First Attempt: 250w Dresser Stealth Soil Grow - Autoflowers

Discussion in 'Indoor Grow Journals' started by ImKushed, Jul 2, 2011.

  1. Alright guys, this day finally comes when I think I'm ready and have every thing needed for a successful first grow. Germinating 1 Afgan Kush Ryder and 1 Himalaya Blue Diesel. Possibly might throw in a Kannabia Seeds Mataro Blue or La Blanca Auto if theres enough room later on. Anyways, running a 250w HPS and 127 watts of CFLs. One 23 watt soft white CFL and four 26 watt daylight CFLs. Heights an issue with a max of 15-18 inches depending on how much higher I can get the light and depending on how close I can get the plants to the tempered glass on the hood without burning them. Update as soon as they both hopefuly pop, then onto little tupperware containers, then the final 1-1.5 gallon grow bags. Wish me luck, and enjoy the show. Opinions wanted! To be continued.

    -Kushed
     
  2. I'll grab the first seat. LST'ing will be in your future given your height restrictions. I did a pretty intense LST on my plants, but not sure if the route I'm taking is the best. Anyway, good luck!
     
  3. #3 ImKushed, Jul 4, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 4, 2011
    1 bean popped open, the other nothing yet. Update coming soon hopefully!

    Both popped!
     
  4. Just planted the beans 20 minutes ago. Ran some water through each tupperware container for a while, cleaned it out and got it nice and wet. Running 18/6 so the lights are off from 10am-4pm (supposed to be the hottest part of the day I believe). Himalaya Blue Diesel in the tall thin tupperware and Afgan Kush Ryder in the bigger wider one. Been reading up on both strains and the HBD is supposed to autoflower perfectly, yet the AKR is mostly not a completely stable auto strain.. :( Sucks but maybe I can manually take the AKR out and place it in the Rubbermaid container I've been working on to get its 12 hours of darkness (then height will REALLY be an issue). I just don't know, sucks breeders sell these without making sure they're stabilized but hey, maybe I can get lucky and she'll autoflower. Also, the Mataro Blue isn't a stable autoflower and may also give me troubles. I know Short Stuff's Onyx should autoflower perfectly, hoping La Blanca will but who knows... To be continued...
     

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  5. Looking good, Kushed! Can't wait to see them grow! Do you have brackets supporting the spring rod?
     
  6. Thank Vashi! Thanks for coming by. Yea, the spring rod fell when i was testing temps so i put screws in the dresser sides and then placed the rod over the screw on each end. Confusing, but yea they're on there good now.

    Whats new Vashi?
     
  7. The Afgan Ryder is now over the soil, don't think the Himalaya Blue Diesel is but I can barely see through the tupperware dome. Pictures soon if people want to see em. Changed the light schedule to 24/0 since my "Heavy Duty" Timex timer is a piece of crap. Today lights were supposed to be off at 10am, which they did do, but then at almost 11am-ish they're on again when the switches are all tightly in the OFF position? Thank god I got 2 on eBay daily deals a WHILE back, because they were cheap ($3-5), maybe the other will work. Will see tomorrow.
     

  8. show em
     
  9. Of course we want pics! Bummer about the crappy timer, but good thing you noticed it early. When do you plan on removing the domes? I bought more server fans (stronger, louder ones) and I'm planning to re-arrange the fans in my cab. I'll update my journal when I take new pics, but the plant hasn't changed much.
     
  10. Good question Vashi, read to remove the dome when theres atleast an inch or 2 of growth. Sound right? Its just popping above soil now. Tonight/tomorrow I'll check again and take some pictures. Hope the Blue Diesel pops up soooon!
     
  11. I'm not sure -- I don't cover sprouts. You want to avoid damping off (caused by wet soil), but also you want to do it gradually. You could put something in between the dome and the pot to let a little air in, then something slightly bigger the next day. spread it over 3 or 4 days or so. I guess I would start when it sprouts - to get it used to the environment early.
     
