Spider Farmer And 8 Main Colas Experiment (Mainlining/Manifolding)

For anyone who is interested I will be posting the observations and results as the weeks go on here.

I am normally a strict HPS and MH fan but have decided to see what happens when I use the Spider Farmer lights instead.

I have germinated 7 seeds and had 6/7 come through, this will be reduced to 4 eventually.

For those of you interested set up is

Root riot cubes
Heated propagator
1 ltr (1/4 us gal) fabric pots
3 ltr (3/4 us gal) air pots
20 ltr (4.5 us gal) air pots
2m(6.6ft) (L) x 1m(3.3ft) (W) x 1.8m(6ft) tent
2 x 250 m3/h (820 ft3/h) 4 inch
2 x rhino pro carbon filters 4 inch
Acoustic ducting 4 inch
2 fan silencers 4 inch
2 x SF2000
1 x SF1000
Canna Coco professional 70%
Perlite 30%
6 inch inlet from outside (filtered)
Small humidifier
Small dehumidifier
Home made CO2 generators may switch to premade bags not sure yet
2 x 1m (3.3ft) x 1m (3.3ft) catch trays
Blue lab EC
Blue lab PH
Soil moisture meter (guide purposes only)
Intake and room temp gauge
Hydrometer
Mist sprayer
2 x 30w 8inch pole mount fans
Watering can with rose
Hydroton for pot base 15mm (1/2 inch) thick
General bits i.e; nitrile gloves, snips etc.

Day 1

Strains

Green Crack x 1
Ayahuasca Purple x 1
Blueberry x 1
Black Sugar x 3
Kali White Shadow x 1

Observations + actions

All seeds got a few hours soaking until they sank. Once they sank, they were transferred to the soaked kitchen roll in the propergator (holes closed, cling filmed bottom). Water was not PH'd at this stage. All seeds kept in dark.

PPM - 20 (500 scale)
E.C. - 0.1
PH - 7.6 @19C
Water Source - Tap

Day 2

All seeds where checked throughout the day for signs of splitting. Once the seeds split they were then transfered to the root riot cubes and placed back in the propergator.

Each root riot cube after being sown was given 3.5 - 5 ml of water at propergator temperature.

Water was placed inside propergator for a few hours prior to watering. Topped up and left. PH was still not adjusted at this point.

At this point 6/7 seeds have split leaving one Black Sugar remaining. *One black sugar seed did look damaged prior to soaking*.

Propergator still kept in darkness.

PPM 20 (500 scale)
E.C. 0.1
PH 7.6 @19C
Water Source - Tap

E.C. and PH meter calibrated today.

Day 3

Seed development - no developments as expected. Black sugar remaining still not split.

Cubes are still moist, kitchen towel moist. Will give one more day to germ.

Observations and actions

None due to no change in seeds.........

Edit 10:05pm checked seeds one last time Ayahuasca purple and blueberry just about broken ground. Seed cap exposed. Split remaining black sugar seed by hand last chance saloon.

Day 4


Seed development - no developments as expected. Black sugar remaining still not split.

Cubes are still moist, kitchen towel moist. Will give one more day to germ.

Observations and actions

None due to no change in seeds.........

Edit 10:05pm checked seeds one last time Ayahuasca purple and blueberry just about broken ground. Seed cap exposed. Split remaining black sugar seed by hand last chance saloon.

Day 4

Now have split seeds in to two separate humidity domes due to some seed developments. One on window sill, one still in darkness.

09:14am
Ayahuasca Purple has now broken ground and seed cap cleared, waiting to fall off. These have now been placed in the window due to extremely sunny day. Vent cracked the smallest amount for ventilation

Blueberry has broken ground but seed cap still exposed.

The propergator is showing signs of good humidity levels with plenty of fogging. New container, added soaked kitchen roll.

Remaining seeds all have substantial tap root development at this stage, none have broken ground. Expecting to see later today or tomorrow.

Presoaked coco left to acclimatise ready for first seeds.

Final hardware testing all systems good.

All cubes received total of 5ml distributed across 6 cubes.

Day 5

All cubes are moist and all cubes moves to propergator in the window.

All 6 seeds now show signs of life with either the stem breaking ground or seeds caps have fallen off.

Seeds have been planted and left under glasses in the sun.

Kali White Shadow broken tap root due to accidently snagging. Hopefully will fix its self

After sun died towards the afternoon the plants were then moved to the tent and set at 18/6. Off time 10 am to 4 pm.

Current hardware running heater (used for night times) SF1000 24 inches away on factory settings. Room temp is 20.2 C 46% humidity. Domes still on seedling. One ocsillating fan running to cool LED unit and one exhaust fan set to low also to control room temps (extractor fan currently switching with light)

Current noise level tested for 30 secs and averaged 58 dB inside and 45 dB outside.

Day 6

All seed caps have come off minus Ayahuasca Purple.

Cautionary note; Kali White Shadow seems to be ok and developing cotyledon leaves. Even after the broken tap root.

Ayahuasca Purple should be up tomorrow.

Coco was slightly dry so watered gently with approx 150ml of water and recovered with the glass.

One black sugar has two brown/black leaves forming unsure why?

