First Grow-Aero-Stealth Box

[Sinsemillas]

Hey bro, I really like how your setup is coming along. Handy skills you've got there!. To my eyes, the light area around the edge of the leaves getting yellow, seems like potassium, and since your plant is still small, she shouldnt be loosing leaves to feed the upper ones, so I would say it lacks nitrogen as well. Dont feed her with anything strong now anyways, use any fer on a 1/3 or 1/4 dosis, and always check your PH, maybe thats the problem!

As a side note, transplanting should usually be done to similar or the same soil, there is no need to break the soil on the root ball, after the plant is on the new soil, make sure with both hands you press on well to make sure is making contanct with the new soil, and always water with plenty of water after the girl is on her new house.



Irie,

 

[Skybound]

Thnx bro. the old dirt was what felt like sand and clay, lots of clay. It was too hard for my fingers to bore through so I had to make a change.

 

[KingJohnC]

FoxFarm Ocean Forest is considered a "hot" soil to transplant small seedlings into and often causes burning to small plants. i do not believe you have a deficiency the soil's microbial action is just too strong for your plants at this stage, in the future i would mix the FoxFarm Ocean Forest soil 50% with another soil and perlite.

here is a leaf deficiency chart

here is the Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial

 

[Skybound]

Thanks John, now I know where to reference the chart. Thank God I mixed the FFOF with 40% additional perlite. Way too airy, but perhaps it is keeping some of the added strength at bay and the plant could have been worse.

Here is the box update. Note, since these pics were taken, I used a lot of duct tape and foam weater striping to mask about 95% of the light leaks.

 

[Skybound]

As it turns out, my PC fan sounds like someone is running a shower in an adjoining apartment (a no no). Is there such a thing as a timer that has a remote off switch for the times when company stops by? I adjusted the 30 minute time I have for 2 off and 1 on cycles, in conjunction with a small oscillating fan, the heat is kept at bay, but I'd like to have the ability to shut off the still pretty loud PC fan remotely if needed. Any thoughts?

 

[RainStacks]

I think it is awesome that you are building a micro grow, looking great! I am sure others like John can answer this better, but I think you want to keep the light cycle constant. I think turning things on/off can stress the plant. You could build in some noise insulating foam maybe? Perhaps just around the fan. I think the reason your plant is looking a little stressed is because of the transplant, and the loss of roots. It also looked a bit etiolated/stretched toward light to me as a sprout, so it may take it some time to recover. I agree with what the other guys said, and think less is more at this point. +reps for all your great work.

 

[KingJohnC]

for vegetative growth you want 18/6 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness and for flowering you want 12/12 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. turning a light on or off at the wrong time can stress your plants and may create a hermaphrodite plant.

 

[Skybound]

Thanks for reading my journal and sharing RainStacks. this situation I am in is a bit tricky as I was planning for my first grow to be an Aero under MH/HPS, but a complication arose where I needed to scrap that idea. In that same period, my roommate dropped a bag seed into some soil/compost mix he got from somewhere, but the texture was terrible and the plant didn't like it much. So I took the task of trying to maximize the potential, but I was not at all setup to do so. With that said, I have since been acquiring the stuff for my Aero setup (which is roughly 90% of everything) and using what little I had after that to get stuff for this 1 plant soil grow. Making little advances here and there, I applied them as I got them. First a cardboard box with a warm spectrum CFL, then a cool spectrum (6500 k) CFL, then some perlite to lighten to mystery soil. Then I got a Y light socket to add another 6500, I already had PC fans to use to exchange air, 5 days ago got some FFOF potting mix and added 40% additional perlite. Then today I installed a small wooden box to better manage heat and noise. Still need to make minor tweaks to that. also got a small oscillating fan to keep air moving inside as the PC fan does great for overall air exchange, but did little for internal circulation. I am nearing (if not already at) a spot where I feel comfortable to let nature take it's course. Tomorrow, with the delivery of my HID, I also expect the TDS meter and pH Control kit (3 drop tester w/up & down). this will allow me to better know the jugs of distilled water I buy vs the city tap water. I'd like to get more light in there, but until I can better manage the noise and better separate the in and out air, I don't want to push the envelope. Using the HID here is no longer an option, but I'm looking at several CFL and Floros to use in combo or apart. I will be giving it a good watering tomorrow as it's been 3 days since I only added a cup. Tomorrow should be a good day overall. Time will tell. Thanks again for all the feedback guys/gals.!!

