Losing My Virginity. Growing For The First Time.

Thanks man! I try to do the least amount of damage possible. Try to get things right the first time (or the second time). Thanks for that m8!

Edit: No more signs of brown spots. Still very minor leaf twist. Here are a couple pics.



Half teaspoon per gallon of "Epsom" salt (I have been spelling it wrong it turns out) / Same nutes / 1 Tablespoon of Molasses per gallon
I am not crazy, lol, there was at least 2 brown dots. Either way, a little boost of Cal and Mag should be good for the plants.
That sound wrong to anyone?

As I mentioned in an earlier post (I think), when I water the plants I water them well. I have about a 30% runoff ratio. Taking that into consideration, (1) Should I use less Molasses? Will it be building up in the soil, or will it be running out with the runoff? (2) should I expect that those "time release ferts" that are in my soil (which is supposed to last roughly 90 days) to start running out a little earlier than that 90 day expectancy stated on the bag?

I am hoping (2) is to be expected, because when it does and if I still have a few weeks or more left in flower, I will be able to really pump the nutes for a few waters before I have to flush.
I have to say, although the pre-ferted soil does do ok, when the grower becomes more comfortable mixing ferts, they find themselves rather limited by the initial N-P-K of the soil.
As it is, I cant push more than 30% nute in my water, cause it will raise my N and K too much for during flower. But when my soils N-P-K wears off, I might be able to push 100% feed (maybe not 100% but you get the idea).

I will keep the same % feed until I see the burnt tips disappearing. Then I will know the slow release nutes are wearing off.

So for my next soil grow, I will defiantly be using a non pre-ferted soil.
Buds are looking nice though, just about exceeding what I would be expecting at this point using these lights and ferts.
Oh I can't wait till next grow to use all this new found information I have learned from here.

Tonight I watered and fed. They look good. I just hope they stay that way.
I took some time to tuck away a bunch of leaves to allow better light penetration under the canopy. The end result was very good. Many more lower tops are getting better light now.
I am beginning to have to support some of the branches to stop them from falling over. The bud sites look larger and frostier every night I see them.
I took my circulation fan and flipped it on its back, and it is now blowing under the plants. The book for the fan said it was ok to do, and the plants are going to get a lot more airflow now.
Nothing to really see in pics, so I will wait a few more days (maybe next watering) before I make my next update. I take pics then.
Thanks for any and all input!

what nutes are you using. subbed btw. i like the tubes

I am using "Plant Prod" 10-52-10 at about 30% strength on top of the 14-14-14 pre-fertilized soil.
I was thinking now that I understand the whole nutrient thing, that on my next grow I would try to go organic.

check out subcools organics in the organics forum, if you havent already. im all about the organic mixes now, just add water, start to harvest! goodluck man and your ladies are lookin sexy

Very interesting. I would totally be willing to put the effort into making a super soil if all I had to do after was water... Thanks for that!

So I did the math. I'm 43 days into flowering as of today. Another 3 or 4 weeks I think. I don't want to leave them too long cause I am looking for more of a head buzz then a couch lock. I will have to get myself a microscope so I can see the trics better. At the moment I can tell they are all still clear with just my eyes. I am thinking about upping the feed and the molasses a little bit. My water jug has about 17.5 liters of water in it. I was thinking about using 5 tablespoons of molasses (a little more than 1 tbsp per gallon) and jumping to a 40-45% nute feed.
Pictures to follow tonight after I water.

At this rate your ppm shouldnt be higher than 1500. Add as much molasses as you like as long as ppm is under that range. After day 56-58 or so stop adding nutrients, just keep topping off with water. It's an easy way to taper ppm down as flowering finishes while providing fresh water all the time as its flush.

I don't have a tds meter, but I am using tap water and I know my tap water is insane. Like 700 ppm from the well. We use the RO system for our drinking and cooking water, but our tank is not large enough for me to be using it for my plants as well. I do know that the well water seems to be really good in the garden though. As I said, farmland all around me, and I heard this property was once used for chickens or something like that. So the earth is full of nutes, good and bad I bet. I think my ppm is below 1500 though.
Yep, another 2 weeks or so until flush. I hope to push it as long as possible though.
When I lay off the nutes, am I supposed to continue with the molasses?
And you mean I am supposed to soak them constantly for flushing? I thought I was just supposed to water them very very well with no nutes a few times to flush.

Flushing is a myth that was transferred from soil growers to hydroponics for zero reason whatsoever. People thing (wrongly) that flushing with just water and perhaps some flushing solution/nutrients that their plants will be better. They wont. In Hydro we dont build up nutrients. So, the most natural way to "flush" a hydro plant is after week 6 (on an 8 week strain) to just simply top off the rez. By the end of the flower cycle you should have reservoir water around 500ppm-ish. This gives it the gradual slowdown, properly......

You dont "soak" the plants any more or water them any more or less. All identical, except ppm.

