Grow Journal: Hindu Kush - CFL

I just tried peat pots/pellets. I germinated 10 seeds in peat pellets and only one sprouted. It has been my biggest problem plant since I started. I am never going to use peat pellets again, I didnt like the results at all. I would think that using seeds that have already been germinated in peat pellets may be a better way to go but I have never tried.

Interesting, Thanks GTG, maybe I'll try the Pellets out with my new Tomato plant or I can try it with some herbs like Oregano or Basil.

Thanks Wolfman, I dunno where I'd be without your help so far this grow even just keeping me calm lol. Still plenty of time to go, TH is starting to pick up more and more, can't wait to see how they look tomorrow !

Pics to come in the morning, like every morning !
-Tdot

Good Morning Everyone !

Welcome to todays 1st update 08/18
HK (Hindu Kush)
So I've got a question before I post up 2 pics of HK from this morning. The leaves are seeming to grow but very slowly as we've previously noted. However today they are all starting to point upwards ? I'm wondering if this is a sign of under watering ? As I took a serious step back from watering after killing my first lil sprout. Well thats about all, Oh and I managed somehow to get the RH% up in my box to about 45% which is much better than it normally sits at. The temps also dropped a tiny bit to 79 I just hope I can keep it like that.. Ok on to the pictures...


Notice a bit of the plant curling upwards.. not just the ends of the leaves like I've seen countless times on the board.. so I'm very curious as to whats causing it.. and another pic..


Thats about it for the HK update, so far I'm really quite disappointed with the seeds I choose but its still early so time will tell, just kills me to see a bagseed started after "true genetics" and have it out grown and do better, but like I said its still early.

"Thornhillium" (Bag Seed)
First up is just a full plant shot so you can see how much headway this lil plant has made in only a few short days.. If you look from the original set of pics till now its grown quite a bit.

I'd call it a stretcher but the bulbs are as close as they can literally get without melting the plastic cups, which frankly I'm surprised hasn't happened they are that close.
Now a nice "wing span" shot of TH again with a sharpie for reference sake.

As I'm looking at these photos I'm realizing as "slow" as I think Hk is growing atleast she has 2 sets of "real" leaves as opposed to TH who hasnt' even dropped the first set of "false" leaves. So As per usual I leave this post and thread completely open to YOUR comments ,opinions, and most importantly SUGGESTIONS to make it better

Thanks everyone !!
-Tdot

suggestion...... I am not a soil guy but since you now know your ph has been off from the start I would flush each pot with properly ph'd water.....also if overwatering is a concearn when and if you transplant make sure to add some perlite to your soil mixture it will help with drainage and getting oxygen too your roots....

Hey BigD, been a while, thanks for posting up !!

So, about the soil pH, what I've done to rectify that is my last watering I made the water pH 6.0 as suggested by Wolfman and used that to water my plants which would help even the soil out to roughly 6.5. Its not an exact science since I don't have a true soil pH meter or pH pen, however I'm going to continue to water with the 6.0 water for another 1 or 2 waters, from then on, I'll be pH'n the water to 6.5 to keep it constant, this of course will be a little more challenging when I introduce some basic nutrients at the end of veg/start of flower. This all however should help with any pH "problems".

I'm not sure about over watering on that one plant. Its just something I was throwing out there for someone with more experience than myself to look at the pics and tell me if I'm right or wrong. I'm not even sure whats wrong or if the plant is naturally like that. Someone will know ! I didn't want to have to transplant the plants if I didn't have to since I'm only planning to grow them to a certain height. However, since I seem to have more room than previously thought I might end up transplanting them into 8 - 10" pots from the 6" either way that won't be for quite a while. However if I do I will defiantly take your advice and use more perlite this time. The 2 plants are in different soils and that COULD be part of the reason for the difference in growth rates.

-Tdot

just make sure you check your ph AFTER you add the nutes nutes can cause your ph to shift....h and you mentioned using cap fulls of lemon juice for ph down, it works, but might I suggest grabbing a dropper ( the types used to give infants medicine) it will come in handy and makes it easier to get exact mesurments, for nutes etc......

Thanks for the advice man !

I guess I should have mentioned something after the cap full comments. In my day I was a chemistry student back in College, I happen to have a friends lab kit that was used maybe once or twice. I had it properly autoclaved from a friend at a lab and then gave them a nice clean. So I didn't actually use a cap I used a pippette to be as accurate as I could be, as I was doing it I was thinking damn I wish I had stolen a Buret ,Digital pH meter, Hot Plate/Mag Tray. It would make all my mixing and pH'n as perfect as it could be, but at the same time that brings back bad memories of 3 - 6 hr lab sessions doing titration after titration.. boooooring. Back to the real Topic MJ !