  12. #12 ImKushed, Jul 7, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 7, 2011
    Afgan Ryder in the short wide tupperware, Blue Diesel in the tall narrow one. Temps have been usually easily under 81, but when I wake up & get mad and freeze my butt off I turn off the AC up to like 77-80 so I don't feel sick all the time when breathing cold air in my nose all day when in the room. But max on the inside thermometer is 84.7 degrees. They looked good last time I checked, Blue diesel a little slower than the Afgan though. Oh yea, decided to take the domes off. Close up pics coming soon.

    The soil was watered nicely early on 4th before planting seeds and nothing since, poked my finger down a few inches and feel almost no moisture, only little dry pieces of soil were on my finger. Time for a lilttle watering with no nutes until i see some runoff or wait some more and let roots try to find water?
     

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  13. #13 ImKushed, Jul 7, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 7, 2011
    I watered em right after posting, I was worried the seedling would soon dry out plus the fans blowing right on em as well. I barely watered em at all, filled a milk jugs cap up 1 and a half times and dribbled it around the seedlings, trying not to wet the actual seedling. Seemed like enough for now, but we'll see. Also, one of the Afgan ryders cotyledon leaves has a weird hole in it I think. Looks weird and maybe even like clear or an actual hole. Just noticed it this morning, but its not large, just weird and hope its nothing this early on in the grow. Will get some close ups soon.

    Been reading a lot of journals with FFOF, seems people dont like it? pH run off gets messed up mid way through grows or something? People say to add lime early on to be safe. The Fox Farms original distributor joint is in California, and to supplement their customers out east they opened a joint in South Carolina. Which everyone says is why the soil now sucks if you're on the eastern half of the US. Out west they use some type of good aged tree wood, and out east in SC they don't have those kind of trees and use normal tree bark or something?
     
  14. First 3 pics Afgan Ryder: Fighting to break out of the bean. Weird hole with clear layer with a tiny hole through it. Something black underneath that I grabbed with a tweezers but it slipped out and landed in the soil again. It seemed hard, hard enough that when i squeezed the tweezers away to examine it, it just slipped out. I realllllllly reallllllllllllly hope this is an easy fix if I already have insect problems.

    Last 2 pics: Blue Diesel fighting to break out the bean and open up.. but also looks weird? So angry.. :eek::devious::mad::(
     

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  15. DON'T let the soil dry out when they're germing. The afghan ryder looks old enough to let the top layer of soil dry out a tad.

    DON'T worry! Sometimes the cotyledons get messed up. sometimes the seed case sticks to it. If the seed case is stuck in such a way that the cotyledons can't open, surgery may be required. The chance of insects is very low -- the only insect I've ever gotten from soil was gnats (you'd see them flying around).
     
  16. I read about the CA vs SC FFOF thing. I bought FFOF on amazon and it came from CA, but I wouldn't worry if it came from SC. Don't worry about pH problems that you haven't encountered yet. It's fine if water gets on the sprouts -- I think they like it. I wouldn't let the fan blow directly on them yet. They're too little.
    Did you poke holes in the containers?
     
  17. Lime is a good way to raise pH, but if your water is pH 8 you don't need to worry about that. At least not yet, anyway. It's hard to imagine that your pH would go so low that you would need to correct it with anything higher than 8.
     
  18. Hey Vashi! :wave:

    Something clear like an inner seed coat was stuck to the Blue diesel keeping the cotyledon leaves stuck facing up and the first set of real leaves stuck inside. The first true set of leaves were poking out of the side today while cotyledons were still up! Saw what looked like a very thin and small plastic bag on top perfectly tight and shaped like a seed. I've never seen or heard that happen in any journals Ive read. It was weird, never noticed it until I really examined up close. I've read plenty of journals with people worried about the actual seed shell being stuck or limiting growth after a certain point but this was just weird in my case. The shell fell of naturally, but that weird thing was just holding growth back so I cut it with a small scissors and got it off and the plant opened right up. As far as the Afgan ryder, I used the scissors and basically tapped the shell right off the stem, 2-3 taps and it fell right down. They look and seem happier, but you never know, will check before bed and see whats up with the hole in the cotyledon if its bigger or any flies around or insects etc.

