First Grow Attempt ...Beefy!!

'sup all. Been lurkin' for a bit and this seems like the right place to set shop!

Anyway, decided to grab a couple bagseeds and give this thing a tryout, maybe learn a thing or two and look into some finer strains of bud!

Keeping it simple for the first round. Using a dirt cheap Sunleaves 125watt blue spectrum CFL reflector array. Running a 18/6 light and fan schedule and keeping it 1" over the plant. Started with some well composted garden soil but learned something ...bad. effing. idea! I came home one day and the entire seedling went horizontal and I thought I was going to puke. Soil was full of baddies and cutworms and the suckers damaged the main stem right above the feeders. So 12 days ago I cut off the damaged part and transplanted into some Black Gold Organic soil. Set the stem about 3" into the soil and had about 4" above the soil line. It's responded well...





So far its received two nutrient feedings. The first was probably a week early based on what I've since picked up on. Soil is holding moisture well so tomorrow will make it 7 days between feedings. Not sure if I'm spreading that too thin but so far it's seems to be working. Using a double dose of General Hydoponics BioThrive, CaMG+ and BioRoot. Been checking the PH of everything and so far it's flat even and I'd like to get it down to 6.5 if I can. Need to get a better test meter but the cheap meters seem to be completely unreliable and I'd like to keep the cost down. Not sure what to do so I'll prolly keep it as is for the first grow...

Temperature is around a constant 78 and humidity ranges between 60-70%, so I don't think I should have any environmental concerns right now.

Here she is!!


1) and 2) - 7 days after re-potting 3) and 4) - 13 days after re-potting 5) and 6) - 15 days after re-potting




Things are looking pretty good, I think. A friend came over and said it looked like a fake plant ..so I take that as a good sign. The stem came up with a bend but with a little light training it's evened out quite a bit, and has tripled in girth. It took about 9-10 days until the seedling really started to burst and now it's really taking off. Pretty cool to see the progress! Not too many concerns and there are barely any insects so far. Since the grow is in an open basement I keep these little guys around just for that. They've been popping in the room over the last coupla weeks and I'm letting them loose ...





Only couple of things I'm concerned about (aside from its sex) is when the right time to start the flowering stage. It seems that timing is dependent on the strain but isn't the whole point of inside growing to control this?

The other is flushing. I'm read up a bit on nute lockout, but I'm not sure when or how to proceed with flushing or how to tell if I even need to. Is there a rule of thumb on this?


Well that's it. Hope to pick up some things around here and contribute where I can with what I gain from my humble little set up. Next step in my evolution will be a closet grow. Tomorrow I'll be painting and setting up shelving for a basement closet. My biggest concern will be ventilation because there ain't shit in that little corner of the world. It's buried in corner of a room without any windows. Air gets a little stagnant. But I think I'll be ok until I get to flowering. I'm considering a 400 watt HPS upgrade but I may just add 4 vertical CFLs and stick to that. I plan on dividing the closet in half and I can move the CFLs to the lower section for vegging and run the HPS on the top section for flowering. It might get a little tricky for venting but I'll rig up a unit at some point if I move up to high intensity.

Here's the closet pre-prep:




By the way ....any chance of identifying just what the hell strain this is from based on the pics?


Later on ...

(edit to remove unnecessary info)

no need to flush yet and r u trying to keep the plants small? if yea then change it to flowering when u think plant is half of what u want in the end, height wise. but i really dont think you would need to flush it just yet, but not sure...

No plan on height since I don't know strain. Just sorta watching to see what it will do.

But I do plan on topping it when time is right.

Will raising the light put some height on this thing? I want to get as much light into this thing but I don't want to sacrifice. I'm new to growing anything so i'm not sure...

Thanks

It's starting too look nice how long do you plan on vegging for?

Would dig seeing the final results next week but realistically, I'm patient and don't expect a quick flower stage running with the current light strength. I'd like to get it 3-4' and wide before I stop vegging. I'm just not sure if the plant will wait kiss-ass

For anyone who is listening

Plan on the finishing off closet within the next week. My lone plant is 3 weeks out and I figure another 2-3 before I flower. Within the next week I will move it from a 125 wt CFL to a 600 wt sodium based on the following specs (sorry but it's a bit rough ....):

Dimensions ..

Top (Flower) - 5.0' x 22" x 4'4" (HxDxL)
Lower (Veg) - 2'3" x 22"x 4'4"



Some concerns:

1) I plan on putting Backdraft dampers on my passive intakes. Grow closet size is approx 67 square feet ...what power fans (in CFM) will I need to make sure these dampers open up and work?

2) Does thermostat control for fan need to placed as close to the light ...or the plant ...as possible? I strongly assume it will be the plant but I'm not 100%.

3) Will leaving a ventilation port between box 1 and 2 be sufficient, or should I expect to get another fan to control airflow between boxes? And on different controllers?

4) If additional heating/cooling becomes part of the equation, does the current grow closet schematic have any limitations if I need to add a dehumidifier or A/C?

5) Should I combine the dual filtering schematic and just go with the main filter system (through the light)?

21 Days after re-pot:

6.0" height / 11.5" width
Node 5 developing



A couple of observations:

1) A few leaves are curling/bending.
Anything to be really concerned about? Poor genetics? ....?

2) A few of the newest growth leaves have brown tips.
Seems this might be due to nute burn ...so I will water/flush next feeding

Picture of curling/bending:




Thanks .....

Good rule of thumb is to start with half strength notes and see how it goes. There's nothing wrong with those leaves bro. Little burn on the tip lets you know it's getting enough and will usually go away in a day or so if in fact it's a nute burn issue. One of your and many new growers issues will be ph balance if you don't spend the money and make SURE it's correct....EVERY TIME. Until then, you'll more than likely run into problems. If your water is "flat" as you say, I'm assuming you're at a neutral 7.0, which is too high and WILL cause nutrient lockout. If I only had a choice between buying nutes, and buying a good ph meter, I'd buy the meter first.

Thanks for the input.

The brown tips are still present but next feeding will be extra water and I'll watch the results.
Picked up some GH PH Down kit this weekend and I'll work that into the next feeding. Surprised to see such a small amount of this stuff has such a significant impact on PH.

Some revised specs and a new question to check into ...

I will be buying a 400 HPS soon but after checking out the heat dispersion at a local grow shop of some similar lights, I just arrived at more questions. The main problem, all the lights had lens and were in a very large room so I couldn't get comparable conditions. Locking one up in a relatively air tight closet gives me some concern.

Grow Space Specs

6' x 4.5' x 22" and two of the open interior walls are uninsulated drywall.
Double coated in Kilz white flat
4" 170 CFM inline fan (with filtration) to vent out the top of the closet into empty drop panel space.
Passive 6" intake for draw.
Basement closet so it runs a little cool

Light Dilemma

With all that said, could I most likely get away with an reflector light system running 400 watts? Or is it a must that I get a cool tube/lens system and set inline with direct ventilation?

I plan on mounting the filter right underneath the outtake fan which will be mounted to the ceiling of the closet. I'd like to avoid vent tubing and just go with air cooling but I want to leave myself some options in case I need to add the venting. I also have limited depth (22") which cuts down on my selection of available light systems.

And here's the latest pic of my green baby girl.......