Birchs Trees

Hey guys! I've been gathering and building in preparation for going perpetual, so I thought a journal to go along with it might not be a bad idea.

I've been running single plants in a 20x30x60 custom cabinet, but I just started building a custom flower tent in my basement. Here's the link to that build thread.

http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1355947-DIY-Grow-Tent

Meanwhile, I germinated the two freebie seeds I had left. They're non-femmed Skunk Haze leftover from Herbie's last summer. Both germinated in about 2 days and are above the soil now. They're under 6 23w daylight CFLs and planted in Jiffy organic seed starting mix.

While they're getting their legs under them, my soil is cooking. Here's what I've got mixed up:

5g SPM
5g compost - blend of homebrewed EWC and Black Kow compost from Lowe's
5g crushed red lava rock for aeration

For about 2c.f. total base soil. To that I added 6 cups of my amendment blend which is:

2 parts kelp meal
1 part crab meal
1 part neem/karanja meal
1 part Espoma garden tone
1 part buffaloam loose compost tea (had it on hand, mostly just because but also for the mycos)

Also added 3 cups of rock dust.

The kelp was "expired" by about a year...does that stuff really go bad? I kinda doubt it, so I went with it since I hate throwing stuff away.

I've been debating on adding more "lime" other than just the crab. Would an additional cup of gypsum in the whole 2c.f. be enough? Too much?

I've also got plenty of alfalfa pellets on hand for teas, and will be getting more kelp for the same purpose.

To get things started, here are some baby pictures. Sorry they're sideways...can't figure out how to rotate them on the tapatalk app.

 

Quick update. The babies are actually surprising me. While I'm in build mode, they're kind of just hanging out under CFLs 24/0 on a heat mat in the open in my basement. It's like 66/30% RH constant all the time, and they're loving it. The build is going...check it out if you're inclined.

Ordered new seeds yesterday on the Nirvana free shipping promo. Got 10 regular Papaya, 10 regular Medusa, and 10 regular freebies.

I also recently met another grower and got to visit his place again last night. It's great to have someone in RL to bounce ideas off of and share knowledge with. Funny, though, he's a hydro grower so I was having some fun blowing his mind with my organic setup. I about fell out of my chair laughing when he asked what I do for pH with my water since we're both on the same rural water that comes out at pH 9. He couldn't believe it when I said nothing. I explained the amendments we use and their buffering capabilities and he was shocked. Just kept telling me soil was the hardest thing he's ever done. Regardless of our philosophical differences, looking forward to the knowledge and genetics sharing to come.

Here's updated pictures of the babies. One is definitely growing just a hair quicker than the other, I hope it doesn't turn out to be male.

 

Here's an update because I'm bored and out of smoke. The seedlings are a week above ground, they got watered last night with a little kelp and buffaloam compost tea. They're looking generally happy and growing relatively quickly.

This one is the faster grower, narrower stem, and the leaves have been curling down like an umbrella or a palm tree. Not overwatered, and no additives in the soil, so I'm not sure. I haven't grown a sativa dominant strain yet, so it may be normal?



This one is a little slower growing and has a thicker stem. The tips of the leaves (I believe) got bleached or lightly burned by the CFLs. It hasn't gotten any worse since I moved it a bit. This one is also growing 3 bladed fan leaves for its first set...I haven't seen that before.



Here you can see the palm tree leaves in the background.

 

The palm tree has straightened itself out a bit and is still growing faster than the smaller one. It got a little cold overnight the night before last, so there's a few spots on the larger one's leaves. But so far looking happy and healthy.







Nirvana says my seeds are shipped, so the waiting game begins there. My DIY tent is waiting on a fan and ventilation setup and then it'll be up and running.

I also started some of my vegetable seeds yesterday. Just tomatoes and peppers so far though.

 

I feel like I'm talking to myself here, but daily update time.  The babies are moving right along.  I think they're like 10 days above ground.  The spots on the big one's leaves look awful...but they're too young to be showing deficiency, and beyond a pinch of kelp and buffaloam in their last water haven't had any feeding.  I'm still going with low temps causing the spots.  I feel like I recently saw Jerry say something about cold and spots like this.  Another thought...they're still on the seedling heat mat, and I'm starting to see root tips at the drainage holes...the mat barely feels warm to the touch, but could the roots be getting fried when they touch it?  I'm going to take the mat away today anyway....my veggies need it now.  
 

