My First Grow in Many Years.

Greetings and welcome to my grow journal.

I am doing my first grow in a little over 20 years.

My original grows were in a phototron (yep, I actually have it still and it still works) back in the mid 80's. Thanks to mom and dad for buying it for me. Well, they were buying me rent/food/clothes/books/whatever while I was in college, so some of the funds were misappropriated and yes it was a lot of money and yes it was probably a waste of money. But, that's neither here nor there.

Anyway...

For a variety of reasons, I am starting a medical grow, thanks in large part to all of the good people on this board for putting some helpful (and some real crap) information out there for everyone to read and learn from.

I have been working through the information presented in the grow journals available and will be using some of the techniques that Riddleme has given in his many posts.

My reasons are fairly simple:

I want it to be simple. At this point in time, I want it to be fun to do and not another task to be completed each day.
I need it to be as inexpensive as possible as a start up, while I will upgrade here and there along the way as I can in the future.
I think that to many people are making this subject WAY to hard.

So, I am going to post my results in this grow journal for you all to see. I will make mistakes, probably a lot of them, I just hope none are fatal to the plants I am starting with. I hope somewhere along the line I will provide something useful for someone to take with them and expand on and keep the progress going.

I know many of you are going to have tons of problems with how I do things, and for what it's worth, it may be a total failure but I want to see what happens. So I am doing it my way. I will worry about maximizing yields, specific strains... blah blah blah later on when I have some time under my belt and can work on the things that are specific to my interests.

thanks for reading if you haven't fallen asleep by now.


B

Now, here are the details we are starting with.
I will post some pictures at a later date when I have something worth seeing.

I was originally planning on 1-2 plants of Blueberry from Attitude and 1-2 plants of Carmelicious from amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com

However, even though I ordered the carmelicious almost 2 weeks ahead of the blueberry and my order shows it shipped, I have yet to see anything but a charge on my credit card from amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com

so...

I will be growing the 2 auto-flowering seeds that were in the bonus for ordering from attitude and some blueberry.

#1 - UFO#1 Dinafem Seeds Roadrunner Automatic Feminized
#2 - UFO#2 Dinafem Seeds Haze Automatic
#3 - SAGARMATHA SEEDS Blueberry Bud Feminized

I do realize that the blueberry is different than the auto flowers but I have a small grow area and by the time they are ready, I think I can have the set up changed enough to incorporate the needs of a veg area and a flowering area. Right now, while I am trying to get some seeds to grow, they can all be in the same area.

Water -
Nothing special here. I am not buying a ton of equipment. I just can't afford it now. I have a Brita water pitcher that I will be using if I remember, but otherwise, they are getting tap water as the base.

Soil - when it's time, they will go in a mixture of Happyfrog, Perlite, Vermiculite and Sphagnum moss.

Nutrients - Originally I was going to go the Jack's classic & Dynagro plan that Riddleme documents so well in many of his journals. I am going to save that for the next grow. For this one I will be using Foxfarm nutrients, as I was able to get them from a friend for free.

Lights - This is where you are all going to shake your head and roll your eyes and so forth. Save your hate mail, I know it's no where near optimum, but it's what I have for now and it's all I can get for awhile.
(1) 100w CFL on a stand or something that I haven't quite determined yet. - Part # Agrobrite FLC125D (Hydrofarm)
(1) 200w CFL in a reflective hood that will be hanging over the plants. - Part # Agrobrite FLC200D (Hydrofarm)
I will see if I can get the spectrum data scanned or a link for it later.

Both of these are "full spectrum daylight" bulbs.

I am sure there is something else pertinent I have forgotten, but it's dinner time.


B

OK,
I am going to do a weekly update unless something important happens, like I try to kill them or something. This first week I have been putting a lot of stuff in, but I will cut back to one post a week after everything is finished this weekend.

Saturday, Sept 19th.
I started my seeds in a regular water soak in a cup of water.
They sank to the bottom in about 4 hours and I let them soak for another couple hours while I was cleaning the room that would be my grow area.

