My first grow and Journal (leap year bud)

Hey everyone,

This all started when a friend of mine offered to get me some seed as a birthday present. Little did I know what I would be in for! I've been learning loads day by day and I still have a ton of learning to do. Mostly, I'm doing this for fun, trying not to put too much pressure on myself and this grow. If I get some smokable bud out of this experience, then great. If not, I still learned a ton and will be better equipped for next time.

I've been reading this site slowly day-by-day and decided to start this journal for encouragement and help. Getting caught up with my progress will make for a long post, so thanks for your patience.

I started to germinate the 21 seeds I received in a moist paper towel in a jar in my dark closet. I put a space heater on with thermostat control to get the temp around 80 degrees. It took about a week, but 16 of the 21 seeds cracked and over a half a dozen developed roots coming out.

Good luck bro . And may the "quality smoke" god smile upon your operation

This photo is 1 month into the grow.

So I set up my grow room in a closet in my house trying to keep budget in mind. It seems to be the best space for me as it has access to my attic crawl space. I can vent all the smell up in there and keep the temps down. I didn't want to spend for the Mylar and used tin foil on my walls. Never again. Once the fans are blowing around that tin foil makes too much noise! I need to switch pronto.

On Feb. 29th, I put all the seeds a 1/2 to 1 inch down in some potting soil. None of the potting soil had the PH listed on the bag. None of the brands said that they were sterilized or anything, so I went with the most organic looking stuff I could find but it seemed a crapshoot at this point. I hung up 3 cfl’s with 1900 lumens each.

After a week only 2 of the 16 seeds came up. This was hugely disappointing to me as I dreamt of a closet full of weed, but oh well. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe the water wasn't right, but more likely, the soil was giving me some trouble or maybe I planted the seeds too far down in the soil. I'm just not experienced enough to know.

Anyways, after about two to three weeks, the plants seemed big enough that I could switch over to my grow light that I bought. I got a 400w light with a digital ballast. Right now I have in a MH conversion lamp for the grow cycle. I've been keeping the light on for 24 hours so far but I'm thinking of switching it to 20/4 or something like that. I've read that other people do that to save on electricity, and I can only assume that if those other 4 hours helped, people would keep it on for all the grow they can get.

I also bought a meter that measures light, soil dampness and PH. The PH reading part seems a bit screwy as I get different readings at different parts of the soil. I guess I need a more "high tech" solution. I will look into this.

So now I'm just starting in with some nutrients (I know a bit late but it's been taking me awhile to get up to speed on everything.) From the newb grow guide that is on this site, it recommends a 20-5-5 for the grow cycle. After looking a bit I could only find a 4-1-1 made from fish fertilizer. Kinda the same thing, right? Man does this stuff smell something awful. I never imagined. And it says "deodorized' right on the bottle. What the hell did it smell like before? One more "job I'm glad I don't have" to add to the list is working at this place.

I've been following the directions on the bottle adding 2 tsps. per litter of water. I have no idea what PPM this is yielding me. I bought a meter cheap (like $25) off the internet and hopefully it's speeding its way through the mail to me as we speak. Also, instead of taking my water right from the tap, I'm letting it sit in a bucket before I use it. I also used some fish tank conditioning drops to take out the chlorine that may be in there.

A month into the grow, my biggest plant is 9", my smaller is 7". I'm really hoping that they are both ladies. I really have no idea when to start them flowering. I read that the ball park measure is when they are a foot tall. I'm not so sure about that and need to learn some more about it.

So from the pictures you can tell that I'm having some trouble with my leaves. The new growth looks good for a while, but then they are turning brown and dying at the edges. I'm working on solving this riddle. It seems like a problem with my watering. I just started with the nutes less than a week ago. If it's a deficency of any kind, hopefully it will clear up soon, but I'm still in the dark as to how much and how often I should be giving nutes as my meter hasn't shown up yet. Or maybe I'm over watering. It definately is more pronounced at the bottom leaves. Any help comments would be greatly appreciated. I realize that it very well could be a PH problem. I'm running out to some stores today to get some strips and some ph up and down.

Oh yeah, also, I have absolutely no idea what kinda of weed I'm growing. The seeds came from a grower in Mendocino who grows outside. That's all the info I have. If anyone has a guess, I'm all ears. Thanks for your interest.

if that's a thin foil get it out of there.can harm your plants.i've looked your other thread with the problem and the plants looks heat stressed to me.

i feed my plants with fertilizer on every third watering(once a week). works for me man. i see you have moisture meter.so the overwatering couldn't be the problem if it measures right.(Imo)

Thanks Cheetah2007! I really appreciate the advice.


