Hydroponic stores

[pipeman]

Was in a store today, and the guy that was there started to ask me about my system, and I told him it was bubblers. He didn't know what that was so I explained it to him. obviously he's never seen or heard of it before. Fair enough, hydro stores wouldn't make as much money if everyone knew how to build their own cheap & easy bubblers which grow just as well or better than any of their premade systems.

 

then he took a call while I was there. He told whoever rang up that he couldn't grow a mother under fluoros. They were only for rooting clones and would only keep plants alive for a short time and he needed a Son-T or Sunmaster light for his mothers, which is just plain wrong. He even said to the guy that even if he had a 250W fluoro that wouldn't be enough.

 

anyway I'm not going to name the store as I like the place and they are always very helpful and give discounts/freebies, and this wasn't the regular guy that was there, just a young bloke filling in by the looks. but the point is don't take for granted that anything a hydro store attendant says to you is correct, because obviously sometimes they can be flat out wrong.

[Buster]

Did you put him straight on the issue? I think the amount of time we (meaning ozstoners members) spend getting advise, learning new things and trying them out here for all to see, we probably know more than we think compared to some hydro shops.

 

It pays for Hydro shops to give proper advise. I have been to a few in my area that have told me different things but now I know the answers to my questions theres no way im going back to shops that were full of shit. I'd rather someone say they weren't sure than feed me crap.

 

 

Buster.

Edited May 24, 2003 by Buster

[pipeman]

nah I didn't bother. I've learnt a long time ago that there are certain people who don't like to be corrected, so when I sense thats who I'm dealing with I generally opt to keep the peace and let it slide. besides life is too short to go around correcting every incorrect thing you hear on a day to day basis.

[Guest weekprik]

I also was told that fluros will only keep the plant alive for a short time and wont GROW the plant just maintain it????

 

so to keep a mother what fluro strenght can I use??

 

Is there a benefit of keeping a mother rather than cloning of the one flowering 2 weeks before that is harvested and then when its harvested putting the clones in the unit???

[Brainstorm]

You can keep a mum under fluro's for a long period of time... Not ordinary household fluros though, you need to get something like the gro-lux fluros or others that are suitable for growing. Though I have heard of ppl keeping their mums going with those compact fluros that plug into a normal light socket. Remember you don't necesarily want your mums to grow at the same pace as your vegging or flowering plants.

 

Benefits of keeping mums instead of taking clones from a flowering plant:

1. you don't have to worry about seeing if the clone will revert to a vegging state.

2. If you take your original clone to use for a mum from a good plant then the genetics will continue.

3. You don't have to always have a grow going to keep your supply of clones up.

4. You can take a break from growing if needed. Hey we all need a holiday sometimes

5. If you have the space, with mums you can get a two or three stage grow happening where you will be harvesting regularly every 2 months or so.

 

Probably heaps more advantages that I can't think of right now.

[pipeman]

also if you only have a small closet grow and like to pic and choose which strains to grow every cycle. one cupboard for mums/vegging, other for flowering. If you just got one strain that you are growing over and over I guess you don't need mums.

[Tom]

You can actually grow good mj from seed to harvest using standard house/shop fluoro's, I did for many years, HID's kick them into the middle of next year though.

 

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[pipeman]

hey Tom, could you give us an idea of what wattage you used and how much it yielded?

[Tom]

Used around 480w to cover approximately eight square feet, I never weighed my crops in those days but the result would have been 50% - 60% of what a single 430w Son-T-Agro gave me (averages), fluoro's can grow good mj but for top shelf you need a HID.

 

Compact fluoro's are a big improvement over the old strip fluoro's, this girl has spent some time under a Son-T as well but mostly she's been where she is now.

 

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[Tom]

Additional:

 

When I was growing with fluoro's I used to have a few growlux or similar aquarium tubes mixed in with cool and warm white fluoro's, a bit primitive really.

 

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