After about 6 hours, I placed each one in a rockwool cube that had been soaking for about an hour. Pinched the tops just a little and put them in a bowl with just a trace of water in the bottom and set them on the window ledge.

Wednesday, Sept 22nd.
Both UFO seeds had broken through and are standing up.
Nothing from the blueberry yet.

Friday, Sept 24th.
Blueberry has broken through and is standing up.
UFO's are each just over 3" tall.. I really wasn't expecting them to grow that tall in 2 days. Very spindly though.

Will be putting them in dirt tomorrow and putting them under the lights when I get back from Home Depot with the hanger gear I need for the light(s).


B

Subbed - looking forward to watching your grow.

Funny you mentioned the problems with amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com, I wasted money with that business as well - they charged a rediculous 16 Euros for postage and the seeds never arrived. For that price you would expect some tracking system ... nope. You would expect some form of customer service in the "cut-throat" market that they operate in ... nope.
I won't ever recommend that company, in fact I do the opposite.

Thanks
I hope not to disappointed or worst case maybe it will be funny to watch.

as far as my other seeds ... I am still waiting and hopeful, but I expect they ripped me off. Not much I can do about it at the moment.


B

Finally finished my grow area thanks to my loving and lovely wife, who insisted on "if you are going to do it, do it right!".

She found a mini-greenhouse (5'*5'*5') on fall clearance at Lowes for $19.00. Got the last one. Win!

Problem... I hadn't planned on using that much area for this, so I hadn't cleared that much space out of the "junk room" aka spare bedroom. Fail!

So, for the last 36 hours we have been hauling crap out to make room, then assembling the green house.

Next problem was what to do with the lights now. The green house is a mini pop-up type, that wouldn't support fixtures hanging from it inside. So... again, the lovely wife to the rescue. Back to Lowes for 3/4" PVC pipe. They have pre-cut 5' pieces. So, 8 of those, 4 crosses and 4 90's, much cursing and swearing from using a cheap PVC cutter that has a secondary ability of ruining your fingers and hands and about an hour later and viola' a press fit light rack. I will get a picture and post it this week as long as everyone agrees not to laugh. I thought it was quite good for only spending about $30 total.

I am not going to be posting pics of my plants for awhile because they are to completely embarrassing until they beef up some. Basically right now they are 4" stems. I just hope they don't die before the leaves have a chance to kick in.

Now, as soon as I can find the camera...

Oh... and some bonus news!
After complaining about not receiving the carmelicious seeds ... they arrived yesterday afternoon with about 20 assorted random seeds.
I have no idea what I am going to do with the extra, stash for someday I suppose.

So, into the water a few will go. I really didn't want to start off seeding 6 plants, after I promised the wife I would just start with a couple to see how it goes, but I wanted the carmelicious in the first place!
LOL


B

I'll tag along, you've peaked my interest.

I think that your wife may be just a little more interested in your hobby than you realise.

Good to hear that your seeds turned up - mine never did, and now I use Seedsman.com for my seeds.

Thanks Dropastone

I don't know how much truly useful information anyone will get out of this CFL grow.. like I said, I am sure I am doing enough wrong to make everyone grind their teeth, but at worst case, maybe it will be funny watching me grow 3 sticks


B

Good luck on your first grow! do you have a pic of your light setup? i dont think anyone here will judge your plants, its alive isnt it?


ill be sitting this one in, feel free to check out my first grow out in my sig!


-Brawg-

I subbed because I like your attitude.

Good luck to ya my man.

Peace.

Hey Brawg, thanks for dropping by. Hopefully something will grow other than the sticks I have in there now.

Sadly, I found tonight that our digital camera battery leaked and destroyed our camera.

So, I am going to try and come up with some phone pictures, that I am sure will be substandard. They won't be great, but maybe they will be adequate to show what I have going on for the moment.

I'll try and get something on tomorrow sometime.


