yet another first timer grow log

[xmk]

i started my first grow about 4 days ago now, im using a rubbermade grow tub, two 45 gallong tubs on top of each other(pictured below) for lights right now im running 6 100w cfl's(26 actual watts each) my temps are hanging around 78-80 degrees

for soil im using 50% fox farm ocean forest potting soil mixed with 50% perlite

for ferts i will be using general hydroponics floraMicro, floraGrow and FloraBloom

for nutrients i will be using cha ching, open sesame and beastie bloomz

on the first i put my seeds in moist paper towels, by the third i had a 100% germination rate, and put them into the soil mix, gave them a VERY VERY small dose of floraMicro and "tented" my pots by pulling saran wrap over them to increase humidity and hopefully my chances of getting some good females, i checked on them early this morning(may 5th) and they have already broken through the soil and are showing their seedling leaves, ive taken the humidity tents off now and did a second watering with just plain water

and last but not least im growing blue mystic and papaya from nirvana seeds, ive got four plants total, two of each.

[hydrocannabis]

looks great so far.

[r00tdoctor]

Ive had good results vegging my plants with cfls , was going to flower with them but I decided to get a hps. I will be watching your grow keep us updated ! lol

[faithlessxxx]

Lights, temps, medium, all sound good.

[ZeldaG.]

Nice! Good Luck!

[UMrocksmysocks]

i really like that storage bin design alot of people have been using lately, looks very effective for smaller grow ops :) nice work, ill be here watching and commenting the whole way :rasta:

[xmk]

yeah the grow tubs are GREAT, im using one double the size of the one in the orig. how to post so im hopping i can cram two plants in each, the papaya strain is an indica so if i put one of each in each tub i should have pleanty of room, thanks for all the help in advance, i picked up a copy of the bible about a month ago so with some luck and reading i dont anticipate running into too many problems, also forgot to mention in the first post that im running my lights on a 17/7 light schedual... now this is where im kind of conflicted, the bible said a 15 hour light period would produce more females but then like 5 pages later says that plants need 18 hours of light. what do most of you start your lights at? Ive seen that most do 18/6 so i figuer 17 is kind of between the two

[Tim7587]

Looks good man, my first grow to one thread down from you :) im only a few days further into the grow cycle than you. Cant wait to see the outcome of this.

[xmk]

ok, ive got one more thing im unclear about, when were talking temps are we talking soil temps or air temps? moved my therm. around today and the temp on the soil is only about 72 but the temp of the air is around 80, should i get that soil temp up to around 80? if i do that my air temp will be around 90 does that make much of a difference?

[blank_21]

No dont worry about soil temp, keep the temperature in the box between 72 - 82 and youl be fine

[xmk]

yesterday was my plants birthday, its been one week since they were planted into soil, so far everything is going well, they are stretching a little but aside from that all is well... ill probably just keep updating once a week or even less since the seedling growth is a bit boring

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e254/Matthewkellyrocks/IMG_2025.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e254/Matthewkellyrocks/IMG_2024.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e254/Matthewkellyrocks/IMG_2023.jpg

[xmk]

ok so its been exactly two weeks now since the seeds were planted in to soil, so far everything is going great, i water about every other day, temps have been good, from as far as i can tell it looks as if the seedling growth stage is comming to an end and were about to enter vegetative growth. when would be a good time to start LSTing them? im guessing ive got a week or two till i get to that point? how are they looking? anyone see any problems yet?

[Bree1978]

anyone see any problems yet?

I don't see any....and by the looks of it no one else does either, lol. You aren't ready to lst yet. Yes, you still have a week or two....
It's almost time to transplant- do it a little after that.
And remember to put the soil to the top of your container (more air flow around them= happier plants= bigger plants)

:jointsmile: Bree

[xmk]

thanks for the advice, im going to transplant tomorrow and ill be sure to fill the containers to the top with soil. Tonight i went out and got a couple computer fans, wired them up and added four more lights to my set up, since my tubs are so big i had gotten 5 socket light fixtures and i was only using 6 lights due to heat issues but with the stronger computer fans i was able to add four more 60 watt bulbs so now im running 6 100w and 4 60w bulbs for a total of 840w. I think the added lights will help them get through the stress of being transplanted, plus it cant ever hurt to have more lights

[Bree1978]

Just curious, no rush, but what's the total 'real' watts?

