First time grower. What do you think?

Hey everyone,

I've been reading threads, watching grow videos, and talking to a couple local part time growers for about 3 months now.
Got a tent at the beginning of January, and after a couple days I decided that I could at least throw some bag seeds in some soil and see what happens. I am starting to get the parts that I need to have a decent grow now, but still Mickey mousing a lot of this.
I have a 2x4x78" tent
Running 8x23w 6500 cfls, and an old 40w x2 fluorescent 4 foot light. At 18/6
I have a 36" oscillating fan on 24/7
Running a small cool mist humidifier as well.
My vent is a 5" desk fan duct taped to a plastic homemade tube for some ventilation. Sealed off the inside of the vent with nylon fabric for bugs as well.
2 humidity/temp meters and I am at 26% humidity and range from 84-66 degrees day/night.
I will be getting a 6" exhaust fan and charcoal filter this week.
And I plan on running a 600w mh/hps combo hopefully by flower.
So not the best, but I think it's doing the job.

So today is day 33 from seed.
1/9 Germinated in water for 2 days and paper towel for 2 days. 7 seeds popped.
1/16 5 seedlings out of soil (ffof)
1/19 6 seedlings up.
1/22 all but 1 have second set of leaves.
Steady growth up till now.

 

Here's a few pics up to about 5 days ago. I'll post new pics from today.
I have added 2mg cal mag each feeding, and just started 25% strength of gen hydro nutes every other watering (3-4 days between watering)

Just looking for some insight from others out there. Maybe y'all see what I don't. Thanks for the help in advance. And I'll keep y'all posted till the end.

 

its actually been 7 days since my last pics. They are a little dry today, but they aren't upset so I'll let them go 1 more day before their next feeding.

Should have more pics in a few days. Please let me know what you all think. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks

 

Repotted the plants today. From 2-1/2 liter to #3 pots. No root binding to speak of. No root rot. All nice white and happy. I'll post photos when they spring back up.

 

Ok so been a busy week in my garden. Repotted all 5 plants Monday.
Got my fan and filter kit yesterday and got that all up and running.
And just went through and pinched off 14 tops and lst all 5 plants.

Fan is a 6" vivosun with filter. It runs pretty quiet on the low setting so I am pleased so far. And for 140 bucks I'll take it. Temps came down 2 degrees in dark which I am not thrilled about, but it is what it is.
Everything bounced back very well after the repots. And after today's lst and toppings every plant should have a solid 10-12 tops to flower. (I hope)

 

Time for an update.
Got some new lighting this week. 2 mars hydro 300 lamps. Not the greatest but better than the cfls and t8s. Plants are loving the new spectrum. I think I'm gonna try to jump into flower in about 7-10 days.
Lost a top installing the new lights though. But did a little lst on it and it seems to be just fine. Still watering with calmag 2ml/gal. And spring water ph to 6.0.

 

Day 44 of veg. The slight nitrogen toxicity I had seems to be getting better. Still have 1 plant showing. There were so many variables that changed in the last couple weeks that I can't be sure it was that or not. Mars 300s are working perfect. Got a thermostat for the tent so temps are right at 70-75f 24/7.
Gonna be flipping to flower in 3 days. Got some better genetics on their way, so I think this practice run is ready. No pre flowers so we will see how many ladies are in there. Hoping for 2. We will see.

 

Thanks.

It's a girl! Couple other plants are starting to show as well. One other looks like a lady. And another I am not sure yet.

But I did run into an issue today. I have 3 of the 5 plants with firm soil. The water is making it down about 3 inches. So I plan on repotting this weekend. I think 25-30% perlite mixed in this time. And I'll have to wait on the swap to flower until they bounce back for a bit. Hopefully by mid next week I can flip.

 

Got 2 more plants showing sex. One is definitely sprouting calyxes (2nd pic), but the other looks male to me. What do you think?

 

I killed off a male today. It was a beautiful plant. The root structure was awesome, but you gotta do what you gotta do I guess.
The remaining 4 plants will switch to 12/12 today. I am still planning on taking a couple more out due to lack of space. 2 of the 4 are sexed as female, but I want to keep the 2 strongest plants to flower out.

