Mountaineer Mike's Grow Tent and Journal

Hey guys, this my first post but have I have been coming here for years for advice and learning as a guest, so first and foremost its good to finally be a member.
So, this is my first grow with legit equipment and supplies. Ive soaked up knowledge over the last 10 years but was never in a good position to grow how I wanted. Now that we are settled in our new house, I can afford to get some equipment that would work and put my skills to the test.

The Set Up

• So, I got a 5'x5'x6.5' full zip mylar Tent.
• Running a Vivosun 600W MH/HPS Cooltube with a wing reflector.
• Using a Vivosun 6" Inline Fan & Carbon Filter with ductwork.
• Running lights 18/6 rather than non stop 24/7. I read its good for them and photosynthesis to have a dark period.
• Temps are approx 75-80°F during lights on and drops to 50-55°F during night.

The Soil
I am using Rapid Rooter Seed Starters, Fox Farms Ocean Forest, and Happy Frog.
Obviously seedlings start in the rapid rooters. Then I transplant into 20oz cups of happy frog, then to 1 gallon pots of Happy Frog and eventually to 5 gallon buckets of 50/50 Ocean Forest and Happy Frog.

The Seeds
So we ordered seeds off of Neptune Seed Bank. I selected (10) White Blueberries by THC Develpment and (5) NorthernLights x G13 bred by 42.
As we waited for seeds to come in, I planted a couple (2) random seeds a friend gave me. He thinks they might be Afghani Goo but not sure. So these will be labeled the "mystery seeds" throughout.
Also, these 2 plants will be in total from sprout, 12 days ahead of the seeds I ordered.

The Grow So Far
Here are the 2 Mystery seeds a few days after they popped the soil.
Day 3:


Then My good seeds finally came in.
I germinated them before puttin them into soil. Started by soaking in distilled water overnite and finished with paper towel method.
In all 9 out of 10 White Blueberries broke soil and 4 out of 5 Northern Lights x G13(front cup on right never came up and is no longer there.) This is day 3 for the babies and you can see the 2 Mystery plants in the back. Day 15 for them.


I will continue in new post...

Continued..

I was already 5 weeks in with my 2 Mystery Plants and roughly 3.5 weeks with the White Blueberries and Northern Lights x G13. Trying to catch this post up so im live.

So 30 days in I topped my 2 Mystery plants.


Then a couple days later I started LST. I have the plants anchored on the bottom in 2 spots and also pulling down and to the side.


I think it has a nice bend to it and im going to wait for this thing to recover from topping before I mess with it any more.

Here is an updated picture on the White Blueberries and the Northern Lights x G13.
Day 20


I think they are looking pretty good. What do you think?


Oh also, I started some mild Nutrients.
Mammoth and Humbolt Grow.


To be Continued...

Continued...

Just wanted to add a couple things.
The first is...

Male or Female Pre Flower?
Yeah so one of my mystery plants have a preflower on each side of the top node. These started the day of or after I topped and it hasnt changed a whole lot in the last 2 days. (I think because the plant stops growing until it figured out what is going on from being topped.)
But here is a couple pics. Looks kind like a female to me, if you look closely it seems like a tail or pistol may be starting out of it.




I dont know. My bro thinks it may be male but Ill have to wait for it to recover from the topping so it will develop a little more. Its been 3.5 days so it should be picking up soon.

Grow Temperature
I Also wanted to discuss temperature.
My grow tent is in a little storage room in my basement. The room is not insulated and has a small heater vent but does not get to warm.
During the day with lights on, id say canopy temp is approx 76-82°F. But at night its been getting very low 60s. Sometimes mid 50°'s. It hasnt seemed to affect them much but just today I noticed a couple of the Northern Lights x G13 has began to get purple under the leaves. It was more pronounced early in the morning when lights first came on but as it warmed up it went away a little. Heres a pic.


Think its something I need to worry about? The research Ive done so far is just pointing at Cold Temps. I dont think it is a Nute Deficiency.

Night time temps are a little low. Heating pads are great and less worrisome than running a space heater. These blueberry plants are also 20 days old but I have them on a heating pad to help with night temps, also only vegged under s 2' t5 CFL lamp.
Get them roots warmer and you'll be golden.

Ive been waiting to get a decent fan and look what I found at Walmart!
SWEEEEET.
Honeywell 40" Room Tower Fan
$13

Transplant time
Today after work I transplanted my White Blueberries and Northern Lights x G13. They went from 20oz styrofoam cups to 1 gallon pots of Happy frog.


Temp. Modification
Since my room has been getting so cool at night, I am putting my carbon filter/inline exhaust fan on a timer. Im going to have it off a lot more to raise the temp throughout day and overnight. I know it may smell more but my only option for now. Shouldnt be an issue.

