Grow Diary, ( Super iced grapefruit).

Hello everyone and welcome to my grow diary. Im not a complete noob but would appreciate any help or advice as my grow comes along. So i have just set up my grow room which is 1m W/ 1m D/ 2m H.
I will be using 1 400w hps light with carbon filter. I have a 20" fan in the room, a temp and humidity guage and a humidifier in place ready to go. I will be attempting to grow Super iced grapefruit in soil with some basic nutrients. I plan to use pea shingle in the bottom of large pots with a mix of good quality soil, (John innes) and perlite. This is day 1 of my grow, or at least that is what im calling it as my feminised seed has broken the soil and reaching for the sky this morning. To skip back 3 days if i may.... I put the seed into a glass of warm water from the tap and covered with cling film. This was then left on top of my fish tank to keep warm. 24 hours later and she has split with the 1st signs of the root coming out. I then put her in a 4" pot with seed soil, (again John innes number 1) which was soaked through 1st. I covered her over with a black plastic bag and again put her on the top of the fish tank to keep temps up slightly. 2 days on the tank and now she has broken cover and looking for light.
I have been advised to place on the window sill indoors for now for a day or so before placing in my grow room. I only have the 400w hps so dont want to fry her. If you think i can put her in there then please let me know. I will take a couple of pics later today and hopefully get them up on here. Thanks for reading and hopefully i have not bored you too much! Smokey.

 

I have not decided wether to stick with 1 or 2 grapefruit for this grow, or i might throw in a few old lowryder seeds that i have from years ago. I have 4 in soak at the moment and i will see if they pop. Im thinking 1 grapefruit and 4 lows, basically to use up the lowryder seeds. i know the ammount i would get from 4 lows probably wont add up to the same as 1 grapefruit but im not that bothered. This is for my own personal smoke and im not in it to make money. If that was the case i would have 4 grapes in the room.
i have taken some pics and now just need to work out how to upload them! smokey

 

trying to upload some pics of all stages of the grow so far. Im a bit of a technophobe but here goes....

 

...so its day 5 in the grow room for my 1 super iced grapefruit and all seems to be ok so far. I am not sure if any of my Lowryder seeds are going to break the surface but ill give them another couple of days and see what happens. it may be that the seeds are too old or have not been stored well enough. Not that fussed as it just means i can plant something else if i like. She does look a bit lonely in the tent on her own as there is plenty of space for at least another 2/3 plants. Here are 3 more pics of my lady so far. dont hate on me that i dont have perlite in the pot, that will come when i pot up. i will make up a perlite mix for the next seedlings that go in and see if there is much difference. I have just watered her in the last pic a couple of hours before the light goes back on so that would be her 3rd water in this pot so far. 1st when she went in to the damp soil, 2nd with plain filtered water and today with a small ammount of Take Root nutrient. 1ml per litre. Hope fully this will be ok for her.... I may not find out until she reacts as i dont seem to be getting much love for my diary so far..... Hey ho, its for my records as much as anyone elses and maybe it might help someone along the way. There is not much reports on the grapefruit strain that i have found only that it is strong thc content, (22%) indica and a high yielder with short stocky packed out branches. 8 week flower i think. Anyway heres the new pics.... Sorry but the grapefruit is 90% Sativa and not Indica as i previously thought!

 

Potted my lady up this morning as her roots were coming out the bottom of her small pot. she has gone into her finishing pot which is 10 litres. Plenty of perlite and nice quality soil mix. She has her 3rd set of leaves now and is looking quite happy. Lady number 2 has also just gone into the grow room today after breaking the surfuce 2 days ago. 3 and 4 are germinating at the moment so just waiting for them to break the surface. none of my lowryders came up so decided on growing all 4 grapefruit. After reading lots of threads on here i am going to try topping and fimming on 1 plant, LST on another and probably leaving the other 2 to grow naturally. I will post some pictures later.

 

Couple of pic updates for anyone that might be interested... 1st plant is 2 weeks old now and seems to me to be looking fit and healthy. She has been potted up in what i thought was going to be the finnishing pot, but since then i have bought some large tubs, (40 litres) which i will probably transfer her into in a weeks time i guess. The 2nd plant has been in the grow room for 3 days or so now. She will go straight into her 40 L finnishing pot when she outgrows the small starting pot she is in now. Temps and humidity seem to be all good too so far. I did germinate another 2 seeds which split but never popped up! Not sure what i did wrong there! Anyways i can just concerntrate on 2 healthy plants.
Pics.....

Smokey

 

Couple of picture updates on the 2 girls in their large tubs. I drilled plenty of holes for drainage in the bottom and gave them some real good quality soil mixed with plenty of perlite. i have coverered the top of the pot with mylar for added reflection of the light. I have fimmed the largest girl and plan on doing quite a bit more before changing light cycle to flower. She has been under the lights for a little over 2 weeks now. I think she is a little on the small side but thats probably my fault with re-potting twice. Im not too worried as she looks healthy enough. i have not started with any nutrients at all yet so will be starting that on next water, which will probably be in 2 or 3 days as the pots are so large and she only went in yesterday. im going to be using Dutch pro nutes.
Pics....

