Lurked the forums for a while, but felt it was the right time to join. This is a fictional account of a home cannabis grow from a 1st time fictional grower[Barry]. Barry needs to grow enough to give him at least 1 gram (about 3 joints) of decent bud a day, although 2 to be sure. Some will be smoked but Barry plans on making oil and using in a nebulizer (tobacco is something he really needs to quit). Ok so here his specs. Growing Space & Method I've built a 5 1/2 ft (l) x 4ft (w) x 8ft (h) room within a room. Have celotex r40 insulation board in between studs, standard plasterboard over the top and then black & white poly roll. Barry's intention is to SCROG his plants in standard builders buckets in a 4x4 area. Day time temps - about 30-33 during the hottest 4-5 hours of the day. Otherwise about 28. Daytime humidity normally bang on 35%. Today was getting so warm that he used a couple of frozen 2l bottles of water in front of his fans. It maybe helped by half a degree at most - not very effective. Night-time he's unsure as he doesn't have anyway of telling without going in the room at the moment, but he suspects its around 21 degrees c judging off the morning temp just as the lights come on. Equipment 600w hps (currently 19 inches from canopy); black orchid 6" fan - held up using bungees; 6" Rhino Pro Carbon filter - held up using bungees; Acoustic ducting; 1 65w oscillating fan; 2 15w clip on fans; 7x8 passive intake - with home made light baffle inserted (a black cardboard box with 4 black bits of cardboard stick inside - 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom spread out by a few inches each). Equipment Needed/wanted ph testor - recommendations gladly accepted; Thermometer with long probe (so can check night time tempt without going in room); humidfyer; air cooler; floor fan pointing up; Any other suggestions?? Growing Medium Currently they are in canna seedling mix 60%, 20% perlite, 20% vermiculite. Barry plans to replant them all this week, subject to the rest of my post. He plans on adding in 10-15% of his own compost from his wormery as well as: bat poo (maybe chicken poo in small quantities too) bone & fishmeal epsom salts perlite vermiculite Strains 5 barney's farm blue cheese and 5 CBD Critical (down to four). Grow Diary This is actually the start of his diary (a few weeks in) - better late than never huh? Ok here goes, as written by Barry himself. SEEDS PLANTED: 25/05/2015 Seeds were all planted in 100% canna seedling mix, in tiny cardboard pots and placed by a windowsill. GERMINATION The first seed germinated after a week, with all 10 germinated within 12 days of planting. On day 17 moved them all into 6" pots. Growth has been very slow - or it feels that way when comparing online (must be a male thing). I noticed that my plants were all light green by the time they developed their second set of leaves and growth was very slow in them all. Last Saturday I noticed that the lower leaves were all properly yellow and it was spreading up the seedlings. One seedling is now completely yellow, except for the newest leaves. Its leaves fold down from the centre. My first thought was Nitrogen deficiency (although I did consider light burn, but with it only affecting the lower leaves I discounted that (for now)) and I therefore added 1/4 strength babybio to four of the plants. By the start of today 3 of the four were looking remarkably greener, fuller and growth was dramatic over the past 3 days compared with the other plants. 1 recovered massively and is now the best of a weak bunch (bottom left in the photo). Therefore I did exactly the same with the other 5 plants this morning. Ironically the greenest, largest plant of the lot looked the worst a few days ago (think it was the first to start looking like George Best on liver number 3). PESTS I just happened to see a spider mite (its red colouring showed up nicely against white poly) wandering around my drip tray. Squashed the little fucker but I reckon there may be some more. Which now makes me wonder if it is the cause of the weak seedling? I've ordered some diatomaceous earth and I plan to apply this regularly using a baby bottle with much smaller quantities to go in my soil. I hope this deals with it as I wish to avoid chemicals. I will now be also cleaning my floor and drip tray every single day with a solution of vinegar or lemon - cleaning the walls and ceiling once a week. CONCLUSION I will add to this diary as the grow progresses (hopefully). Please feel free to make any comments you please. Not looking for the thumbs up on the above, looking to have my set up ripped apart by experienced growers so I can improve. I'm acutely aware that I need to start testing my ph asap as this may be causing problems with nitrogen uptake. I will add pictures of my grow room as I finish it properly (still gotta finish insulating 1 side and poly roll a couple more).
