First time grower of my most favorite plant on the planet! This forum is serving as being highly informative and valuable as we all seem to have our own scenario for grow applications. So, let me share mine with you and I welcome your critique and advice. I live in a subdivision where neighbors are closer than what I prefer (30 ft or so) but it is what it is... I am using a spare bedroom as a growspace and I am currently in a 4x4 tent. This grow is bagseed although if I could go back in time, I would have chosen auto/fem seed especially since I am a beginner with this plant. More about the setup: Growspace Setup: 4x4 tent: http://www.ebay.com/itm/331816496744?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT Lights: Phillips CFL bulb (seedling): Feit LED bulb (seedling): Mars Hydro II 1200 LED (veg, flower): Temp/Humidity/CO2/Video Monitoring: 1) ThermoPro Hygrometer: 2) Auto Pilot CO2 Monitor: 3) Canary Video Monitoring: https://www.amazon.com/Canary-All-O...ie=UTF8&qid=1489519659&sr=1-1&keywords=canary Soil, Nutrients & Watering: Fox Farm Ocean Forest: https://www.amazon.com/FoxFarm-FX14...520513&sr=1-1&keywords=fox+farms+ocean+forest Fox Farm Trio: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C0PEBES/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Cal-Mag: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004JKBMRW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 pH Meter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDC4GQM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Tools: 1/4" grow light ratchet ropes: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AUP1VTS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Grow Light Eye Wear: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I5LAJUG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Lets get to it: I started out using bagseed and the paper towel method damped with tap water and placed in a ziplock bag. (Feb 14). Some of the seeds were questionable if they would sprout and since these are no ID bagseed, I was unsure of sexing so I germed 12 seeds. 8 Sprouts were placed in 4x4 pots and 4 were placed in solo cups. They all germed: Thumb_IMG_3704_1024 by gingerbud posted Mar 14, 2017 at 5:02 PM I started out with a couple of LED bulbs that are socket style and I made a makeshift reflector to put them in, poor choice. After some thought, the light was misdirected at a bad angle and the reflector probably made it even worse. IMG_3775 by gingerbud posted Mar 14, 2017 at 8:29 PM Thumb_IMG_3728_1024 by gingerbud posted Mar 14, 2017 at 5:02 PM After a couple of weeks, I noticed sluggish growth compared to others so began to question my lighting. I added a couple of 6500k CFL's and removed one of the LED bulbs I was using. I noticed rapid growth compared to the LED bulbs so I decided that it was time to move towards CFL's instead of the LED bulbs I was using. The photo below is my current setup as of today (March 14). Thumb_IMG_3763_1024 by gingerbud posted Mar 14, 2017 at 5:11 PM I am 30 days into the grow and as you can see there are some that are much smaller than others. I have also noticed throughout the grow that some have stretched more than others. I have noticed that at times, leaves have curled under slightly potentially due to low humidity, under watering, or light burn. I have also noticed yellow coloring on some of the leaves that are questionable, slight yellowing. Also, I have seen purple striations in the stalk. I started using the Fox Farm trio on week 3 with a dash of Cal-Mag and I pH to 6.5. I am not sure if I need the Cal-Mag since I use tap water... I also may have started nutes a little early especially since I will probably only keep 4 fems. I am concerned with determining the sex since this is somewhat critical and have no ID on what I have. Maybe I should have added my monster size magnifying glass that I recently picked up in my tools section that I am using daily. Once I have some ladies under my belt, I will be using the Mars Hydro II 1200 LED: Thumb_IMG_3739_1024 by gingerbud posted Mar 14, 2017 at 5:11 PM 31 days into the grow: skunk smell has arrived. Very predominant scent and a bit more than expected at this stage of the grow. Some of the plants are lacking in size due to various reasons: poor light distribution early in the grow, intermittent low level humidity, and underwatering at times. Added a cool mist humidifier a couple of weeks back that helped with getting humidity levels to at least 45%. Some wilting and leaf under curl is present with some mild yellowing in the leaves. I backed off the CFL lights and noticed signs of regeneration over the last couple days. I have been experimenting with how close I could get the CFL's and it seems like 4" is the threshold for these 100W replacement bulbs. I backed off the CFL lights to 6" to reduce stress, seems to be helping. Gotta get the air scrubbed! To be continued... Thumb_IMG_3778_1024 by gingerbud posted Mar 16, 2017 at 5:21 PM Here I am at the end of week 6 from start of germination... I have learned a few things of interest so far. I think CFL's (5500-6500K) will work great for seedlings since they require low energy and