What's up everyone. Been lurking a while but decided it's time to post and why not start it off with my first grow thread! I'm a college student on a budget so everything is pretty DIY ghetto rigged lol. As always any advice or help throughout this would be much appreciated since I am a noob. Snapped a couple quick pics with my phone. Just a quick note before we get started I plan to keep this plant 18/6 and make it my mother so I can take clones obviously. So sorry no harvest pics for a while lol (maybe the occasional nug shot ). The box is a really old pc case my friend gave me. The side panel slides off, but after lining it with reflective material it wouldn't slide back on so I just have it sitting parallel to the other piece which I think worked out nicely. The case was tiny closed but open like this my plant will have more room to grow Currently using 4x 6500k 104watts but have it rigged for 8x 6500k 208 watts if needed (the left set of lights are turned off). This is the clone right after I got it. I'm going to consider this day 1 since I didn't grow from seed. It was one of my favorite OG strains at a local collective so I jumped on this project asap when I found out I could start growing it! Here she is now day 4. I transplanted her into a more fitting "pot" as I do plan to LST her with your help . I see quite a few new nodes appearing and she looks much perkier than when I first got her. Lights are ~2" above her, soil is FFOF, distilled water, have 2 small fans running for circulation/temp control, and a mini humidifier running 24/7 as I go to school in the desert and the air gets dry as hell out here. I plan on picking up a PH test kit and the FF trio nutes line sometime next week. I noticed a few days ago some of the leaves starting to yellow around the edges I am guessing it's either from nute burn from the soil, or possibly temp/humidity/light burn. I previously had her in a different PC case in my closet but the temps were getting too hot (85ish+) and the humidity was barely 20-25% so I decided to move her and the environment seems much healthier now. Also forgot to mention I attempted a top on her, it's hard to see in the pics but if you look at the middle pic 2nd row, there's 2 sets of leaves on the very top, I cut the one that appeared to be the main stem so hopefully I didn't fuck it up lol. Sorry for all the text I write a lot . Would really appreciate any input/suggestions especially on the health of my plant or anything I can improve. Also when should I start LSTing? I am going to keep this updated with pics as much as possible so stay tuned .
what's up m3!? i've been smoking from the same OG mother [another patient, not myself] for about two years now, so this makes me smile ear to ear. i'll be lurking around, so good luck on your grow! as for the yellowing... FFOF is a little strong for seedlings, so i wouldn't worry too much about the yellowing for now. a pH meter will be crucial soon, i'm lacking one right now and am biting my nails my lady won't get lockout too bad before i grab one. check my lady out when you get a chance! dN
Hey dN really appreciate you stopping in . I've been following your journal for a while in the shadows hehe. Your lady looks amazing!! That's exactly what I'm hoping to get with some proper LST/topping. Short and bushy so I can take lots of clones! I am also hoping it's just a little nute burn from the soil and nothing too serious. Right now my biggest problem seems to be temps. At the peak hours of the day it gets really hot here and my apartment turns into an oven . Had to remove a bulb to get the temp to drop from 85 to 80 but humidity seems sustained at least. Since I topped/transplanted her recently I've been hesitant to do any LST so I don't overstress the little girl. Any tips on when to start LST dN? You seem like you controlled your lady really well so any help would be appreciated!
