UK Grower, Auto, First Grow, Big Bang, Blue Passion

Okay so I thought I would setup a journal of my very first grow.

As it stands I have a single HPS 400 Light.
A 12 inch fan
1 Dutch Passion Auto (freebie from sensible seeds)
3 Big bang Auto

After looking round and seeing a number of journals I have decided to start my own to give a UK perspective as a number refer to products that seem to be US only.

As you can see from the pic below the setup is not exactly high tech, no tent just a pole to hold the light and a fan to keep temps down and a window that is slightly ajar to keep up a good oxygen level. Thanks god for spare rooms.

The intention is to give a weekly update in pic format and whats been happening in terms in plant development but also hope that peeps will help in terms of identifying plants and suggestions about any problems that I may encounter. I t may also appeal to weirdos like me who start reading a journal and 3 hours and 800 threads later wonder where the time has gone but are even more determined to start there own grow.

As it stands all four germinated using the wet kitchen roll/plate/freezer bag method with the aid of a unused draw, it took a couple of days.

04/07 They where placed in soil (wilkinsons purchase which is for indoor plants) and dumped under the lights which has a timer set for 5.30am start-11.30 finish. As they are seedlings they are about 3.5 feet below the light currently.


05/07 Ph'd some water using a jif lemon (Used a £7.00 pets at home kit to judge the current PH of the tap water which was over 7.6.) A dessert spoon in about half full watering can seemed to do the trick. This rested for about 10 hours and when the lights went out they got there first watering.

06/07 Poked my head round the door whilst I was getting set for work this morning and to my joy 2 of the plants had started to spout and where breaking the soil. I will post a couple of pics of the tiddlers when I get in tonight. Also purchased some perlite which will be mixed with the soil once they are transplanted as it would appear the wiiko stuff is not going to be great for drainage.

Turns out 3 of them popped. sweet.

So Day four and all four have now sprouted. The last came out this morning and is a third of the size of the rest. I have pics as attached.

Question for anyone who may have a look. I have seen some stuff about plants becoming stretched, is this already happening to my plants? They are currently about 10cm in size. Given the small and tender age of 4 days should I drop the light as it is currently 3ft above the plants or wait until the plants have developed a little more prior to dropping the light.

Day Nine, all still going not at a very quick rate, but new growth is coming through. Starting to wonder if I am feeding them enough water, I probably give about 300ml every 2 days. Also wondering when to transplant to bigger pots. Dutch Passion is still struggling, no new growth really and not showing much signs of progress, still early though and as it is first attempt dont really have a point of reference. Probably will give the first of the nuets in the next couple of days but v small portions as they are still in infancy.

Hmmm, they should be bigger than that really. Your problem could be caused by having the 400w in that open space with no tent or cabinet. The light is bouncing all around the room instead of being directed directly onto the plants. Is there any way you could build some sort of frame to go around the plants with reflective material on it? That would improve things for you. Also, they are not quite ready to go into bigger pots yet, wait until they are bigger and will have a better root system.

And before you re pot them, go and get some good soil from your local hydro store or online. Your in the UK so you should easily be able to get hold of Bio Bizz all mix. That stuff has everything you need in it to keep the plants going for the first 3 weeks and then move onto the BioBizz nutes schedule

Okay, so the not as big as should be did worry me a little. I have acquired a tent that we have for growing toms as the pic shows. My only reservation is that the thing is transparent and therefore I am unsure of how reflective it will be as I will still have alot of light leakage. The temps have also risen to about 90 as a result of employing it even with the fan being basically in the thing. Any one got any experience of using one of these?

Fan now fully inside the tent and on full whack but the temps are still sitting at 95. Should this be a cause for concern.

yeah if it sits there to long bro it will caause them to grow slowly most likely but i have seen people finish grows in 100+ main thing is to make sure u have consyant airflow...

Cheers Dude. I have managed to get the temps down to about 90 with a bit of shuffling. Want to open the window a bit more to increase airflow but not keen on the light being visible from outside if the curtains blow the wrong way. What is the ideal temperature?

damn nice setup if i could just get my hands on some auto seeds lucky u live in the uk you can probably walk down the street to a seedbank

iLuvIndica said:

damn nice setup if i could just get my hands on some auto seeds lucky u live in the uk you can probably walk down the street to a seedbank

Click to expand...

The internet dude, making the world a smaller place.

Okay so the thoughts about light leakage gave me food for thought and I have ordered some panda paper but made an improv DIY short stop gap with the use of a roll of parcel tape and white shiny plastic bags doubled over and a further coating of Black bin liners. Looks pretty pony and unsure it will have any effect as ran out of parcel tape half way through. Has blocked some of the light from the room mind.

Plants are pretty much the same a few new leaves are sprouting but nothing major, anyone no when autos should show signs of sex?

Okay so having looked back I can see that the plants are about 10 days from when they when they where germinated and sprouted. Not sure when the Auto's are meant to show sex but I am trying to keep a diligent eye out. I think that inserting the fan in the tent may have caused the stems to thicken and not grow outwards so much but to date I am quite please.

As you can see the Dutch passion has done jack since it initially sprouted and I am beginning to think free seed generally meant sh!t seed. Considering giving it another day or so then dumping as I think the light would be better used on other plants. Unless anyone else has experience of this and if its a slow burner?

From looking on other threads It would appear the general consensus is that you should get the Auto's in there final asap but I want to make sure that the root is developed enough not to crap itself. Anyway all feedback welcome.

Here are the results of my hazy adventures. BAD TIMES!

Had a lil grow groom redesign, it has helped reduce the temps.

The lower leaves are still strugling although I have decided against chopping them off. Have attached some shots still not growing as quick as I though. Given them the first taste of nutes via follier feeding, just a lil bio grow diluted down in water and PH'd. Used about 200ml over this over all 3 plants.

Still cant determine sex as of yet and unsure when this will happen as there autos.

Latest pics, plants seem okay and now that light has been raised I hope that I will see a little upward growth.

Day 21 from when the seeds split the soil. I have updated pics.

Plant 1 is approx 30cm tall and although shitty phone cam cannot capture it does have some white hairs present.

Plant 2 is approx 20cm tall but and is healthy but no signs of sex

Plant 3 is also about 20cm tall but has had a troubed time, some leaves are burnt and I am still considering chopping them.

As first grows go I am a little disappointed in the size but its all learning.

Day 24 and the all the plants have are now showing white hairs and are stil coming on well. No massive changes in size but people seem to think they will blow up soon.

Day 26 and the plants are going well. The biggest is growing by about an inch a day which is a bonus the smaller 2 will need something to bring them closer to the lights which I will do this weekend. Will also give all 3 a second dose of nutes this weekend but they are doing cool without it tbh. Will post some more pics when I get the oppurtunity hopefully will get the rotation right next time.