Himalaya Gold: 1st grow log (advice appreciated)

[newmangreen]

STRAIN:10x Himalaya Gold from Green House Seed Co.

LIGHTS:
2x 400W (800 total) HPS.
4ft 40W flourescent tube (found it laying around so opted to use it.)
2ft 15W blue spectrum aquarium flourescent .
Lights will be set on 24 hour cycle once they sprout.

TEMPERATURE: 68-70 at the moment, i'll keep you posted when i actually turn on the lights, no need at this point.

SOIL: Seedling soil with little to no nutrients. I'd like to tell you more specific details but it just says "trace elements" of NPK with PH of 6. The brand name isnt in english so no sense in posting that either. The name literally translates to seedling soil so should be fine.

VENTILATION: table fan circulating the air in my grow room. Although i dont have any fan bringing in fresh air as i dont want to knock a hole in the wall (renting apartment). What i do is, during the light cycle i leave the door to my room cracked enough to keep some fresh air flowing in.

GROW ROOM: I use a large walk-in closet. Now i know the room is kind of "ghetto" but i rent the place so theres a limit to what i can do....

pictures below at day one after germination, although not all 10 cracked. I believe it was 6 or 7 that did (sorry very tired) but just planted them all so i dont have loose seeds laying around.

newmangreen Reviewed by newmangreen on 04-25-2009. Himalaya Gold: 1st grow log (advice appreciated) STRAIN:10x Himalaya Gold from Green House Seed Co. LIGHTS: 2x 400W (800 total) HPS. 4ft 40W flourescent tube (found it laying around so opted to use it.) 2ft 15W blue spectrum aquarium flourescent . Lights will be set on 24 hour cycle once they sprout. TEMPERATURE: 68-70 at the moment, i'll keep you posted when i actually turn on the lights, no need at this point. Rating: 5

[Mr. Clandestine]

The biggest potential issue I could see you running into is going to eventually be ventilation. Just one 400W HPS is enough to bring practically any room up to 90+ degrees, so you can probably imagine what two will do. Also, when that room is full of flowering females, smell will most likely become an issue. If you've got the money to spend, you might consider looking into air-cooled hoods or cooltubes for your HPS's, which will work best with an in-line fan. 300-400 CFM would probably keep temperatures down enough, but I'd get the highest CFM you can find that's affordable (and quiet). On top of that, I'd consider attaching a carbon filter to keep the smell manageable.

Keep us updated! :jointsmile:

[newmangreen]

my thoughts exactly, especially with the warmer weather coming now (YAY !) However i'm afraid me and my investors have already laid quite a penny on this project so i doubt we can afford that now but where theres a will theres a way. What i'm thinking is if i need it i can buy like 4 table fans like the one i already have and just load the top shelf of the closet with them and have them oscillate around, then while the light cycle is on i can just have the door open or something. Think that will help? I just wont have enough cash until harvest time to afford anything more advanced than that.

[deaner]

interested in your grow, Himalayan gold can get big! I have 4 I'm runnin to test that are about 6 seeks old been flowering for 2. They are my tallest strain, taller than jack herer, and i topped the golds, left the herers alone. they seem to take nutes well and look like hardy plants. They are cylinder shaped and all the side branches look like they will catch up with the top colas. I expect them to finish at around 3.5 feet not counting the pots. Topping them helps but they will grow tall regardless, so keep that in mind. And if your in an apartment with ten of them.. Well it's gonna smell nice, hope your neighbors don't mind! Good luck, wish your ladies the best. They like to eat from what I've seen so could be a good yeilder.

[Forwhat420]

So let me get this straight. You are flowering 800watts with no ventilation or smell control??? WOW...You should atleast purchase an air conditioner to keep your temps manageable. Summer comming up, your yeild will suffer dramatically if heat becomes an issue!! and trust me it will become an issue!!