:jointsmile: Bree

[cazro]

good to see more use of the rubbermaid tub grow since that is what I'll probably be doing in a few months.

[atsar]

be sure to wet the compost before transplanting,it'll keep your plants roots and soil intact when you take them out their pots,also,your new pots,put some soil in the bottom,then take your plants and old pots and place them in the new pot so the soil in the old pot is at the top of the new pot,then fill in around old pot,lift old pot and plant out and you'll be left with a hole exactly the same size as what you're trying to fit in it
it's possible to repot without any stress at all if you're careful

[xmk]

the real wattage is 216 total(26 actual watts for the 100w outputs and 15 actual watts for the 60w outputs). Got all four of them transplanted tonight, had to build a second tub so now im running two tubs, both are the exact same. yesterday marked 3 weeks since being planted into soil. i think ill wait another week to a week and a half and start LSTing them. over all they are doing well i think, a little droopy but i think thats due to over watering them, im going to back down to every three days instead of every other day. also one plant is getting some weird marks on the leaves. does anyone know what might be causing it?

[xmk]

here are a few more pics of the weird leaves

[xmk]

i did some reading and im thinking that i might have spider mites, can anyone confirm that thats what this looks like? i transplanted the one with the marks on the leaves a few days ago and never thought to wash out the new palnter its in, which i got outdoors at a plant market. the marks on my leaves are turning a very yellow light rust color and it seems to be spreading but in a very random way, if anyone can confirm its spider mites im going to run out and get some neem oil to kill them

[xmk]

my plants have been in soil now for 4 weeks, im going to start LSTing in a few days here(after their next watering) I never found out what that yellow rusty colored stuff on my one plant was, never ended up doing anything about it because i wasnt sure if it was spider mites or not but either way it stopped spreading and getting worse and the plant is growing again and looking very good aside from the left over marks.

first two pics are of my tallest plant, its a blue mystic

next two pics are of my second tallest, this is the same one with the marks on the leaves, this one is a Papaya

[xmk]

couldnt fit all the pics in so here are the other two plants

first two are of my other papaya and last two are of my other blue mystic,

not sure whats wrong with the blue mystic, it doesnt want to seem to grow upward, it seems to just want to grow a lot of leaves instead of getting tall like my other 3, its very compact as well, almost no space at all between branches

[atsar]

if it was spider mites you'd have noticed loads of bits of like fine web all over the leaves,probably just a bit nute burn or something

[xmk]

yeah im thinking it probably was just a burn of some sorts, all the leaves are now i nice healthy dark green and its my largest plant by quite a bit now, so whatever it was it was self limitting and shes recovered VERY well, started LSTing them yesterday so ill post some pics of that tonight or tomorrow

[xmk]

another week down, this is week 2 of vegatative growth, 5 weeks since they were planted into soil, and just under 6 weeks from seed. I started LSTing them about 5 or 6 days ago and that seems to be working out very well. Next week i make the big switch to 12/12 and the real fun can begin. As you can see from the pics the blue mystic dwarf still isnt really growing, its been pretty sensative to my ferts as well. At a full dose bottom leaves were completly burned so im babying it for now with a half strength mixture, its also being super sensative to watering, doesnt take much at all to over water it, for now im going to keep it around for the first few weeks of flowering and see if i can get it to spring to life, if its not doing anything by then im going to just toss it

first pic is my biggest which is a papaya,

second pic is my dwarf which is a blue mystic

third pic is the biggest next to the dwarf so you can see the size difference

fourth pic is the big papaya next to a lighter so you can get an idea of size

[xmk]

heres pics of the other two plants

first pic is a blue mystic

second is a papaya

and third is the two together w/ a lighter for size comparison

[xmk]

another week down, not to much going on, ive just been working on LSTing them here and there and that seems to be working AMAZINGLY, they seem to have grown a lot this week and tonight the lights go out early and the 12/12 starts....cant wait to see how many females i get... a week or two left and theyll start showing sex

first pic is the largest plant - a papaya
second pic is the runt - a blue mystic
third pic is a blue mystic
fourth pic is a papaya
and the fifth pic is a buddha of good fortune which sits on top of my tubs

[xmk]

so theyve only been on 12/12 since thursday, and i think ive already got some female pre flowers showing. can anyone confirm for me that this is a female pre flower?!

