chomp on this

So this will be my first attempt at a journal. A couple things right off the bat:

I am currently about a month already into this. My cable company cut me off due to RF noise generating from my lumatek. I recently got a new smartphone and am hoping I can get thru this journal with just this. I'll have to tarantino this a bit and catch back up. Anybody welcome.

Setup is a CFL box for veg/clone and a 600w hps for flower. Initial idea was to get a perpetual system going. Strains are White Label white widow, super lemon haze, and AK48 and ice from Nirvana. Also threw in a dinafem roadrunner freebie because ive never messed with autos and wanted to see what they're like.

Here's a couple shots I took yesterday. Approximately 1 month 12 days from sprout.

Grow looks nice..im subed ...happy growing...

I try to use what I have available first before making any purchases (tents). I have this old freezer and thought it would make a good box.



Before and after shot. Much after actually. It took a lot of work and a couple failed designs to come up with the current. I slapped a padlock on the side too. It can be pretty stelthy from the outside too but i don't care much about that. I keep visitors to a minimum.

I just found this [pic] thinking it was something else.



Even tho the entire freezer is already white I put some mylar on the lid. I've got a bunch leftover so why not use it.

Dimensions are 46x28x35 inches

DSB65 said:

Grow looks nice..im subed ...happy growing...

Click to expand...

Thanks man good to have some company

ok so here's a seed shot-



All sitting on the stealth shirt from attitude. Good company, good freebies, happy customer.
I made sure to order enough to get the blue widow freebie at the time. Hopefully its as good as it sounds. I'm waiting to pop that one until I get cloning down.

All the seeds looked good except for the white label seeds. Comparing to other seeds, these were all very tiny and some were all white. I'm a fan of the nice healthy looking brown or tigerstripe seeds, but really just an observation from me. They just didn't look as healthy imo but nothing to do but pop em and see.

Sep.16-
I dropped in 13 seeds total. 5 white widow, 2 SLH, 3 AK48, 3 ice, and 1 roadrunner. The WW, ak, and ice all regular seeds. SLH feminized and roadrunner fem auto.



The white widow is what I wanted the most. Planted more of those to try to make sure is get at least a couple females.

Also that's seed straight to soil. No scuffing the shell, no soaking, and no paper towel. Works for me every time. The less handling by me the better.

Sep 20- (4days later) the seeds popped thru the soil.
One of the widows actually popped earlier than that and started stretching for light. I just repotted it later to get it back to size with the rest.



The soil I'm using right now is a mix of one bag happy frog, one bag of whatever that fox farms red bag soil is, and some perlite. No specific reason for mixing, the local hydro shop had them so I got them. Although this was the last time i bought the red bag because it is the same price as the happy frog and I think half the amount of soil. All future mixes are happy frog, ocean forest, and perlite.

Seedlings put on an 18/6 light schedule.

Ha damn somebody hit me with a one star. No comment huh just hit and run?

This is only a few days after sprout. I know pretty early to be transplanting but I want the roots to be able to stretch out when they want. Plus I feel its easier to repot before the roots start hitting the walls. Just gotta be real careful..



Also I've been using store bought distilled water. At this early in the game I don't chance it with whatever may be in the tap water. Plus I have a water softener and I don't know what effect that may have on the seedlings.

I didn't buy enough pots so two had to stay in the party cups for a bit longer. Everything popped except 2 of the white widows. After a long while of squat happening with those I put them into wet paper towels to see if they could be salvaged. Turns out they were DOA.

8 days after sprout



I repotted my strongest looking 6 plants to give them as much room as possible. Again, I know its pretty early but if I have the room for bigger pots that's the way I like to do it. I think I said before but I feel its a lot easier to repot before the roots start bouncing off the walls. If they look healthy and are growing well, give em room!

Also this makes me realize that with this number of plants I don't have the room to keep them all in this freezer and veg properly. It will be good for a couple mothers and some clones, but right now I can tell I've got an upcoming problem. Need to start designing a flower room.

Jump ahead to Oct.9. I'm trying to get caught up to current.