Does heat stress show in the older leaves like this and not the new growth? I assumed that I would see signs of that at the top of the plant where it's warmest first. But maybe it takes awhile for the damage to become visible or something like that. It's strange because it rarely gets hotter than 80 degrees in my space. I thought 90-95 was the danger zone. I don't think that the temps have ever gotten that high. But I'm willing to try anything at this point. I've moved my lights 4" higher than before just to be safe and I'm keeping a watchful eye on my thermometer.

Just to satisfy curiousity, how does tin foil harm plants, btw?

Thanks again.

Ah, buried in someone's grow journal, I found a post by pinksensa explaining why tin foil is bad. Apparently because of its wrinkles, it concentrates the light into harsh spots that can burn the plants. I don't think that is what is happening to mine as the yellowing starts at the edges and works its way in, but it's good to rip all that stuff down anyhow. My grow room is ten times quieter now. Thanks for that!

the leaves begin to burn at the bottom because nutrients are taken from the bottom to supplement the top...the foil could have very well burned them.....how close is the light?? it could be a nutrient deficiency....not to be a bitch but if you want me to help you, are going to have to resize your pics so it doesnt stretch the page out so much its annoying I can read and entire line without have to scroll to the side....microsoft has a free download for a picture re-sizing program http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx on the right hand side if you choose the 11th one down Image Re-sizer then refer to: Resize digital pictures quickly on how to use the tool its soooooooo easy...

You really need to order some nutes that are going to really help your plants....I need you to tell me all the specifics on your area...so I can try and figure out what the deal is....

Update.

Alright. Thank you so much for the help and it doesn't come off at bitchy in the least. I'm asking for criticism after all! I will definately make sure to make my pics smaller. I have a monster of a monitor and sometimes I forget these things. Is this ok or is it still too big? I tried to replace the earlier pictures, but the little 'edit' button is no longer there. sniff.



Light:
I took down all of the tin foil for starters. I have some mylar ordered. I also have started to turn off the light and fan for 4 hours a day. Again, it's a 400w MH conversion bulb. I have the light hanging 20" above the top of the tallest plant.



Air:
I'm going with the ghetto CO2 solution on this one as I'm trying to keep the cost reasonable. I brew beer from time to time and will get my airlock put in on some more attractive containers when the time comes to switch. The airlocks will let me see how much CO2 is coming out and give me a visual indicator as to when I need to switch out the solution.

Temp:
The temperature is anywhere between 65 to 78 degrees in that closet.



Water:
I noticed the leaf problem before I started using the fish fertilizer. I'm not sure that didn't compound the problem though, but the origin of it most likely isn't from nutrient burn, right?

Before all of this, I was just kinda haphazardly watering my plants. I was using tap water whenever the soil started to feel dry. Now I realize how difficult all of that makes it to track down the cause of the problems.

Now I'm keeping a container of water sitting out at room temperature. I use fish tank stuff to neutralize all of the chlorine that may be in it. I tested the PH of my water and it's at 6.6. However I have no bubbles running through the water. Will that mean that it will lose it's oxygen after awhile? Should I agitate the water or does that kill the purpose of letting it sit out?

Recently (only for the past week) I've been measuring out how much water I give them. Currently I alternate giving each of them half a liter (2 cups) of water or fish fertilizer every other day.

I still am unclear how to test the PH of my soil outside of using my little cheapo two pronged dealy. Will the PH of my soil adjust to whatever the PH of the water is that I'm putting into it? Should I be concerned about the PH of the water after i put in the nutrients? Because I use drops and 'color matching' to determine the ph, I have no idea how that would work once I get the fish shit in there and it turns it to...well...fish shit brown.

Back to the fertilizer. Is this stuff no good? I like the idea of an organic solution rather than a chemical one. But I'm fine tracking down a hydroponics store if I need to get the real deal. If I'm supposed to be using a 20-5-5 at 600 PPM like Widow_Maker says, then does that mean that I should use the 4-1-1 at 3000 PPM?

I actually felt a little twinge of how much it's going to suck to cut these plants down if it all goes well. I'm starting to get attached to them! Drat. Well, that's all the questions I can think of right now. Thanks again for any of your help.

Well, I don't have much more info to add for this post. I just wanted to get some updated pics up here. I still have all the same questions that I had before. I haven't been having much luck getting people to reply to my posts. Maybe I'm coming off weird or something. Level with me, it's the robot fan, isn't it?