 

 

As I shuffle things around with the new space progressing, I was able to get the babies out of the basement and into the veg cab yesterday.  They're still under the CFLs until I can find a T5HO fixture that will fit my 20x30 cab...thinking probably a 2ft 2 bulb will be all I can fit.  Might throw a few single bulb T5s on the sides or vertically in the corners eventually.  In the new environment, temps have been 70-75, which should be better for them.  Humidity is stupid low in my house, though, like 16-20%, so I put a container of water in with them to hopefully raise it a bit.  
 
I was wrong on their age, too, they'll be 10 days above ground tomorrow.
 
 
 
They'll probably go another week to 10 days in the solo cups and then into 3 gallon smart pots with my soil that will have been cycling for 3 weeks at that point.    

 

Gracias Tree Dog!  Improving the temps and humidity seem to have helped, but I feel like they've slowed down a little bit.  I know the seedling stage is a balance between above and below ground growth...I just like it when I can see the progress.  I probably have a tendency to over mother my babies a bit...but just in the close observation way, not the feed-and-water-it-till-it-dies way.   I also put them on a timer, so they're getting 20/4 now.  I really believe plants need to sleep, but I wanted to experiment with 24/0 just to see if it was any better...I can't see any noticeable gain, so rest they shall.  
 
Ordered my Nirvana gear a week ago, so it should be here in another week or so.  Not having tracking info is probably good for my psyche...one less thing to obsessively check.  I do wish they guaranteed their shipments, but I got a good deal...so hopefully all will be well.  
 
On to the pictures.  10 days today and working on third leaves...these long thin sativa leaves really freak me out compared to the indica doms I usually grow. 
 

 

I also still can't quite wrap my head around the smaller seedling having 3 bladed fan leaves on the first set. 
 
I'm happy with the lack of stretch on both seedlings, though.  I was a little worried putting them under CFLs, but so far so good.  I still want to replace them with a T5, though.  Or an LED...once I saw the older model of the Mars 60x3w was about the same price as a 2ft 4 bulb T5 it made me wonder.  Lots of people around here seem to love the Mars lights.  I still can't bring myself to think about flowering under LEDs (you'll probably have to pry my HPS out of my cold, dead hands before I'll flower with LEDs), but it might not be a bad option for veg. 

 

Hey Juan!  Thanks for stopping by!  I'm looking forward to the papaya for sure, but ever since I smoked the medusa last summer it's been on my list to grow, so it'll probably be up first.  Those will be my first from Nirvana, the two right now are just freebies from Herbie's last summer...no breeder, just labeled Skunk Haze, so we shall see what they turn out like. 

 

Started my day off a little irritated...I've been waiting for my tax refund for a few weeks now, federal finally says it'll be deposited by tomorrow.  But I checked my account this morning and noticed my state refund had been deposited a few days ago.  But, less than half of what TurboTax said I would get was deposited....so it looks like I'm gonna have to play government games to see if I can get anywhere with figuring out where the rest of my refund went.  I don't have anything like child support or student loans or any sort of government debt that they would be offsetting for...so I'm hoping it's just an error that can be corrected.  I'm not usually a super anti-government type of person...but damn them.  Ugh.  
 
At least my babies and some fresh smoke this morning are cheering me up.  They're both working on their third set of leaves, and are starting to show branching development at the lowest node.  
 

 

 

 

 

 
I'm starting to wonder if the smaller one is a bad pheno.  I've never grown this strain before, and they were freebie seeds, so the quality is probably a little lower.  Since I only have two, and they're reg seeds, and I have the space, I'm going to keep both of them going...if the circumstances were different I'd probably cull the smaller one.  
 
 

 

Hah...this is what having smoke again does for me.  I was reading about humidity levels and that low humidity can cause small leaves because the plant doesn't need as much surface area to transpire.  SO I realized I could pop some quick humidity domes on them.  Turns out, 1L soda bottles are a perfect fit for a solo cup.  I left the caps off, so temps and humidity shouldn't get too high. 
 

 
We'll see if this helps...I'm thinking it will.  I'm headed out to get 1 gallon nursery pots to transplant into next week.  The big one will be ready for sure, if not even sooner than a week.  

 

Well, I checked the bigger one's root development today and decided to go ahead and transplant into a #1 nursery pot with my soil mix. I sprinkled some buffaloam with mycos into the hole and popped it in. 2 hours post transplant, showing no stress.



Development at the nodes is looking good, too.



