Life in a box

[Bedlam]

First grow here. really been dedicating a lot of time to planning it and thinking about it, i really hope it works out well.

Here's my cab, some of you may have seen it in the designs forums:


I'm on a tight schedule, so although I don't have my main S&P exhaust fan yet, i planted the seeds. here they are at 4 days old:








The main light is a cooltubed modified 150w hps security light, which will be upgraded to a 400w once money permits. still need to make a reflector

I added 6 ~24w cfls of varying temps, which since taking those pictures i have lowered so they are about 1.5 inches away from the seedlings, they've been like that for about 3 days and no trouble so far.

also, i placed a 9 inch desk fan in the veg chamber pointing through the hole into the flower chamber, so that all the seedlings vibrate slightly to emulate wind and move air around. i'm concerned about the s&p fan though as right now i dont have an exhaust. i ordered it over a week ago. anyone have experience with how fast they ship? how long do i have before these start to stink?

the grow medium is plain soil, mixed at about 3 parts soil to 1 part perlite with some dolomite lime. i have all the lights running 24/7 right now, don't know what the temps are in there but can anyone tell from those pics if its too high for the plants?

The strain is top44 and i'm going home for xmas halfway through december so i'm on a tight schedule. Do i have to cut them a week before i leave or can i grow them right up until i leave? i'm thinking i'll give them 44 days to flower, and since they're 5 days old that means i can give them 3 and a half weeks of growing from planted seed to flower.

all that is just assuming i can cut it right before i go home and leave it somewhere to dry without getting moldy. i also want to use a screen, do i have enough time to make this method worthwhile at all?

hope someone else can learn from my grow journal, and any suggestions to my time situation and days i should veg/flower/dry would be really helpful.

 

[pontiac]

lol i actually recognize that cab. good luck!

 

[ANOMOS]

my S&P took about 10 days, but i got it from kitchensource, where did you buy yours from? i hope that hvac place its way cheaper, but didnt see it till after i ordered mine. the box is looking good

 

[Bedlam]

woohoo got my exhaust fan, thing's a beast. gotta figure out how to mount it, and quick. took 8 days i believe, website said 5 but all is good.

second leafsets are just starting to form...

 

[Bedlam]

hello again. its been exactly three weeks since i planted my sprouted seeds. I transplanted 6 out of 8 of them into larger containers, as I plan to switch over to 12/12 tomorrow.

I can't tell if they are doing alright or not, but there are definitely some problems:




I ran into trouble when i gave my week and a half old seedlings a 1/16th dose of nutes, and it ultimately ruined a lot of the first leaves, but even after that the new leaves were growing green. now that some of those new leaves have grown in, they are starting to turn yellow starting at the tips, then around the edges, and this one even has some brown. the soil i transplanted them to is plain soil mixed with some perlite and a little bit of pulverized dolomite lime mixed in, i hope this can cure the problem.

anyone think this is just them asking for the nutes now? or are they still recovering from the last minute dose?

i left two in the solo cups for controls.

here are the rest of them at day 21:



i really am stressing about them, i want to be able to bring at least something home for my efforts.

perhaps its a ph issue? i have some soil ph testers that are absolute crap, i dont know how to test for ph or change it. i wonder if that's the case.

STAY TUNED!

 

[greenpenguin]

Nice cab, looks good. I'll be following your grow, I just started my first *real* grow so yours will be a great reference for me I hope.
As for your leaves, I'm not really qualified to diagnose but it looks like a manganese deficiency or a calcium deficiency which could be caused by pH lockout issues. You should definitely be testing your pH, if you're low on cash you can get pH test strips or a pH drop test kit. I got a GH pH kit that has the dropper plus pH up and pH down, I dont think it cost too much. I actually have a digital trimeter but I got the kit for the pH up and down. Test your runoff water as well as the water you're feeding it. I do hydro so I'm not sure about soil testing.
I hope you figure things out.

