Closet Grow. First Journal

Ok, so here's my first journal. I'm still in the experimental stage before I throw more money at my little hobby. The end result from my last grow was good enough, I'm at least going again. I made some serious mistakes last time around that cost me some yield. I think a bit of keeping note will solve some of that. There will be pics along the way for stuff that is relevant.

Germinating and vegging will be under a 125w 6500k CFL. I'm germinating in a mini greenhouse with a heat pad. The medium is coco coir pellets.

I'll starting every seed I have. Currently, I'm still using bagseed because this is a low buck deal and I want my ducks in a row before I step up and start really spending cash. This is more about growing the best quality more than yield size. This will also be a mostly organic grow. As I'm using the Fox Farm liquid trio, it's not 100%. The Fox Farm stuff produced good results last time, So I'll at least use it until it's gone.

I'm off to do some stuff around the house.

So, I repainted the closet. On the last grow I hung aluminum foil. The aluminum foil seemed to work but I can tell a huge difference with the flat white. I hung the new light, which was pretty much a no-brainer.

The seeds are in the coco coir in the mini greenhouse. The light is about 6 inches above the top of the plastic dome. The temp in the greenhouse is 76F currently with 85% humidity. I'll be keeping an eye on the temp to see if it climbs much more. I'm actually surprised that it came up to 76 so fast. The closet I'm using stays pretty chilly. This time of year is usually 62-63F in there.

I went by the nursery today to buy a bag of worm castings, but they were out. The good news is they found a local supplier that sells in bags smaller than 30lbs. This is only to hold me over until my worms are up to their full potential. It's been a wee bit chilly in the garage for optimal worm composting activity.

One more thing.....If anyone has questions, feedback or even advice feel free to chime it.

I came home from work yesterday and my first sprout had poked through. This morning there was a second. Nothing spectacular yet, but we're moving in the right direction for sure. Today, I'm planning on getting a bag of worm castings and a couple other things at the nursery.

This evening a third sprout has popped out. I guess doing a bit of research about what not to use as far as seeds go pays off. All of these seeds are compressed brick weed. I'm actually almost amazed 3 of 14 popped so far.

On a side note: I bought a compost tumbler yesterday. It's basically an 80 gallon plastic drum on a stand. I'll be using it to pre-compost some items before they go to the worms. It'll be pulling double duty for both gardens. The idea is for me to be able to control exactly what is being fed to the plants. Oh, and I got the worm castings.

Til next time.

Good Luck... I hope you succeed!!!

Ok, I check on the babies this morning and Numbers one and two don't have a developed set of true leaves. Number three however is taking right off. She (good Karma) already has the first pair of leaves. She's a bit droopy due to the media being good and moist. Number three was actually the best looking seed of the bunch and was put in the tray in the corner so she's easy to track.

So, what to do about numbers one and two? I went to Home Depot and figured I'd get a bottle of Superthrive and see if it works. Some guys swear by it. Some guys hate it and think it's snake oil. It was like $10 for 4 oz. If it works kick, ass. If not, I was probably losing those two anyway. Superthrive is a rooting hormone and B vitamin concoction that is supposed to force a plant to root and reduce shock or stress. It's supposed to be organic too. Anyway, the seedling that looks good did not get any. It's an experiment, but if I do more research and discover bad stuff, the entire grow isn't lost. I opened the vents in the top of the humidity dome to help keep heat and humidity in check as I turned the heat mat back on to promote faster rooting and to help remove excess moisture on in the medium.
Temp was 73F Humidity was 73% 30 min after the adjustments.

I'll check 'em later and see where we're at.

And thanks Taipanspunk

So far, the Superthrive isn't working. Not a big deal......it was worth a shot. Opening the vents is working on the heat and humidity. Current temp is 79f and the humidity is 63%.

Number 3 is doing good. A little bit more height today. The leaves look bigger as well. She's still droopy as the medium in that particular cell is moist as hell. The are other cells that the surface is dry in. *note to self......use a level next time.

Til next time.....Peace!

This morning I got up to check on things and Number 3 had fallen over. She was just limp like a noodle in the middle. Really strange......So, I propped her up with a plastic stake and a loose twist tie and off to work I went. I came home and it was worse. Dammit. Fearing that I've done more damage to the main stem that is survivable I'm yanking her. I got a few more seeds this week so I'm gonna start over using a different germinating method.

See you in a few days. I've got a few things to take care of before I attempt another start up.