Crown Royal 3x3 Indoor In Cold Room, Soil

[TryingHigh]

So here goes...

This is a first grow attempt but I've done a great deal of research, google, journal reading before hand. With a first grow - i expected to gain experience and keep things somewhat standard and vanilla. Nothing goes as planned.

As of now, I'm still in the vegetative stage and faced some interesting challenges. My plants aren't health (yet) but they are alive.

I've been keeping all my grow journal notes locally, but I figured it was time to post. I'll start with some of my plan, thoughts and then get directly into the timeline and pictures.

First off - description of where I planned to grow. Growing 4 plants will be legal soon (few days), so I thought I would attempt growing myself. I couldn't really place in the finished part of my house because I entertain a lot - and there still is a stigma. I have a weird "out building" that I refer to as my "cold room". You need to go outside to access it. It is is lockable, insulated, private and 'unheated'. I'm really going to find out how much this impacts my ability to grow as it is my "only space". It gets cold in there in the winter, but it is such a small and insulated space - I can manage keeping it warm without too much $money$ dumped into it.

Room itself is about 12 x 12, but only 6 foot ceiling. Gravel floor. I had to get a tent that wasn't 80inches high. This limited my tent size..

Ended up going with a MarsHydro 39''x39''x70'' . I'm pleased with it. So a tad bigger than 3x3.

I did tons of light research, and I ended up going with a Vivosun 600watt bulb and ballast mostly because I was on some older sites that said HPS is the way to go. Lots of negativity on LEDs. I've since come to rethink / re educate myself and think that LED can really work for some. Because of the nature of the grow room and the extra heat I would need.. I think HPS was good for me.

My plan was for 16/8 hour cycle for the light during veg. (Plans change as you will see later)

So I started ordering my equipment. I had been thinking about this for a while, so I was squirrelling away a 20$ here and there. I decided to dive in and just start earlier than the legalization. I knew I wouldn't be flowering by the time legalization dates rolled around. Just a head start by a month or two.

I ordered 10 seeds from Crop King / Crown Royal.

So the gear started to arrive.

 

[TryingHigh]

When the tent arrived, and the air filtration system (6inch vivosun 440cfm inline) - I looked at my 60 inches of head space, 60 inch tent and 6 inch vents, and though -- I need 6 inches of clearance. Since I had a gravel floor, I decided to "lower the floor" a bit. Basically just shifted around 6 inches of gravel from the 3x3 floor space and started.

When i finally got the tent setup, only then did I realize I didn't need the 6inch above, because of so many vents available in the tent I got.

So far, I'm liking the gear, the tent -- and the light setup went fine. Per my diagram above, I needed to modify the room a bit and create an input and exhaust to outside. We had some hot weather this summer, so the input was needed the start -- but not when the temperature outside changed.

Here was my plan:

•Week 0 – Seed Germination and Sprouting
•Week 1 – September 3 (7 days)
•Week 2 - September 10 (14 days)
•Week 3 – September 17 (21 days)
Week 4 – September 24 (28 days)
•Week 5 – October 1 (35 days)
•Week 6 – October 8 (42 days)
•Week 7 – October 15 (49 days)
•Week 8 – October 22nd ( 56 days)
• Week 9 – October 29th Turn to Flower (63 days)
•Week 10 - November 5th (70 days)
•Week 11 – November 12( 77 days)
•Week 12 – November 19(84 days)
•Week 13 - November 26 (91 days)
•Week 14 – December 3(98 days)

 

[TryingHigh]

Very eager to try things like mainlining or low stress training. Etc at the time. So seeds:

•Water + Hydrogen Peroxide drop (24 hours) in cup
•24h to 48h – Wet Paper Towel
•Seed Mix / High Humidity
•1 part fish compost, 1 part garden compost, 2 parts super soil, ½ perlite
•35 litres, 35 litres, 61 litres, 15 litres of perlite(8kg)
•Seeds Received on August 24th
•Placed in Water 16 hours (they were opening taproot)
•On August 25th, moved to damp paper towel.

August 26th, moved them all to rapid rooters. Saw some tap roots.
- Temperature was about 24C in Room
- Place inside tent. (5 hours) (12:30PM) [ Had to leave for family event, exhaust fan not plugged in]
- Temp in tent went up to 40C
- Humidity Went Down to 30%

So this began me "learning" about temperature maintenance of tent.

Added Wet Towel to Tent
Turned on fan at 5:30PM
-- Temp dropped quickly
My input fan pulled in some nice cool air. By 8PM, the humidity was 40%, Temp was down to 30C. By 9PM we were at 28C and 51% Humidity.

