Master Kush x Silver Haze 1st Grow - YAY!

First off let me say what a pleasure it is to speak to you guys, and read through all of this information and be a small part of the community.

And, many thanks to Zandor for everything he does to bring us so much information, I am an avid listener to the Grow Report - and I love the show.

So here's my grow log, I'd appreciate your help. I haven't really seen many grow logs that fully detail every step, so I thought I'd do that with mine, and let you guys see what I've done.

Size and location are problems for me. I ended up having to do a rubbermaid grow. I have been very careful to completely seal the containers to make them airtight (except for the ventillation), and completely light proof. I have achieved this by sealing the two rubbermaid containers together with a black bike tire innertube, which can easily be removed to maintain the plant. I installed 5 light sockets in the container: 3 on top, 2 on the sides. I used to be an electrician - so I have properly wired everything, installed breakers, surge protector, and covered all of the wiring with flame-retardant insulation, then covered that up with another rubbermaid container. I will post pics soon. It actually came out looking nice - like something you'd buy retail. I installed a ventillation system with a carbon filter on the exhaust. There is only one cord going to the system, so it is completely portable.

Also installed is a thermometer with hygrometer to maintain conditions. Currently it is at 80 degrees, 70% humidity.

I installed (3) 100 watt daylight CFL's in the top sockets for germination. Also, the inside of the container is lined with foil, dull side out. The three bulbs put out 1900 lumens each - for a total of nearly 6000 for the small space. Soon I will put in the side lights - another 2 daylight bulbs for vegetative, then replace those 2 with warm 42W CFL's for flowering.

I prepared a soil for germination: vermiculite, sphagnum moss, perlite, and a tiny TINY bit of dolemite lime. I prepared 3 small germination pots about 2 inches deep and 1 inch square. The seeds were planted 1/2" deep and the soil watered - and I'm just keeping it moist to the touch. The seeds are from a local bank, and feminized. I will be keeping my light blue, the soil more towards the alkaline side, and running an 18/6 schedule to further push them into being female.

I planted my beans yesterday. Now I wait.

I made my first mistake, though - the first time I watered my germination soil, I used tapwater. This shouldn't cause a problem with the chlorine, right guys? From now on I'm using Aquafina.

Oh - one last point, I am NOT using the bottom half of the rubbermaid container for germination right now - I'm just placing the top half with the lights directly onto a sheet of foil to get the lights down close and personal with the seedlings.

I will be going organic. I know, I know... the whole yield vs. taste thing... I just wanted to start with dirt, and I'm all into the whole "mother earth" stuff - so that's where I ended up.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Hey ConnieSewer!

Welcome and good luck with your grow! I just started my first grow too. I'm doing organic growing as well.

Something I might suggest is if you can possibly get to a Wal-Mart or a camping store, get an emergency blanket or two. They are made from mylar and work a ton better at reflecting the light around than foil. And I hear foil will give you hot spots on your plant and could burn them. The emergency blankets are about $2 each, so definitely should be a purchase you could make.

Anyways, keep up the good work. Looks like you did a lot of homework before you started! I will keep checking back with this thread to see your progress! Can't wait to see how she turns out!

Yes mylar is much better than foil by a long shot. PS My soil plants all got tapwater and did fine. Thought i read somewhere that a small bit of chlorine was actually beneficial for plants (don't ask me what a small amount is)

I am using tap water, and I heard that if you let the tap water sit out in an open container for 24 hours, then the harmful agents in the tap water will evaporate. Try that if you want.

K guys - I will definitely go mylar. Thanks for the suggestions.

Yeah, I know about letting the water sit out - I'm gonna do that or Aquafina in the future, I just didn't know if I jacked up my beans by giving them a dose of chlorine for their first watering. :D

I'm excited to see how your grow goes too. I'll keep checking.