appear to be effective and produce little heat. I have been using the FF trio and BOOM! My plants are sky rocketing faster than I anticipated. I have read mixed reviews on when to top the plant so I have waited until transplant, which will be tomorrow. I would have preferred to transplant a week, maybe two weeks, ago so I am behind the ball, I think. I am working with bagseed so not sure what I have yet other than heavy indica plants. I did add a 2 speed (Active Air) 6" fan that has nice output for the size. The plants seem to have positively responded to the airflow in the tent. I now have a canopy and I have made sure to provide adequate air flow as much as possible to the underside of the canopy. Not too much wind but just enough to make them get jiggy with it. I have a bunch of new toys either on hand or arriving shortly (see below) and unfortunately I had to send one of the first to arrive back, which set me back on my transplant, 4x8 iPower Tent (badly damaged). Replaced with a VivoSun 4x8 that will be arriving tomorrow. Almost got the Gorilla 4x8 but I will just save that for later to cut down on costs. Looking forward to having the 4x8 flower room!!! 5 bags of FF Ocean Forest 16oz Azamax (I despise mites and any pests for that matter!) 6" Inline Hyper Fan 6" Noise Reduction Clamp 25' TerraBloom 6" ducting 5x Smart Pots 5x Air Pots Great White Powder Current grow progress at the end of 6 weeks: IMG_3809 by gingerbud posted Mar 27, 2017 at 8:41 PM So, going into week 7 I had some changes to my grow. Prior to transplanting I discovered I had a male plant and eradicated: IMG_3819 by gingerbud posted Apr 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM When I transplanted, I stressed the hell out of my plants. I think they could have been better hydrated for starters before the transplant. I sprayed them all with Azamax and pruned some of the plants more than others on the underside. I hydrated the soil after than transplant but they were looking pretty bad the next day. At the same time, I introduced the plants to the Mars Hydro II 1200. I had some heat issues since I wasn't rejecting heat with adequate exhaust. My plants started to look pretty bad after about a day. Also, I had the Mars too close and was not rejecting heat at the same time after a stressful transplant. Once I got the heat issue resolved, and a couple of waterings, the crop is perky and vital once again. Whew! I discovered a male a week ago and there are no signs of sexing on the remaining crop. I do see some white-ish looking growth on some tops but can't confirm if these are pistils or if the LED color spectrum is misleading. Anyway, I have 11 plants and that is too many for my growspace so I plan to do some experimenting with topping, FIM'ing, LST, and super cropping in the coming days. Here are my results so far. before transplant: IMG_3823 by gingerbud posted Apr 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM After transplanting: IMG_3839 by gingerbud posted Apr 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM IMG_3839 by gingerbud posted Apr 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM IMG_3846 by gingerbud posted Apr 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM IMG_3853 by gingerbud posted Apr 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM IMG_3828 by gingerbud posted Apr 2, 2017 at 10:14 PM ****************************************LATEST UPDATE******************************************* Let's see, I am approximately 60 days into the grow from germination. I am working with bag seed and discovered that I had two males so far. I have one sativa and the rest of the gang is indica based. My sativa seems to grow slower, which is fine since I am over crowded in my 4x8. I have added the above items and several fans (4 actually). I am contemplating on a perpetual grow but I may hold back until I finish this grow so I can learn from my mistakes. Anyway, I do not plan on adding another LED light quite yet although I am overly crowded under the Mars Hydro II 1200. I do have a 4x4 with CFL's that is currently being unused that I may try and use. Take a look at my pics below and let me know what you would do at this point. My thoughts are to prune a lot of the bottom of the plants up on the most healthy looking plants and experiment with some LST with a SCROG. Sound reasonable? I am not sure when I should start the flowering cycle and should probably start researching this. My tallest plant is 29" in height and only a couple of these are topped. Thumb_IMG_3893_1024 by gingerbud posted Apr 17, 2017 at 8:35 PM [ GALLERY=media, 172144]Thumb_IMG_3892_1024 2 by gingerbud posted Apr 17, 2017 at 8:35 PM[/GALLERY]
Your success is actually all on you tbh. You gotta know what you're doing and apply it. Just saying. You mention your neighbors are close by, but you never mention any kind of odor control like a carbon filter? Odor control needs to be a top priority, if it's not you may as well put a sign up that says "Weed grown here". You'll also want an oscillating fan on your plants to simulate wind in nature to help them grow strong. Besides that I think you have most stuff covered. Good luck.
