First grow, bag seed, 2 x 30W 6400K CFL's, 20/4

[krikri]

Hey all

Thought I should post my journal here, so that you would be able to help me out with my adventures.

I'm growing inside a spacious unused room in my apartment, which is also used as a storage room for now. The pot is located inside a cardboard box, which is dressed in Mylar on the inside (used a Mylar blanket I got from an outdoor shop). This solution is not light-proof, some light is leaking from one side, because I have a small table fan on the outside blowing air into the box and at the plant. I don't really like this, but the fan wouldn't fit inside the box, and until I get a PC fan to install in there this is the way it's gonna go.

In the beginning of the vegging, the light was very close to the seedling, and I also made the mistake of watering it twice within twelve hours, second time with some growth nutrients - these are probably the reasons why the two initial leaves became curled and looked a bit withered on the sides. I have not watered since, and have increased the distance between the plant and the light, waiting for the soil to dry. In a discussion, I was told that this might also have been a Ph problem, since the tap water I'm using is high in chlorium (~7.5 - 8.15 Ph), so I ordered a Ph test kit and a Ph down solution just in case.

Currently on day 19 from seed, the plant seems to be growing steady, if not a bit on the slow side, but the best thing is that none of the new leave sets, after the first two, are curled or look wilted. Lost several days of growth due to left the plant outdoors during the first days of its life, and also due to the first transplant shock. Thing is, I'd like to put the plant into flowering mode around day 34-38 if possible, and harvest before or around Christmas - I'll be having some guests around Christmas, so I'd rather grow and harvest a smaller plant than going through another transplant shock.

To be safe, I'm thinking about LST'ing the plant, just in case I would need to stealth it somehow, but I'm not sure when is the best time to do this, and also how difficult it would be to transplant (if needed) an LST'ed plant.

It looks like I'm growing a sativa, judging by the shape of the leaves, and maybe by the growth rate. Anyone else thinks the same?

Pics of the plant:

1. Day 13
2. Day 15
3. Day 16
4. Day 17
5. Day 18
6. Day 19 (yesterday)

 

[the chef]

looks like an indica, tell us a little about your set-up, i see cfl's what wattage, size of grow room, nutriens you are using, size of grow space, all things are considered when trying to determine help and outcome. Unless you have an autoflowering, a plant will go to flower basically when she' s ready, we do thing to promote this early but a plant will continue to veg until she gets ready to flower. Then theres the drying and cureing stage. I put some of my plants to flower at a foot tall and ended up with a small but good amount, I'm not trying to discourage you but growing is a science of pateince and learning. Enviroment, strain, growing tech., etc. are all factors in determining how much a plant will yeild and when. I invite you to read some of our general info forums to get you started and don't hesitate to ask a question or two, by the way your ladies look wonderfull and you should look foward to a great grow. I'll be kepping a green eye for ya. Green thoughts be with ya!:beatnik:

 

[krikri]

Well, I really hope that's an Indica, this means it will grow faster - here's some more info:

- 2 x 30W (150W actual) 6400K CFL's
- 20/4 light cycle,
- Nutrients are just plain growth nutrients bought at a flower shop, I'll post a pic later today,
- Room is about 20-25 sq. meters,
- Humidity is constantly above 50-60%, but no more than 70%
- Temperature is almost always around 24-26 Celsius, that's something like 75-80 F for the US (I live in South Europe)

Already read most of the guides here and at other places, and still reading and researching. This has become my main hobby, it's just that I picked a bad time to start, given the fact that the time I have is limited. It would be extremely difficult to stealth the plant for the holidays, although I'm already thinking about LST'ing and trying to stealth it, just in case.