 

[Skybound]

John, I've been with 18/6 since I took on this project. I plan to stay here for as long as I can as I'm not sure flowering at this location is an option yet unless I can completely seal the box and use some of this 20 LBs of activate carbon I have to filter the outlet air, but that's down the road a ways. I'm mostly concerned with noise leaks as the PC fan is kinda loud, or at least too loud for my liking. I have some foam weather strip between it and the wood that it's mounted to to handle some of the vibration, and also it is secured with machine screws so coming lose won't happen. Just would feel more comfortable if I had a remote of sorts to kill the power to it if someone came by. The oscillating fan would continue as it's pretty quiet and keeps the temps average.

Question, at what stage or age do these plants begin to produce a noticeable odor? I'd like to have a rough estimate of how long I have to figure out the carbon filter design.

 

[RainStacks]

You are most welcome. I would the odor is very strain dependent, and also depends on the conditions. My current outdoor grow I noticed some smell at about 3 weeks from a Blue Hawaiian hybrid which seems mostly indica dominant as far as the foliage goes. If I were to set up an off switch for the fan I would see what temps do w/o the plant in there. There is special foam that is noise canceling. I know it is possible to pretty much sound proof a room. A side affect may be that it also holds heat in, but perhaps a box could be built around just the fan itself. I saw one of these on here, but am not sure where exactly. I hope this helps. Keep it up!

 

[KingJohnC]

you will probably not notice enough odour until your plants are in flower, at this time you will need a carbon filter to remove the scent from the air.

 

[Skybound]

Used the rest of jug of distilled water (roughly 1/4 gal). The plant looks like it enjoys it's new home with light breezes, constant light of good spectrum, lots of white reflectivity and good soil to put down into. i will test the runoff water of the next watering (plan for 4 more days) for it's pH level.

 

[B A R]

as it turns out, my pc fan sounds like someone is running a shower in an adjoining apartment (a no no). Is there such a thing as a timer that has a remote off switch for the times when company stops by? I adjusted the 30 minute time i have for 2 off and 1 on cycles, in conjunction with a small oscillating fan, the heat is kept at bay, but i'd like to have the ability to shut off the still pretty loud pc fan remotely if needed. Any thoughts?

buy a cheap cheesey fan, they're a lot quieter.

 

[B A R]

John, I've been with 18/6 since I took on this project. I plan to stay here for as long as I can as I'm not sure flowering at this location is an option yet unless I can completely seal the box and use some of this 20 LBs of activate carbon I have to filter the outlet air, but that's down the road a ways. I'm mostly concerned with noise leaks as the PC fan is kinda loud, or at least too loud for my liking. I have some foam weather strip between it and the wood that it's mounted to to handle some of the vibration, and also it is secured with machine screws so coming lose won't happen. Just would feel more comfortable if I had a remote of sorts to kill the power to it if someone came by. The oscillating fan would continue as it's pretty quiet and keeps the temps average.

Question, at what stage or age do these plants begin to produce a noticeable odor? I'd like to have a rough estimate of how long I have to figure out the carbon filter design.

I CAN'T REALLY SAY, BUT I'VE HAD A FAINT ODER FROM THE DAY I BROUGHT MY PLANT INSIDE WHICH WAS DAY 25. I'VE READ THAt THE ODER ISN'T OVERWHELMING UNTIL LATE INTO THE FLOWERING STAGE.

 

[Skybound]

buy a cheap cheesey fan, they're a lot quieter.

I have a small oscillating fan, but it couldn't be used primarily b/c the design of the box is dependent upon a fan being flush mounted behind the vent cover (pictured above) and actively pulling air from the grow chamber. Another design flaw I noticed is that the inlet and outlet ports are on the same bottom surface which means the outlet air preheats the inlet air which kind of defeats the purpose. i have a remedy in mind, but I think I'll look into finding a smaller rated fan to move the air in and out.

