NoWaistedSpace
I'm Hoarding Skunk
Gonna need plenty of Cal/Mag. It fixes everything, even fucked up light schedules.
Hahaha!
Experimental Grow: 24/12 Lighting
- Thread starter TheSadVeryBadMadGrower
- Start date
Hahaha!
The biggest issue I see with growers is breaking the number one rule. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I was happy when I finally reached that level of not experimenting and just doing everything by the book. Of course we're always learning new things , but I see guys spend so much money on new gadgets and bullshit , constantly changing grow styles and patterns.
a lot of hobby growers for some reason think they are scientists who are going to find the “next big thing” with growing techniques. I personally don’t get it.
NoWaistedSpace
I'm Hoarding Skunk
The world has became overwhelming for the new to average grower.
He's getting hit with advertisements for this and that, increase potency 50%, or this light can deliver 4. 8umol/sec.
This is the worlds best "container" etc. lol
Highly competitive market to be the best.
NoWaistedSpace
I'm Hoarding Skunk
It's all about the seed.
Shitty seed,
shitty weed.
you won't know it,
til you grow it.
H.A.F.
a.k.a. Rusty Nails
The good thing is that a lot of the hobby growers now are old fucks like me. I can dig new concepts, but I know a sham salesman when I hear one.
I think a lot of new growers are also having to figure shit out on their own. Think of all those forums with all that generic to flat out shitty info and you are Johnny-'bout-to-drop-my-first-bean. You can only go by what you can find out unless you happen to know a grower - that is willing to admit it.
Luckily, I found this place where there is no advertisement and very few people trying to sell you their gear or their grow style. And that gear is stuff like DIY lights where lazy, non-electric fucks like me can buy the same light they would get a kit from elsewhere, but assembled. No sales pitches about it being this or that. And actually the advertisement comes more from the customers - as it should. Same with beans.
Trial and error are a big fucking thing in this 'industry' since there is very little science other than OG info. And the best books were written before the modern technology lighting and grow styles came out. Sell Johny a sack of gnat-dirt and a bottle of part A and part B with a nice recipe for how to cook the plant and he's off and running. And if Part A was no longer available he would be out of luck because he knows nothing.
My shift to organic was gradual before I finally went all-in. I won't be hunting for anything else now but improvements on that. And for me improvement means free, locally grown inputs gradually replacing what I buy.
I think a lot of new growers are also having to figure shit out on their own. Think of all those forums with all that generic to flat out shitty info and you are Johnny-'bout-to-drop-my-first-bean. You can only go by what you can find out unless you happen to know a grower - that is willing to admit it.
Luckily, I found this place where there is no advertisement and very few people trying to sell you their gear or their grow style. And that gear is stuff like DIY lights where lazy, non-electric fucks like me can buy the same light they would get a kit from elsewhere, but assembled. No sales pitches about it being this or that. And actually the advertisement comes more from the customers - as it should. Same with beans.
Trial and error are a big fucking thing in this 'industry' since there is very little science other than OG info. And the best books were written before the modern technology lighting and grow styles came out. Sell Johny a sack of gnat-dirt and a bottle of part A and part B with a nice recipe for how to cook the plant and he's off and running. And if Part A was no longer available he would be out of luck because he knows nothing.
My shift to organic was gradual before I finally went all-in. I won't be hunting for anything else now but improvements on that. And for me improvement means free, locally grown inputs gradually replacing what I buy.
NoWaistedSpace
I'm Hoarding Skunk
You didn't go all in until you began seeing the results. And now you know what needs to be done to keep those healthy plants through flower.
As long as you don't get lazy or forgetful, your plants will thrive.
A lot of growers are afraid to get on forums and stuff and usually find their seed and grow info through High Times or some other magazine.
I was that way for the longest time and only ordered from across the pond. I had accumulated a lot of different genetics in 2 decades that way.
