First Grow - start to finish

[gtscruggs]

tHIS IS MY FIRST GROW! i'M GOING TO NEED HELP FROM THE EXPERTS OUT THERE! i HAVE READ 2 BOOKS SO FAR AND THINK i HAVE HAVE A REASONABLE GRASP OF WHAT HAS TO BE DONE FOR OPTIMUM GROWTH RATE AND YEILD. i WILL POST DAILY PICS AND UPDATES. pLEASE RESPOND WITH ANY CRIT. OR q'S.

1. ORDERED WHITE RINO FROM AMSTERDAM STILL WAITING FOR SEEDS BUT, THE GROW CLOSET IS SET UP AND EAGERLY WAITING THEIR ARRIVAL.

[friendowl]

looks like you did your homework.
good luck and im on my second grow
white widow from nirvana and c99 from female.nl
and like ten bagseed for experiments.
your grow room looks willing and able.
good luck

[gtscruggs]

Thanks, will continue to post with devel. Have some swag junk seeds that I'm germinating now. Still waiting on white rino from amsterdam. Should I just use the junk for a test run?

[LOC NAR1958]

Dr. Chronic is a real good place to order from, get them fast too. Looks good, you got it ready. I would go with the bag seed now and get a test run. It will help you tune it in. The bag seed will be 10 times better when you grow it. Keep us up.

[gtscruggs]

I will continue to germ the bag seed and give it a test run.
Thanks LOC,
cheers.

[gtscruggs]

Has anyone ever ordered from buydutchseeds.com?

[LOC NAR1958]

No but the Doc hasn't let me down and deals for a lot of breeders.

[latewood]

good idea to grow the schwagg 1st...have a test run...I did this and learned 'tons' destroyed a couple plants (7) out of 18 the 1st go round.

Glad it wasn't paid for genetics...great idea.lw

[gtscruggs]

Hey,
I got the White Rino from Buydutchseeds.com in the mail and I'm germing them now.

I am germing them in a wet papertowel inside of a ziploc. They are being kept in a warm dark place. Is this the correct method? I put the SWAG SEEDS in this method to germ over two weeks ago a nothing yet. What am I doing wrong?

CHEERS
gtscruggs

[turtle420]

I am germing them in a wet papertowel inside of a ziploc. They are being kept in a warm dark place. Is this the correct method? I put the SWAG SEEDS in this method to germ over two weeks ago a nothing yet. What am I doing wrong?
Yeah, correct method.

As to the non-germinating swag seeds... they where probably duds.

These White Rinos will surely pop. :) Mine did in about 24 hours!

[connisuer]

nice looking setup, post some stats about it, couldnt tell what type of light that was but if it is HID your going to run into some heat issues, those type of hoods arent to good for small enclosures, i run a super sun 2 air cooled by sunlight supply and i hooked my exhaust up to it and i can actually stick my hand inside the hood enclosure and its not even hot inside,

also have you looked into mylar? you may run into hot spots with the aluminum foil i also found a report on another board where test were done with a light meter against mylar, aluminum foil, and white paint and beleive it or not your better off with white paint than aluminum foil, look up mylar on ebay you can get very cheap

not trien to pick you apart but beleive me its all love man, i dont wanna see ya make mistakes i have, its def no fun to veg a plant for 3 weeks to wake up to it bent over burnt to a crisp

also please post some dimension, do you just plan on growing one plant? you can def utilize more of that space you got

[gtscruggs]

I'm using a EZ hydrokit bought on e-Bay for $150.00. The bulb is a 125W reb and blue spectrum bulb that turns inside of the housing to point the spectrum you want down towards the plant.

I used foil because it was what I had availible and so far after testing for about three days the room never exceeded 80 Degrees. Usually depending on day or night the rooms temp is averaged out to be 76 Degrees. The buld is great for small spaces that is why I went with this dual spectrum bulb.

