GROW LOG WITH PICTURES UNHEATED GARAGE

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Well,

It got down to 45 last night. I left the plants covered on all sides by dull aluminum foil panels. Turned the circ fan off and let 'em cook under the MH light. Checked at 5 am and the temperature around the plants was 72. I may not have a problem at all unless it gets really really cold (which it usually doesn't do here. 1-2 hard freezes per year. Thanks for posting advice. I will keep posting pics and asking for advice until I smoke this stuff:rasta:

*side note: while assembling my "warmth barrier" last night, I let one of my aluminum panels fall on the plants. Some were clearly bent and I almost began topping a couple of the more damaged looking plants. Instead a gently coaxed them back upright as best I could by hand, and am hoping the light will straighten em up the rest of the way. As shown in the picture I have one spindley freak that is placed in prime lighting real estate - I'm guessing that it took the brunt of the fall. I also watered with 1/4 strength fert. this morning. They were due. Did I do anything bad? Should I move the tall guy out of the way?

Thanks as always,
guano
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GROW LOG 10/16/06

Ok letâ??s see. For right or wrong, hereâ??s what Iâ??ve done for (and to) my crop so far. Most of it is based upon Ed Rosenthalâ??s â??EZ MJ Gardeningâ?� Guide.

October 2, 2006. I planted 36 seeds in 36 starter discs (dome + grow medium). Threw them under the bed â?? (Mistake #1â?? but thatâ??s what the instructions said to do on the box! -Hope Depot crap!! 

October 4th â?? no seedling â?? no nothing. Nada

October 5th â?? have to leave for biz trip.

October 6th I arrived home to discover that 11 of 36 seeds had germinated during my time out of town. Some plants had just sprouted and looked stout and health, other were bent from the humidity dome. All were fairly spindly. (No light â?? under the bed, dâ??oh!)â?¦.I had no further germination of the remaining 25 seeds after 10 more days of water and light.

The 11 survivors stayed in the starter cups and I provided 200 watts of incandescent light for 2-3 days for both the germination dome (which produced nothing further) and the 11seedlings.

(*an aside: I know I screwed up the lighting (i.e. no lighting at all), shouldnâ??t have gone out town, etc, but I kept â??em moist, left the temp. above 72, etc. Any future suggestions on germinating seeds â?? like which light to use, how close and for how long? and which mediums? Fertilizer or no? I think I wasted some viable seeds this time around. Subsequent efforts have produced similarly poor results. Iâ??m currently trying to germinate using paper towels.)

I am following Edâ??s EZ growerâ??s guide pretty much to a â??tâ?�. Instructions included placing the new seedling & the domes (which produced nothing further) under light, in my case metal halide, 24 hrs/day. Lights are 18â?� away from the tops

After the second set of leaves came through I repotted to 6 inch plastic pots using Fox Farms Organic potting soil.

Ed said to start fertilizing right away and I began using ph balanced water with ½ strength BioGrow from BioBizz in Holland. - - The soil medium and Bio Bizz were recommended by my local hydro store. I have not yet tested the soil PH, but considered Iâ??ve always used balanced water, and this stuff is $21 a bag and from Humboldt County, Iâ??m assume soil PH is not the problem.

It seems like there are many here would feel that Iâ??ve over fertilized the babies from the beginning. The pictures shown are two days after transplant to 6 inch pots. So theyâ??re about 12 day old? (Oct. 15th). I think I will flush with pure, balanced water (i.e. no fertilizer) after they dry up a bit more and establish themselves in their new homes. Or will the rapid reduction in fertilizer cause harm? Temp is variable from 70- 80 (in a garage  ) and humidity â?? 60-65. Water is 6.5 ph, non-chlorinated.

Any other suggestions? Am I on the right track? Anything else that might be causing the yellow, thinning, burning, etc? How can improve what Iâ??m already working with?

Should I keep the MH light on 24/7 until flower time? I then plan to switch 12/12 HPS Sodium.

Thanks sincerely for the help!

guano

looking nice m8 keep up the good work
i would leave the heating thing if they are doing good at the moment
but as you say when winter comes it could get cold
then again deal with that when it arises
cheers all :)

very nice man!
keep it up

Don't worry about the plants being bent over unless you broke the stem. Hell, I bend mine over on purpose lol, its called low stress training. Helps even light distribution to all parts of the plant and increases yeild by allowing light to get to all bud sites evenly since there are no upper or no lower sites. Looking good though, keep us posted :rasta:

Also man, whenever you transplant, just bury all the plants up to about 1.5-2 inches below the bottom leaves. All that stem that is put underground will convert to roots. Just be careful in the meantime (maybe use some more stakes to hold them up) and if you get an oscilating fan that blows on the plants like in my pic it will help fatten the stems up a lot. No wind = weak stems. And yes, keep that MH on 24/7 til you switch to flowering. Maybe even get a couple CFLs to put down close to the plants if they're still stretching. You can place CFLs 1-2 inches from the leaves without hurting them. Also, you can find a cheap socket for the cfls if you go to lowes or home depot and go to the isle they have the extension cords and pick up some shop lights. They're like an extension cord with a light socket & round reflector on one end. They even come with a clamp so you can clip them on to stuff to mount them.

Thanks everybody! good knowledge good tips - - keep it coming.

guano