 

Today's day 2 flower. I repotted my best 2 ladies today into #5 pots. And I'm glad I did because they were getting a bit root bound in the #3 pots. I have a third female in a #3 pot in the far right rear pot. It has had a rough life. Lost a main top a while back, and almost lost the other, but I have it taped together and it seems like it's still ok surprisingly. It was literally 98% separated. But if I need filler space in the scrog I'll use that one to fill it in. The last plant looks like it's gonna be male, so I'll let it go a couple more days just to be sure.
I also added a couple cfls on the right for a bit more light over there. I wish I had 1 more mars 300 for this tent, but it'll do. Got a 6500k and a 2700k for a bit of each spectrum. I'll probably take them out when I am down to the 3 ladies though and spread the mars lights out a bit.
And finally I put together a scrog today with some scraps of window trim I had lying around. ( yes I know it's a little crooked. Need to be able to get the plants on the right out without much trouble.). With all my space limitations in this tiny tent I figured it'd be a good idea. I want to switch to tomato cages next run I think but that's gonna depend on if I can get my grow room set up. And I am ordering an ro filter system this week. I am getting tired of buying water at the groceria to feed these girls. And my tap water is beyond hard. 830ppm!!! Seems like a no brainer to me.
And thank you to the wonderful people at New England hydro. They always seem to have some great insight. It may be cheaper to get most of this stuff online, but I have to say it's well worth the extra money for what you get beyond your purchases. SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS!! Especially in our community or they'll disappear.
Happy growing!

 

Here's the last pics I can take out of the tent. They will be into the scrog in a day or two. Three females. Out of 5 seeds. I'll take that.

 

Just ordered a simple ro system. 119 dollars 5 stage no pumps or tanks. That should pay for itself with 1 more grow.
I also ordered a USB microscope. I am having no luck with my loupe. For under 20 bucks I figure it's worth a try.
I would like to start getting what I need for my next grow too but I am still a little undecided on what to get. I want a 2' 4 bulb t5 unit for seedlings and starting veg but I know my t8s and cfls will do the job. I also want the growers choice cmd315 I think it is. Guess I'll have to think it over.

 

Well here's my first real issue. Found a little bit of white mold on the ladies today. Luckily I found it early. Treating it with some hydrogen peroxide water and dish soap. This is not the time to be messing around with this. But like I said found it early so it shouldn't be an issue. I couldn't see any signs yesterday and it's only in one area of one plant. But I sprayed them all. Every inch nook and cranny. If it isn't gone by tomorrow I will be headed to the hydro store for something a little stronger.
What I don't get is how I got it. My humidity is lower than I'd like it all the time. I'm around 40% on a good day but usually low 30s so where it came from is beyond me.

 

Day 9 flower I believe. I changed up my nutes this week. Added in a tsp of molasses/gal and I dropped my gro. Well I switched to transition nutes at 1/2 strength, and gro at 1/4. I also added in the kool bloom at 1/2 strength a feeding early from flower schedule.
My girl on the far left is beasting out! Lots of bud sites, great stretch, and growing very evenly in the scrog. The other two are a bit slower, but they are very dense. I did a bit of lolly popping just after I took the pictures trying to get some of the lower nodes up into the good light.
As far as the wpm I think it was something else. I sprayed them down and there aren't even signs of it now. I don't think it disappears like that. Lol
So up for this week is a switch to 1/2 strength full bloom schedule nutes, and my ro system comes tomorrow. I am hoping for some cruise control from here on out. 6-7 weeks left give or take and it'd be nice to relax.

 

I am not worried about either. Setup is on point. Very clean. There's never any standing water in there. And the one scare I had turned out to be something else. My humidity is too low for either one too. Only low to mid 30s for rh right now. Can't raise it because of how small my space is and how dry the basement is. Cool mist doesn't push enough. And warm makes the tent too hot. So I deal with the low rh.

 

RO system is up and running. 3ppm from the tap which was 744ppm.