My First Grow Log

[Firebloom]

Heya all

Just started my first *real* grow here so I figured I would make a log of it :)

The very first seedling I had attempted a few years ago died on me from lack of light on the window sil ( /slap-self-in-face )
I shoulda read before I tried... stupid me :( Oh well... live n learn I guess.


This one is just some bagseed since I didnt feel like dumping money on good seeds that I might F up for my first real grow attempt here.

At the moment I have just this one seedling started in a 2'W x 2 1/2'L x 2 1/2'H cardboard box (going ghetto style for the moment lol) and 3 other seeds that are still germinating in some paper towels. (Praying for at least 1 lady out of these)

I will be moving them into a grow cabinet very soon here, which I am still building, and hopefully I'll have it finished by tuesday night if all goes well.


I'm starting this one under 2 25w cfls (100 watt equiv) and 2 15w cfl's (60 watt equiv) both in the 6500k temp range which I picked up today. Unfortunately these were the only 5000k+ range cfl bulbs they had in stock at the small hardware store here locally.

Need to make a trip to home depot tommorow and I will be picking a few more up to help with veg. Figuring around 200watts worth of cfl's should be adequate for just one plant. I hope that will be enough for 1 (maybe 2) smaller sized plants. I'll get more if the others successfully germinate.

Not expecting too much since this is my first real attempt at growing, but I'm not gonna complain if it does better either :)

If I can do well with this grow I will definetly invest in a 400w mh and a 400w hps once this grow is done.

For flowering I plan on using the 8 25w cfl's I have that are in the 2700k temps. I will pick up more if I see this one really start to take off, but for now this is what I'm gonna start with. I cant really complain about costs yet, since I only paid .99c each for these ones. The 6500k cfl's were $11 a pop for the 25w and $8 each for the 15w.


Will it be ok to use a couple of the 2700k bulbs for veg along with these 4 6500k bulbs ?




I am currently using Schultz Cactus and Succulent Potting Mix. The wife had it around and she uses it for her houseplants so I had some free potting soil availible right away. I know Schultz makes some good products from what I've read around here and on a few other sites. Here's a link to check it out.

http://www.schultz.com/ProductCategories/Soilsamendments/CactusSoil/

The bag says it contains 28-38% reed-sedge peat, sphagnum peat moss, perilite, and washed sand. The bag also says it provides excellent drainage, improves root aeration and contains organic matter.

Is this soil going to work out fairly well ?

Or should I switch to something different before I plant the others ? (assuming they germinate)


Luckily my tap water here is Ph'ing at just over 7 so thats all good. thumbsup:


Well here it is...

This seed germinated overnight. It took just over 16 hours to crack open and show roughly an 1/8th inch tap root. That was much, much, much faster than I expected LOL! So now I'm kinda rushing to get my grow box built within the next 2 days so it can have a nice happy life in there.


I've been able to maintain temps in the 72-76 F range inside the small box (with the 4 cfl's running) pretty good so far on that. Hopefully adding a few more cfl's isnt gonna drive temps up all too much. Since they will be going into a grow box roughly 2x-3x this size I dont think the heat will be too much of a problem. I have a few small multi-speed desk fans around to help with airflow for the box as well.





Heres a pic of my super fast sprouting baby on day 2 since it popped up out of the soil under 24/0.

Looking to be in good shape so far I think

Any tips and/or comments are welcome :)

[Firebloom]

oops my bad... this is day 3 not day 2...

[hudson88]

Hey firebloom, sounds like you've done your research. You can add a couple of the 2700 bulbs for veg, they stretch more with 2700 bulbs but if you have a ratio of 2x6500 to 1x2700 you probably wouldn't notice any difference. Can't comment on the soil, it's not something i know much about, i use bio bizz soil and that seems to work for me, i've heard to stay away from miracle grow soil tho as apparently the ferts in it burn mj plants. Good luck and keep the updates coming. I've got a grow thread if you wanna check it out, it's at http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?p=1031455

Peace :rasta:

