SmokinErb's Vertical Garden - CMH - Speed Queen, Mandala#1 & Bagseed.

[SmokinErb]

Few more pics. Also the plants are kinda droopy because I let them dry out real well before I transplant. They'll be perky come tomorrow.

I'll probably throw those ones in the 2 liter bottles into flower this weekend. Just make a small light proof tent and stick 'em in that for their 12 hours.

Also just got a confirmation from the Doc:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]...your[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] order has been recieved and payment approved , we will shortly be picking your items from our store and sending them to you by royal mail . you will receive a dispatch notice as soon your items are on there way."[/FONT]

 

[SmokinErb]

Put 7 plants into flower today. Threw them in the 24 hour dark period at 9:00 PM, so tmw night at 9:00 PM they'll be back under the light for 12 hours.

Pics of the plants I'm flowering:

 

[SmokinErb]

More.

 

[SmokinErb]

I built a little space in the corner of the closet to hold the plants. I'll be moving them manually, which will suck, but it'll be worth the extra effort in a couple months.

It's just some 5.5 mil black painters plastic taped to the walls with a sheet of it taped to the wall then draped over the top.

The closet it in isn't totally light proof, but there's no direct light shining on the plastic, so I'm pretty sure its 100%.

Oh yeah, here's a pic of the rest of it. removing those 2 liters removed a lot of shaded areas. It's sweet. Anyway, that blower fan, don't mind it I'm not using it. It's just kinda in there right now.

 

[catman]

Looking good man. Vert is pretty fun eh?

 

[SmokinErb]

Yeah, I'm enjoying it. I've actually got another one coming in the mail along with some 3 gallon bags. I just wanna get my 2nd and 3rd levels going. Everything right now is just pretty temporary. I've got some panda plastic to wrap around it, but no point in that before its built all the way.

Hell I've still got some seeds coming. I'm just growing what I can so long as I got the equipment. Some of these will be going outdoors as well. The REAL grow is going to be centered around the Mandala strains.

 

[SmokinErb]

Ahem. Time to get busy.

Seeds arrived - 4/5.

They will be germinated shortly. Gotta get some distilled water. No superthrive, this time. The flowering time for both is listed at no more than 60 days. April is the 2nd month of my 6 month lease. So I figure I'll begin flowering NO later than mid-May for any of these two.

Let's see what these babies can do. THIS is what it's all about right here, for me at least. Known genetics

Mandala seeds are going to be dropped into some bottled water whenever I decide to pass out tonight. I'll be moving them out of the water first thing when I wake up. Trying to decide on paper towels or straight to some small cups of my mix. I think I'll be doing 6 of each.

Edit: Okay so I went with 5 of each. They're now soaking in a bottle of drinking water and will do so overnight.

 

[SmokinErb]

Didn't really do much today either. Still waiting on more equipment to arrive - but I got to get around to finish building the shelves, at least.

I did have to top a couple of the more sativa-dominate strains as they were getting ridiculously tall - about 2 nodes were taken off of each of the two plants. One seemed to be showing female pre-flowers, so we'll see how that turns out.

Went ahead and took a couple of pics. The cats keep sneaking in the room and chewing on my damn leaves. Ticks me off but what can you do?

Temps have ranged from uhm, mid 70's to as high as 90. That's also varying distance from the bulb, but some of the closer ones are in some higher temps. They'll be fine. Seems to average about low-to-mid 80's most of the time.

 

[SmokinErb]

Hm, so I got up to transplant the seeds, but only 2 outta 5 of the speed queen seeds have sank. 5/5 for the Mandala#1.

Think I'll give 'em a few more hours - just in case.

I was also about 20-30 minutes late putting the plants back into the dark, haha. Slept in a little bit. So I guess its 9:30 instead of 9:00 now. I suck about waking up early.

Fuck this manual shit. I'll be glad once the lights are 12/12.

 

[catman]

Don't bother with the paper towel method. Just put them straight in dirt. No other farmer other than the cannabis farmer thinks he has to soak his beans either.

LOL about the cats. A lot of growers trim the outside of their vert grow anyway.

 

[SmokinErb]

Going to the hydro store today. Not sure exactly what I'll pick up yet, but needless to say, there will be some additions. Trying to finish the cab, so I think I'm grabbing an inline fan, possibly a carbon scrubber. And maybe another light? We'll know soon enough.

I was going to leave the seeds in the water a bit longer, but I noticed one of the Mandala#1 seeds had cracked. So I decided to throw them into paper towels. More likely than not I'll transplant them before they all crack. Maybe some rapid rooters or some 8oz cups of medium. Not sure yet. Peat pots are out though.

Oh for the pics. The ones on the left SHOULD be the Speed Queen and on the right the Mandala. I've got them labeled, I'm just not sure which way I had the Pyrex dish orientated. The Speed Queen seeds are a bit darker in color overall, so that looks about right.