Both of my papayas have these growing at either the 5th or 6th branch internode

[mythin]

Looks like a female to me! nice job on the plants so far

[xmk]

thanks, the papaya genetics are really kicking in, their an early maturing strain and both are female, and they have just exploded with growth since switching to 12/12. still waiting on the blue mystics though but they are a slower growing strain so it might be a week or so still. i hit my goal of getting at least two females but im still really hoping i can get some blue mystic to smoke as well

[hydrocannabis]

xmk they look great.

wate I for got which grower this one was. but after going back and looking at page 1. I now see that it is the 1 with the rubber tub as a grow box.

so hell yah. damm do thay look much bigger now.

so your useing the clf lights right. well they look damm good for clf lights.

:D:stoned::stoned::rastasmoke:

[xmk]

yep, i am just using CFL's, i decided to put most my money into good ferts and nutes rather than expensive lighting, i do have a LOT of bulbs in each tub though, 10 per tub. Im running 6 100w general puprose CFL's and 4 60w soft blue CFL's (26w and 15w actual). Im thinking about getting an HPS for my next grow since this one is going so well but if i get decent yields why fix something thats not broken?

[atsar]

yeah man looking great,not a fan of cfls personally but like you say,if it works for you and it aint broke...

will be watching this one,see how it yeilds,who knows,i may be converted to cfl by the end of it

[xmk]

i just checked on them, and i think both of my blue mystics are males :(. Ive got my two females in their own tub though so im going to give it another day or two but im almost positive they're males. On the bright side my papayas now have female pistols EVERYWHERE and are growing like mad

[xmk]

any verdict on what this is? im almost positive its a male, my dwarf blue mystic had some pretty prominent balls today so it was destroyed but im still holding off on this one, though it looks just like the dwarf did before it's balls really started comming out

[hydrocannabis]

yah to me its kind of hard to tell.

[xmk]

my plants have now been on 12/12 for one week and its becoming obvious that these girls are going to be big, on my two female papayas ive got white pistols between just about every branch internode on the plants.

here are some pics of my two papaya girls

[xmk]

hate to end on a bad note but my biggest plant, the remaining blue mystic is for sure a male. on the good side though once i destroy it tonight each of my papaya girls get their own tub with tons of growing room

first pics is of some balls(i guess you cant see them as clearly as i would like but they are there) and second pic is of how big the plant is overall

[hydrocannabis]

while it does really suck that you got a male.

It is cool that your 2 girls will have there own tub.


I wish I could wire up 1 of my pc fans to put in my tub. but a few weeks ago I tryed to and got a little bit of a shock.
so I just stuck to regular fans.

[xmk]

yeah first time i tried to wire the computer fans i connected them wrong and they started going then all this smoke started comming out but the second attempt was succesfull. Destroyed my male last night and both the girls are now happily in their own "rooms". Now i just have to think of names for them :jointsmile:

[xmk]

theyve been in flower for two weeks as of tomorrow and one is looking very good, the other is doing OK but not great, a lot of my lower fan leaves are turning yellow on the smaller plant. i noticed this happens in a lot of grows, should i worry about this or is it just something that happens as growth is focused more and more in the newer areas of the plant? anyways, here are a few pics to show how theyre comming along, getting nice and big now.... Ive been LSTing like crazy..... let me know how they look

first pic is the smaller of the two
second pic is the biggest one before i LSTed today
third pic is the bigger one after being LSTed
fourth and fifth pic are of the flower sites on the bigger plant

[CRIME IN STEREO]

beautiful plants:thumbsup: should get a nice yield...good luck:jointsmile:

Keep the pics coming.