[oturbojoeo4o]

start thinking of an intake and exhaust system...i tried growing without ventilation....didnt turn out very good

i use 2 fans, one for the exhaust and one 2 make the plants sway around just simulate wind, makes it stronger

i was at lowes 2day and i bought a HPS 70 security light, and i bought anouther CFL

they are only like 9.88 for the 42watt CFL which says 150+ equivalent...
they also sell the daylight bulbs which are good for veg, nice bluish/whitish light

check this out its the best thing ive used so far for info beside the boards :
http://www.drugs-forum.com/growfaq/GrowFAQ%20Basic%20Topics.htm

i like the pepsi can reflectors they made for the CFLs very good shit

goodluck, seems like our grows are pretty much the same i got a lil head start...i was orginally doing just CFLs but ive been reading alot about low output HPS lamps 250 watts and less...and i found on that site i gave you a way to convert a 70watt HPS security lamp for $52, into i nice growlamp...with a remote ballast 2 ward off heat...still need 2 make me a reflector :)

hope i help a lil, not much help in the closet/cab section...so im trying, the ones that do help know their shit though soooo listen 2 em :)

[klup]

i just went to home depot the other day and 5500k was the highest i could find. at least locally, home depot has better materials than lowes.

good luck, im going to try another cfl/ bagseed grow soon, hopefully next month.

[oturbojoeo4o]

walmart has the 150watt equiv. CFLs

home dePOT :)

[Firebloom]

Thanks for the replies all :)

I've been reading around here quite a bit lately. I also picked up a copy of the Grow Bible by Greg Green last week as well. Very good info in that book, I would definetly reccomend getting a copy if you havent already. *Especially* for those of us who are new to all this.


Unfortunately my cabinet isnt gonna be ready until later this week sometime. :(

I found a little spot of green growing on the plywood I was gonna use (looks like mold... not good...) so I'm gonna be tossing that in the fire pit. Even if I painted it heavily, I still wouldnt trust it. Got a friend here who has several decent size cabinets in storage so I'm gonna see if any of those will be viable for what I would like to do with it. Otherwise its back to the store for some lumber lol.

I've also got a 50 foot roll of 4 mil eclipse mylar on order for the interior. Black backing and extra thick. I figure I might as well do it right instead of cheaping it out since I havent dumped too much cash into this yet. (thanks to the cfl's)

http://www.mylarstoreonline.com/TotalBlack-OutMylar25ft.html


Finding 6500k cfls in a store here locally has been difficult so I'll probably end up ordering a few extras from somewhere online. 1000bulbs.com seems to be pretty fairly priced from what I can tell and has a good assortment of cfls to work with.

For now I tossed in one of the 25w 2700k cfl bulbs to assist the 6500k's with early veg here.

Although in the last couple hours I have noticed it seems to be stretching towards the 2700k bulb a bit, just like you said hudson.

I've just been turning the small pot every hour to keep it nice n straight. Stem seems to be a bit flimsy so I aimed a small desk fan at it from a couple feet away and put it on low. Hopefully the very small vibration from the fan will strengthen the main stem for the future, not to mention keeping a fresh supply of air in the box.

I have thought about ventilation as well and my cabinet will most likely have a small squirrel cage intake/exhaust system with a carbon filter similar to yours oturbojoe. That should provide some great air flow in there.

BTW... I saw your stealth box.. and I must say.. DAMN.... thats some sneaky shit lol... nice job. You're certainly right, allot of the people here really know thier stuff. I've learned allot (and I mean allot) from just wandering around the different sections of the board here.


I'll be germinating a few extra seeds tonight just in case I manage to kill this one somehow.

Gonna do a test with a couple of them by wetting them and dipping them in some rooting hormone powder to see if it helps speed up germination at all.

Got the idea for that after I googled around a bit and found this link...

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1623.pdf



Little baby is still doing well in her cardboard ghetto box for now.
First set of fan leaves are starting to get a little bit wider already since yesterday, so it seems to be leaning on the indica side. I cant be sure though since its bagseed, and only a few days old, but thats what it appears to be at the moment. I'll take a few more pics once I get it in the finished cabinet.



My first good quality strain is most likely gonna be white widow like yours hudson... I've just heard too many good things. But I'm leaving that until I can prove to myself I can make a bagseed bud up nicely lol.

