Citral Grow...from Day 3 until I harvest!

[martyrprojekt]

I started this log on another forum. I am going to start using this thread here since this forum seems to be rocking while my old forum, in fact, sucks balls!

So...here we go!

Hello Fellow Hydro Heads...

A little about me first. This is not my first grow. This is however, my first hydroponics grow. I have been researching this for the past 3 months before I decided to take the plunge into growing with hydroponics for my medical cannabis needs.

Seeds:

I started with an order of Citral from AmsterdamMarijaunaseeds.com

A lot of people are probably wondering why this was my choice for my grow. Well, it just makes sense. Hard to kill these plants as they are very resilient. They do not have the crazy odor you will get from most indica/sativa blends...and it has a high THC content. And, the yield is not bad either...1 pound per square meter of grow.

My grow space:

The room I am using is a handicap bathroom. It is huge and is sectioned off very well with natural walls. I converted the shower area for Veg and it is 4x6x8.

Flower room is 6x10x8...need I say any more?

It has built in ventilation. Air-in is is courtesy the air conditioning system..bravo. Air-out is via the top of the room with two air vents on timers (1000 CFM blowers). Mind you...the room came to me this way! Yeah for me!

Lighting in Veg:

I am using a T5 florescent with 4 bulbs for my veg room...

Water and nute system:

Drip Hydroponic systems with 3 part nutrients. Following it to the T. I have seen this system seems to work perfectly for thousands of people. Why mess with the tried and true.

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Now you all know what I am using, We will get to the flower room later in this thread. When we get to that point.

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Onto the questions...Opie Yuts...this will not be the first time you have given me epic advice. but, the first time you have given me advice for hydro.

I started with 20 seeds...15 popped and sprouted. 5 of them now look rather leggy, and are falling over. They look really weak in the stems. Then the rest look perfect. ALL THE SEEDLINGS HAVE NICE WHITE ROOT SYSTEMS.

Please look at my pictures and tel me if my lights are too far away from my plants. Perhaps I should still be using a hood for them?

Should I just pull the weak ones now and focus on the better plants? Your thoughts are appreciated and suggestions will all be taken into deep consideration. This grow is not just for me...It is for the benefit of all potential newcomers to this art.

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Happy Growing!

-Martyr Projekt

ps...this is not real. What you are reading is fiction. I am playing a role, as most things on the internet are fake. So is this. I do not break the law, nor do I advocate breaking the law. I think all people should never take schedule 1 drugs as they are dangerous and can cause horrible side effects (like the munchies).
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[martyrprojekt]

What was done today:

- So I added a small fan today. The babies that were looking weak are perking up.


The Game Plan:

- I am hopeful that of the 15 sprouted plants that 10 live and at least half are strong females for mothers. I plan on having a few citral mothers in the beginning...To make more clones. Then after a few cycles, I will throw a couple of them into flower for the sake of having a couple nice big flowered plants.

- Although I am documenting my grow of Citral for the sake of documentation, I do plan on growing 3 different strains in total. I am going to decide which strains after seeing how this one goes. Any suggestions for strains would be appreciated. Heavy THC content and a good indoor yield would be parameters in making such a recommendations.


The status report on my plants:

I do know it has only been one day since my last post...I feel it is very important to document how fast the growth is during the seedling (pre-veg) phase of growth.

So onto the plants that bent...It looks like below where those few plants bent that it looks like a root now...above it looks like a healthy stem, just with some vertical issues

(I posted a example picture for you to see what I am talking about).

Watering Schedule:

I am currently watering 3 times a day at 15 minute intervals (10am, 4pm, 12pm). I am using 1 gallon per hour drip nozzles and my pump is more than adequate. It seems to be handling the job quite well. But, I have to beg the question...am I OVERWATERING? The plants are not drooping and showing no signs of any issues (besides a couple of them being leggy).

I am going to be adding calmag tomorrow. Thank you for the heads up regarding distilled water lacking calcium and magnesium. I will address this before it becomes an issue.

I also posted a couple pictures of some of the strongest babies. Man they look tough...God I hope they are little girls. In fact, I am praying they are little girls.

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Happy Growing!

