First Grow: 7 Plants, CFL's

Here's my first grow journal. I previously had a 5 plant grow, one of which reached over 6 feet tall, the rest were 2 feet. All males... Sad day. But I learned a lot from it and now I'm hoping this next batch reveals a nice female that I can then clone.

I plan on only updating this single post, rather than filling the thread with updates randomly spaced apart. Any help, suggestions, comments, anything will be helpful and greatly appreciated.

Grow Room:
Picture 1, CIMG0019.jpg, is the overview. I am using a 2x4 closet with a ceiling of 6 feet (due to shelving, which the lights hang from).
I have a basic, 2x2 fan on top of the shelving that gives very good circulation and, in my opinion a perfect amount of wind for the plants. Each plant has a very strong, bark like stem that I hope will be supporting many ounces of nug.

Lights: (CFL's)
4 x Ecosmart 23W 5000K
3 x Sylvania 30W 2700K
1 x Satco 18W 2700K
Light Cycle: 20 / 4
Keeping the lights only a few inches from the top of the plants, raising them a couple times a week.

Plants:
7 "Headies" Seeds from a good friend.
Planted on 6/20/2011
Miracle Grow Potting Soil
24hr exposed tap water
Crosby's Unsulphured Molasses
Vigoro All Purpose Plant Food (24-8-16)
All plants topped after either the 3rd or 4th node.

Current Problems:
Yellowing on the first node leaves, currently affecting all plants. I believe it to be over watering? I only water when the soil is crusty dry on top, and only water enough to allow it to seep from the holes on the bottom of the cups.
Purple on the stems and leaves of a few plants, I believe it to be P deficiency?

07/07/11:
Topped the other two plants. Noticing some purple streaks going up and down the main stem on a few plants. Nut deficiency, P? Yellowing on the leaves are worse, haven't watered them since yesterday. Waiting until fallinprince's finger joint advise before watering. Because of topping, I haven't raised the lights for a few days. Waiting until the new main stems start. Once that happens I plan on transplanting to a slightly bigger pot, the roots are visible from the holes on the bottom of the cups.

IF you live near lowes they sell 4 packs of 23watt 65k for 4$. at the same time you can acquire yourself some Y-splitters(~1.50$) and double up your lighting.

Id also consider looking into the quality of your water if its not under 250ppm your going to have serious problems in the long run (home depot does free water evaluations). i use the 5gallons for 1.25$ machines its a pain but im to broke for a 300$ water setup

Im told that you should be careful to watch for bugs with Miracle grow.

Look into the Sunshine #4 mix for when you plan on transplanting (as those look like dixie cups). then simply decent water and general purpose food you should be growing mighty strong ((cheap route))

Id look into getting real nutrients Dyna-gro makes a great and amazingly stable product i bought the whole line for under 60$ online (less is more so go light on the food)

Water when you can dig your finger into the soil to the first joint and its DRY not damp at all

subbed

07/08/11:
Today was pretty productive, I upgraded the light setup and transplanted my plants to 8" pots. Here's a new picture of the setup:



It's insanely bright. Hurts your eyes if you look for too long.. The additions are 4x Ecosmart 1750 lumens 5000k 23W, perfect for the veg stage and a nice supplement to the flowering stage lights, 2700k, I only had before.

I'm still having problems with the main stems, branches, leaves and leave veins turning a dark shade of purple, becoming more and more abundant. The lower leaves are getting worse as well, I added nuts to the water last night and water them then and again today when it was dry enough. I plan on using no molasses or nuts for the next gallon of water, see if that does anything.

Never seen purple stems. To be honest the best thing you can do is research the problem. Keep in mind some strains have freaky growth and colors.

Your babys look nice tho. my sure you keep em watered. That was my problem . When growing in soil.

fallinprince said:

Id look into getting real nutrients Dyna-gro makes a great and amazingly stable product i bought the whole line for under 60$ online (less is more so go light on the food)

Click to expand...

Dyna-Gro = legit product for a very legit price

the stems are actually turning red which is a sign of nutrient lockout followed by the yellowing of lower leaves tells me your p.h is probably off and needs to be kept in check. If you went with dyna-gro. it pretty much balances its own ph if you get the pro-tekt(most important)

07/09/11 + 07/10/11:
Yesterday, 07/09/11, I attempted to flush my plants, it seems to be working to combat the nut lockout. I will definitely go and get dyna-gro pro-tekt asap, probably after work. I really do have to check the pH level, and have yet to check the ppm of the local water supply. Today, 07/10/11, marks the plants 20th day of life and with that comes some really cool growths, I've counted what seems like 8 colas on half the plants and what seems like 10 on others, I want to top those growths as well once they have their first nodes fully structured and the second nodes are coming through. Will that double the amount of colas? Ultimately I would like to narrow this grow down to 1 or 2 plants, maximizing the amount of space I have, depending on how many females I get though. Going to have to top the new nodes either tomorrow or the day after.

