First Grow: Bagseed

[40ozSkunk]

hello all. i decided i needed a hobby so i collected some bagseeds over time and germed them. This is my first real attempt at a successful grow. A few years ago i threw a seed in a pot of MG and stuck it in a closet with a fan and two cfls. I'm putting more effort into it this go around, but strangely, i think that "dont give a shit" plant looked a little stronger! Eh, anyways heres my setup. Any input throughout my project is welcome and appreciated.

I built a grow box from some spare wood i had laying around. i have a hole in the bottom left corner with a fan blowing air in (ghetto, i know), and a smaller hole at the top right for exhaust. Another fan is inside the box circulating air.

I planted 4 sprouts in 8" pots using FFOF soil, with lava rock at the bottoms for drainage. My plants have been under a 24/0 schedule now for 22 days. I had 7 - 23w daylight CFLs and one 13w 2900 on them constantly, all within two inches of the foliage. [ i just bought a new light setup today, cfl's are gone ]

I have been noticing for a while now that the leaves seem to curl up a little around the edges, and i have some pretty funky looking mutant leaves where the middle leaf is shorter than the rest, or is tangled around in a strange way. Not really sure whats going on here, or if i should even be worried. My main concern is with how short they are. All of them are only about 3-4 inches tall, and while i know CFLs arent the best light to put them under, i figured they'd be growing a little taller by now. There is hardly any space between the new shoots of leaves.

the first pics shown with the cfl's were taken when the plants were 17 days old. they are now 22 days old, under new light. I will be adding to this frequently and probably asking lots of questions over time. cheers!

 

[40ozSkunk]

Heres a few pics with the new light. It's a sun system sun blaze 28. 8 24" 6500K T5s.
Makes things much simpler and easier inside the grow box.

I had a small catastrophe with the plant in the middle pic. I got home from work, opened the door, and found out my power strip fell over and one of the cfl's was laying on the plant. burned the hell out of it. hopefully she can regain her strength. just my luck too, it was the best looking plant at one point!

 

[40ozSkunk]

25 days old. not much new going on, other than the plants seem to be opening up a little more. I was thinking about LSTing the plant in pic 2. or maybe all of them eventually, but kind of scared to do it.

I really need to pick up some ph up/down. the nutes seem to lower the waters ph to decent levels, but i was in the blue for a while.

 

[40ozSkunk]

its been 31 days since they broke dirt. I think I'll veg for a couple more weeks then switch em to 12/12.

i transplanted three of them into 5 gal pots, then i ran out of soil. i left the straggler plant in the 8" pot. I also got bored and decided to lst them. I left one of them normal because it still looks like the most solid plant to me, even after my light fell on it a few weeks back and burned up some leaves. Plus it's not as tall as the others.

I just recently drilled holes in my buckets for future LSTing. I was being lazy and using tape at first. I'm thinking the LST was a good idea, judging from the pics.

got some ph up and down from the store, and switched my nutes to general organics grow (4-3-3). Haven't used this stuff yet since i just transplanted into new soil. I also got some superthrive. I used a teeny tiny bit of that when i transplanted.

i think that's it for today. Here they are.

 

[40ozSkunk]

thought I'd go ahead and snap some pics as i was watering today. i gave em a little biothrive and superthrive. Everythings lookin good so far i think.

call me crazy, but i think all four of them are females. They all have pistils. I tried to take a pic of them up close but the iphone doesnt take very good closeups.

its been about 6 weeks of veg i think. Kind of lost track of time i guess. Thinking about putting them in flower this weekend. I'm gonna switch three or four of the 6500s out with 3000 K and go 12/12. Not sure on what kind of nutes to buy for flowering.

 

[40ozSkunk]

It's been 5 days since i started flowering now. I'll post some pics wed or thurs showing progress. check out what i just ordered!! cant wait for it to get here!!

http://www.growery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/301610

 

[40ozSkunk]

mini update. im one week into 12/12, no sign of buds yet. They are, however, all female. Hope they dont hermie on me. anyways, heres a few pics. I'll update again when theres a noticeable difference.

 

[40ozSkunk]

16 days flowering. everythings looking good, but im kind of curious why one plant has curled leaves, making them look skinny as hell. like little skinny claws. you can see it in the pics.

i added two 40 w cfls, and one 60w cfl, and also picked up an oscillating fan. i think they'll prefer that over the stationary fan i had pointed at them.

I havent noticed any of the stretching associated with 12/12, but i guess i can only be patient.

ill update in a week or two.

 

[40ozSkunk]

just a little over 4 weeks flowering. i was hoping for more trichs and fatter colas, but i guess thats what i get for going with t5s and cfls. or maybe its the strain. who knows.

i've been feeding each of them a little different than the others, so i can see what works best for my next grow. I'm glad i LST'd all of them. I kind of want to do a little LST/SCROG dealy next time.

i got a little camera happy earlier and took too many pics. theres 4 plants, and about 10 pics. it happens.