hey m3, from the looks of those fat leaves i would say your gonna have the bushy plant your hoping for. indicas are usually farely bushy. you should take a couple pics of the whole setup... its nice to see other ppls ideas and try to use em' to improve my own grow. lookin good so far buds... ill def be lurkin'
Hey bd thanks for checking out my first grow! Here's some pics of the setup This is the previous PC case I had put together that was in my closet. But because of temp/humidity/airflow problems I decided to move her to the other case. I'll probably use this case for flowering eventually or maybe another 18/6 for clones. I have 4x 120mm PC fans coming in the mail tomorrow so I'll do some remodeling on this one to improve airflow. And a pic of my current setup. I know it's kinda hard to see my setup with this pic but it's basically 2 pieces of 1 PC case standing parallel to each other. And it's under a table right now which I plan on getting a black tablecloth for tomorrow . Ideally I want a completely sealed/light proof box for stealth reasons which is why I had her in my closet originally. But she probably wouldn't have made it if I kept her there so I have to sacrifice a little bit of stealth for her well being temporarily. Dimensions 14.5x14.5x14
Here's a pic I took earlier today showing what's going on underneath. The red circles are new growth, the green is where I attempted to top her, and the yellow is the leaf that is in the worst shape. Aside from the yellow tips (which I think is improving now) the new growth looks really healthy and is growing fast . Temps are pretty stable and humidity is ~45-50%. Comments/advice appreciated!
Cheers bg I've been lurking your thread quietly as well your LST is awesome. I'll definitely sit back and watch her grow a bit before stressing her anymore . Anxious to LST her though cus she's a tall one! Probably gonna wait about a week until I start her on Grow Big and hopefully I can get a ph meter soon. I really appreciate the input so far everyone
so you say the temps are stable now is that just because its out in the open and more spaces for heat too escape now? what do you have for exhaust fans if any?
Yep exactly right. My apartment has 2 floors so naturally it will be hotter upstairs. My room/closet is about 10 degrees hotter than the downstairs living room so simply moving my setup downstairs has really helped with keeping temps in the 77-80 degree range. For fans I simply have 2 small fans pointed at the lights (can see them in the overhead setup pic). It's going to be too difficult to get this case using negative pressure for ventilation which is why.... I'm seriously considering investing in a reasonably priced small grow tent so I can have the light proof setup I desire and a ton more space. I found a couple under $100 I will probably pick one up once I start taking clones. Gonna wait a few days and let my lady grow a bit before some update pics. Stay tuned!
for 100$ you could build a pretty sweet DIY box, if your not half bad at building things i would pick up some thin hardboard and 1"X1" and build a simple box. you already have the fans and lights. Check this out simple yet effective and cost effiecient unless you can get a tent that comes with an HPS or MH light then youd prolly be better off with that. im not great at growing yet but i love building sh*t, so just my opinion.
Yea not gonna lie I had a way too much fun building these two cases so I know what you mean lol. Everything about growing is addicting from setup to harvest. That definitely looks like a pretty cost effective and simple setup. I think I might try building one of these in the near future for a veg box. Thanks for the suggestion bd
18/6 and I will probably leave her on that schedule throughout her life. Mostly to save a little electricity Edit: She's growing so fast can't wait to update everyone with pics in a few days!
Without further delay...update time! The claw-looking fan leaf is because I had to pluck the leaf that was half dead as it was causing too much dead weight for the branch to support. Day 10 First pistils forming? I'm fairly pleased with her growth so far. It looks like she's starting to get pretty bushy with barely any vertical growth and the yellow tips are healing. Been busy lately so still haven't gotten around to the local hydro store to pick up nutes and ph test but I promise you this weekend! I am going to start LSTing her very very soon too. Some big updates coming in the next week or two. Comments/advice appreciated as always .
Update time. It was inevitable but I had to upgrade my setup. So here it is! No longer PC but still micro. 24"x48"x60" And here she is on day 18. She looks happy to me.
tent looks good m3, plants lookin nice too... so what are you running for lights now that you have more space? dont forget cfls lose light fast so keeping plants within 4inches is best. lookin forward to seeing where things go from here
@bd, I built a ghetto cfl rig inspired by one of the threads in the DIY forum and it holds 9 CFLs total so I'll be running 9 26w 6500k CFLs which I hope will be enough to sustain at least one mature mother. I plant on getting another grow tent hopefully with a 400w HPS setup for flowering though. I did some LST on her and it turned out really nice so far. Also transplanted to a 5 gallon pot about a week ago now that I have more space. Here are some old pics from about a week ago. I will update with fresh pics later today stay tuned.