 

[donpaul.p]

subd, looing good so far,

as for the smell well it depends on the strain, if you got a stinky cheese strain then it will start smelling a few weeks into veg, but the smell is nothing compared to around week 4 of flower, you can make the small by using plug in air fresheners, that will keep the smell down enough to be not noticed, you know those plug in glade type fresheners, they have 3 bottles inside them and releases the scent from 1 bottle at a time so this will stop anyone smelling the plants during veg as the smell is really not that bad,

but from about week 2 of flower you will start to notice the smell more and more, i got about 5 plants in flower and i can smell it outside my front door, so they do get pretty stinky in flower and worse the further into flower you go, so you will need to be able to control the smell, you can use something like ozone generator if you can get your hands on one or if not you will need to rig up a carbon filter/scrubber and have the grow space sealed so their is negative pressure inside, this will pervent any smell from leaving the grow space without it going through the carbon filter first,

you should be ok with just some air freshener or plug in air fresheners until you get a week or 2 into flower, after that you will need some kind of carbon filter, ive tried using activated carbon and make my own filter but if you got the granule type activated carbon and not the foam treated type then its difficult to get a fan to blow the air through the carbon granules as they bunch up and block the air from getting through, so you would need a decent fan to force the air through the filter,

 

[Skybound]

I don't know the strain cuz it's from bag seed. I added 2 more lights today and got a thermometer as well. I'm noticing the temps get a little higher than I thought, even with the oscillating fan going around the clock and the PC fan exchanging air for 1/2 hour once every hour and a half. Had the dogs out for a walk today and found a decent site that has a north/south and east/west exposure. i think I might return this to an outdoor grow again and gain much peace of mind. Here's some pics;

 

[donpaul.p]

looks good, nice recovery,

the problem with planting it outdoors is the time of year, is it to late to be planting outdoors, it depends on where you are but most outdoor plants are in flower or in the first few weeks of flower, so their would not be much of a yield, but if you really cant take the risk then dont take it, the last thing you need is to be worrying about it all the time,

the smell wont be an issue for a few weeks anyway, just 1 plug in air freshener will mask the smell of the plant, it wont be smelling for a good couple of weeks so your more than safe for now, you probably wont notice the smell till its much bigger and may not even notice it until you put it in flower,

the other problem you got is not knowing what sex it is, you could spend weeks growing it only to find out its male so their is always that risk, but if its really to much of a risk to grow where you are then i would not take the risk, go find a nice spot outdoors where no dog walkers can go or any kids can play and leave it in the pot but poke big holes in the bottom to allow the roots to grow through, it will still have some veg time while it grows so you might got an ok yield as long as its getting good sun and not to much rain

 

[mykl]

subscribed

 

[Skybound]

Seeing as how I am a noob and my primary plan was screwed up, I took this one that was already in the dirt as a way to fill the void that was left when all of my efforts and investments went belly up. I knew from that day that this plant would go through many stressful adjustments b/c I was telling my roomy to not even drop the bean. He just wanted to drop it and see what happens, but many years of reading about this plant clued me in that not much of anything promising would have occurred. With that said, I knew at that time that myself, studied up as much as I could, would still make many mistakes along the way and probably would do this plant more harm then good just learning how to rear it up. So this is just a well intended learning experience for me. I wish my reality was such that I could give this little girl(guy) all the love that I have to give so that it could reach it's best potential that my care could give, but all the sneaking around has caused me to make a few more mistakes to environmental design (such as too much heat) than I planned as an acceptable level. So to nip every issue in the bud, I'm about 90% sure of this move. I won't tell anyone of course and replace the this plant with say some bell peppers so that I can know what would have happened if I would have stayed the course. I can take my dog for his walks daily to this discrete location to check up on things, water, top, take pics for updates and ultimately learn a whole lot about my situation from what is verses how I perceive them to be, but also keep developing my skill and technique. I have since collected a but load of toys to use when I find a good location, ie a 400w HID, General Hydro Flora sample set, TDS pen, pH control kit, soil pH meter, CFL setup, fans, heat exchangers, foxfarm soil, perlite, ducting, propagation mat, trays etc etc etc. When I find a good safe location, I will have all that plus a much better working knowledge of how to use them all.

I can see from the ever changing direction of this journal, that it is a mess, so I also have that to learn from as well. It's funny that my second journal will actually equate to what my first one should have been. I will keep updating this as I do, but the venue is soon to change again. I was thinking of transplanting this 6" pot into a 5 gallon pot that has the rest of the foxfarm OF with 40% added perlite and put that bucket in the ground with many drill holes in the lower regions for drainage. I read twelve years ago on Overgrow.com that using human hair clippings around an outdoor grow keeps critters at bay. Maybe I'll give that a whirl. thanks for the best wishes and helping me access the risk.