Nice set up...
Good luck w everything...Once u get it dialed in you'll have some nice grows in there...
304....I bleed WV...ha

MrVega2 said:

Nice set up...
Good luck w everything...Once u get it dialed in you'll have some nice grows in there...
304....I bleed WV...ha

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Nice! I grew up 20 min from Morgantown. Live a little further now but family and heart is still there.

My babies after the transplant and new fan. Maybe a little much and could have shocked them a tad but I'm hoping they bounce back even stronger.


As far as temp goes, I have learned quickly...
Turned exhaust fan from Cool Tube off to make it warmer in my room. Within 45 min it did indeed heat up but humidity also rose tremendously from the evaporation from watering. (45 min! Unzipped tent and water was beaded up on sides of tent. Normal humidity was around 45%, it quickly rose to 62%. *watching for fungus issues during sleep time, may have to go a different route for heat if so.

Till the next time...

Humidity won't hurt the young ones in veg but it would be a good idea to get it under control before you get to flowering. You said you had a bit of money to spare so you should pick up a heat/RH controller for your fan and a speed control too so you can run it at a lower speed. Makes life easier not having to fuss around with climate control.

I use a heater with a baseboard thermostat I wired up on a cord to keep temps even too.

Your plants are looking fine!

thenotsoesoteric said:

Night time temps are a little low. Heating pads are great and less worrisome than running a space heater. These blueberry plants are also 20 days old but I have them on a heating pad to help with night temps, also only vegged under s 2' t5 CFL lamp.View attachment 3863965
Get them roots warmer and you'll be golden.

Click to expand...

Generally cooler roots are better for plants in soil like it is for hydro. 65 - 70F in the root zone will keep established plants happy. With climate controls the heater isn't running all the time as the fan will just kick in for a few minutes here and there as needed to maintain the preset heat and RH levels. Hard to keep the pots cool when the room temp is 75+ tho so it's not a big deal.

Top, FIM, and LST
So I topped/Fim'd my baby White Blueberries and Northern Lights x G13 today. They all had 4 or 5 nodes.
I tried to do half and half and I also labeled them accordingly to see what worked better. It was my first time trying FIMing. Did the traditional, leave 20 % of top growth, had a nice cup shape after the cut.
After topping and FIMing i used twisty tir and bent my babies in half. Almost literally. They were nice and flexible.
Here's some pics.

I have her all bent back.


I will post updated pics of the older Mystery plants. Ive had them tied down and topped for a week or so. The main stem is so fat and all the branches are reaching for the sky and gettin bushier by the day.

Day 37 for The 2 Mystery Plants (maybe Afghani Goo)









Look how big the bottom fan leaves are.

Ur Mystery Plants lookin good bro...
Def lookin Afghan'ish...
Ur other plants should come bk around...My advice is keep it simple...Less is more sometimes... Wouldn't b too concerned abt nutrients at this point...Water em...Let em dry out...Water em...Let em dry out... Repeat...Light... Airflow... Temps...As long as those things are in chk they should thrive...Good luck man that's a nice set up

MrVega2 said:

Ur Mystery Plants lookin good bro...
Def lookin Afghan'ish...
Ur other plants should come bk around...My advice is keep it simple...Less is more sometimes... Wouldn't b too concerned abt nutrients at this point...Water em...Let em dry out...Water em...Let em dry out... Repeat...Light... Airflow... Temps...As long as those things are in chk they should thrive...Good luck man that's a nice set up

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Thanks for checking my thread out and thanks for the advice! Stop back for more updates and Ill take any input you'd like to give.

Day 27 White Blueberries and Northern Lights x G13
Looks like the topping/FIMing didn't hurt them at all. I think slowed them down a little. I can see a little regrowth from the FIMing already. The ones I topped will probably take a couple more days. Heres a pic.

Nice plants brother. Just a heads up. Your 600w isn't large enough to cover a 5x5. You're ok-ish up to a 4x4 but you'll be disappointed without something supplemental if you choose to fill the full 5x5 space.
I'm following. Great job.

Chef420 said:

Nice plants brother. Just a heads up. Your 600w isn't large enough to cover a 5x5. You're ok-ish up to a 4x4 but you'll be disappointed without something supplemental if you choose to fill the full 5x5 space.
I'm following. Great job.

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Ehh i dunno. Ive read mixed reviews and followed other journals with a 5 by 5 and 600w and no problems. 2oz per plant. Sure more is always better. We will see how this grow goes. I am doing a SCROG style so only top flat level colas will get love anyways.
First of all I have to see how many females I end up having. I may not be using the whole 5x5 wall to wall unless i get a crap load of girls.
Thanks for the input tho. Next time I may just end up doing (2) 400w side by side for better coverage. The reflection from the Mylar is helping.

Nice lookin lady's

Great work, if you have temp issues in the future, u could switch your lighting hours. I run lights on at night And dark during the day, less temp swings,
Peace