    Funny I just read your posts and was just in the dresser an ago or so and noticed a fly in there! Killed it instantly, it didnt have great reflexes:smoke: but I hope no more show up. Wasn't a mosquito or fly, so maybe was a gnat. Maybe it got in from the room? Dont know, but I hate bugs and am not good with identifying them.

    The fan is blowing across the lights now, before the fan wasn't directly on them, but now it basically is. Well I filled soil in the tupperware container an inch and a half or two under the top so the air somewhat passes them and gets sucks up into the hood. But it is kind of close to them, so I'll change things around. Yea, around 7-9 pencil sized holes on each container for drainage.x

    Doesn't dolomite lime act as a pH buffer and somehow only is activated when the pH is too low/high and keeps pH at a constant 7? Im super confused on the lime and pH stuff and run off. When they say with soil use pH of 6.3-6.7 do they mean run off? or water with a pH of 6.3-6.8? If not, what should run off be? Im familiar with the infamous pH chart but am clueless if thats what run off should be or for watering.

    Got the newer timer in, and she works great for now anyways. Timex kind of sucks, bad reviews. Good deal with free shipping on them though, if they can handle the 250 watter and fan for a few years. Anways, I'm back to 18/6 and will continue 18/6 with the HPS. If the Afgan ryder doesn't auto by week 3.5-4, I am going to switch to 12/12 even though the Blue diesel will hate me for it. So to be safe, I am going to be training the Afgan, not so much with the Blue diesel (supposed to be short under 16"). Probably will use Micros elastic training on an auto and see how it responds! Autos hate stress and with their short life, it can mess things up with stress: mostly hermie or terrible yield I think. :eek: Well.. that was quite the ramble.

    :smoke:
     
  19. Nah, it's fun to read your ramblings. I've seen/heard of membranes sticking to the cotyledons. Good catch there. The pH of the soil should be 6.2 to 6.8. So, you would expect the runoff to be somewhere in there, too. Although there is some debate about whether or not the runoff is an accurate indicator of soil pH. Feed with about 6.5, then check the runoff. If it's too low or too high, adjust the feeding pH next time. pH problems are not common early on. If the plant is healthy I don't check runoff every time. I think I mentioned in your other thread that I didn't check pH at all for my first 3 plants, and I kinda wish I had not checked it with my broken meter for my current plant.

    Yes, lime is a buffer, but it's also a weak base, so you don't really need it unless your plant starts to get too acidic. You can water-in pelletized or powdered lime if you need it. I just did that with my plant. The pH was a little on the low side (I'm not sure exactly -- about 6.2 or maybe even less -- I'm using the Wardley drops).

    Unfortunately I acidified my plant during the period when my broken pH meter was giving me false high readings. But my plant looks good in spite of the abuse. I'll try to post pics after dinner.

    Anyway, we'll get to your pH problems if you ever have any -- in the mean time enjoy your plants. The fly might just be a rogue. If you get gnats from the soil you'll have like a hundred tomorrow. How's that for rambling? Peace out bro.
     
  20. I was just lookin at your ryder again. It may have gotten stuck for a while on the seed coat. the little black hard thing may have been something from inside the seed.

    We have all kinds of flies, gnats and mosquitoes here. My cat chases them. I saw him kill a mosquito the other day. I was impressed (and grateful!) He's after something right now that I can't even see. I hope you don't have gnats. They can be gotten rid of, but it's a pain, and you'd have to trash the soil you bought, or bake it, but then you'd lose the microbes. The soil I bought with the gnats in it -- I microwaved some of it to about 150 and that killed them. I grow wheat grass with it for the cats. I could mix it with FFOF, and use it on my plants. (rambling again)
     

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