Currently at walmart, was at home-depot, and I can't find any dyna-gro products... Any alternatives that would work just as well?

Edit:
Got pH strips for testing water, my water supply is sitting between 6.8 / 7.2, which is good, its the soil that's fucked and the local nursery is closed, going to go first thing tomorrow morning and look for soil testers and pH plus/minus to use. Hopefully will have an information convo with the store owner too about soil quality? hopefully.

07/10/11:
Two plants are showing browning spots in the center of their leaves, another nut deficiency? looks like P, K or Mn, its in combination with the yellowing though. However, the new colas growing are looking absolutely fucking fantastic, wish I had a digital camera besides my phone so I could take better quality pics to show you guys, but its unbelievable another month and these ladies will be crazy.

7/11/11:
Today I went to a local nursery and bought a soil test kit, it turns out the pH of the soil isn't that bad, its somewhere between 6.5 and 7.0. I can't imagine these leaves dying because of that little of a variance, could it be a symptom of the same cause from the reddening? I decided to wait until the third node on the new tops before topping, and i think that will be the last topping step for these plants. Not sure I will have enough room for a third topping.

Regardless, the plants are looking healthier. The purple is fading, and the leaves are looking better. Not that great of a difference, but it's there. Not going to water them again until it's completely dry again, going to flush them one more time before going back to using molasses.

I raised the lights last night and I slightly regret it, the new top growths are stretching a little too much for my tastes, I lowered the lights half way to the original height from last night, stunt the growth just a tad.

The interesting thing is that the yellow, brown, dead leaves on the bottom of the plants, aren't that crispy. The stems aren't snapping off, they are in fact bending.. On my last grow when there was a dead leaf the plant killed the branch and it snapped off easy. Is the plant trying to recover the leaves? Who knows, after a quick misting, I'm closing the closet door until tomorrow

7/11/11 cont:
Fucking bugs. I found a beetle crawling through my soil. I quickly killed it, there's also a few bugs flying around, going to get a fly strip and hang it over the plants. If it comes down to it, anyone know any good pesticides?

those are the bugs i mentioned you will need more than fly strips to get rid of them find some food grade pesticide home depot sells a couple good ones. and yeah you will have to buy dyna-gro online or at a hydroponics store. and yes you need 6.5 on the steady i think something like crushed lime or something else your supposed to mix into the soil to keep it down by just a little. Fox farm soil is what u really need these plants to be in at the Least. Often people bake there soil to ensure no bugs or bacteria is growing in the soil.

try not to feed the plants more just because your getting this yellowing it will make the problem worse as long as overall your ok then we can try to gently lower ur ph.

Yea I can see what you mean about the bugs.. However, I just spent the last two hours hunting down every last bug in my grow closet. There is no longer an infestation. Screw pesticides, just need some good old fashion patience and to be bloodthirsty for those fuckers.

Anyhow, the baking is a good idea, will probably do that before I transplant them for the final time. For the pH I'm going to add a little lime, still have to figure out which type of lime, how much, and for how long, but I'm sure the guy at the nursery will help with that, he seemed pretty helpful.

The reddening is really getting better, it's still visible, but the main stocks are now red-less, the branches are losing the red tone, but are still affected. The only thing that doesn't seem to be recovering is the leaf veins, but it seems like its curing itself from the inside out so the veins would be logically last to recover. The dead leaves have yet to detach themselves, every day I check them, but every day they keep bending and not snapping, pretty strange, but as long as it doesn't spread, which in my last grow, the day after I cut the dead leaves off, the next teir would be affected, so I'm not going to touch them at all unless the plant detaches them themselves. The plant knows best.

These ladies (hopefully) are really reacting well to the topping, its insane, they are the bushiest plants I've grown. Here are some new pics

Hey man, good stuff so far. I see you're dealing with nute and ph levels nicely. However, are you sure you aren't over-watering? It seems like you're watering a lot from your posts. It's easier to over-water than to under-water. Not to say you aren't already doing this, but make sure the deeper soil is dry before watering. Do a deep finger check (gently) and analyze. Cannabis plants do not like a lot of water.

Some people over-water and get root rot simply because they water too frequently. However, root rot can also occur when your soil doesn't dry out fast enough. In other words, even if you aren't watering too frequently and you wait for the soil to dry out thoroughly, root rot can still occur depending on how many days the process takes.

Having said that, if you think over-watering could be an issue, consider this... If you plan to transplant once more, mix some perlite into the soil (go nuts, like 20-50%). Perlite helps with drainage for that deeper soil and really contributes to a healthy watering schedule. During your stage of vegging, I'd suggest trying to achieve a 3-5 day watering schedule (get closer to 5 days). Perlite will help you achieve that.