If it is your first grow, than you should always do two plants at the most. You will always make a mess up the first grow. We grow to learn .
Thanks. Trichuk - Point taken on the ice lolly stick - was a new one btw. Presumably should use some kind of non ooze chemicals everywhere plastic? Sade - Thanks, the way they are looking the number may dwindle lol. I guess one probably had the opposite mindset - go for more and hopefully at least 1 will come out really well! Personally, I am confident in techniques like LST, fimming and topping from outside gardening (the non interesting plants). I've nurtured some mint into a nice little smelling bush....if only could smoke mint lol......ice t for anyone?
Since this is your first grow, you should designate 1 plant for testing. Anything new you try, try it only on that plant first and wait a few days before trying it on the others. If you mess up, you'll only mess up the one plant and not all of them. As mentioned above, people usually mess up on the first grow. Just something to consider.
Very good advice and it kind of occurred to me (hence only giving nutes to 4 of my plants the other day). Although I guess I need to be logging all the variables and it will all make sense when comparing with a second grow on yield, potency etc.
Definitely keep a log. I keep a daily log of everything I do, just in case I mess up, so I won't repeat the same mistake next time. It also works if you do something good. You'll be able to look back and duplicate that on future grows.
Just read your thread, enjoyed it and followed - even though I doubt that I can offer you any assistance! I got as far as drawing it out. Today was the 1st day I actually filled it in. now my room is as good as done (maybe 2-3 hours more work) I can concentrate on taking measurements etc etc. I will be doing it, I'm quite anal about stuff like this. I like to read up on the science etc, maybe I'm over doing it and should 'go with the flow' but as with anything in life - growing indoors is just another challenge for me to overcome (then get very stoned at the end as a reward ahahah).
Feel free to jump in whenever or wherever you can. I'm always open to advice. I'm like to read a ton and then go hands on. Definitely looking forward to the end reward.
Yes I'm the same. I feel I have a good knowledge of indoor growing but only through reading. The real learning has already begun. For instance I forgot to mention that I killed the 10th plant and 5th CBD critical. Lesson learned - never water seedlings with a jug of water into well drained soil....the seedling kind of gets washed away. I did the same thing to one of the blue cheese but it's recovered nicely and is one of the better of the bunch (very very green one at the back).
I almost washed this one away, but noticed the seed after I watered. I re-buried it and kept going. I'm thinking I might get an eye dropper for watering seedlings in the future.
Since then I have been watering them using a spray bottle. It takes forever but adds moisture at a slow enough rate to really control the amount going in.....not sure I have the time to do it when they are in big buckets though haha.
Go to Walmart garden area and get some plastic tags... Plastic is a non-biodegradable, it doesn't absorbed and hold moisture so it won't put any unwanted microbes are organisms in your soil... Cleanliness is the number one rule in gardening my friend.