 

[TryingHigh]

Because I was just starting, my tracking is more intense to start. I'll share some detail and pics as I go.

August 27th - 7 AM
- Humidity 82
- Temperature 21C
August 27th, 9 AM (turned exhaust fan up)
- Humidity 50
- Temperature 30C
August 27th, 7:45PM (Move gauge to floor)
- Humidity 61%
- Temperature 27C
August 27th, 9PM (opened more vents)
- Humidity 71%
- Temperature 23C

I'm trying to find the right combination of fan speeds to regulate temperature and moisture inside the tent.

 

[TryingHigh]

I'm still learning my tent, equipment. I realized when I setup my timer, I only sent on/off for Monday. My light timer was a bit more difficult to configure or at least to figure out.

August 28th, 6AM (Light didn’t go off, not an Auto mode, learning equipment)
- Humidity 69%
- Temperature 23C
- Can see 4/5 plants with tap root, starting to sprout.
August 28th, 9:45PM
- Humidity 75%
- Temperature steady at 23C

So at this time, I tried to germinate 5, and only 4 are working.

 

[TryingHigh]

August 29th (Moved lights closer to sprouts)
- Temp 24C
- Humidity 59%
August 30th
- Temp 29C
- Humidity 50%

I had to go away for a few days - so when I got back:

September 3rd – Returned from Vacation after 4 days
- Added water.

September 4th – Finally got pH meter, moisture and lumens meter
- Ordered pH lowering solution

 

[Piña Delores]

Welcome to


I'll sub up if you don't mind, I've got a grow running on a similar schedule to you. Different part of the world with different issues though.

If your cold room is as cold as I suspect, HPS is probably the way to go for you. Your going to need the heat but I'm no expert.

 

[TryingHigh]

So here is where i made my first mistake. I had my lovely new combination pH, light and moisture meter. I started to take readings to understand what my soil is like. Time to talk soil:

I read a lot about light being the most important thing. I read about hydro, soil-less, and soil. I decided that soil was my way to go. I saw deals on soil and ended up with the above mentioned. I regret not also ordering some of the pre-mixed soil like fox farms or something.

 

[TryingHigh]

So that pH meter - it was broken. I tried to PH my water and use the device. I was watering with pH all over the place. Mostly acidic / too acidic because I thought the pH meter was telling me to adjust. You'll see shortly.

 

[TryingHigh]

September 6th
- Temperature 24C
- Humidity 35% (Put more water in tent to increase Humidity)
September 7th
- Humidity 40% (Still low. Spraying water bottle around tent)
- Temperature 22C (Ordered small heater as temps will start to drop in room)

September 8th
- Moved to new pots.

I noticed that the roots were starting to gather around the bottom of small pots. It was time. I was curious if they were growing lots of roots and the vegetative topside was growing slow. I saw peoples pictures and they were much larger than my 2 weeks.

I decided to provide nutrients. I added nutrients at very low dosage and was using the general hydroponics 3 solution (micro, bloom, flora) plus some calcium magnesium as well. More dilute than recommendations per my understanding / various tutorials and direction..

I noticed that the PH was still at 7 (meter reading) and I thought I needed to get down. The temp was 24C and the humidity was at 35%. Very dry weather.

 

[TryingHigh]

After re-potted, they look as attached. I figured now was the time they would sprout up. I had some cilantro growing in there. It later dies because they were on a different watering schedule than the 4 girls. They were feminized crop king seeds.

I started to suspect that i were not letting them dry out. Trying to be more diligent before deciding to water/feed.

 

[TryingHigh]

So I'm pretty sure that they looked more yellow than they should. I thought it was over watering. (might have been)

September 12th
- Do not water.
September 13th
- Do not Water.
September 14th
- Do not Water
September 15th
- Water (No Nutrients)
September 16th
- No Water

Sept 19th
- Plants look very yellow
Need to identify why (possible overwatering)
September 20th – No Water
September 21st – No Water
September 22nd – Fed
September 23rd, 24th, 25th,- No Water
September 26th – Fed Again. (I was away, so friend used feed rather than water. )
September 27th
September 28th
September 29th
September 30th
October 1st, Watered

Noticing what might be Nutrient burn. Will need to ask Google / forums for assistance. Could be cause of double feed rather than feed/water. Will need to verify my MicroFlora mix and model after someones elses instructions. Make sure I'm mixing correctly.

This is where experience has more value that ability to google.

You can see that there are spots on the plant. Not sure what they are. Calcium deficiency?

Not sure.

Catching up with timeline now.

