First Grow - Experimenting With Bag Seed in 2x3x5.5 Tent

[BudBGrowin]

Hello everyone! I've been lurking here for a while reading and learning and a few weeks ago I finally started my first grow. I will give a summary of what my plants have been through and follow up with where they are now. Also being that this is my first grow, I am just trying to experiment and see what works and what doesn't. On to the plants!

Three weeks ago I germinated 10 seeds that looked good from a big group of bag seed. Using the paper towel method I was able to get 8 of them to pop. They were planted in small peat pots with a quick draining soil where they vegged for a little over a week being watered every three days. For lighting I used a rig of 6 CFL's which seemed to work alright but I was getting a suprising heat build up from such a simple light source. I had this setup in my closet but it was not contained in the tent yet.

After that they were moved into the current pots which are about quart sized and I was concerned now that I was putting more distance in between the plants that the CFL's would not be enough even for veg. So I went out on a limb and invested in my current setup since I was having so much fun in the beginning anyways.

I bought a 2x3x5.5 tent, a 100w led light, and a fan and carbon filter with all the necessary goodies. I set up my fan externally to maximize interior space for later and it pulls air out of the tent into the carbon filter. For intake there is a vent on the lower back of the tent and the fan pulls air out from the top. There is also another internal circulation fan that I can move around to simulate a breeze. All of this was discretely installed in my closet and isn't noticeable to company which is quite nice. I moved the plants into the tent and everything is a much nicer setup now, and I installed some of my old reflectors in the tent to maximize light for now.

Thanks for reading! Pics to come next update.

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Pictures!

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Info about grow:

Strains: Unknown
Soil: 1/4 perlite 3/4 organic potting mix from grow store
Light cycle info: Veg 23 days in from seed using GLR cycle
Lighting: currently DS100 with 60w "plant light" that was laying around my house. (More lighting on the way for later)
Temp: Day-79 Night-72
Humidity: 50%-60%
Nutes: Flora Duo 2 part
Pests? Fungus gnats recently appeared. Going to try traps and sand on the soil.

Observations: With the soft bottom of the tent and the pots sitting directly on top of the liner it appeared the holes at the bottom of the pots were blocked and did not drain. Im assuming this helped create the conditions for the fungus gnats to move in from my outdoor plants. To improve the drainage I put temporary strips of cardboard under the pots to create an air gap and increase draining. Seems to work well for now. My bigger pots should not have this problem because the drain holes extend up the sides. I did one feeding about 2 weeks in with the diluted form of the nutes and got a slight burn on the tips. I did a flush and have only used water since, about every 4-5 days as needed. More (hopefully better) pictures to come but for now I have to use my cell phone camera as my brother has my nice camera.

Future plans for grow:
More lighting
Some form of humidity control for flowering

Any suggestions or observations welcome!

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Update: Sticky traps appear to be catching some gnats and keeping them at bay but the sand doesn't seem to be helping. I Added 4 t5's to supplement the LED from the sides. Watered with diluted nutes today and a few more pics.

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

During the last feeding I used the "mild general purpose" mix with my nutes and my plants did not respond well at all. After the feeding I left them for 2 days and this is what I came back to find. I immediately flushed with pure water and have not touched them since. Here is what I have going on now.

As for the fungus gnats they were getting out of control so I picked up some pyrethrin from my local grow shop. I did a soil drench with it to hopefully kill the larvae and replaced my sticky strips to monitor new bugs after the treatment. I also used it as a foliar spray as well and I thought I waited until the leaves were dry before I put them back in the tent. Is it possible that LED lights and T5's could cause this leaf damage or did I just make a rookie mistake and feed too much?

 

[CoalCracker]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Looks to me like the distance you have your LED & CFL lights is perfectly fine, so I would say that it is not heat stress from the lights. It is most likely a nute burn. After your flush let them rest for a bit to make sure they are starting their recovery before you go back to the nutes. If you don't' see improvement than notes weren't your problem and you need to start searching for another possible cause. Referencing a Leaf Nutrient Chart I have it could also be a Magnesium deficiency in it's early stages.
I recommend looking into both of these possible causes for yourself to determine which it is that is effecting your plants. Regardless of how much info you give, you(the grower) are always the best one to make the call since you have been there every step of the way. Good luck!

