Journal: Poor College Student Cultivates in Closet

[PassItToTheRight]

In response about CO2... I was looking at this stuff on ebay that has a little bag of microbes and a little bag of activator. You mix a little of each together in some water and sugar and wallah you have CO2. It costs 18.93 plus 8.95 shipping on ebay. This is the formula.... C6H12O6 ..+ ....6 O2 ..--> ...6 CO2 ...+ 6 H2O .+ ...Energy. Pretty simple stuff and it also releases a fragrance that is supposed to mask odor. I think this would do just fine in a little area like mine. heres the link... eBay: Co2 Kit / HYDROPONICS/ Generator /Grow more 4 less $$ (item 190090384810 end time Mar-10-07 15:17:28 PST)

I started low stress training today. I just wanna test it out a little, so I did it on two plants. Its only day 10 but I think they'll be ok. Actually its day 9 but whatever. I can't wait till I get my nuits and my light. I've very interested to see how this Sweet shiznit works out for me.

I have some pictures for ya'll... And feel free to tell me if It looks like I'm doing something stupid with this training........

PassItToTheRight Reviewed by PassItToTheRight on 03-09-2007. Journal: Poor College Student Cultivates in Closet Alright, from the title you can see that I'm poor and I don't have much space. I also don't have much time. I'm moving out by July. But I think I'll be alright. This is my official first grow. I'll be using an ebb and flow system that I bought off ebay for 75 big ones. It came equipped with grow media, pots, water pump, nutrients, 2 reservoirs, and a whole lota love. The system can grow 9 small plants. For lighting I have a 95watt 6100K cfl and a 30watt wide spectrum cfl. When I get Rating: 5

[tomasinho]

Ok. Let me help with the LST if I may. You should really wait until the plants have a few (5 or 6) sets of leaves until you LST. The reason is - the point of LST is to get the lower sets of leaves to turn into growth shoots and grow to the same level as the main growth tip so that you have an even layer of growth tips. If you tie down a seedling with only the top two leaves, there is nothing under the first set of leaves to grow even with the main growth tip and #2 you are taking away the plants ability to grow as the only leaves performing photosynthesis are the tops - which are now pulled over. So please - untie them and wait a little while!

[PassItToTheRight]

Ok that makes sense tomashinho. The reason I did it a bit early was so the plant wouldn't be very top heavy yet and I thought it might be able to turn its leaves up easier. I also was thinking that the new shoots that are exposed to light right from the getgo would do better and I would be able to trim the shoots that are groing on the underside off. This seemed to work ok but I think the stress on the plant is what caused the edges of some of the leaves to curl up on the sides. I wanna get some pictures up today so someone might tell me if it looks bad(but I can't so I will tommorrow). The only plant to have the leaves curl up is the one that I LST'd.

I'm not quite sure when I should top my plants. I am considering doing it here in a few days though. If anyone thinks I'd be doing that to soon please tell.. before I do it.

[tomasinho]

You remind me of me on my first grow! You have obviously been doing a great deal of reading and planning because you know a lot about the techniques but now you just need to learn when to apply them! Good job - you will be good at this growing thing because you are willing to do your homework! About topping and LST - for clones you can top when they are shorter but seedlings need a little more time to develop. Just let the seedling grow for a bit - it will get a lot bigger very soon. When there are at least 4 or 5 sets of leaves then you can top or LST. IMHO - topping is kind of a waste of time - LST has worked better for me when I have used it. You wont even need to cut off the underside branches - most of them will turn up towards the light - its actually pretty amazing to watch it happen. The key on the first grow is to let the plants do their thing and have patience. Peace out homie!

[PassItToTheRight]

You've been a great deal of help tomashinho, thanks for all the advice. Yeah I try to do as much research as my schedule allows me. I figure that anything worth doing is worth doing right. Especially if I'm putting my hard earned dollars into this project.

I've started to think twice about topping at all. I need this stuff to grow as quickly as possible so I'm done by the time my lease is up. It seems that if I top it will postpone the overall time it takes to harvest by at least a couple days. But I think I may try it on one or two plants because this is a learning experience for me and I'd would like to get as much knowledge out of it as possible.

