bigbabyjesus
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2008
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 3
This is my first grow -- took several months to get everything together and have a good place for the setup. Now I'm worried I might have some sick plants. I got a 400W HPS ballast from HTGSupply (currently using the 400W MH conversion bulb that came with the system) - been vegging for about 4 weeks now. I can't tell if I have males or females - if anyone sees something or needs a better pic, please let me know.
Right now, I have three Nirvana Seeds "Bubblicious" strains vegging (about 2 weeks old now, sprouted in rockwool and transferred to soil), two Nirvana Seeds "AK-48" stains vegging (4 weeks old), and two "Sam the Skunkman - T.Haze x Skunk #1" in veg state (2-3 weeks old, seeds planted in soil). The T.Haze x Skunk seeds were freebies.
Some history: Couldn't afford a hydroponic system, so I decided to go ahead and do the first grow in soil. I couldn't find any good potting soil, so I made the mistake of going with the Miracle Grow "Organic Choice" - let me warn anyone who is not familiar with this garbage. Do some internet searched on this, and you'll find that not only is it not organic, many people have found glass, plastic, and other actual trash pieces in this soil. Mine appeared to have glass and also was more like mulch than potting soil - large wood pieces and very bad at draining. I also noticed a lot of insects (spider mites I believe).
I had two more Skunk x Haze plants initially and one AK-48, but they died shortly after sprouting in the Miracle Grow soil. I made a long drive to pickup some Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil from a hydro store in a neighboring city - replanted everything, and this is where I am now.
At first, I had a wardrobe-type setup, with 6 "100W" equivalent daylight CFL's. This was for about the first 2 weeks, before I got the kitchen rack.
Next, I got a kitchen rack system and placed it in hallway in my small living space - at this point (2 weeks ago) I started using the 400W MH conversion bulb. I also have a "SunRise" adjustable light hanger. I'm using some 6 ml black and white poly surrounding the top, bottom, and 3 sides of the setup. I thought the mesh wire of the rack would work great for ventilation issues, and the adjustable height shelves would be great for flexibility. (Used some little "clothes pin" type clips from the hardware store to hold these up). Also have a purple sheet around the front of the rack to help with the light escapting from the top and bottom).
The back side is open for stale air to be expelled, and for air from the floor A/C vent to get through to the growing area. I have a small oscillating fan keeping the plants cool, and a fan on the bottom rack blowing the cool air from the floor vent upwards. The ballast is on this bottom shelf, too. Temps in the growing area are now steady at 74F, humidity is 40%.
I feel like this is becoming a book, but wanted to let you guys know that I had some issues for the first few weeks with overwatering. This may have caused the gnat problems I had, which were a problem throughout the house. I freaked and bought some Einstein Oil a week ago - this cured my gnat problem, but I'm afraid I overdid it with this stuff. Afterwards, one of the T.Haze x Skunks started to wilt very badly.
The Einstein Oil (or overuse of it) seems to have saturated the soil pretty thoroughly in the T.Haze and also one of the AK48's. When all the other plants had dried out, the T. Haze seems to continue to be saturated with the oil. Should I try to flush this out? I'm afraid of overwatering and causing more problems. Also, the AK48's are starting to wilt at the bottom - see the leaves curling under the main area of the plant. Is this normal? I got some Epsom Plus (magnesium sulfate plus potash) from a nursery - anyone used this stuff? Any advice about this would be most appreciated.
I started using Fox Farm's "Grow Big" along with "Big Bloom" about 10 days ago, but stopped as I am not sure if overfeeding could be the problem I'm having with the T.Haze and AK-48's. Also, I read that the T.Haze is very sensitive to nutes, and I think this could be a problem, too, since I fed it 3 or 4 times.
Due to overwatering issues and the gnats, I got some 3/4" hex nuts from the hardware store - about 40 cents each. I used these to prop up the plants from their saucers (even if only in one place) so that the container wouldn't be sitting in excess drainage and more airflow could get through the bottom. I also noticed that the containers had formed some sort of suction vacuum with the drain saucers and runoff was apparently trapped inside - hopefully this has been addressed, too.