 

Nice 1! Glad to see there is life out there..... I was begginning to think i was all alone or just not very interesting! Maybe the later is true. Good to have you here and i look forward to comparing the grows. Your the only other person that i have seen to grow this strain so will be interesting. Show me some pics of your setup if you get a chance, id like to take a look at the different ways in which we are growing the same plants. What lights are you using, soil or hydro, size of pots and are you planning on topping, fimming LSTing or leaving her natural? Im looking forward to the flowering stage but im in no real rush and she seems to be taking her time growing. Lots of fimming for me on 1st plant and then im going to try LST with the second. Im only just ahead with the 2nd plant as she has been under the lights for 5 days now and still only on her 1st set of leaves. Are your seeds feminised?
Thanks for dropping by.

Smokey,

 

Not sure about the miracle grow, but you could ask someone who knows more about it. My thoughts are as long as the plants are flushed properly at the end of flowering pre-chop then most to all nutrients will be out of the plants system. i went organic nutes the 1st 3 grows but have moved onto dutch pro to see what thats like. I like the sound of filling those plastering tubs with clones. SOG you mean presumably. I dont have the space to keep a mother plant really so just growing from seed each time. Once the mother is big enough into veg you could most likely get 30 to 50 clones off her and plant all at once in those tubs. 15 per tub roughly and that would give you a great SOG grow. Plant them till rooted for a week or so and then straight into flower. Id like to see that if that is something you were thinking about. Sorry if i mis-read what you were planning.

Smokey.

 

Hello fella, nice looking setup for starters. I hope im not going to piss on your parade but that last picture has me a little concerned about your drainage. Im assuming you have not made any holes in the bottom of those tubs. Even if its not an issue throughout the main grow you will need to flush the plants out before harvesting. You have those tubs full of soil and im sure they are there for the duration of the grow and your not intending on lugging them around the loft space! If im wrong then let me know but i dont see how you are going to flush them at the end. I think it is something like 5 times the volume of water that you would normally give them. I used to carry my plants into the bathroom and leave the shower head running on them for 5 mins or so to give them a thorough flush through. i hope i have not spoilt your day but better to know now before you have plants in there! Also by the looks of the size of those,( 1.2 M length ) you have plenty of room for a lot more than 4 or 5 per tub. fill em up with clones and dont veg for too long. Take a look at some SOG grows and see how many they put into their trays. My thinking would be the more the merrier. It depends on how many you get from the mother plant. Hope you can understand all im saying and im certainly not trying to tell you what to do. Just my opinion and there are probably other far better experienced growers who will guide you where needed. Let me know about your drainage.

Smokey.

 

Another quicky...where are you growing your mother plant cos you wont be needing those tubs for months!

 

I think roughly a week to 2 weeks worth of flushing so that there is no nutrients left in your plants. You dont want to be smoking any of that shit. And to be honest if you have been growing for 3,4 or even 5 months and doing everything correctly do you really want to cut corners right at the end of your grow?! Someone else might be able to advise further on the flushing ins and outs and if it is possible to leave them with just plain water. I would still try and get some drainage sorted out though imo.
Its not going to be easy though as you have filled the tubs. You could do with emptying 1 at a time and drilling holes in the bottom. I used a 10 mil drill bit and made about 20 holes in my trugs. you are going to need 40 to 50 holes i should think for those tubs. You will also be needing something toncatch the water in underneath. What you could do is after you have made the holes sit the tubs on some wood or bricks to lift them off the floor. Make sure your holes are not positioned where you want to place the bricks/wood. Not sure on what to put underneath though! I would have at least 3 places to support the tubs if not 4. 1 at either end and 2 in the middle. Just watch the weight and where your floor joists are though!
those tubs are going to be pretty heavy when it comes to water and soil! I would empty 1 into the other 2, turn upside down or on side, mark where you are going to put the supports with marker pen. drill holes all over the bottom of the tubs leaving the marked out places solid.
sorry if i have dumbed down the explanation, just wanted to make myself clear for you.
Good luck!
I will put a pic or 2 up later.

Smokey.

 

I f you want /need any advice im on here most days at some stage so im quite happy to give it a go. If i cant answer the question there are so many good threads out there to read. Thats what its all about though, reading and learning. You now know not to overwater the plants. Give them a good water until it runs out the bottom of pot with bottled water/purified/filtered or just tap water that has been sat for a day or 2. Dont water until the pot feels light, and/or the soil starts to crack and draw in from the edges. Its all a learning curve. Frustrating but you wont do it again!

Good luck,

Smokey