For your TDS meter there's no excuse to have one. Here's one for FIVE DOLLARS. http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-TDS-Conductivity-Tester-Hydroponics-Meter-ppm-/150507828995?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item230af73703

PPM/TDS is more important than what size light you have or what your strains are............ Just as important as ph. Your tap ro filter could fill the rez, it'd just take a few bucket loads to get there. <G>

TDS = a must

Well, obviously it's not the most important thing in the world... I am here now, and I am without one...
Maybe with a hydro setup, it is significantly more important, I don't know.
I do understand though that you get out what you put in, so it will be on my "to buy" list.

Sativus said:

Well, obviously it's not the most important thing in the world... I am here now, and I am without one...
Maybe with a hydro setup, it is significantly more important, I don't know.
I do understand though that you get out what you put in, so it will be on my "to buy" list.

Click to expand...

you're totally correct when you've made it this far. honestly i hadn't read the entire thread until now.

yeah, in hydro the TDS stick is very beneficial. in soil though i could see it being beneficial just because knowing your PPM for waterings is helpful (again for me)

i O'D'd my first plant without it easily. picked one up and never had the problem again.

your grow is looking sick though man! i'm definitely sub'd until finish

your grow looks so "Clean"
very nice.

P.S. ( you've been "rated" )

Hey m8! Thanks for the rate! I'll repay the favor for sure!
I would use my RO water, but like I said, my tank is small. Will probably hold 5-6 liters full, and takes probably 5-6 hours to fill.
If I emptied it every night before I went to sleep, I could probably manage. But then I would go through filters much quicker.

Just wanted to note this.
I was searching google for a pic for my profile. I came across a member of growery.org that goes by the same name as me. I thought it was a good name, and I had never seen anyone use it before.
Just wanted to say that I did not know there was another Sativus. I did not intentionally use the same nick as someone else, and he has used that name longer than I have.
Unless there is some issue, I will continue using Sativus as my nick. But if by chance there is some sort of issue, I will have no problem using a different nick.

Plants are looking great. I can't wait for them to plump up during the last few weeks of flower. They smell soooo good, almost menthol/piney/minty. And they are getting nice and sticky.
It is sooo hard trying to not cut to sample. Only a few more weeks I keep telling myself .

Thank you all for your support and comments thus far!

They are looking good. Hey, I used to live in Canada too. Lovely Summers, hope you are enjoying yours, you will be soon anyway by the look of it.

I purchased a few things this afternoon.
First I got a temperature/humidity gauge.
Also, I got one of those activated carbon pre-filters that all those type of DIY carbon filters are using.

The humidity in my basement is very high resting at 80%. I am hoping that in the box under the lights the humidity is significantly lower, but I wouldn't bet on it. I will know in about an hour when I go and check. I am thinking that I am in serious need of a dehumidifier, and that I need to get it ASAP!
I will report on the humidity level in the box later.

I think I figgured out the ultimate answer to the question of why having the fan sucking through the carbon filter is more effecient that pushing through it.
Before my lights came on this evening, I used that pre-filter I bought and covered the exhaust side of the exhaust fan with 2 layers, which was making the fan blow through the filters. I noticed significantly diminished air flow. About an hour later, when the lights came on, I checked inside the box and there was a significant amount of what I will describe as "blow back" that was coming back in from the exhaust fan.
I removed the filters and placed them on the intake side of the exhaust fan, thus making the fan suck the air through the filters. This resulted in a significantly increased amount of air flow on the exhaust side of the fan and created no "blow back".

So, the answer to the question of why sucking is better than blowing ...

Trying to blow the air through the filter will creat a positive amount of air pressure before the filter and will result in this "blow back" and ultimatly significantly diminish the amount of air flow being created by the fan.

On another note.
When I watered them last, I upped the feed to 40% from 30%. This resulted in a couple (in total, like 1 on each plant) leaves showing signs of over feeding. 99 or more % of the remaining leaves show no signs of burning. I also noticed some very nice tric production aswell as an increase of mass in the last few days.
I was thinking that I should be ok upping the nutes a little more next feed to note the reaction the plants have. I would really like to give them everything that would take for the next few weeks to help maximize my return on this investment.
Do you think (considering I have very few leaves showing signs of burn) I would likley be safe to up the nutes some more? or should I leave it at 40% next water and maybe up it the water after?

Thanks for any and all input.
As always, it is very much appreciated.

Sativus said:

I purchased a few things this afternoon.
First I got a temperature/humidity gauge.
Also, I got one of those activated carbon pre-filters that all those type of DIY carbon filters are using.

The humidity in my basement is very high resting at 80%. I am hoping that in the box under the lights the humidity is significantly lower, but I wouldn't bet on it. I will know in about an hour when I go and check. I am thinking that I am in serious need of a dehumidifier, and that I need to get it ASAP!
I will report on the humidity level in the box later tonight.

I think I figgured out the ultimate answer to the question of why having the fan sucking through the carbon filter is more effecient that pushing through it.
Before my lights came on this evening, I used that pre-filter I bought and covered the exhaust side of the exhaust fan with 2 layers, which was making the fan blow through the filters. I noticed significantly diminished air flow. About an hour later, when the lights came on, I checked inside the box and there was a significant amount of what I will describe as "blow back" that was coming back in from the exhaust fan.
I removed the filters and placed them on the intake side of the exhaust fan, thus making the fan suck the air through the filters. This resulted in a significantly increased amount of air flow on the exhaust side of the fan and created no "blow back".

