First Grow & Journal- closet, T5 & HPS

Discussion in 'Indoor Grow Journals' started by Gandalf the Green, Aug 26, 2009.

  1. #1 Gandalf the Green, Aug 26, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 26, 2009
    Alright GrassCity, I'm pumped to get this journal goin! I'm new to the forum, and to growing, but everything I know I learned from surfing this website for hours each night lol. Didn't want to start a grow journal til I got hold of a camera to post some pics. Hope you guys enjoy it half as much as I am lol

    So about a month or so ago I germinated 4 seeds and planted them in Miracle Gro Moisture Control, with extra sphagnum moss in the bottom. I had them under six 23W CFLs on Y splitters and surrounded by aluminum foil. 2 of them had their roots eaten away almost immediately by fungus gnats. I used potato slices to slow the onslaught, but that wasn't working as a permanent solution. Another plant died a few days later, leaving me only one remaining, and it looked paltry as well. The cotyledons turned yellow and all growth came to a stop. I had pretty much written this round completely off as a learning experience. I got ready to road trip it to High Tech Garden Supply (which had coincidentally shut down all internet ordering right as I was debating the value of driving there), and put 7 seeds in wet paper towels under a bowl, in my closet. Right before I took off, I found an article that mentioned using hydrogen peroxide to get rid of fungus gnats. I had pretty much given up on the lone survivor of my first batch, since it hadn't grown at all in 5-6 days. However, as an experiment so I would be prepared if the gnats occurred again in the next batch, I gave my plant a good healthy watering of peroxide and water in a 1:5 ratio. I also clipped off the cotelydons to focus growth on the two top green leaves. Two days later after a trip to HTGS, and visiting some friends, I came back home to find that there were virtually no gnats, and there was new growth on the previously stagnant plant! However, although there was a new set of green leaves, the bottom set of leaves which had started yellowing significantly. The yellowing did not go from veins outward, or from edges inward, but was more of a generalized yellowing. I transplanted her from the Miracle Gro to Fox Farm Ocean Forest, and from the solo cup to a two liter. I tried to remove as much sphagnum and Miracle Gro as possible to get rid of any larvae that may have been hiding. I am attaching pictures of her, any ideas what may be causing her illness? There is definitely significant growth since the transplant and since putting her under the T5 lamp, but the bottom leaves have gone totally yellow/brown.

    So of the 7 I germed over that weekend (8/14-16), two popped right away (planted 8/16, named Medusa and Snuka), and three more popped a few days later. It occurred to me that this only left me with 5 seedlings and one stunted plant. So I germed 5 more seeds and got 4 of them to pop relatively quickly and got them planted (8/20-8/21 I believe). This leaves me with 9 seedlings and my one stunted girl. I have names and labels for most of them so far lol.

    Anyway, I have them vegging 24/0 under a HO T5 lamp (10,000 lumens). Once they get a bit bigger I am considering bumping them up to a 400W metal halide (got the HPS/MH conversion lamp) to finish vegging, before switching to the 400W HPS for flower. I also bought a roll of mylar but havent put it up yet (still deciding if this is the closet I want to complete the grow in). I have a fan running in the closet to keep air flowing, and I have a hygrometer measuring min/max temps and humidity. Right now temps are staying between 73-80F, and humidity is between 32%-44%. I plan on mixing sea bird guano into the soil when I transplant them into their final pots. I also plan on mixing molasses with their water later in their lives. I am considering LSTing a few of them. And I plan on taking clones at some point and getting them going under the T5 while the females from this batch flower under the HPS. Thoughts?

    Enough yapping.... heres the pics
     

    Attached Files:

  2. One more question.... how do I know when to transplant them from the solo cups? Are Medusa and Snuka close?
     
  3. Alright good mornin GC.... heres another pic of my sick Indira. Also two pics of my best lookin girls, Snuka and Medusa. I never imagined they'd look this good after just 10 days from sprout. My others don't seem to be on that same pace, but they are 2-8 days behind. My only thoughts for why they'd be ahead are that I put them in the starter plugs that I had actually bought for cloning later on. Decided to throw them in there as an experiment. Also, I covered the cups with plastic to keep humidity in while they were still in the ground right after germinating. One of those two things must have helped lol

    Any thoughts on what's goin on with Indira? Still fungus gnat stunting, or nute burn from the Miracle Gro?

    Also my PH is right at 7. Any ideas what I should do to bring it down just a little bit? Nothing drastic, just .5 or so....
     

    Attached Files:

  4. Hey man, nice start. We have extremely similar setups., minus the fact you are a lucky bastard to be able to visit an HTG store. ;)

    Anyway, you don't need to be in any hurry to transplant to a bigger pot. Give them another 10 days and see where you are at. I've just started my second grow and am on pace for a pretty long veg (maybe 60 days+). Thinking 20 days+ in the solo's, then another 20 days+ in 1 gallons then into there final 3 gallon pots for another 20 days+. Don't know if I have the room or the light to pull this off in my veg cab, but it's a plan.
     
  5. alright cool man, thanks. I'll give them a bit more. When I do bump them up to the 2 liters, I'm going to mix guano into the soil, so I guess it's probably a good idea to wait until they are strong enough to handle the nutes.

