Hey all, first time posting as it's my first time giving growing a try and I've been digging up info on the boards. I had three old seeds that I had saved through the last couple years from great quality bags, and finally said what the hell and germinated them. Two sprouted, so I planted those and killed one by my own fault of spraying it with what I thought was water was the high strength cleaner.....(I know I know). Pretty much empty on cash so I couldn't go get the optimal supplies. My lighting is a joke right now (going with cfl's, cheap) but I plan on picking up two more suitable bulbs real soon as the plant is getting bigger. I used some miracle-gro (terrible I know) in a small pot and watered with tap water for the first few weeks, then switched to a little bigger pot a couple days ago and finally started misting it along with the soil watering (didnt have a sprayer this whole time). Probably about 2 weeks in, rough estimate, the mid-tips of the largest two leaves started twisting and have stayed that way since. I'm on my phone right now so I will come back and edit with pictures. But I guess my point with this is just to get some feedback and learn more about growing with little to nothing and further the progress of this plant to see where I can get with it. This plant is simply for learning purposes and if it turns out female/lives to make it up to or past that point, then even better!
I'm sure it desperately needs more light right now and a lower ph level. And when possible I'd like to swap it over to fox farm ocean forest soil and some nutes to really give it a strong life.
Looks pretty good for the conditions it's in I will give you that, but I would stop misting and look into getting a better light soon. If you'd like to go with FFOF soil, are you planning on going with their bottled nutrient line as well? Right now though honestly it looks fine for the time being, however it's soon going to run out of the nutrients that it had in the seed. The miracle grow will help a little with that, but it's going to probably cause a lot of ph and nutrient lockout problems in the process. The main thing that makes miracle grow not a good option is you don't have control over the release of the fertilizer, and cannabis is a light feeding plant so a little goes a long way. Things to make sure you get if you want to grow this plant out and flower it: A space to grow them in that you can seal off the light and air flow (relatively well). ODOR CONTROL *** this is a must unless you want everybody in the neighborhood to know what you're up too. Better lighting - CFLs aren't bad, especially during veg, however it's just not practical to use them flowering and get the kind of results that everyone wants to get. Ventilation - Got to keep the air fresh in there and moving around, usually you can just exhaust air out and allow the grow area to just use passive intake to replace the air. An oscillating fan aimed just above the plant canopy and below the light is good to help strengthen the plants stalk and keep away stale air. Good luck happy growing!
I'm really not sure what i'd go with, but if FF has their own affordable nutrients that work well then i'd happily get them. I plan on building a box for it as soon as the budget allows. I would use flat white/mylar walls, with two exhaust fans to power through a carbon filter and one intake fan, with a bulb reflector and four higher wattage cfl's than even the single 5000k I have right now in the last picture. HOPEFULLY. I am periodically turning a fan on to keep some fresh air flow going and stem strength, not as much as I should be though. Also this whole time it has been on 24 hours of light, I am just now switching to 18/6 and will continue that until I know the sex. Why should I stop misting? I was under the impression it's a gentler way of watering.
Misting is for clones and cuttings mainly, for seedlings you want the moisture to be under the plant in the roots, while having decently high humidity is not too bad for veg, you want the plants to focus on root development. Also it can be an easy way to over/under water. You don't want to constantly water since that causes over watering, whereas giving it a bunch of water all at once when it needs it wouldn't really do any harm. It's when the roots can't breathe does it start becoming a problem. I just wait until the leaflets are starting to droop from the stem and then give them a nice watering. Helps also to pick up the container when it's completely dry and get a feel for the weight of it so you can always pick it up and gauge how much moisture is there. You can get the FF trio for I think 35 dollars to 40 for the 3 one quart bottles. Just make sure you have the pH right when using those nutrients, it's good stuff though. Sounds like everything you have planned is good, but why 2 exhaust fans and an intake fan? that seems pretty overkill especially since you are going with CFL lighting. I use a 4 inch exhaust fan turned all the way down with a fan speed controller in my veg room, and a 6 inch one turned all the way down in my flower tent. The passive intake is just fine for me, never needed any intake fans. You won't notice too much of a difference in my experience with 24/0 and 18/6 lighting when it comes to when they will show sex. Usually it's around 1 month or so of vegging after it's already gotten to a good size before it will show preflowers in veg stage. The only way you would be able to know the sex with a plant that size is to flip it into 12/12 but It's too early for that.
Ah I hear ya, I'll stop with the misting unless theres a humidity issue. Thats a little spendy to me for nutes on one plant at the moment but we'll see if I get a project to work on (out of work right now and do auto upholstery, so income is questionable at times) The two exhaust fans would be to draw more air through the carbon filter since I hear it can be hard on computer fans which I was planning on using unless I come across some dirt cheap alternative. I'm going to be growing in a pretty small container, a bit bigger than a standard mini fridge. And as for the intake fan I'd just really like to have some fresh air flowing through the plant, plus if i do come across a hps bulb setup it would help with heat.
nice post , I agree with everything except the cfl part. I know a guy that is a maniac DIY grower. He has a 12 foot pvc pipe rigged up with five 200 watt cfl lights, no hood or reflectors. He grows about 12 plants in 3 gallon buckets, all lined up in a row. He's a hard core mainliner, one cola per plant. He's an avid photographer, and to tell you the truth, I think he likes taking pictures of his champion buds more than he likes smoking them.
Oh yeah i mean it's definitely not something that can't be done, but the amount of work that has to go in to make it compete with the performance of HID lighting is what is the downfall. But hey whatever works, more power to him.
I plan on putting 400-600 watts of cfl (4-5 bulbs, hope that's right) onto this one plant and with a smaller scale container that should be plenty of light I believe. I plan to top it into 4 colas with each getting their own lightbulb in close radius. When I get around to building the container, I'd like to move it into the shed but it's going to start getting cold here pretty soon. Im wondering what I would need to change for adequate temps if so, and if hps would give off enough heat to keep it nice and warm.
Hps would give off a lot of heat especially if it's a bare bulb. I wouldn't be concerned in a shed with an HPS going. I'd be more concerned what the temps would be when it was off. Sent from my Galaxy Note II. I know you bitchez be jealous.
Very true, the night time kinda passed over my head when thinking about it haha. I will just keep it in the house, it's not much of a worry.
An oil heater would do wonders. Won't dry out the plants and would keep the space warm. Just a thought. Sent from my Galaxy Note II. I know you bitchez be jealous.
For simplicity I'm just keeping it in my room. It's easier to maintain that way, but thanks for the suggestion i'll look into oil lamps for future use if need be.
Update pics: Transplanting to a bigger pot today hopefully as the roots have just started poking out underneath. I have to keep the fan running now for humidity issues (had some puddling on a leaf). But so far no real problems. My only concern right now is getting some ffof soil and more light on it. Then I might have to worry about temps as it's gonna start getting chilly out and we keep the house pretty cool. Does anyone recommend any type of trimming early on to promote more growth up top?
I wasnt able to get any soil so I'm thinking of leaving it be in this container. I know I would have a greatly reduced yield, but if I got anything out of this plant I would be amazed!
Little issue today. Im thinking it was just a light fixture that slipped and pressed up close to the plant causing a light burn, but it can easily be some sort of deficiancy. Any thoughts on the orangey brown?
Anybody?! I did have a little disruption in the light cycle andleft it on 24 for a couple days, but I'm back to 18/6 now. Edit: Now I realize this must be nutrient burn (or mag/cal deficiency?) from using the MG soil for so long. I really wish I could've transplanted it to big 'ol pot of ffof, I have a feeling it would be much bigger and healthier by now.