First Grow in New Set-up. Third Grow: Chocolope, G13, Cali Hash

Hi everyone.

New member to Grasscity forum. I have just recently converted from rollitup; I am an Industrial Designer and this site just seemed a lot more welcoming to me jaja

Anyway, I just moved to a new place so I constructed a new indoor grow set-up. AND I AM PUMPED! Love creating and with my past experiences the new set-up is going to be a huge improvement.

My space is going to be 6 1/2 feet wide X 4 feet deep X 8 feet high.
I will be growing hydro: Drip (for Veg) and Ebb & Flow (Flowering)
I plane to have a table inside where I will have the flood tables above and reservoirs below.

I have ordered Chocolope seeds (6) from Attitude and they are coming with two free seeds of: Dinafem California Hash and G13 Pineapple Express.
I am extremely excited about the Chocolope and the G13.

Will post pictures later today with details on my set-up along with some pictures; After I begin the germination!!

I will subscribing to other journals concerning Hydro and these strains.

Feel Free to pop-in when you wish with comments and questions.

 

On August 3rd I germinated 9 seeds. 6 Chocolopes, 1 G13 Pineapple Express, 1 Dinafem California Hash and 1 AK-47. ( I was so excited about these; couldnt believe I got the Old School G13 for free and I love Dinafem seeds. I happened to have an AK-47 from a past grow). I germinated using the paper towel method. I like to put them on a plate and cerram wrap it.

Anyway, yesterday (August 2nd) I checked on the seeds and all the seeds had germinated, except for the AK-47. So I preped my humidity dome and rapid rooter plugs, I placed all the seeds except two of the chocolopes and the AK-47. I like to wait till the tail/spike has solidly penetrated through the seed shell. This morning I placed the last two Chocolopes into the plugs.

In my dome, I could already see one of the Chocolopes poking out. (Great to see!)
So far they are all still in darkness. This afternoon I'll check on them again and see if I must put some under the MH.

 

Here are some pictures. For now I am taking these off my phone camera.

These are images of my set up:

You can see the Tent which is made of PVC pipes and Panda 6 mil Film; with a Zipper down the middle.

There is a table inside which holds reservoirs underneath, and flood tables up above.

I currently have one 400 watt MH bulb up above as well as Fluorescent T5 underneath where I plan to do my cloning.

In the future, I will be splitting the top half into two sections: One for Veg and one for Flowering.

Veg : approx. 4ft W X 3 Ft D X 6Ft High
Flower: approx. 3 Ft W X 3 Ft D X 6Ft High

 

Have not had any problems with Attitude in the past and their shipping is great too.
Have tried one other seed bank in the past but Attitude is the one for me

 

Sorry I forgot to add.

I will be leaving the seeds in the humidity dome for a bit; probably till I can see the roots. It is my first time using Rapid Rooter plugs, but my plan is to keep the humidity closed till just about all have popped out. Will spend the first day of light with dome closed then I will remove the dome.

Once I see the roots shooting through the plug; I know I am going to move them into a drip system BUT I am not sure about wether I want to place them into 6 X 6 rockwool cube or just place them in hydroton. I like the idea of rockwool because the drip stakes work smoothly in those and I know to add water once the cubes are completely dry.

What do you guys think? And any Rapid Rooter users have any suggestion or advice on those too?

Replies greatly appreciated

 

So I kept the seedlings in the humidity dome in darkness and checked every few hours, if any of them were poking out. When I woke up this morning, two of them were completely out with the seed shell still on their heads. So I turned on my MH and put it about a foot away with two fans blowing; in order to keep the temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees.
I am waiting to get a Cooltube reflector in the mail as well as a small 6 inch in line =; made specifically to attach to the CoolTube. I am really trying to prevent them from stretching.

So far it all looks good, seems like only one of the Chocolopes did not make it out of germination. I will post some pictures later today; when all my babies are getting some light.

 

Okay here are some pictures taken today of my little babies popping their heads out. While some are completely out, others are having a little bit of trouble. I want to help them, but I feel the best thing is to let them go after the light themselves... Agreed?

On the other hand, I have been trying to keep the temperatures down. From the picture you can probably see my fan pointing down at the humidity dome; so far seems to be the most effective. I can only keep the temperature down to 86 degrees tho.... Cant wait for my CoolTube to get here!

I also placed Panda Film with the white side up inside the Humidity dome in hopes that it will cool the area a bit.

 

Its a 400 W Metal Halide. I am getting a CoolTube in the mail this Thursday, so I will be switching the reflector as soon as I get it. My tent has been extremely hot, I have been trying my best to keep temperatures down, but still too hot for ideal conditions even with having my Exhale CO2 bag.

 

This is just a post to express my frustration right now.

Thursday could not be coming any slower!!! It has 5 days since I placed the seeds in the paper towel and about three days since I turned on my 400 W halide on them. Unfortuantely, I have failed in not letting them stretch. It was impossible for me to put the light close enough without temperatures reaching low 90s so now they are tall and thin....

Here is a picture. THe only good thing about today was seeing their roots poking out the bottom and a couple on the sides...

 

Yup. Underestimated it. Thought I could keep the temps down.

Not the end of the world, just disappointing. If their roots continue to grow the way they are, then I'll be happy. I'll transplant them to a bigger pot and bury the stem a little more in the hydroton.

We will see how things go....

 

I know people do it for soil all the time. There is even advanced ways to bury it so that you are effcicient wth the space you have for your roots to grow.

I know with hydro, you shouldnt bury them all that much and your feeding system shouldnt get the stem too moist cause it will cause stem rotting (I believe is the issue).

 

Hi everybody,
Its been 11 days since I germinated

Sorry that I have not posted in a bit. I have been quite busy doing some modifications to the tent. On thursday, I got my CoolTUbe in the mail. Sadly, my seedlings did get some burns on them. Hopefully not deadly; they seem to be doing okay the past couple of days.

I wish I could post pictures for you right now; but I have gone out of town and my roommate is on the watch till Friday.

I can just tell you that the CoolTube has allowed me to put my MH lamp about 18 inches away with the exhaust in-line ducted to one end (I believe that is more than a sufficient distance and doesnt feel like it will burn them) and the temperatures are right below 80 degrees. I got an Exhale CO2 bag a little above the pot of the plants.

I also transplanted my seedlings to little plastic cups because their roots were looking great pocking out in all directions and I added some hydroton in order to give their roots more room to grow. Still no nutrients just rapid rooter plugs with appropriate ph water.