Good idea though to use for the nutes as well, I was going to go another route but I think I like your idea better. Thanks man ! And post up around here more often, you input is much appreciated !!

-Tdot

bigd921 said:

suggestion...... I am not a soil guy but since you now know your ph has been off from the start I would flush each pot with properly ph'd water.....also if overwatering is a concearn when and if you transplant make sure to add some perlite to your soil mixture it will help with drainage and getting oxygen too your roots....

Click to expand...

Can't argue with that =]



FT your plants are looking great... them reaching for the sky like that is just want you want to see... It means everything is good in there little world and they are happy.

If you do get a chance to re-transplant... go for it... it's less stress full for them when they are younger.

.


_________________
Micro ebb/flow (NOW DWC), all CFL ScrOG, perpetual Stealth locker

Morning Update 8/19

Alrighty guys time for my usual morning update. So I'm starting to get a bit more concerned with HK, as I said yesterday it seems to have all its leaves starting to go vertical on me. Its odd, not like its stretching for light so I dunno its odd, you'll see what I mean as I have a shit tonne of pics for this mornings update. As I said in a few post earlier my 2 plants are in different soils, HK is in some shitty Wal-mart brand soil that I had a fresh bag of in my shed (fresh as in brand new unopened) Now I've been growing some Basil and other Herbs in the same exact soil and they're growing amazingly well, however I'm sure these plants have different and less specific needs than my MJ. Now TH is in a soil called BM1 which is a "professional grade soil" which I believe was neutral to start, it was also far lighter and fluffier as it has perlite and something else in it that HK doesn't have in her soil. So I guess what I'm trying to ask is, Do you think it wise to try and replant HK in the same soil I have TH in and hope that helps root growth, thus helping plant growth ? I've been wanting to do it but I'm scared shitless of the transplant.

Ok enough babble time for some pics,

HK
First Pic we have here is of HK's odd new leaf "growth" more like position.


See what I mean ? Heres another


And my usual Shot with Sharpie


And now on to my Surprise Bagseed aka Thornhillium aka TH lol



Shes growing fast, I hope its a she thats just be PERFECT !!!
Heres a nice Macro of TH


Looking good ! Also looking rather Sativa Dom, wouldn't you say ?? That could be a problem with my 36" height max. Might have to LST or look into Topping or even just Shorter Veg Time We'll see, I have time to decide on that one..

Heres my Sharpie with TH, You guys gotta go back a page or two and see the first one compared to this one its amazing..



And last but not least I have 2 more pictures to show the difference in Height between HK and TH (HK 1st then TH)



and TH,



Notice a slight difference ?!?! lol

Well, thats all for this morning. I'll wait to see what you guys have to say about my questions at the start. Ideally I'd like to repot HK in the BM1 soil today but I'm not sure exactly how to without messing things up. So some help would be great ! (I'm lookin at you wolfman, lol) OR anyone else kind enough to help

Thanks guys,
-Tdot

I have a pot of BM1 soil ready and waiting to transplant Hk if and when I get some advice or direction

Thanks,
-Tdot

I see what your saying there FT.. and I must admit I haven't seen a plant reach up that far before... But don't worry to much for now.. it could be genetic, and besides it reaching up like that, it looks in good health....

As for the transplant, I would go for it. It sounds like the other soil you have in hand is better then what it's in now.

.


_________________
Micro ebb/flow (NOW DWC), all CFL ScrOG, perpetual Stealth locker

its a tough call if you are sure the soil is the culprit then go for it, I would personally transplant into a beer cup (make sure you put some holes in the bottom for drainange) the small container will allow the roots to develop faster, then transplant into a larger one in c ouple of weeks......but keep in mind a transplant can stress a plant some make sure that is the problem before you stress it further I still recomend the flush before doig anything, when in doubt flush it out.............

You guys make some excellent points, I'm really not too sure what to do. As bigd said, I don't wanna stress out the lil guy and end up having it die on me like that, that'd kill me. I'm not 100% sure its the soil, but I can't really think of anything else.. I mean other than the soil and obviously genetics the 2 plants are in the exact same conditions getting the same water and everything.

Tomorrow is watering day other than the misting of the cups I do daily, I guess I'll give it another shot of just regular pH'd Distilled Water and see how it goes. If its still acting "up" in 2 - 3 days or getting worse I'll do a transplant. I'm just really worried as its in a 6in pot and the only thing I have to transplant it to is another 6 incher. How would I go about isolating the roots without royally messing shit up ? Work with me guys I might post a pic of HK in the Sick plants forum just to see if anyone has any other ideas that doesn't come to the CFL section.

Thanks,
-Tdot

That's just it though... HK doesn't look sick... she looks in good health... it's just that she is acting funny.. trying to raise the roof and stuff lol

The main reason for transplanting now is to lower stress, and less to do with her behavior... It's less stressful to transplant her now that she is young then to try to transplant her later when her roots are more establish and risk shock. Like you said.. you have better soil on hand now (less dense and with perlite)... so why not transplant?