[newmangreen]

yeah i'm aware of the heat issue, but right now its not a problem. if needed i'll empty a stores supply of table fans :thumbsup:

[syde00]

my thoughts exactly, especially with the warmer weather coming now (YAY !) However i'm afraid me and my investors have already laid quite a penny on this project so i doubt we can afford that now but where theres a will theres a way. What i'm thinking is if i need it i can buy like 4 table fans like the one i already have and just load the top shelf of the closet with them and have them oscillate around, then while the light cycle is on i can just have the door open or something. Think that will help? I just wont have enough cash until harvest time to afford anything more advanced than that.

yeah... heat is going to be a pretty major problem for you... especially as warmer weather comes...

is your apartment air conditioned? if its not, you are going to have some pretty major problems in a couple months with 2 400watt HPS lamps... the fans will help a bit, but remember, fans don;t create cool air, they just move hot air around. if your appt has AC, this might be enough to help circulate more of that cold air in by pushing the hot air out.

the idea of opening the closet doors will help... but you are going to have to be VERY religous about it.... your plants in the flowering stage need to stick pretty closely to a consistant 12/12 lighting schedule, so if your schedule is something like 8am-8pm with lights on... it means your not allowed to sleep-in saturday morning because you need to get up and take care of the babies... this is why people opt for fans and timers to handle all this for them

honestly, you really should try and figure out a more automated solution... otherwise you are going to be scheduling your entire life around the plants schedule... it'll be just like having a real baby, just not quite as bad... and new parents never looked stressed out at all... do they?... LOL

it would look ugly as sin, but you could take the doors off the closet and either put new doors on that you can feel free to cut holes in, or just put some sheets of plywood up that you can cut holes in and build a little access-door in... cut some holes in the bottom for electrical and passive-air intake, then put a few fans at the top that flow air out of the closet. of course this all depends on how stealthy you need this to be... obviously somebody walking through your apartment that sees peices of plywood infront of a closet with fans and electrical wiring through it is going to look mighty suspecious... but then again, as others have mentioned, the smell is probably going to make it alot more obvious... might want to look into a filter for that.

[newmangreen]

ok guys the little ones are doing great. The've peeked their cute heads out of the soil (already) after only 1 day in there. Although not all have starting showing any form of leaves i can see them from the top of the soil. They're doing way better than my previous grow which ended in catastrophy from nute burn, it was a total loss. Then again they were only a few weeks old. The soil i was using had way way too high amounts of NPK, hence the "seeding soil" i bought. Boy they sure grow up fast dont they :thumbsup: After turning only the flouros on, the temperature has increased from 70ish to 80ish. I'm in big trouble when i switch on those HPS's....i'm not going to stress it too much just yet, i still have some time before i turn the big boys on. I also tested the PH of the water i'm using and its a cool 6 (very happy about that.)


P.S. sorry about the pic quality

[newmangreen]

Just some updated pics with updated concerns. Ok so while i was taking these pics i noticed a small spider-like insect on the ground. I examined it closely and the best way to describe it is like a very small (maybe 2mm) scorpion without a tail. I've been looking through many many pages of plant pests and i couldnt find anything similar, so maybe it is just a spider of some kind, but any ideas would be appreciated... Anyways, the babies are looking great. They really love that blue light and are growing quickly towards it. Doesnt seem like the care too much for the white flouro in there, but hey it cant hurt right


UPDATE: ok i searched on google (many many times) and have now discovered what the bugs are. Theyre called "pseudoscorpions" and are harmless. theyre basically scorpions without a tail and are carnivores so they wont hurt my plants, thank god for that.

Pseudoscorpion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[quarteroy]

I have found several of those little buggers in the desert here pretty cool little things. You may really really really want to consider your heat issue dont know if you realized this when you bought your strain but that is one of their out door strains for one (not that you cant grow it inside) the problem is it is called Himalayan gold for a specific reason it is because in the Himalayas it gets really cold so they are genetically bread to withstand much colder temps than most strains. needless to say Imo they wont do well in any kind of heat in the 83+ range i would say might have to be even lower. I'm really not sure what to tell you for a solution. you may have picked the wrong time of year and started a little to over zealously (need ventilation). They will get huge too with 7 plants you will want to put them into flower right away imo or you may wind up with no room. Good luck with this i'll be watching I hope you can pull it off. those are some awesome seeds would hate to see them go to waste. pot heads are resourceful people:stoned: im sure you will get something going but you may want to consider somthing with less heat if you cant afford the vent. (CFL) (LED)