Big Bud - First Grow

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ProductiveSmoker

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
86
Reaction score
5
Well I've watched you all grow some beautiful plants, so now I'm going to give it a try! I am actually starting this journal a little late, it is now day 12 since they sprouted up through the soil. I used the wet paper towel method for germination and every one of my seeds sprouted.

I originally had them under a dual, 3' (30W each) flouro setup, which I had fairly close to the plants. I then decided I would be "safe" and move the lights up to 6" over the tops. That caused stretching, and by day 5 they were almost three inches of sheer stem. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased.

That same day I switched to my 400W HPS system, on an 18/6 cycle. I began with it about 3.5' over the plants and the stretching continued. At this point, the plants were in 1 gallon containers, except for one which germinated slightly later and was placed into a milk jug bottom, WITH NO DRAINAGE. Bad idea.

Day 8 - sliced some holes in the bottom of the milk jug, and realized I probably wasn't watering enough. I would wait until the soil was dry about two inches down and only add enough to get the roots wet, not let it run out the bottom. Starting today, I watered all the way through, probably had a half cup of water drain out of each pot. There was some yellow coloration on the proximal sections of the leaves, but that went away a couple hours later. I also moved the HPS bulb down to about 2' over the plants. This made it warm but from this point on it has held between 85-91 degrees F. The plants had new leaves almost overnight.

Day 10 - switched the lights to running at night, on from 7PM to 1PM as it is cooler and my apartment heats up in the day. Close the closet doors during the day, not light proof yet, but from what I have read that shouldn't be a problem during vegetation.

Day 12 - Plants are about 3.5" now, on average.

Day 13 - Milk jug plant is seriously flimsy. Moved the jug and the plant fell over - and it is my largest one! I cut 1" square holes around the bottom inthe same fashion as the professional 1 gallon pots I have and will see what happens. I think the soil needs to drain out better - those slits didn't work and I haven't added any perlite to the soil, will do that when I transplant. I ghetto-rigged a few chop sticks to hold it up for now, it can't even handle the fan. I read that the solution to weak stems that have been over stretched is to bury them almost up to the leaves when you transplant - anyone see any problems with that?

Setup:
Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil
400W HPS, dual 3' flouro that will go in later when foliage is dense
6 plants, 1 gallon pots (1 milk jug)
Fox Farms Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, Grow Big all ready to go
In a closet, approximately 4' x 2', should be plenty tall
pH is ~6.8 according to my cheap little probe tester (not digital)
Watering every 2-3 days with tap water, next time will be with tap water that has sat out as I'm worried about the water being "hard". Don't have a way to test the water yet.
 
Here are the pics! The first is from day 9, the rest from day 13 or so.

Second from the left shows the larger holes cut into the milk jug. It is sitting on a box of screws to keep it the same distance from the light as the rest of the plants.

1011d.JPG


1014a.JPG


1014b.JPG


1014c.JPG


1014d.JPG
 
Welcome to MP ProductiveSmoker. Sounds like you have done some reading before starting your grow. Your babies are looking good. When and if ya go to transplant you should think about adding some perlite to the soil. It will help with drainage and give your roots more air to breath.
 
In the third pic I was trying to show that at the center node, there is a pair of new leaves emerging. I originally thought they were the sex organs, but in retrospect that was a dumb idea as it is only the start of week three.

The first pic shows the milk jug plant that had to be supported. She is now my leafiest plant. I am not taking the chopsticks down though, I will just transplant it very deep. Speaking of which, up to what point on a plant is it ok to bury? The initial two tiny leaves at the bottom? Can I cover those and go up near the bottom of the main leaves?

In the last day or so since these pictures, they have grown more. With this new burst I am hesitant to introduce nutes soon because they don't seem to need them. However, it seems that many other people using this soil start them at about 1/4 strength at the end of week three. Thoughts? Should I wait to see signs on the plants or just start with the watering on day 21?

Stretching seems to be eliminated, as they are putting out leaves after leaves from what seems to be the same location and at some of the other nodes. Still doing 18/6 with the HPS, and am thinking of adding my double 3' flourescents along the back wall, just above the current height of the plants right now. Sound good, or will it just pull them all to the back of the closet? Do I really need it at this stage, or should I wait until the upper leaves are blocking the light to the lower leaves and mount it where the light can no longer reach?

Thanks in advance!
 
You can cover up those little leaves if its stretched real bad. You should put a fan on them to gentle create a breeze over the tops. this will aid in strengthing the stem.

Its safe to start 1/4 strength nutes.

More light the better. I actually train a little with my light when doing LST. I rotate the pot and tie and the plant "trains" itself by grow towards it. ;)
 
Thanks Mutt! I have a fan that does just that and it has definitely helped. I will start the nutes very soon. LST is something I haven't had the time to look into very thoroughy, maybe I'll do some reading on it this weekend as time allows.
 
Today is definitely into week 3 and I would like to start my Fox Farms nutrients today. I need a little guidance as to how to read the schedule that is available off their homepage. It was recommended that I start at 1/4 strength, which is fine. But where do I start? I am assuming I start at the "Seedlings/cuttings" phase as I am still a few weeks from going to the 12/12 light cycle - is this correct?

Also, how fast is it recommended to ramp up the dosages, as it appears on this schedule that I will begin stacking at about the third week after I begin. Thanks, and I will post up some pics later today as they have gotten much bigger!
 
As promised, here are the pics. I included one of the grow closet setup with the HPS, the wall mounted fan that provides cooling and an ideal amount of movement for the plants. On the wall under the cardboard is a 2 tube 3' flourescent, with I believe cool white bulbs.

