Sloppy G's Sophomore Grow Journal

[Sloppy G]

My first grow was a certifiable disaster, only one plant really produced any good weed, one started dying randomely (it's clone is doing the same thing as we speak) and a lot of other stuff (mostly mistakes on my part) just turned the whole thing upside down for me.

But now, I have a little more money to invest and I'm going the whole 8 1/2 yards this time.

SEEDS: White Widow, G13, Juicy Fruit, and Hindu Kush
POTS: 12" Diameter Plastic Pots w/ drainage holes and tray
LIGHT:
- VEG: 4 Home-made CFL lights with 2 bulbs each
- FLOWER: 400W HPS w/ Sodlux brand bulb
SOIL: Fox Farms Ocean Forest Potting Soil topped with Scotts Premium Potting Soil (if necessary)
CO2: NEED HELP DECIDING/FINDING ONE (currently looking at a 5lb Aluminum CO2 Cylinder, 3000 PSI max, 1800 PSI service)


I havent actually started the grow yet, still waiting for seeds, i ordered them from cannabisseeds.com

But if anything seems wrong or missing that I should add, plz, let me know.

[fahQpayMe]

goood luck with getting the seeds n all....you are gunna need a regulator for the co2 tank you have($270)...check out my journal in the link below...mabee it will answer any co2 questions you have

[Sloppy G]

Dam, your setup is pretty tight!

I'm trying to get a 5lb cylinder, i dont have one yet. 20lb cylinders are too expensive, but much cheaper to maintain cuz it's only 12 bucks for exchange.

5lb cylinder is 15 bucks to refill (noone exchanges 5lb cylinders anymore)!

[Sloppy G]

Yo, I've got my grow pretty much in full throttle now, just working out a few kinks with my 'light barrier', will post pics soon

[Homergrower]

Yellowing looks like overwatering.

But if you sure it's not the watering problem, i would add some blood and bone.

This helped my grow...

[Sloppy G]

Yeah, its still yellow, i'm gonna try to not water for a couple days, see if it changes anything. Thnx for the advice man

[Sloppy G]

PICTURES!!:

Just a small closet, and a fan moving fresh air into the room. The actual grow area is only the back corner of the room, to maximize light efficiency.
<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1661.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1661.jpg" height="300" title="Grow Room" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

The top of my 400W HPS Reflector hanging over the grow area.
<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1664.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1664.jpg" height="300" title="View from Top" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

Just two small fans blowing over the plants and accross the bulb keeps my grow room approx. 10 degrees above ambient vs. 25 degrees without the fans.
<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1665.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1665.jpg" height="300" title="My Two Fans Next to a 'G13' Plant in MG Soil" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

These 3 plants are in ocean forest, although they are smaller than the Miracle Grow plants, they seem to have a fuller, denser foliage.
<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1672.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1672.jpg" height="300" title="Three Smaller Plants in Ocean Forest" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

My White Widow Plant, in Ocean Forest, is turning yellow and doesnt seem to wanna go back green. Hopefully it doesnt start dying.
<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1671.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1671.jpg" height="300" title="White Widow, Still Yellow" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

Just a couple more pictures:
<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1666.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1666.jpg" height="300" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1670.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1670.jpg" height="300" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1673.jpg" target="top"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1673.jpg" height="300" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

[Sloppy G]

Ok, here's the picture of the WW plant a week ago:

<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/GC10-04-07.jpg"><img height="250" alt="Sloppy G" src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/GC10-04-07.jpg"></a>

And here's is a picture of her today:

<a href="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1671.jpg"><img src="http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/Sloppy-G/100_1671.jpg" height="250" alt="Sloppy G"></a>

Growth seems to be pretty much normal, but there is NO improvement in the color and Ive only watered once since last week... As before, however, the plant still looks healthy, to me anyway, theres a little spotting on lower leaves but nothing necrotic.

I switched my light down to 12/12, so I can determine the sex of the plants, and cus I heard WW Plants flower for like 4 months. They germinated 6 weeks ago, so they've been vegging for 4 weeks now. I dont really care about getting huge yield, I just want to know they're sex, clone the females and toss out the male, so I can focus on getting yield from the sinsemilla clones.

Only problem is the Ocean Forest plants arent growing nearly as fast as the Miracle Gro Plants. Hope they're mature enough to flower.

Comments and suggestions appreciated, god knows I need them, i have a hunch that I'm doing something really wrong.

Oh yea, I put my Hindu Kush in MG plant outside, because it was dying from the heat in the room; Should be fine, right?

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Did it start to yellow when you switched the lights to HPS?

[Sloppy G]

It was about the same time, but I'm not exactly sure if it was right before or right after switching...

[Mr.GoodStuff]

From what I've seen certain plants handle changes in environment better than others. One thing I've noticed is when you change from blue floro light to red HID light the plants kinda stress out for a bit. They go back to normal once they get used to it, maybe that's the problem?

If not it could be overwatering like Homergrower said, she might even be hungry because the HID causes them to need more food than the floro light. How often are you watering?

[Sloppy G]

I water (+fert) every 5 days or so, really depends on how dry the soil is. I try not to water too often, but it gets pretty hot and the top soil dries up quick, so it's a little hard to tell how much water is really left in the soil.

[Mr.GoodStuff]

Hmm... I have heard of some plants just being a pain in the ass LOL and not liking the environment/level of food/amount of water as much as the others. What are you feeding them and what's the runoff PH/TDS looking like? If you are letting the soil dry out it shouldn't be overwatering, although you should have to water more often than every 5 days. You might want to pick a plant and dig down into the soil when you think it needs water, to see if the bottom of the pot is still moist. I'm no good with soil so you'll have to bare with me, but I do have a little experience with it. GG would be the better person for advice on the soil.

[Sloppy G]

I'm gonna try to get a pH testing kit as soon as I get a chance to see if that is a factor, and I would water more often, but I want to wait and see what the pH looks like first.

Do you think that plant, and the others, look ready to flower? and can you take a clone of a newly flowering plant (not yet budding) and force it back to vegetation?

[Mr.GoodStuff]

You are watering the right way, I was saying it's best when the soil drys out every 24 hours so the most oxygen gets down to the roots. This is why a lot of growers start with smaller pots and work their way up. As long as you are waiting for the soil to dry out the roots should be fine.

When you flower them is totally up to you. It's ready to flower once it has 5 fingered leaves, if you flower it from seed it will grow up before flowering, if you flower it from clone it can flower immediately but the plant will be small unless you are working with large (9+ inch) cuttings.

You can clone the plant pretty far into flower in my experience, they will root and then re-veg if they are far enough into flower. It's better to make a mother plant as soon as possible though because revegging takes time and it's better to just keep the cycle going. If you have to take clones do it as soon as possible so you don't have to wait for them to reveg if you can.