Right now, I have three Nirvana Seeds "Bubblicious" strains vegging (about 2 weeks old now, sprouted in rockwool and transferred to soil), two Nirvana Seeds "AK-48" stains vegging (4 weeks old), and two "Sam the Skunkman - T.Haze x Skunk #1" in veg state (2-3 weeks old, seeds planted in soil). The T.Haze x Skunk seeds were freebies.
Some history: Couldn't afford a hydroponic system, so I decided to go ahead and do the first grow in soil. I couldn't find any good potting soil, so I made the mistake of going with the Miracle Grow "Organic Choice" - let me warn anyone who is not familiar with this garbage. Do some internet searched on this, and you'll find that not only is it not organic, many people have found glass, plastic, and other actual trash pieces in this soil. Mine appeared to have glass and also was more like mulch than potting soil - large wood pieces and very bad at draining. I also noticed a lot of insects (spider mites I believe).
I had two more Skunk x Haze plants initially and one AK-48, but they died shortly after sprouting in the Miracle Grow soil. I made a long drive to pickup some Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil from a hydro store in a neighboring city - replanted everything, and this is where I am now.
At first, I had a wardrobe-type setup, with 6 "100W" equivalent daylight CFL's. This was for about the first 2 weeks, before I got the kitchen rack.
Next, I got a kitchen rack system and placed it in hallway in my small living space - at this point (2 weeks ago) I started using the 400W MH conversion bulb. I also have a "SunRise" adjustable light hanger. I'm using some 6 ml black and white poly surrounding the top, bottom, and 3 sides of the setup. I thought the mesh wire of the rack would work great for ventilation issues, and the adjustable height shelves would be great for flexibility. (Used some little "clothes pin" type clips from the hardware store to hold these up). Also have a purple sheet around the front of the rack to help with the light escapting from the top and bottom).
The back side is open for stale air to be expelled, and for air from the floor A/C vent to get through to the growing area. I have a small oscillating fan keeping the plants cool, and a fan on the bottom rack blowing the cool air from the floor vent upwards. The ballast is on this bottom shelf, too. Temps in the growing area are now steady at 74F, humidity is 40%.
I feel like this is becoming a book, but wanted to let you guys know that I had some issues for the first few weeks with overwatering. This may have caused the gnat problems I had, which were a problem throughout the house. I freaked and bought some Einstein Oil a week ago - this cured my gnat problem, but I'm afraid I overdid it with this stuff. Afterwards, one of the T.Haze x Skunks started to wilt very badly.
The Einstein Oil (or overuse of it) seems to have saturated the soil pretty thoroughly in the T.Haze and also one of the AK48's. When all the other plants had dried out, the T. Haze seems to continue to be saturated with the oil. Should I try to flush this out? I'm afraid of overwatering and causing more problems. Also, the AK48's are starting to wilt at the bottom - see the leaves curling under the main area of the plant. Is this normal? I got some Epsom Plus (magnesium sulfate plus potash) from a nursery - anyone used this stuff? Any advice about this would be most appreciated.
I started using Fox Farm's "Grow Big" along with "Big Bloom" about 10 days ago, but stopped as I am not sure if overfeeding could be the problem I'm having with the T.Haze and AK-48's. Also, I read that the T.Haze is very sensitive to nutes, and I think this could be a problem, too, since I fed it 3 or 4 times.
Due to overwatering issues and the gnats, I got some 3/4" hex nuts from the hardware store - about 40 cents each. I used these to prop up the plants from their saucers (even if only in one place) so that the container wouldn't be sitting in excess drainage and more airflow could get through the bottom. I also noticed that the containers had formed some sort of suction vacuum with the drain saucers and runoff was apparently trapped inside - hopefully this has been addressed, too.
