Hi GC members this is my first GC account, but I have been reading through tons of threads on this site so I am not new to the site in general. Anyways this is my very first grow, but I have bought top notch products that should help the grow be success. here are the details of the grow. micro grow: box size=18.5inch wide, 12.5 inch deep, (currently) 2ft tall. Lighting: 4 vegging daylight 27w CFLs and 4 42w flowering soft white cfls. Strain: Buddha seeds' white dwarf, and feminized auto AK-47 Soil: Fox Farm Ocean Forest with 25-30% perlite. box is covered with panda reflective material from a hydro store. As I said this is my very first grow, but I have done tons of research so I am not totally lost. Any feedback comments or help is more than appreciated.
The white dwarf fem is a great strain. Look up "StarBaby," she has a great grow going at the moment with some White Dwarf Fem's that are currently in flowering. I am considering it for my next strain. Can you throw a table cloth or something over your box to make it into a useable surface you could set a lamp on or something? Is stealth one of your larger concerns? Looking great so far overall. You have done right in setting up your ventilation at the beginning of your grow. That is the single most important factor in a good grow cabinet. You must be able to control temperatuers, and the plants need a constant supply of fresh air to thrive. I didn't notice anything disappating light on your intake. This is not an issue right now but you will want to make sure you don't have any light leaks before you enter flowering. A piece of pipe similar to that pictured on your exhaust would be recommend for your intake. You can set it up on the inside of the box to keep your cabinet looking stealth. I have been talking with mapes, so you may have already seen my grow cabinet, but I have black piping on the inside for disappating heat. My poor cabinet will be dismantled and destroyed in the near future My next grow will be a PC grow. We'll see how that goes! Anyway, keep up the good work, you are on the right track!
Why is it important for flowering? And by dissipate do you mean you need a light trap for the intake? What would be the best way to do this using the least amount of space?
During flowering, for a normal Cannabis strain (non auto-flowering) you need to provide the plant with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness each day in order to induce flowering (i.e. "bud" formation). During that time, any "light leaks" (i.e. light in the box during dark hours) will confuse the plant. It doesn't know how long or short the days are and it essentially gets scared that winter may or may not be coming, stressing it out, and causing unfortunate consequences. In these cases the plant can development male sex organs, even though it is female, essentially becoming a hermie, self-pollenating in an effort to ensure its species survival. You end up with seedy bud. It is all bad, and it is important to ensure that you do not have light leaks at that time. Check out the black PVC piping in my box. Air is being drawn in but light "disappates" around the curves of the black PVC piping: ... ... ... ... ... ... From the outside of the box: ... ...
Ok thanks. In this setup, the box is going to be in a closet that is always super dark.If some light gets out of the box via the intake (not much) it should be ok, right? Is light leaking in more of a concern than light getting out as long as it is in a dark room?
If you don't have any unwanted visitors in your home that could potentially see what's going on, then the escaping light is no problem at all. As stated earlier, light leaking in is damaging, not light leaking out, unless it's a matter of being stealthy.
Day 1. Here is a pic of the first seed sprouting. This is from a few days ago. Right now the only seeds that have been planted are the white dwarf seeds. The auto AK-47 will begin to be germinated sometime later this week.
Day 2. Here are a few pics of the white dwarf after almost their second day of being planted. So far so good. All but one of the seeds has now sprouted and they seem to be growing quick. Right now the lights are on a 20hrs on, 4hrs off light cycle. This is what the seed bank I ordered them from said to do. What do you guys think? I am trying to veg as fast as possible b/c of a time issue so is this light cycle of 20-4 good or what?
Stealth is a large concern but I think I kind of gave you guys the wrong idea of how it looks when its in place. Here are a few pics of what it looks like when put in its spot. The spot that I have it is also very dark and there is no way light will be able to get in from any outside source. The pic that is dark is a picture of what the same closet space with the grow box in it looks like with the room lights off, but the grow box is still completely lit up. There are a couple small light leaks that need to be addressed but will be ok for now.
oh and sorry for not acknowledging your grow here celladwella. everything is looking good man, and since my WD cfl grow will be a couple of days ahead of yours, feel free to drop by my thread if you have any questions or comments on your/mine grow. Best of luck
Some questions: I'm using normal non-feminized seeds, so I planted 5 assuming that I'll get 2 female or maybe more if I'm lucky. I know the 4 26w CFLs and the extra 68w CFL I will add soon wouldn't be enough for more than 2 plants, but will they be enough to grow the 5 plants properly up until I am able to determine their sexes? My thinking was that these 160-170 watts would be ok while these 5 plants are young, and that by the time they are pretty big and we can determine sex and require more light (about 2 weeks, right?), we will have to throw away 2 or 3 of them. This means we will have 2 to 3 plants for over 170 watts of CFLs, which would be decent. I just want to make sure we have enough lighting to get us to that point. Also, when will it be a good time to move the plants from the party cups to their full-size pots?