B

I hadn't planned on making any updates during mid-week, but a couple things have happened I wanted to record before I forget them.

A couple days ago, I adjusted my lights to be closer to the plants. I was thinking at the time that maybe I was a little to paranoid about cooking them and I was causing my seedlings to stretch. They seem very stretched in comparison to most of the pictures of seedlings at this age that I have seen posted by other people. I realize there are strain variations, but that is what I was thinking at the time. I checked proximity with my hand and the heat seemed barely existent next to the plants.

I went out to dinner with my wife and when we came back I checked on the grow tent temperature because I have become obsessive about seeing how things are doing... I know... noob syndrome, I can't help it. Anyway, when I looked in, my little blueberry was face planted lying down in the dirt. The other two were still like they have always been. At first, I immediately assumed, I cooked it. I yanked the lights up and lightly raised the blueberry and it was completely limp, like a deflated balloon. I was a little confused by this since I had given all three a splash of water in the morning when I checked on them. After poking around for a few minutes, I realized that I had watered the soil near the plants, but not on the area by the stem. What I believe happened was the rockwool cube had become dryed out and there are no roots into the dirt where I watered. I put a little splash directly on the rockwool area. In about 15 minutes, it was standing up again like nothing had happened.

Next, problem is ongoing. My little guys are still very spindly and stretched out, at least in my opinion, but the leaf set does appear to be growing on each plant. I can't get a picture until this weekend because I need to get a cable to download from the phone, but I will post a couple pics then, with the pvc rack I made for holding the lights.

Last potential problem, my blueberry has a slight hint of yellowing in the veins. It just became noticeable to me this morning. I am concerned because I have seen where people have posted that blueberry is a fickle fussy wench for nutrient balance. Which is contrary to what I read when I was researching what to buy, where I was under the impression they were quite easy and hardy to grow.

I haven't started feeding yet, because I think it is still to early according to feed schedules and the 1 Billion experts that post on this forum and the soil should still have plenty of food in it. However, yellowing in the veins seems to indicate nitrogen (or iron) deficiency.

so, more research today. Unless someone has a suggestion or opinion. I will get some pics posted in the next 2-3 days when I can get the cable for the phone.


B

Hey guys,
Week 3 is underway and I finally got a cable to upload the pics from the phone. Be aware, they are from a truly underwhelming phone cam. So, quality is something to be desired.

Pic 1: nothing really important, just something to remind everyone to keep your eyes open when you are out walking around. Open box deal at target. $10 for a programmable "automatic" humidifier. Very dry in my home in the winter time, and inside the grow tent it's been running around 48-50%. Not horrible, but from the information I have, I want it a bit higher during vegetative growth stage. Program the unit for 60% and it sets the fan speed based on the difference in the air vs. programmed value. High difference - high speed fan, and slows down as it gets closer to target. Not bad for $10. Love the wife. Just have to plant those ideas in her head of what I am looking for, and she gets to shop. Win - Win!



Pic 2 - 3: Pics of the plants. Pic 2 the light slipped back in the way as I took the picture. From nearest and going around clockwise. The Blueberry, almost 4" to the left, the Haze AF just a touch over 5" and at the top the Roadrunner AF at just about 4.5" inches when it is standing straight. It tends to slouch. I expect its a hippie slacker that just wants to lean against a fence and do nothing all day.



Pic 4 -5: Pics of my DIY light rack... or whatever rack. 3/4" PVC purchased from Lowes in pre-cut 5' lengths with 4 90's and 4 T's. Cut the side rail cross members into 18" pieces and put a T between each one on both side rails. Then put a 5' piece into the T's to connect the cross rails. I have to admit I did have to cut the height down a few inches because of the curvature of the grow tent. 5' was just 3" to tall because of the curve in the roof of the tent.


