*First Grow* 280w led, no vent, organic - Epic Bagseed 13 plants

Hey grasscity bros

I am a long time smoker (grass only), 1st time grower. Haven't had time to post so I've got to get you up to speed with my epic grows. I need your help! I've done research, but you gotta check this out!

I've tried guerilla growing in the past... all unsuccessful due to insects, deer, and lack of sunlight. This year I wasn't even going to grow until my little brother was diagnosed with cancer last September. The more research I did, I realized the marinol he takes isn't even pure THC. It's only 1 of 69 cannabinoids in our herb! (the other Cannabinoids are anti-inflammatory and tumor fighting) He's smoked before but doesn't like to anymore because he gets paranoid, plus my mom said she wasn't for it unless she knew for a fact it was 100% organic. I don't want to go too much off topic but I realized how beneficial it is for chemo patients and knew my bro would vape or eat whatever I grew... 100%

I got a slightly used 280 watt tri band led from China that I got off eBay for $250. That's all the $ I had at the time...

Got a stack of peat pots for like $3 and got 1 year aged soil from the horse farm. Remember, no nutes!

The Bag Seeds: I only smoke the dankest nugs so I never come by any seeds in my stash...let alone one that passes the pressure test! But there was that one slice of BLACKBERRY HAZE that swept me off my feet! The other 12 pots are 2 different headie outdoor Cali strains so I had Lucky 13 pots!

March 27th - Started budget grow in closet

 

When I could afford it, I bought the mylar reflective 4 X 4 X 6 tent for $100 and assembled it in an outdoor shed. I ran into a problem with buckets, though. All the pastry places around either re-use or sell their 3 gallon buckets. The only ones I could get wouldn't be ready for 1 week and I couldn't wait!

5 gallon buckets are cheap, but I couldn't fit many under that small light. So I decided to segregate them as if the healthy plants were rich and the weak were poor. The Blackberry got the only 5 gal. I had 1 3 gal that the tallest and healthiest looking/fastest growing plant got. Then the next 6 healthiest got spots in the broken rubbermaid containers that I salvaged. 3 in each staggered.

Each bucket got 1 feed tube and each rubbermaid has 2 alternating longer tubes running right to the plants.

The 1 led light wasn't enough so my buddy lent me his POS 100w Red, 100w Blue, and 100w Red/Blue China lights that he got for $100 when leds were fresh news... I mounted them all on a board and hung it with motorcycle straps.

With no ventilation, those took the heat up to 90 during the day and I had to get the only fan I had in there to bring it down to 80... The fan is fully electric- power on before mode change so it could only run 24/7 and couldn't run on a timer...

April 18th - Added 300w junk with 1w leds

 

I wanted to disperse the spectrum more evenly in the tight space so I separated the lights to make a smaller one with just the blue and blue/red lights and made the red little light its own separate fixture for the far left rubbermaid.

 

I thought the horse maneur only being 1 yr aged would have plenty of nutrients, but a month into the grow, all the girls started showing stress signals. They were crispy and yellowish green. I didn't even have $20 to afford a NPK test kit. All my $ went to food and train tickets to visit my bro. There's a popular "Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver" that I used on 420 magazine, but it was too risky to determine what to do from a pictorial. For a while, I just let nature do its thing...

If you were wondering about the other 5 plants that didn't make it into the big containers... those remained in peat pots all around til I could figure out what to do with them!

 

I still let the deficiency go because I figured the nights were still way too cold and that could be one reason why the nutes weren't being absorbed. Everything was looking fine except for the left rubbermaid- the plants under the junk lights. The ones in the middle rubbermaid were fine because they still got some of the main light spectrum and the blue light which is the best one. The left rubbermaid was primarily the blue/red light and the all red light. Those plants were stretching and their stems which were once strong in the peat pots were weak and hollow.

The middle rubbermaid had 2 plants that were preflowering already. The left side one had sacs so I pulled it immediately. The right one was showing big preflowers already!

 

When I got a little more money, the next thing I bought was a rapitest digital ph meter. It consistently gave me a 7.0 reading and would scan through numbers first before settling so I thought it was working... but leaves were getting more yellow, folding, and even started browning a bit.