 

[bobblehead]

I try to have as little contact as possible with seeds/seedlings... They're very fragile at this point, and don't need to be handled more than necessary. Just a suggestion for the future.
Once they're all grow up you can bend them in half without worries... lol

 

[SmokinErb]

Oh I know, I use tweezers cleaned in alcohol when moving them. I checked out your vertical thing you got going, and man that purp looks dank. Great line-up coming too. Wish I could afford some beans like that.

Okay, so things are getting a little crazy right now. Today was... something else. Went to the hydro shop, ended up with 2 flat tires, had to call AAA, which took them 3 hours (in which I walked a few miles to the nearby headshop). This 3 hours caused me to be late to getting my flowering plants back into the light, but I imagine the extra hour and a half of darkness should hurry the flowering process along.

Anyway here's what I ended up with:

Hydrofarm 400w ballast
OptiLume 400w HPS bulb
Cheap ass reflector (which I won't be using, it came as a "system" for $220)
Cord set (mogul base to ballast)
Hannah pH meter (which the guy at the hydro shop happened to forget to mention that i need to soak it in a solution before using it)
60x/100x microscope
4" square pots (for my seeds)
Free sample of Humboldt Snow Storm Ultra (4oz)

I also got a package today containing:

FF Big Bloom
25x 3 gallon grow bags

As far as the seeds go, 4 out of 5 of the Mandala#1 have cracked. I'll be transplanting them all into the 4" square pots tonight.

0 of the 5 Speed Queen have cracked. I uhm, think I'm gonna wait on the transplant with these. I know it's better to do it now, but I wanna make sure they crack first.

I still need a damn fan and filter =/ And the solution for my meter. And a shit-ton more medium, probably like 5 bags, at least? That shit runs $20 a bag. God dammit, this is getting expensive.

So I realize that the bulb isn't a CMH. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to use it. I really don't see the benefit of it over a CMH bulb, and it runs hotter. My temps are already as high as I'd like them with one bulb. Extra bulbs are handy. As are reflectors. I might end up trying a horizontal DWC ScOG as well. Who knows?

Anyway. Blunt. Then transplant. I might edit back with some pictures later, we'll see.

Edit - 1 out of 5 of the Speed Queen cracked so I went ahead and transplanted all 10 seeds into 4" square pots with the same medium. The medium was watered down with 2 tbsp/gal big bloom per the feeding schedule suggestion. The medium is nute-free so I should be good.

 

[SmokinErb]

Oh yeah, can anyone tell me anything about that Humboldt Snow Storm Ultra?

Not sure if I want to use it or not. The sample is enough for about 20 gallons of water, which realistically won't do much unless I choose a plant or two which only receive it. Might actually do that with 1 each of the Mandala and Speed Queen.

 

[SmokinErb]

Nothing important, really.

-Still haven't finished the cab
-Still haven't gotten a fan/filter
-No preflowers that I've seen
-Temps hit 64* this morning. I was impressed.
-Fucked up the flowering ones again. They got another extra hour of darkness and one of them accidentally got left out around the light. I really don't give a damn about them, and can't be assed to pull myself outta bed in the morning for them. I'd just as soon throw them out. I'll be flipping to 12/12 soon enough and continue vegging my bushes separately.

I DO have a few new sprouts. I think 3 have broken soil. I take a picture in the morning, give them a little more time to open up.

 

[SmokinErb]

Okay so I went around today and took some pics while feeding them a little. Gave 'em 2 tsp/gal Grow Big along with the 2tbl/gal Big Bloom as some of the lower leaves had started to yellow. Strange enough, this is the first dose of nitrogen I've given them since i first transplanted them into those Solo cups.

All of my Speed Queen have popped through the soil, as well as basically all of the Mandala#1. There's one that hasn't quite come up yet, but I can see it peeking through the medium. It'll be up tomorrow morning. The Speed Queens were a little dried out so I gave 'em a little bit of some bottled water each.

Coupla bud shots that I took earlier. It's Indica shit grown around here. Don't ever let me do nothing.

I'll also get around to taking some pics of the ones I got flowering right now when they come out here in about 45 minutes.

And the canopy is starting to fill in. I'll be having to put in that second light/level soon enough.

 

[SmokinErb]

Bagseed#1:

Shortest plant - 8" (topped)

Tallest plant - 11" (untopped)

I haven't determined the sex of any yet, I keep looking daily hoping to see something soon.

As for the pics, I took a pic of all of them together, grabbed one and took a shot from overhead and from the side. Yes they are are wilting slightly, fed them just before taking these pics.

 

[SmokinErb]

Bagseed#2:

Shortest plant - 9"

Tallest plant - 12"

 

[SmokinErb]

Bagseed#3:

Shortest plant - 9"

Tallest plant - 12"

 

[Chief]

nice lookin good