Beginner grow thread - open for suggestions

[Guest 279031]

I have had my first plant started for about a month now. Maybe a little longer. I went through some troubles digesting all the info I read here and implementing it wrong. You can read about it in my "sick plant" thread and what I've done to hopefully right the ship.

I am trying to establish a few mothers so that I can start putting cuttings into a microsog. I have an Anti-cab ready and waiting. This mother cab is an old Dell server with plenty of airflow and 4 26w CFLs. The grow area is 24w x 8d x16h. I've got about 12 inches to the CFL's. So, I've got to master the art of the bonsai, but then I can keep an assortment of strains.
I am using Maxibloom only.



Right now I've got four plants started. The first and oldest is a CH9 Cluster. I bought 10 white rhinos and this was the freebie. I screwed up all 10 of the seeds I bought. This is the only one that made it.



As stated in the sick plant thread, the plant was wilting and the tips were burning. I transplanted out of a coco/peat/everything else mix into pro-mix with added perlite, kept the ph at 6.5, and cut back on the maxibloom to 350ppm (I have also bought a TDM meter, and found that my tap is 127ppm every time I test it).
Since then the plant seems to be doing a lot better, and so I topped it 2 days ago. She's also starting to drink more. I am now having to start thinking about lst'ing soon as I am running out of room, and taking my first cuttings in a week or two. The new growth does not show burnt tips at all since I cut back on the nutes.

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Next up is a Pure Kush planted about a week or 10 days ago.



This was the freebie from the 2nd round of seeds I bought. This one sprouted immediately, went into a jiffy seed starter dome, and then into a pot the next day. She's doing very well (as in no yellowing, burning, drooping). Since one of the cotyledons has dried up, I gave her a small drink of 300ppm mb yesterday and she seems to have taken it well. I think I will alternate water/light nutes until the other cotyledon dries up or growth begins to accelerate.

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This next plant (in front) is 1 of 5 Big Bangs I bought from the 4/20 sale. I was only spritzing the paper towel for fear of soaking the seeds, and it wasn't until I was germing this batch that I realized I needed the paper towel to be thoroughly wet. 1 of 3 germed and I have 2 left.




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Now, the plant in the purple cup is the Afghan Kush Ryder that also came with the 420 promotion.
Since it was suggested by some that I try coco, I decided that this is where I would start. The plant is in straight coco. I will hit it with a spray or two of 5.5 water every other day when the top dries out. Since I can still see moisture forming on the cup starting at about an inch down, I do not want to water too much. I am hoping to see roots down there soon, and then I can transplant.

Just having this autoflower seed and doing the research inspired me to build this:



It's only about 2 feet tall under the lights, but I didn't have anything close to that tall, and I understand you can't be bending and breaking autoflower branches.
Being broke, I could only afford a 70w HPS from HD, which I have augmented with 2 42w 2700k CFL fixtures. The hood takes up the entire half of the cabinet, so I had to get creative with the hood so heat can escape.

I will grow the auto in a hempy bucket, and once it's done either build another fixture for the other side or maybe a single 250w if I can afford it. I am picturing a scrog screen filling this cab with 2 or 3 plants underneath. I have several ideas for that; but right now I'd like to just get my moms established and then tackle the next big challenge - cloning.

 

[grow_right]

just remember mj is a weed! lol, so it does not take a rocket scientist to grow it. keep things simple, and all will be well. the times i have had issues was when i tried to complicate things with well thought out plans.

 

[Guest 279031]

Thanks. I have taken it all the way back to the basics and it seems to be working better. Plant in pro-mix, water with MB. Maintain proper levels all around, and things are beginning to shape up.

I am bummed about the auto though. When it sprouted, the helmet was strapped on tight. For 2 days I misted and prodded and nudged it with tweezers but it never budged. On day 3 the stem was starting to yellow and it still never stood up, so I had no choice but to yank it off forcefully.

The next day the cotyledons were open and it survived, but the first true leaves are still tiny and not growing. I had another plant do this and for 3 weeks it remained 1/2 tall with 2 leaves. I finally ditched it for the space.

I was hoping to grow the auto out to learn about growing in coco and also get some smoke so I could take my time growing the moms and learning to clone, but I doubt it'll amount to much now.

 

[Guest 279031]

It's been a couple weeks I guess since I posted. Both my Pure Kush and the CH9 Cluster are doing great. I have been topping here and there and I lst's the Cluster to one side with good results. However, doing that made the plant's profile larger than the pot which means it takes up too much room, so I stopped doing that.

I took my first 4 clones yesterday from the cluster. I was going to take a couple from the PK too but in the end decided to just fim the side shoots so the plant will bush out more. I'll let the middle two branches get another node on them and then take them for cuttings.

The pic is kind of dark. The PK stays a real dark green no matter what. Both plants are up to full strength MB every 2 days except of course they both got plain water in prep for cuttings. Things are looking up.



Now I'm hoping the clones will root so I can finally break the ice and get my first plant into flower.

 

[Guest 279031]

Update, as always looking for knowledgeable folks to add input so I can learn.

