CaliforniaKid's Dark Harvest Grow Challenge

[Californiakid]

Ouch !

Got a BIG electric bill !

The ac is killing me! Looks like I will be another winter grower. Maybe a led summer grow without ac for fun.
Still cheaper than buying 👍

[RosettaStoned]

What are the walls made of for the grow area? I know one is the garage wall, which is insulated. Maybe you could insulate the other walls and door. Might save you a little.
A portable ac unit is what sparked my room, that and 4 HIDs running at once. The wife was like, FIX THIS! 🤣

[Californiakid]

Chefbjy & RosettaStoned
Thanks for the tips. Insulating the walls and door is my next step along with a vented hood. I have also had a fan blowing fresh air into the garage to mitigate heat which isn't necessary now.

[oldjarhead100]

My electric last month was over 700 between ac and dehumidifiers

[Californiakid]

If it were just me I wouldn't worry about the bill. But I'm cutting in to household funds and that doesn't sit well with me. So I must get more efficient without spending money like I have it. 🤣

Not to mention the air conditioner is not using conditioned air for the condenser, but some conditioned air is bleeding into the exhaust. Blowing stink into my backyard. Not that big of a deal, but not low key either.
That will have to be for now. Small inline cheapy fan to push/pull ac exhaust through a carbon filter in the future.

Vented hood and bigger fan, 6" maybe 8", along with foam board, likely 2", to insulate. That along with winter should allow the ac to be dialed back considerably.

[Californiakid]

Enough bitching from me ! Less than 4 days from the last picture ....

[Chefbjy]

Haha looks like she's keeping up for sure. Looking good!

[RosettaStoned]

Really filling out

[oldjarhead100]

Looking great , I agree with you its hard to cover these bills I think I will shut down in spring next year to avoid all the issues I had this year

[Californiakid]

September 5th, return from trip.

[Californiakid]

September 7th am picture lights out.




September 8th, morning after top.

[Californiakid]

7nodes topped at 6th. I plan to remove the first and tie over the whole plant, ....soon.

[RosettaStoned]

Holy shat! Large and in charge

You like that CFL? Mine keep burning out

[Californiakid]

RosettaStoned
Dude I got that bulb from a guy closing his grow shop. He sold it to me at cost. I used it for heat last winter, worked great. Seedlings love it, as you can see. I'll keep it going until the flip.

[Californiakid]

Went to take clones and the plants folded over and asked to be tied up. How could I say no?

[Chefbjy]

I was just thinking the same thing when I put the hps in. I'm going to have to tie the dgth I fimed down to stay even with her sisters. Totally different pheno then the other 2 and the only one expressing more verticle growth. She's going to be a fun one to train 😉.

[Californiakid]

Chefbjy
I have 2 phenos of the dgth, one is longer/more leggy. The other tighter nodes and more bushy.

The leggy one seems to be part rubber plant, just makes nice bends without creases. Likely easy to train.
The bush will force me to take cuttings, giving opportunity for clones. We'll see, it sounds good anyway...😁🤔

[Californiakid]

All have been topped. GC is really bushy, tight nodes.
DGTH have been adjusted to their new shape, removed a couple of leaves and added a few more stakes.

[Californiakid]

GC is really looking good, has definitely hit her stride.
Hopefully all of these challenge plants stretch like crazy.
I have my eye on a couple of shoots to cut be fore the flip.

[Chefbjy]

She sure is spreading out nicely. Wish I could say the same for my gc seeds whatever they are 😉.

[RosettaStoned]

Getting tight in there 😉

[Californiakid]

Friday night just before midnight.


Saturday 4pm just before lights on

[Chefbjy]

Still need that ac huh? 😉. I have to take mine out already feeling fall up to a high of 67f 😆.

[Californiakid]

Chefbjy The ac may stay as it is a heater/dehumidifier as well. But it still gets hot during the day, and I don't have a vented hood yet. Although a vented hood with a bigger exhaust fan would pay for itself in one month of savings on the electric bill.

[Californiakid]

Guest the previous occupants couldn't park without hitting the car into the wall. I just covered the hole with glass lol.


