First grow evar! Skunk #1 in soil under CFL (Organic)

What up, ninjas? Been reading these forums for about 4 years but I've never had the capacity to actually grow. Moved to a new pad, got a better job which can finance my project now, so I'm ready to go!

I'll start off with the basics. I'm growing one plant for a person supply and I've germinated about 1 week ago. It just sprouted up this morning, so I'm ready to start my journal.

The strain: Feminized Skunk #1 courtesy of Sensi Seeds
The lights: Currently under 5 27 watt CFLs, daylight spectrum for a total of 8750 lumens with room to expand
The medium: EarthGro potting soil, containing mostly compost cut with builder sand and perlite
The space: A closet with built-in, removable shelves, which will allow me to expand the space as needed

I germed the first seed about five days ago, within 48 hours the root was out enough to plant in the soil.

I misted the top of the soil every time it became dry for the past 3 days and this morning I woke up to check and BOOM! A sprout his sprung.

I'm currently keeping it under 24 hours of light.

I have a nutrient mix I've prepared to start using next week. The mix is one gallon of water cut with an organic fish emulsion fertilizer (5-1-1) and I've also added a hint of Miracle Gro Organic Choice molasses derived concentrate (9-0-0).

I've read up a lot and seen that regular Miracle Gro in the green botle will kill my baby right away, but I'm wondering if anyone has used Organic Choice with any luck. My mix right now is heavily diluted, I use barely any MG at all and a bit less fish emulsion than directed according to the bottle.

Questions at this point: How long until I start adding nutes? How frequently should I water at this point? Will MG Organic kill my baby?

PICS COMING SOON!

Good news here, I germed a freebie Sour Cream seed last week and thought it was dead, but it just started sprouting up today! Looks like I'll be growing two plants.

Decided to name them for good luck. Henceforth the Skunk plant will be referred to as Meryl and the Sour Cream plant will be Naomi. +rep if you can guess the reference.

Here are the pics as promised

A simple closet? Or something more sinister...?



Meryl poking her head out for the first time


The set up for now


Sorry for the lack of quality on the pictures, it's the best my phone can do. It should be noted this is a low budget operation.

If anyone can offer an answer to my MG Organic question it would be greatly appreciated. In fact, any input at all would be invaluable.

Also, I'm aware of the light leak situation, based on the photos you've seen, what would be the cheapest, most effective way to prevent further light from escaping?

Thanks, y'all

Hmmm.. As far as the cheapest fastest solution to the light leak. I'd take the quilt off the top shelf. Multiple layers of fabric beats a towel's weave hands down. Put a space blanket in there as reflecting material with the quilt outside of that ( $2.97 at my local wallmart ). Place a couple strips of the space blanket just like you have the towels now.

Now with you allready using a soil chuck full of nutrients. I wouldnt ADD any more for at least a month! At least till you transplant the one in the little blue pot. And then it will have NEW nutrient packed soil again. But the bigger pot might need a little go joice at that time.

I really cant comment on what to expect from the MG organic.

OOoo! Another thought. Thats a lot of light for two wee lil seedlings. You might want to posistion the surge strip horizontilly instead of vertically. You can get a better saturation from your existing lighting fixtures that way.

Ha from MGS? Metal Gear Solid?


You could probably get away with using Nutes now, either something for strong root growth or just FF Grow Big. I would only use 1/4 strength then bump it up to 2/4 then to whatever full is after you have like 2 sets of nodes. That what I did anyway and worked pretty well.


You could seal it with Panda Paper and a Tarp Up Zipped. Would be less then 15 bucks. Check the link in my sig to see what I mean.

More lights will be needed as well. Off to a good start!

Water when they're thirsty. Let the soil get pretty dry before another watering to avoid overwatering and drowning the roots. Like humans they need oxygen to breathe.

Hope I helped man.

Oh, you using MG as your soil changes what I said about using Nutes. Didn't notice that!

+rep for getting the MGS reference, machnak.

I think I should clarify that I'm not using MG soil and I haven't added any nutes yet. I've prepared a solution I've using on my houseplants right now that seems like it would be healthy. I've read good things about molasses being good for veg because of the high nitrogen content, and according to the MG bottle the nute is organically derived from sugar beet molasses. I know for a fact fish emulsion is good, but I'm so scared of killing them from the word go that I don't want to add anything until they really need it.

The soil I'm using is some cheapo stuff called EarthGro, according to the bag it's mostly compost with a little sand and perlite. As far as I can tell it was the most ph neutral and artificial nute-free soil wally world and home depot carried. Not to mention it was only about $2 for a square foot.

So the soil isn't really pre-packaged with any nutrients besides whatever may already be found in ordinary compost. Should I start adding nutes sooner or should I still hold off for a while? I still intend to use a heavily diluted solution at first since I figure it will be easier to build them up to a full dosage that way instead of just dumping in a heavy mix out of nowhere.

Thanks for the tip on the space blanket, ID, I'll see if I can grab one tomorrow. What section are they usually kept in?

A little off topic here, but it seems my state (which shall remain nameless for obvious reasons) is having a big medical MJ vote this year. If it passes, I will no longer need to lock Meryl and Naomi away, so keep your fingers crossed.

Nutrients wise I would go ahead and follow my first post as to what I said. Start 1/4 then 2/4 etc.

If you're using FF, here is the schedule.

Oh & thanks on the MGS. Used to play a little bit, my buddy was obsessed haha.