Night temp 17C
Day temp 20.2

Still feeding plain tap water

Day 7

All seem to have been ok during first transplant stage. All seedling are doing well with the presence of the second set of leaves forming nicely on each plant.

Ayahuasca purple has shed seed cap and is showing signs of green cotyledon leaves. Hoping she will stand up today as she is still a twisted mess breaking ground.

Temps 18.3C
RH 62%
Coco is drying out nicely still damp.

May start acclimatising humidity levels in the next day or so depending on growth throughout today's light cycle. Glasses still on at this point.

End of week 1

Day 8

Good growth over night, all seeds showing first set development. Acclimatisation will begin tommorow and over the next good fee days.

Due to growth I'm going to introduce Tarantula, Voodoo Juice and Pirhana at 0.5ml per litre and PH'd accordingly.

This soultion will be mixed up and left in the grow room over the next few days before being replaced and possibly modified.

My current E.C. is 0.1 or 20 PPM (500 scale) from the tap and I'm aim for an E.C. of about 0.2/0.3 approx 100 PPM (500 scale)

This feed will be given every other feed untill veg day 1.

Plant will be given approx 50-60ml of soultion due to the Coco starting to dry naturally.

Glasses removed and cling film is now covering the pots with a small hole.

Each plant was given just under 200ml each. Very small amount of run off.

Room temp 20C
RH 52%
PH 5.8
E C. 0.2
PPM 89

Removed covering from seedling as they have now grown substainally added to this I also slightly over filled the pots with coco. I wanted to avoid any form of J rooting.

Cups of water and a humidifier have been placed around the seedlings to increase humidity.

Kali White Shadow is now the smallest but not surprised given tap root damage. However is developing the first set of true leaves and is a health green colour.

RH 61%
Temp 17.6C Lights Off

Day 10

Temps are 22.2
RH 51%

All showing signs of growth with coco drying nicely.

Will increase nute strength tomorrow depending on dryness.

New soultion will be 1 ml Voodoo Juice, 0.5ml Pirhana and 0.5ml Tarantula. All per litre.

Day 11

Second true set of leaves have started to properly develop now and are more than a pin head in the centre.

Kali White Shadow is starting to catch up now.

Each plant received a good amount of water today as the heater had started to dry the Coco somewhat more than I expected but not too much more.

Upped the nutrient soultion based don plant growth.

Mixing now

0.5ml Pirhana
0.5ml Tarantula
1ml Voodoo Juice
0.5ml Sensi Grow A
0.5ml Sensi Grow B
0.5ml Sensizyme

E.C. was 0.7 at mix up and diluted slightly back to 0.5/6.

PH was 5.8/9
RH 58%
Temp 20.4C

How close are you running the spider farmers in veg and in flower?

Grew ayahuasca purple before must admit one fine looking girl, the plant turned pure black when the temps hit cold. I must find a picture somewhere! All my friends were stoked. Ps temps seem kinda low for seedling stage? Thought the loved the heat to begin with! What do I know tho? Haha! Good luck!! Will give your thing a follow.

Seedlings 24 inches/600mm from the top of soil and allow the plants to grow 6 inches/150mm or 2 weeks depending on what comes first.

For veg I'm going to run 18 inches/450mm from the canopy this may be lowered or lifted depending on the growth factor. How ever it happens 18 inches/450mm will be maintained.

Flower I will run at 12 inches/300mm but will reduce lighting hight in increments as I have no actual idea how much light these produce and will be watching for bleaching/shock. Again measurement will be taken from the canopy.

Migro does a good review on them and I've based my hieghts, par calculations, DLI numbers all around his review and the manufactures specs. I'll also note Is haven't looked at turning them all the way up yet either, apparently you can over charge them from just over 200 watts from the wall to 245 wats from the wall. I wanted a constant ref point for future testing in terms of power vs yield etc.
Also albertopepper on you does a good review on them.

I will upload pictures weekly of developments including pictures of measurements. I'll also send a picture of my rough outlined feeding schedule and mixing ratios.

CherryLola said:

Grew ayahuasca purple before must admit one fine looking girl, the plant turned pure black when the temps hit cold. I must find a picture somewhere! All my friends were stoked. Ps temps seem kinda low for seedling stage? Thought the loved the heat to begin with! What do I know tho? Haha! Good luck!! Will give your thing a follow.

Click to expand...

It's about costing. They seem to be surviving and its about 8C outside so heating that small space up in the attic requires huge costs over a grow period.

However in an ideal world I'd like to see 24-26C so in a way youre right.

Rough feeding mixing ratios. Fed every watering. The ratios below do not take in to account for the seedling stage and start from week 1 of veg.

Mixing ratios for veg are PER ML
mixing ratios for flower are PER US GAL/3.7 LTRS

PH range 5.5-5.8 throughout, will vary PH measurements over the range to ensure optimum nutrient availability. This will be done throughout veg and flower.

Seeing as I have little experience with these specific genetics the feeding E.C. values are subject to change depending on requirements. Also E.C. will be dialled back due to mainlining/manifolding training. I've been advised to drop back on E.C. by approx 0.2/3 after the level of toping and defoliation involved. When you think about it it makes sense less vegitation less need for nutrition.

Also this is a hand watered drain to waste system. I aim at the seedling stage to water for a little run off and about 10% through veg and flower.