Don't let non of this scare you though... even if you were to transplant later, if your gentle and careful, transplanting should have minimal effects on your plant... a little stress won't kill it... Some growers transplant many times before harvest. I just believe transplanting her now from low grade soil to a higher grade soil has future benefits (lush green happy plant) that out way the risks (a day of stress).

If it was the soil... she would have more curling and sagging, with color change in the tips.


.


_________________
Micro ebb/flow (NOW DWC), all CFL ScrOG, perpetual Stealth locker

Well, too be 100% sure its not just the soil thats causing problems I decided to just go ahead and transplant HK. She is looking healthy which is the only reason I'm not afraid to try the transplant and kill her. So anyway the method I went about doing this is as follows. Please tell me where I wronged so if I have to do this again I can do it properly.
Ok so here goes,
1) I "squished" the pot around to loosen up the soil and roots of HK old pot.
2) I layed out a plastic bag and basically put HK gentely between my fingers and slowly started to empty out the soil.
3) Turned the pot totally upside down to get the rest of the soil out.
4) Freed up the root ball broke off excess soil

Thats about all i did for the old pot, I should mention before doing that I filled a different pot with my other soil watered it down a bit as its really quite fluffy, dug a lil hole, placed HKs roots in about 1/2 - 3/4 the way down the pot and then slowly filled with soil till she was up and standing sturdy on her own.

Things I noticed while doing this....Looks can be decieving, by that what I mean is, I must have planted HK deeper than originally thought as when I dug her out her stem was as long if not longer than TH's it was just covered more by soil. Anyway I planted her a bit taller than she was before but not much as the stem is weak and not used to much light yet. Anyway enough blabbing, Thanks for the help Wolf and BigD appreciated as always ! Time for 2 pics of HK in her new pot. Then we wait till tomorrow mornings update !!


And Another


Still "raising the roof" lol

Have a good one all,
-Tdot

Alrighty, so I dunno if this is good.. or just freshly transplanted, time will tell...

This is HK now (well pics were taken 10 min after transplant), then I went out to smoke a joint and now I'm posting, lol... ok so yeah pics..



and another,


Could the "problem" really have been solved in 10 minutes ?!?!? Or is it just droopy after transplant ?.. I'm going with the 2nd but again time will tell, I'm going to keep an eye on her every hr or two till I go to sleep, not touch just watch. I also switched the spots that TH and HK were in, did a lil swap, maybe get some good TH karma all around the box !!

What do you guys think ?!?
-Tdot

Looking good buddy, I got a question for you, what is the colour temp of your lights, I have been thinking of using daylight around 6500 degress k for the whole process, is this alright? I just got some BC Big Bud seeds from Dutch Passion, I'm thinking of starting within the week. Good to see people in the GTA growing their own.

Sounds like you did a great job FT... and you are right, she may just be a bit stress... she should bounce back in no time.
.


_________________
Micro ebb/flow (NOW DWC), all CFL ScrOG, perpetual Stealth locker

So I might have potentially figured something out. Last night I was watching one of the Seemorebuds dvds Excellent stuff by the way I recommend everyone buy a copy ! Anyway he visits and outdoor garden thats in "extreme" heat. The plants has super thin leaves and because of the heat they all are turned up kinda like HK....I'm now wondering if maybe the strain likes it a bit cooler than TH and maybe the cup is raising the heat and humidity too much ? I'm not sure.. just thinking out loud to bounce ideas off you guys !.. Damn now if the GardenKnowm would show up and help.. lol.. Anyway its almost lights on and that means time for a morning update.
Post again soon !
-Tdot

Sorry I didn't answer you there jordan65, umm I do suppose you could get away with 6500K for the entire grow however its not whats recommended as I'm sure you've read on this site before ! The way I'm goin about it is as follows.

For Veg:
Currently - 6 X 26W 6500K & 3 X 26W 2700K ( The reason for both is a more natural spectrum) I could also add more bulbs as the plants get larger however I don't think i'll necessarily need too.

For Flower:
Basically I'm going to keep the same setup just reverse the bulbs ! I already have the bulbs will take 5 minutes to switch it over and go 12/12. Although I'm in the process of building a flowering box so I can use my current one for veg/mother/clone.

Hope that helps man, the reason u use 2700K in flowering is cause there is more of a red spectrum which the plants needs to make good solid buds and resin glands.

Morning update coming as soon as I can upload pics to the server..2 at a time since more than that still doesn't' work..

-Tdot

*edit* PS dude,(Jordan65) I love your Avatar, you gotta email me that so I can use it for my msn display ! lol, thanks