H.A.F.
a.k.a. Rusty Nails
Actually, I started shifting from Fox Farms liquids to their "organic" top dressings. No worms or castings, still used cal-mag, silica, etc. Anything that had an OMRI label in the FF line got used. Big Bloom and some of the other stuff.
I tried using a cover crop, and I saw mushrooms growing out of my pots I got curious. but I still wasn't using compost, castings, etc.
Lots of nudges from @J.James to get me in the right direction but it was honestly the Artizan take-n-bake kit from BaS being a self-contained way to get going that tipped me over the edge. Spent $300 on the soil kit then about $100 on an indoor worm bin and started them both at the same time. It took about a month to get both ready for prime time.
I have since been looking into the JADAM stuff, KNF, and listening to a lot of podcasts about all of the living soil systems. I am taking bits and pieces from them but I'm not a disciple of any of it.
Lanestrainley
Really Active Member
100%. Since they rely on the build up of the hormone to induce flowering, the gibs signal will be interrupted and sporadic causing stretching and stalling, no need to adjust the light schedule to achieve this effect, just load up a 50/25/25 ga3/naa/kinetin mix and watch, if he likes/wants to fuck with the plants hormones and signaling pathways chems are easier and more effective
Autodoctor
Active Member
I heard he is still tring to figure out the timers to set up the correct hours of light and dark
larf
Well-Known Member
I would say this is me, but I did it in reverse. I learned how to grow in coco and how to clone, then ran the same setup and genetics for years. Occasionally I would pop some seeds for new mothers or introduce a new piece of equipment, but there were no big changes for a long time.
Then I started focusing on nutrients, automation and mediums. The nutrients were to save money. Automation was to save time. Mediums were to try to get my plants as low as possible due to height constraints, but also to jive with the automations. I spent a couple of years playing around with those variables, and learned a lot. I also lost a lot of time and money in the process.
So now I'm back to square one. I'm not going to attempt DWC, soil or anything else at this point. My experimentations are pretty much over. Now I have to decide if I'm going back to coco in 3 gallon pots or running rockwool slabs. I will still probably mess around with automation, but everything else is getting tuned in and tightened up for the foreseeable future.
On top of that I'm about done with a long ass pheno hunt. I'm looking forward to cranking out familiar colas as if it's second nature again. I'm glad I went though the struggles though. Aside from dealing with unforeseen problems of different setups, I was forced to learn a lot about plant health. My yields have suffered, but my knowledge has expanded dramatically.
ttystikk
Nerd Gone Vertical
I'm late to this party but I've seen people run slightly longer light times, because it comes out even;
7 days of 24 hours = 168 hours
6 days of 28 hours = 168 hours
4 days of 42 hours = 168 hours
I'm not sure why this would be an advantage because it won't shorten flower times, save energy or increase production.
There was a dude named Torontoke on Trollitup years ago who did some far more interesting experiments; instead of making longer days, he made shorter ones and he tried to different approaches; one kept the 24 hour schedule and just ran shorter duration day period but more intense lighting with longer night cycles and the other was shorter duration day with more intense lighting with the same 12 hours of darkness, fitting in more "days" in a week.
My memory is a bit hazy as to which he preferred but he was telling me he'd reduced his lighting duration by a lot, like down to 8 or even just 6 hours of on time, without hurting his yields much.
7 days of 24 hours = 168 hours
6 days of 28 hours = 168 hours
4 days of 42 hours = 168 hours
I'm not sure why this would be an advantage because it won't shorten flower times, save energy or increase production.
There was a dude named Torontoke on Trollitup years ago who did some far more interesting experiments; instead of making longer days, he made shorter ones and he tried to different approaches; one kept the 24 hour schedule and just ran shorter duration day period but more intense lighting with longer night cycles and the other was shorter duration day with more intense lighting with the same 12 hours of darkness, fitting in more "days" in a week.
My memory is a bit hazy as to which he preferred but he was telling me he'd reduced his lighting duration by a lot, like down to 8 or even just 6 hours of on time, without hurting his yields much.
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