Meanwhile, the female that showed herself in the last post is now starting to flower in 18-6 before any of the other plants definitively showed their preflowers. A bagseed autoflower?

The pink ties is rando stretch material I found in the garage. I was already stressing the plant by way of duct tape on the leaves, but this worked much better!

 

After a few days went by with the same readings, I realized something had to be wrong and replaced that digital garbage with an actual meter from rapitest... doesn't tell you the decibel, but no batteries and more accurate!

My PH was too high- 8.0 alkaline in the rubbermaid and about 8.2 for the blackberry

I fixed that with a $20 bag of Marine Cuisine. All except the far left rubbermaid cheered up within a few days and started showing their early flowers. The ph dropped right down to a consistent 7.0. I forgot to mention I had been feeding them Neptunes Harvest Fish/Seaweed Oil at every feeding, but that wasn't enough NPK. Now I just give them that every other feeding.

The plants in the left rubbermaid (under the junk lights) were stretching so hard for light that the fan leaves became massive and the internodes were tiny. They were so messed up I just pulled them. Figured it was a waste of electricity and they were going to die anyway so I plucked the 3 on the far left and removed the red light completely.

I had been trying to grow some annual seeds for my mom's garden on the window sill and that wasn't working out so I moved them to the now emptied space on the far left. The dome had some room in it so I figured I might as well use it to try to make some clones as I was "pruning for profit" anyways!

I figured to save my $ on cloning powder and use it to get a 40w light for $20 instead. For cloning powder, I used salicylic acid that I boiled from the root of a weeping willow and honey. The clones had extended lives, but they did not root. I think it was lack of powder and that I couldn't get there enough times throughout the day to keep them misted.

 

I had anticipated this was going to be a long grow simply because 280w in led is tiny and the typical grow time for bag seed is 4.5 months. When I inserted the fencing for the SCRoG, I eased into a 15-9 cycle.

The autoflower had 4 small colas below the canopy and the main massive one. I gave the 4 smaller ones about a week to stretch to the canopy, but they never made it so i cut them to give more growth to the main cola which reached the light.

All the early pics were taken with my phone so you can't see very well, but the 4 buds were greenish white with a blue tint. As headie as they looked, they did not smell sweet at all despite their stickyness.

Unfortunately, I didn't know much about curing then. I didn't think that tiny buds like that still needed to be hanged. I jarred them and within 3 days they got some serious nasty mold and stunk so bad I tossed them out!

 

At some point between this time and the last postings time, I had found some root powder for $5 at a gardening supply store. After another 10 clones, 3 finally managed to survive... BLACKBERRY HAZE X 3

On May 10th, the peat potters were moved to an aged manure pile in a field. Today, the blackberry clones joined them. This exciting journal is posted here:
*First Grow* Manure Pile Purple + Blackberry Haze Clones

All that remains is the middle rubbermaid with 2 plants: autoflower sativa in front and massive indica that I keep topping because it grows so damn fast, blackberry in the 5 gal, and a once strong plant in the 3 gallon- the plant that was once the strongest and fastest growing is now showing a weak stem and puny internodes that don't branch out.

The main light was re-centered and the junk lights were completely removed. Then I supercropped the main cola of the autoflower so it would stop growing vertical and get more light sittin sidewayz!

 

At some point, I dropped the timer and accidentally set it to 13-11 for about a week so it's flowering must have gotten delayed or something. Anyways, July was really hot and the tent temps started averaging 85 degrees.

I had to take the massive fan out because I feared too much electricity draw and I had replaced it with a 5w 6" fan that only costs me 10 cents to run 24 hours. As a result, autoflower got attacked by humidity and somehow dried up while still alive. The clear rubbermaid showed me that the roots underneath were greening and mold was trying to hurt my girls.

I had to cut autoflower. Her colors were tainted; leaves dry. To save the indica behind her, I emptied an entire bottle of hydrogen peroxide in there to fizz out the green monster, saving the indica from an untimely death, and leaving only 1 plant left in the last rubbermaid.