Okay guys, so here's my soil recipe for the entire grow. I will be adding nutrients throughout the grow, adjusting based on pH, veg/flower, other factors. This is just the base medium:

Sphagnum Moss
Peat Moss
Redwood Compost
Mushroom Compost
Fir Bark
Washed/Sterile Sand
Mycorrhizal Fungi
Worm Castings
Kelp Meal
Bat Guano
Feather Meal
Dolemite Lime
Volcanic Pumice

For a general purpose food I will use a 12/12/12 Sea Kelp fertilizer
which mixes in with the water every 2 weeks.

During veg I will use Blood Meal as my nitrogen booster.
During flowering I will use Bone Meal for my phosphate.

I will be adjusting pH using dolemite lime - keeping it around 7.5.

Man... this is getting expensive. I think I'm up to $225 now for one plant. Oh well, most of it is just a one-time expense, and most of the nutes will last me a LOOOONG time.

Wow, that is getting pretty expensive. I went the Fox Farm Ocean Forest route for my soil. It was about $12 for a big bag of it. Then my lights were about $20 or so. I'm about to add a couple more CFLs here in the next couple weeks once my plant gets a little bit bigger and can handle all the light.

would like to see pics as I use rubbermaids for growing as well....check my thread in my signature:D
Good Luck!:thumbsup:

I used a sterile embroidery needle to move a bit of soil aside on one of the germination pots. The seed is germinated and just about to pop thru the surface.


Problem:
I added one more CFL light, and my temp jumped to 92. Humidity is still at 80. Is this too hot? My soil is still moist.

yeah, you may need to lower those temps. I read that 75 degrees i think is ideal. My area stays at about 80.

Hmm... I may need to re-engineer my ventillation system then. I want to keep all the bulbs in there. I'm going to hit up the store and get me a blower motor and possibly look into ducting to move the hot air FAR away from the grow.

Damn - I hit as high as 105 degrees.

Time to put my thinking cap on. I ran ducting for my intake to bring in cold air - it didn't make any difference.

Wait a minute...... I think I got an idea.

you could tap into an a/c vent. Or, make sure you have an intake on the bottom of the containers.. and the exhaust at the top area... lights and heat are at the top, get cool air coming in from the bottom. Also the temp in the room makes a big difference.

Update:

I have sprouts. 100% germination. All of them are sticking about 1/2" out of the soil now. So 4 days to sprout. Excellent.

I bought 2 of those high-flow Delta 90mm fans and replaced my old fans with these. Ambient (not surface) temp in the container is now 82 degrees. :rasta:
The con with having Delta fans is the noise. Not even a fraction of the noise of a typical oscillating fan, though - just that high-pitched whirring sound from the motors.

I thought I'd add that I'm using a 150-watt miniATX power supply to run my 12 volt fans. I tested it with the three fans running and it is drawing 90 watts.

PSU=90
(3) CFL 30w Day=90
(2) 21W Warm White=42


Roughly 250W draw off of this unit only. :thumbsup:

Quick question: does it hurt sprouts to go directly into intense 24/7 light like I have in the rubbermaid container?

might need lights, still, im stoked for the super silver haze

i have put sprouts under 24/7 before with no ill effects.

Something you don't typically see in the grow logs:

The emotional/human aspect of it. I have mixed feelings - I am super stoked to come home from work and see two small light-green round leaves on one of the sprouts - and the rest of them about to do likewise. Very cool.

It's tough to not tell anybody. It's hard to be so excited and want to share with others - but not be able to.

The paranoia sets in. I have trouble posting on this forum, thinking that the feds are watching my online activities. I'm freaking out about someone seeing my setup. I'm scared of Uncle Sam.

I'm angry. I'm angry that in the supposed "Land of Freedom" I cannot grow a PLANT without fear of having my life destroyed.

I'm happy - because I know that soon I'll be able to experience enjoying marijuana that I personally grew and cared for.

Growing is a strange experience so far. I have been reluctant to post pics of anything due to my paranoia too.

Interesting times... I'm rambling.

LOL

I was pretty baked.

Dude,

Take the shirt with the bull's eye that says "Catch me if you can" on it off. You've got beans that are growing, great. Read and watch... if you run into problems, ask. Otherwise, just be happy, my suggestion, don't post pic's (if you are so desperate to post, use a proxy).