 

[OutDaCloset]

yo i see you. props on the grow looking promising so far. seems like nobody else has noticed the grow tho...was wondering how many watts ur running?

 

[40ozSkunk]

haha yea i noticed that wayyy back. i dont mind though because itll be a good reference to go back to next time.

i have 378 actual watts.

 

[OutDaCloset]

yeah journals are def great for reference. shit 378!!! im working with 92 rite now 4 23 watts haha but hey i still grow dank and pull half oz off each plant so fuck it. i hate when people throw mud on bagseed grows. this is proof that theres nothing wrong with them. i grow strictly bagseed not because i like it but because of $$$ but i always get grade A finished product so fuck it too.

 

[OutDaCloset]

oh just wondering if you LSTd into flowering and how long. ur plants seemed to stretch a fuckload after the 12/12 switch, how far do u keep ur lights from plant tops?

 

[40ozSkunk]

i didn't really so any more LSTing after i switched to 12/12. And i was thinking the plants would have stretched MORE by now. They really havent grown much taller. I'd say they've grown about an inch in height. I keep the t5 fixture at a maximum of 2 inches from the tops, and i have a power strip between the pots with two 40W 27000s and one 23W daylight cfl. Then i have a 60W 2700 and another 23W daylight on the outer side of the pots.

As for the whole bagseed deal.. I'm curious to see how these nuggies turn out compared to the bag i got. It's definitely been a learning experience. And I'm ordering seeds next time for sure.. (so many choices cant decide). I also wouldnt mind vegging with the setup i have now and switching to HPS for flower. But then i run into my whole heat situation.
Ehh.. maybe ill just focus on whats at hand now

 

[40ozSkunk]

im about 5 weeks into flowering now, and at this point, im just ready for the next grow. Nothings wrong with them i guess for a first grow, but they're just 4 seeds from a random bag of mediocre herb.

i just ordered the dr120 grow tent, and 5 white rhino, 5 snow white, and 5 papaya fem seeds. Gonna veg with the t5/cfl setup and flower with a 400 hps. but..thats another day.

took several more pics as i watered today. tried to get a few closeups too. I hope they fatten up some in the next few weeks.

 

[SpaaaceCowboy]

do you think the t5's hampered your flowering? If, so what do you think you have to go to instead? I was looking at some t8's, think this will be ok ?

 

[wildcajun]

I am a T5 grower also i have 2 4x2 fixtures in my cabinet,I have been happy with the grow so far i am60 days into flower now and i think my tricones are starting to change ,It has been a very cool grow temps staying at 70 most of the time ,Just remember to have Patience,your girls will be nice in the end .A few pics for ya.Happy Farming ,Cajun

 

[40ozSkunk]

do you think the t5's hampered your flowering? If, so what do you think you have to go to instead? I was looking at some t8's, think this will be ok ?

i think the t5s are doing ok, but cant compare to HID lighting. t8s should be alright if you have enough watts/lumens.

wildcajun: your plants look wayy bushier than mine. hell, way better in general. What strain are you growing? I wonder if the difference is in the genetics because it seems we have about the same amount of light. You might even have less! still waiting on my tent and seeds to get here in the mail for round 2!

I'm not really expecting a big yield. Most of my nuggies are about the size of a bic lighter. once these are dried out i'm thinking they'll weigh next to nothing. I'm 6 and a half weeks into flowering. How much fatter can they possibly get in 2-3 weeks time?

 

[wildcajun]

I am growing Super Skunk ,using Humbolt ,Micro,Bloom,Grow ,and when they went into flower i started using awesome blossom ,and then 2 feedings of MOAB at the beginning and 2 feedings of MOAB at the end with Humbolt Honey and Molasses,i am checking tricones now they will be ready any day

 

[40ozSkunk]

well, my seeds came in, my tent came in, and i picked up some new things from the store. I'm revamping my whole setup. i picked up a digital ballast, reflector, and a 400w hortilux hps. I also just ordered my inline fan (sunleaves windtunnel 6"). In order for me to fit this tent in my room i had to get rid of the box the plants were originally in. I went ahead and switched from the t5s to the hps, even though i only have a couple weeks left in flowering. Hope it doesn't stress them too much.

The ducting is kind of just hanging in place for now, till i get the carbon filter. Eventually it'll be set up like carbon filter > duct > reflector > duct > fan/out. Once i get the fan pumping hot air out, i'll lower the light a little, but for now its higher up so the plants can adjust to the HID, and so they dont get burned!

i'm ready for this grow to be over with. It's been fun, and I feel like I've learned quite a bit, but I'm ready to plant my nirvana seeds and watch some real magic happen. I'm ready to see the difference that having a legit setup makes, along with good genetics.