 

[Bedlam]

so i went to walmart today and got some bromothymol blue... to test for ph, and that stuff will only measure between 6.0 and 7.4 i believe. well i tested my tap water that ive been using, and it was as blue as blue can be... which means 7.4+. anyone know how reliable this stuff is? that would explain the trouble i've been having right?

so in that case, how should i remedy the problem? can i just squeeze some lemon juice in there? if so, how much should i do to balance out the problem? or should i just flush? thanks anyone who's watching.

 

[greenpenguin]

Bedlam,
I'm not too experienced with the low-tech methods but yeah lemon juice works as pH down. There's no real formula to give you because different water has different pH buffering capabilities so it's really just a trial and error, try a little at a time and retest. I don't know what you're financial situation is but I'd really invest in something a little more accurate with a larger ph range.

For example here we have a nice pH management kit from general hydro which comes with a tester AND pH up and down
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=52934

or for the even more budget conscious...

http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=49723
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=49736


Also don't forget to test your runoff and good luck! Hopefully some more people can chime in as well.

 

[Bedlam]

Bedlam,
I'm not too experienced with the low-tech methods but yeah lemon juice works as pH down. There's no real formula to give you because different water has different pH buffering capabilities so it's really just a trial and error, try a little at a time and retest. I don't know what you're financial situation is but I'd really invest in something a little more accurate with a larger ph range.

For example here we have a nice pH management kit from general hydro which comes with a tester AND pH up and down
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=52934

or for the even more budget conscious...

http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=49723
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=49736


Also don't forget to test your runoff and good luck! Hopefully some more people can chime in as well.

sick, thanks for those links man. unfortunately i'm at the end of my budget, so tonight i used vinegar and flushed a few of them with lower ph water. i'll post pics after i see how it goes.

 

[Bedlam]

well, here are some shots of the little ones from yesterday:








the most stretching occured on that first plant, all the others are really close in their node structure.

as you can see, they're still powering through the torture i've put them through, but with some problems. leaves are still drying up, curling and decaying.
I flushed them out with distilled water that was around 6.3 ph or close to that, and successfully lowered the ph on some, but the runoff on others was still high 7's by the time i couldn't get any more water through them.

i am planning on waiting til they are completely dry, testing the ph once more, then feeding them some nutrients at half dose.

ah, only time. only time.

 

[Marshmello]

In comparison to other things I have seen here, @ 3 weeks your seedlings are surely seeing some kind of deficiencies. I wish I could offer up some help but I'm new to all of this. Maybe by bumping this it will get you a little more help.
Good Luck.

peAce

 

[janedope]

ok Bedlam here's a few pointers.... The first and biggest problem i can see is from reading through your thread. you gotta pick one method and stick with it... as far as the PH issue i would say yes you need to PH your water... some experienced growers would say you dont, either way you gotta pick one and stick with it... constantly trying new things like new nutes, different PH levels, different soloutions to control PH, all these changes in the enviornment are killing your plants. Secondly your plants were WAY to young for nutes.... like not even close to ready for them.... Third there's probably a 0% chance these plants are ready by the time you want them to be... i would forget bringing bud home for christmas, thats not even reasonable...

As far as the PH if you want a reccomendation i use lemon juice to bring down my tap water... literally about 3 drops will bring a gallon of tap down from 7.6 to about 6.2 in my case... just make sure your familiar with your tester and are accuarately testing... also test your runoff from after you water... about 6.4-6.8 is ideal....

Are you growing organic or chemically?? FoxFarm is a very organic soil compound, I use FFOF and i grow completely organic, no nutes at all besides some gwano in my soil which is completely organic... if you choose to and chem nutes you may wanna consider a different soil mix that will take the chems better...

Also how often are you watering??? it looks like you might be over watering....
hope some of this info helps, i'll keep checkin back, also take a look at my thread for some pointers if you like ....

