Death by Radiation

What makes someone want to try and kill a couple of harmless little seedlings? Here they are, two harmless little Afghan Kush cannabis plants… just popping their shelled heads above the surface. Will they be strong enough to take 300w of a UV lamp as their sole source of light for 24 hours a day?

Let’s start with the lamp. The lamp is a 300w Ultravitalux Osram UV bulb. These bulbs are sold as tanning lamps, and it is recommended that you only expose yourself to 3 minutes the first time you use it… rising up to 14 minutes over the period of a week. After the week is up, it is recommended that you not use the lamp again for another 4 weeks.

The plants are Afghan Kush by Sensi Seeds White Label. A rip off of Serious Seeds AK47… at least though, unlike most other seed banks, Sensi Seeds have the decency to put them under a different label. They are also nice and cheap, so I don’t mind killing them. I have some Sensi Seeds Northern Lights to grow next, and they I would not like to see die.

Apparently these are the original ‘AK’, and brought to me, the consumer, from the very heart of the Hindu Kush mountain range, where its genotype has been selected and perfected over centuries to be the ultimate source of cannabis resin. Sounds great, doesn’t it. Beautiful language that makes you truly believe that you are going to be growing a work of art, and all this for 23 euros.

Personally, I believe that you get what you pay for. If these seeds are that great, why do they only cost 23 euros? Northern Lights cost 109 euros, for the same amount of seeds.

I always like to name my plants… even though these guys have been under constant UV now for over 20 minutes; I’ve still saw fit to name them.

always wondered if that would work.
arnt they pricey to run ?.

The one on the right is just removing its seed casing (see att. no1). This one was a very large seed, easily twice the size of a normal seed. To be honest, I was half expecting it to be twins; but no; it seems it’s just going to be a fatty. So, I’m going to name it Fatboy. The one on the left started the best, as Fatboy needed some rearranging to get right, but now seems to be struggling a little. I still haven’t thought of a name for that one yet.

Naming the plants is very important, for both you and the plant. I believe all life has the ability to pick up vibes… which is a reason I’m going to stay out of the vegetation area as much as possible in case they realise I’m the guy responsible for the radiation sickness. Another reason, of course, is that I don’t want a too large dose of radiation myself. A little is good for you as it stimulates your skin to do all sorts of amazing things, like… get a suntan. A lot will kill you.

Do you think they’re going to die? Shrivel up, maybe? Where would you put your money?

My logic goes like this; if they like the light and it’s not too hot then they should pop off those shells and point the cotyledons towards the light. If they do that, we’re in the money.

Hmm, it’s strange… but as I sit here, it’s almost as though I’m waiting for them to die… as though, each passing minute is one minute closer to their deaths, maybe I’m missing something right now.

The plants are in 400ml pots, and as you can see there is some poor judgement in the positioning of the pots.

Welcome to your new world, little AK plants. Let’s see how long you last.

Which reminds me… you can’t let something just die without a name, so I’ve named the other plant. The answer, in the end, was obvious; where you’ve got a Fatboy, you got to have a Skinny.

crazy-mental said:

always wondered if that would work.
arnt they pricey to run ?.

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It's only 300w... not too pricey no. maybe 3p an hour.

skunkushybrid said:

The one on the right is just removing its seed casing (see att. no1). This one was a very large seed, easily twice the size of a normal seed. To be honest, I was half expecting it to be twins; but no; it seems it’s just going to be a fatty. So, I’m going to name it Fatboy. The one on the left started the best, as Fatboy needed some rearranging to get right, but now seems to be struggling a little. I still haven’t thought of a name for that one yet.

Naming the plants is very important, for both you and the plant. I believe all life has the ability to pick up vibes… which is a reason I’m going to stay out of the vegetation area as much as possible in case they realise I’m the guy responsible for the radiation sickness. Another reason, of course, is that I don’t want a too large dose of radiation myself. A little is good for you as it stimulates your skin to do all sorts of amazing things, like… get a suntan. A lot will kill you.

Do you think they’re going to die? Shrivel up, maybe? Where would you put your money?

My logic goes like this; if they like the light and it’s not too hot then they should pop off those shells and point the cotyledons towards the light. If they do that, we’re in the money.

Hmm, it’s strange… but as I sit here, it’s almost as though I’m waiting for them to die… as though, each passing minute is one minute closer to their deaths, maybe I’m missing something right now.

The plants are in 400ml pots, and as you can see there is some poor judgement in the positioning of the pots.

Welcome to your new world, little AK plants. Let’s see how long you last.

Which reminds me… you can’t let something just die without a name, so I’ve named the other plant. The answer, in the end, was obvious; where you’ve got a Fatboy, you got to have a Skinny.