Things going well, plants growing along. I've been using the fox farm nutes and following their schedule. Really want to transplant the smaller 6 ASAP, but have to build a bigger space. I always liked the stealth cabs but not really necessary here. Could just buy a tent but I always enjoy the DIY's.

Really healthy looking plants.

420God said:

Really healthy looking plants.

Click to expand...

Hey thanks for stopping by. The lack of interest was starting to rub off on me a little.


So I saw someone's thread a bit ago about making a tent using pvc pipe as a frame. I figured this would be the easiest for me and headed off to the store.



It's made out of 3/4" pvc. I ordered the panda film and MH conversion bulb from htgsupply. More leftover mylar I had I used to line the floor. Dimensions are approximately 3'x4.5'x6.5'ish.

That's a good size tent, they'll have plenty of room to breathe and room for height which is always a concern.

Oct 11 transplant & moving day-



First is a shot of the rootball from one of the smaller pots. I'm not sure the size of those square pots but I transplanted into 5 gallon bags. The bags aren't the easiest things to move around especially after watering, but for 50 cents each can't go wrong.

420God said:

That's a good size tent, they'll have plenty of room to breathe and room for height which is always a concern.

Click to expand...

Yup plus it leaves me with enough room to play with the idea of adding another 600w. Right now I'm kind of packed with plants. If I had 12 females I would definitely be adding some lights, but I planted all these in hopes of around 6 females. Once I'm this far along tho, its hard to hope for any males just so I can clear up some space in there.

I went and checked on them today. Had to raise the light a bit more and pulled 2 male AK48. Even tho I know I need the space it still sucks to scrap them. They've been growing so well. The benefits to buying feminized I guess.



So right now I'm left with 9. (I'll get back in sequence and show where the other one went) I'd be more than happy to have the rest female and pick up another light. I hope at least that last AK is female, I really want to try it.

A couple few days later. Lesson day-

1- Secure all overhead objects. Every grow I go thru it seems I'm cursed to have something fall on a plant. This time it was a giant roll of shiny vent tape. I just went in "real quick" (that's how all my mistakes come about) and had to fix a couple spots in the tent. I ripped a couple pieces of tape off and set the roll on the cooltube. BAM half of an ice plant gets chopped off. Big dummy.



I quick cut the ends a little and dipped them in some rootech and rockwool in attempt to salvage.

Tip 2-
If you use dvds, cds, games, whatever to raise your plants closer to the lights, don't use box sets. I didn't even think twice about it and came home one day to an overturned plant, soil everywhere, and a half crushed box set laughing at me. Real bad luck for that ice #2.



Also I made some cardboard cutouts and taped some mylar to them to extend the reflector.

Random update from yesterday-

I know the pic kind of sucks, but I really just wanted to feed them and let them be. Plus its hard to get a group shot without tearing a whole side of the panda film off. So here's a shot of a bunch of green tops.



Anyway, I noticed that they're lacking some light. Those CFL's I put on the side arent really doing much, I just threw them in there because I had them. So I decided to put in another order for another 600w cooltube. It's bittersweet because its a bunch of money (already in the red with this grow) but damnit, its what the plants want and the girls come first. Just picturing how happy theyll be with another 600 watts makes it a no brainer. I've got 10 plants going right now that bottom line aren't getting enough light. Can't wait.

This will be the last old update. All updates after this will be current.

Oct 19- I went in to feed and my roadrunner auto is a hermie.

Unfocused shot but it works. I debated keeping it for seeds for half a day, but snapped out of it. It got yanked & chopped with the quickness.

Oct 23- I took cuttings planning on giving one more week to recoup before flipping to 12/12. Although I've never cloned before, I've read a ton on it and thought I could probably get by. I dipped them in some rootech and put them in rockwool.

*spoiler* most didn't make it. I've got 1 strong widow and a few others that look ok, all the others died. I learn best from actually doing and making mistakes more than reading. That's why i think its always good to do first grows with bagseed.

Oct 30- the last group shot before flipping them to 12/12.