"Kinda wild" Trial grow

[Vancefish]

Hello all,

I decided to pop a few seeds a friend grew in the yard. The original seeds were "high end" however with no males around I have no clue what fertilized the female. Thus I'm calling it "kinda wild". There are a lot of legal grows about 10-15 miles up wind from my friends yard. So it may have been something decent. But who knows?

I have just become a legal user and thus have been reading all I can about growing. However having never actually grown a full plant. I figured I'll need a little hands on before I buy some clones. So, I have not decided on a stain yet (still trying the various wares at the dispensaries).:thumbsup:

These are simply to try some LST, Test how often I need to water, and just basically mess with something.

I "popped" the seeds in a bowl. Then just dropped them on some organic potting soil I had laying around from a local greenhouse. I misted them with filtered water a few days until they got going. This was all under a single 23w CFL and a 15w floresent. Yesterday I bought 2 48" shop lights, with 4 plant/aquarium bulbs and built a "canopy" fixture for this, and all my future babies.

I added a couple somewhat lousy pics (cell phone). My only question would be,.. What is the advantage of underpotting? Is becoming root bound helpful in some way? I potted in roughly 3 gal pots I had laying around, But could still easily repot into smaller pots if need be.

I'm only watering with staight filtered water. PH might be a little high but I'm not sure(my salt aquarium test is 7.5-8.9 ish) Intended for reef systems. I think my PH is just under 6.8 from the tap, because I always raise it for the tank.

Pic1: Light fixture. Closest is the first seed to "pop".

Pic2: Second seed to "pop". Fell over yesterday and stood up with fresh water. "Popped" one week ago tomorrow.)

Pic3: First seed to "pop" (fell over this morning, popped back up after some water. Second leaf set is starting to be seen. Popped 1 week ago today.)

The seedling in the middle took three more days to pop then the other two. It has no pic of it's own because there's not much to see. However it seems to be growing much slower then the other two. I've barely seen any expansion of the first set of leaves over the last two days.:wtf:

Also the dark back ground is actually a huge window. It's currently blocked by a wool army blanket to block the direct sun light. However with no views in that window, I could have direct sun light (through glass) after they get a little bigger.

Vancefish Reviewed by Vancefish on 12-24-2009. "Kinda wild" Trial grow Hello all, I decided to pop a few seeds a friend grew in the yard. The original seeds were "high end" however with no males around I have no clue what fertilized the female. Thus I'm calling it "kinda wild". There are a lot of legal grows about 10-15 miles up wind from my friends yard. So it may have been something decent. But who knows? I have just become a legal user and thus have been reading all I can about growing. However having never actually grown a full plant. I figured I'll Rating: 5

[MonkeyBone]

Maybe the plant was hermi!!

Anyway, starting them in a big pot don't cause any problems, imagine in nature, it's a pretty large pot!!

It will only be a bit longer for it to grow great foliage soon, cause it will establish roots first, and there is a lot of room.

If you wanna grow with fluos, I recommand you T5 or cfls, 42 or 26 watts, they are the most efficient.

Ph is not that important, tap water, let it sit for 24h, then water your plant. For fertilizers, begin around 1st month of growth, and start with 1/8th the recommanded amount. Then build your way up slowly. Less is better!

For LST, there are a lot of threads here, do a little search!! Basically, it's just bending branches to allow better lighting for the lower ones...

Take look at my grow log for infos, or ideas!

:thumbsup:

[Vancefish]

Thanks Monkeybone,

I don't plan to grow under just floresent, it's just intended to be used to for starters and future clones. I plan to buy a couple switchable ballasts and convert a 6'x10' room. However that is the future:thumbsup:.

I've read a few posts about LST. These plants purpose is simply to try a few of these technics out before I spend money on an intentional clone grow. I plan to try LST on one, while doing some bonsi mom stuff to one of the others.

Once I get my lighting and ventilation bought. I'll buy a crop worth of clones and get a real grow going. I also plan to build the cloner I read about here for future grows. If all goes well with these seedlings I may go buy a single clone to grow into a crop worth of "self rooted" clones once I'm ready for them.