I figure if I can make a bagseed do fairly well... I'll do even better with a good quality strain.


Good luck to ya'll with your grows as well.


Well I'm off to go roast a nice fat bowl here :smokin:

Cyaz around

[Firebloom]

Heya again all...



Little baby had an accident 2 days ago... grew up into the light and got burned a little bit :(

I was out for the day and I wouldnt have thought it would grow that much in only 8 hours. But oh well, live n learn lol


It seems to be handling it ok though.

I'm just gonna be watching it closely to make sure that never happens again.



Had 3 other seeds germinate and I got them into soil yesterday.
Hopefully they will pop up within the next 2 days.
2 of them are already showing the seed shell at the surface so I figure it wont be long until they show me the green :D


Still working on my grow box here, I keep changing around what I want to do with it n cant seem to make up my damn mind lol... :confused:

Hopefully I'll have it ready before my babies get too big for thier little box they're in.

I picked up a 100w flourex flood lamp from homedepot tonight and will be using that as my primary veg light in the cabinet. (1000w equivalent)

It puts out 10,600 lumens at 6500k. Not too bad for $50 imo :thumbsup:




Heres a couple pics of plant #1

I'm noticing the stems are a little bit reddish...

Anybody know if thats a problem or not ?

From allot of the seedling pics I've seen it seems to be fairly common, but I'm just wondering in case it is something else that I can correct soon.


The yellowed ends are where it grew into the light n got burned :(

[Firebloom]

Here we are at day 14 :)


My first little baby is growing nicely :D

I'm seeing new growth on it daily now that its under the flourex flood light.
(1000w equiv - 10,600 lumens @ 6500k)

Seems to be shaking off the little burn it got from growing into the light just fine. (pic 1)


I'm still waiting on the mylar to get delivered, so I can finish off my cab.

I picked up 2 cheap bookcases from homedepot ($10 each) and mended them together to form a cabinet case. 2'w x 2'd x 5'h

Once the mylar arrives I will be lining the entire inside of the can with it.
The bookcases each came with a thin plastic backer board but I will be wrapping those with mylar and then using one to make a door with velcro to seal it, and nailing the other one onto the back. I think that using the thin plastic boards and just wrapping those with the mylar will also help keep temps down compared to using plywood.



I started up a few other seedlings and they're doing well too. :)
They're just over 5 days old now. The leaves on the smaller seedlings (pics 2-5) are actually a little over an inch wide. The seedlings themselves are only about 2 1/2 inches tall. They're getting a much better start than my first baby had.


I've been maintaining temps in the 75-80 range. I'm trying to get it down a little bit lower though. A ventilation system will most likely be needed once I add the side lighting boards I'm making, and seal the cabinet up, but I'm waiting until I see what the temps will be like after I seal up the cabinet before I start installing a venting system. No real need for it at the present, since the cab is open on the front and back. I have a small fan I've kept on the plants and lights for a few hours a day and that seems to be working well for now.


Humidity is something I've been having problems with. Its pretty dry here so I've had keep a close eye on that. I first added a few small tupperware containers with aqaurium gravel and water in them, (you can see one of them in pic 3) I had hoped it would evaporate enough to raise the humidity a bit, but it only went up about 4% overall, so that wasn't gonna cut it.

I got a small 1.2 gallon humidifier tonight. I put the humidifier a few feet away from the cab and about an hour later the humidity went up quite a bit. Sitting at 45% right now.


I'm still thinking about what to use for a main light for flowering.
I will most likely order a 200-400 watt HPS for that, but heat issues worry me.
Especially since I'm trying not to spend a whole lot on my setup. I may just rig up a large lightboard and use 6-8 cfl's in it, but after seeing other grows here I'm sure I would have better luck with the HPS for flowering.


Anybody have any recommendations for a fairly cheap HPS that wont skyrocket my temps up ? I've seen the cool-tube systems, but they are quite pricey.

Could anybody tell me how much a 200-400 watt HPS will raise my temps?


Any advice is greatly appreciated :)

[pearadice]

u know walmart sell 6500k bulbs 2 for $6.44

[kindprincess]

GE daylight tubes... they are the total shit...

love, kp

[2MC5]

reddish stem is no prob it happens all the time
good luck:}

[Firebloom]

Heya all !