I wonder if you could do an old man a favor? The way you are posting your pics makes it impossible for me to follow your thread. Its way too BIG. Thumbnails work easier if you could, I would appreciate it. I just can't follow your thread in this wide format. VV

intergalactic robo fan the plants looks healthy actually

Hey thanks Cheetah and VictorVicious! I always appreciate a positive word of support. And to everybody, I promise to make the pictures smaller. Page 1 got a little absurd. Page 2 and on should be better. I will move onto thumbnails. However, what is done is done. I'm not smart enough to know how to go edit those original posts (because the edit button is gone) and imageshack is hosting the pictures so I can remain private.

So...updates, updates. Day 45-ish.

My mylar finally came in the mail. That stuff is great, went up in less than an hour, reflects just about everything and doesn't make a racket when the fan blows it. I'm set. Robofan is at home in his new fancy space closet.



I'm still waiting for my stupid PPM meter to come from China. It's been almost a month if not a little over a month. I guess the world isn't that small after all.

But enough about the gear, what about the plants? The little one has shot up to 17 inches and is now the bigger one (the other one has slowed in growth, now only around 16 inches.) So take note big brothers and sisters, be nice to your younger siblings. They may be able to make you eat knuckle sandwiches someday.



They definitely got a bit stinkier, but I figured that came with their bigger size. But now I think they went ahead and started to flower without me. The bigger news is that I think they are showing signs that they are both female!!!!

I'm trying not to get too excited until I get some more trained eyes on this (remember this is my first grow and I question everything.) Fingers crossed though, I lucked out and beat the odds. So anyone who is in the know, please click on the thumbnail and reply with your assessment!!!




Maybe it's too soon to tell what sex they are. When do those "grapes" appear? Should they be showing by now? As soon as I get some confirmation that indeed, they are ladies, I'm starting them on the new bulb and 12/12 cycle. I'm off to get some new nutrients as well.

I'm still having some bad edges on my leaves. Something is off or wrong of funky, but the plants still seem to be soldiering on. Below are pics of my leaf problem, both in the older growth and in the new as well.



Wow. This is all so exciting. Thanks for your interest and help so far. I can't believe how much fun I'm having.

Alright, so I realize that I have some questions that I could really use some help with.

1. Are they ready to flower? I read something about the branches starting to grow not directly across from each other, but alternating a bit when the plant is ready to flower. Does this hold true for all strains?

2. Do you think I should I top these plants and wait a week for them to heal before switching the nutes and the light cycle for flowering? I poured over the faq and I couldn't find anything on topping. I did a forum search and think I figured out how to do it.

3. Are they ladies or is it still too early to tell?

Thanks in advance.

Hey, awsome looking robo fan, im red with envy! The grow room youve got going is looking top notch too.

I think the rule for flowerin is that your plant should double in size atleast in the flowerstage ( Am I mistaken ? ) With that set up, I might even wait a little longer and just let them flourish and rep that veg

The more you top, the more "fat" or bushy the plant will become, along with more growing tips.

Usually you will be able to tell if they are male or female within the first few weeks of flowering. Balls = Male, Hairs = Female.

Just a quick update.

Ok, I realize that I waaaay jumped the gun when I said they were fems.

After posting in another forum I got to great nuggets of info.

1. Top 'em now and wait two weeks to flower

2. My watering schedule is too aggressive. It should be once a week instead of every other day.

Maybe my leaf issues are from overwatering? I suppose that is quite possible. I will cut back. Also, I got some "proper" foxfarm nutes for the flower cycle. Hopefully at least one of them is a ladie and it's not just money down the drain.

So with that, I went and looked up how to top a plant. I found a lot of info with some handy pictures as to how to FIM. So I FIM'ed 'em.

It's a crappy photo, I know. But you get the idea.

GrowBigOrGrowHome said:

Just a quick update.
2. My watering schedule is too aggressive. It should be once a week instead of every other day.

Click to expand...

Hm..I water my plants everyday, and dont have an issue. Im sure that you should be watering your plants everyday. Maybe your just watering them too much in one sitting? A good amount doesent mean alot.


If I am wrong on the 1nce a day watering deal then please correct me. It works for me though.

Well, it's been a trying week. Full of good news and bad news. Sadly it's on a bit of a downward trend for my grow. So what's this all about you ask...

First the good news. Robo fan siezed. That's right, my bud guardian, my future denzien of oscillating goodness, by stem strengthener finally started to show his age. If you are an old fart like me, the '80's was a lot longer ago than you think! It was off to surgury with him.

After some tense moments under the screwdriver, he's back! up and running and stronger than ever. I guess a few drops of oil applied in strategic locations and viola! Good as new.

Bad news to follow shortly....