New Hope Grow

Technically speaking, this is my fourth grow.  The previous were 2 seeds from a plant found in the wild and more recently a Northern Lights (fem) coco coir grow.  Each have been good learning experiences but all have come to a close within 2 weeks due to the typical new grower challenges of watering, PH, and temperature.  I would love to add feeding to the list but it has never made it that far.  If there is a mistake that can be made, I'm your grower.  Each time I refine my approach, my set-up and most importantly - my expectations.  So, this grow is in the same space as before (17" wide x 29" tall x 14" deep) but with continued improvements on ventilation; my biggest challenge.  The set up involves 2 6500 CFL (with more to come as plant develops), promix, small cabinet, stealth, Northern Lights (fem), PH adjusted distilled water, 3 120mm computers fans + 1 mini USB desk fan.  Instead of my previous approach of germinating by soaking or wet paper towel, I just plopped the bean into the pre moistened mix 1/4 inch down and let it do its thing.  With a 18/6 light schedule three days passed when the sprout broke through with great vigor.  So, I'm calling today - Oct. 20 as day 1 and on we go with the New Hope Grow.    
 
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Grow 1 - inadequate ventilation which led to temps I am embarrassed to post. Let's just say that I knew something was up when my wife said the side of the cabinet was warm; okay, that's a lie - it was hot. I have come to call that my Homer Simpson grow.
Grow 2: temps were a little better but still too hot. Problem this time was PH.
Grow 3: this was my first try with a bred strain. Temps we improving but still a bit over borderline. PH was dialed in. However, upon reflection, I was using tap water and I have a water softener and I am seeing that as a culprit.

Each time the grow gets longer and I learn more and more. I figure if this one goes bad it will be time to buy a LED. Temps still worry me and best I can tell, the LED lights help with that.

 

New pics. So far, so good. Temp 81F, ph 6.5. Observations?

 

Medium is PRO MIX POTTING Soil. I saw it mentioned a lot here in GC. I purchased it at a popular big box hardware store.

 

Keep hope alive as my girl continues to thrive. Temps great. Ph fine. Color and posture fine. Lighting good and going to add a light tomorrow. Shout out to Cheap Old Bastard who is teaching me so much. My spirit is bright tonight.

 

Day 7 and had to make adjustments. Yesterday I added two additional CFLs only to watch temps go into the lower 90's. I think I interrupted this in time to head off stress but the heat struggles continue. I pulled the two lights and replaced with one. I also closed one of the passive intakes to see what that produces. Going to buy additional fans. Sooner or later I'll get it dialed in. Back to the game now, bottom of the ninth.

 

Day 9, watered tonight. It's an every other night thing. Getting some legit layers now. Pulled two cd cases to lower it a tad from the lights. Temps back to safe level now that I am back to two CFLs. Ordered Bloom Boss LED off of Amazon so we will see how that goes. The LED light industry is totally messed up. Since my grow area is so small so many choices would be overkill. I could have gone cheaper but this one had decent reviews and a warrantee with a company that has been around. Now for pics:




 

 

Got the new LED. Funny (not) drop $200 to help with temps, no change, and the damn thing is loud. Oh well, we'll see how it goes but stealth is shot to hell. Weedling progressing well, day 12 it is.

 

Baby beast.  That's what comes to mind presently.  2 weeks into the grow.  Not all is perfect but I am fairly pleased, overall.  Got the Bloom Boss 90W LED up and running.  Temps are okay, peaking at 81 which I would like lower and I'll figure that out.  Humidity a bit low; around 30% so I added a jar of water to see what will happen.  Main concern is the baby beast is droopy.  Upon research, I have determined the cause is overwatering.  I was watering every 3 days and would water until there was some drainage.  I'll continue to water based on weight of the cup, but will back off on the water until some comes out of the bottom.  By rough estimate, each watering was 250 ml to 300 ml, and it saturated the soil.  I'll back down to 150 ml for a couple of cycles and we'll see what that does.  Still no nutes and I don't plan on any for a couple more weeks.  Just ph adjusted distilled water.  Photos coming soon. 

 

Thanks for asking. I am not sure if I will top or fim. I am growing just for myself and opportunities to light up are few. So yield isn't a big deal for me. That said, I am curious. Best answer I can give is stay tuned.

 

Thanks Moses, I totally agree. As the saying goes, more plants have been killed at the hands of overwatering and over feeding than all the governments of the world. I am going to be very careful.

 

I will send a pic that is more helpful. I have five holes at the base for passive intake and each are 1.5 inches. At the top I have two holes, each are four inches and covered by PC extraction fans. Thank you for your interest. Pics to come

 

Btw, watered tonight but just 60 ml. Much less than usual. Next water on Thursday.

 

Day 14 update with pics. To pick up on the question of inbound ventilation, the first two pics show the five holes at the base, the two on the right have a low Power fan in front for a gentle draw into the cabinet. Behind the scenes is power supply and the two upper fans that serve as exhaust. There are also two passive vents which I have since plugged. There is a cardboard covering which is a work in progress and will lead to light blocking. Finally, the plant going okay. There is sight yellowing on the lowest leaves but I am not going to concern myself with that presently. LITFA - current focus is reduce watering and determine if this LED UFO will work out. So far, so good.