 

[Bedlam]

thanks man.

i only just realized ph could be a problem, which is why i'm now pHing my water. the ph in the pots must have been 8.0++. the plants were starting to look really bad, and since i flushed them with ph'ed water the damage has slowed to a crawl, and new growth looks much healthier, which makes me believe they were experiencing lockout. now that i'm working on getting the ph problem under control, i have full confidence i can get at least something out of these plants. they probably look overwatered because i had just flushed them before taking those pictures. i'm waiting until they dry out completely before watering them with some nutrients. before that, i watered about two times a week, waiting for the soil to dry out completely between watering.

stay tuned.

 

[Black Ra1n]

Just some advice man, I would add more perlite to your soil mix. It looks a little packed from the pics. What kind of soil are you using? Don't skimp on the soil, it makes a huge difference. A nice loose soil will give you happy roots and in the end a happy plant. Like janedope said, go easy on the nutes till you find the right mix for the strain you're growing. Hope everything turns around for ya man, that cab looks somewhat like mine, works great too. Get yourself a temp/humidity gage in that cab, it will tell you what's going on.

B/R

 

[greenpenguin]

Bedlam
How are things going with your grow? Did you recover from your issues?

 

[janedope]

bedlam, any progress??? how are the plants lookin? lets see some pics!!

 

[Bedlam]

Well... I'm kind of embarrassed at how crap these plants are doing, but you requested pictures so here they are. I think they are a little older than a month, and have been in 12/12 for almost 2 weeks with no signs of sex. I think my problem is soil and water quality.

Group:



Counter-Clockwise from the bottom left:

















So. Unless I find a babysitter to watch them for their last weeks, I have to chop them at december 18th. I know I won't get any bud off these, what do you all suggest I do? I've heard about taking cuttings and leaving them in the fridge for several weeks, would this be worth it? Should I grow all of them out and make hash with whatever I've got by that time? Should i cut the males or leave em? There is one plant, number 7 I believe, that has surpassed all the others in a very big way, even in less than ideal conditions. If it is female, i bet this would be a killer mother. any help is appreciated!

 

[Bedlam]

nevermind... i looked at them closer and they are definitely starting to show sex. the big one is a female, booya! but that still doesnt change the fact they're gonna be cut short... oh well. so should i chop the males? because i think at least two have revealed their masculinity.

 

[otherwhitemeat]

Bedlam,

Unless you are going to pollenate and make seeds, get rid of yer males when you are sure.

May I ask what you are using for soil? It looks like regular yard dirt with some minor amendments. Even a decent potting soil from Walmart or whatever would be better than regular 'dirt' You definitely have some issues with yer plants, either overfeeding or ph lockout. Lemon juice, vinegar, etc will only modify the ph for a short period of time. 7.4 is quite high, but a decent quality soil will help you buffer somewhat. My water ph is 7.2, but my soil stays at 7.0 all the time. I use FoxFarms Ocean Forest, but I've heard about good success with any balanced soil.

With this soil, I don't really start adding nutes until the 3-4 week (right before 12/12. Now, I am no expert---but I am starting to get the hang of things.

These aren't going to be ready by Dec 18, I would advise taking cuttings and putting any of your extra energy into ensuring their viability to save your genetics. Or revegging, but I don't think your plants will handle the stress.

I would also advise larger containers for flowering. Those keg cups are too small to carry you all the way through flowering. My T44 is in a 1G pot (I ran out of 3G at flowering time)

A known female, even in a small cup will ensure that when you are done with Xmas break, you can produce decent bud in just a few months. You've started the toughest part, and now you have the female genetics, so you can skip the sexing part when you get back from break.

For comparisons, here are some pics of my T44, about 22 days of 12/12 after about 28 days vegetative growth.

 

[Bedlam]

I actually did buy that "all purpose potting soil" gardenscape brand, but I might as well have just dug up some dirt from my backyard. so can you take cuttings of a plant in flower? what i'm saying is, should I take some cuttings off my biggest plant now and let them do their thing, or revert them to 24/0 and then take a cutting right before i leave? and how long can i make a cutting last in the fridge?

this sucks.

if i let them pollinate, would any seeds be ready by the time i leave?