course you can get away with murder if you know you rig and plants.

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proggyjammer

Okay, if I put the thermometer on top of the rock medium it reads about 84F
and the roots area is about 71F. What do you think?

Edit: That is about 28.9C and 21.7C, according to my calculator. So might be alright. I'm just worried that my canopy is too hot, but the plant is liking it. I just don't want to encourage male, according to the article.

farmergiles

29 Celsius is ok ish at the canopy, you don't want it to go no higher though.

If you can get some fresh air in there will help.

Did anyone mention the fact that it's going to smell of dank weed when you're flowering?

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proggyjammer

Right now it is just in a wooden cabinet that has had the shelves removed and an outlet installed. I will work on trying to have the doors open when possible. The cat likes to investigate, so in order to have the cabinet open, I have to close the door to the room. It's not ideal now, but it will help with recycling the air for CO2 and everything. Fan is always on high.

NOte those 42w fluoros generate a fair amount of heat. I was able to get the other socket fixed, so I have 2 42w on there now. The HID isn't even on right now and it is the 86f or so. Those of you suggesting 200w cfls, have fun! Of course higher quality brand ones would be cooler, I'm guessing.

stoneric

I used 200W Fluoros, they're plenty hot.