Perlite is the white stuff kicking about in your soil. and those ladys do look good a little droppy and dark colored which is where the overwatering comes into play

hey TFLAN just reading over your journal and noticed u had a wee prob with bugs,just thought id drop a wee bit of info your way.this might sound like a piss take but put a garlic plant in your grow room its a natural pestacide and it doesnt affect the taste/smell of your crop.
lookin good tho peace out man!!!

07/13/11:
Garlic huh? Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely check that solution out. Has anyone had any personal luck with that trick?

Perlite is now marked for use in the next transplant, I haven't watered them in the last two days, going to wait another 2 / 3 before watering them again, but it looks like an early stage of Mg deficiency is forming on one of the better looking plants, might have to water in 1 / 2 days and risk a little over watering so I can get that nut problem taken care of.

The overwatering advice helped a lot. Thanks guys, I never realized that you should water every 3 - 5 days, I was watering when the top layer was crusty, guess it's a common amateur mistake. Live n learn. I am still misting the plants every now and then though.

In better news, the plants are recovering steadily from the nut lockout problem, the red is almost completely gone, I'll give it another two days at most. The new tops are growing a little strangely, I noticed on one of them it had two leaves on a single node a couple days ago, and now has five. Not going to question it, but it's striking a curiosity nerve. The lower branches are just about to break through and join the two new tops. Once the canopy is even, it's time to top. I'll give that another few days though.

Every day it looks better and better. Not trying to brag or anything, but I've been looking through similar grow setups with pictures of their plants, and I have to say that my plants are putting equally as old plants in their place. Extremely happy with my new grow. Here's a couple old pics of my first grow I ever did. The tall plant in the back grew above the shelving unit, bending itself to give it more room to grow, it was insane. The lower four were all struggling from the get-go, but they recovered pretty well until I put them in flowering and saw that they were all males...

TFlan said:

07/13/11:
Garlic huh? Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely check that solution out. Has anyone had any personal luck with that trick?

Perlite is now marked for use in the next transplant, I haven't watered them in the last two days, going to wait another 2 / 3 before watering them again, but it looks like an early stage of Mg deficiency is forming on one of the better looking plants, might have to water in 1 / 2 days and risk a little over watering so I can get that nut problem taken care of.

The overwatering advice helped a lot. Thanks guys, I never realized that you should water every 3 - 5 days, I was watering when the top layer was crusty, guess it's a common amateur mistake. Live n learn. I am still misting the plants every now and then though.

In better news, the plants are recovering steadily from the nut lockout problem, the red is almost completely gone, I'll give it another two days at most. The new tops are growing a little strangely, I noticed on one of them it had two leaves on a single node a couple days ago, and now has five. Not going to question it, but it's striking a curiosity nerve. The lower branches are just about to break through and join the two new tops. Once the canopy is even, it's time to top. I'll give that another few days though.

Every day it looks better and better. Not trying to brag or anything, but I've been looking through similar grow setups with pictures of their plants, and I have to say that my plants are putting equally as old plants in their place. Extremely happy with my new grow. Here's a couple old pics of my first grow I ever did. The tall plant in the back grew above the shelving unit, bending itself to give it more room to grow, it was insane. The lower four were all struggling from the get-go, but they recovered pretty well until I put them in flowering and saw that they were all males...

Click to expand...

I used Neem oil which wreaks like garlic. A lot of bugs and mites seem to hate that garlic aroma. So, I can imagine the garlic plant could work.

The Neem oil is pretty cheap. You can make 2 liters worth of solution using only 5ml neem. 5ml neem, 2 liters water, few drops of dish soap. Spray the soil, rims of pot, the plant (get under the leaves too), and any dishes you might be using for runoff. Neem is organic, it will not have any adverse affects on your plant. I had spider mites. I sprayed everything with my neem solution 2-3 times daily, for 3 days. Those mites were gone after the first day of spraying and haven't come back. I plan to use neem on every grow regardless of whether I see bugs or not.

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/browse/sku_detail.jsp?id=JZ-1010

That's awesome, thanks bro, will definitely try that soon.

Should I be trimming the larger fan leaves to let the lower branches get more light and grow fuller? I feel like I should but are they a little to young? 26 days old today, about 8" tall, but bushy as hell.

TFlan said:

That's awesome, thanks bro, will definitely try that soon.

Should I be trimming the larger fan leaves to let the lower branches get more light and grow fuller? I feel like I should but are they a little to young? 26 days old today, about 8" tall, but bushy as hell.

Click to expand...

Subbed, looks good so far but your going to wish for more lights; maybe next grow.

Do not bother trimming just yet, when they get bigger they will decide when the lower branches and leaves need to go and will pull the nutrients from them.

regards,