Jay's first grow

[JaySin]

My cabinet is a 2.5'H x 2'W x 2'D
I have two 17w 24" bulbs that I think are T8s (undercabinet light from wal-mart)
So far this is all I have.

Parts on the way are a 225 LED panel red/blue.
panda film
and 2 34cfm fans that will each get their own speed regulator.

I plan to divide it into two halves eventually. One have for seedlings/vegging/and possibly clones and the other side for flowering/drying.

At the moment I have 4 1 gallon pots that have miracle grow potting soil. Each one has about 9 seeds to assure I will have at least a few that sprout and then at least a few females. So far I have 6 that sprouted and I have been watering once a day making sure the soil gets evenly soaked. The next day the soil is usually still somewhat damp, so I'm not sure if this could cause problems or not.

I have pictures, so my next post will hopefully have pics. I'm going to put them on my computer right now, so hopefully posting pictures isn't that hard. Although, I've seen several people have trouble so far so we'll see what happens.

[JaySin]

Here it is. Still needs some work, but it will get there.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032108_134201.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032108_134202.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032108_134301.jpg

[Shovelhandle]

That will work to grow some herb. Good Luck.

Shovelhandle

[JaySin]

Ok, day six and I've got some healthy looking seedlings. At least they are healthy as far as I can tell. I also have some new pics.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032208_102200.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032208_102101.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032208_102100.jpg

As you can see, I now have my Panda Film. I also bought two new bulbs because I realized the old ones were 4300k bulbs. So I went to wal-mart and bought some plant and aquarium wide spectrum bulbs. They are T12 bulbs rated at 20 watts. Unfortunately the LED panel I ordered was DOA. I will send that back and wait for my replacement. Until then this will have to do. If I decide it's not enough, I'll just go to wal-mart and buy a third lamp to put in.

My fans should arrive next Tuesday. Then I will affix them to the bottom and make my own carbon filter that will go underneath the cabinet so it can not be seen. I'm not sure yet what I will do for a passive intake, I will probably just let the cracks in the cabinet be the intakes until I figure something better out. The cracks mostly block light (except for a small spot that I will fix today) but should allow for enough air to come through.

Thanks for looking, and suggestions help would be greatly appreciated too.

Jay

[anbesol]

You should probably get that light closer to your plants. They look like they are Really stretching for the light. you dont want them to long or they can risk to fall over.:jointsmile:

[the image reaper]

agreed, get them closer to the lights ... also, resist the urge to keep the soil damp, or you will kill them with pythium wilt ... pot needs to go back and forth between wet and dry periods, the roots need oxygen as well as water ... you may want to drill air intake holes in the floor of your cabinet, regardless, intake low, exhaust high ... good luck :thumbsup:

[JaySin]

The problem with the lights being too far away was suppose to be remedied with my LED panel. Although now I have to wait for a replacement. These lamps really can't be positioned any different. So maybe I will set the pots on something to bring the plant closer to the light. I will also probably buy some smaller pots to seperat the plants, as it was suggested to me in another thread. Planting multiples in each pot was just to make sure I would get some to at least sprout.

Thanks,

Jay

PS. These are all bagseeds that were attained from the same crappy bag that probably had half of the weight in seeds and stems.

PPS. If plants lose there potency when a mail polenates the female, then how do you get fertilized seeds in with your bud yet still have potency?

[daihashi]

The problem with the lights being too far away was suppose to be remedied with my LED panel. Although now I have to wait for a replacement. These lamps really can't be positioned any different. So maybe I will set the pots on something to bring the plant closer to the light. I will also probably buy some smaller pots to seperat the plants, as it was suggested to me in another thread. Planting multiples in each pot was just to make sure I would get some to at least sprout.

Thanks,

Jay

PS. These are all bagseeds that were attained from the same crappy bag that probably had half of the weight in seeds and stems.

PPS. If plants lose there potency when a mail polenates the female, then how do you get fertilized seeds in with your bud yet still have potency?

Take a brown paper bag or zip lock bag and bring your male somewhere that it is far away from the females. Preferably in an isolated room.

Put the bag over a number of pollen sacks that have opened or appear to be opening and shake vigorously. Stop, wait, do it again. Repeat until you have a decent amount of pollen. 1 grain is good for 1 seed. Keep that in mind.

Take one of your smaller colas or side shoots. and put the paper bag around this. Maybe seal it to the branch with a rubber band or something similar.

Shake the bag/stem/cola. This will pollinate just that one cola so you can have seeds and the rest of your plant will keep growing as normal.

[JaySin]

ok, I've decided that I'll be making a trip to Menards or Home Depot later today to pick up some CFLs. Is there a certain type of CFL bulb I should look for? Also, I might pick up some nutrients. What should I look for? I looked at wal-mart the other day but I was completely confused as to what I should look for. I'll probably pick up a watering jug at the same time so I can have the nutes mixed in some water and ready to go.

Other then that I'm just waiting on my fans and I re-potted the seedlings into their own pots. Here are some updated pics...

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032308_104200.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032308_104300.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032308_104301.jpg

[JaySin]

Ok, got the CFLs. Here is my latest pick...

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a244/el_roy1985/Veggies/032308_145800.jpg

I'm liking this setup a lot better. I'll probably put one of my floro tubes on the very top just to add the extra light and it will also add to the spectrum a little more. I also picked up a thermometer/hygrometer so I will be able to keep tabs on that until I get my fans so I know how much venting I'll need to do. Can't wait to see how much of a yield I'll be able to produce. Definitely a new learning experience, but it sure is fun.

[iriebowl]

hey man hows it growing LOL

I see you got some CFLs but they look like red/orange spectrum bulbs instead of blue spectrum. During veg you wanna use the blue spectrum (2500k I think) and red for flowering (6700K). But a mix is beneficial for vegging. The blue keeps the plant from stretching and getting lanky. Adding the floros is a perfect choice for your stated reasons.
In your first post you said each fan will get a speed controller but you might not need it since its only 34cfm each. are they gonna be PC/muffin fans??
To bad about the LED panel, Im interested in seeing how thats gonna do.
I cant offer up much help with nutrients or fertilizers but personally I use organic (foxfarms) and am happy with it. I tried miracle grow long ago but its N-P-K content is to high for my taste, although others get good results from it. Try to get something higher in Nitrogen for vegging, around 8-10 and start off half strength for a week or two.
Hope that helped a lil




stay irie