    Yeah man, you've got a hell of a setup... I definitely want to mine to wind up lookin like yours lol. I'll be sure to keep tabs on your grow for tips. 5/5 males with your NL???? that's just plain evil....
     
  6. a easy way to tell when to transplant is if you got drain holes in the solo cups look in them if you see roots transplant
     

  7. Thanks man. My setup is undergoing some serious construction. Veg cab is done for now and growing out some seeds. Still need to order some things for the flowering room, but it will be back in action soon. Bigger and better is the plan....with alot less duct tape. :D
     
  8. Thanks Holland! I definitely do have drain holes in the cups, so I'll start checkin them periodically for roots.



    wow man... just got through reading the whole journal you got goin.... +rep for sure man. That's a hell of a schedule you got lined up for the next 32 weeks lol. I'll def. be tuned in man. I see that you're intaking air from the A/C... but what are you using for exhaust, and where is it goin? And what are you attaching your light to the ceiling with? And have you noticed a big difference with the SuperThrive?
     
  9. First off, I want to ask you how you are liking the T5 compared to the CFLs? Are you noticing faster growth? How do the temps compare between the two?

    I'm exhausting my veg cab with just a $9.99 Home Depot fart fan. It exhausts into a Y that goes into the flowering closet. I'm hoping that this will resolve my heating problems I had last winter when the lights were out. The other part of the Y is tied into the A/C, which will be disconnected and capped once temps get cold. I'm also hoping this will allow me to only run one air scrubber for both veg/flowering.

    SuperThrive....:confused:.....I've always used it so I really don't know if it does anything or not. Someone told me that it prolongs flowering, so I try not to use it to late.

    As far as my schedule goes, that's really a bit of a pipedream, but we'll see.

    Anyway man, I don't want to come across as an expert. Still have a long ways to go myself.
     
  10. I'm definitely noticing faster growth. Now what part of that is the T5 vs the CFLs, and what part is the Fox Farm vs the Miracle Gro... I couldn't say. What I can almost certainly attribute to the T5 is far less stretching. My original seedlings under the CFLs were tall as hell but the new batch under the T5s... much more compact. And the leaves are coming out much more quickly. As far as temps... I'd say even, or maybe lower with the T5.... I didn't get my hygrometer until I got the T5, so not certain. But when I was using the CFLs, I had 4 of them on Y-splitters hanging above the plants, and 3 more surrounding them, and that entire space closed in by aluminum foil (with a small fan blowing). Now I have just the T5 and no foil or mylar yet, but same fan running. Temps seem to be staying around 75F at plant level.

    You exhaust your veg cab into your flower room?? Doesn't that just add heat to the flower room? Or do you have both of them exhausting into the Y and some fan sucking that heat into or past the A/C? Your plants stink enough during veg to use an air scrubber? Do you think that is because you veg for 60 days?

    Hey man, you may not be an expert but you've brought in at least 2 harvests which means you know more than me. What's that cheesy line from Minority Report... In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king lol. Well I'm the blind dude... learning quickly but still legally blind lol
     
  11. Ok, have a problem... hoping to tackle it now while it's still small.... Snuka has some yellowish-brownish-reddish spots on her leaves. Just two noticeable ones and maybe one or two tiny ones. Is this something to worry about? Early sign of nute lock-out, or just where I let a drop of water get on her leaves and it concentrated the light? The rest of her looks incredibly healthy and she's growing like mad. This is day 12 for her and she's looking pretty far along for that I think. Any opinions???


    Crap so.... after trying to load those pictures.... it's failing miserably. Even at the beginning I was only able to upload maybe half of the pictures from my computer, and the other half would say upload failed.... any idea why? Now it seems like they are all failing.
     
  12. Alright, well... been doing a lot of work on the space. A friend of mine actually moved into the room that has the grow closet. So after debating the pros and cons, I decided to keep the grow in that closet and have him help me with it.

    So I got to work on the closet! I've lined the entire closet with Mylar... I transplanted all the girls out of solo cups and into square 1 gal containers.... and I hung up the 400W metal halide lamp in place of the T5. Wow! The difference is intense! And the heat it puts out is unbelievable... I have to keep the door to the closet open or it gets up to 90F or more. I am going to have to install that exhaust immediately! Which means I have to find a way to cleanly cut a six inch hole in the wall lol.

    My one girl, Snuka, has some bad problems. Her bottom two leaves are about dead. It's either PH lockout, or a calcium/magnesium deficiency. I am carefully monitoring the ph of the water she gets and hopefully that will pull her from her funk. If it spreads to more leaves, I will add CalMag to try and revive her.

    Luckily, my new roommate has a digital camera, so I will post some pictures tonight/tomorrow!
     
  13. Cal-Mag+ is good stuff. I've been using it for both foliar feeding and regular waterings. The girls seem to like it.

    Also turns out I was off a few days on my transplanting. It only took 11 days for roots to come out the bottom of the solo cups. New growth had slowed way down. So, I have transplanted as well, but I see you are already on top of it.

    Keep up the good work, bro. :smoking:
     
  14. shouldnv asked someone about the heat,,YES a 400MH will heat the crap out of a closet get you self a 6" vortex , speed controller , a hood , and some ducting.. should coolthings off quick.you plants would survive with that kind of heat..
    or if the dont the smoke will be crap
     

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