The root system has been growing like crazy lately. I forgot to take a picture of them but I will get one up eventually. I am however going to post some pics of my plants. The one that I LST'd has a curling problem on the leaves still but I moved the light back a couple of inches and I hope that was the problem. It has been getting the most intense light because it was sitting right under the middle of the CFL. I am also getting my 3 part nuits today and another 95watt'er. When I add that light I'll be getting around 5000-6000 lumens per feet squared. I have read that around 3000-4000 is ideal, but I think that more is better up to a point. PLEASE tell me if I am wrong in my logic here.

The plants have been starting to smell kinda skunky as of late. Its not bad yet but I imagine in the next couple weeks it will really start to skunk the room up. (I love the smell, but I don't want it to stink up the house for my roommates sake. Plus the whole detection thing.) I've been considering getting a ionizer to cut down smell. Or possible building a ozone generator. I think either way it will cost under a hundred dollars. I'm interested to know if people have had good results with either of these two methods of odor control and which one you all think is better. I have to get some CO2 and a pH meter before I can afford to buy that though so I still will have some time with my smelly plants. OK here are the pics............

[Cornelius]

you think the smell is bad now... Your plants are still babies. they will get exponentially smellier in the coming weeks. You will need a carbon filter to control the smell. An affordable ionizer or an ozone generator will not be able to handle the stink from 9 plants.

In an earlier post I linked you some plans for a DIY carbon filter (it's in the FAQ section). The parts are inexpensive, and most of the money will go to the activated carbon itself. Expect to spend around $50 for the parts, which is about half as much a fabricated carbon filter would cost. I too am a poor college student and this is definitely a worthy investment, as it will eliminate the odor for good.

peace brotha and good luck

[PassItToTheRight]

Yeah I still have that link saved on my computer and am planning on using it when I move and put an in and out take exhaust system in. I can't think of an easy way for me to implement a carbon filter at this point. Any ideas? The closest window to my closet is about 10feet away.

[PassItToTheRight]

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR THE QUARTER. Since my last post I've done some stuff. I've added my new nutrients. Also started adding Sweet to the mix. I cleaned out my res and it was f'ing filthy. I had no idea. All the dust from the clay rocks made the bottom res very dirty and was starting to clog up the pump. I'm glad I changed it when I did. I don't think that problem will be a reoccurring one because I think the dust has been washed off. It was probable some what responsible for my pH drifting up to around 7.4. When i put the new water in the system yesterday the pH was at a cool 6.3. After two days the plants look even greener than before and the curling that occurred on some of the leaves has stopped. Also a couple of the plants were starting to get some yellow spots on the oldest leaves. This also seems to have been reversed.

I also added my other 95watt light and a 42watt cfl that shines pinkish to the setup. Other than that things have been looking pretty good. I've starting to keep track of the temp in my closet and it ranges from around 70 when the door is open and I have a window open in my room to as high as 88 when the door is closed and no window is open. I've been trying out a couple of ways to limit the light of the closet from being visible outside my room when I have the closet door open. Hopefully I'll find something that works and can start leaving my door open all the time.

These pictures were taken 2 days ago when I changed my res, so some of the leaves still look curled. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some new ones up. I'm going to be leaving for about 5 or 6 days for Spring Break to do some hiking, climbing and if weather permitting some snowboarding. I'm gonna hope for the best. I really need to rig up a way for me to keep the door open the whole time I'm gone without having any light escape my room. It sucks cuz the door of my bedroom does not go all the way down to the floor and light leeks out the bottom into the hallway. Has the potential to be a major issue when people come over to the house and need to go upstairs to the bathroom. ALRIGHT picture time.............

P.S. The nuits I added made the water redish so I guess I can't put pics of the roots up anymore. sorry

[tomasinho]

The plants look great! Good work! What kind of nutes are you using? Probably GH huh? GH turns the water red. Its the micro.

[PassItToTheRight]

Day 16
I'm using Cutting Edge Solutions. It's pretty cheap and I figure that most of them aren't all about the same until you start going organic. I decided to top a plant yesterday. I think she'll do just fine. Also I LST'd more of the plants. I wanted to do it before I left, so when I come home there will be a nice full canopy.