I might utilitze the space with 2 additional plants. I figured I might run into problems with only having one plant. The likellyhood of having a female is very low if I only grow one plant. I figured if the plants growing in soil were female and the plant growing hyroponically was male I would get rid of it and transplant one of the females to hydro for the flowering process. The room is 4 X 2 X 6.

[The White Snoop]

Nice bulb...but why not get a MH or a HPS? a 1000 watt w/ hood costs 150 on ebay. .
But yeah thats a great veg bulb

[connisuer]

that light is perfect for veg however i would look into a hps for flower or you will be flowering for like 3 months just to get itty bitty buds, if you only plan on keeping it a small setup you can pick up an 150watt hps setup for like 50-100 bucks just look around, also keep your eye out for a mh, nothing beats a mh/hps combo

and another thing about your setup, if you plan on switching a soil grown plant to hydro you must fully rinse the roots cause soil has bacteria that will contaminate your resivior, is there any way you can cut a few holes in your current setup to accomodate more plants? your hydro will def outgrow your soil so you will always have one dragging behind, plus you dont want to pull up roots after you have determined sex you will most definatley shock your lady, maybe into hermie or wors death, by the time she's flowering she'll have a fully developed root system


also dude you can grow way more in your setup my room is only 3x2x8 and i grow 4 plants


keep postin your progress

[gtscruggs]

In all honesty this ia more of an experimental first grow. I'm reading the books and taking my time to learn this art solo (w/ all of your valued help of -course ;o().
I'm hoping to have a lady sprout the first time. While luck has a lot to do with it; weighing your concerns has put my mind into a state of re-thinking. Maybe I should try this solo plant first to get the skill set down.

BTW: I have read that you can transfer a soil plant to a hydro if your take the proper steps first:
(after pulling the root system free from it's home :pot)
1. Use a 5.5ph solution to break away the soil
2. after the soil has been washed away almost completely, transfer the nearly full grown rooting to the bottom of your net pot.
2. Add a generous amount of rocks and water with ph 5.8 until flowering begins.

I think I will try this 2 plant meth. as a fail safe. The room really isn't big enough, with the light that I'm using, to go with more than two plants.

Confusious say, "Small buds are better than none, and two buds are better than one".

CHEERS,

[gtscruggs]

Hey,
I just thought:
BRAIN FART!
If any of the first three are females, I will just clone them for an optimum second harvest. No transplant is ness! Although it would be a great experiment!

CHEERS,

[gtscruggs]

I checked the WR seeds today and 2 of four are starting to crack. Prob. two more days until I can transplant to rock-wool inside the grow room.
I read that the seeds should be placed with the white root facing down just below the top of the rock-wool. After initially placing the seed on top of the rock wool you should water well for a week with the 5.8 ph solution.

Am I going in the right direction?

[MaryjaneMenehune]

yeah. You've got the right idea with the rockwool...just make sure to soak it first and get the pH at the optimum level. Also, as to a reflective material, you can buy space blankets at any sporting goods store pretty cheap. They are made from mylar, but they just come in 5'x8' rectangles. Look in the camping section.:) As to cracking the seeds, you can pre crack them if you are very careful, or an easier method is to just notch a small chip into them so the water can penetrate the shell and the seedling will start to expand. I had some old bagseeds for my first grow...I placed them into warm water to start until they sank, then into a moist warm tissue surrounded by tin foil for a day and a half(by heater). i think 75 percent of them cracked at that point, the other few i left in the tissue and all but one cracked in the next day.
good luck :thumbsup:

[gtscruggs]

I don't know everybody...... It has been an un-godly amount of time and the seeds did not germ. I have officially moved onto plan B. I cut a 2" square of rockwool and soaked it in 5.5 for about 5 hours. I then placed 2 seeds about 1/2" below the surface.

The room is at 80 deg. and is fully lit. I assumed the lighting wouldn't matter because the rockwoll eliminates about 90% of light penetration. I will keep everyone up on any changes. The posts may be speratic, but nothing has happened. Once the grow actually starts, I will update about every other day. This is officially Day 7 since I have placed the seeds in the rockwool. We shall C!