Martyr Projekt
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[martyrprojekt]

Today:

So, When I woke up this morning a few of the plants were showing signs of over-watering. I cut the watering cycle to twice a day (10am & 6pm). Calmag was added this morning also. Hopefully this will devoid myself of issues surrounding the lack of magnesium and calcium in distilled water.

Any help with strain questions would be greatly appreciated.

More pictures:

Also, I posted more seedling porn for you dirty bastards that like them young. You know who you are.

I will say that I am rather impressed so far by the majority of my plants. the strong ones are obvious. And, I will give them all the same opportunity to grow over the next couple weeks, by letting nature take its course. I remember an old hippie once told me, " the best buds come from the strongest plants, and nature knows when something is not right."

Infinite wisdom from old hippies is always worth listening to.

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Happy Growing

-Martyr Projekt

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[martyrprojekt]

So, I will be getting up early tomorrow morning to go and buy the hot shot strips. I found some gnats in my plants this evening. I hate bugs.

My finace' did say it was hilarious to watch a fully grown man chasing little flys...she wants to put her little iphone recording on u-tube.

if that doesn't work I will be buying some organacide. I have been told it is the only think most growers would consider in seedling or flowering stages (being the most fragile period for a plants development.

Honestly, I am beginning to re-think my grow...I dropped the light down further today...i need to stop this stretching now, and I cut watering to twice a day to adress the drooping plants.

I have also started to mist the seedlings with bubbly water. Twice a day is the regiment so far. I will let you know how this goes for me.

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ummmm....happy......ummmm, growing?

-Martyr Projekt

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[martyrprojekt]

I got the one shot strip today. I put it up this evening. I can only hope that the gnats go away.

I also got some more pictures to post today. They are growing nicely and the leaves are getting much bigger. For day 6, this is not bad. The 2nd set of tops leaves are starting to come in, and the tap root has already come through to the bottom of some of the stronger plants. I am considering getting a couple pots for these stronger ones in about 2 weeks...so I don't jack up the root system.

I have kept the light as low as possible to sop the plants from getting leggy and I have done everything I can to keep the plants upright. I am running an oscilating fan as well as a little guy to keep the room cool during the day. I am also using my exhaust fan for the room. The temp is nice and consistent, I am very pleased with this setup so far, I can not wait to flower these little girls. At least this way someone can actually give people a heads up on how citral tastes, smokes, and grows.

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Happy Growing!

-Martyr Projekt

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[martyrprojekt]

Should I put my 1000 watt hps light up for these plants to replace the T5 FLOURESCENTS?

let me know if you guys think this would be wise to get more stout growth out of my babies!


Thanks!

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Happy Growing!

-Martyr Projekt

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[seedleSs SRH]

Originally Posted by martyrprojekt

Should I put my 1000 watt hps light up for these plants to replace the T5 FLOURESCENTS?

let me know if you guys think this would be wise to get more stout growth out of my babies!


Thanks!

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Happy Growing!

-Martyr Projekt

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no but you should have those floro's atleast 4-6 inches from the little ladies. that will stop stretching. the HPS is expensive to run and you can get away with just using it to flower

[martyrprojekt]

Word, thanks bro. I did lower them yesterday to about 6 inches from plants to light. I have noticed the leaves are fanning and the plants are standing up straighter...The stems are also thickening. I am hoping that the fans will help with strengthening the stems also. Since they are being reinforced, I am not worried about them falling over this time around.

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Happy Growing

-Martyr Projekt

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[BUDSLiNGER]

Hey Marty..
no 1000 yet.... to soon...
Also those cubes hold a ton of water(knats) so i would change your water schedulle to once every 24 hours just for a week or so, this way the cube will have a chance to get dryer and the roots will grow quicker, When i use the big cubes i transplant, then water them and wait a week before i water again, always works great as when they are new they retain a ton of water. Keeping them dryer you will see much faster growth, then once they are bigger you can water more...imo of course,,,
I think it will help with the knats to...just my opinion man... That system should serve you well in flower...

