Hey GC, Although I've been browsing the forums for almost two years now, I decided it was finally time to get involved for my first grow. I've been gathering bagseed for a while and have hundreds of them! Why not start growing them?? Very exciting I constructed a 2'x2'x4' (LxWxH) grow box out of plywood to start and lined it with mylar. I germinated 8 seeds at first, but we ran out of heating oil and only 2 popped due to the cold temps they went through. I have 8 more seeds waiting to pop (I got tap roots, now Im just waiting on them to come up). I believe these 8 are Bubba Kush. The first two are unknown. All are in solo cups (but I ran out so some are in smaller cups). The two seedlings popped 2/2 and 2/3, and I planted the other 8 germinated seeds in soil on 2/8. I have 4 23W CFLs at 6500k, 2 at 5000k, and 1 at 2700k in the box, utilizing these handy socket adapters I picked up from Lowe's. The seeds/seedlings are in a soil mix of Sta-Green Veg/Flower Potting Mix and perlite. I tried to mix it 50/50. There is a small fan that I put blowing over the cups to get those stems moving and growing strong. I have a bunch of questions and concerns about how I want the grow to turn out over the next few months since this is my first grow. I was hoping to run a SCROG this run, but that seems tricky since I haven't sexed yet. Since Im starting with 10 cups in a 2'x2', maybe my first grow should be more like a SOG to establish my females and take clones, then SCROG the second round? I would love to build a small clone/veg room so that I can start running a perpetual harvest once I establish my females. I want to buy a 300W LED that draws ~150-170W that I will hang above the CFLs (MarsHydro 300W old series, seems to be very cheap while still maintaining a decent draw). But I have to save up some money before I buy it...hopefully the CFLs give enough light until I can add it. They're listed for $104 on their website. I was looking at the 150W Reflector Series, but that only draws 90-100W for the same price. Also, I know I will need to transplant eventually, and I don't know if I should keep using this soil, or go to the store for some FFOF as I've heard a lot of good things about that. I am paying for this pay check to pay check, so my budget is pretty tight...I'm not sure nutes will be added any time soon unless you convince me!! Thank you for any advice, help, and please tell me if this is too dense, long, or confusing! I have a million things running through my mind and since I can't collaborate with anyone else (stealth grow)....I guess I just want to confirm that things are going relatively OK. So sit back and enjoy taking this journey with me! Lets see how these babies turn out together, and hopefully you guys can keep me in the right direction and get some impressive yields. ~Ing PS. PICS WILL COME TOMORROW, I CAN'T FIND MY CAMERA!
Hi Ingrid, always nice to see someone starting a new grow here The CFLs will give you enough light for this grow, but its offcourse always a good idea to add the LED light. At first I thought: 8 plants in that space? How? But now I see those are bagseed, so you will end with hopefully 4 female plants. If you make your own organic soil mix you can consider to re-use it (with a % amount of new soil mixed in) or go the easy way and buy FFOF I'm not sure if I did answered most of your questions because I have not a lot of time to read your post and reply because its busy here right now. Anyway, cant wait to see the pics!
Hey Weedle thanks for stopping by! Yea I'm hoping to have 4 healthy females then I will take the best two or three...it seems like thats the most I could efficiently grow in this space. What do you think? I have thought about organic and love the concept of a water only grow. But it seems that I would have to make a big batch with a lot of up front costs with amenities etc. so I figured a smaller bag of FFOF would suffice. If you're into organic and know of a simple recipe I'd be interested in that too. Speaking of mediums, I have also started considering DWC and picking up GH Trio nutes. I would put two buckets in the box and run clones from this grow in them. This way I don't even have to worry about soil. And finally... Pictures of my grow! I've been working more this week so I haven't had time to check in here. These pictures are from this morning:
First two are the top half of the box, the lights are set at that height so I had to build up to them. Under the shelf I have the germination box sitting on a heating pad.