[Emerica420]

what are those two things on the sides? Humidifiers?

[latewood]

very nice info all around.

I would like to add, that I no longer germinate with paper towel method. I now put seed right in damp rapid rooter and spritz it 2-3 times daily...takes barely 3 sometimes 4-5
days and I have sprouts...I personally feel this is the most effective method available nowadays. (remember. back in the day, when paper towel method was the best, there were no rapid rooters)
You might want to give them a try. Jmho lw

[MaryjaneMenehune]

very nice info all around.

I would like to add, that I no longer germinate with paper towel method. I now put seed right in damp rapid rooter and spritz it 2-3 times daily...takes barely 3 sometimes 4-5
days and I have sprouts...I personally feel this is the most effective method available nowadays. (remember. back in the day, when paper towel method was the best, there were no rapid rooters)
You might want to give them a try. Jmho lw

Those sound pretty interesting... perhaps I'm just not up to par with all of the products on the market today, but that sounds like a good investment if you get strong sprouts quickly. I've been using superthrive in my grows from the first water on and it seems to stimulate growth pretty well. How would these two products stack up in comparison or is that like comparing apples to oranges?
As to fixing your problem, I saw a pretty good thread on growing from seed, let me see if i can find it...
http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=25328
It comes courtesy of some experienced folks here on the site.
That may be of some help. Hope it works out.

[gtscruggs]

The two things on the side are:
Left: Ionnizer - essentially creates positivlty charged air particles. Therfore, removing air impurities in the grow room.

Right: Humidifier: boosting the humidity level inside the room for optimum hum. output to the plant.

cheers,

[gtscruggs]

Thanks MJM,

I basically followed their instruction to the tee; BTW: I got my info from a few well known hydro authors, and the info is basically the same, thats why this site/forum is the joint! Anyway, It's day 13 for the rockwool experiment and I have just switched to warm darkness inside the room with a 18 hour wet cycle.

Let See!
cheers,

[MaryjaneMenehune]

You may want to check out Gen's comments on starting in perlite...I started a few in peat pellets and a few in perlite (with some vermiculite on top to prevent algae growth). Im happy with the results. shots are a week or so after germination. I just used a yogurt container with holes in the bottom. The container is placed in a shallow dish filled with water. I transfer the yogurt containers to a dwc system when they can start taking nutes. Good luck.

[latewood]

I don't know everybody...... It has been an un-godly amount of time and the seeds did not germ. I have officially moved onto plan B. I cut a 2" square of rockwool and soaked it in 5.5 for about 5 hours. I then placed 2 seeds about 1/2" below the surface.

The room is at 80 deg. and is fully lit. I assumed the lighting wouldn't matter because the rockwoll eliminates about 90% of light penetration. I will keep everyone up on any changes. The posts may be speratic, but nothing has happened. Once the grow actually starts, I will update about every other day. This is officially Day 7 since I have placed the seeds in the rockwool. We shall C!

Did you shake out R'wool after soaking??? You have to shake it out like a freshly cleaned paintbrush to remove excess wetness...Otherwise seed will :( Drown.

If you keep having trouble with rockwool try rapid rooters...
Ihave use dboth, but am sold on rapid rooters for my beans...Now. goodluck lw

[krustythfreakinclown]

A few pointers for you:

Firstly, congratulations on your setup! It looks very well thought out.

Secondly, I strongly urge you to get an HPS lamp at some point for flowering. There are dealers on ebay that sell a 400W HPS kit for $99. You'll need to get an air-cooled hood, though if you are growing in a confined space. That also means you need to get a squirrel-cage fan and some flexible ducting. I'm not sure what those are going for on the 'Net.

Also, I advocate buying things locally if you can. This allows for immediate possession of the hardware and allows you to pay cash, making the purchase untraceable. Besides, it helps your local economy. :)

Your current setup would be AWESOME for a mother from which you can get clones. Provided you grow year-round, you would have a strong, healthy mopther from which you can get clones (I would do this, but I don't grow in the summer-too hot and I don't use A/C).

