Hypoxics Nirvana Northern Lights x4 Feminized Seeds 400w MH/HPS 1st Time Grow

So here's all the info for my grow.  A little background info.  I have been using cannabis medically for approx. 5 years, my father since being deployed during the Vietnam War.  Due to the economic downturn and a desire to remove myself and my father from the quasi legal and often shady world of buying cannabis from other individuals, I have decided to being growing my own medical supply.  I had an initial attempt which lasted approx. 1 week using a very under geared CFL setup using bagseed and while 1 seed grew its first set of true leafs, it was ultimately scrapped due to poor efficiency and unwanted modifications be made to the space.  I than decided to go with a grow tent and an entry level 400 watt MH/HPS lighting setup.  So without further waiting here is all the info to get you up to speed.  I will be updating this thread at a minimum at the beginning of every week (relative to the plants growth schedule).  This will bring us up to date of my posting (10/8/13), where tomorrow will be 1 week of being in soil (end of week 1, beginning of week 2).
 
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Fall 2013

Nirvana Seeds

Strain: Northern Lights

Feminized: Yes

Number of Seeds Planted: 4

Outset Plan:    
To germinate and successfully plant 4 Nirvana feminized Northern Lights cannabis seeds into soil and grow them until maturity & harvest  near new year (Jan. '14).  Initially seeds will be germinated via placing seeds directly  into warm damp paper towels than placed inside a zip lock baggie and placed in a warm dark environment.  Once seeds germinate they will be carefully planted by hand using a tweezer into a 50/50 mix of Ocean Forest & Light Warrior soil to being early vegiative growth.  Light will be of metal halide variety with ballast set to 75% (eqv. of 300 watts) and placed 20" from the top of seedlings to decrease chance of initial light shook from the metal halide bulb.  Hood will slowly be decreased at each watering once seedlings have broken the soil as long as temps remain acceptable (75-78*).  Once seedlings have taken hold and appear healthy (approx. 1.5-2 weeks) the ballast will be switched to 100% and hood will be set to correct height requirement to maintain temps in the 75-78* range.  Once seedlings reach early adolescent stage (approx. 3-3.5 weeks from planting) they will be transferred from the Solo Party Cup into square 5 gallon containers for remainder of vegitative stage and all of flowering stage.  Goal is to transfer only once to decrease chance of shock and stress due to transplantation which could result in feminized seeds turning hermie.  Conditions will be controlled via a combo active/passive intake system with both passive intake flaps being lowered and raised by hand every day approx 45 min. prior to lights off and lowered by hand approx. 15 min after lights on. Exhaust and odor control will be achieved with a 190cfm 4" inline fan connected to a 12" activated carbon filter hung at top of tent which will run 24/7 to maintain negitive pressure inside tent and eliminate odors during growth.  Harvesting goal is to have dried consumable cannabis between Christmas 2013 and New Years Day 2014 (this does not allow for curing).  Curing will take place in mason jars with lids opened and air exchanged approx. every 1 week switching to 2 weeks after first month of curing.


Grow Location:
        Secret Jardin Dark Room DR90 36"x36"x72 Grow Tent


Containers:     
            Seeds germinated in damp paper towels placed inside zip lock bag placed in warm dark environment.
            16oz. blue Solo Party cups for seedlings to adolescent vegitation.
            5 gallon square black potting containers for adolescent vegitation through flowering & harvest.


Medium:
        50/50 Fox Farms Ocean Forest Organic Potting Soil & Fox Farms Light Warrior Seed Start Potting Soil for seed
                  to early vegitation growth.
        100% Fox Farms Ocean Forest Organic Potting Soil for adolescent vegitation through flowering & harvest.


