Bloombox Chocolope Singleton

So, since it is moving closer to Fall, it's getting too late to plant more outside. Most years I just ride out the winter with what I grew over the growing season, but I saw an ad in Craig's List that caught my eye - A used Northern Lights Bloombox. The listing stated the electronics didn't work, so it was basically just a locking cabinet, listed at $125. They sell new for $4,000+. As it turns out, the electronics were fine, it just needed some soldering on the circuit board. 30 mins of work, tops. I tore out the hydroponics system since I prefer to grow organically in soil - I am using more of a grow tent than exercising all of its features. Still, it's got separate veg and flower areas, with 165W CFL/400W HID respectively. Not very high, but if I can get a SCROG set-up in the flower area, then I should be able to maximize the horizontal space. I figured I'd test it with a sativa that likes to grow long and stretch, so I popped a few chocolope seeds that came as ILGM freebies into some wet paper towels for a few days. Only one of them popped, but frankly these seeds are six months old had been kept in a paper cup; it's kind of a miracle any popped at all. The one that popped is now in the veg area, starting life out. After a day or two I'll raise the pot by putting it on an inverted 5 gallon bucket to get it closer to the CFL. Once it's large enough (4 or 5 nodes), I'll transplant her into a 7 gallon fabric pot with my living soil mix, move her to the flower chamber on an 18 hour schedule and start to scrog her out. I'll flip to 12/12 once the SCROG is full. Clean, Craig's-Listing-Dem-Deals Country Living.

Nothing much happening...just the plant growing. I've noticed that the fan on the veg chamber seems to overheat and stop running, so I think this is the last week I'll leave her in the veg chamber; the flower chamber I can turn on to be 18/6, and it has a large fan to keep some airflow and get that twiggy little stem moving and thickening. Still, this is a 100% sativa strain, so I expect her to be long and leggy. No nutrients needed or given, but if I don't put something, my diary gets a red frownie face. I gave her 1.5 cups of water this week, 3/4th of a cup on Wed and another 3/4 a cup this morning. Clean, Boring Country Living.

Busy week for the little chocolope. Moved into her new pot, a 7-gallon fabric pot that I filled to the brim with Happy Frog soil blended with compost from my earthworm bin. I also moved her into the flower chamber of the Bloom Box, under the 400W HID sodium light (hence the lighting on the pics). I'll figure out the whole natural lighting editing thing on my phone later. The bloombox lets me just punch in the hours I want the lights on, so I have it running from 6 PM - noon the following day, an 18/6 schedule that let's me avoid running it during the hottest hours of the day. The Flower-box also has a CPU fan and an oscillating fan to help shake her little stem so she's not such a stretchy spindly thing. I also buried her almost to her seedling leaves to help give her support. Now that she's going to get blown around a bunch by the fan, she should get a nice thick base. Although the weather has been pretty hot and can still get up to 85F in the afternoons, things are starting to cool down - the overnight lows are in the 50s, and the mornings are enjoyably crisp. As we transition into winter and it gets colder, the light should keep her warm overnight, and her dark period will be when the ambient temps should be in the 50s or so. Either way, while I'm not worried about her getting below frost-temps, I do think she's going to see plenty of 45-50 days that should test any purple heritage she may have. You can also see I rigged up a basic SCROG screen; magnetic tape with pretty middling magnetic hooks, and some plant line running the length. I'm surprised BCNL doesn't offer a screen/trellis accessory - seems obvious. I'm not sure this is going to work, those magnets are super weak. I may use liquid nails and just glue the hooks in place. I probably need more hooks too, those are giant holes considering the space. Oh well, still figuring this thing out. I'll get it dialed in eventually. Clean, Experimental Country Living.

This young, and in a pretty-contained environment, the chocolope lady is more or less on cruise-control. Too small to top, too young to pump nutes into...I gave her a cup of water twice this week...that's it. Her stem is thickening up nice thanks to the flan blowing on her, and she's much more steady in her current home. I will probably top her next week so I can start training her to fill out the screen. Other than that, not much happening in the Bloom Box. Just clean country living.