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good story.
i also think, that if they dont get too hot, they should be fine.
might get a bit leggy,but you know what your doing.
but if the temps are rite, should be ok.
but the seedling, mite find, it too much.
they have 2 choises.
i hope they do well. fatty and thinny.lol

You’ll notice from the last picture that I’ve rearranged the pots slightly. I’ve done this because it occurred to me that one plant might be getting more light than the other. So now they are both exactly 27” from the light. they have been under constant UV radiation for 45 minutes.

I have heard of it before, guys growing plants through to harvest with just a UV light… I’ve just never heard it done with a 300w bulb. The 300w Osram Ultravitalux creates a higher UV output than anywhere found on Earth… and will continue to do so for over 3000 hours continuous use. The first 90 hours of the bulbs life is where it is at its most unstable. Registering UV outputs that are off the scale… you see now, why I’m worried?

I’ve always admired cannabis, not just as a smoke but as a living thing. Cannabis has no classification but it is most often regarded as a plant. This is why I feel somewhat pained to be torturing 2, what might turn out, wonderful plants… to death.

My mind is torn between switching off the UV light for certain periods of the day and adding a HPS. I have a HPS 400w lamp sitting dormant in my flowering area, and I’m thinking it would be a good idea to set that up alongside the UV lamp. Adding some red spectrum would also give me some idea as to which light source the plants prefer.

Or maybe not, i think I'll just stick with the UV. Which is after all the point. I'm just thinking of how I'm going to veg the NL.

is the 300, as hot.
as say, a 250 hps, or much hotter ?.

You should name them something off the movie 300.

After all they are fighting "300" watts to survive.

That sounded alot better in my head, but I already typed it so it stays.

yes good idea, maybe 24/0 would be too much for the seedlings.
,maybe start them off with a flo's or hps, then hit them with the sunlamp.
when there 2 weeks or so, and start it in stages.
get them used to it.
it could be there sun boost daily treat.lol
it mite be too much, at first?.
all the time.
i find seedlings like flos better than hps, to start.

Here we have Skinny on the left with Fatboy on the right. They’re doing fine. Fatboy seems to have lovely, vibrant green cotyledons just bursting to turn and face the light. Let’s hope that it isn’t put off by the intensity of the UV. How does a young cannabis seedling respond to such intensity?

Light intensity is all cannabis really desires. The more intense it is without getting burned the more cannabis thrives. This bulb is only 300w yet it can put out a higher UV intensity than the sun in a specific given area.

Fatboy and Skinny are in a coco coir medium with added 40% perlite. I’ve added a heady dose of nutrients, vitamins and hormones, root enhancers etc, to an EC value of 0.4. The medium was saturated with the feed then left to drain for at least 24 hours before planting the seeds. The seeds also had a 5mm root tail poking out at the time of transplant. I don’t like them to get any bigger than that as the tail will tend to curl and twist in all sorts of directions.

They’ve now been under the UV lamp for 6 hours and 30 minutes. I just went in to check on them and they’re not looking much different than the last time I took a picture. So I have refrained from taking yet another one.

crazy-mental said:

is the 300, as hot.
as say, a 250 hps, or much hotter ?.

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In all honesty, I'd say it is on a par with HID lamps.

i think your right.

NO GROW said:

You should name them something off the movie 300.

After all they are fighting "300" watts to survive.

That sounded alot better in my head, but I already typed it so it stays.

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I loved that movie... but greek names are notoriously long. I like plants to name themselves, keep it simple.

i potted 2 ak48 this morning, that i had germing, also ak47 knock offs, also £14.
and i also started 2 ice too.
going to start under duel spec 250 hps.
wonder if yours grow faster.
i think these are maybe a day behind yours.

There's a good chance that yours will grow faster crazy... as this experiment unfolds further the reason I tell you this will become clear.

what do you meeen master.???.lol

Hey crazy, you remember this? YouTube - UK Apache & Shy Fx - Original Nuttah

i find,smaller plants under stronger lights, seem to grow thicker and slower, to protect there selfs.
as aposed to the paper like growth of a plant vegged under flos.

skunkushybrid said:

Hey crazy, you remember this? YouTube - UK Apache & Shy Fx - Original Nuttah

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lol
yer dude back in the day.
any vianilla ice too.

crazy-mental said:

lol
yer dude back in the day.
any vianilla ice too.

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nah man, vanilla ice was always a faggot... i was around 15 when he first came out. I'm sure I remember him jumping around with mad shoulder pads on...

The junglist era though... original nuttah was kind of an anthem.