[seedleSs SRH]

Originally Posted by BUDSLiNGER

Hey Marty..
no 1000 yet.... to soon...
Also those cubes hold a ton of water(knats) so i would change your water schedulle to once every 24 hours just for a week or so, this way the cube will have a chance to get dryer and the roots will grow quicker, When i use the big cubes i transplant, then water them and wait a week before i water again, always works great as when they are new they retain a ton of water. Keeping them dryer you will see much faster growth, then once they are bigger you can water more...imo of course,,,
I think it will help with the knats to...just my opinion man... That system should serve you well in flower...

i agree 90% with budslinger. you want to water big cubes like that much less when they are seedlings like that. i ended up with gnats in my grow and it took me a little over a week to kill off the buggers and their larva that feed on the roots.




anyways for sure don't keep the cubes to moist as it attracts pest as well as mold/fungi. but you can use a 1000w directly from seed just got to keep it like 4ft away. it's just not practical though, costs a ton of money to run for veg hours, and is basically a giant heater. check out my set-up, in my space i had to run dedicated AC to keep it in the desired temps. \/ \/

[martyrprojekt]

So I have taken some recommendations to heart. First, I lowered the lights to almost directly above the plants, about 4 inches above. Also, I dropped the watering cycle to once per day until the plants get bigger and obtain more root growth.

I am already seeing results from this. The plants are doing well for their first week of life. I have yet to lose a seedling, and that is promising. All of the plants are showing top leaves now and I am excited to hopefully be able to sex and keep all of the plants. Only the next 2 weeks will tell for sure.

I wanted to give a big thank you to all the contributors to this log. You are not only making a differene in my log, but this potentially helps out people wanting to gain knowledge before they wander into the world of hydroponics.

Thanks again everyone...And let me know what strains I should grow next. I am interested in some suggestions. Anything with high THC levels is game for me! height is not an issue!

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Happy Growing

-Martyr Projekt

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[BUDSLiNGER]

Originally Posted by martyrprojekt

So I have taken some recommendations to heart. First, I lowered the lights to almost directly above the plants, about 4 inches above. Also, I dropped the watering cycle to once per day until the plants get bigger and obtain more root growth.

I am already seeing results from this. The plants are doing well for their first week of life. I have yet to lose a seedling, and that is promising. All of the plants are showing top leaves now and I am excited to hopefully be able to sex and keep all of the plants. Only the next 2 weeks will tell for sure.

I wanted to give a big thank you to all the contributors to this log. You are not only making a differene in my log, but this potentially helps out people wanting to gain knowledge before they wander into the world of hydroponics.

Thanks again everyone...And let me know what strains I should grow next. I am interested in some suggestions. Anything with high THC levels is game for me! height is not an issue!

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Happy Growing

-Martyr Projekt

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good move marty... they will love ya for it

[martyrprojekt]

So today, I checked the ph level, and I was at a perfect 5.8....couldn't ask for better from my distilled water and calmag mixture.

I had to raise the lights a bit, some of the plants were almost near the lights. The girls are showing very strong secondary leaves and i am noticing the massive root growth I am getting from the plants since I cut the watering schedule back to once a day in the morning.

I am still a but concerned about the plants as the leaves are getting much bigger. What do you guys do to keep the plants from falling over when this happens? I am trying to jery rig some things to keep them up....I am sure you can see this in my pictures...it seems to be working, but, I am still concerned about their long term growth in the initial veg state. Is there anything else I can do besides propping them up and lowering the lights?

Thanks!

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Happy Growing!

-Martyr Projekt

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[martyrprojekt]

The problem:

So I am having some issues with a couple plants. I am seeing discoloration spots on some of the plants...Some lighter and some darker. I posted pictures for you to see.

Also, one of the plants is showing signs of nute burn? The funny thing is that I am not using nutes right now. Maybe it is light burn from my T5 light?

Are these signs of lack or calcium and magnesium?

picture #1 and #2 are showing a plant that is discoloring...I have one other plants that is showing lighter coloring. I did not post a picture of this.

picture #3 is showing a plant that has leaf tips that are dead...and it is also showing discoloration.

The rest of the plants are not showing signs of anything...look very healthy and are growing nicely since I lowered my lights to stop the leggy issue I was facing with Citral ( i have been this is common for this strain in seedlings)

My System:

Growing drip system hydro
no nutes...still seedlings
5 gallon res.
16 pants with 3 showing signs of these problems.
t5 light with 4 bulbs (hot and cold mixture)
lighting schedule on 18/6

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Happy Growing

-Martyr Projekt

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[martyrprojekt]

Enjoy some updated pics!