stickyicky's MICRO grow (white skunk)

[stickyickyicky]

DAY 4

DAY 4

just a few more pics of day #4. prolly at about 1.25-1.50 inchs tall now. What should the plants look like before i transplant them to here pots? # of leaves? mabe a quick pic or 2? Please and thank you!

 

[stickyickyicky]

watering

watering

Mr. Micro- i forgot about watersprayer bottles. i'll have to pick one up. THANKS

Anyone else have a soil watering schedule?

I asked this earler on in my posts, but a good answer never came up... How do i prepare city water so that it does not hurt the plants?- R\O is outta the question to much $

 

[ixnay007]

City water should be fine, if you're not in the places that use other additives, you can do the 24 hours of in an open container to allow the chlorine to evaporate.

If you can afford a ph tester, simple water based ones at the fish store work fairly decently, and won't cost more than a couple bucks. As ph goes, with soil you'd have to have some seriously unbalanced water for your plants to notice...

Schedule wise, the easiest way to tell is to pick your plants up before their first watering, then after you've watered them, then you'll know what wet and dry soil feel like, and use that as a simple guide to how often.. most people wait til the soil is fairly dry, it's easier to avoid overwatering that way... overwatering sucks

BTW, spelling tip for the day, too much is what you wanted to say

 

[stickyickyicky]

ixnay007- thanks! i am prolly the worst speller there is. combine that with my horable proper English and u get some of the worst reading there is.... HAHAHAHAHA but as long as i get the point across i feel ok about it.

 

[pieceofmyheart]

I would say you can transplant them about any time. I realize that you are using MG, do you have any perlite? It is very inexpensive, and you definately need it. Mix it at least 50% perlite to 50% MG.

Don't add any ferts for a while , wait and see what they look like at about 3 weeks or so before you add anything to them.

I would just leave the water sitting out for 24 hours and try not to worry about too much, just go with it.

 

[stickyickyicky]

pomh- yeah i set out a cup of water and i am just going to use that until they start really drinking alot. i am gonna get some perlite tomorrow and mix it up with the soil.
update pics in a few hours..... stay tuned

 

[stickyickyicky]

well the plants touched the top of there humid dome today so i removed the top. GOOD OR BAD? should i keep the top off or should i leave it on just make it taller? each plant has its secondary set of its first set of leaves... (does that even make sence?)

ps. turned on the fan to get some air moving in the closet. SETTING - (LOW) 4 feet away from the babys. indirect shot from the fan

 

[Mr_Micro]

Plants are lookin pretty good Sticky

How close do you have your lights to those seedlings though? They look like they're starting to stretch quite a bit! Make sure to get your CFLs right down ontop of those babies (Like an inch or so away) to prevent them from stretching anymore.

Other than that, they're lookin happy!

Edit: Personally, I'd leave the humidity dome off from here on out. I've never used a dome before and never had problem with seedling growth...but then again, I've always grown hydro, so maybe thats something a bit more important with soil. I really don't know. But I do know that the humidity dome is going to reduce the ammount of light your plants are receiving and at this stage, if you want to keep em short and not have them stretch, maximum lighting is essential.

 

[Don Logan]

Hey stickyickyicky. Your setup looks really cool. I like micro grows that use cheap materials (price-wise). If I were you, I would start thinking of a reflector design for your lights. Not that you need it right now, but down the road when your babies start to take off it would be nice to concentrate the light onto the plants.
Another idea is to take some cardboard pieces and tape some flat white computer paper (can be found on sale sometimes for less than $5 for 500 sheets) onto them, making one side compleatly white. Use these cheap "mirrors" or reflectors to bounce back light onto the plant(s) from the sides.

Peace

 

[pieceofmyheart]

Don't ya love how they grow so fast? I love watching those seedlings change so quickly.

I made reflector out of dollar store disposable baking pans, 2 for a buck.

 

[sproutco]

Your seedlings are getting leggy/too tall. Make sure to keep the lights right near the top of the seedlings. Almost touching.

 

[bounty29]

Yeah, you should probably move the bottom of the lights to at least be even with the tops of the larger pots you have on either side of the CD spindle. That should limit the stretch. It does look like you're using warm lights though, not the optimum side of the spectrum for seedlings and vegging. It's not bad for the plants, but they will stretch a bit more because of it.

 

[Guest]

They look great. Good idea to keep the paper towels as a humidity buffer. If the jiffy's dry out, the roots take a bad hit.I love the jiffy pots, very cheap and easy to use. POMH has some awesome info as she has the micro grow dialed in, the perlite info is solid.
One piece of advice I'd give you is that once you transplant to a bigger pot, to not keep the soil bogged wet, and many people will tell you to let the soil dry out etc.

Just check the pots by weight, if they feel heavy, they don't need more water. fluoros are cool and depending on temps, the soil tends to dry slowly compared to high output lights. Be careful not to let the jiffy pot (which will always be near the base of the plant) dry out completely though. I've seen people let the top layer of soil dry out too much, causing the jiffy pots to constrict like a rock and dry out the root zone by the stem. By letting the lower layers of soil dry a bit and the top layer semi-moist and cool, you will be fine.
I like to flood mine, so there are no dry spots in the pots, then let them dry out over several days moisting the top layer only as needed to keep temps lower in the room and keeping the jiffy pots from getting bone dry near the surface.

Looks like you're having a very fun time, while saving a fortune - Well done!!

 

[stickyickyicky]

Day 5

Day 5

got some stuff today.... 2 - tubs. timer. vermiculite. 2 more lights and attachments and cord. about $50

drilled holes in the bottom for airflow on 3 sides front is going to be the blank side (no holes)...

drilled holes in the lid for the lights. using the lid until they out grow it and i have to move to the other tub....

light installed.

Timer and vLITE

 

[stickyickyicky]

those light are only about an inch or less away. they werent atfirst because i could only get them to the top of the cd case. now it is removed and they shouldnt strech to much anymore.

ill keep my eye on those pots FLAMENGO. thanks

looking to mix up the vLITE and SOIL tomorrow and transplant those babys. SHIT i forgot to grab another 6" pot. might have to hit up the store again tomorrow too!

if i dont want them to get very large when should i start 12\12. i need to know what SEX i have? before i get my hopes up.

thanks for the help pomh, sprout, bounty, and flame !!!

 

[stickyickyicky]

 

[stickyickyicky]

4 - 42watt cfls = 168 watts

I need to make sure it doesnt get too hot in there. i think i am gonna cut holes in the top until i put the other top on...

 

[SuperZero]

or you could not put the top on and angle it so the corners are open, until you get some computer fans(I use a single 100mm for exhaust with 156watts) and another tub.

 

[NiteTiger]

Just to clear up any misunderstandings -

Did you get perlite as well as vermiculite? I ask because perlite and vermiculite do totally opposite things. Perlite aerates the soil and helps with drainage, whereas vermiculite actually holds water in.

Looks like things are going great! Certainly brings back some memories, looks almost exactly like my first grow

 

[stickyickyicky]

Nitetiger- i found out that the MG soil (mix) already has perlite in it. when i took the soil outta the bag it was very lite and airy. I added a little Vlite because it wasnt what i thought it was going to be(topsoil-ish) really wet and heavy. if i added more perlite i was afraid it wouldnt hold any water at all. was this a good idea or bad?

superzero- do u have any picks of that setup?