Thanks for the potting info too. I thought this was likely the case, but wasn't to sure. I may repot them today while the soil is still pretty loose, just to increase root binding. I can move them back to the huge pots later.:thumbsup:

[mainegrown]

the work gradually up seems to mean every time you water and feed the gurls then you need to up the dose just a little bit. i kinda got caught with my pants around my ankles by not upping the dosing correctly.
and they will be fine in a 3 gal pot. you might have to transplant to a 5 gal bucket before they are done but no big deal right??
have a merry christmas..
-J

[Vancefish]

three days later.

I repotted them into smaller pots three days ago. This didn't effect two of the three, plant 2 however is mildly twisting it's leaves. I'm thinking it's likely due to the overwater during re-potting. I have given no nutes yet, as we are still inside 2 weeks. I am thinking it will be needed soon though.

They look great today(other then that minor twisting on 2). So, I removed the window blocking blanket to expose them to some sun today (threw 2 panes of glass BTW).

I don't plan to water again until the soil drys out almost all the way. I also plan to add a couple/few CFL's to my hood today. I might also improve on my hoods construction with some sheet metal. We'll see.

Pics 1 and 2 are Plant1 (first to pop)
Pic 3 is Plant2 (with minor twist)
Pic 4 is plant3 (last to pop)
Pic 5 is all 3 plants

[Vancefish]

Last pic I took.

I think they were all stressed a bit during re-potting BTW. I noticed the growth slowed a little on all three, Just to throw it out there.:thumbsup:

[Vancefish]

Today I finally added the CFLs to my home made hood. Decided I should document it. :thumbsup:

I just bought ceramic sockets and a 15' wire. I riveted the sockets to the stainless reflector I robbed from the aquarium, Then wired the three in series and soldered it together. My total wattage is now 160w in tubes and 81w in CFLs, adding up to 241w. I noticed the tubes had a lot of red. So I bought 5000k 100w(equiv) CFLs to bring up the blue. They didn't have any 5500k or 6500k. My total lumins is 6400 from the tubes and 5250 from the CFLs, for a grand total of 11650 lumins.

I suspect they've recovered from my overwatering re-potting. They each have a set of three finger leaves expanding and a new set forming. None have grown taller but they are growing leaves much faster now. :thumbsup:

Pic1: The hood with the CFLs off (Phone can barely handle it).
Pic2: Plant one with newly expanding 3 finger leaf set.
Pic 3 All three plants under all the lights.

[mainegrown]

i like your hood.. if you bought it somewhere you should tell me where i can get one. i thin that i want to go up to 6 bulbs and i need a good way to keep all of the light on the babes..
hope it was cheap enough i can afford one..lol

-J

[Shovelhandle]

Good luck with the seedlings.

Shov

[Vancefish]

Thanks for the comments guys. They are LOVING the new lumins today!:thumbsup: They're growin like weeds!:jumphappy:

The florescent fixtures are the $10 ones at HomeDepot with 4 of the $10 aquarium/plant(2700k/1600L ea) bulbs. Totalling $60.

The reflector itself came from a local hardware store and cost me $6. But that was about 5 years ago. It's just a polished stainless sheet, bent to reflect. I'd guess they are still available somewhere.

The CFLs were a little more complex. I bought 3 ceramic sockets rated to handle up to 660w at 240v. they cost $3.97 each. Then the 15' power cord for lamps cost $5.98. I already had the rivets, rivet gun and soldering iron. the CFLs were on sale at $4.97 for two bulbs.

Total cost for the entire fixture adds up to $90.??.:thumbsup:

pic1 and 2: a look at where the reflector is jammed into the florescent fixure's seam, also can see riveted CFL socket.

pic 3 is how I used coat hangers to force the lamps to angle off the hanging chains. The cross piece of hanger is causing the to fixtures to hang evenly to each other.

It's basically all held together by gravity. :thumbsup: