Skywalker grow day 1

[babystarbud]

well heres my second grow,
im gonna keep a log of this after a sucsess with the first bagseed grow, ive gonne an purchased some skywalker and some nevilles haze x jack herer.
might try my hand at cloning and will be lst'ing the sativa a bit to see what i can do this time round. ill be using the same 400 grolux HPS light

ive heard mixed opinions on the skywalker, but its heritage and expensive price got the better of my curiosity....it should be a good powerfull bud

im also gonna use a slightly more sophisticated soil mix. the compost is just cheap stuff from B&Q, its called john innes No.2 and is made of loam, peat moss, sand and lime. ive also got some perlit and vermiculite, im thinking of a 75% compost. 12.5% perlite and 12.5% vermiculite?

fancied tryin a good indica and a good sativa.
first ups the skywalker, put 5 seeds in towels to germinate this afternoon.

any comments/suggestions welcome, more to follow as things happen

babystarbud Reviewed by babystarbud on 10-29-2006. Skywalker grow day 1 well heres my second grow, im gonna keep a log of this after a sucsess with the first bagseed grow, ive gonne an purchased some skywalker and some nevilles haze x jack herer. might try my hand at cloning and will be lst'ing the sativa a bit to see what i can do this time round. ill be using the same 400 grolux HPS light ive heard mixed opinions on the skywalker, but its heritage and expensive price got the better of my curiosity....it should be a good powerfull bud im also gonna use a Rating: 5

[babystarbud]

Day 3, approx 53 hours and we have 100% germination....result!

ive got to say that was quicker than previously, especially as the seeds looked smaller than average and quite pale...i was expecting atleast one faliure....but im certainly not complaining.
today they were transplanted into peat pots and put in a heated propigator, which i purchased earlier, as the weather has got a definate chill in the air now with the onset of winter.

they will rely on natural light for the next week or so, and once they have a reasonable set of "true" leaves, will go under the 400watt grolux HPS, which will be set at max height, about 6-7 feet above the plants.
at this point i will remove the lid on the propigator depending on the temp situation.
I was struggeling to keep heat down on my previous grow with the heatwave we had in the UK, but i think the heat from the HPS will be most welcome this time round.

my inline fan is quite powerfull, so if it starts sucking out too much warm air i may have to buy another slightly more sophisticated timer, so i can have one hour on, one off or what ever is suitable to maintain temps.

so far so good....more updates as they happen

[babystarbud]

just a quick update, soil ph is currently at a straight 7 and they are in plain compost for now.

[babystarbud]

another update,
i just noticed the pots were warm and soggy/sweating, so ive taken them out of the propigator ( talk about green house effect lol ) and put them back in the boiler cupboard where they were germinated, much less humidity there, but good room temp warmth.

the heat pad in the propigator was a bit more hardcore than i thought, lol.

cest la vie

[babystarbud]

in retrospect, the heated prop was a good idea, but combined with a plastic humidity dome resulted in too much damp...once theyve dried out a bit, i will put them back in the prop, but without the plastic cover.

[mrberrys]

ello there babystarbud.. i just looked through your thread.. sounds like your going to have a good time with your plants.. i saw how nice your first harvest came out.. so im sure this 1 will be even better ... i was tempted to get skywalker too.. but i went with blueberry instead .... i allso had a bastard of a time to say the least with my last grow coz the summer heat.. so this go my girls will apreciate the cooler weather... i must say tho when you put your plants under your 400hps.. start them at bout 20inches.. then work your way closer.. i get mine at bout 12inches in winter even like 7-9 inches to the canopy of the plants but i allways use a fan or 2.. im just saying as you mentioned you was going to have your light something like 4-6 feet away.. thats way to much.. anyways im gonna roll a joint b4 i take my dog for his night time walk... good luck on your grow:thumbsup:

[babystarbud]

thanks for the advice mr.berrys, i think your right about distance, im still in the mind frame of a hot summer! i think i will be able to put the light much closer as you said.... ive got a couple of thermometers so im planning on getting it as close as the temps allow me.....ive not fired the hps up in the cooler weather yet, it was running hot in summer so i guess it will be a pretty much perfect for winter....watch this space

cheers

[babystarbud]

day 5 and its sprout city down on skywalker farm

under the hps lamp now for about 10 mins, just seeing how the temps and humidity are.
they have quickly hit 25 degrees c without the fan on, or 28 degrees c with the humidity dome on, hopfully the temps will creep up a bit more so i can use the fan without having to mess about with extra timers. ive unplugged the propigator for now so the only heat source is the light.

[babystarbud]

temps have just crept up to 34 degrees c with the hunidity dome on, so now ive started the inline fan running and turned off the central heating for that room to see where that leaves me....hopefully it will drop to the low 20's

i think ill have to be carefull i dont dry those little pots out to fast.

[babystarbud]

still no joy, now tried killing the extractor fan and using a normal fan at plant level...

bingo! my three thermometers are reading an aveage of 26 degrees c! its only that low right next to the pots because of the of the fan position (pretty much direct), so i may have to have a re-think as they grow.