Ground breaking, ^_^ First Grow

Hello Hello Grasscity




This is my first grow let me tell you a little about it. After reading forum after forum you guys motivated me to attempt my first grow! So while my seeds come in from the nirvana seedbank i decided to try to grow some bagseed. they quality of the grass was good. But first let my apologize for my shitty digital camera. i used the one on my cell phone


My set up:


For my feeding system i decided to use a simple flood//drain system.
The system floods three times a day for 30 minutes each flood then excess water floods back into resovior.



This is my stealth grow cabinent



Its quite small but this grow op was designed for only 6 plants ( i cant wait to set up a sea of green setup ) ( would you think pot was growing in that small space? )


Lights



I went with two dual specturm cfl's; my grow is very small/stealth so heat was a huge concern! I decided to go with warm white and day light color.




its very very bright; i know the camera detail doesnt really show it because it was hard to take the picture with the light on.







Nutes:
Since this is my first grow, and i know nothing more then ive read on these forums. so for my first grow i decided to go with the "fire and forget" nutrient style feeding. The nutrients are Grow, Micro, and Bloom From stealth hydroponics.



it was relativly cheap and each purchase is enough for six months of food for my ladies.

Intake//Exhaust :

For my air cirrculation i used a simple 3 speed personal size fan that really hums.
for air scrubbing // ventilation i used a small squirell fan that is hooked up to a duct system. the air is blown through my own home-made carbon filter thanks to this sites d-i-y-s's!!! (thanks ^^)





A picture of my home-made carbon scrubber..





Okay now that you guys know what im using, lets get to the growing!!




My little seedlings!!

nothing really impressing here going on. its way to early but i still wanted to take a picture of the ladies! (lets hope they will be ladies) Right now they are on 24/0 i started them on 18/6 but i decided to go ahead and just keep it running full capacity..

The star of the show



only a week old and already growing fast!!







WIth my cab in complete stealth mode, but running
this is pretty much the enviroment conditions that my plants will be growing in.

the first is the temp inside the cab
the second is the outside temp of my actual room
and my humidty ranges from 64-75% ( not sure about this )






Anyways, well guys so far this is my project, i will do my best to keep the progress//problems very well posted regularly! your advic//input//support is very much appreciated!!



Happy Gardening,
TeXas

doesnt look like anyone is following so i decided to kill the plants.


i was going to do a practice grow on some bagseed but my seeds came in so im just going to grow the real deal. or attempt.



also another update, thanks to the convincing power of rumpleforeskin's plant's im going to scratch the nutes that i have and im going to use the lucas formula.

experiments is how you get better trust me i had 6 months of veg time into 3 different batches of 4 plants each and i tried soil and hydro

all of them failed for different reasons but now growing is like riding a bike your setup looked pretty good for the most part but after about 4 wks of those plants growing i dont think the light wouldve supported them too well.

find your groove thats the best thing to do i cant grow in soil for shit but i stepped into hydro and it was easy(for me at least) so find your groove and do your thing

Keep growin man dont let anything get you down if you fuck up you now know what to do i hope growing with some good seeds works out for ya

p.s. For the love of your plants dont use SH nutes of their PH up or down ive learned by trial it causes some nasty build-up

thanks for the advice on the nutes! im going to order some Flora Bloom and Micro Today!

good choice my friend good choice im currently using lucas form and its got the most rediculous growth rate ive seen in a while

also, FYI a "small op" and 6 plants,, wow man, I have a 5x6 room FILLED with just 6 plants

your going to want to look into some Heavy LST and go with 1 plant, maybe two; also flip em onto 12 / 12 asap for that small area.

and one more thing, dont sweat thread traffic on here, if no one posts on your thread who cares! I mostly use this site to keep track of what i've done, I'll go back and see when I posted the 1st flower day was then I know what day of flowering im currently in, stuff like that

goodluck!

update:

5-2-08
( indoor mix )

alrighty guys, as i posted earlier i decided to scrap my first bagseed grow when my seeds from nirvana arrived. i germinated 4 seeds to start and had a 100% germination sucess rate. but so far only 3 of the 4 have broken seen and actually turned into seedlings.

the other is just chillin inside the rockwool, its broken the shell of the seed but hasnt revealed its cytoledons yet.



this is a view of the new set-up
previously i was going to start my grow with the ebb & flood system. but i had a problem with flooding lol the very first day


This one instead of using stealth's nutes; i decided to use the lucas formula

(thanks to rumple and mordagrow immaaa believer!! )


2 out 4 of my seedlings already have roots dipping out of the grownet basket into my res.