I realized about a week ago that my clones were not going anywhere. I also realized that my plants in pro-mix are taking forever to grow and will never keep me in enough clones to learn how to clone properly.

Here is how I came to this realization:



The plant at the far left is the Pure Kush. It's in pro-mix, and about a month old. I've topped it and lst'd the tops to let the middle bush out more, and it's working. But it's working very slowly. I've been feeding water for 2 feeds and tomorrow I will take clones.

Now, the other three plants were all Big Bangs.

The plant in the middle left was in pro-mix. I planted it about a month ago and it struggled. So about a week ago I transplanted to a coco hempy and it's just starting to get it's feet under it. It's not drinking a lot yet but it's leaves are always curled up and drying out like it's thirsty. I don't think the roots have hit bottom yet.

Second from the right is a 2 week old Big Bang started right in the hempy coco and look at that mofo go. It's drinking 12 oz a day. I just fimmed it yesterday and it's already got nice shoots growing. Tomorrow they will be above the fan leaves. After seeing this plant, I doubt I will ever grow in dirt or peat again.



Finally all the way in the back is another 2 week old Big Bang sprouted the same day as the hempy. It's in a 16oz solo cup of pro-mix. It's doing ok but next to that hempy plant it looks like a dwarf. I understand the hempy plant bucket is about 20 oz vs the solo cup but I doubt a 20 oz pot for the other one would make a difference here. There is no contest.

I have realized I will need a much bigger mother cab than this server case, and that's my project for this weekend. These hempy plants need some space, and giving it to them will give me many more clones to work with.

And finally, the original CH9 Cluster. I got tired of waiting for clones to start flowering and so I decided to put my new scrog cab into use:







The hood has a 70w HPS and two 26w 6500k CFLs over glass in it. The temps were above 90f without the glass, and now 1 inch under the glass is 81f.

I transplanted from pro-mix into coco about a week ago. 3 days ago the roots hit the res and it's been drinking 1/3 gallon every day. On the first day of heavy watering I put the screen down and I was able to spread some shoots out the very next day. I figure by Monday or Tuesday it will be full enough to flip. When that happens the 6500k CFLs will be replaced with two 42w 2700k CFLs, along with the 70w HPS.

Thanks for reading

 

[MadBuddhaAbuser]

looking good for a first grow.

Just don't over-complicate things. There is tons of info and stuff to learn here, but it takes time. Weed is a living thing, you can't just throw in some magic numbers and have it flourish. Every strain, and even every plant in a seedpack is different.

Oh yeah, topping and training will slow down growth for a while, but once it catches up you will be glad you did it.

 

[TexMex McDirt]

Cloning was the hardest thing BY FAR for me to figure out. It seems like what works for some people just doesn't for others. Then I read the World class cloner new at walmart thread and I have 100% success. I can cut my clones with a rusty old butter knife and they still root. I recommend giving that thread a read if you're still having issues w cloning.

Happy Farming, stay safe.

Tex

 

[Guest 279031]

Thanks, I have read that thread and absolutely intend to give it a go if I can't get the hang of the current method. I really don't have a place for a bubble cloner.

 

[Rambro]

hardest part for me was figuring out why i kept having deficiencies. ive had a ppm pen for a while since i ordered one by mistake because i thought it was a ph pen. took me 2 grows to think maybe my tap water is messed up. turns out my tap is only like 46ppm and i was using maxibloom and molasses nothing else. had to buy some calmag, plants are doing better than ever on my 3rd grow.

 

[Guest 279031]

I just started adding Epsom salts myself because my plants (especially the ones in pro-mix) have been showing mag def.

I also have a ppm meter, but I only half understand the ppms and EC so I just try to stay within a hundred ppms every batch and ignore it. My tap hovers between 120-140. I had hoped that meant I had enough cal and mag in my water, but evidently not. After a level teaspoon of maxibloom the ppms are between 1050 and 1100. Using epsom salt raises it a little as well so I just go a little light with the MB now that I starting adding a half/ts of epsom salt. Really it fluctuates so little that I don't even need to check it. I fill my gallon jugs and sit them for 24 hours. Next day pH is 7.0 and when I add my teaspoon of MB the pH goes to 5.5. Every single time. I will random spot check a gallon here or there but it's always right on.

I also transplanted those two pro-mix plants into coco hempys a few days ago and already growth has increased and they haven't even hit the perlite yet. Now my entire grow is in coco and all the plants seem to be happy.

I also took Tex's advice, and have prepared some popsicle cloners. Now I am about to water-feed my best Big Bang for a couple days and take some cuttings.

And... I got rid of that PC cab and built something much better for mothers and clones.

4 26w daylight CFLs and 2 13w daylights. Even when it's 100 degrees outside, the ambient temp is 80 and the interior temp is 80 because the CFLs are over glass in what is essentially a cooltube. Air is exhausted from the closet through a vent. I hung a picture over it and you never know it's there.


The plant in the front is the one that convinced me to go coco. The plant behind it, which I transplanted in coco about 6 days ago, was planted the same time as the big one, but it was planted in pro-mix.