 

[TryingHigh]

October 4th - I have my pH testing kit now. (Yes, I'll have to eventually get a digital one).

I realized my PH meter that I was using has no value. Piece of junk.

I potentially been feeding it really nasty pH water and/or nutes.

October 4 – Watered and properly Ph water.

October 5 – Realized I was going to be away for 5 days. I decided that it might be a calcium deficiency, so I decided to provide water and nutes.

I'm away now. I'll see how they look when I get back in a few days.

You can see the Oct 5th discoloration / bad leaves. I'm hoping the new growth comes in greener and doesn't show the spots. So this is like a week 5 plants, and maybe compares to peoples week 3.

Hopefully things get better. Next update/image will probably come around the 10th.

Any thoughts, questions - It is thanksgiving long weekend here. Any feedback, corrections, kicks in the ass are welcome.

 

[philthegeek]

Sorry, may have missed it above, but what soil mix you using??

 

[TryingHigh]

Sorry, may have missed it above, but what soil mix you using??

I had some left over garden supplies and made my own.. Super soil, fish, garden compost all "no-name' brand.
•1 part fish compost, 1 part garden compost, 2 parts super soil, ½ perlite
•35 litres, 35 litres, 61 litres, 15 litres of perlite(8kg)

 

[TryingHigh]

I had some left over garden supplies and made my own.. Super soil, fish, garden compost all "no-name' brand.
•1 part fish compost, 1 part garden compost, 2 parts super soil, ½ perlite
•35 litres, 35 litres, 61 litres, 15 litres of perlite(8kg)

And I would definitely not do that again. Will buy some off the shelf FF or equivalent next time.

 

[philthegeek]

Interesting. Wondering if your mix has a bit much in the way of nutes for seedlings?? Its nearly 50% compost of some sort. Me, i use a lighter mix that is 50% perlite overall. Gives good drainage and an aerated root zone.

"You can see the Oct 5th discoloration / bad leaves. I'm hoping the new growth comes in greener and doesn't show the spots. So this is like a week 5 plants, and maybe compares to peoples week 3. "

You have something going on nutes wise i reckon but not sure myself what. I have had issues before where i got spots and wierdness in the first leaves. They grow through it. Chill. Less is more for nutes in the early stages, thats why i favor a "fluffy" mix with some fertiliser, but not much. Any top down feed i do uses at most 1/2 strength nutes unti they are in flower. Feed less but more often.

If people kill of plants its usually by paying the too much attention and interfering to often. Relax and stuff will usually come good as the plants get bigger and more robust.

 

[TryingHigh]

Interesting. Wondering if your mix has a bit much in the way of nutes for seedlings?? Its nearly 50% compost of some sort. Me, i use a lighter mix that is 50% perlite overall. Gives good drainage and an aerated root zone.

"You can see the Oct 5th discoloration / bad leaves. I'm hoping the new growth comes in greener and doesn't show the spots. So this is like a week 5 plants, and maybe compares to peoples week 3. "

You have something going on nutes wise i reckon but not sure myself what. I have had issues before where i got spots and wierdness in the first leaves. They grow through it. Chill. Less is more for nutes in the early stages, thats why i favor a "fluffy" mix with some fertiliser, but not much. Any top down feed i do uses at most 1/2 strength nutes unti they are in flower. Feed less but more often.

If people kill of plants its usually by paying the too much attention and interfering to often. Relax and stuff will usually come good as the plants get bigger and more robust.

I'm pretty sure I shocked it with strongly acidic water. The brand new pH meter was broken and I was attempting to make my water more acid and it wasn't budging. Meanwhile I probably watered them with very acidic water. . I believe that is where things got bad. I think the will come back. I definitely did 1/4 strength of the recommended dosage for nutes. They look like they are settling now.

I consider my watering on the Oct 4th a "flush" followed by a feed on the 5th. It will be 4 days still I see how they are doing, so hoping for some deep greens on the newish growth.

 

[TryingHigh]

Back with more pictures.

Today, (Oct 9) I decided to just water them. No nutrients. I'm assuming I can see minor nutrient burn. The super yellowing seems to be gone now. I'm testing pH with the 3 drops in the vial / color wheel. I noticed that I was setting the pH of my water to be very near 6 (trying for 6.5). I know soil should be somewhere between 6 and 7. Decided that my watering would be pHed closer to 7 today.

Decided that I need to find a digital pH meter as the color wheel / drops in a vial / pH testing is a little too subjective.

The older leaves took most of the damage. Considering putting them into their final pot so I can start some LST activities. Maybe on the weekend / see if they continue to look healthy.

 

[Piña Delores]

Look like they're going to make good recovery.