Got my neem/sm90 with soap and kelp sprayed while lights are out for a few more hours. Sprayed top to bottom over and under, sprayed intakes & exhaust, walls, door seal, outside of the exhaust vent (outdoors) the backyard starting at the vent working outwards. Finishing up with my yard plants.

F-U pesty bugs ! Take some of THAT .

[Chefbjy]

I may have to do that as well lmao. I'm hoping the de bti and sticky traps will solve my problem before I spray neem on my girls. 😉

[Californiakid]

Chefbjy Since I started spraying this mix at the beginning of each grow, no problems what so ever. I hang a yellow sticky card but I don't have any bugs on it. And I'm casual about taking off clothes that I've been out in before entering my room. Knock on wood.

[RosettaStoned]

In my year plus, I've only seen one gnat. Not even sure it was one. Nothing else

[Redwasp]

I use a few baby skinks and some toads. Add a few ladybugs and throw in a few praying mantis. All from my yard. Havent had an issue since

[Chefbjy]

I got lots of spiders in my shop even found a mosquito hawk and a few lady bugs. Something I've yet to introduce into a tent grow. But I wouldn't mind a couple spiders like daddy long legsand such.

[Californiakid]

I dont mind if a spider wanders in, but I really don't want any crawlies in my room. They get stuck in the trichomes.

[RosettaStoned]

Plus spiders eewwww 😄

[oldjarhead100]

I use lady bugs never quite get them all but they certainly keep them in check

[oldjarhead100]

I use lady bugs never quite get them all but they certainly keep them in check

[Californiakid]

Sometimes breaking old way of thinking is difficult. I'm running 3 plants because that was all my old light could support. Last night I adjusted my light a bit and wow. I got rid of some shaded area. I can get 1-2 more plants in there easily! That's at least 2+ zips per.

In my defense I wasn't thinking of flipping soon in the challenge, I was thinking veg out 3 monters. Silly mistakes like these prevent efficient grows. This is how I learn.

[Californiakid]

Chefbjy oldjarhead100 Campesino farmerjim Trichomefarmer88 RosettaStoned KingKush Redwasp PaganRich Mr.furley Guest D.A.A.S.69 and anyone else...

I had a thought, and I would like to see what others opinions are...

Too late to add more plants, flip is scheduled for a few days from now, and I'm not filling the light footprint.
Money spent on electricity needs to be well spent and accounted for but more importantly I don't want to run out anymore!. I wasn't thinking ahead when planning this out, happens often.

1)So here I am wondering would a few more weeks fill the canopy and return a significantly higher yeild ?

2)Would I be in bad form to excuse myself from the challenge to be financially responsible and squeeze the most out of this grow?

3)Should I stick with the plan, flip & finish these and try to rock one more grow before full summer temps hit ?
After all this was a quick veg & flip grow. Monster crop?(doing this either way)

I need to make weight so I will have enough stock to last through summer and until the next harvest.(nearly a pound if not a little more). I'm sure I could get the quantity with this light if given enough plants or allowed to veg long enough.

I don't jump ship, I see things through when I start. But I'm getting a lil older and recognize that sometimes it's ok to admit when I make mistakes and rather than throw money out the window. Withdraw from the challenge to be financially efficient.

My wife says that this isn't a waste of money because of how much I enjoy it. But I don't want to burn money because it makes a pretty glow.

What say you?

[Californiakid]

Mr.furley
Thank you for your input on veg time. That's what I was hoping that you would chime in on.

[KingKush]

Whichever decision you choose, I'm confident it will be the right one.

My personal opinion: Think only about yourself

[Tika]

im so late on my read...really sorry. Trying to catch up with U

[Chefbjy]

I don't see any harm in going another week in veg. With the problems some had starting off, you would think we all wouldn't mind a little more time. I'm all for it so my opinion won't change. I don't know what happened to DankwingDuck thought he was in on the challenge. Campesino is busy and his new site is up, we can probably find him there or on ig/fb 😉. And we all know ojh won't be on till early tomorrow. Are we missing anyone else that hasn't responded? I think it's already unanimous but I'll wait for others to reply.

[RosettaStoned]

I'll go with the majority. As far as the no show, I'll keep my opinions to myself.