Update: I was checking up on them and the new seeds wouldn't come up through the soil so that'll be a set back. Right now under the lights I have six seedlings that have popped through and have a set of leaves. Two of them look very small and weak, two are very new and just recently out of the soil, and the two that initially survived are looking nice and strong. I have 5 more seeds in a paper towel, and I will keep trying until I end up with 8 healthy plants that look like the one in the center of the front row. I think my problem was overwatering the seeds once they got put into soil. I'll wet the soil first, put the seed in, cover it with a bag, set it under the light, and be patient like a good parent. I'll get around to taking individual pictures of the girls (wishful thinking!) so that you guys can see each of their lovely head shots. ^_^ Thats it for now! Thanks for reading. Spliffy time! ~Ing
Another update: Was just looking at the soil (one of my room mates bought it last summer for his garden) and it advertises being able to feed plants for 9 months with its time-release fertilizer So, hopefully this weekend I make it to the garden store, Ill buy some FFOF. Can anyone shed some light on how long I have to transplant before the soil kills/stunts my babies? Also, should I be worried about transplanting while they're still this small? I was planning on putting them into 2 or 3 gallon containers with the Ocean Forest once they were a few weeks old with some strong roots....anyone have thoughts on my situation? Ill continue to look into it ~Ing
Let them get a little bigger before transplanting and I would go into a 3 gallon and that should last you the ready of the grow with that area you have. A good rule of thumb is to transplant when your leaves extend past the rim of your pots (or solo cup). I grow autos which grow extremely fast and usually transplant about 2 to 3 weeks in. Also, you can use sand which bags instead of the bottles to create a humidity dome over your cups. So let them grow out a. T, transplant into the ffof, and then they should be good without nutes for 3 to 4 weeks after that. Then you can probably switch to flower and if you are tight on cash go pick up a blooming nute from your local Home Depot or garden store. Hope that steers you in a good direction. My grow journal http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-medical-marijuana-growing/1353929-mopheads-purple-closet-adventures.html Oh and when you buy the LED, I would save up the extra cash for the Mars 2, they have 5 watt diodes instead of 3. Seen some awesome plants under that light. My grow journal http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-medical-marijuana-growing/1353929-mopheads-purple-closet-adventures.html
Went to the store yesterday and picked up a small bag of FFOF, came home, and planted the 5 seeds I had germinating directly into the new soil. I'm trying to be patient and not nervous as I wait for them to sprout. Plants #1 and #2 are two weeks old today, but look like they did on day 3. #3 is 5 days old. Patience.
It seems my thumb has turned black. I checked on my box today and found this. Only one plant remains healthy, and has survived for a week so far. It seems that either temperature humidity or pH is the problem here, I think I have enough light and the soil should be good now. The box is in my basement for security purposes and we've been having a brutal winter this year in the new england area, so I think my temperature fluctuates a lot and the air is always very dry. Ill make some improvements to the box so that the door fits better and go pick up one of those temp/humidity meter. I'll be postponing this journal until my box sees some action, getting started is proving to be harder than I thought.
Hey everyone, big update here! PartOne: Good news! I came back from spring break last Sunday to see my plants had rebounded and picked up a bit. I'm now down to SIX plants after pulling the worst two over the weekend, and 5 of them look nice and healthy. The other picked a fight with my kitten and lost, but will be ok. Im keeping it around just incase its female and I end up needing it. I transplanted on 3/12 into 1 to 1.5 gallon pots then watered with a very diluted "stealth hydro high feed grow formula" and they have loved it. My dad tried growing tomatoes in hydro but had no luck, so I was able to bring the nutes back to my house. Ill probably be adding this into every other watering for some of the plants as an experiment...just a weak dose though. PartTwo: I ordered the Mars Hydro 150w Reflector grow light from Sara just before the weekend and got it on Saturday. It only took like a day or two to get here...so fast. My plants seem to be loving it, and I know I do. Picture time...you guys wont believe the turn around. First is from 3/12, right before the transplant while theyre still in the solo cups. Group shot after putting in the LED - 3/14 - two days later Group shot from today - 3/16 - two days later Some shots of the plants, the one in the orange pot is the one that was attacked #1 #3 #4 - Look at that stink eye...she LOVES playing with the plants and gets mad when I put them away #7 #8 #10
They're about 20 days old at this point, I'm thinking I'll wait another 10-14 days then clone them all and flip to 12/12. Then pull the males in flower and clone to start the next cycle. I'm pretty happy with how it looks in there, but I'm always trying to improve. Temp/humidity are a steady 75F/75% Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
How much bigger do you think I should let them get before topping? I've seen people do it pretty early but I don't want to upset my babies. Any guess as to when I'd be able to clone? Or are both of these situational
Picture update - These babies are still looking as nice as ever. Topping definitely slowed some growth for a few days but the plants have started to bush out more, and I'm noticing secondary branches coming off some of the bottom shoots. Looks like it'll almost be time to clone, then send them into flower. Or maybe I'll clone a week or two into flower...still have to decide...depends if they look ready to clone when the time comes. Im hoping to end up with 3-4 female, so if I take 2 clones off the 4 good plants and 1 off each of the weaker two, I should be able to make it happen. I'd only need two females out of this current batch. I'd like to take clones before and after flipping, but I want them all to be taken at the same time (same size, same age plants to start with) Thanks for stopping by to take a look!
Looking GREAT buddy, believe im gonna bite the bullet and get that LED! Im veggin mine inside then putting them out in couple months. QUESTION?? My grow room is very small. What is the best LED I should get for a 2.5x2x3?? BTW.. Im not rich lol. But I know you get what you pay for. Just trying to find a good one to veg 2 or 3 for couple months. Thanks
Thanks DaS! Yea it made a huge difference...almost time to do it again! I've been reading about it for a while now. I've kept gardens before and have grown plants other than weed so once they were a little less fragile and my indoor environment got set up they really took off! Hey Dr, I looked at a bunch of LEDs that are out there but I was also on a pretty tight budget. The mars hydro seem to be priced very reasonably, the 150w reflector I have was only $95 and it does a good job at keeping my plants compact and happy. The draw power is pretty low yet it still seems to do the trick. Check out their website, I think you'd be fine getting this one, but definitely keep looking around until your happy with what you find.