So, the answer to the question of why sucking is better than blowing ...

Trying to blow the air through the filter will creat a positive amount of air pressure before the filter and will result in this "blow back" and ultimatly significantly diminish the amount of air flow being created by the fan.

On another note.
When I watered them last, I upped the feed to 40% from 30%. This resulted in a couple (in total, like 1 on each plant) leaves showing signs of over feeding. 99 or more % of the remaining leaves show no signs of burning. I also noticed some very nice tric production aswell as an increase of mass in the last few days.
I was thinking that I should be ok upping the nutes a little more next feed to note the reaction the plants have. I would really like to give them everything that would take for the next few weeks to help maximize my return on this investment.
Do you think (considering I have very few leaves showing signs of burn) I would likley be safe to up the nutes some more? or should I leave it at 40% next water and maybe up it the water after?

Thanks for any and all input.
As always, it is very much appreciated.

Click to expand...

well sir, thank you for putting that in such good words! that IS why sucking is better than blowing ! lol s
anyways, in answer to your nute question, u seem to have a good understanding of your plants, you are able to "read" them fairly well, if you feel comfortable that the last dose was not all they could take then lay some more on em, like you say they might aswell get all they can handle! just be careful lol
nobody can tell better than you what your plants need, after all you see them almost every day right?
goodluck man don't deprive us of pics eh?

That makes total sense now that someone has actually put the reason why down so we can read it..lol

I'll be switching my carbon filter to the other side in the AM

Peace.

I'm glad that others can read that and will understand why. It's common sense, but sometimes when we are stoned, common sense doesn't always make sense lol.
Thanks for the nute talk m8! I do feel like I can give them a little more and I need to keep a close eye to see when the nutes in the soil are used up so I can really feed them good.
I will up the feed a little more tonight. I will also take some pics for everyone who wants to have a look.
I will hopefully also be borrowing my moms dehumidifier in an effort to bring down the humidity in that section of the basement. That section of the basement is sectioned off with vapor barrier (plastic sheets), so I should be able to lower the humidity on that side significantly. If I am not mistaken, I am shooting for 40-60%. Correct?
I will report on what the level is tonight, then update with what they are after the dehumidifier is running for a few hours.

Thanks again for those comments guys!
Always very much appreciated!

Edit: I think my mind is made up, and I have located a hydro shop with the needed supplies. On my next grow I am going to grow in Coco and use the Coco A+B and the pk13/14, and I will grow in 3 gallon pots. I will move my current lights to the sides of the box, and will use likely 8 or 10 cfls on the top of the 4 plants I will grow.
Any suggestions about the nutes would be greatly appreciated.
Can't wait to see the difference.
Interestingly enough, I realized that I actually have one of these: http://generalgardens.com/popup/blowersquirlcage.html that I can fit to my grow box for next grow also. It came directly off a furnace and should be a huge upgrade in the ventilation aspect of my grow box. The future will tell how that turns out.

Last night the humidity in the box had risen to 85%, so today I got a dehumidifier.



Before I came upstairs, the humidity in the "grow room" (which is basically 1/3 of the basement seperated by vapour barrier (plastic)) was down to 66%.



The humidity level in the grow box at that time had come down to about 71%, this is also the first pic of the new gauge I bought.



The activated carbon pre-filter that I bought is working.



The smell has not completely gone, but you can tell that the filter is having an effect. Tonight I increased the amount of layers over the exhaust fan fron 2 to 4.



I can no longer see light through the 4 filters, but I seemingly did not lose too much air flow. I can still feel it and it would blow out a lighter for sure. I will report on the effectiveness tomorrow evening after my wife returns home from work. If she can't smell it, I will remove 1 layer and test again.
I am sure the dehumidifier will also help reduce the odor escaping from that section of the basement, so we will see if I can achieve a happy level of odor removal between the two.
I will report on this filter again.

The day after I fed the plants last time I noticed some nute burn develop on very few leaves.



Because there was only a couple leaves like that, I decided I would up the nutes again. I fed them a 50% feed this time instead of 40%. I will update on that in a day or two. Which brings me to a question.
From the very first time I began feeding these plants nutes, I have fed them with every single watering. Considering the fact that when I feed them I allow for about 30-40% runoff... Should I really be giving no nutes every second watering? If so, what is the purpose for that if the plants are showing no signs of issues?

Well, I think that about does it for the night. The rest is just a little eye candy. I hope you enjoy.



Again, thanks for any comments and opinions.

Edit: So I just went to check, and the humidity level inside the sealed box was back up to 85%. I can think of 2 reasons for this.
1. I was not getting enough exhaust air flow with 4 layers of filter. So I reverted back to 2 layers. But I also put 1 layer inside the circulation fan I have running inside the box to help.
2. I just watered the plants and the small amount of water that I cant remove manually is just evaporating. Nothing I can do about that except check on it in the morning.

I will update tomorrow evening about the humidity, odor and the nutes.