1st Grow - Experiment with bag seed

I would like to first say thank you to everyone on RIU for taking the time to pass their knowledge on to us new growers. I have learned a lot from reading this site and have tried to apply what I've learned in my first little experimental grow.

Setup details:

The bag seed I have is old. I saved some seeds from my teen years and then saved some more from about 6 years ago when I was living in Northern California. Some growers I knew up there gave me some seeds that I know have very good genetics. Obviously, germination has been pretty difficult. The seeds were packed in white rice and stored in a locker. I actually didn't remeber I had them until I found them on a recent move. Using the "paper towel" method in the FAQ, I have gotten 2 out of 15 to germinate and then only one of those survived.

Before anyone tells me to get better seeds, I am doing a trial run to get the rookie mistakes out of the way on these tired old things before I get some real seeds.

On to the pictures:


I bought some basic supplies that I've seen others have success with on this site. The wood there will eventually be a frame to hold up a 150 watt HPS. That fan is too strong so I ended up not using it. There is also some rooting hormone there (for clones eventually I hope) and some ph testing kits for both soil and water.


This is the space I will be growing in. It is less than ideal because I can not ventilate. There is living space all around and stairs above. The opening here is to the garage. Temperature is not a problem for now. It gets as high as about 84 or 85 degrees, but an oscillating fan helps keep it cooler.


Here is my seedling set up on the rolling shelf in the left of the space. I admit that I got excited about the upside of LEDs and bought this blue one and the same one in red before I thoroughly researched them, although the seedling always seemed to tilt toward the LED light. They are the 13 watt LEDs you can find on ebay. I turned off the two 40 watt CFLs just to take this picture because I thought it looked cool.


Here is the completed and painted frame. That fan on top draws the hot air from the light up and blows it out toward the opening. I moved my supplemental lighting over to the right while I'm trying to get more seeds to germinate. I figured I might as well give the one viable plant all the light I have. I have two mylar covered pannels to go over the exposed sides of the frame.


With all the supplemental lighting on, the temp is about 83 or 84 with about 40% humidity.

Grow details:


4/16
The one survivor so far. She (fingers crossed) germinated better than any of the other seeds and popped right up when I put it in the soil. The medium is a 60/40 MG Moisture Control/Perlite mix. The ph of the soil is about 6.7 and I adjust tap water to between 6.5 and 6.8.


This one germinated, but just didn't make it. I treated it exactly like the seedling above. As I said, old seeds.


5/13

5/13
Almost one month into veg. I have given it nothing but ph'd tap water. I also spray it down once in a while with distilled water. The lower fan leaves are starting to yellow and die at the tips. Also, it looks like a minature plant. It's bushy, but the growth is all very small as you can see.


5/13
I removed one of the first set of fan leaves. Again, it is yellowing and there are some dead spots on it.

Everyone's opinions and suggestions are welcome and appreciated. I'm guessing it's about time to transplant and start adding nutrients. Does it look root bound? Is the yellowing of the lower fan leaves ok, or do I need to fix something?

I got started on my own by just reading the site, but I am to the point where I need a little advice.

Thanks.

Looks good. You appear to have a magnesium deficiency. Pick up some cal-mag and supplement. Do you have plans for other nutrients in the future?

You should also work on getting down your temperatures 4-5 degrees. You can mount that fan somewhere, like on a shelf, where it will circulate without blowing your plants away.. be creative. Otherwise, you can pick up a $5 clip fan somewhere.

Good luck.

you're probably good in that pot for awhile. depending on how big you want to get before flower, you can probably get away with one transplant before you do. you can take that opportunity to flush, which is a good idea with that soil.

thanks for the quick reply, ceestyle.

I will pick up some cal mag tomorrow. To answer your question, I have ordered the Foxfarm 3 pack. I will be very carefull with it so as not to burn my one survivor.

I hear you about the temp. It does need to be cooler. I will probably end up investing in a mobile a/c unit or an evaporative cooler. A small clip fan would probably work now, but July and August will be a different story.

I understand the term "flush" to be the process of feeding a plant nothing but water (no nutes) in the couple of weeks before harvest. Are you saying that I should add nutes for a while in the current pot, then transplant, then go back to water only for a while after the transplant?

Thanks again for the quick response.

so a few times during the grow - for me, usually once during veg, once between veg and flower, and once during flower - it is good to give the plant about 2-3x the volume of water of the pot, then refeed with your nutrient solution (optional). It washes out fertilizer salts, especially important considering your MG MC is full of inorganic fertilizers. Failure to do so can actually prevent your plant from being able to uputake the nutrients that it needs, even if they are present.

I imagine those FF nutrients probably have Mg and all the micronutes you need, so you should be set once you get them on that plan. You'll get nice and green again.

It's too bad you can't ventilate, but good you can invest in AC.

Hopefully you get a female, so you can do some cloning. As soon as you get greener there, you can clone for sex.

I assume you're going to want to flower relatively soon, given the size of your area?

Thank you for that explanation on flushing. That's great, I'll definitely flush it like that.

And yes, I am going to clone and sex as soon as it looks like it's thriving again. Nutes shipped so should be soon. I got a propagation tray and I'm researching what method/meduim to try.

I had a thought about ventilation:

I think temperature is going to become a real problem for me as summer progresses. Will be triple digits soon. The opening to this space is 5' x 3'. I thought that maybe I could just frame out the "doorway" and add a small frame on the top and bottom of the door frame for a 4" duct intake and exhaust. I could then seal the rest with black and white poly, secureing it to the frame on one side and having it tear away with velcro for the rest.

I could then use ducting to run the intake to the back of the space by whatever cooler I get and take heat directly from the light (with the optional exhaust). Unless this little area is somewhat sealed, trying to cool it would be an exercise in futility unless I got enough btu to cool the whole garage. And that would be an exercise in inefficiency.



Is there a better way to rig a grow room type door up for an area like this? Should I use another material for the door? One that is insulated maybe?

All comments are welcome.