Nutrients:     
           Fox Farms Grow Big for adolescent vegitation growth (will initiate around week 3 of veg, at 1/3 rec. dosage)
           Fox Farms Tiger Bloom for flowering growth
           Fox Farmx Big Bloom for flowering growth


Timer:
        Brinks Digital 16-Channel Programmable Timer

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Lights:
    
        Apollo Horticulture Digital Dimable Ballast 400 watts
        Apollo Horticulture 400 watt MH bulb (veg)
        Apollo Horticulture 400 watt HPS bulb (flower)
        Apollo Horticulture Standard Bent Aluminum Reflector Hood (non-cooled)


Intake:
    
        4" 100cfm Booster Fan
        2x Passive Intakes (approx. 12"x15")
        Honeywell 8" Floor Fan tilted straight up in middle of tent to cool hood (have both Honeywell fans in order to reduce footprint if
        able)
        Honeywell 6" Floor Fan tilted straight up in middle of tent to cool hood (have both Honeywell fans in order to reduce footprint if
        able)
        Sun King 6" Clip on 2-Speed Fan @ Hood Level for general air circulation
        7" Desktop Oscillating Fan for general air circulation (added once seedlings have taken hold and are stable)
        Large oscillating fan outside tent circulating air around the area of the tent


Exhaust:
        4" 190cfm Inline Fan
        12" Activated Carbon Filter

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Light Schedule:
        Veg = 18/6 on/off w/ MH bulb @ 75% for seed to 1.5-2 weeks
                  18/6 on/off w/ MH bulb @ 100% for 2 weeks until end of veg period
                  Honeywell fan comes on with light (have 6" & 8" version, will use 6" initially for smaller footprint, will switch to 8" if needed)
                  Exhaust & active intake fan on 24/7 to maintain conditions and eliminate odor

        Flower = 12/12 on/off w/ HPS bulb @ 100% for entirety of flowering period


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Daily Notes:
    
        10/1/13 - 4 seeds placed in warm damp paper towel to being germination.  3 seeds germinated vigoriously within 14 hours,
                       #4 took approx. 18 hours later and as a result was planted to soil one day later than the first 3 seeds.
        10/2/13 - Planted first 3 seeds into soil.  NL #1, NL #2, NL #3.
        10/3/13 - Planted NL #4.
        10/2/13 - Began light at 75% at approx. 20" above soil when germinated seeds planted into soil.  
        10/3/13 - Once seedlings broke the soil hood reduced to a height of 18" and temps remained stable around 75* peak daytime
                       temps.
        10/5/13 - After second full round of watering the hood was further reduced to a height of 16" with temps remaining stable at 75*.
        10/5/13 - Modified the setup so that the active intake fan would run 24/7 with the exhaust as the negitive
                       pressure inside the tent appeared to be extreme during night hours with passive intake flaps in up position.  
        10/8/13 - Overall plants appear very healthy, with only #1 very minimally stretching due to lower soil level than   the rest of the
                       crop, plant #4 has slight curve in stem which does not appear to be harming plant in any way.

 

I will also be posting a link to this in the beginners forum as I will undoubtedly need help from time to time.  Please sub and follow if you are interested in this strain, have growing experience and are willing to lend a helpful ear or if you just plain like watching plants grow lol!

 

** UPDATE **  10/9/13
 
Day: 7
 
So the ladies are 1 week old having now been in soil for a full 7 days from planting the germinated seeds.  Overall they all look great in my eyes.  I am steadily lowering the hood a couple inches every couple days to improve light intensity and ease the youngins along.  We are now at 16" from top of the seedlings and the temps remain stable at 75* with RH hanging around 48-50%.
 
I just got my water pH meter so I will be testing the water and the run off tomorrow during their watering.
 
I'm hoping that sometime this upcoming week I can try switching them to 100% ballast so they'll get the full effect of the 400w MH bulb.  Right now its at 75% which is 300 watts and they seem to be loving it.
 
My only question is...is the slight bend in #4 anything to be concerned about?  This morning it had corrected itself but now its slightly bent again.  Its the only one doing this, but its leafs look healthy although perhaps slightly droopy?
 
Thanks for looking!!!

 

Thanks for the info! Eased my stress lol.

Yeah I keep close tabs on my garden...I made a daily log sheet...think medic record. So I'm down there all the time checking and yeah 2 & 3 are starting to take off. My fiancé came down and peeked and couldn't believe it cause she only had saw them like day 2.

Funny I just ran down there to close up the passive intakes for the night and noticed #4 is sitting nice and straight now so who knows lol.

 

Thanks man, I appreciate the support! It's becoming more fun to play in the garden than to actually smoke some days, which is a great thing for me personally lol.

