Day 1: 12/25/18 Short backstory, I've grown half a dozen or so times in my life and the last time I grew was about 6 years ago. Shortly after my last grow I graduated from college and got a new job where, due to drug testing policy, my ability to smoke dropped significantly and I'm just now going to be finishing off that weed in a few weeks or maybe months. That being the case, I decided it was time to fire up the lights once again. I also had a grow journal here on GC for that grow as well. It was Jack Flash #5 and Arjan's Strawberry Haze. The Jack Flash was great stuff; wasn't too impressed with the Strawberry Haze. This time I'm going to be growing solely Sensi Seeds Jack Flash #5, two plants. These are actually from the same pack of seeds as when I had grown 6 years ago, and I'm surprised they actually popped after this long. In the picture below you can see what I'm using for this grow. I'm going to be using a 42 watt CFL in a reflector over each plant and additional 26 W CFLs as side lighting. As the side light CFLs eventually burn out in this grow or a future one, I plan on replacing them with 17 W GE HD Refresh (5000 K) and GE HD Relax (2700 K) LED lights. They put out about the same lumens, but use much less electricity. The bulbs in the reflectors will remain CFLs, as I can't find E26 base LEDs that put out even close to the same lumens. For soil I'm doing Fox Farm's Ocean Forest, vermiculite, and perlite in a 6:1:3 blend ratio. For nutes, I'm trying Fox Farm's Gringo Rasta three-part system. In the past I used their Grow Big/Big Bloom/Tiger Bloom system, but this Gringo Rasta stuff seems to be specifically formulated for marijuana, at least that's what the marketing would lead me to believe. Both seeds popped today, one this morning and one tonight. The first one was after around 3.5 days and the second after about 4 days. Here's a picture of the current closet setup. The one on the left is the seed that popped first. You can see eventually they'll be transplanted into the green pots and then finally the smart pots. As the plants get bigger I'll turn on the side lights. When they get even larger I'll be putting two-bulb Y-adapters in the outside sockets and 3-way bulb adapters in the two middle sockets. At its peak, this setup will output almost 22,000 lumens, not bad for just two plants I think. I'll write my first update when both of these things have broken the soil.
I just finished my first grow back in November and it was Jack Flash, grown in Miracle Gro Cactus Mix+perlite and grown under a 19w LED by Feit Electric from Home Depot for $37. I added 4 clamp CFLs along the way. It turned out amazing! It looked great, smelled great, and smoked great. And the high was perfect for me...I prefer a social/energetic satisfaction and it was all of that and more! The effwcts are instant...hence the name Jack Flash! Check out a few pics of my setup and my final product. Hubbabubbasmelloscope Quantum Board Grow
Day 4: 12/28/18 Just a small update. Both seeds had broken the soil yesterday. This afternoon I gently took the seed husk from both seedlings so they could get started photosynthesizing ASAP. Both seem happy and healthy. Will update again when there's some more growth to show. Left Plant: Right Plant:
Just the way It happened! Lol. It was my first grow and I didn't do any kind of training or super cropping...and luckily my light had a gap in it that it fit perfectly thru! Haha. Youre off to a good start! Good luck! Hubbabubbasmelloscope Quantum Board Grow
Oh ok, looking at your picture I’d have guessed that you did do some kind of training or topping. Makes sense why you have a taller cola then.
Day 11: 1/4/19 Got some new pics to post today. The plants seem to be growing rather well and are working on fleshing out their third true node, despite a potentially ruinous mishap a few days ago. I was holding the plant on the left watering it and when I went to put it back on the tray I dropped it, spilling some of the soil. In my attempt to catch it, I inadvertently knocked over the plant on the right, with that one landing basically upside down. Seriously, FML. I got as much soil back in the cups as I could, and fortunately I don't think the plants even noticed, as I didn't see any issues afterward. I was worried I potentially killed them by screwing up their roots. Based on their growth, I'll probably be topping them sometime within the next week using Uncle Ben's topping method. It worked out very well the last time I did that. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe the left plant is the sativa-dominant phenotype and the right one the indica-dominant one. Left: Right:
Day 16: 1/9/19 Just a short update. I transplanted the two plants today. Probably should have done it a couple days ago, as plant on the right looks like it may be getting the very beginnings of nitrogen deficiency. Root systems looked pretty good on both of them. One interesting thing I noticed with the plant on the left was that one of the newer nodes had three leaves instead of just two. Hadn't seen that before, but apparently it's not unheard of. Unfortunately, it's going to be cut off soon because I'm going to top them in a day or two. Both look like they're working on at least their fifth node, and that's about when to do it. I'll update again after the topping. Left plant: Right plant: Three leaf shot:
Day 25: 1/18/19 I topped the plants the day after I transplanted them. The one on the left is growing a bit weird and one side of the lower node doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. The one on the right is doing pretty well. I added two more bulbs to the setup today since they're starting to get a little bushy. I'll add four more when they get a little taller and I need to spread the light out more. Left plant: Right plant: Right plant overhead: Setup:
Day 32: 1/25/19 Transplanted both of them into three gallon smart pots today. Hopefully these things start taking off vertically soon. I like that they're compact and it looks like they're working on their ninth or so node, but at this rate they're going to be in veg for another month haha. Left plant: Right plant:
Day 47: 2/9/19 Been awhile, but everyone knows the real fun doesn't start until flowering anyway. Both plants have gotten taller and bushier. The one on the left is about 12" tall and the one on the right is about 10". I'm going to flip to 12/12 when the taller one hits 17". That leaves about 2.5x for them to grow in height before I run out of room. With the current rate of growth the flip could be as early as next weekend. Pretty excited to get these things flowering, wasn't expecting them to be in veg for almost 2 months. Left plant: Right plant:
Day 59: 2/21/19 (Day 1 Flowering) I flipped the lights to 12/12 today. I was off by a few days from my prediction, but the day has finally come! The taller one is about 17" tall. Coincidentally, I also received my charcoal filter today, so I set that up since these things are going to start smelling quite strong soon. You could already smell them occasionally in the hallway even in veg. It's going to be another long 8 weeks or so now. Photobucket is being garbage, so I'll update with photos later.