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Thanks for the input it is much appreciated. I guess I will wait and see how it goes and I will also do some more research into Mg deficiency. I assume (as a beginner) that if it was a burn they would recover over time and if it was due to low levels they should get worse. Ill just have to keep focusing my positive vibes towards them and see what happens.

 

[ajagunle]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Love your lights! (jealous)

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Hey thanks! I love these lights They all have daisy chain options for easy upgrading and I get to run it on a simple 2 outlet timer which I think is super convenient.

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Today I re-potted all the plants into 3 gal buckets getting rid of all the old dirt and hopefully solving my pest problem and easing some of the stress to the plants. Some of the root systems were incredibly undeveloped. I will post pictures it was crazy how small the root system was and the size leaf mass it could support. This time I used happy frog soil mixed with perlite. I plan on letting them rest in the new pots to recover from the burn.

 

[CoalCracker]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Something that helped greatly with my Fungus Nat problem was adding 1/4"-1/2" layer of Perlite on the topsoil. This allowed the top inch or so of the soil to dry quicker (Fungus Gnats prefer damp/wet soil) while the main body of the soil remained nice and wet for up to 3 days. Look forward to seeing.

As per potting I prefer to let them get a little cramped before repotting in order to take full advantage of it's grow medium. If they are moved up in pot size to quickly the tap root will grow straight down and not branch out into the soil as much leaving much of the nutrients wasted. The idea is to let the roots hit the bottom of the pot and then begin to reach out to the edges of the pot maximizing root structure and nutrient uptake. Be careful though, as I recently waited to long and my main lady suffered from it being root bound.

Looking forward to seeing your photo's with the next update!

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Finally got some time to update after the holidays so here goes.

Plants were looking pretty rough after the transplant but I have seen no signs of gnats since and the new soil (Happy Frog) seems to offer better drainage too but I will have to see how it holds up after more waterings. I whittled out a few of the scraggly looking plants that had been root bound so only one is left but unfortunately I cant find the pictures I pulled of the undeveloped root systems but I'll keep looking. I have to water every 5 days or so with the new soil which seems to give it plenty of time to dry out and have only used water since transplant no nutes. I also rearranged the tent since the plants were so spread out with the bigger pots. Hopefully they are more focused under the LED now. The new foliage seems very healthy I will post pictures of that when the lights come on in a few hours if I dont get caught up with stuff. These photos are about a week old.

Here is the fan box I made when I did my grow room re-arranging. It has almost no vibration noise when I set it on the foam pad I put under it. Stretch hosing comes out both sides. Carbon filter is now inside the tent with the fan sucking the air out and into a box I made to muffle the exhaust. All in all the system runs very quiet and cant be heard once you are outside the room.

I also added a home made reflector around my led to keep the light focused on the plants and not spread out through the tent too much while its not necessary. Hopefully I will get those pictures up but I will be leaving town for a few days so if not I will update when I get back. Thanks for the patience to any followers!

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

Before leaving town I watered and noticed the PH of my water went way up from what it used to be and is 8+. I filtered it and ph balanced then watered before I left I will be interested to see if there is a difference when I get back. Pictures from before I left from when the tent lights were on.

Here is one of the guys under normal lighting so the colors look a little more natural

And here is the new reflector in the tent. Works well I didnt notice and temp difference from after I installed it and it has enough room for plenty of air to circulate up and around to get pulled through the carbon filter at the top. Still keeping humidity around 55% and high temps don't go above 80.

 

[BudBGrowin]

Re: First grow, Experimenting with bag seed in 2x3x5.5 tent

So a lot has happened since I last logged in. Had some terrible weather and the windows in my unit started leaking huge amounts of water and the repair guys were going to be coming and going over the next few days so I shut down shop temporarily until I get that all taken care of. This journal can be moved to the in incomplete section I will start a new one once all the repairs are done and things calm down a bit.

 

[Truth Seeker]

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