So I'm growing a little bit again http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/971168-following-my-first-grow-reduced-pics.html](This is the first one)[/url], this time it's for my own medical purposes. I figured I'd bring everyone along with this one too. So to start, I've dropped approximately 100 or 120 bucks on this so far. Here are the stats: 4 x 23 watt CFL 5100 kelvins 1 x 42 watt CFL 6700 kelvins 1 x 45 watt CFL 4100 kelvins The lamp is a rig of 1 all weather lampholder, with a lampholder addon with 2 plugins. A plugin to lampholder addon is plugged into both sides with a bulb in each of them. This gives 5 lights on one cord, which I rigged up to an extension cord. I also came along 7 lampholders with metal shades that are optimal for directing light (courtesy of a business going under), and it has the 45 watt CFL, which I plan on buying either 1 to 6 more (depends on the money and what the wifey says ). The seeds are a mystery strain that I got from a co-worker. 22 seeds for free, but she wants a bud or two off a plant when they're done. So I have six seeds starting to germinate under the 45 watt CFL, and will transplant 3 into a trough that I have and another 3 into planting pots and a single 5 gallon bucket. I have the soil and the perlite mixed at a ratio of 2:1 soilerlite. I don't have a container for this, only a closet. The temps sit around 78, and will be putting a fan in there in a short while (when the plants necessitate them). Will be giving them a 20:20:20 fertilizer when I need to feed them and am watering them with RO water exclusively. There will be UV bulbs added to the grow eventually, and plan on supercropping the plant (crushing the stem under the main cola to damage it and start 2 other cola's, meaning 3 big colas on each plant) Pictures will be added every third day, more if there are more developments. Here is the first set of pics. (EDIT: HI-Res pics are starting at post #12. K thx)
Alright, the grow space now contains: 8x 23 watt CFL at 5100 Kelvin 1x 42 watt CFL at 6700 Kelvin 2x 45 watt CFL at 4100 Kelvin (1 atm, two in coming weeks) For a grand total of 316 watts. Pics tomorrow. Also, the paint on the walls is a shade of green, so that's nice. It won't suck up any of the spectrum the plants need :b
New lights up. Not a high kelvin yet but also don't have plants in there. Will get different bulbs soon.
So, 5 out of 6 of my plants have started sprouting. Yesterday I didn't see anything, so I took 3 or 4 ounces of room temperature RO water, and stuck a touch of vinegar in it, along with half a cap of hydrogen peroxide. I watered the seeds, not the soil, just enough to make the seeds wet, and they exploded in growth overnight. Here are the pics.
What's with the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide? There's nothing wrong with using straight RO water this early, and I really doubt you need any vinegar or H202 this early on. The change in PH, which would be really acidic considering both H202 and vinegar are acids, could sway the PH of your soil. Plus, your seeds are absorbing this really acidic water, which may not be the greatest. Keep things simple Holmes, no need to add all kinds of crazy shit.
I've used this soil and water mix before. The ph stays unusually high (iirc, in the 7 - 7.6 range). I didn't realize that H2O2 was acidic, but I did know that it stimulates root growth and germination. The vinegar was because I know the ph is too high already. It was only a small amount. But yea, KISS should be a growers motto, but sometimes it's fun to try things.
Ok so 5/6 of my plants made it. The last one didn't However, it also means I don't need to get another pot for my plants, so it saves me a bit of money . These plants are 1 week old now, from the day I put the seeds in the soil. The other 4 look just like the closeup of the one posted here. Also, two of my plants have mystery plants growing beside them. They were in the mixed soil apparently when I got it. The closeup photo has a view of one. Anybody know what it may be?
To start--I'm using lower resolution images now. They were too large for ppl on their PC I'd say. I Did the transplant today. I started to see roots coming out of the bottom of the cups. I dug the holes with a dinner spoon, and placed the plants in. Gave them a light watering and in a couple days will need a complete soak again. I had pre-watered the soil in the big pots when I planted the seeds in the solo cups, so they are fairly dry now but still have a bit of water in em. Pics 5 minutes after transplant: This is a few hours later: And this is the temps: I have no ventilation and no air movement in there. Getting a fan from Canadian Tire to put in there. If I start getting odor, I'll be making an in-room in-line odor remover Stay tuned for more grassy goodness.
Alright it's been another few days. First development: I am shortening the days slowly with the timer. This is to save energy, have lights out when I'm sleeping, and soon to force them into flowering. Before I go lower than 15/9 for the lights, I will wait until I have 4 shoots of leaves, as I wanna give them a supercrop and a few days to chill and recover before forcing into flower. The shock of the transplant only lasted 1 day, by day 2 they were well on their way with growth again. I also picked up a nice little fan at Canadian Tire for 17 bucks after taxes and placed that in there. Temps haven't really changed from 79 at all Pics:
Just a pics update. Gave them their first real watering on Friday, two weeks after the planting They're coming along nicely, and the guy on the far left randomly sprouted a side leaf Saturday. I went to bed Friday evening and nothing was there, and then Saturday morning it was, at the current size it is today. Weird.