My pH has been staying pretty much the same. the only bad thing is i dont have a good quality pH test pen yet, too many bills this month >.<. so right now i have absolutly no idea what the tds of my res is. but the cheap pH kit signified that the water was at about 6.4. so i lowered the pH to about 5.9 ish 6.0 its hard to get accurate results.

next week i plan on ordering a real-time pH & tds meter. along with a good 400w hps and digital balast for flowering. (thanks economic stimulus ^^


1) they are about a week from seed, i planned on starting the lucas formula after next week. when i start the feeding im only going to do 1/4 strength. then gradually increase the nutes. what do you guys think?

2) Should i include flora nova's to my nute collection?

I don't have r/o water currently, (is this going to be a problem ?? is r/o water capable of making a huge difference in a grow? )however the plants are so young right now that my res isnt really evaporating or being used. so i really havent had to top off my res.
i dont think that im going to start feeding them until i get my tds/pH meter sometime next week. hopefully this wont stunt their growth.


also guys, i have them on 24/0 right now. my grow space is very small as you can see from the picture. but i only plan on vegging in that area. im going to convert a closet into a flower room when i get to that point. what i wanted to know was for that small of an area ( in current seedling stage one week from seed) what lighting arrangement should i keep it on 24/0? 20/4? 18/6? 12/12?


ohh and one last thing. For DWC i see that alot of you guys do individual buckets, for my DWC i just took a rubbermaid bucket and converted it for 6 plants. i wasnt really aware that it would be in-efficient to grow 6 with that little light. so im only going to keep 3. but if ya take a look at the picture


do you think that i have enough space for 3 (granted im going to LST) will there be any problems with the roots?


also, i went and upgraded my air pumps, ive got 2 pumps rated for 20 gallons so inside the box there is lots and lots of very very fine bubbles. my res is only 7 gallons ( how will this fair up for vegging will 7 gallons be enough or will i constantly have to top it off )

ive got 2X25w 6500k coming in the mail also so this should be enough light for three plants ??



i know i ask alot of questions, but its the best way to learn!




Happy Gardening,

TeXas

Update : 5/4/2008




Howdy howdy,


So my seedlings are 8 days from seed today. im overall impressed with how fast young plants root in DWC system. The pH has been rising from about 5.8 to 6.4 lol i have no idea its only cured water i guess its the plants. i have not even started feeding them.






The crazy thing is that in my sytem it's one resovior with 6 spots for growing in it.
(i thought it would be efficient but i think im going to switch to single units hooked up to one res)

but for some reason, if i place the plants in the middle they start growing fast
so i keep alternating them out in the middle.






anyways thats about all!



Happy Gardening,
TeXas

UPDATE 5/05/08





So far everything has been growing pretty good. im averaging about 5.9 PH last night i started with 1/4 feeding. Also i experimented with some co2 enrichment feeding via tubeline and single shot co2 cartridges. but i im trying to grow this one out real slow, pretty much just let the plants do all the work and not over-do it. i mix'd in 1/4 strength nutes, balanced my pH again. so far upkeep is not bad at all. i check them in the morning, then again at night when i come home. they seem to be managing very well.
this morning when i woke up they had grow about 3 inches. very very fast growth strong genetics i guess..


also i added an upgrade to my air system. duct pumps out hot air and filters it with my scrubber. but it's really not needed at this point in growth.

picccc's

 2airintake.jpg   17.4K   13 downloads

 2newgroth2.jpg   16.24K   16 downloads

 2newgrowth.jpg   14.78K   12 downloads


Happy Gardening,
Texas

UPDATE: 5-8-08


Howdy guys, its been a nice week, the girls are pretty much just doing their own thing. ive been quite the busy little bee but now that the spring semester is done i must begin working on my green thumb.

overall im very impressed with the rate of growth of this strain. im not absolutly 100% what will be what since i got the indoor mix but damn its going to fun budding them and trying to figure out!!