In any event, you are doing the right thing: doing a run or two with bagseed to see what you get and correcting any mistakes you make. Best of luck and I wish you a happy, heavy harvest!

[gtscruggs]

Ok.....The white rino broke through faster than the swag. I put both inside of rockwool basted in low ph overnight. After about a week I had a seedling. I'm at week two of the seedlings progress. I will post some pictures Monday.

Q: I'm seeing some yellow spots develop on the first set of true leaves. The plant has reached it's second set of leaves. What should I do?

I have already realized that I should replace the reseviour with new H20 ans nutes. I lowered the ppm of my nutes to about half to potentially compensate for nute burn and I'm now using boiled water not tap. I hope this will take care of the yellowing before it affects the second set of leaves.

Any suggestions!?

Pics on Monday (i loaned my digi to a friend)
cheers,

[gtscruggs]

OK...week 2 and I have a semi-good grow going. White rino with some problems! Slight yellowing on original leaves!

Help! Check previous post for overview.

cheers,
gtscruggs

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[Opie Yutts]

Looks like the yellowing is only where they are touching the clay pellets.

This is completely normal, at least that is it happens to me all the time. I am not sure, but I think it is because you are essentially applying nutrients directly to the leaves, which are so new they cant handle it.

I suppose you could prop them up if you are worried about it, but I don't. The leaf will die where the yellow spots are, but the rest of the leaf will continue to thrive.

If this is not the problem, It is most likely a too much light, too much nutrients, or both. I pull my light way back the first few days as well as start with 1/4 strength nutes for the 1st feeding, then 1/2, then full.

[Trivium]

Hey GTS, as opie said this is normal.

Woud love to see a whole shot of your over view setup and grow room.

[gtscruggs]

The yellowing is starting to spread to the newer leaves. I have moved the light to about 16" away from the plant.

cheers,
gtscruggs

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[gtscruggs]

OPIE YUTTS,

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

Your signature is priceless!

[seasoned vet]

drop that light lower get that thing right above your baby, floro dont burn a plant like an hps/mh does, i usually keep my 100w watts withing 2 or 3 inches of the plant. make sure you got oxygen going to the resevoir, keep the bubbles coming. i would some nutes at a very low dose, my nutes recommend a 1/4 tsp per gallon for a seedling i use 1/8tsp (just to give you an idea). good luck,
seasoned

[seasoned vet]

also 1 more thing i would go pick up a lil fan to put in there to get some air movement going on let it blow slightly on the plant, it seems to promote a healthy trunk for me in my past grows it thickens it right up.

[Opie Yutts]

"Seasoned" is right about the fan. It will make your plants stronger and less likely to topple over or break when budding.

A flouro can burn a plant, especially when it is just starting. Usually it is a combination of light and too much nutrients though. This happened to me. Sometimes when a plant is on the edge, a little more light will push it over the edge. Reduce one or the other and symptoms may go away.

I don't think light in your case is the problem. I would flush out your system as well and as much as you can stand spending the time. Flush with PH adjusted, chlorine neutralized water. Then feed with nutrients 1/4 the strength the manufacturer recommends for 2 weeks, and see if the yellowing happens on any new growth. If not, increase food very gradually each feeding until the first sign of yellowing appears, then back it off some.

Keep your reservior airiated and preferably moving. Keep your nutes at the proper temp (about 78F), and PH (5.2), and chlorine content (none).

If you carefully follow my advice and the symptoms persist, I would be very surprised. I also wouldn't know what else to try.

Good Luck

[gtscruggs]

Thanks guys! I Will flush tonight and go with the second week of 1/4 mix. I did back theb light off slightly, but not much. I'm trying to keep all possible senarios in mind. Thanks again!

Will post pics tonight after I flush the system.