You can't really see it in here, but there is an old coffee table that I was planning on resurfacing for when we move in a couple years. For now, it makes it much easier on this old man so I don't have to kneel or bend over to the floor to look at stuff. Particularly since I have a raging case of noob syndrome and can't help checking on them every 2-3 minutes wondering why they aren't 12' tall with 4lbs of bud on each plant node.

Now, I think, they are starting to look pretty good after all my worrying that I killed them with my noobishness... or should that be nooblyness? Anyway, you can't see it in the picture in the blueberry but that faint yellow tinge in the central vein of the lower leaves is still there, but not in the upper leaves, and doesn't currently seem to be getting worse, so I am just watching it and going to see what happens when I actually start feeding it, this weekend I am thinking.

They do seem to still be growing up more than out, but I am content that leaves are actually developing more than stalk now. I do realize it's probably because of the CFL's I am using, even though they are very close to the plants now.

Anyway, I think that's all for now. Nothing really new except they still aren't dead! I am shocked and amazed. If I can only figure out the watering cycle on them, I will be good to go.


B

Those babies have a bit of stretch about them, when you repot them - bury those long skinny stems.

Noob syndrome - sounds very familiar, maybe I should go and check my plant ... again

Yeah what GOD said. Also I use cfls for veg and hps for flower but when in veg I put those cfls as close to the plants as possible. You can put it real close, like 2 or 3 inches away and that will help reduce the stretch. You'll need to keep a close eye on it though because you don't want your plants to grow into the bulb. I've had mine as close to an inch away with no worries.

Great job keep it up.

Peace.

Thanks Dropastone and G.O.D.

Ya, I figured it was distance, and I am working on correcting the situation.

My current arrangement with a cone and rectangular hood trying to equally light 3 3" pots within 1-2" is making an ideal spacing arrangement problematic.

In one of my original posts I listed a 100w full spectrum daylight. It actually came with the hood I bought, but I upgraded to the 200w CFL that is in the hood now. I was planning on putting the 100w in some sort of clamp reflector hood but my local lowes and home depot both fail on stocking the mogul connector from standard, adapter.

However, Lowes did have 300w 2700k CFL's on sale for $6.99 so I bought 2 of them, for the flower phase ... someday. I bought the clamp stand hood and a couple of adapters to extend the socket out, so I could use the 300w in the hood and have been using that as a supplemental light. Now, I realize that the 2700k band is more for flowering, but my plants have been reaching for this light since I put it up, even when right under the 200w daylight bulb. At least that is what it appears to be, and I think it's contributing somewhat to the stretchies. Particularly on that slacker hippie road runner that is lst'ing itself. Maybe that road runner is some cool new self lst'ing strain! Or of course, my noobishness is to blame.

I had to order a mogul connector for the 100w CFL that I have. It should be here this week. I also ordered a "bat wing" reflector and some extra sockets. I am seriously trying to restrain myself from turning my tent into a CFL tree, but it is proving difficult to resist. I find myself browsing clearance sections and bargain pages for CFL's, sockets and adapters. Someone STOP ME!

Anyway, the arrangement should be altered by this weekends update (week 4) to be 2 daylight bulbs (200 and 100w) in 2 parallel reflectors, so I can put the plants in a line between them and hopefully stop the stretchies before they become the Rollitup - "Dont let this happen to you" example of the month. Then maybe I will put the 2 300w 2700k bulbs on either end as a supplemental light... or just put them away until flower time. The 2700k's doesn't actually cause a problem in vegetative growth phase do they?

OK, it's been an hour.. I better go check on them. They might need something.


B

The 2700k's doesn't actually cause a problem in vegetative growth phase do they?

Click to expand...

Nope - it's just the degree of betterness 6500k are betterer than 2700k for vegging but you can do your whole grow just with 2700k ... (I just made up 2 words "betterness and betterer)

The wattage that you quote 100w 200w 300w, are they the actual wattage or the "equivalent to ... watts".

Those are the CFL wattage ratings, not the incandescent equivalent. The 300 is something like 660w incandescent equivalent.


B

Looking good! would love to see some pics!!! subbed!!