I don't care so much about the size of the yield, it would just be cool to actually have a quality yield from my first grow, that's all. I'm already planning my next grow, and this time I won't have any limitations, instead I will have plenty of time and experience earned

Thanks for replying man, and thanks for the vote of trust, it is greatly appreciated

 

[the chef]

Some growers actually prefer shorter plants to concetrate on t-crstal production. Wouldn't hurt to bump up watts from 60 to 100 with cfl"s. Its still gonna take a little time to flower her, a p regiment on your nutes will help get her where you want her. Indica leaves are fat while the sativas are like the pics you see on all advertisement and it's possible to have a mix of the two when you dont know what strain your growing, also what kinda soil are you using? The growing is just one part, the drying and curing stages are very important to getting the end result you are looking fer. Gl and keep us posted.:beatnik:

 

[krikri]

O.K. just found out that my guests will be coming in for only a couple of days in Christmas, and they're not gonna be at my place for more than a few hours total, so it shouldn't be too hard to hide the pot somewhere until they leave....

I guess it's time to take it slow and do it right now...so what goes first, LST or transplant? I was thinking about transplanting first, and then LST/topping, what do you guys think? And what do you think is going on with my leaves? Is this heat stress or a PH problem? Got my order of PH down solution, but I'm still waiting for the PH test kit, so I can't know for sure and I'm afraid to use the downgrader based on my suspicions, only....

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[krikri]

also what kinda soil are you using?

Cheers TC, my lady was kind enough to borrow me some of the soil she's using for her flowers - it's got some nutrients in it already, but I'm not sure what kind yet.

I'll be able to know today, for both the soil & the nutes I'm using. What I know for sure, is that the nutes are designed for growth, at least that's what the salesman told me.

 

[MeNtAlPaTiEnT]

Looks good to me over there. Do you plan to buy more lights in the future? If you're not worried about yield, you could get away with flowering in those same pots if you're not going to veg for a long time.

I wouldn't worry too much about the leaves, they look supremely healthy to me.

 

[krikri]

Cheers MP, thanks for getting back to me - gonna get 2 more warm white CFL's to get me through the flowering era, that's all - gonna go with CFL's all the way due to budget restrictions

Definitely not going for quantity, even something like 10g could last me for a month or two. The idea is to just re-stock my supplies with some home-made quality buds and earn experience for the second time, which is where I'm gonna go for both quality & quantity

Sure hope you're right about the leaves - these friggin' marks have terrified me, they look like burns or something so I was thinking I might have to move the CFL's farther away again.

 

[the chef]

They look fine if they caught jusy a little damage when they were smaller it will look much worse when it grows out.I have an auto that is doing that very thing. If your using m/g soil watch for nute burn! I'm on a very tight budget an bought my cfl's one or two at a time, so get them when you can and be prepaired next rodeo. Gl and i'll be checkin back.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Plants this young do not need nutes. It also sounds like your soil could be prenuted. Your plants look good, but the leaf thing could be some kind of overnuting.

Do your plants have alternating nodes yet (I think they are still too young)? They will not show sex or flower until they are sexually mature, which is denoted by alternating nodes.

 

[krikri]

O.K. my soil is an Algoflash pot soil my wife picked up at the local supermarket, very common around here for indoor plants. According to the description, it contains peat and plant parts dissolved under natural & controlled conditions, and has a PH of 5.5-6.0.

The nutes I'm using is called Mineral, and is a little acidic, since it contains minerals of salt. According to the description it is:

"unsaturated salt mineral water processed according to a special method. When mixed in a ratio 1:100 with fresh water, MINERAL makes an excellent natural fertilize for plants packed with the 75 minerals necessary for the healthy growth."

The bottle says to use once a week, I've used them two times total within ten days, and used a little less than what the instructions say.

Other than that, the plant is looking great in its 24th day, and I decided not to LST after all. This is my first grow, and since there is no reason to stealth the plant anymore, I guess I'd like to watch the plant growing in its natural shape. I understand this will affect the yield, but I'm O.K. with that - besides, it's still not sure if there's even gonna be a yield, if it's a boy I will throw it away and prepare my next grow.

Speaking of which, no alternating nodes yet, but there are some small things growing around the fourth node - the plant is in its fourth week, could these be preflowers yet?

 

[the chef]

Can't tell just yet, the first pic looks a little like nanners but could also be a pair of young leaves. we're looking fer white hairs. As long as the soil doesn't have slow released nutes you'll be fine. Still a little young fer full strength nutes try a more diluted soloution and see if it helps, the older leaves will take the full brunt of the mistakes you make, what we're gonna pay attention to is new growth which looks good.
keep up the good job!

