Brownie's First Grow - LED - DWC & Bag Seed - Oh, My!

[Brownies]

Hi all! I'm just about to go to work, but I thought I'd at least get a thread started here!

I just recently became heavily enthralled with researching how to grow and after a few months of researching, I thought it was finally time to just get started.

This is my first time growing anything ever, and I'm having a really good time with it, thus far!

This grow has been going on for 2 months tomorrow, and I'm really excited to continue afterwards.

I'm not necessarily growing for a massive yield (I'm not going to complain if it happens), but more for the experience and understanding of the growing process and knowledge for what to do next time.

Anyways! Let's go through the setup!

System: DWC
- 5 Gallon bucket per plant
- 3" Netpots
- 254 gph Air Pump
- Clay Pebbles

Lights: 360 Watt LED all the way, baby.

Nutrients: General Organics Lineup
- BioThrive Grow
- BioThrive Bloom
- CaMg+
- Bio Root
- Bio Weed
- Bio Marine

I think that's the basic info. I'm running all of this in a 39x39x60 tent, so I'm not going to grow any of the plants that survive out too tall.

I'll post a picture of what the seedlings looked like for some eye-candy, and I'll update this journal more when I return from work later tonight or tomorrow! Just keep in mind that this grow is already 2 months in, I just want to document all of the things I've gone through.

 

[Brownies]

re: Brownie's First Grow - LED - DWC & Bag Seed - Oh, My!

Alright, so here's some background on the grow.

Seedlings

At this point I was still getting everything situated in the tent and was still trying to get the humidity and temperature correct. The temperature was bouncing everywhere from 62 to 94, and that just wasn't going to fly. Eventually after I bought a small space heater from Wal Mart and suspended it from the top of the tent, I got everything solved.

For the record, if anyone else out there is growing in small tent in a cold place like me, that space heater is really helpful. It was like $16 and it automatically shuts off if it gets too much hotter than the desired temperature, and automatically turns on when it gets lower than the desired temperature. The only downside is that you have no idea what you're setting the temperature at on it, because it uses a dial with no real guide of temperature, so you have to wing it and adjust accordingly based on what your thermometer reads.

I also purchased a humidifier which was around $60 to keep my tent humid enough for the seedlings. You can pretty much set the humidity level at whatever percentage you want, which is great, however it only goes up to 60%. That was good enough for me!

Here are some pictures of the first seedlings. I germinated 8 seeds with the intention of only growing 4 plants. This was my first time ever germinating seeds, so I just assumed worse case scenario, I kill half of them due to lack of knowledge and experience and learn from it. BUT, they all popped and they all broke through the surface.

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You might be able to notice that one of the seedlings still had the seed around it. I figured it would grow out of it eventually, but I ended up just slowly sliding it off myself, and didn't seem to harm it. Also the one in the back right never showed its root and stayed that size. 7/8 was good enough.
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I planted the four best looking ones after a lot of roots began popping out the bottom of the rockwool.
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[Brownies]

re: Brownie's First Grow - LED - DWC & Bag Seed - Oh, My!

Vegetative

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Not really much new in terms of equipment in the tent. I'm missing a carbon filter, but I didn't want to buy that if I eventually ended up killing the plants before they started to stink anyway.

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I just followed the nutrient guide that General Organics has for their nutrients, just in lower amounts while they were still seedlings, and slowly upped them to full.

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I chopped one of them because it got that dreaded slime. But looking back on it, I bet I could have solved the problem. It just looked droopy and sad, so I put it out of its misery.

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Other than that, things went pretty smooth. One of them decided not to grow, so I had to get rid of that one, too. However, that left me with two pretty awesome plants: Mary and Jane.

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Mary is my experiment plant where I'm going to be trying all kinds of different training to.

Jane is plain, and I'm going to let it grow without training it at all to have a side by side experiment to see how much of a difference training a plant does.

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What I've been doing to Mary is simply bending her main branches out, just like you would stretch a muscle. Then, the branch just kind of stays in the position. I did this to get more light to lower areas in hopes of a lot of growth all over. I also topped her in a couple of places.

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I did some slight super cropping too. But not as extreme as I've seen on here, because every time I touch these plants I feel like they'll shatter if I handle them too rough.

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Well so far, it's looking like Mary is one big bush of a plant, and I'm excited for her to flower.

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[Brownies]

re: Brownie's First Grow - LED - DWC & Bag Seed - Oh, My!

Early Flowering

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And now here we are. Just a few weeks after the switch to 12/12.

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I have a carbon filter installed and functioning and everything is good to go. Just keep keeping them alive is the goal.

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I had to top Jane because she was getting too tall. I also broke off one of the main colas after switching the res out. Lesson learned: Don't switch the res inside the 5 foot tent with lights and fans all over the place.

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Other than that, things seem to be going nice. I've been lightly defoliating Mary. Just trying to get more light down to the other growth areas. Seems to be working.