[hydrocannabis]

yah. they R beautiful plants. and the bud sites look great so far.

man stoners seem to for get stuff a lot don't we. well I do.
but what kind of light did U say U R useing for the flowering cycle?

well what ever it is UR plants look great.

[Ace977]

how tall are they? i cant really tell by the pics and i was just wondering

but beautiful plants by the way:thumbsup:

[xmk]

im not sure how tall they are since ive been doing a lot of LSTing, the main cola is wrapped over half way around the pot already though, here is a pic of the bigger of the two with a lighter so you can get a rough idea of her size

[xmk]

Ive only been posting once a week with updates but i was floored by how nice my ladies buds are popping out so i had to share a couple shots with everyone. this is at 18 days into flowering.

[horror business]

those look amazing! Could you post a picture of the inside of your tub, the top part? I want to see how you have your lights arranged. I have a lot of CFLs and did a closet grow, but doing that, took up my whole closet. So, I was thinking maybe a grow in tubs like yours would be more convenient for me. How do you have the lights attatched?
Peace :rasta:

[xmk]

here is a pic of the top of my tub, my lights are mounted to the inside with a 5 light fixture(the type you would put in a bathroom vanity or something) mounted the fixture to the tub with 2 screws from the hardware store and then wired them with an extension cord, you can get all the detailed info on how to make one here: http://boards.cannabis.com/growroom-setup/80747-how-rubbermaid-tub-growbox.html

my tub is the same but i used 46 gal tubs and a 5 socket fixture for the lights instead of the 3 socket fixture, then for my fans i put one computer fan at the bottom of the tub blowing in to the tub and then one computer fan on the top of the tub blowing out(so it sucks the hot air hot and blows it into the closet) i use the two fans instead of the one on top and an elbow piece of pvc like in the original, im not positive about the cost but i think its around $100-$115 per grow tub.

the original tubs in the how to post hold one heavily LSTed plant, i havnt tested it but i figuer mine can handle two per tub since its about double the size

[xmk]

My girls have been in flower for 3 weeks now, not much change since my last bud shots. Ive been giving them Open Sesame with every watering and ferts with every other and they're loving it.

[hydrocannabis]

dammmmm there looken real good. I wish mine looked that good.

[horror business]

Thanks xmk. Yeah, your buds look nice.

[xmk]

its thursday and that means time for another update, i had some trouble this week, i was over fertalizing and i ended up burning my plants pretty bad, at least the smaller one, the larger one handled it pretty well... just a couple of yellow leaves but ive lost about half of the fan leaves on the smaller one, probably not going to get a huge yield from that one but the bigger one is still looking amazing :rastasmoke:

first pic is the smaller one and the last two are the bigger one, ill post all the budshots in the next post.

[xmk]

ok, now for the best part, the bud shots :jointsmile:

first shot is a bud from the smaller plant, you can tell the bud formation is about a week behind that of the larger plant.

rest of the shots are from the mother plant(wish i would have tried taking at least a few clones from her)

P.S. forgot to mention in the first post this is week 4 of flower now, so ive got hopefully about 3-4 weeks left, probably 4

[weedmaster]

thats a great little set up you got there xmk, them ladies look real fine, keep up the good work bro:thumbsup:

[xmk]

thanks weedmaster. So we enter week 5 of flower, not much has changed, im still losing fan leaves at a very fast rate, i thought i had burned them but for 3 straight waterings i flushed the plants and still no change. The smaller ones down to its last few fan leaves but buds are still looking great so im just going to leave it and start back up with the ferts and nutes, i also picked up some black strap molassis that i will start giving them every now and then. Couple of the pistils are starting to go brown, a few trichomes are turning cloudy but most are still clear, ive got less than a month left now and these babies are making my mouth water :rastasmoke:

[xmk]

bud shots

[weedmaster]

yummy yummy, looking really good bro :thumbsup:

[hydrocannabis]

yah bro.there looking like the bomb.

