My First Grow

I have a 90cm x 90 1.2m high indoor grow . I had four ten litre tubs under a 400w light in coco and air post .. All vented ect, setup is pro setup ... I had to lollipop my plants because it was such a small place the bottom was receiving little if no light.... So I was thinking is there away round this but not topping ! Or am I better to put 2 plants in a nft setup = plants get more light and more bud or 4 plants and risk the over crowding... Any advice or info greatful :) only my second grow so a newbie really
Once mine gets bigger I was thinking about getting some 2700K t-5 tubes for blooming, and mount them vertically in the corners of the box to get light to lower half and sides of her. I plan on doing some LST and tying the plants down after a few weeks old so the lower leafs fill out and form much better buds than otherwise.

I'm also sure that everyone here would tell you to grow 2 bomb ass plants than risk trying to grow 4 satisfactory ones. :cool:
 
End of day 6 into day 7 of light cycle. December 1

Just before lights off
(3:30pm). She's looking very strong!
*seed shell fell off*

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10:00pm
Change bulb layout again. Now using 4 26w-6500K (1600 lumens/ea) and 1 42w-2700K (2800 lumens) producing 146 total watts and 9200 lumens with three sockets remaining for use once she gets a little bigger.
 
I currently have my lights just over 3" inches away from the top of the plant in order to keep the temp down. Is this too far?? I am producing quite a few lumens, but I know people say that if its over 1" away its worthless.
 
Day 8 December 2

9:30pm

I added a 140mm 80 cfm intake fan to accompany the two 120mm 40 cfm exhaust fans. Continuously trying to chip away at the interior temp. Extra fan definitely helped as the ambient temp has been between 79-81 F after lights have been on for almost 2 hours. Will check again later and assess after 4 more hours have passed.

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11:30pm

Gave her 18oz. of distilled water. Poured right around her and the edges of the pot until water slowly starting draining into the catch pan. Lightly misted the topsoil to evenly distribute water for top 1" of soil.

Day 8 December 3

2:00am

I've been doing some research and discovered that seedlings in particular like tons of humidity! The problem is that I live up north and its cold right now and once the house temp reaches about 75 it just shuts off leaving it very dry. I have a humidifier I have laying around which I purchased long ago for times when I was sick. I just filled it up and plugged it in and I plan on staying up for awhile longer to see if there are any quick noticeable differences. I don't intend to see anything right away but hopefully this added moisture will promote root growth so they can grab more nutrients in order to aid in speeding up the seedling phase. I currently have it running on high until the whole room starts to feel a little more humid then I will probably turn it to the lower speed.



*If anyone has tried this before please provide feedback!! Please comment or give advice.
 
Howdy fella...good to see some fellow noobies from the TC area experimenting with autoflowers...

I wouldn't worry about slow growth yet, its only been a week your baby still doesn't have much root mass yet. What are you using for growing medium? We first fed ours a very light dose of earthworm castings/bat guano right around a week and you could tell they really loved it, definitely sped up growth. Also we have a small amount of earthworm castings in the grow medium to begin with. Even with all the damn heat issues we've been having about 28 of 32 of ours are still doing really great. I'm talking like over 100 degree heat issues, not for very long at a time but still.
 
Howdy fella...good to see some fellow noobies from the TC area experimenting with autoflowers...

I wouldn't worry about slow growth yet, its only been a week your baby still doesn't have much root mass yet. What are you using for growing medium? We first fed ours a very light dose of earthworm castings/bat guano right around a week and you could tell they really loved it, definitely sped up growth. Also we have a small amount of earthworm castings in the grow medium to begin with. Even with all the damn heat issues we've been having about 28 of 32 of ours are still doing really great. I'm talking like over 100 degree heat issues, not for very long at a time but still.
Started her from seed in Fox Farm Ocean Forest. Has Guano, Earthworm castings, etc. and they recommend not using any nutes for the first 30 days because the soil will supply all the plant needs for that time. I plan on using diluted blackstrap molasses in distilled water for every water i give her once she gets into vegging phase. I also plan on using some Fox Farms Tiger Bloom for flowering.
 
we are using foxfarm nutes as well...good luck man, I have 2 separate from the rest that I'm using cfls for as well, should be done about the same time as yours. you know what strain you have? feminized?
 