The pics of the plants are from the 21st, and today I took a picture of the milk jug plant as it is developing yellow spots - gotta look into that. Just fed 'em over the past day with water that sat out 24 hours, and Fox Farms Big Bloom (starting at the "seedlings" phase on the nutrient chart since I never received a response). I mixed a half tablespoon for each gallon of water, probably used two gallons for the six plants in one gallon containers. pH is about 6.8 and I would like to bring it down a bit.

1021a.JPG


setup.JPG


1022yellowspot.JPG
 
Lookin' good.

Big Bloom? I'm pretty sure you want to be using a veg or grow nutrient right now, high nitrogen I think, first # should be high, the other two - low.

Mine seem to be doing good with 6.8 water in same soil, I mixed some FoxFarms light warrior in with the ocean dirt.

I would make sure you have your temps under control before adding more lights.
 
So you think I should be starting with the Grow Big rather than the Big Bloom? Makes sense. I just need some help deciphering the FF grow schedule, so far it's pretty useless to me. Even more odd is that nobody else seems to know how to use it in relation to ramping up initial dosages to full strength, and where to start on the chart if you begin fertilizing at the recommended week three of mj plant growth. I'm gonna post this up in the general indoor growing section.

What is the FF light warrior you referred to? Never heard of it - what is its purpose?
 
Light Warrior Grow Medium

Formulated for use in containers and hydroponic applications. Specially designed to enhance root development and encourage greater nutrient uptake by plants. An excellent medium for starting seeds, transplanting and growing plants both indoors and outdoors. 1 cubic foot bag.

I just used this instead of perlite, guess it has the same properties?

I'm not familiar with FF nutes either, I'm not really a soil grower, just for the mothers.

You can use a ppm meter to add nutes, search around for the scale but I think it was like 200-400 3 week seedlings, you could start there and slowly (maybe every 2 days?) raise it by 100 ppm increments or so until you see signs of burns. Alot of that depends on the strain, so you might want to find out on your own.
 
OK, so I'm now at Day 27 since sprouting. The plant in the milk jug is still pretty limp and lame, and now one of my largest is following the identical symptoms:
small yellow spots appearing on the lower leaves, limp branches

The first one basically has dead lower leaves now - all yellow and chunks appear to be missing. As noted earlier, I started my first dose of nutrients with 1/4 strength Tiger Bloom. A few days ago I gave them the correct Grow Big (eyeballed 1/4 dose).

Does it take a while for the nutes to kick in since I waited so long to introduce them? Did I damage the plants by giving Tiger Bloom first? pH still around 6.8, temps around 85 F, humidity 20-30%.

Here are some pictures. The first two are of the formerly healthy plant that is going downhill - note the yellow spots and droopiness. The third shot is of the whole garden minus one. The fourth shot shows the plant that originally became sick, and where it is at now with the limp branches and dead lower leaves.

1029a.JPG


1029b.JPG


1029c.JPG


1029d.JPG
 
I would covor the gallon jug up with something black. Roots HATE light.
Also what is your watering schedule.
 
hey im a newbie too but im on day39 of veg and around 28 days mine were transplanted from 1 gallon pots to 5 gallon buckets and they were your size or smaller and rootbound. those roots need room fast in the future im just going to put em in 3 or 5 gal to start but anyways once i transplanted they took off they were also kind of limp and sad looking until i put em in the 5 gals
 
Mutt - I think that the problem I am having is that these suckers are drawing a lot more water in a much shorter time period than they used to, and I haven't adjusted. I gave them some water, no nutes, and they perked right up inside of a day. Now however, two days later, one is already sagging and the soil feels pretty dry down as far as I can get my finger down in the pot.

Good call on the roots hating light, one of those things I probably should have caught on to when I saw Fluid's hydro grow setup with all the roots UNDER the lid and in complete darkness.

learnin to gro - hey man I appreciate the advice. I think you are right. I need to go to Home Depot and get some of those 5 gallon buckets or some 3-4 gallon pots and some perlite and just do the transplant. I can feel roots when I check for soil moisture so I know they are probably ready to expand.
 
hey also to let you know when plants are rootbound they drink up the water real fast. so transplanting would cure your watering issues. mine need water about a gallon every 4-6 days in the five gallon buckets. good luck
 
Good plan, learnin to gro. Does anyone have a good link to the transplant process. I am completely unimpressed with the search engine on this site and the main one seems a bit vague. If that's all I need to know then tell me, but I will not be buying any B1 or supplements other than what I have and I doubt I'll be using the lime that Mutt suggests for a buffer.

Anybody, since I'm lazy, remember how many of the big bags (~20lbs) it takes to fill up X number of 5 gallon buckets, and how full they were filled?
 
I transplanted them all to five gallon buckets a few days back. Still using Fox Farms Ocean Forest, but I ran a little short on the last two buckets. Also added in about 15 quarts of perlite to the total mix and I think that has been a good thing. Used stones at the bottom after washing and boiling them first and drilled according to one of the mod's writeups on pot setups.

The first couple days were slow but now the plants have revived and sex organs are definitely showing. 4 or 5 of the 6 plants are definitely female, but I'm waiting another day or two to see what the remaining plants do. It is tough because I don't have a magnifying glass, and the sex organs look similar until they start shooting out pistils. My plan is to wait and see how fat the bags get and compare that against how big the calyx was on the known females. I am assuming I have enough leeway (time) to use this method?

Here are some new pics!

117c.JPG


117d.JPG


117e.JPG
 

Latest posts

Back
Top