First Grow - All CFLs

I have decided to log my grow from start to finish here. I am doing an all CFL grow to start and only using bagseed. My goal is to learn how to keep them alive and make them flourish. If all goes well... I'll be purchasing some Northern Lights off of a seedbank and possibly a 400 watt HPS and see how I will do! Anyways... On to the journal.

I'm starting this on day 21, this first post will be me catching up.



It took a long time for my seeds to germinate (4 days) and I planted them in a waterless seedling kit, I planted 16 of them.

I planted them on day 4, and on day 5 they sprouted their first heads


On day 7 they were very tall, they stretched towards the light, I believe this is a common mistake. The picture is actually a day before day 7 and they got a little further stretched than this. I transplanted the 3 best ones into 3 different pots, I put all the stems deep into the soil so just the heads were poking out, then put the new lights 2 inches from the heads.

Day 8, over night the plants exploded from seedling to a real plant. Not entirely sure why as they were just in miracle grow (should have bought soil from a hydroponics shop). They developed their first full set of leaves. Pictures are missing for this day.
Day 9 I fed them nutrients for the first time, and then walked away for a couple days. And this is what I come back to on day 11.

I was pretty happy with this growth and I fed them again on day 13. I bought a few extra bulbs on that day.
Day 15, this is my biggest plant.

Thus far... my favorite day by far was day 17. They developed their first 5 fingered leaf.

On day 20 I fed them, I waited 5 days and let them dry out. And now we come to day 21 today and it seems like every day they double in size.



I'll be posting some more pictures tomorrow morning with the update. Thanks for reading guys! Any responses are welcome, advice, criticism, compliments, suggestions, feel free!

they look good man, subbed

Day 22 - Problems.

First pictures of the girls

Huge growth as usual from the one on the right.


Continued stunted growth on the middle one (with problems)

Business as usual on the left.



New set up in a larger closet.




The problems are.... I found 2 leaves n the center plant with wholes.

I don't have a magnifying glass... but I could see little white bits... and redish brown bits on the underside of only these 2 leaves. So I bought some Neem oil, waited until darkness, sprayed all around, underneath each leaf, on top of each leaf, all of the soil, and the entire pot.

The next morning (today) my left and right plant are just fine.... but my middle plant has developed yellowing around the edges of the leaves. It seems I just keep having problem with this middle one.


What should I do? Are my other plants safe?

Day 24 dead lower leaves and a few little spots.

View attachment 2517162 The bottom leaves on both plants are curling and turning crunchy. I think this is normal though.
View attachment 2517163 This is on 2 leaves atm, very small little spots. Is this nothing?

I think there are doing fine, great in fact, they are growing incredibly fast. Watering day is tomorrow or the day after, fungus gnats are gone at the moment, have some sticky traps on the way to make sure they stay gone. The Neem oil works wonders.
View attachment 2517164View attachment 2517165
View attachment 2517166View attachment 2517167
View attachment 2517168 I took out some bulbs, was told by my friend I had way too many in there, just have 10 going at the moment. 23w half 2700k, half 5000k. Should probably have all 5000k but I'm too lazy lol.


And... I destroyed the middle plant. She was one-third the size of the other two and wasn't growing at all it seemed. It was a sad day, her roots were only about 4 inches long and not very much of them. I don't think she had a chance.

Pictures didn't go through so here there are again:

Day 27:

Continued dead leaves on the bottom make me think I have a Nitrogen or potassium deficiency. I've been looking at charts and what not and I'm not sure. I was planning on just using water by itself to kind of... flush the nutrients out, but it looks like I need nutrients instead this time. Before I give them water / nuts tonight, would love some advice as to whether to flush it, or to just use a higher concentrate of nutes. All of the problems I have not only could be a potassium or nitrogen deficiency... but also an overwatering. But I've been seriously neglecting them with water which makes me think its the nutes.

Here's my biggest plant:


And heres one of the effected leaves at the bottom.

Here's the other plant

\
And one of the effected leaves at the bottom of it.

I've been told that these bottom leaves are meant to just keep dying over and over and thats normal and to just pick them off as they start to die.

Day 31: Limitless Potential


Have a fantastic update for you guys, first lets show the growth:

Growing TALL!

Growing WIDE!

Growing THICK!

Both of them too!



I decided to try my hand at topping, and I topped both of them, one picture is terrible, but you get the idea.




Now... I've been noticing little straight pieces on both of them... and I took the best pictures I could.... I know my phone is terrible. But at the bottom around the nodes there are little curled brown bits, not like the white ones I've been told about. Could this mean they are both female? Or is it too early to tell? They are still in 18 / 6 cycle.




Anyways moving on to the good update:

I bought a 400 W Hydrofarm Sunburst with a heat extractor fan. AND I am looking at buying a grow tent, 32/32/60 to house these two babies in. The light will be here by the 19th, the tent I could have as early as tomorrow. Pretty excited. Going to set up a little exhaust and intake setup. Since the light comes with a bolt on fan, I'll just set up piping on the top to let that air out, and all I'll need is another fan to let air in.

VERY excited about setting up this HPS, I've heard amazing things. Just in time to start the 12/12 dont you guys think?

Oh and I bought 2 bulbs, a 400 watt ultrasun 7500k for veg and a metal halide and a 400 watt ge lucalox hps for flower. Sound about right?

looking good mate

its hard to tell from the photo, but i dont think you've got hairs there. its really obvious when they do start coming through.

Mine are about as far along as urs but I use dWc subbed check out my gro

Going to have a crazy update for you guys tomorrow (or today rather lol). Hope you all check it out and reply with your thoughts. In the mean time let me give you some background on the buds. The two left over plants are texas "popcorn" which is a passed down strain which has been providing all of texas for quite some time with some cheap mid-grade weed. It's got a great head high with a mild body high, so you CAN get up and do stuff, but you just sit on the couch until something interesting happens lol. It's a great high, and one of my favorites, so I think its a great place to start.