[smokedoja]

if i were u id be so excited id post up a cot and move in with them

[xmk]

haha well i havnt gone that far yet but i did break off a little bud a few days ago, should be dry tomorrow, Itll smoke harsh probably but itll give me an idea of what to look foward to, ill post pics of the dried bud tomorrow along with my normal update.

[xmk]

today marks day one of week 6 of flower, only a few more weeks to go now, i plan on chopping somewhere around the 9th of august, theyll be 8 weeks by then and hopefully ready to chop, Ive only got a few more waterings before i have to start flushing, im going to start flushing 10 days before they come down so theyll taste nice and smooth with no chemicals still in them, the larger girl is definitly starting to mature as you can see and the smaller one is probably about a week behind... her pistels are just starting to turn brown, i think i might push her to 9 weeks but we'll see how the next two weeks go

first shot is the smaller one
second shot is the larger one
first bud shot is from the smaller plant
and last two shots are from the bigger one

[hydrocannabis]

wow they look great.

I am :mad: at how bad and how long mine R takeing to flower.
and I can't get any help on from the ppl on this site as to why my plant is flowering so slow.

well URs look great as hell.

mine R 5 weeks flowering and should look like URs do. but they do not:(.

[Blindman0v0]

xmk
Be sure and scale them after your done.I'd like to hear how much you ended up with.

[xmk]

ill be sure to post a full weight and smoke report once she finishes, the sample i took of her is done drying, couldnt get any good pics but ill let everyone know how it smokes :jointsmile:

[weedmaster]

looking fantastic xmk,a great grow bro.:thumbsup:

[xmk]

i forgot to post my smoke report, i couldnt get any good pictures of the bud but it was so sticky that it stuck to my fingers when i was trying to load it in my bong, the tast was very smooth, maybe a tiny hint of citris and very green, probably some of the best tasting stuff ive had, it was still harsh though, my fiance and i were both hacking pretty good by the end of the bowl which i expected with all the chemicals and stuff. when i picked it the weight was .9g and once dry it was down to .2. The high had a delayed onset, we smoked the bowl and neither of us felt anything but then about 5 minutes after we finished we were both stoned as fuck, lasted a long time too, usually we toke up about 45-50 minutes after the first bowl but we didnt smoke again until about an hour and a half after the first bowl. Over all it was a great high(both body and head) that lasted a very good amount of time.

my bigger plant is maturing faster than i though she would, over half her pistols are brown and almost all of her trichomes are cloudy with a few turning amber, that being said i think im going to chop her on thursday, i need at least a few more days to flush her and i plan on leaving her in the dark for 2 days before harvest

[milfweed]

They look great. Especially the one you will be chopping first. Do you know what strain they are?

Nice Grow!

[xmk]

yep, theyre both papaya from nirvana seeds, i want to hold off till thursday to chop but all my leaves are now yellowing, even the ones close to the buds, if it keeps getting worse i may have to take her down even earlier

[hydrocannabis]

I had a plant that had all the fan leafs fell off in only 3 weeks into flowering. and it flowering and got big as hell.

anyway they look great. and hey U got any new pic of them from the top of them.

[weedmaster]

sounds like a great smoke,all that love and affection has paid off, good one bro.

[xmk]

ill hopefully post some good pics in the next few days, my rommie just got a new 7.0 megapixle camera and ive been taking my shots with an old 4.0 megapixle so hopefully she'll let me use it. in the mean top heres a shot of both plants from the top, these were taken thursday when i did my update.

[xmk]

Ive been waiting for today for about three months now, i harvested my big girl, here are a few pics, im going to push the smaller plant another week or so, shes hit a growth spurt and i wanna let her grow and mature a little more, maybe get a narcotic couch lock of her if i can wait til the trichomes turn amber. either way heres what i got off the larger plant, ill post a weight once the buds are dry

[xmk]

the first batch of my stuff is just about dry, should hopefully be able to get a weight on it tomorrow, it doesnt look like a lot, maybe around an ounce if even but the crystals and high from this stuff is insane. I got a new grinder and grinded a small amount of it up last night to sample and after about only half a bowl i was totaly floored. its an intense body and head high, the heady high kicks in first and about half an hour after i smooked i suddenly couldnt stop sinking into the couch or move for that matter. either tomorrow or wed. ill post pics of the dried bud, a weight and pics of the last plant which i will be taking down on wed.

