Hello fellow blades, Starting the journal for my first grow. Tag along as you wish or just throw in your 2 cents. --------------- Box Dimensions: 20.6" tall x 18.6" wide x 8.1" deep 2 plants in 3" netpots, germinated right from within the organic starter plugs in the box, surrounded by hydrokorrels. currently using non-feminized Blue Himalaya seeds by shortstuff purchased from Attitude. This is an auto strain. I'm going 24/0 start to finish with the exception of maybe 48 hours darkness before harvest. using RO water I have delivered from Sparklets, tds meter reads it at about 10 on average before I do anything to it and 7.5 ph. I do my best to keep it within 5.5-6.1 ph but it rises every few hours and am often keeping it within a 5.1-6.5 range. using "Moon Dust" fertilizer 19-8-13 from start to finish. planning on making the soup 100ppm per inch of plant growth to a max of 1200ppm. I have a 50w HPS light, a 125w 6500k CFL, and a 65w 2700k CFL. I started the first week on only the 125w 6500k because it's gentle and I was leaving the lights on for germination. Once I hit day 7 I put the HPS light back in there and dropped the cfl to just a few inches above the plants seen here: http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/In3.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/In4.JPG inside the case are 2x 45mm fans, one on intake and one on exhaust. I have 2x 80mm fans inside the case for circulation. In the exhaust duct is a DIY carbon filter which is attached to a 4'' eco plus inline duct fan. This is then attached to a wood board that I measured, cut, sanded, painted, and attached a dryer vent attachment to. seen here: http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/PicBack.JPG That last pic is a little outdated in that it shows my cool mist humidifier far away from the case, i've since moved it to the opposite side of the case from the perspective of the camera so the ducting from the humidifer to the case is only about 4-5 inches long. I also have a DIY co2 generator with a couple cups of sugar and warm water, shake and then cool it off with a cup of cool water, add 2 teaspoons of yeast, close off the gallon jug, tube it to another, close that off, tube that into my grow behind one of the 80mm circulation fans. it's not much but it is what it is for not spending 400+ dollars on doing co2 properly at the moment. I currently have the thermometer between the 2 net pots to ensure im getting temp where hte seedlings are getting it, i'm averagine about 87-89 degrees now that I have both lights in there and the 125w that low but putting my hand in between the light and the plants for several minutes yields no issues. they seem to like the light this close. humidity sits around 34-37%. I don't see any signs of heat stress but I'm also a newbie to this. Today 5/7/2011 is day 10 since I dropped the seeds into the starter plugs. Day 4 for one seedling 'out of the ground' and day 2 for the other that had it's tap root come out on top and had to spiral around a bit in the plug before it grew out. I'm a bit concerned that I some of what appears to be tap root is still exposed to light but it seems to have survived the process and is growing. here are the latest pics I have of the plants: http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/D4Top.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/D4Side.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/D2Top.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/D2Side.JPG
update. Yesterday I saw the little white roots starting to poke out of the starter plug from the one that is not curling in the starter plug so I dropped the water from the bottom fo the netpot level to about half an inch below it. this has increased my temp by a couple degrees which is alarming me, the starter plugs are also completely dry this morning so I made my first mix of spray n' grow foliar spray and sprayed the plugs a few times, sprayed the actual plant very little as I don't want any magnification burns from the light being this close and the plant being this young. i still see no signs of heat stress but my thermometer has been hitting 91 occasionally since the water level was dropped to encourage further root growth.
U did the right thing let the roots grow down into the Rez. And just spray the plants three times a day
this spray and grow stuff says i mix a teaspoon into 16oz and within 2 minutes it should turn amber/yellow. I'm putting a quarter teaspoon (with an actual 1/4th tsp spoon) of the solution into a 4oz spritz bottle and it's not turning color... i'm concerned in regards to adding more will cause nute burn or not adding more is just me spraying it with water.. *shrug* edit: after a while and holding it up to a bright light, i see a slight yellow tint.
Yes that's is what to look for u never want to put full power food in to a young plant any way it will kill it
do you ph balance the foliar spray? It was making my RO water very acidic, like low 4-range. I put a cpl tiny ph-up particles in it to get it up to mid 5's as that just seems to make sense if 5.5-6.1 is optimal for hydro nutrient absorb? Not sure if its same for foliar as it's stomata and not roots.
Mmmm u might have to keep an eye on it but as long as the water in the rez. Is ok then u will be fine just spray the leaves it will help them pull up more food wit the roots
update: things look good. roots are popping out everywhere on the older one and i'm seeing them pop out the bottom on the younger one. May drop the water to a full inch below the netpot tomorrow. ph has become much easier to manage since the water level is not touching the netpot anymore. will take new pics tomorrow as it will be day7 for the oldest since it breached the ground.
not sure if there's more than 2 inches of space below these netpots. it's a small resevoir due to micro grow. i'd say im about an inch below with an inch of water in the res right now. roots from both plants are in the water still. is there any concern of the bubbles not being directly under the netpots? i have switched to the smaller airstones now that the water level is so low. The tubing does not seem to want to stay curved in the resevoir and is bubbling on the edges.
Damn that's right so u will have to keep any eye on it cause the water in ur Rez. Can dry out faster cause of the heat and the plant will intake more like three time more when they flower so keep ur eye on them at any time u see the leave start to drop down u must act fast they r too dry spray them wait ten min then add a lil water
looks yummy! updated pics: http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/Roots.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/VegD5Side.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/VegD5Top.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/VegD7Side.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/VegD7Top.JPG
Sweet I kno ur like doin flips over how they r growin right in front of u lol and dont trip I still sit and talk to my plants it's good karma for u and them
yeah I am loving the foliar spray because it gives me a reason to look at em. otherwise I just stare at them through the intake everytime I get excited or impatient.. as they get bigger, i'm not going to really be able to scale that 125w 6500k bulb back, there should be at least 2 more weeks of veg on these autos I figure. I'm going to maybe get a smaller 6500k to put it up in the corner next to the 50w HPS assuming these are going to get nice and big in the next 2 weeks. once room becomes an issue I imagine i'll make one attempt to finagle that 125w bulb to the top but it's like 13 inches or something and my case is fairly small.
in a year or two when I get settled in the first home I own. I will be going bigger. I just have to keep this stealth/micro due to landlord/keeping the wife happy/not much space.
I think I have a bit of nute burn, dealing with it. trying to get answers on it in this thread: http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/814022-heat-stress-nute-burn.html last post by me: "cant tell if its just getting bigger and there's damage from an earlier problem or if the problem is getting worse. 24 hrs ago: http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/YellowTip1.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/YellowTip2.JPG tonight: http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/YTD2_1.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/YTD2_2.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/YTD2_3.JPG http://www.anarchs.com/val/micro/YTD2_4.JPG will take more pics in the morning and see if its getting worse. have not done any additional foliar feeding, so if this is nute burn it's purely from the resevoir. it's at 200ppm right now INCLUDING ph down. i put roughly 150ppm of nutes into it. this should be perfect considering the plants are 1-2 inches tall. both would be 2 inches tall if the one lagging behind didnt have it's tap root come out going up and then have to spiral down. last pic is of the roots because they're not snow white anymore. there's a yellowish tint to a good portion of them. not sure if that's normal. first grow. no one has answered me on this thread or another if i'm supposed to be dumping a cup of res water onto my grow medium every day or a couple times a day to flush out any excretions that the roots could be producing in the grow medium."