I let the autoflower dry for an additional week before jarring it and never looking at it again in shame... expecting to cook it in some value meal since I couldn't bare to smoke something that smelled so much like hay.

Only 3 plants are left and now that I look at it again, that 3 galloner isn't going to be very productive. Everyone else is budding and she can't even show me some preflowers so I chopped it. Needed room for the other girls anyways.

2 left: blackberry & fat indy

 

The stems on fat indy are super wide. Her colas are fat and dense. Blackberry Haze looks a lot more like Sour Diesel- it's branchier and is taking much longer to fill out...

OMG I can't wait for her to be ready! Is she gonna be blue or purple? Those white hairs are looking so promising! Surprisingly no strong smell yet... barely any smell at all actually!

 

I'm approaching harvest and seem to have come across another deficiency. Thank dear Mary it's not BB! Fat indy is looking sick. About a week ago, I noticed the spots and crispy leaves. Both plants have the same ph, but I think the mold is finally getting to the rubbermaid because it was such a big space and I can see the green coming back.

Sometimes I will find tiny pieces of mold on indy and pull those buds off. I want to continue the grows for another couple weeks so they get more cold nights and more color. I anticipated using ice cubes to call more trichs and possibly use dry ice for CO2 if I can afford it a few times.

I finally got a chance to run the soil in an NPK test and nitrogen was at surplus in both. BB's Phosphorus & Potassium is adequate-deficient, while indy's P & K is deficient-depleted. Since they've both been fine until now, I am thinking the mold must be causing a deficiency and would like to know from grasscity: should I cut before it's too late? How else can I bring up PK without changing the PH? BTW I forgot to mention somewhere that I got a moisture meter too and have been monitoring an adequate water level. I am at a threshold where I do not know if I should wait for more crystals or snip that plant before the mold goes into full attack mode...

Regardless of what happens to indy, BB will stay and soak up the light for probably another month. Any suggestions from the wiser?

Check out those buds! 30+ colas, 2+ oz's, and NO VENTILATION! 100% organic! Noob grown! Just can't believe there's still no scent...

Speaking of scent: the autoflower that got put away for a month... I ran out of bud so I started smoking that. I was surprised after passing it through my grinder, the smell was pretty darn dank! Taste wasn't bad and high was def sativa. Can't wait to see how this turns out after a better cure! I'd also like to hear some suggestions on curing. Idk if I will let it sit in a bag hanging in the closet or construct an intricate box with string and all that jazz...

 

Hey dickheads,

3 weeks and no reply? My ladies got sick and you didn't want to help! I had to chop nearly an oz of Indy because some of her buds were turning brown. I don't think it was mold, but I didn't want it to spoil the rest. That was on 9-6.

Dried and smoked I can say it smells kinda funny, almost like pumpkin spice. But the taste is pretty good. It's not fruity or sexy spice, but it's not bad at all. The few colas left of fat indy are still breathing...coming along nicer as it gets cooler.

What I did to get the NPK back up to surplus was do the only thing I knew to do: add more marine cuisine to temporarily drop ph, then flush to reach 6.8. This time it's taking longer than usual to return back to normal and the older leaves are browning, but there is healthy new growth. PH is still around 6 in some spots but 7 in others. Thinking to chop soon before disease turns into plague...

Just want them to hang in there maybe 3 weeks longer til we get a frost. As it's been getting cooler, I've noticed the smell picking up because they did not smell at all before. Blackberry is starting to smell fruity but not nearly as much as her cloned outdoor counterparts that you can read about on: Manure Pile Purple

Even the pumpkin smell of fat indy is turning sweet...

 

I can't believe the lack of help on this forum!!! Might I remind you all that this is a medicinal grow. My little brother is doing rounds of chemo and instead of the crap they give him, I'd prefer him to use God's plant. Also, I have back issues from being rear ended by multiple women drivers and my only cure is to toke. Doctors suggested pain management, which essentially sets you up with a licensed drug dealer so I can live out the rest of my life on opiates. As broke as I am, this crop is very important and if it gets ruined, then that's 6 months of high electricity bills for nothing!