Remember...LEO watches every post everywhere.

i just gotta say ur doin a great job, and surely a couple pics of seedlings aint gonna get you arrested, especially when there are people posting big old bud plants on here, dont be afraid... ...step into the light...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ConnieSewer

Something you don't typically see in the grow logs:

The emotional/human aspect of it. I have mixed feelings - I am super stoked to come home from work and see two small light-green round leaves on one of the sprouts - and the rest of them about to do likewise. Very cool.

It's tough to not tell anybody. It's hard to be so excited and want to share with others - but not be able to.

The paranoia sets in. I have trouble posting on this forum, thinking that the feds are watching my online activities. I'm freaking out about someone seeing my setup. I'm scared of Uncle Sam.

I'm angry. I'm angry that in the supposed "Land of Freedom" I cannot grow a PLANT without fear of having my life destroyed.

I'm happy - because I know that soon I'll be able to experience enjoying marijuana that I personally grew and cared for.

Growing is a strange experience so far. I have been reluctant to post pics of anything due to my paranoia too.

Interesting times... I'm rambling.

---

After being on the forums a while you will see that people do not get busted near as much as you would think. Keep half way low profile and your fine. Feds haven't busted me yet and i post pics.:smokin:
I'll try to let you know if they do...hahaha:dance:

Thanks for the support, guys. I appreciate it.

The little plants have grown even more, they're about 1" tall now - the rounded leaves are curling and dying a bit, but now I have sets of pointed leaves beginning to grow out from the stems.

Temps are stable around 80 degrees. So I have that problem solved. I've decided to now decrease the humidity to 50%. It's holding around 50-55%.

I'm going to post my design diagrams for the grow container - it's easier than explaining the pictures. I'll get them up asap.

SO:

Day 5 since planting. All sprouted and about 1" tall.

Day 7: Still about the same height as a couple days ago, but the first serrated leaves are now about twice the size of the cotyledons on all three plants.

I noticed that the surface of the soil and some of the vermiculite on one of the plants has begun to turn a bit green - like there's the beginnings of a moss or an algae growing on the surface. Should I be concerned?

Here's a hint. Your going to see shit happen that doesn't happen outdoors. Moss on the top of your soil, green covered algea on your perlite, burn marks on the tips cause you've over-ferted. One fingered leaves cause you've left your honeys alone for a week without care, lets see... oh. pumps that fail for no reason, flys, little flys, little moths, the list goes on and on.... welcome to growing tomatoes!

You handle each by reading first.... any and every problem has been handled by someone on this board... and if it hasn't you've got some really special tomato plants. The one dreaded thing you always must stay away from is MOLD. Never... Never... Never let mold set in. Black Mold is the worst. But also remember that if you keep your 'work' are clean, don't over water, measure first... pour later, you will be a happy man in the end, and reap the fruit of your labor.

I'm totally against people posting seedlings each day (personally) but, do as you wish.... it's a free country. Trophy plants posted... not my business, actually none of it is my business. The only thing is that LEO is always watching to see if he can make a bust. With the new terrorist laws, and other bullshit, the 'War on Drugs' well... just be careful and think.

You've got a great start, and with the algae... it never really hurts anything. You can always just get rid of the top layer.

Also... if you have any dead leaves laying around on your growing substrate ... get rid of them... they will fester into the dreaded mold after a few weeks or days in some cases.

GL growing... and relax. It's a hearty plant that takes a bit to kill off.... I should know... I've done everything there is to fuck up. But yet they never die. Just go back to the basics... water-air-light when you have problems and go from there.

Hydro... thanks for the words of encouragement, man. A person gets the idea around here that cannabis is the most fragile and temperemental plant on Earth - and that any little mistake will spell certain doom, so I stress out a little when I see something wierd.

We're coming along well though - 11 days after planting the seed, about 8 days after germination and it's looking well. Nice deep green leaves, I have one full set of 4 serrated leaves on each plant now. I noticed that 2 of them were looking like they were stretching for light, so I got them up higher.

So far, so good.