Here is some new pictures they are offically 12 days from seed and are working hard on leaf-sets.

 10.jpg   19.44K   23 downloads

 9.jpg   20.83K   8 downloads

 8.jpg   26.1K   8 downloads

 7.jpg   19.9K   13 downloads

 6.jpg   109.11K   7 downloads

 5.jpg   69.14K   7 downloads

 4.jpg   84.46K   902 downloads


On this last picture if you look in the right corner the plant has some yellowish tent on its early leaf set. i have checked everything and cannot figure out why this is there. i probally a nitrogen deficieny problem? inputs are apreciated ahead of time!!




Happy Gardening,
TeXas

today i added some more lumens to the box. i want to make damn suire that im going to have enough power to veg these plants at a decent rate. So i added 2 more 29 watt 6500k bulbs. which brings me to an over-all light rating at about 10,000 lumens for 3 plants. they are all growing at a very solid rate. i dont know when im going to determine sex? any suggestions? as for now they are still on 24/0 and they seem to be loving it.


i cant figure out this deficency in plant # 2 tho. any takers?






HaPPy GarDening,
TeXas

Update: 5-9-2008




THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS UPDATING TOO MUCH nah im kidding. i want to try to update at least once a day so i can be able to archive the entire grow for future references. the plant are growing quick, that is the great concept about plants, the more surface area the faster they can expand.

My pH is has been perfect cant complain, its holding a steady 5.8 pH.
Im only getting to test my ec about every 4 days. friend lets me borrow his meter until i can get my own. my ppM is roughly around 1100. iit's working fine

I dont know if my co2 enrichment feedings have made any signifigant
difference in the grow process. but i will continue to do them throughout the grow.

this sunday im going to scrub my res, re-top with distilled water and let them do a mini flush for a day or two then topback off the res with full strength nutes.

**one of the problems that ive encountered into this grow are the impracticle fact that i do not know what strain any of my three plants are. they are either Master Kush, Afghan, Pure Power Plant ,Skunk #1, or Nirvana Special.

so if any of you growers have experience with these strains maybe you can help me indentify which breed is which as fast as possible!!



lets solve this deficieny

 IMAGE_499.jpg   92.79K   130 downloads

any suggestions?

 IMAGE_500.jpg   98.99K   113 downloads

 IMAGE_497.jpg   106.77K   20 downloads

 IMAGE_498.jpg   91.12K   12 downloads


Happy Gardening,
TeXas

Update:



okay guys well i think i found my problem with my plants. i thought it was something along the lines of a nitrogen deficiency but i think that the water had become semi dirty. there was a lot of hydroton dust in it when i dumped it out. i did not like this at all. i decided to move my system to a area that occured to me. inside my closet lies the air filter for my air condition when the door is closed the cfm's moved inside the closet are incredible. so i moved them into there. i went and re- did the design for the box.


the old system was far to sloppy and i think the unused net slots were allowing bacteria to grow, the light was seeping through. also went with a darker color to make sure light didnt get through. plenty of air roaring in this DWC now.

 IMAGE_505.jpg   32.32K   23 downloads



i throughly scrubbed the other container with bleach water. then i stored it in a cool dry place. going to make a cloner from it.

20 minutes ago my plants went from 100% nute water pH @ 5.8 back to 6 gallons of pH balanced to 6.0 distilled water from the store with 0 nutes. only water. im going to hope that they dont die from shock. they should make it. i will add back 1/4th nutes and no higher then half for a few more weeks. i think i got the NEWB NUTE BURN phase outta my system now ..

less is best!!


also tonight i went ahead and took it off 24/0 and set it to 18/6. this is alot of moving for my plants in one day but i hope they recover strong and green.