Hi Barry. Welcome to the site. If those are "peat" pots...don't use them anymore. Solo cups work better and you can just cut them away when the plant is large enough to repot. I'm going to give you some advice here and you can take it or leave it, but before I got too heavy into doing this, I would do a lot of reading to make sure I had a good basic knowledge of growing indoor. There are several topics that you need to know and understand fully in order to do this without feeling like you're lost 75% of the time. Take the time to research these things: How to water (a HUGE deal for most new growers since over watering is the biggest killer of new seedlings). pH range/management (a BIGGIE...correct range for soil grow is 6.5. Not managing the pH of your water and feeds will cause root lock out and your plant will not be able to take in nutrition from the soil...so it's a must. The pH pen is my recommendation. If you can't afford one of the really nice Blue Lab pens, then get a less expensive type until you can, but you have to have a way to measure the pH). Soil/grow media: Using soil mixes that you create is just fine, but you must take the time to de-insect anything you bring in from outside. I recommend you using a good formulated grow soil as you're just starting out. The soil is a major component of doing this and the grow soils already contain what the plant needs to flourish. There are many organic soil recipes out there to use if you do plan to mix your own soil and I would suggest using one to go by if you do. Nutrients: IMO, most people give their plants way too many chemicals. Learning to use nutrients without burning your plants up can sometimes be a trial and error thing. Just remember that once you've given it, you can't take it back out. So it's better to give less and add more if needed than to give the plants too much. I recently stopped using the Flora Nova series and started using something called "Jack's" from J.R. Peters. It's a water soluble powder that you can use from veg to harvest and a year's worth costs about $10. The plants love it and I've not burned a single one yet. LOL Lighting: Tons of options here, but you need to know the footprint of the lighting you are using and a few other nuggets of information, but the ticket is making sure you have enough lighting to take care of the number of plants you are growing. You can't ever have too much, but you must have enough to grow nice buds. Pests: The spider mite thing is pretty common among growers, but they are boogers to get rid of. Anything you bring inside from outside can act as a taxi to your grow room for pests. Once you get them, they're generally HELL to get rid of so it's better to never get them in the first place. Think sterile with everything concerning your indoor grow. Finally, if you don't have one, order yourself a loupe...the little magnifying glass used to look at the trichomes. You'll need this in order to know whether your plants are mature and ready to pull at the end, but they're great at allowing you to see what is on your leaves, etc. Good luck! If I can be of any help, just let me know. TWW
Thanks a lot, particularly TWW for that in depth post - very useful. I have literally just got back with a ph drip test. I've ordered a Milwaukee pen online. Telling the guy in the grow shop and he declared my yellowing was an airflow problem and not a nute one. Is this possible? I would have believed him but he told me that my room was pumping out more air than bringing in (which is impossible as I understand it).
Morning/afternoon/evening all. Ok overslept this morning (heat wave at the moment that kept me awake all night). Went into my room and the canopy temp was showing 35c. Some leaves curling up around the edges slightly. Got the temp down and seem fine. It has shown in my mind that once I close that grow room door I have indeed got insufficient incoming airflow. Temps are never a problem with my grow room door open. Clearly not an option long term for numerous reasons. Additionally the house next door has just sold and I am being told that an ex doughnut scoffer has bought it. Needless to say one whiff of smell or light and he will be ringing his friends up. The initial 4 that I fed at the weekend. Well the really sick one is now as good as dead - the heat this morning I think has almost wiped it out. I am also entirely content that the other 5 are regaining colour and growth has returned. I have raised my lights up another 5 inches due to the heat - mostly coming from the sun shining on my grow room wall. Not managed to do the ph tests yet. Have family coming to stop tonight for a few days so I need to get that fan boxed (and generally tidy it up so it doesn't look like a crackhead did it and sort out some addition passive intake vents. (I'm thinking about using upvc piping and install it so the pipes go under the undergrowth and supply cooler air to each individual plant - saw it on here somewhere). I did test how good the filter is at removing smell. My other half is super sensitive to the smell of weed but more so tobacco (it disgusts her and she really can whiff it a mile off). Smoked a full roll in there and she couldn't smell it outside the room and only a faint whiff after 5 minutes inside the room. BTW I know this isn't good to do and was purely a one off to see how good the filter etc is. Plans Over Next Few Days -Sort out more air intake -Plasterboard in front of electrics -poly roll the lot. -ph test everything.
PH test of my water. Standard tap water that I have run through a brita filter. I'm in a hard water area and the water area. We use a brita filter for all our drinking water as it generally tastes like bleach when drank hot. Seems to be between 6 & 6.5. Would prefer it bang on 6.5.
Today is essentially 4 weeks since the final seedling popped through the soil. Crazy temps yesterday meant I had to do family things like go for an ice cream so I got little done. However I did awake this morning to discover that apart from the super sick one the other plants are all growing again and looking a nice shade of green.
We're they feminised seeds? If not you may want to lay off the scrog technique. Get a male tied into the net and you're going to run into a problem. Even with feminised seeds I personally wait until I have clones of the plant to scrog them. That's because I like to see how the plant grows. So I can pick matching strains to scrog together. By matching I mean height, stretch, flowering time etc etc. I like them to be roughly close if they're going to be all tied into 1 net. Do you have access to your grow from more then 1 point. I made the mistake of buying a tent with only 1 door before. It sucks for scrog unless you have 4' arms to reach under the net with.