[ebsters]

nice,
congrats on the good smoke.

i just looked through your log. You shouldn't have lost that many fan leaves. Looked to be a MG problem. did any of your ferts have that in them?

[xmk]

my stuffs finally done drying. Ended up with 37.85g or about 1.3oz. I was hopping for 2 oz but overall i cant complain, the stuffs potent as fuck and ive still got another plant to chop, Ill probably end up with somewhere around 2.5 oz and im keeping it all for myself :rastasmoke:

ebsters i think youre right, i really messed up my feeding schedual, i didnt use the fox farm feeding chart and ended up being a few weeks behind on what nutes i should have been giving them. They got open sesame for about a week and a half longer than they should have and then only got one or two feedings of cha-ching and beastie blooms. Just some things ive learned to improve on for my next grow i guess but i dont think i did too badly for a first time grow

[xmk]

more pics

[xmk]

ok so those last set of pics didnt all turn out too well, you cant really see the quality of the buds. Got a hold of an 8.0 mega pixle camera. I think these pics do the buds a little more justice. Enjoy

[PdoubleOTY]

beautiful work my friend...enjoy your harvest and hopefully many bountiful more will come from the knowledge gained after each grow! smoke that shiiiiiiiiit

[Stonerz420]

DANK! :jointsmile: I personally thank you for inspiring me :D

[weedmaster]

XMK congratulations on a super grow, them buds look yummy yummy, enjoy :thumbsup:

[hydrocannabis]

yah the buds look yummy. :D

[xmk]

thanks everyone, i learned a lot from this grow and ill be changing a lot of things for my next one which i will be starting in mid sept probably.

first thing im going to either go soiless or use 1/3 soil and 1/3 veraculit and 1/3 perlite so i can water more than every 3 to 4 days, second if i grow in the summer again ill set my lights to be on in the middle of the night so i dont have temp problems, 3rd im going to actually print out a feeding chart and use it, fourth i will probably let them veg out for another week or two so they can get a little bigger, and fifth i plan on actually taking some clones next time around as well.

For the most part i think i did pretty damn good for my first time :thumbsup::jointsmile::stoned:

[D Rock]

Man those buds were beautiful, it looked like you misted them then sprinkeled sugar all over them. Fantastic job!

[hydrocannabis]

for UR first grow. I'd say U did a kick ass job.

just worndering about how many weeks were they when U choped them?

[l3L4zEn' l3Lu3B3rrie]

hey i was wondering where you got those vanity light fixtures from?
did you just find them at a hardware store or what :smokin:

[xmk]

yep, just went to lowes, i chopped one at 7 weeks into flower and the other at 8 weeks into flower. Weighed my second plant last night, she ended up with 1.2 oz of bud so overall i got about 2.5oz off 2 plants. If i had it to do over i would push them both to 8 weeks, i think the buds got a little denser in the one i let go longer

[atsar]

thanks everyone, i learned a lot from this grow and ill be changing a lot of things for my next one which i will be starting in mid sept probably.

first thing im going to either go soiless or use 1/3 soil and 1/3 veraculit and 1/3 perlite so i can water more than every 3 to 4 days, second if i grow in the summer again ill set my lights to be on in the middle of the night so i dont have temp problems, 3rd im going to actually print out a feeding chart and use it, fourth i will probably let them veg out for another week or two so they can get a little bigger, and fifth i plan on actually taking some clones next time around as well.

For the most part i think i did pretty damn good for my first time :thumbsup::jointsmile::stoned:

hey dude vermiculite and perlite both RETAIN water,especially the vermiculite,i like to use aquatic gravel instead with perlite and soil,lets the water run through easier so can water every couple of days and being aquatic it aint sharp and doesn't damage roots

by the way,that's some killer looking green you got there,always tastes and looks better when you've grown it yourself

[miley]

Awesome job dude. Just read the entire log and cant wait for my papaya to finish up.

Cheers!