X your Fingers For Me,

Texas

Update 5-12-08


Guys, the plants are pretty much chillen, one is growing at a incredible rate the others are tugging along. starting the new nutrients the day that they come in. everything has been pretty good.



they are officially 16 days from seed.





 IMAGE_508.jpg   76.32K   35 downloads

 IMAGE_507.jpg   79.95K   15 downloads

 IMAGE_506.jpg   73.15K   29 downloads



this might seem like a strange question, but why are my plants so damn bushy? they arent growing that tall but then again they are young.



any suggestions on sexing?


Happy Gardening,
TeXas

Hey man nice lookin floro setup you got goin. Your plants are most likely bushy because they look indica dominant which naturally grows short and bushy. Just look at my plant, its a huge bush and its mostly indica.

If thats not the case you could raise your lights if you really want stretch but that would mean less light getting to the plants, so I would leave it as it is, your plants will bulk up when you up the feeding.

If you want to sex them you can flip to 12/12 for 4-6 days and see what comes up but make sure you have complete darkness on the dark cycle or it will throw the plants off.

You should also think about distributing the light better or rotating your plants because it looks like that middle one is getting all the light. You should also add another light by the plant that looks buried in that net pot because its definitely not getting enough light.

Hey man nice lookin floro setup you got goin. Your plants are most likely bushy because they look indica dominant which naturally grows short and bushy. Just look at my plant, its a huge bush and its mostly indica.

If thats not the case you could raise your lights if you really want stretch but that would mean less light getting to the plants, so I would leave it as it is, your plants will bulk up when you up the feeding.

If you want to sex them you can flip to 12/12 for 4-6 days and see what comes up but make sure you have complete darkness on the dark cycle or it will throw the plants off.

You should also think about distributing the light better or rotating your plants because it looks like that middle one is getting all the light. You should also add another light by the plant that looks buried in that net pot because its definitely not getting enough light.

Before i went out today i gave the girl's 1/4th strength nutes, they were in distilled water for 2 days. and now they are sleeping but my systems should kick on in about 2 hours, if i am up i will snap some new pictures. also i went ahead and added one more 6500k bulb for the guy on the left.


so ill be posting pics ina bit


TeXas

UPDATE 5-15-08




so i was pretty busy this morning, my package came in i decided to use the nutes from general hydroponics instead of advanced nuntrients. also i took the advice and picked up some neem oil.



currently : running the lucas formula @ 100%, i sprayed the plants well with neem oil.
we will see how the recover after the changes!!


wish me luck!


Pictures:
 IMAGE_515.jpg   90.13K   23 downloads

 IMAGE_517.jpg   121.24K   5 downloads

 IMAGE_514.jpg   158.29K   16 downloads

 IMAGE_512.jpg   91.11K   20 downloads

 IMAGE_516.jpg   80.19K   18 downloads


edit: also wanted to note that for the first time this morning when i woke up i walked into my closet to check the girls. the smell is starting lol and its so early in veg. from the research that ive done, im pretty sure one of the indoor mix breeds i got was skunk #1 its supposed to smell dank throughout. and the funny thing is i think the smell is coming from the little one haha. looks like its time to invest in air quality.

TeXas

yo congrats on the stink BioloGyMaJor!

Thats a great milestone imo!

update. 19 days from seed.





the plants made a great bounce back.the new growth is greeeeeeeeeen. the yellow went away after the feeding yesterday.the old growth kinda went away but some is still yellow
i definetly think its easier to run the lucas formula on the general hydroponic nutes. the new growth looks great. on my big plant i decided to start doing some lst. and fimming. i did that this morning,



 IMAGE_518.jpg   83.73K   20 downloads

 IMAGE_519.jpg   74.97K   9 downloads




green is a nice color to see


TeXas

great 1st grow man.. looks like you got it down, everything looks great!

gl man,

AW