600W Lucas/K.I.S.S. Grow

Hello everybody,

This is my first grow, and I will be documenting the whole thing in this thread.

My Grow:

Environment: 4'x4'x7' Mylar grow tent located in the basement of my house.
Soil: 78% ProMix HP, 20% Perlite, 2% Worm Castings, 1/2 tbsp Dolomie Lime/Gallon (Hp already
contains some DL, but I've read mixed accounts of how much.....so I added a little extra)
Nutrients: This is the K.I.S.S method, so I will be using MaxiBloom only throughout the grow.
Water: I will be using Distilled Water for the entire grow
Lights: 2x4' Cool Blue T-8 6500 K (for germination, seedlings and later for cloning
600 W digital MH/HPS light with 6" air cooled Sunhood
Ventilation: 360 CFM 6" vortex fan with carbon filter
2 x 6" clip on fans for in-tent air-movement
Passive Intakes
Genetics: I wanted to find a strain or two that like the KISS diet, so I'm starting with 4 strains, will
clone from the best two for next crops.

3 x Nirvana White Widow Feminized
3 x Nirvana Northern Lights Feminized
1 x Dutch Passion Blueberry Feminized
1 x Barney's Violator Kush Feminized

I opted for mostly indica-dominant strains for low(ish) height and overall ease of growth. Northern Lights and White Widow are proven, well-documented strains that are generally easier to grow. The Blueberry and Violator Kush sounded tastey, and I thought I'd grab one seed of each just for shits and giggles I figured I'd start them all and then keep the strongest 4 or 5 to flower.

The seeds were germinated using the paper-towel method, and after 36 hours I had a 100% germination rate (so far so good!). I planted the sprouts root down,3 mm deep, in dixie-cups containing my ProMix. The dixie cups of soil were watered with distilled water the day before to get the soil ready and the lime activated. After sitting overnight, I flooded the cups and collected the run-off which tested at 5.2 pH. From what I've read, this should rise over the next few days as ProMix will self-buffer to between 5.7-6.3 due to the lime.

Eventually, I will have a seperate vegging area, but for my first grow I will be using my tent for both veg and flower. My planted seeds are temporarily on a tupperware full of my soil to keep the cups and roots off the cool cement. The humidifier was only in the room temporarily and is now outside the tent, blowing moist air into the intake ducts. Right now, with only the T-8 running, I temps are level at 19-22 degrees C. I have the cups under a plastic hood, where the RH is 75-80%.....I'll be keeping it nice and humid in there until the little heads pop through the soil.

The seedligs will stay under the dome / under the T-8 for the first week or so before the MH light will be turned on and slowly lowered to get the seedlings used to HID. After a few days, the flourescent light will be removed, leaving only the 600 W MH.

I've attached some pics of my set-up and progress so far. Feel free to comment and make suggestions. I'd particularly love to hear from people with KISS experience and those that have grown any of these strains before.

Day#2 from germination:

Everything going well today, conditions are perfect under the dome.....75-80% R.H. and 23 degrees C. I've lifted the plastic dome off a couple of times today to get some fresh air in there, and the lightly mist the top of the soil.

One of the White Widow and one of the Northern Lights have already started to pop their heads through the soil. I will be monitoring things closely over the next couple of days, and will be keeping the cups under the dome for the first 5-6 days to maintain high humdity levels for the seedlings.

very nice. Its good to see someone that did some research before their first grow. Hats off to ya. Subbed. Peace.

Thanks a lot BadAxe I see that you grew WW and NL on your first grow as well, what were your experiences with these strains? Were they from Nirvana as well by chance?

I'm also assumiong that the VK in your second grow is Violator Kush?...I can't find many grow reports on this one, so would love any info you have on it

Edited by Shiva Blaster, 22 February 2012 - 12:56 AM.

Thanks a lot BadAxe I see that you grew WW and NL on your first grow as well, what were your experiences with these strains? Were they from Nirvana as well by chance?

I'm also assumiong that the VK in your second grow is Violator Kush?...I can't find many grow reports on this one, so would love any info you have on it

Yep yep, the NL and WW were Nirvana. And nope, As I said in the PM, my VK was Vanilla Kush.