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Mary is currently 17 inches tall and 32 inches wide. More of a rectangle than a square though. But I bet she would thrive if she had the tent to herself.

I should probably get a screen or something for Mary, but we'll see what happens!

If anyone is reading this, you are now up to date. Congratulations! You've earned an early flowering shot of Mary!

 

[Brownies]

re: Brownie's First Grow - LED - DWC & Bag Seed - Oh, My!

I think I had some iron and sulfur deficiencies, and I was just wondering what people did if/when that occurs for them. I didn't know if I could just add some more nutrient mix from the General Organics that contained iron and sulfur, or if that would give it too much of the other stuff (nitrogen and phosphorus) that was also in it. So if anyone has any advice on that, that'd be great!

 

[yuyo]

re: Brownie's First Grow - LED - DWC & Bag Seed - Oh, My!

you might foliar spray with an epsom salt mix...like a 1/4 teaspoon per quart of water
thats good for you in that it helps with sulfur and mag,it will also help the calcium as mag promotes better uptake
a lower ph, a slight change makes a big difference, helps with iron intake
dwc calls for a 5.8 to 6 ph? not sure as i have no dwc experience

my tips are general and apply to all types of growing
maybe someone with more experience will chime in soon
keep up the good work
take care

 

[Brownies]

re: Brownie's First Grow - LED - DWC & Bag Seed - Oh, My!

Here's a little mini update! I was switching out the res for Mary and decided to snap a quick pic of her. She's coming along very well! It's very exciting. The bud sites are starting to get frosty, but I don't have a camera capable of showing you guys.

Anyway! Here's what she looks like!

I also have a Pyramid Purple Auto going that I didn't tell anybody about! I'm hoping the auto will be done around the same time as the photos.

 

[Brownies]

Another little update coupled with a question!

I set a personal goal for myself that in order to call this first grow a "success", I wanted to get at least an ounce from my plants. However, I have no idea how much the plant looks like it's going to yield, as I have no previous experience to compare it with. I was just wondering if Mary looked like she is going to produce a lot of bud. I've still got at least 5 weeks left of flowering, and as much as I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, I want to get a general idea of what I'm looking at here, so if anyone has any past experience and feels like they can give me an extremely rough estimate, that'd be awesome.

Here are some pictures, I put an Arizona can for size comparison.

Also, I guess these pictures are completely incorrect and for some reason I can't upload any pictures right now to fix it, but here they are anyway!

Also, say hello to the Pyramid Auto Purple seedling!

 

[yuyo]

nice and busy in there
keep up the good work

 

[Brownies]

Big changes went underway this week.

These changes might be gruesome to some, so viewer discretion is advised.

I had two big bushes of plants, but I had to come to the conclusion that this tent ain't big enough for the both of 'em, so I offed Jane, keeping all of her branches, leaves, and little tiny bud spots to maybe make something out of later.

The remains.​

I also decided to give Mary the haircut of her life. She's looking pretty naked now, but shes basking in all of the light by herself, and I'm hoping this will give some excellent nugs. Not necessarily looking for a crazy yield, but experience and knowledge. Watching these grow and understanding how it all works is incredible.

Here's what she's looking like now.

I'm excited for the weeks to come! I think it'll be a good outcome. I dried some of the premature bud that I took off and, I must say, it does the job. I'm impressed that I grew my own functional, albeit premature, bud.

Also! Can't forget the autoflower. The fourth set of leaves is starting to sprout out, and the first three sets are looking pretty nice. I'm very excited for this one too.

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[Brownies]

In fact, this grow is still alive, but not for much longer.

A lot of stuff has happened, but I'll just go over the major parts.

First being one of my LED's went out, even though it was brand new at the beginning of the grow. I paid $380 for it, and it was a 360 Watt. Instead of messing around to get that repaired I instantly bought a Mars Hydro LED. I bought the 400 Watt and it was only $189. And from what I've seen, it's performing very well.

Second being I stopped feeding my plant the Bio Marine from General Organics, because I think it might have gone bad somehow. ?? But after I stopped, shortly after my plant started growing new roots. So, I think next go, I'm just not even going to bother with the Bio Marine, because ever since I stopped, the plant has done a lot better.

Last, I took out the Auto Purple because it was just an experiment to see if it was actually going to be purple, and it was. I wouldn't have any room for it if I let it grow along with the other plant. So I took it out.


Anyways! We're almost there, folks. Maybe another week or two of flushing and I think it'll be time.
The buds are really fattening up right now, and it's really fun to watch on a daily basis. I don't think I'm going to get too too much in terms of yield, but I'm okay with that in exchange for the experience.

Alright, here are some pictures, finally.

 

[Brownies]

Updating the thread with some photos of better quality!

Criticism is encouraged; I want to know if I'm doing things wrong.

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please feel free to start a new journal here: Journals in Progress

You can use the Report Post feature found at the bottom left of every post and we'll move it for you right away.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.