The blankets are in the Camping goods section. The box is about the size of a cigarette pack. I bought 2 cause their cheap as heck

Day 3

Meryl's leaves are developing nicely. Naomi has been transplanted to a larger container. She's already showing good root development, so I'm pretty happy she wasn''t dead as I first suspected.

I'll be purchasing a space blanket tomorrow. Added a little heavily diluted fish emulsion mix and mostly water to Meryl yesterday and she seems to be fine. Stick with mostly water for now just to be on the safe side.

I've also hung the power strip horizontally as ID suggested and I can't tell if it's making a difference this early, but it certainly is more aesthetically pleasing if nothing else. The layout of the lights seems like it would be better, so here's hoping!

Also, the soil seems to be drying up pretty quickly, but I'm scared of overwatering. If the soil on top is DRY and I stick my finger down and it's not much different, is it a good time to water, or should I wait longer?

I'd wait til tomorrow to water. Less is best. Just to be sure to let the soil dry out and roots become plenty oxygenated before watering.

I stick my *clean* finger in the soil to test but I also go by how heavy/light my pots are. Either way you should be golden it you let it dry out then water.

-Mach

Ok bro your doin pretty good. I would completely stay away from nutrients for at least the next 2 weeks. The plants are so so so small that they don't need any nutrients ATM, and if you add more it may burn them. So be weary of that.

About your nutes. I use, and have been using Miracle Grow All Purpose Plant food (24-8-16) for veg on my past 3 grows, and I use the Miracle Grow Bloom Booster for flower. Both work really well, you just have to know how to use them. I would wait about 2 weeks like I said earlier, then give about a 1/3 to 1/2 strength veg feeding.

And on watering. When I first have sprouts that small, the soil gets a BIG watering before I even plnat the seed. Enough water so that some starts coming out the holes in the bottom. Then I Plant the seed. And don't water again for 2 weeks, sometimes even 3. Becuase the plant is so small, and there is such a little root structure, that not much of that moisture/water is getting used up. So pretty much just the top of your soil (where there really aren't roots yet) get's dry but everything under it (where the roots actually are right now) is still quite moist.

Good choice on going with a few smaller bulbs than just 1 large one BTW. Hope my other thread helped you out!

And like another poster said, if you can get some of that 'space blanket' it's mylar, I use it, it'll help reflct alot of your light. You have enough light for 1 plant, it's not quite enough to grow 2 GREAT plants though IMHO. And don't forget that for flower you need to switch to the 2700K bulbs. If your gonna grow the 2 plants out, I would get 3 more of those bulbs you have now at least and you should be good.

Everythings looking good, just don't overwater and don't burn them from feeding them to early and your golden brother! Got any Q's ask!

I do plan on switching the lights after the veg cycle, but that's at least a month or two away. I'll be getting some more bulbs on the 15th when I get my next check, so that should solve the lighting issue when they start getting bigger.

Question about topping: When should I do it and what is the easiest method? I plan on topping Meryl, but I don't know about Naomi since she is the only Sour Cream seed I have and I'd hate to do it wrong and end her precious life.

Have you considered LST ( Low Stress Training ) for Naomi instead of cropping? Hookedon has 3 different CFL grows using LST in his sig. Might be a nice option for you to increase Noami's yield. And there are tons of other examples and "how to" guides to get the most from your CFL grow's here on RIU.

Attic has a journal up with spectacular pic's for his first grow.

https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/328530-first-grow-cfls-lst-bagseed.html

Can anybody sum up what LST is and how to for me? I'm reading some journals but the idea isn't very clear and a search for LST yields nothing.

Here is the Guide that made sense to me

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/6834-how-lst-low-stress-training.html

Wow, seems like a useful technique. I'll definitely give it a try on Naomi as soon as she is ready.

On a side note, I intend on putting the girls into an 18/6 schedule tonight to promote faster growth. I've heard they grow faster when you introduce some darkness into the environment. Any truth to this?

Oh man I thought you knew about LST. Dude, go for it! I only LST! It is the only way I grow! I highly recomend it to anyone and everyone!

You should definitely go check out this thread Show me what u got LST it has tons and tons and TONS of pix on it. I just put up an example on there of what a plant looks like after being traind and then having the time to recover. These plants amaze me!

DumpsterKeeper said:

On a side note, I intend on putting the girls into an 18/6 schedule tonight to promote faster growth. I've heard they grow faster when you introduce some darkness into the environment. Any truth to this?

Click to expand...

And nah, it won't promote faster growth. It'll promote faster ROOT growth. I've noticed that if the lights are on 24/0 the plant will grow faster but there will be a little more foliage and a little less roots. Whereas on 18/6 (what I use) it would make for slightly slower growth of the foliage and slightly more root growth (roots grow during dark period).

I believe 18/6 is better either way. Does a plant ever naturally get 24 hours of light a day..... The way I always look at it, is we're basically trying to copy mother nature when we're growin these plants. That's my $0.02 anyways

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature < insert scary thunder boom here >

Point taken. I think it was good for enouraging them to pop up out of the dirt at least. I started the 18/6 cycle last night and it seems like they're ok with it.

New pics!

The lights have been repositioned to offer a better angle and more even distribution.


Meryl's first node is coming along nicely, can't wait for her fans to start forming


Naomi is coming out okay. Finally opened up all the way and I can see her first two leaves are getting bigger.


I'm kind of worried about Naomi. I forget what those round leaf-things that form before the first true node are, but one of hers has shriveled up completely, as you can see in the picture. Is something wrong or is this common?

Apologies for the lack of photo quality. My camera's phone doesn't know how to focus.