Been a while since I updated in my log here.

My babies have been doing very well for me :)
I think they know I love them :D


I kicked the lights down to 18/6 after running 24/0 for a month straight.

Plant #1 showed preflowers a couple days ago, and has been confirmed as a female ! Shes showing little tiny pistils now after only 1 month in veg. (Pic 1)

My other babies are doing pretty good too.

No signs of pre-flowers on any of the others, but they are about a week behind plant #1.


Plant #2 grew into the light last night and got little burned a little bit on one of the fan leaves. :( Poor thing is growing too big for its britches. Its been skyrocketing upwards the last couple days after receiving its first dose of nutes. Its actually taller than plant #1 is now, but it hasn't been staying quite as compact as plant #1 has been. Seems to be doing pretty well though overall.
I hope it doesn't decide to get ballsy on me... because I would be forced to show it who the man of the house really is! :chainsaw: LOL (Pic 3)



Plant #3 is also doing pretty well.
No problems that I have noticed, other than a little yellowish striping in-between the veins of the fan leaves last week. I gave it some water with epsom salts mixed in because I figured it was a Mg deficiency, and I think it was, because its gone back to its original greenness over the past week. It received its first real dose of nutes along with my other babies 3 days ago. (Pic 3)

Plant #4 seems to be a little bit stunted, its growing a bit slower than the others are. Maybe this one will just stay smaller. Since its from bagseed it might just be a shorter growing strain. (Pic 4)

I also have my first mutant seedling !
Plant #5 is my little mutant who decided to only grow one 3 leaved fan leave for its first one. (Pic 5)

Soil ph levels are normal (been staying around 6.5) and I've been watering all my plants with water ph'd at 6.5.



I also took in a friend of mines plant which is a couple weeks into flowering, but looking pretty scrawny :(
I felt bad for it so I figured I would see what I could do with it to make it yield a little better, and just be a happier plant overall than it has been. Happy plants make us happier at harvest time ;)

Since I haven't been having all to many problems with my own plants I figured taking this one in would be a good learning experience for me.

She's been growing on a window ledge, so it hasnt been getting too much light lately. I put it into a new small cab that I quickly rigged up with a hacked up emergency blanket for relfective material, and 8, 25w cfls at 1600 lumens each (2700k) The cab isnt all that great honestly because I built it so quickly, but its still allot more light than it was getting previously.

Hopefully I can make it bud up a bit better than it has been. It has nice long white hairs all over her bud sites, but the buds are pretty small, thin, and not too dense. Hopefully now that its getting allot more light, it will improve over the next few weeks. It hasnt been getting any nutes until I took it in 2 nights ago and gave her the first dose of nutes.

I gave it some Schultz 10-15-10 mixed at half strength. Once its time to water again in a couple more days I will most likely bump it up to full strength as long as it doesnt show any signs of nute burn.

I really need to head out and get some better nutes for flowering, but for now I think the 10-15-10 will be ok since it hasnt been too happy of a plant. The the nitrogren will hopefully let it strengthen up and fill out a bit more. In the next 2 weeks I'm gonna try and find some higher P nutes with a lower N and start giving it that once I see some growth improvement.

Heres is a link to the thread I started for my friends plant if you wanna check it out.
http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=91009
I have a bunch of pics of it in there, so I wont be posting those in my log here.


All in all things have been going pretty well so far, and my babies seem to be happy :)


Pic 1 is Plant #1 (confirmed female)

Pic 2 is Plant #3

Pic 3 is Plant #2

Pic 4 is Plant #4 AKA Stumpy (the stunted one)

Pic 5 is Plant #5 My new mutant seedling

[Firebloom]

Some more pics... :greenthumb:


Pic 1
Pre-flowers on Plant #1

Pic 2
My little cabinet jungle (complete with my Were-Pimp jungle monster bobble head) Mylar sheets removed from walls for pictures.


And Pic 3 and Pic 4 are what I'm going to go burn right now :D



:stoned:

[DamianLucifer]

Cheapest light is build your own buy a ballast kit bulb and socket I put my 400w hps together for about $135