I'm going to have to upgrade this one to a 2L soda bottle dome. Just since yesterday it's leaves have outgrown the 1L.

 

Holy moly...so I just went to check on the babies again, and the transplanted one looked like this. 
 

 
I know that usually "praying" is regarded as a good sign, but this seems extreme?  Or is it just happy to see me? 
 
I should note, I didn't water it after transplant, since I've kept my soil appropriately moist while its cycling and the seedling mix in the solo cup was still a bit damp.  Figured I could always water later if I saw wilt, but it looks like I've got quite the opposite. 

 

I did transplant into the amended mix. It hasn't had quite as long to sit as I'd like, only 2 weeks, but I'm hoping it'll do alright. When I checked the roots they were bright white and fuzzy and coming out and down all over the sides but not wrapping yet. Want to get them transplanted before they start circling the container. The runt is barely showing roots at the sides and bottom, so it's still got a bit to go before transplant. I'm gonna hang with it and hope it grows out of this stunted shit.

 

Well, even though the roots weren't quite where I wanted them to be, I went ahead and transplanted the runt today. Mostly because this showed up! Its no longer crucial that I baby this plant along, as I've got 30 beans ready to go!



But also because it just looked generally unhappy. The cotyledons were yellowing, and the first leaf set was starting to look deficient beyond the cold spots. One of the second leaves has developed a strange bend, but it's still growing so I'm gonna hang with it.



The bigger one has been nothing but happy, happy, happy since transplanting. New growth is looking fantastic.





Now that my Nirvana gear is here and my new flower room is in the dialing in phase, I'm well on my way to my dreams of perpetual.

 

Picture update. The big SH is still going strong, seems to really like the new soil since the transplant. It has slowed a little on upward growth, but is pushing out new growth at the nodes instead.









The little SH has actually perked up a bit since the premature transplant. Although, I noticed that the center blade of one of the third leaf sets is starting to curl down just like the center blade on one of the second leaf sets did. It only affects one blade on one leaf out of each set. I wonder if it'll continue to show up in subsequent leaf sets. There is development happening at the nodes, it's just damn slow.







I ended up making the LED leap and ordered a Mars 60x3w yesterday. It was either that or a 2ft 4 tube T5HO, and they were about the same price so I went for the LED. The actual draw on the LED is like 105 watts, so still about 10 watts more than the T5HO at 96.

I also put 4 of the Medusa seeds in a paper towel on the 26th. This morning one of them had about a 1/16" root showing and one was cracked open, so they went in solo cups. I used my seedling starter stuff with a bit of kelp and buffaloam added in. The other two are still in the paper towel.

 

The little SH is actually coming along since the transplant and may pull out of this runt thing after all.  The bigger SH is still lovely.  I picked up a little 4" personal USB fan yesterday for $8 so I have something moving them around a bit.  This is something I've always neglected to do in my grows, so I'm hoping I see beneficial results from it.  Especially as these have been started under CFLs, and those seem to be notorious for producing weak stems. 
 
The first Medusa is just arching above the soil today.  Another one of the two left in the paper towel had popped a root overnight, so that one went into a solo cup this morning.  Decided to experiment with planting direct into my organic soil instead of seedling mix until the first transplant for the last two Medusa, so thats what this one went into.  
 
Once these 4 Medusa babies come up, I'll be up to 6 plants in my veg cab - the most plants I've ever had going at once - and out of space.  I'm hoping that they will show me sex in the #1 nursery pots, because the next transplant will likely be into #3s, and I don't think 6 of them will fit in my cab. 
 
On the subject of transplants, I've been thinking a lot about what my final container size should be for my flower space.  It's 4x4, and I'm only planning on running a MAX of 4 plants in there under the 400w.  Should I be running with a "bigger is better" mentality and going for as large a container as I can?  Or is there a point where going bigger won't net me more?  I was originally thinking 5 gallon smart pots, but I've been leaning towards 7 gallons.  To be honest, 10 gallons would probably fit, but I'd have to mix up some more soil if I were going to run 4 of them.  Then there's the question of how big of a jump in pot size is too much?  If I go from the #1 to the #3 nursery pots, I'd be at 1.9 gallons after the second transplant.  Could I go from 1.9 gallons to 7 gallons or should I go to the 3 gallon smart pots I already have first?  Is there a limit to how many times I should be transplanting? 
 
I'll throw some more pictures up a little later on today.