[gtscruggs]

How often do you water you plants? My pump is set to low and runs for about 1 hour every three. Too much? Not enough?

[gtscruggs]

PS. I have a humidifier in the room that is set to high speed, so it acts as a fan/humi.


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[gtscruggs]

Alright....I still have some yellowing going on here after two weeks of resevior changes. I switched to FOX FARM, Grow Big 6-4-4.

Current info:

Day: 35
Temp: 78 Deg.
Ph: 5.9
ppm: 342
Humidity: 40%
Height: 6"
__________________________________________________ ________________
The yellowing is only taking place on the tip of past generation leaf sets. In other words, new growth has no yellowing only the previous sets.

I need some good old advice here.

Should I stay with the 1/2 nutes mixture? Try something else? Anybody OUT THERE!

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[The White Snoop]

Are you using RO h20 or tap?

I would say at first it's ph or nute burn but you say those are in check.

If your using RO its MG def....pick up some Cal-Mag

[LOC NAR1958]

Good call Snoop. Get some cal mag+, or for right now a teaspoon of epson salts in the rez. It will hold till you get calmag. Please use RO or distilled water if you don't know what your tap water has in it. My tap water runs just about 200 PPM's. It will kill a plant in no time even if I let it set for 24 hours to get the chlorine out.

[gtscruggs]

cal mag Huh? I'll have to see if I can get it at the local hydro store.

I'm using tap water with a ppm of 189. I use a brita water filter to eliminate any unwanted Chlorine.

Should I lower my nutes? I'm already using 1/2 strenght.

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[Trivium]

Hey gts. They're looking much better now, I just encounterd this same problem and I did nothing but flush, give them water, and watched the results, they're coming out nice and green now.

[elcheapo]

Keep your eye on the purple stems. This is usually indicative of a problem.

[gtscruggs]

What is going on when you see purple stems????

[gtscruggs]

__________________________________________________ __________________
Stage: Vegetative
Day: 41
Temp: 79 Deg.
Ph: 5.9
ppm: 179
Humidity: 20%
Height: 7 3/4"
__________________________________________________ __________________


No yellowing as of today. However, I 'm seeing hundreds of very small brown spots on many leaves (see pics).

:confused: I have added 1/4 teaspoon of epsom salts to the 1/4 strenght Fox Farm - Grow Big to counteract any potential deficiency.

:confused: I have also added 1/8 strength Neem Oil (to correct a potential fungal/insect problem).

:( Any suggestions on the brown spotting?***************************************** *************
################################################## #####

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Brown Spots

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cheers,

[LOC NAR1958]

Man I never seen spots like this. It's one for the guru's.

[Opie Yutts]

It's beyond my scope. I too have never seen or heard of such a thing. Almost looks like a pest problem.

[misk]

that looks pretty hektik.

im no expert here lol but...
i think u should try flushing with no nutes or anything for a few days and see if it clears up, in the past this has helped me wen my plant has been burnt for no apparent reason.

[gtscruggs]

I have a situation....

The last set of leaves, and new (9's), have started curling at the tips!!!!!!!!!!!!

I flushed the system and went back 2 strait H20/ 1/4 Grow BIG (nute)...

CURLING LEAF TIPS???????

What's going on?

cheers,

[DreamnBiGbud]

do you think they would have that bulb in home depot or would i need togo online

[DreamnBiGbud]

was just ona page and it sent me here damnit my bad mann

[gtscruggs]

Day:23
Temp: 82 Degrees
Ph: 5.5
Humidity: 40%
Height: 20"

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cheers,

[The White Snoop]

ABOUT TIME!

lol

[gtscruggs]

Day: 34
Stage: Flowering
Temp: 82 Deg
Ph: 5.6
ppm: 399
Humidity: 45%
Height: 22"

__________________________________________________ __________________

About Time my ars!

This is my first grow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cut some slack for a brother!


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cheers,
g

[BlackBliss]

Lookin Good.....keep us posted!!
Cherr's,
Bliss.