Hey guy's. Well basically I've started a small closet grow, currently only going to be growing one plant for personal use. As I'm new to growing I thought i'd share my setup first, and have you tell me what I'm doing wrong or right. I found some bag seed the other day in some VERY dank kush, I was so surprised to actually find seed's in this quality of herb. Anyway I took the seed's, stored them in a plastic ziploc in the basement where it is cool, I've germinated one seed. Within 5-7 hours of the initial germination process the seed popped open, I was shocked again the little trekker... So seeing the taproot (using low blue light as to not damage the root's while viewing the seeds germinating) I planted it straight away into Miracle gro germination soil which i believe is 0.1 - 0.5 - 0.1 or something to that extent on nutes. Today will be day 2 at approximately 6:00PM that the seed's been in the soil. I've got the seed in a Pete moss cup (WILL PETE MOSS ALLOW FOR ROOT PIERCING?) and i have a plastic bag over-top for humidity for the plant. For lighting I've got (2) 100Watt Daylight CFL bulb's producing 1600+ lumen's each for a total of around 3,200 lumen's. The seed now seems to be showing in the soil, but from what i can see, I see a white-ish looking sprout, It hasn't totally emerged from the dirt yet, but from what I can see it's white, is this bad? As well I live up in canada, I'm able to keep the plant at a constant temp of 25+ Celcius, but only able to abstain 30% humidity. I must spray around the light's etc. one per hour to keep it at 50% but it sit's normally at 30% without any intervention to raise it. With all of what I have am I looking at a nice little personal plant for myself? or am I going to be needing more supplies? Also for nutrient's I have miracle gro plant food spikes http://www.miraclegro.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-indoor-plant-food-spikes/prod70156 And a General purpose 20-20-20 fertilizer Mixing 1 full scoop to 1 Litre of water (scoop is approx. 3-5 Tbsp.) Would i use this general purpose at a very low concentrate? The soil i'm using also control's PH so that isn't a worry, or is it? Cheers to anyone who is able to answer some question's! Stay high. ~Vource.
I wouldn't use those miracle grow food spikes for feeding marijuana. Yes, roots will pierce a peat moss cup. I wouldn't worry about humidity too much. I live in the desert and manage to pull decent crops with just 35-30% humidity... On a good day. What kind of lights are you using?
Well you have a very basic start but here is my advice to you. You will not need plant food for a month. Use less then the directions by a mile. Pot does not feed heavy, nutes kill lots of new growers plants. get some plastic beer cups and plant at least 4-6 plants, some will be males, some may die and by then you will most assured to get a female. One plant usually ends as a fuck up. Keep us posted on your progress.
So would the water soluble 20-20-20 NPK fertilizer work at a very low strength? It says to use approximately 1/2 of a cup to a liter of water so would a half of a teaspoon in a liter work? As I've heard under-fertilizing is better than over-fertilizing. The seed has now sprouted, and the cotyledons are starting to open, the stem to the bulb is white, and there is a brown stripe right before the bulb/cotyledons. They are ever so tiny, maybe 3mm in length each. at the moment they are a light green color on the bottom's, and looking to get greener on the inside. I've removed the humidity bag so I hope she does alright in the humidity change. I'll for sure keep you updated, and try to post some pictures. Cheers! ~Vource
Hey, your lights are much smaller then you think. They are probable 23 or 42w, and that's 100w equivilant. There's a cfl guide stickies here that helped me understand everything about lighting, and what's best for plants. I'd recommend the first few posts for anyone using CFLs and need some knowledge. I'm on day 2 of my first grow, good luck!
Yes they consume 24 watt's and output 100 watt's, also 1600 lumen's/bulb. The humidity bag has been off now for a couple hours, and she look's to be doing fine.. although the outside's of he cotyledons are yellowing, i don't know wether or not this is a problem as I used germination soil with 0.1 0.1 0.1 NPK content. I have this 20-20-20 general purpose fertilizer. would i be able to use it at a very low concentrate? or will the sprout grow on it's own for now. I'm also working on making a stealth box from a tote and some mylar. Is the yellowing of the outside of the cotyledons a problem? if so how do i fix this.. Cheers! ~Vource
hi yellowing of your cotyldon leaves are fine , their purpose is sustaining your 1st razor leaves of nutrients , once your 1st leaves appear from cotlydon they usually die & fall off so perfectly ok. keep your bag over them to increase the humidity just now , it is a clear or white plastic bag yes? (not only increases humidity but increases heat , a big plus for seedlings) yeh build your stealth box , bit of mylar perfect , try get more lighting even if its only house cfl,s the more the merrier (once you get into this growing lark you'll realize the importance of good lighting!!) also get an oscillating fan blowing very gently onto your baby , not directly onto it , try deflecting it off a wall/box whatever as long as not blowing directly onto it , cool if passing over using the oscillation of the fan , this practice will toughen up your babys stem , also using cfl,s you can nearly put them right above your seedling this will benefit it by not stretching , looking for & reaching for a light. adjust to suit as plant grows. Nutrients , again once into growing , are very important for plants health ,yield. yeh I personally would dilute the nutes your using but im sure if you look around theres plenty ways of obtaining/making nutrient rich mediums ( soil), at very little if any costs Best of luck my friend & learn by doing , plants talk to you , you just gotta learn their language , .......Easy!! happy growing
Thank's everyone who's posted. Yes i will be looking into making a stealth box, but as a renter I've got really no ventilation mean's.. It gets cold where i am in these month's, down to -40 Celcius so an open window is not viable. would i be able to pump the air into a purifier? and grab air from inside my house? And yes, I'll try to be picking up more lighting, hopefully just a 150W HPS. Going to start very low dosage of nutes when she establishes her first new set of leaf's, and start's to take off in growth Cheers! ~Vource
I would only start nutes when the plant is showing signs that it needs food. There is so many things that can stunt a plants growth when it's young.
