So, I've started my first ever grow. After a few years of paying for meds, it's time to grow my own, in my closet. My closet was already already pre-divided, into what seems like logically a veg side & a flowering side. The veg side is the cubby of the closet that only goes about 5' high, and the flowering side is the main chamber of the closet that reaches 7' and has a port that goes up to the attic. I first made the veg chamber. I put up panda film, hung a t-5 4' 6bulb fixture, and sealed it up with a door made of double layered panda film to prevent light leaks. I made the mistake of not ventilating the veg room at all my first go-around. 3 of 6 plants died, and 1 that's still alive (bubba kush) is a runt, stunted. Today, I revamped the grow room with proper ventilation (I hope!). I have a 6" duct fan pushing air from my bedroom through the wall and into a T-Duct and splitting off into each part of the closet, it goes up through the floor of the Veg Room, and into the lower side of the Flower Room. To exhaust the Veg Room, I have 6" ducting connected to a 6" hole in the dividing wall between the Veg & Flower chambers, near the top. A 10" fan connected to a T-Duct is up against the attic vent blowing air up into the attic and sucking the hot air out of the Veg room and the Flowering room. I'm thinking of attaching a carbon filter and another fan to the open ducting in the Flowering room when the time comes. Ideas? I put some new clones in, so now I have 7. An unknown strain (was told it was pineapple thai from the shop, but looks like it was mixed up with an xj-13), a true pineapple thai, bubba kush, sour flower (ssh x sour diesel), maui waui, sensi star, and chocolate dream. I stacked some books under the pots to get all the plants about 2-4" away from the t5. Temperature was staying constant at 81-82 during the hottest part of the day, and right now is around 76 at night. Humidity around 29-33. Is that too low? Should I add a small humidifier? Some thoughts on why my last clones died: too hot initially (the 1st day temps reached 94, until i started leaving the flap open and door open...shouldnt be a problem now with the venting), shocked them with too high of a ph (I used distilled bottled water that I later tested at 9.9!), now I'm still using "purified" bottled water, but added something to get the ph to ~6.9, possibly used too much nutes at first, dont have a ppm meter so not sure... this time I'm doing 1 week of water only until they're rooted (thoughts on this?)
Ok, I'm on day 5 of my new clones (Maui, Pineapple Thai, Sensi Star, and Chocolate Dream), and 1.5 weeks into the XJ13 (that's what we think it is, still not positive), the Sour Flower, and the Bubba Kush. The XJ clone belongs to a friend, and he's doing his own thing with that re: nutrients, training, etc. He trimmed a few smaller leaves off, but now the plant is only producing 3 leafers... maybe its shocked, but its thick and has a nice dark color. The Maui Waui is consistently droopy. I let the pots almost dry out since their first watering, then gave them a big watering yesterday morning, until it was draining out the bottom. I thought this would perk them up a bit, but still just kinda hanging. The Pineapple Thai looks the best of all to me. No complaints. Sour Flower is coming back strong, but its leaning bad, so I guess I'm going to stake it up or something. The Sensi Star is showing signs of improvement. The Chocolate Dream isn't doing too much back there in the corner of the closet. The Bubba is starting to make a comeback. I put her & the sourflower through hell the first week, so maybe that'll affect her growth, right? I added a humidifier, and get rh between 35-41 now, so thats a slight improvement. I found a 12w cfl laying around, so I'm trying to use it to straighten out the sour flower, by shining it at one side. We'll see if that helps. I spotted roots coming out of the base of my Pineapple Thai, so that I believe is my first rooted marijuana plant! Really happy about that. I gave the Sensi, Maui, Chocolate Dream, and Bubba some water mixed with Green Gro's Ultra Fine Mycorrhizae, hoping to get these babies to root. What is this good for? Only for transplantsing, or will it help with root growth? I was told by the guy at the hydro shop, you could also just sprinkle this right on top of the soil and it would be effective, is that true? I also picked up a 1000watt Hortilux HPS, aircooled reflector & magnetic ballast, so I'll be setting up the flowering portion of the closet soon(ish), not really in a rush, since these plants are a ways off from flowering.
Well, the Bubba, I almost killed during the first week... it's starting its recovery and looking a lot better, but its a runt now at 1.5 weeks. The Maui is filling out and growing, but the leaves are really droopy most of the time. I'm not sure the cause of that, but I hope she starts to perk up.
I think the Maui is a sativa dominant hybrid, but not positive. I read it was a cross between an island sativa (probably haze) and skunk. Not sure though. Since this is my first grow, I'm hesitant to do any kind of training. I'm just going to top them once or twice maybe.
I've been using anywhere from 5.9 to 6.5 or so, I dont think anything over 7. I mistakenly used something around the 9.0 range when I first started a couple of weeks ago... the Bubba & Sour Flower survived it...
Update: Gave them all a nice watering today with 6.0 and 6.8 water, I dont know what I poured in which plant, but I figured those numbers were within range for soil. These photos are from when I pulled them out of the closet to water them. They perked up real nice today after going back under the light. Chocolate Dream shot up a few inches I think and was up in the t5 when I got home from work, sporting a small burn. I pulled the Bubba, it was stunted and wouldnt take off. After I pulled it I saw that only 1 root was coming out of the rockwool bout a cm...after 2 weeks, lol. The Maui got some weird discoloration and spots on its old growth, like 6 leaves. Looked bad, so I cut all those leaves off and the new growth is looking fine so far. My roommates XJ is shocked I think. It's unpictured here, but he transplanted into a 5gal bucket, tried to flush it, we'll see. I ordered a ppm meter & calibration solution that should be here on Friday, so I'm going to start feeding them nutrients this weekend for their next watering. They've all rooted now and look great.
Update, about 3.5 weeks in, topped my Sour Flower, Pineapple Thai, Chocolate Dream, and Sensi Star. All are responding favorably. Started mild dose of nutes the last week. Using the GH trio, so far 1tsp of each for the big plants, and 1/2 tsp of each for the little ladies for now. Left to Right: Sour Flower, Pineapple Thai, Sensi Star, Chocolate Dream, Maui Waui