Day 9 December 4

12:30pm

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Been trying to keep soil moist on top without re-watering because bottom half of pot is still retaining some moisture. Removed humidifier because it wasn't creating enough moisture to be beneficial and was hindering ventilation. I got a Accurite Temp/Humidity monitor yesterday as well. 2nd set of leaves starting to grow a little bit faster. The larger pot is probably causing the roots to spend more time growing which is why it has been a little bit slower above-soil. Hopefully she will take off in the next of days being that she is beginning to develop a canopy to absorb more light.
 

tre93543

Active Member
inƒamøus;8325711 said:
I currently have my lights just over 3" inches away from the top of the plant in order to keep the temp down. Is this too far?? I am producing quite a few lumens, but I know people say that if its over 1" away its worthless.
take a look at this chart. at 3 inches, you are throwing a lot more lumens to your plants than you think. lumens stated on the light are at 1 foot.
View attachment 2432442
 
Day 11 December 6

11:30am

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Last night I installed 3 Y-mounts for light bulbs in attempts to distribute light more evenly and keep the direct heat further away from the top of the plant. Essentially when fully-loaded I could run 10 bulbs...6 in Y-connectors and 4 more vertically in between the Y bulbs. Once she starts flowering I will be adding several more 2700K bulbs. She has been consistently producing new leaves every day for the past 3-4 days now and her growth is slowly accelerating. Keeping her pretty dry on top but humid and slightly moist 2"+ below and misting the topsoil about twice a day. Been about 3 days since I watered her and I will pry give her another drink in a day or two once the soil below starts to dry out a little more. Her stem is looking very strong for her age, which I can accredit to the small fan I have had on her since the day she sprouted. Looking forward to a growth spurt in the next of days.
 

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Day 17 December 12

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It has been a few days since my last post and she is doing very well! She has been branching off like crazy and hasn't seemed to have stretched much at all. I have been keeping an ambient temperature right around 79-81 consistently for the past week or so and she seems to be thriving. I have let the soil get pretty dry again (4 days since last water?
). Anyway, I started watering her with a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses per gallon on her last drink and she seemed to accept it so decided to add just a touch more for the rest of the gallon. I gave her a drink just now as her lights came on (7:30pm) until a very light flow of drainage came through, dumped the excess water and placed her back under the lights.

Reviews have said that this strain can finish in as little as 60 days, but realistically I'm thinking it will be a bit longer although she looks very thick and healthy for her age.
Unfortunately, the reviews also say that most people yield a little more than half an ounce per plant so I don't expect her to be a extremely fruitful, but the upside is I got the seed for free from a friend

 
Day 20!

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Tomorrow will be her 3 week birthday and she seems to be doing quite well. I have to keep rearranging her under the lights multiple times a day because she is growing so fast now. I watered her last night when her lights came on around 8:00pm with about 20 oz. of distilled and mollasses diluted water until a little drained through the bottom. I am happy to see that she is starting to grow up andnot just out because she has been getting pretty bush-like and I have had to do some minor LST (rearranging leaves without tying) so the newer, smaller leaves get some more light. After about two days they have gotten significantly bigger and are now beginning to compete for light with the bigger fan leaves.​

 
Day 25

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Day 25 and she is finally starting to stretch for the light and gain some height. Her lower branches are also starting to reach and expose themselves from the undergrowth. Pistils have been visible for about 6 days now and she appears to be maturing quickly. I have again changed my hanging light setup to have 3 inline lamp holders, each fitted with a Y-connector to house 6 bulbs total. Currently running 4 26w 6500K daylight-blue CFLs and 2 23w 5000K daylight CFLs for a total of 150 watts producing 9,600 lumens!! I also fitted 2 lamp holders on each side to be fitted with 2700K bulbs when she begins flowering to increase light level even further. I have had my window cracked for the past 3 days or so now and maintaining a temperature of about 65-70 F in my room. I had to do this when I started adding more bulbs. The hot air that the exhaust fans blow out is circulated through the room and escapes back outside keeping an ambient grow temperature between 77-80 F during lights on periods and around 67-70 F during lights off.
 

robert030188

Well-Known Member
Hey looking great but you should do a little defoliation to get some light to the base...if the light isn't hitting the leaves they are a waste of the plants energy to provide growth where none is reaching it. Or you can add 1 light on each side of the plant to provide light to under growth...will help yield significantly
 
Hey looking great but you should do a little defoliation to get some light to the base...if the light isn't hitting the leaves they are a waste of the plants energy to provide growth where none is reaching it. Or you can add 1 light on each side of the plant to provide light to under growth...will help yield significantly
thanks for the advice! I actually added two side lights last night!
 
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