Well for now she's growing well, she established her two little fan leaf's or whatnot just today, and she's a deep green, while the stem is an off white, and fuzzy. Looking to be healthy so far. Will post some pic's as soon as i take the coordinate's out Cheer's ~Vource.
Picked up two more 100Watt 1600 lumen 6500k Daylight's today. using only 3 at the moment, and growth seems to be steady. She hasn't hit her growth spirt yet, but i'm hoping this will happen soon, as she's receiveing 24/7 light. Also what are sign's that the plant would need food? I'm guessing it would be along the same lines as under/overwatering? The plant yellows/wilts? Cheer's guys! ~Vource
quick little update, as it's now winter the humidity has dropped to 20% but she still seems to be doing great! Take a look! This is on day 5. Hows she look!? any advice on nutes? I have a 20-20-20 all purpose water soluable fert. Cheers! ~Vource
No nutes now. Plants grow in soil, let it grow. Plants need energy to grow, energy comes from light. They use that energy to build more plant using the nutrients, but more nutrients does not equal faster growth. What you must realise is that more light and enough nutrients equals optimum growth. You've got it in one of those little compostable pots? I would water it very lightly around the stem, not soaking the whole thing, and give it a chance to fill roots into the pot. When the root breaks through the container, pot it up. It will be in fresh soil so no need for nutes. Some of the biggest risks to your plant right now are over-watering and nute burn (from over-watering). If you put it in a half gallon pot, then a gallon, then a 5 gallon pot as you vegged it, then flowered it, you might not need much in the way of nutes at all, because you're giving it fresh soil. You might get better results with nutes, but you wouldn't necessarily need them. On the other hand, if you vegged it for 4 weeks in a 1 gallon pot and didn't transplant it, you would need to feed it every week by the time it starts to flower and would still show signs of stress. When it is at least 6 inches high, when it has at least half a dozen full sets of proper 5-fingered fan leaves, if it needs feeding at that point (probably not, you'll have repotted it by then), then your 20-20-20 food is not great but usable. Here's why: First of all it is VERY strong. You're going to be diluting this to 1/4 of the recommendation at the most. Second, the nutrient profile is all wrong. Cannabis needs N:x:x in the veg phase, and x:k in the flower phase. When you have an excess of Nitrogen in the flowering phase, this leads to small buds with lots of leaves, and generally a very poor crop. I might choose to use this fertiliser once using a long grow, as a kind of late-veg boost, if I had nothing else. I wouldn't recommende it to anyone though. If you are needing to feed regularly, more than once or twice, you need to get a "grow/bloom" 2 or 3 part system, because you need to feed different nutrients at different time. If you're not feeding often, more likely you need to make sure you have some CalMag when you start flowering
Thank's for the advice on the nutrient's, very helpful, and insightful. Wanted to get some opinion's on how she currently look's. It's been about two day's since the last picture, and she hasn't shown much sign of growth. Would this be because I'm providing her 5000 Lumen's possibly higher via reflective material's, and not watering often enough?. She has her first 1 fingered leaf's, and her second tiny set of leaf's that are starting to grow, but they seem to be growing extremely slowly. When does a plant hit (on average) it's growth spurt? Also my humidity is very off, and low.. only sitting at a constant 18-20%. I have no humidifier's, or any way of upping the humidity, I guess i could put a steaming bucket of water into the closet, and seal up the bottom to keep the humidity in? Any advice? Will she adapt/grow to 18-20% humidity? Thank's all, for a picture look at reply 14. Cheer's! ~Vource
No nutes now and no all purpose nutes in the future. Boiling water is only going to put off steam till it cools in a few minutes. Its also going to put off heat. try putting a bowl of room temp water in front of a fan maybe, not sure how much it would raise it. I use a humidifier. Humidity was 11% when I had it off a few days ago when I was cleaning out a tent and getting set back up couple . A nice humidifier let's me set it to whatever I want. They have small ones for roughly $15- $20 at places like wal mart, Lowes, menards that work for small spaces or a bigger 1 with a digital control like mine runs $100 or so
So is leaving her in 18-20% Humidity for her life going to work? She seem's to have adapted to the low humidity (ie. No stress noticed when i took the humidity dome off) Will she be able to veg, and flower in the same humidity? And at the moment a humidifier is not an option as i'm completely broke. I mist her about 2-3 time's/day and water every second day, which seems to be a good regimund at the moment. She has grown today, it is pretty noticeable. Cheers! ~Vource
Mist your girl once a day during the early days of veg.. First 3 or so weeks. Then mist it less often bit by bit, and she'll be fine. During flower will be a good time to have low humidity.