Well in simple terms, you basically determine when you wanna see what sex your plants are. Meaning, depending on when you induce flowering (12/12) there is a certain and pretty predictable time frame that they will show sex. Sorry if that sounded kinda confusing but to answer your question more accurately, it depends how long you plan on vegging them and what not before you induce flowering. But I know for a fact that a lot of guys on here will tell you that your light is sufficient for say about two weeks of vegging these, if i remember correctly you saying that. And personally, I'll tell you the same thing, I think you would be perfectly fine with this amount of light, probably even a bit more than two weeks. And the thing to remember is the fact that any amount of lighting (within reason) is enough for you to veg plants out, speaking technically. Sure, they will stretch out as they are getting pretty big, as the bigger they get the more light they require. So in the end it comes down to how bushy you want them to be, or how tall you want them to be, and how much bud you want them to put out come flowering. Also, once again, just putting my 2 cents in, the lights you currently have will most definitely be enough to veg these things for say a few weeks (technically speaking once again, but it depends how stout you want them to grow) but more light will definitely need to be added come flowering. I go by the 100 true watts per plant rule, and I currently have 52 watts on my little sprout, but will have 104 watts once I add my other two daylights as she gets a little bigger. And sorry if all this is a little jumbled, I'm a little drunk but trying to be as helpful as possible
What Nosmoke said is good advice in general, although autos don't need 12/12 to flower. Because the plants will not get very large, you need less powerful light to penetrate them, and that's why CFLs are perfect for autos. Of course more light will always mean more bud production, so if you can add more, great, but what you have will undoubtedly be sufficient until flowering. I would advise you not to germ more seeds than you intend to grow (not including the ones you have already), this is just a waste of expensive seeds. I'd hold off on the AK/LR until you sex these ones. As for the best time to transplant, most growers reckon once you see roots coming from the holes in the bottom of your pot then it's time. Once again though, things are a wee bit different for the autos. If you wait to see roots you may already be into flowering, and transplanting will stress the plant a little, so you may want to do it earlier. Anytime after the plant has passed the seedling stage will be fine (this is when the plant starts to grow five bladed leaves) I transplanted my LR2 two days ago, at 2 1/2 weeks. There were no roots coming from the bottom of the cup, but when I removed it there were plenty visible around the sides. She's now luxuriating in her new abode. You're looking good so far, best wishes for a healthy grow!
Yeah I was planning on using the auto AK if I got really unlucky with the male/female ratio on the white dwarf. Do you think that was a bad idea to plant 5 of the white dwarf to ensure that I can get at least 2? I'm doing this because I care a lot more about getting the most I can in the amount of time I have and less about the cost of the seeds. Thanks for your help you cleared things up.
No problem man, and I think you did exactly right by germinating five, I just don't want you to have to ditch any females. Good Luck.
If I have a problem of getting too many ladies, then I will consider myself lucky. I've read about some bad male/female ratios on autoflowers so I wanted to be sure I could get the most out of our time and small space. Thanks for helping.
Oh shit...you guys are using an autoflower strain, aren't you? Throw all that shit I said about light leaks out of the window. Autoflowering strains do not require the 12/12 schedule at all. You can have all the light leaks you want. If you ever grow a non-auto strain you'll have to worry about 12/12, but not now. The rule of thumb for lighting is 100 watts for the first plant, 50 for each additional. So for 5 plants that would be 300 watts. You will be okay with what you have for a while, but you will want to step up your game as they start to grow. With your autoflowering strain, however, you may be able to determine sex well enough in advance to not need extra lighting. You never know what male-to-female ratio you will get with non-feminized seeds. I will say this, I just had my grow come to a grinding halt because all 3 of my plants, Northern Lights #5, turned out to be male. That's 3/3 male. It happens. I guess you never really know what you are going to get. Good luck guys