In my last post a week ago, I mentioned how some of my colas got slightly deteriorated on the bottom and I cut them from the grow room, fearing it could be the beginning of mold.

Trimmed off all the brown sections, dried for 7 days, then put in jars. It was not cut too early and somehow it still ended up smelling like hay. Cured for a week, the hay smell turned spunky, and powdery mildew came. How did this happen if the drying environment is completely dry and I pulled them off when they weren't moist at all and the stems snapped?

Well, I couldn't figure out why it once had a dank smell and now had no smell at all. Since I got no replies on here, I went researching and found people with high rep on other grow sites that have put an orange peel in the jar for a couple hours or a damp paper towel to bring the smell back. I only put a tiny barely damp paper towel ball in there for 1 hour and took it out. I think that's what caused the powder mildew. So there goes a half oz of ruined medicine.

Also in the last post, I mentioned how I needed to up the NPK without dropping the PH. Since I got no response, I just used more marine cuisine, hoping to temporarily drop PH, raise NPK, then hope the ph goes back up quickly. It did not happen quickly.

The rubbermaid with indy in it has returned to normal, but my baby BB is in trouble. Some parts of the soil read 5.5-6 and others read normal 6.8-7. The big leaves of the colas have shriveled up brown. There is fresh growth on some colas, but the damage towards the bottom was making me worried.

I had a bad dream the other night that all my plants got moldy so when I woke up, I researched one more time "when to harvest." I had originally thought that as long as you grew indoors, you could grow the plant for as long as you wanted... grow for a year if you wanted...

This place I went to said that your plant will start showing signs that she's ready to be cut. I saw the chart about how cloudy the trichs are supposed to look and got nervous that all my trichs might be amber since I've been growing for over 6 months now. It also said that you can do a test by flicking the stems and if they feel or sound hollow then it means they are no longer getting as many nutrients.

I inspected the trichs and did see amber but still they were all mostly cloudy white. Then I looked at the stems and some of the ones that used to be strong and fat had seemed weaker. The first one I looked at didn't have any new growth so I was sure it needed to go. I bent the stem a little and it snapped right off the stalk as if there was nothing inside the stem to hold it!

So I closer inspected the buds and realized that many were ready to be cut, while the main branches were the only ones that were still having fresh growth with nice green leaves. I cut most of my plants and only left about 5 colas in the tent. I'm thinking they should only stay for about a week and hopefully get more trichs as it gets colder. Those buds do have smell too!

After trimming everything, I could see that no mold was present. The buds look very nice, but NO SMELL AT ALL! Why? Now as they hang out to dry in a cardboard box in my dark, dry basement, should I have a fan on them also or will they dry out too fast? Will the smell ever come back?

I have Blackberry Haze clones outside and they stink from so far away and look completely different. Will my indoor buds ever have any smell or taste? Or is it that the ventilation was not adequate enough in the grow space and now they are fucked? What should I do with them? Food? Hash? PLEASE RESPOND

 

Currently I am down to 2 small plants under the light. Next grow will be 2 from start to finish.

You should read into the whole op since you're a noob too. I do have an organic outdoor grow going also... posted in the organic section. Those are all cannabis cup quality. Harvesting is my only challenge for those!

There's a link to it in my 9th post but here it is again:

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-grow-journals/1099265-*first-grow*-manure-pile-purple-blackberry-haze-clones-4-plants.html

 

I'm getting nervous that these plants aren't going to taste or smell nearly as good as they look. Even though my basement is really dry, today I opened one of the flaps on the box and set the fan on top of it to get air in there 24/7.

Last night I had sprayed a baking soda/water mixture foilage feeding the few colas left in hopes to up the ph and prevent mold spores from ever developing. Today ph read appx 6.2. Yesterday it was 5.5 so I think that def helped.

Today I did one more foilage feed so maybe tom, NPK will be normal at 6.8 and nutrients will start to flow again, producing more trichs.

I also added a 12" oscillating fan to see if that makes a difference and moved the small 6" fan outside the top vent (not shown).