Day #2 from germination - 9pm
Signs of life! One of the WW has pushed through and sprouted, and one of the NL has just started to break the surface. The rest will likely come through tomorrow.
I work a long day at the office tomorrow, will give the cups a good misting before I leave and then replace the dome to keep the RH in the 70-80% range so that the little ones don't dry out. Temps holding steady at 21-23 degrees C under the dome.
I now have my lights on a timer and have begun 18/6.

Day #3
I got up early to give the little ones a good misting before leaving for a long 12 hour shift today. Everything was great when I returned home tonight.....High temp for the day was 24.5 C (76 F) and the low with the lights off was 19.5 C (67 F). Humidity in the dome ranged between 70-90%.
5 of the six seeds had completely sprouted, with my sole Blueberry folded at the surface ready to pop out any minute. The other 5 grew significantly in their first full day under lights, with a couple of the White Widows taking off and gowing 1 1/2". They had already grown up to the the lid of the humidity dome, so I transferred them to a larger dome that I have.
How far should I be keeping my seedlings away from the T-8 tubes at this point? As it is, I have the lights within 1" of the dome lid, and the tops of the seedlings are 3-4" from the top of the dome for a total distance of 4-5".
Looking forward, my plan is to keep the seedlings under domes for the first 10-12 days to maintain humidity levels in the 70-80% range...the winters here are extremely dry and the RH in my house is only 10-20%. Even with a humidifier running full out and my fan on min I can't get my tent above 35%. I'm hoping this will become less of an issue once the plants become bigger, but my HID will also dry things up a bit. Anyone have any suggestions? Should I keep the plants under the dome for longer? Get another humidifier? I'm planning on firing up the MH in the next 4-5 days to get the seedlings used it.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Bump....anyone?

Day #6

Since my last post, I have removed the seedlings from the dome and have them under my aircooled 600w mh. I began at a height of 28" and I'm now at 24"......cool tube is amazing, temps are 23 c at the plant level and my fan isn't even at half yet. When the plants are ready for it, I will be able to get this light nice and close. they seem to like the mh light, noticeable leaf size
increase yesterday. Humidity steady at around 35-40%.

So far 5 of the plants are noticabley more vigorous than the other 3. 2 of the WW and 2 of the NL are taking off the fastest and are looking great. The VK isn't far behind. The blueberry was last to sprout and is off to a slow start but otherwise looks healthy. One of the WW is in tough shape, the seed shell crippled one of its cotyledons and it looks pretty frail. One of the NL is looking a little runty with a stunted first set of real leaves but otherwise looks healthy.

One of the larger seedlings was ready for its first watering today, so it got some Distilled water with a little ca/mg....ph of 6.3. I collected and tested the runoff, it was 5.5. A little lower than I was hoping, but I've read the promix and lime needs a little time to self correct. the others will be ready for their watering tomorrow, I am going to give them water with a ph corrected to 7.0 and hope for a runoff pH of 5.8-6.3

All in all, so far so good!

Edited by Shiva Blaster, 27 February 2012 - 12:47 AM.

Nice man. Things are looking good. yes, the cool tubes are very nice when temps are a concern. In my space, without a cooltube, I can't keep temps under 83. With my cooltube, I get 77 - 78 degrees with the light on.

The only advice I would give is bump your humidity up a bit. I have a 2 1/2 gallon little floor unit humidifier that I keep in the area of my tent, and it allows me to keep a 40 - 60% range which is optimal.

Keep on rockin brotha. Peace.

Thats a nice setup. Sounds like your really putting in the effort! These should turn out great, I'm in.

Hey BadAxe, thanks for checking in! A1phakenny1, welcome to my grow and thanks for subbing in! As this is my first grow, the more eyes the better.....greatly appreciated

There is actually a little cool mist humidifier tucked in the back of my tent, although you can't see it in the pics.....the cool mist also seems to help keep my temps down too which is a bonus. That said, even with it running full out, it's tough to keep humidity much above 30% with my exhaust fan running. I ended up putting my cups on a propogation tray filled with perlite which I soak a few times a day (shown in previous pics), and this with regular misting keeps the humidity around the plants around 40-50% which I figure is the best I can do right now (its mid-winter here and the ambient RH is only 20% in my house). Maintaining a humidity around 50% will get easier as things green up in my tent in the coming weeks.