Toke, thanks for the reply! Seems like ya gotta be able to read the plants to some degree for sure. I nearly burned one up , dehydrated another, and stretched the shit out of most of them by depriving adequate light. My 2 biggest concerns at this point are determining sex followed by odor control although odor isn't an issue quite yet. I do have a 10" fan that I didn't mention in my setup (my bad) blowing in air from outside of the tent through one of the lower vent holes probably causing some light contamination, which I plan to take care of this weekend. I do plan to also add a carbon filter and an inline fan (not exhausting the tent). I keep it dark in the room the tent is in for the most part but there is some small light leakage currently through the lower passive vent, the upper vent hole, and where I have a fan blowing in the lower vent hole. I am thinking about building a makeshift secondary door to the room and closing off completely but then I am concerned about heat gain in the room as well as CO2. I have a camera in the tent, which is convenient but does emit some light during lights off that might not be good past seedlings (minor concern). I figured I would close the room off completely in the coming days and if heat builds excessively, I would pick up an AC unit. As a matter of fact, here is my shopping list that I plan to piece together slowly but surely. 1) Inline fan, speed controller 2) Carbon filter 3) Thermal ducting & accessories 4) CO2 tank & regulator 5) CO2 controller 6) AC possibly 7) 4x8 tent possibly 8) Quality seeds (should probably be at the top of the list) 9) Oscillating fan Also, I am using a WeMo WiFi timer and may switch to a mechanical power strip...
Sounds good. Gotta make sure you get that air blown somewhere safe. Do not under any circumstances vent your air directly outside. This is a good video, while it is about 10 years old and some of the info is a bit dated (for example led grow lights weren't even a proven technology at the time of the video) but it has some really good info regardless. Around the 13 minute mark of the video he talks about controlling heat so it can't be seen by FLIR. And how to vent out the air from your grow. Good info to keep in mind.
Ditch your CFL and get your Mars II LED hung up and going, am guessing your at least 3 weeks into your grow now? Hang the Mars about 15" to 20" above the top of your plants and keep an eye on them each day for a few days if plants seem ok your can lower slightly but never any lower then 12" above tops of plants. As priority get a carbon filter to deal with smell issues and also a couple of clip fans or oscillating fan to blow just about the top of the plants. If you not growing in a tent get in one quick your get problems more so if growing in spare bedroom. Forget anything to do with CO2 you don't need it, unless you are growing in some nuclear bunker or something that does't have much air. If you need help shout, you plants look pretty good currently.
I'll post an update... It's the 4th of July holiday weekend and all my flower from my harvest has cured nice. The Mars Hydro is still working strong as it was the day I got it. Some of the decals peel but nothing I would ever be bothered by. My first grow yielded 3.5 oz of quality flower. Nothing like the reward from your own accomplishments.