I have a HUGE update planned when the mailman arrives... and it will turn my pathetic $5 grow into a mass producer. Excited to show you guys the pics! See you all in 24 hours or less.

Day 36: UPGRADES!


So I promised a huge update yesterday and the mailman decided to not delivery, so here is the update.

What all did I get? A 32x32x60 Mylar tent (unknown brand), sniped this on craigslist for $50!

A 400 watt sunburst SBC400 with their cooling fan as well (part number CFSYST). First thoughts: The thing is CRAZY heavy. I had a hell of a time getting it up using only shoelaces and a cheap braided chain. For now it will sit on these until my last piece comes in the mail and I go to home depot to find some kind of hanging system. When I turned on the light... I was like... Really? This is it? Left the room for a minute, came back and BOOM lights like crazy. The unit takes a while to warm up and get the full effect of the light. I also purchases a 7500k metal halide, and a lucalox HPS bulb as suggested by forum members. The unit changes from both metal halide and HPS, I tested both bulbs before setting up the 7500k one.

I sent up some cheap ducting I had lying around to help exhaust the light through the fan on top. I decided to keep the safety glass on and lose whatever amount of light I'm going to lose for having it on so I could make the fan suck the hot air out better.



Also... I had been eyeing my ML's for nutrients instead of measuring... I got a syringe to get it right on... I had been giving them about 1 ML total of all nutrients prior, like an idiot. I gave them the proper dosage of nutrients 2 days ago and you can SEE the difference. The bottom leaves that were developing dead spots have stopped, it's grown a TON, they are literally 2 feet tall! I had a 2.5 gallon container of water for both plants. I put in 15 ML of biogrow, 5 ML of bioroot, and CAMG, and 2.5 ML of bioweed. I think I need to up the dose on bioroot, CAMG, and bioweed. Next time I feed them I'm thinking for the same 2.5 gallon bucket, putting in 15 ML of biogrow, 15 ML of bioroot, 15 ML of CAMG, and 5 ML of bioweed. What are your guys' thoughts? This is the general organics box.

Here are the plants, next time I will make sure the light is OFF lol.



Now... what is the final upgrade you ask? Well I bought an inline fan that will be going in this top vent. It's a cheap one, but its made for hydroponics so I'm hoping it will be all I need. Right now I have the tent open because i'm worried about temp.... when I get this fan I will stick it in the top hole and suck the air out. I will keep my one small (non-oscilating) fan at the bottom blowing up in the middle of the plants. Do you guys think this will be enough to keep the temps down?





Please feel free to leave advice or replies or comments! Thanks!

Put 'em in flowering starting today. I nutted them with veg yesterday, problem a mistake but they exploded in growth and are a bit bigger than I wanted them. Going to feed them flowering nutes in 3-4 days. Added 2 of those 30 dollar amazon fans aswell, one intake one exhaust, temps are still sitting at 85. Going to try and exhaust directly into the attic through a light. Also set up a cheap carbon filter using some stuff from walmart and home depot.

Will take pictures hopefully in the morning.

Would love some replies on this thread! Going to keep you guys up on info all the way to the mason jar! And my next grow is going to be some powerful strains!

nice upgrades sustain - your plants will love them im sure

looking forward to seeing your plants in the new setup.

good luck with setting up your exhaust/carbon filter

Fell through my ceiling trying to open up a hole for venting. LOL. Have been spending the last....... 6 hours spackling.... but temps are down from 91 to 79! Mission accomplished LOL

Day 43: The Carbon Filter??? 12-12?


Growth is absolutely exploding, they are turning into bushes, and my fingers are crossed for girls.

I wanted to make this update mainly to ask for advice on running these fans corrects

This First picture is how I have my exhaust set up for now, right now the fan is just sitting on the top of the tent pulling air out through a carbon filter. I'm planning on adding some more 4 inch duct with a 4 inch reducer (possibly just get some 6 inch duct for better flow) I figured the reduction would increase pressure.



This is the picture showing my 4 inch from the top of the light all the way up into the attic. The heat sync I got for my light doesnt pull much air, but it definitely is pulling out hot air into the attic. I put my hand over it and could still feel a steady stream of hot air. So I may leave this as is for now.

Here are the beauties under their new HPS bloom bulb.

And this is my second fan that I have yet to set up. Should the fan be on the inside pulling air in through a duct? Or should the fan be on the outside pushing air into the tent?



And here is my take on one of the cheapest methods creating a carbon filter. You buy 2 down spout strainer, they are metal that looks a lot like chicken wire, you wrap the outer one in panty house, and the inner aswell, you put carbon in the first strainer just at the bottom, then you make the second one slightly smaller and you put it into the large one, and carefully add carbon all around the sides, then wrap the entire thing with the smaller ones end of the panty hose and wham 4 inch carbon filter for literally $10. I got the carbon at walmart for $6, the spouts for $1 each, and the panty hose for $2.


I also have some odor balls from walmart for $3, them two together you cant even smell it outside the tent.

Well sadly the perfect topped plant that made it out great from topping has turned out male. He had 4 mighty stalks that were begging to be filled with bud. The other one who has a major growth stunt problem and full of dead leaves has turned out female. I see a few white pistils.

She hasn't grown an inch in a few weeks sadly. And the male had 2 foot long stalks 4 of them in perfect unison. He's full of little bananas. Will be killing him tonight.

Atleast now I can devote all of the light straight on her.

sorry to hear about the male Sustain.

hopefully the girl picks up her act and gets you some good buds