Hello Fellow Growers, I live in canada and as most of you know we have a medical program for MJ. I was recently approved to grow at home..... the adventure begins. I am growing in a tent. I will post pictured of the whole set up. after work. Please follow me on this as I will keep it updated as I go. I have been doing some research for the last 3 months but to be honest there is so much information! I wanted to hold off till I had a better understanding of the process but..... I learn better hands on and making mistakes.... so to say. So I am growing two Master Kush plants. I would like to do all organic. I floated in water for 24 hours till they sank. I then used the paper towel method in a cupboard above the fridge as it would be warmer. Kept them there for almost 2 days. Once the tap roots were abour 1/2 an inch long, placed in rockwool. Placed in the "dome". I am 8 days in now and I noticed one was "streching". I was using a single T5 with the dome, so this morning I decided to take the dome off and switch to the 400 watt CF. The light is about 8 to 9 inches away from the plants. is this enough. Should I move it??? Anyways thanks for reading and if you see anything that I am doing that mabey I shouldn't please let me know. Happy growing!!
If you're wanting to go organic starting in rockwool just shot you in the foot. Now before anyone says anything, yes I know a lot of weed gets grown in rockwool and there is a huge difference between growing in it and just using it as a starter plug, but it has its issues. I prefer using peat moss plugs (like rapid rooters) for several reasons: 1). It's not environmentally friendly (rockwool). 2). Rockwool is insulation, it's itchy and will irritate your skin if you're handling it much. I know people that stopped using rockwool because of persistent rashes. 3). Rockwool comes out of the package needing to have the pH fixed. 4). Unless you break up rockwool it holds way too much water, and that problem will always be there unless you plan on carefully breaking the rockwool away and planting with as little as possible still on the plant and now you're risking damaging roots. 4). Unless broken up, it's much too compacted for my liking. Something like the rapid rooter plugs drain better, roots push thru easier. Rockwool is popular, because it has been used for years, but we all know just because it's popular doesn't make it the best choice. Just my opinion on the rockwool, you can make your own decision. Is that a 400w CFL(s) that you switched to? You said you were using a single t5, by this you're referring to the single tube t5? Day 8 from sprout with two plants running 400, I think you're wasting electricity, much more light than they need at this time...
Crap.... well after reading that article I am seriously thinking about trying to remove the girls from it! Do you think I would be able to?
Ok... so I went back to the single T5. Sprayed the girls this morning. dosent see to be much noticeable change in the last day ot two.
That was my reaction, I was rooting clones in it so once they popped a root I carefully removed the rockwool. Breaking it up from the outside in being slow and gentle and paying really close attention for roots. It takes some patience and time, but it's for sure doable. There is risk to root damage and possibly killing the plant, I had 7 clones to deal with but I also had other plants going so if I lost some it wasn't a big deal, although I was careful and gentle enough and saved all of them. They still had a bit of rockwool once I was done but I was able to completely expose the roots and work most of it out. Now, this left me with another issue to deal with, the transplant into soil. All those exposed roots that should have a good hold on grow medium are now loose, like taking a plant from hydro and putting into soil. I had to be super careful to make sure I planted her stable but didn't do any soil packing, I wanted those loose roots to dig in good. All that said, you could just let them grow and take the knowledge to your next plants you start. Like I said, rockwool is very popular and proven to work, it has its issues but now you have to decide if it's worth the risk. What size rockwool did you use if cube or did you break it up? I was using the 3" cubes.
Funtogrow.... thank you for the reply I never thought about issues, like moving to soil after the rockwool is removed. What are ypu thought about planting the one girl who has stretched a little farther into the soil. Do you see any issues with that?? Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
A pic of the one that stretched would help, but really not necessary. Whenever I transplant I leave enough room so that when I water, the lowest set of leaves don't get wet or sit on the soil, so maybe 1/2-1" on younger plants from soil top to lowest leaves. I kinda play it by ear, and I usually am dealing with clones so not much stretch, in fact I've ran into issues where I've had to take off the lowest leaf set going from the cloner tray into solo cups because of lack of space to be properly transplanted (I use rapid rooter plugs, if you don't bury over them they have a tenancy to push up until the roots take a good hold on the soil). Hope this helps.
Ok.... So I made up a soil mix. Due to the rush I had to do the best I could. In Canada the gardening season is over so most shops have very, very limited selection of stuff. Anyways the girls are now in SOIL!! The rockwool was actually pretty easy to pull off. Hopefully they will progress nice from here in. LOL. Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
First day after transplant. Girls are looking healthy. There leafs look to be more horizontal. Yesterday they were slight droopy. Thank they look ok? Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
Hey Guys, It's been a coupe days since the removal from the rockwool. Girls look like they are starting to make progress again. How do they look?? Can you see and issues?? Looks like the tip of one of the leaves are yellowing... Should I be worried, or could it be transplant shock? Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
I raised the lid on the dome to allow air flow around the cups. Hopefully that will cool the soil down it was pretty warm under the drown dome. Thanks for ypur reply. Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
Sorry I meant hot soil as in a soil with a lot of nutes already in it. Too much nitrogen can burn young plants
They look about like mine did at that stage. Mine didn't do a whole lot until about week 3&1/2, then they just exploded. Every time I check on them there's noticeable new growth. And It sounds like you're getting really good advice, keep us updated!! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Hey guys. Just wanted to do a photo update. Nothing overly interesting how is it looking to you guys. Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
Wanted to do a quick update. Today is day 27 of this grow. And so far I think things are going pretty well. Girls are progressing nice. When can I get away from 24 hour light? Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
I've got my babies on a 20/4 light/dark cycle. They seem to really enjoy their little nap. When it's time to flower is when you switch to a 12/12 light/dark cycle. It depends on the strain, but usually somewhere around 2-2&1/2 month. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
You can leave it on a 24 hour light all the way through vegging and then switch to12/12 for flowering. But I do my vegging like Banks 20/4. Some say it doesn't matter but I just believe they need that little rest Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nope that makes sence. Thanks for the post. Should I be looking at transplanting to a larger pot soon. What are your thoughts? Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk