It's time for another grow and I thought I would try to keep a jounal this time. Don't know how well I'll be able to keep up with it, but here goes. My second grow will be pretty much the same as my first grow... Using a 400W MH light for vegging, and a 400W HPS light for flowering. I was pretty happy with soil last time, so I am going with the same stuff (except for one) threw out the bag already and I can't remember the name of it, I got it from a hydroponic store. I will be using 18/6 for the vegging stage. I only bought one bag of soild and it wasn't enough for all 3 plants (didn't expect all three to germinate). So I picked up some organic soil at Home Depot. The problem with this soil is that it is very acidic. I have not decided what to do about it yet. I may just experiment with that plant and see what happens. Since my job keeps me on the road mon-fri, I will not be able to give my plants the attention they actually need. It worked out ok last time, and with some changes in my methods, I hope it will improve this time around. Start date of grow... 06-18-06 I started this grow by putting 3 seeds in 3 jiffy pots, and put them in my screened in porch. I was gone for the week and when I got back, all 3 of them had sprouted and were stretching quite a bit. So that sunday I set up my closet, and put the jiffy pots into the bigger pots that you see in the pics here. I had to lower the light because they were still trying to stretch. I looped a paper clip around the stems to help hold them up. I also have a fan blowing on them a little to strengthen the stems up. I am not sure about nutes this time around, I may try not using them. Looking for opinions on this part. Anyhoot enough for now here's some pics... oh yeah... you'll notice one plant (the one on the left has some discoloring in the leaves. So my next stop is the forums to look for help on this one.
I'll try and give an update with pics every weekend. Temp in room last week max 82.8 min 72.1 humidity in room last week max 39% min 33% Plants are about 4 weeks old now. The plants seem relatively healthy except for a few issues. The one plant still seems to have a little discoloration still. Didn't really see to much in the forums that mentions discoloration. There was a post at one time that described all different kinds of problems, and it had pictures as well. Does anyone know where it's at.... maybe I saw it on another site? Both plants have leaves that are curling upward. One is worse than the other. I thought this may have been from the light being to close so I moved it up a bit. This didn't really seem to make a difference. The funny thing about these problems is that the seeds are from the same bag of weed. As for the mutant plant up front you can see how the wrong soil can affect your plants. Not really that it's the wrong soil, but the ph level is very acidic (4). Where as the other 2 plants have a ph level of about 7. I will bring the level down on the 2 plants a bit, but the mutant one I will leave alone, just to see how the plant will grow in the worst of conditions. Does the ph up/down solution have a brand name, or will the shops that I goto know what I am asking for. Lastly.... the temp in the room was getting to high unless I had the AC (over 90F). This also could have been causing my leaves to curl up. I ordered an air cooler last week, and it just came in this morning. So I will be setting that up in the room today, and hopefully this way I can control the temp a little better when I have the AC turned off. This weekend I will also try to setup some kind of drip system for watering while I am gone during the week. I'm thinking of following the suggestion of Defendant, I just need to get out to the store and buy some materials. Also open to any other ideas/suggestions about this one. Any comments/criticism greatly appreciated in this jounal as it my second time growing, and still learning.
you should get some bigger pots ready because those will be ready to transplant within the next week or week and a half
here's my weekly update. temps max 87.3 min 75.9 avg 81 humidity max 42% min 32% avg 37% ph is about 8 Just picked up some ph down today and mixed with some water and put it in. I got rid of the little mutant plant. Sometimes it doesn't matter what people say you just have to see it for yourself. So now I learned that mj plants won't grow very well with an extremely low ph level. I am goind to try to setup some kind of automatic watering system this weekend. Cause the plants are getting big enough to where they will defenitely need to be watered every few days or so. So far I have been watering them only on the weekend when I am home (except for a couple times when I came home in the middle of the week). The taller plant is ready for flowering.... the last two nodes are shooting off alternating nodes (correct terminology?). The smaller one seems to be a little slow, but other wise healthy. Hopefully the runt will show maturity in the next week or so, and I can put them in 12/12. The bigger one stil has leaves that curl. I've tried bringing the light higher, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Is it maybe because of the heat in the room? What do you guys think, how does she's (i hope) look.
i like this set up. ive got two cupboards with a 400w hps in each, one for vegging and one for flowering. ive been thinking that i should change the vegging closet to a 400w MH, seeing as you have experience with both fat freddy do you think its worth while?? if so, what are the advantages?? as for the leaves curling id guess its from the heat, although it sounds like you dont water them very often if you only water them once a week, ive got some young'ns around smaller than that which are dry as a bone after two or three days. id get that autmated watering system going and get some more ventilation happening
Thanks god, It's only my second grow so I'm still learnin. I think the biggest advantage of using the MH for vegging is that your getting the right color spectrum for the plants initial growth. I got a pretty good amount of bud off one plant on my 1st grow. I think the MH/HPS combo is the way to go, but that's just me. I've seen a lot of good grows from people on this site using fluoros also. You still may do pretty good using HPS for both, but using the MH for vegging should defenitely give you better results than using the HPS for vegging. Here are some pics of my first grow
Ok... here we go. Today will be the first full day of 12/12. Up to know everything seems to be going o.k. There was nothing really major that came up in this grow so far, and the plants still seem to be pretty healthy. Here's some pics. I think my next grow I am going to get some seeds from somewhere. Either Dr. Chronic or Seedboutique. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good strain for a beginner?
Sorry, havn't had time to update my journal, been real busy at work past few weeks. This will also be my last entry on this journal as, I came home to 2 male plants. So it's back to start.... do not pass go, and do not collect $200. Damn, damn, damn..... it's still cool watchin these babies grow though. smoke on my brothers