 

[krikri]

O.K. It's been a while since I last posted something, but I was on vacation for a few days, and catching up with work didn't leave me enough time for an update.

Lots of things changed since last update - most important of all, I got myself a decent grow cab and put the plant in it. Then, I got 2 30W 2700K CFL's and installed them alongside the 6400K ones. While doing this, I noticed I had enough space for 1-2 more small pots, so I planted a few more seeds, just in case my plant turns out to be male.

At the same time the new seeds came out, the older plant showed some more early primordia. So I decided to put the older plant under the 2700K CFL's and switch it to 12/12, while leaving the small seedlings under the 6400K on 18/6.

In the beginning, I thought about splitting the cab in 2 areas, and using each area for separate purpose. But this wasn't lightproof since I used one of the cab's shelves to separate the areas, so what I ended up doing is to remove the older plant after 12 hours of warm light and leave it outside of the cab, inside a dark room, next to a semi-open window.

The pictures are a couple of days old, showing only two seedlings on separate pots. As of this morning, I've got 4 seedlings sharing the same two pots, while waiting to see what my older plant turns out to be.

 

[the chef]

Looking good bud, keep it up!

 

[krikri]

Looking good bud, keep it up!

Thanks man, doing my best

Turned out the latest seedling didn't make it, not sure what went wrong but it was really small and weak when I saw it.

The older plant is currently on day 4 of 12/12, and it now gives out a really sexy smell when I approach close enough. It's still not strong enough to be able to smell it from a distance, but it's something that gives me hopes while waiting for the preflowers to show sex.

Also, I touched the plant's leaves earlier today while trying to shoot some pictures, and to my surprise I found some kind of white dust-like powder had stayed on my hands afterwards. I looked at the leaves but I couldn't see anything, so I took a couple of pictures to examine closer.

Maybe I'm just being silly and paranoid, but until I put the microscope on the leaves, could these be trichs?
:confused2:

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Also, I touched the plant's leaves earlier today while trying to shoot some pictures, and to my surprise I found some kind of white dust-like powder had stayed on my hands afterwards. I looked at the leaves but I couldn't see anything, so I took a couple of pictures to examine closer.

Maybe I'm just being silly and paranoid, but until I put the microscope on the leaves, could these be trichs?
:confused2:

A white dust-like powder that stays on your hands is NOT good--maybe mildew. You plants looks far too young to be developing trichs. You also need substantially more light. And get your lights closer to your plant. You should be able to keep your fluoros several inches from the top of your plant. With such a small amount of light, I would only be running 1 room.

 

[krikri]

A white dust-like powder that stays on your hands is NOT good--maybe mildew.

Hi HG, thanks for your time again. The humidity inside the room is always between 65-70%, I read somewhere that anything above 40-50% is fine. Besides this dust, there are no other signs of mildew that I can see, but I'll keep an eye.

You plants looks far too young to be developing trichs.

Well, that dust might not be trichs, but I checked the leaves under 60-100X magnification and from what I've seen trichs are like, they're there. Not everywhere, more like scattered here and there, but they're there. I can just see the top of their heads with the microscope, and it looks exactly like what I've seen in the pictures.

You also need substantially more light. With such a small amount of light, I would only be running 1 room.

Yeah, I know, but not everyone can afford buying or running HPS lights, that's why I'm using CFL's. I could maybe afford some bigger lamps, but then I couldn't afford the grow cab or the fertilizers etc. And I'm running a family, so my hobby unfortunately isn't always the priority

I'm not running a room BTW, I'm running a 35x20x20 grow cabinet with a 120W total lighting amount. I've read about stealth grows with pretty much the same lighting amount (1x125W), and since I'm not in a particular hurry anymore and I don't care so much about the yield, I think I'm gonna go with that for a while and see how it goes.

And get your lights closer to your plant. You should be able to keep your fluoros several inches from the top of your plant.

The lights are 4 inches away from the plant, it looks close enough to me - in fact, I'm afraid I would need to move them higher once the plant grows a bit more. Unless you're talking about the seedlings - these are just some pictures I took a few days ago before I do some modifications, the seedlings are higher now and much closer to the light.