1st Grow. Any advice greatly appreciated. (LONG)

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by Mortimer Duke, Jan 9, 2013.

  1. Greetings, Indoor Enthusiasts,

    First time, long time. I tried my hardest to avoid registering a Grasscity account because I preferred to peruse instead of post, but I'm in a difficult spot and thought it necessary to consult the brightest and best. I've spent countless hours and dollars researching and scheming and planning and spending in an attempt to design an indoor grow that would compensate for my inexperience and, hopefully, provide me a greater margin for error by reducing the number of tasks I'd be responsible for.

    I can confidently say that failure will not be the result of a lack of effort, or cash for that matter – very little skimping when it came to equipment. It's not an understatement to say I dropped some serious coin, which means I'm greatly invested in the success of the project.

    I am fully aware that every first grow has its inevitable pitfalls, as well as the fact that theory doesn't always translate to application, especially with ZERO experience. With that said, help a brother out.

    This is a two-part post – the first section gives an overview of my setup, followed below by the current predicament I'm facing. I'll provide pics below. Skip to the bottom if you don't want to read all the BS and only want to look at what's plaguing me.


    Overview of the Setup:

    Geography: 45th parallel – cold
    Location: Basement
    System: Flood and Drain – 1.5” Grodan rockwool cubes in 8” net pots surrounded by hydroton

    Setup: 4x8 grow tents (3) – clone/veg, flower, flower

    -Perpetual grow (hopefully). Each of 3 tents is divided (figuratively) into two 4x4 “stations” for a total of 6 stations. Tent 1: clone/germ and veg, Tent 2: flower 1 and flower 2, and Tent 3: flower 3 and flower 4.

    -Clone or germinate in one 4x4 area of Tent 1 for 2 weeks (just a little table with tray and dome, heating mat, 2x2 T5s and oscillating fans). Move to other 4x4 area of Tent 1 to veg for the next 2 weeks (4x4 flood and drain tray with 50 gal rez).

    -Then move to Tent 2: “flower1” 4x4 area for the next 2 weeks then move to other 4x4 area in same tent (“flower2”) for the next 2 weeks.

    -Finally, the plants are moved to Tent 3: “flower3” for 2 weeks, then moved to “flower4” for the final 2 weeks.

    ** All the while, there are 20-30 plants occupying each of the 6 stations in the 3 tents. Every 2 weeks they are moved to the next station, sort of like an assembly line.
    ** The goal is to harvest every 2 weeks. We shall see.

    Questions, comments, criticism, suggestions, thoughts on design?


    The Problem:

    The preceding information is actually irrelevant at the moment, as I have yet to introduce a single plant into the flood and drain system because I'm struggling with my seedlings.

    I bought 10 expensive Northern Lights seeds from some foreign seed bank, which included 10 free mystery seeds for a total of 20.

    First Attempt (2 seeds):

    1. cleaned entire area thoroughly and washed hands
    2. presoaked 1.5” Grodan rockwool cubes in pH 5.8 RO water for 24 hours
    3. gently removed excess water and planted seeds, covering with a little rockwool
    4. placed in tray with humidity dome and set on heating mat with therm set to 75F
    5. put 105W 6500K 2 ft. 4 bulb HO T5 fluoros over them
    6. struggled to get humidity up in dome, even with misting (conditions were 77F and 45%)
    7. 1 of 2 sprouted in 5 days, the other never sprouted
    8. removed humidity dome
    9. first watering was on day 6

    Pic at bottom

    The seedling was healthy as a horse until day 7. I was so paranoid about overwatering that I went too long and woke up one morning and it had completely wilted and croaked. The cube was bone dry.

    Second Attempt (10 seeds):

    1. same technique to germinate, however I kept the plants completely dark this time instead of putting the light on right away.
    2. to my surprise, the 5 NL seeds sprouted in 2 days, with the other 5 mystery seeds arriving a day later!
    3. unfortunately, they didn't have any light when they emerged from the cubes and were all stretched and bent over. Removed dome and got the lights on them right away and all but 2 made a spectacular recovery (10 of 12 made it).
    5. roots were sticking out of the bottom like a day later
    6. watered by dipping the seedling tray (holes in bottom) into another tray filled with RO water for about 5 seconds
    7. watered about every 48 hours, then every 36 hours, then every 24 hours.
    8. seemed to be doing fine with the exception of some leaning, which was probably due to being completely bent over when they were deprived of light early.

    **Then, again on day 7, is when shit started to hit the fan**
    -withering (all 5 mystery seeds)
    -yellowing on the tips of fan leaves
    -drooping
    -grey color under the leaf of one
    -cotyledons turning yellow and looking dead
    -growth stopped

    I looked everywhere to find out what the problem was and thought it could be related to nutrient deficiency since there was yellowing and the cotyledons were dying, but I wasn't sure because seedlings are supposed to go weeks before needing nutes.

    So I fed them the tiniest of nutes (less than 1/8 of recommended) and put an oscillating fan on them to try to strengthen the stem.

    I believe all 5 mystery seeds perished and the 5 NLs look stunted, though I think I can pronounce one of the NL's dead as it's quite withered. The good ones still appear to have white roots on the bottom of the cubes.


    **Grow Tent environment**

    -73 to 77F
    -T5s are right on top of them and probably makes the canopy 85F
    -slight negative pressure with 6" exhaust and 4" active intake
    -oscillating fans mixing the air
    -heat mat temperature probe stuck in rockwool reads 80F
    -MOST IMPORTANTLY, humidity was 15-20%!! It's dry as a bitch. So I bought a giant cool mist humidifier and threw the bastard in the tent on day 8 in the evening. It is now day 9. Humidity has been stable at 40 to 45, which I heard is fine.

    Was humidity the main culprit?
    Could they be too hot?
    Can my seedlings recover from the abuse they underwent?
    Are there questions that need answering?

    Thanks in advance for your help. I apologize for the rambling tangents.

    Pics in upper left is 1st attempt NL. The others are all 2nd attempt NLs and mystery seeds.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. How did they turn out? Im doing a similar grow and mine look like your do in the pics. Hope your about to harvest soon.
     

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