A newb's grow tube

Hello RIU!

My 1st grow journal, I'm a green newb(hopefully). Plan to to keep it short and sweet. More details depending on interest.

1) The Thanks - This goes to the alumni of RIUniversity. I've learned loads here, and hope to learn more. My grow is going well so far, and there is no way this would have been as good without the info found here.

2) The Goal - Shooting for a single oz., small goal I know. I'm not a heavy toker. So this is a bit of a micro grow.

3) The Choices - Well, I saw some kickass micro setups here. The PC case looked OK, but an oz. looked like a stretch for the 1st time. Garbage can grows have been around for a while, but the dimensions weren't quite what I needed.

4) The Solution - A 38 by 15 inch tube. The skinny profile was perfect for a stealth location that I had.

5) The Tube - I stumbled across some aluminum flashing rolls at hardware land. Pre-painted with a brown outside and white inside. The aluminum was VERY easy to work with. I cut 48 inch strips. Drill some small holes near the edge, add some machine screws, and you get a circular section of the size you want. Stack 3 sections plus duct tape, and 38 by 15 tube is had. It wasn't HARD at all to do. Cost about $20.

6) The Fixture - Another stumble find. Saw a pizza pan at Wally World, about $3, and stainless steel. Drill some holes and on go 3 porcelain light sockets. A bit of white spray paint, and not a bad fixture at all for under $20. It fits the tube top like a glove. Not moveable, so I'm using a stack of bricks as a pedestal. Not as nice as the adjustable chains but usable. I've seen too many newbs that have had fixture failures so I'm keeping it simple.

7) The Test - The BIG issue with most indoor grows is ventilation/heat. I've placed a 1 1/2 inch hole at the base for intake, and drilled holes for a PC fan up top. Do a dry run for a day with just the holes and no fan. Works better than I thought, less than 10 degrees above ambient which was in the 70's.

The Lights - For veg 3 26w Nvision 5500k. So far this is working well. For flower, 3 GE 42w soft white.

9) The Seed - NL#5 from highgrade-seeds. Seems to be some mixed opinion on this supplier but thay came through for me OK. 1st seed germinated in less than 24 hours.

10) The Soil - Well, I went with MG Moisture Control. I see a lot of RIUers swear at it, a few swear by it. I followed the advice on giving it a thorough set of flushings and PHing the runoff. It didn't burn the seedling, so far so good.


Now to post the pics. That may take a little while.

picssss!!!!!!!!!!!

sounds good bro

covertgrow said:

picssss!!!!!!!!!!!

sounds good bro

Click to expand...

Hey covert!

Thanks for looking. Just got pics into albums. Now being new, trying to figure the right way to insert into my thread. Quick way to do?

if you reply to this thread and click "go advanced" up at the top is a paperclip icon, click that and you can manage your attachments,
thats how i do it anyway, unless anyone can give an easier way?

covertgrow

The seedling is at day 8 after germination with a 24/0 cycle. From my oh so limited experience, 24/0 seems pretty damm good for veg.

growone

So off to the RIU plant hospital I go. Really excellent resource!

The closest match seems to be either magnesium or iron deficiency. These 2 problems seem to give yellowing fan leaves with green veins(picture below).

I've been using tap water with MGMC soil. My tap water is on the hard side, but the runoff's PH was still plenty acidic. I'm guessing calcium is doing a bit of nute lock. Next watering will be a flush of distilled water and bit of hope.

Did a bunch of reading on deficiencies. Original thought was either iron or magnesium deficient. Looks like I can cross off iron, seems that appears at the new growth. Magnesium starts low and works its way high. My hard water is likely the culprit(calcium can bind magnesium). Was going to hit the plant with plain distilled, but now seems that some epsom salt mixed in shouldn't hurt. Hoping this is catching the problem in the bud, so to speak. growone

Been sweating out the last few days whether this grow was going to be DOA. Looking like the epsom salts are helping, plant's color is looking better, to me anyways. Used 1/4 tsp epsom salt to 1 quart distilled water, used half so far, probably use the rest on next watering.
MGMC soil has its quirks, low magnesium seems to be one of them from what I read. On the other hand, it holds water real nice. Water about every 6 days at current rate.

Looking a bit better each day. The new growth's color looks about right. The leaves that got hit with the magnesium deficiency have stopped getting worse. I guess that's part of my newb's dues.

The plant is looking pretty compact, about 4" tall. Females have a tendency to be on the squat side?

The total lumens is currently 5100, with about 4400 lumens per sq. foot. That was a worry but the 24 hour cycle and 5500 CRI seem to be keeping the stretch in check.

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Plant has taken a turn for the worse over the last 2 days. The lower fans are pretty much gone. Problem is moving up the next fans. New growth still looks good though.

Still looking like a deficiency of some sort. Thinking the magnesium I gave it a week ago wasn't quite enough. Hit it with 1 pint distilled water with 1/8 tsp epsom salts. Just re-watered with the same dose.

Going have to recheck my diagnosis, maybe another trace element? Maybe this grow will become a poster child for magnesium deficiency, trying to hold a positive thought.

Posted my grief over in "plant problems", got a lot of help.

Best guess is ph/nute lock, the usual grief I guess. Flushed with 6.4 ph'd spring water. Should have started with this first, but lazed out with hard tap water. Now I wait and sweat a bit more

Flushing really didn't help, maybe it takes a priest to drive the evil out of a MG grow. At this point, I'm looking at a not much more to lose situation.

Filled a new pot with some sandy loam from a berry patch. Transplant surgery! Root ball was THICK. Wasn't suffering from lack of root development. Sad plant below. Not quite as bad as it looks, had to wash off dirt after.

2 days after transplant. Things could be worse, plant's not dead yet. Probably too soon to tell how things will go, seeing some growth.

Now my thoughts on MGMC, FUCKING CRAP, at least for cannabis. Sigh, some others have done well with this shit, not me. For any other newbs thinking of this route, don't use straight, cut it with some perlite or such.

I was going to start with an organic grow, but got caught up with trying to figure out the perfect mix. So seeds come in, and eager to get started I used, well I can't write its name again.

If this grow recovers, probably going to have to FIM. My setup/plan was 1 straight cola under a triangle, we'll see.

5 days after transplant. Same pattern, crown of plant growing, lower fans dying. Transplant is a shock so this isn't really a surprise.

Going to try to brew an organic tea for next watering, not a fan of chemicals anymore. Not completely dry, probably 2 more days till watering.

Was pretty much ready to give up on this grow, looked like dead leaf to me. Accidentally bent plant top a bit with fixture, and underneath is a miniature plant! Color is good, but tiny, 1 inch fan leaves. Looks like the top is going to die, new plant growth starts at about 2 inches up. Miniature FIM(bonzai?). I will continue the grow just to validate my setup. Not sure what yield this would give, Maybe 1 bonzai joint? 1st picture is sick outer plant, 2nd is what is growing underneath.