Ok so the plants are starting to grow. This is awesome. The one in the middle of the trough is a bit behind. I think I had a light too close, as it wasn't growing properly (aka, not at all). I raised the light 2 inches, and it's responding wonderfully. I made a impromptu watering can. Used a 4 litre milk jug and poked holes in the lid. I also gave them their first nutrients. I put 1/3 the recommended dose of feed on the packaging and they're responding wonderfully. It's a 20:20:20 feed. I reduced the amount of daylight they get by 45 minutes. They are now on a 15/9 schedule currently. Also, just for fun I sprouted some cantaloupe in the leftover Solo cups, they're sprouting. Gonna see how those work out The first pic is the whole grow, the five plant pics are from left to right in the growspace. This is the milk jug and lid And this is the cantaloupe
Alright, so here are some pics. The ladies are doing fine, showing some wonderful growth. I am now using my camera (should've for since the start), and will be using hi-res photos from here on in. When the flowering begins I will be making the photos even more hi-res. Enjoy
Ok so I was trying to make a automatic watering system for the gals while I go on a camping trip. Unfortunately that didn't work out So I instead turned it into a bubbleponics system. It will grow one plant, and I'm going to do it in my living room like a houseplant. Will keep updates on this gal too.
Sorry for the delay in posting. Went camping with my Wifey and parents. Was fun, although it did rain a fair bit, but despite the forecasts for even more rain, we got 1 decent day of lake swimming, fishing, and camp exploring in. Best part--2 free days thanks to a promotion at the provincial park (Good Spirit lake). Anyways, this means you haven't seen the plants since the 15th, being a whole week. When we left for the camp, I gave them a thorough watering, and the 3 in the trough are good till tomorrow, and the 2 in the planters are prolly good till Monday or Tuesday. I expect to be able to supercrop these gals within the next few days, give them a few days to recover, and then flip the lights to 12/12. Hoping to do so by the end of June. Here are the pics of the gals. The close-ups are photos of all the plants, in order of left to right on the zoomed out photo. EDIT: I flipped them to 12/12 today and will supercrop them later in the grow, maybe a couple weeks from now.
Not a whole lot going on. The growth is good. i've re-arranged the lights too. The one on the far right is getting close to being able to supercrop. I then decided to keep the shutter on the camera open for 1/2500'th of a second, then snapped a photo of the lights. It's so short that only the light waves from the dominant spectrum are captured. It really shows you what a difference a high kelvin light makes.
Alright, dished up 23 bucks for a new CFL grow lamp and 30 bucks for some new lights. So here's what we got running now, for a grand total of 290 watts: 3 x 23 Watt 6500K 4 x 23 Watt 6700K 1 x 42 Watt 3500K 1 x 42 Watt 6500K 1 x 45 Watt 5000K We're sitting around 19,000 lumens. I made some homemade light reflectors. I took a large plastic lid and bottom (they were from doughnuts) and spray painted them white on the inside. I placed a tin can on one, and toilet paper roll on the other to hold them in place. It's working fantastic. Any thoughts on the grow so far?
Well, looks like I have two males. Can anyone confirm? Other than my biggest one's are males, they grow seems to be doing ok. Gonna cut those dudes down soon. I'm jealous of my ladies. These are (what I assume) the ladies: And these are the guys who had enough balls to show up.... For reference purposes, they're the ones in the trough, and the left and right side respectively.
Looking good so far nice job man. The space looks very clean looking I like it. I really like the light setup but I think you can make it a bit more efficient. The way the plants and lights are setup it looks sorta like a rectangle you see? Try putting the two pots below the trough so its a square shape instead. and then do the same thing with the lights so its not a extra long rectangle but a square you know? This will make the light a lot more efficient. Wont hurt to lower them a bit either. Again good job keep it up edit- oh ya get those males out asap
\nAlright as far as those males go... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE We're making caeser salad for supper and I'm using their leaves in it. They are pretty nutritious too. I'll give a re-arrangement a go in the next day or so. I can't lower the lights atm 'cause the centre bulb in both those fixtures is already 1 or 2 cm from touching the planters. However, I will try to give a square setup a shot, but I don't have a lot of playing room in there. I'll post those results in the next day or two. With the empty space I planted 2 more seeds, and gave them an impromptu cover (cut up Solo cups with Saran wrap on them ). I realize that they're going straight into 12/12, but hey, those yields will be better than nothing (unless they're males too ), and the seeds were free too. They all seem to be the same genetics though.
Small update. I tried moving the plants as KBG suggested, but I wasn't able to close the doors after arranging them into a square, so I put them back the way they were before. I added another 23 watt light to the room. It's running a total of 311 watts right now, with a grand total of 21000 lumens. The last three plants haven't showed their sex yet, but considering the males already did, and these ones were smaller than the last ones, I will assume that they're females. Not sure about the seedlings though, as they haven't even sprouted yet. So two will be straight in to 12/12 from seedling. The reason the middle light is not closer to the plants is the shade blocks too much of the light from other lights and I think that'll do more harm than good. I'm heading to Saskatoon in the next couple of weeks and will be picking up some UV lights from a pet store to throw in there, make these gals extra sticky And now, without further adieu, here are the photos.