Storage bin grow

First of all, I want to give credit to Ayron, since it's his thread that sparked my interest in trying this. With that said, here is my take on the storage bin grow box:

I wanted to grow simply because I like to try new things, I love smoking, and I hate spending money on something I know very little about. And where I live, there aren't too many people that can tell me anything about what they're selling. So, combine all that, and in comes the urge to grow my own.

I'm starting with bag seed. From mediocre bud, at that. Unfortunately, I had collected a measly three seeds and only one of them germinated. So here's to hoping that one seed is female. (The other two didn't sink in the 'keep them in a shot glass of water overnight' method. So, I left them in for an extra day, no dice. Yet, I still tried putting them in soil - nada.)

But that one seed seems to have taken off like a champ. This is my first grow, and I may be in over my head to begin with, and yet I thought it was a good idea to try LST right off the bat, too. [hide]Thus, the garden string you'll see.[/hide] I have no idea if I'm doing this right. I just tied her down last night. Please commented on this if you have experience.

EDIT (6/12/2010): I've come across this clever LST method by DierWolf. The string was already becoming difficult to manage, so I started using his suggested method. Check it out.

My work on this has had to be fairly stealthy. My wife's down with it. The kids are too young to even notice. But it's the wife's Grandmother, who lives with us, is the one that would care. So you'll see some things aren't quite how I'd like them (the paint job for instance), but it's what I could get done in the time I had. After this grow, I'll put on another quick coat.

Enough rambling, here's pics. She's about 5 weeks old. Honestly, I'm guessing. I can't remember when I started her, but that's close, give or take a few days.

 

Don't worry about it; it's going to take a lot more than honesty to insult me.

The source of the seed is a bag of nothing special. And she may only be 4 weeks in, if that really makes a difference.

I'm not using any nutes at all. And just All Purpose potting mix (.06-.04-.04).

I had some trouble in the beginning with stabilizing the heat. Maybe that hindered her growth? It was between 78-90F for the first week she was in there. I've since added a bigger intake fan. That alone dropped the temps to the 70-82F range you see in the pic.

I am using two 6500K and two 2700K lights. I know I should have all 6500K at this point. I guess that could be slowing growth too.

 

Good suggestion. I just put a box under the plant to get her closer to the lights.

My concern with getting more lights is more heat. I have it at a good temp range now, I think. If I double the amount of lights, how much more heat do you think that would create?

 

So I bought some ph up and ph down. (In case anyone is having a hard time finding it, I finally found it in a pet store with the aquarium stuff.) I adjusted the ph in my water bottle to about 6.5.

My question is, how long should it take for the soil's pH readings to match the water's? Or, will in never quite match? Should my water's pH level be slightly lower than my target soil pH level?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

So... I was hoping to update this more regularly, but there hasn't been much noticeable progress. I switched the two 2700K lights so that all four are now 6500K and I removed the string and switched to U-shape bent wire for LST. While removing the string, I did jostle the poor girl around a bit. Maybe stressed her out a bit? I'll post an update when something starts happening.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

Will do, thanks!

 

*sigh*

Not much happening. We're in week 5/6. Just watered her and took some pics of the lack luster progress. Second pic is some new growth I noticed under the main canopy. Is this redirection of growth causing her to slow down growth everywhere else?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting amazing results here. And I'd like to not use any nutes because I want to get a base line for my expectations. (If that makes any sense.)

Any suggestions GC?

 

The whole idea of not using any nutes is now shot to hell. I just got some 30-10-10 to add to my water. I also upgraded her pot. I'm going to HAVE to stick to LST now because she had a lot less vertical space to grow than before, but her roots have a lot more room. Poor girl's roots were really cramped in the old pot. I had no idea they'd grow so fast and so disproportionately from the plant. I've already noticed her stretching out a bit more and tons of dense new growth at the top.

A quick note for anyone else struggling through this: The change in pot size seems to have effected the average temp. It's now gone up about 2 degrees. I'm guessing this is because the greater surface area disrupts the air circulation. ?? Please experts, correct me if I'm wrong. I didn't expect this, so just keep it in mind if you make changes mid grow.

I'm guessing the nutes are going to change the PH levels again. A couple questions:

Is it fine to just add the up/down to the nute treated water?
Should I be using the nute enhanced water with every feeding?
Should I have a separate bottle of just PH balanced water?

Thanks for looking and thanks ahead of time for any suggestions!

 

She seems to like her new home. I hope that I can balance out her pH, now. FYI: Do not expect a soil pH tester to test water accurately. I got suspicious and picked up a water pH testing kit. It was super alkaline with the nutes and super acidic after adding pH down until the soil tester told me it was good. I'm a lot more comfortable with this testing kit because I can see minor adjustments register as I expected.

If anyone is following this, I'd love some feedback or criticism. I'm sure it's not the most exciting grow, but I would really appreciate it.

The pros aren't kidding when they say that you'll be adjusting your LST almost daily. It's super easy with the bent wire method, though. And it's kinda fun trying to figure out the best way to get her to stay down and spread those pretty little leaves open wide to show that sexy stem.

I'm pretty worried now though that my container isn't big enough for flowering. She's only got 4 1/2 inches between the soil and the bulb. If I move her out from directly under the bulb (so that she's centered between all four) she'll have about another 4 inches. Is that enough room?

Pics:

 

I already picked up the pH test kit from API that tests in the 6 - 7.6 range. Seems to be working well, so far.

As far as a plant safe pH Down, I've been using the drops, also from API. The technical reference sheet on their website says: "pH Down contains no phosphates and may be used with live plants."

I think I'll take your advice and flip her to 12/12 as soon as I get home today.

Thanks for the input!

 

I just switched to 12/12 and put in the 2700K lights. I'm still only hoping she is a she. I've read the 'sexing' sticky, but I'm still not quite sure my girl's a girl. Maybe I'm just not getting clear enough, close enough pics.

 

Good to know I have at least one follower!

 

Well, we're three days into flowering. I'm still not seeing any signs of sex. Though, I'm also still not sure I'm looking in the right spots.

She's getting strong! It's increasingly difficult to keep her down with those metal clips. I may cut up another clothes hanger, but this time make the cuts a lot longer. That might help keep them in the soil.

I noticed one leaf, an old timer, looking a bit rough around the edges. Should I be concerned about this? I've only had one watering since switching her to 12/12 and decided it might be best to just water with straight pH balanced water, no nutes. So she hasn't received any Super Bloom, yet. Let me know what you guys think.

 

No sex yet. The one pic is of the spot I keep checking for signs. Let me know if you see any.

I just started with the Super Bloom yesterday. Is it just me, or does that really wack out your water's pH? It took what seemed to be an excessive amount of pH Up to get it to an acceptable range.

The new growth and... young adult (?) leaves are so gorgeous. Much richer in color than the first bit of growth. In fact, those old leaves are looking pretty rough. Should I be concerned about the dying edges on them?

Question for you plant experts: Does that picture of the smooth "bulb" represent a healed wound? I think that branch is one of the first I tried to LST and may have been too rough with her.

Let me know what you guys (and girls) think.

Oh! I also wanted to update on the LST. I made some longer clamps/hooks. The first ones were a 2.5" piece of clothes hanger bent into a tight U-shape. These new ones were about 8" of cut hanger. These 4" U-hooks are so much easier to hold her down with.

Lastly, if anyone wants a particular picture of anything, just ask. I'm no photographer, but I'm actually really enjoying taking photos of her!

Peace.