 

*UPDATE* 10/10/13
 
Day 8
 
So i'm probably jumping the gun but I posted in my thread over in the beginners section as I noticed that one plant's stem seems to be turning a slight purple vs the rest which are nice light green.  Anything to fret over?
 
Also I noticed some edges of the leafs curling upwards just a bit, over-watering possibly?
 
I also received my pH meter which I calibrated and tested my distilled water that I use to water and also checked the run-off of all 4 plants today at watering.  Results as follows:
 
Distilled Water: 5.9 pH
#1 Run-Off: 6.3 pH
#2 Run-Off: 6.5 pH
#3 Run-Off: 6.5 pH
#4 Run-Off: 6.4 pH
 
so it appears my water, soil and run off are all right in the sweet spot.  I'm thinking i'm just being a noob at over-watering despite intentionally trying not to.
 
I swapped their positions as 2 & 3 were at the end of the hood, so farthest away from where the bulb screws into the socket.  They are the 2 that are thriving so i thought maybe they are getting better light so I moved 1 & 4 to these positions to give them some time at the prime real estate....good idea or no?  I was planning on rotating the plants at set intervals through the tent during the grow to make sure each plant gets a turn in slightly different lighting (if you know what I mean) and so that all sides get time directly in the sun...again yay or nay on rotating them or just let them acclimate to their positions and learn to love life where there at?
 
Sorry for so much in such a short period, i'm just worried about failing and im so emotionally invested now that they feel like kids to me (I do not have kids...they are more work than my bulldog tho lol)!
 
Heres some pics from today for reference!  And a couple of my gardening buddy (he no longer requires the pinch collar, he was still a pup and in training than but I love his stance in this pic!)
 
Thanks

 

Thanks for following, much appreciated!

I bought those early on when I was still a little under informed and then I figured well I already have them so ill use em.

Are you hinting at maybe 3 gallon pots would fit them better? I'm not going to be training them other than topping so I figured I'd just wouldn't let them veg too long...Im going in expecting 3x growth in flower so now I'm starting to think I overestimated my space height wise. So maybe 3 gallons but that will let them veg a little long height wise?

 

I am actually using distiller bottled water that comes in 1 gallon jugs. I let them all air for 12-14 hours when I got them and than sealed them back up. I have not put any water from the tap into the girls.

I do have to admit that I'm lucky I own my home and its just me and my fiancé cause my fans are loud. You can't hear it upstairs but man you can hear them cranking away when your in the basement...it's worth the peace of mind knowing they are getting nice fresh air to have a noisy basement lol.

Thanks for the support. I like knowing people are watching, kinda drives you to step your game up and it pays off I'm learning. Plus I come from a medical background so I'm oriented to document everything so that's what attracted me to do a journal.

 

Anyone able to give me some insight on why I might be getting that slight curling? I read that it's a sign the plants are not transpiring but my temps and RH are good. U can see pH is good. I'm lost on what could be causing it other than maybe over watering?

 

**UPDATE** 10/11/13
 
Day 9
 
Well with some edges of the plants showing signs of upward curling i've been searching and reading for causes and solutions.  Most everything talks about it being a problem with pH or heat.  Well I know pH is good as it was just tested yesterday with a freshly calibrated meter.  Heat wise the actual temp can't be the problem as you'll see in the pics even with the temp sensor above the plant it still only reaches 77* and 44% RH.
 
So after all my worrying, and continued worrying, I raised the light from 16" above the seedlings to 19" above the tops hoping that the issue was simply heat stress from being under the MH bulb at such early veg stages.  I have not seen any signs of correction yet although it has only been a few hours.  I also moved them out towards the outter edges of the hood to reduce the intensity being beamed straight down onto the young seedlings.
 
I measured all the plants and they range from 2 1/16" up to 2 1/4" so they are pretty uniform height wise.
 
I'm also noticing twisting in #4's first true leafs...doesn't seem to be bothering the plant, just looks kinda odd.
 
Enjoy the pics and please let me know how they look, suggestions, etc...  always looking for constructive criticism and also veteran eyes looking at my babies.
 
Thanks!

 

Here are additional pics from today from outside the tent in more normal light
 
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Thanks guys your replies along with my bowl I'm smoking are calming my nerves!