I watered the rest of my plants this morning before the lights went out, and gave them straight up distilled water, ph 7. As I hoped, the runoff pH was 5.8-6.0....looks like I'll have to invest in a little pH up, as I'm surprised how much my Ca/Mg drops the pH of the water. For now, it appears that watering at a pH of 7 is the sweet spot.....as the dolomite lime does it's thing, the pH of my mix should come up some more and I will gradually lower the pH of my waterings to suit.

On a related note, I purcased some framing lumber and drywall today to help stealth-out my grow area. My tent is located in the roughed-in basement of my house (that I own), and I am going to build a false wall which will shorten the back room by 4.5' and completely conceal my grow tent/area. Entrance to the room will be through a trap door built into the side of an already existing closet in my basement......it's going to be super sneaky, and I'm excited to get working on it. I recently bought the place, and no one has even been down to see the basement yet, so no one will ever know it's even there. Once my work is complete, I'll post a thread in the grow room construction section and put a link to it in my journal if anyone cares to have a peek.

Edited by Shiva Blaster, 27 February 2012 - 12:40 AM.

Day #7

Another noticeable growth spurt today......babies looking happy after their first watering, and loving the MH light. Lots of leaf growth with very little vertical growth/stretching. I moved the lights another 2" closer this morning, now at 22" . The Northern Lights and White Widow are still the front runners, followed by the Violator Kush. The itty bitty blueberry is still a couple of days behind but is starting to pick up the pace a bit.

The plan for the next week or two is to keep seedlings on straight Distilled water + ca/mg until the cotyledons yellow and fall off and the plants tell me that they need some nutes. I hope the small amount of worm castings in my mix will sustain them for another 10-14 days as I am wary of overferting/ feeding to soon.

All in all, week #1 was successful.....I have my environment fully dialed in and hope this results in some solid growth during week # 2!

Forgot to Attach today's pics...

Day#8

Just got home from work and checked on the ladies when the lights came on....temps got a little cooler than I'd like last night (64 F will turn up the house heat a bit) but the babies are looking great. A nice solid shade of green, strong little stems, with their second set of leaves coming in. I gave them a good misting and moved the light another inch closer. The cups are light and I could probably get away with watering again, but I'll give them until tomorrow to fully dry out.

My blueberry is still looking pretty runty, wondering if I got a dud......every other seedling is thriving, maybe this strain is just a really slow starter?

My stealthy basement renovations are underway and my false wall and entry passageway have been fully framed. I'll begin putting up drywall on my day off on Thursday and will snap a few photos of my design/progress. For now, here's some pics of the babies....

i don't think it is a dud. Maybe you could try moving it to the center of the grow for a bit? It is a different strain from the others, maybe it just blooms a little later. The conditions seem good though, so it should roll. We had an Ice growing with our Kalash and it grew slower than the kalash, but it was super dank when we harvested.

I hope it's not a dud....I've read a few reports on the forums which mention that the blueberry strain is known for some runty plants. As I'm in a tent and have 7 plants currently, I'll take runty over an out of control saliva phenotype. I will move it to the middle although the plants are all in a 1.5 ft square under my 600w, so I don't think moving it 8 inches will really make any different....can't hurt though!

I will come along for the ride.

Hey Highjack, thanks for joining and welcome to my grow.

Day #9

Another long day at work today, came home to find my babies looking fantastic. Another nice growth spurt, and the second set of leaves is coming in quick. Leaves looking perky and a nice shade of green. Even the runty blueberry is starting to show improvement. I adjusted a few heating vents around my house to push more warm air into my basement and bring the temperature up a bit when the lights are out.....this worked well as my high temp for the day was 76 and a low of 69 with the lights out. The plants show no sign of distress so I moved he lights a touch closer, now at 18-19".

The soil had dried out completely, and it was definitely time to water.....I've been using a cup filled with some dry soil mix to compare to and gauge when they are fully dry and ready for a water. I water with straight RO water again and the runoff tested at 5.8, right in the zone I was hoping for. I should be able to go another week or so in the cups before transplanting into bigger 4 gallon containers.

Day off tomorrow, will be spending the day smoking, hanging out with the girls, and drywalling my secret grow area.