First Time Grow - Advice Welcome

[Danishoes21]

Hello,
since this is my first time growing indoors, after a few weeks reading and educating myself, I decided to start on a low budget, so my goal is at least getting one female plant, make it flower and finally smoking a home-grown product.

My set up is pretty basic, but I've covered some of the variables that influence growth, health in plants and best quality yields at the end.

All comments, suggestions, tips, general information are welcome, and if you wish to contribute with criticism feel free. Feedback from experienced growers is important.

seeds: BC mango (bc bud depot) + Unknown (seeds recovered while in Jamaica, really nice smoke)
soil: miracle grow Potting Mix 0.14 - 0.14 - 0.14
water: distilled water every 2-4 days (depending)
feeding: Schultz 10-15-10 once a week
lights: 3 x GE 200w. bulbs (now on 18/6 timer)
space: small room closet setup (2.7 ft x 2ft x 5ft)
light distance from plants: 4 ft
temperature: oscillating 22 - 30 °C
air: 6" fan

Started with 12 seeds, 2 BC mango, 10 Unknown. Germination time 2 weeks, final result 7 healthy 1 still struggling to survive but making slow progress.
Official Veg. start date Jan 30, 2013

1/30/13

2/1/13

2/3/13

2/6/13

2/6/13

2/9/13

2/9/13

2/12/13

2/16/13

2/16/13

 

[Danishoes21]

I have 2 questions, I would really thank you for your help and answer;

1) As you see on picture from 2/16/13 the leave has a yellowish spot near the tip, Could this be light burn?
2) Why are plants getting taller??? rather than bushy.

Appreciate all the help you experts can give.

 

[Danishoes21]

2/16/13

2/16/13

2/16/13

2/16/13

Getting some nice smell and nice color on the plants, noticed some new branches coming, but still not happy about the stems they look skinny....

 

[dadadenny]

Hey, hello, howdy. i am a humble gardener and am here reading to learn. You been to Jamaka? and brought home seeds? I'm new to indoor grow and think your right that plant seems wimpy for being over 2 weeks in a grow light. Tall, yea ok but not to beefy, in a plant kind of way. I think the light is to far and maybe ask you : is the fan blowing on the kids? are they waving in a familiar warm Jamaican air? Brand new , out of the bag potting soil shouldn't need feed so soon, should it? Do you check for and treat any PH problems? They germinated nicely , i hope my new store bought seeds come up as well. Did you plant seed pointy end up or down? My eyes cant see that small and think they all were planted on their side. but i should start my own journal. Good luck with your grow and those kids are gona get with it, yep pretty little plants with more fems than male.

 

[wildbill38]

Hi nice setup. You need your lights closer
to stop the stretching. About 1 to 2 inches above
will work. Have to keep checking cause they will grow into the lights.
I hope this helps.

 

[Danishoes21]

Hello there fellow grower, I myself am a humble yet eager to learn first timer... but the information on this site is super helpful. I did go to Jamaica early this year, and this is what I was smoking. Its was some nice smelling, nice burning, sticky yet filled with seeds buds. It was so nice I pilled over 50 seeds and smoked a whole week in the jamaican sun. Also smoked some artesian HASH man I've never seen freshness like this...
1) I do think lights are way to high so today decided to lower then at a 2 ft distances from the plants.
2) As for air Im having problems controlling temperature while running the fan on/off so while night time I turn it off, my room gets cold due to the -20 out side here in Montreal, so at night temperature in the closet are as low as 15-18 celcius. So Im working on air flow.
3)PH shouldn't be a problem I'm using distilled water ph should be 6.8-7.
4)Feeding is once a week, because I saw then skinny stems, but now I now it's not a food problem...
5)They where all planted root down.

Thanks for the comment, and start your journal soon, post some nice pics, Its a nice way to follow each others progress, tips, questions and answers.

Bud smoked while in Jamaica, Outdoor grow, not sure what strain it is but it good good

Seeds recovered + 10 BC mango seeds (bc bud depot)

 

[Danishoes21]

Thanks for the comment, yes indeed after 2 weeks I realized the lights are somewhat high, so I just lowered lights and will keep and eye on progress to see changes in growth. Now you seem to know about the subject; where do you stand on usage of the scrog method, and would you recommend me to use it?

Thanks

 

[dadadenny]

Hey, my 2 cents is that with that many plants a sea of green buds is inevitable, but i don't know the terminology. I do know your plants will more than fill that little space. I recon you want to get them even closer to lights and grow em for a while longer, a flush of new vigorous growth then into 12/12 to determine sex, cull males, make cuttings? grow flowers on remaining 8, finishing just under 5ft. Good move on the root side down. I read two conflicting pointy end reasoning but am thinking they'll emerge any second... My first grow is in the bloom room and has been 12/12 for a week. I'm thinking of putting a group of month old clones in there. It all get tweaked continuously and is more fun than an old dog would expect but has been anticipating the day for years and years.
But the fun can change quick, the dynamic of this indoor grow make it easy to view and observe change and or problems, but neglected and overwhelmed systems might send a crop into the can, man. Are you using your lights to help heat and the fan to cool, sounds obvious but if you grow your plants by looking at the temp and RH and moving the light to increase heat and how it all plays together, that is your education for that situation. I was worried that seeds and starts would be hard to come by. I havn't seen a seed in a bag of weed in decades, but I don't get out much. Later...

 

[wildbill38]

With you small space for growing I would
recomend This to you. I cant link to other forums
But you can google this
The Main-Lining Thread.
Its perfect for smaller grow places.

 

[Danishoes21]

Will check on that, thanks a lot.
I have another thing I want to try out. CO2 cartridges with at 12 grams per cartridge x 5 per box at 4 $ total, is cheap quick source for CO2. I've been doing adjustments as move on with this first time experiment.

 

[Danishoes21]

Here is a good update on the babies. It's their 4th week of growth and so far I've stopped the stretching, and decided to do a test using first a topping cut on 3 plants followed by a fiming on the same 3 plants. Use some Co2 twice a week. I really have limited space... but this is what the garden looks like today.

2/27/13

2/27/13

2/27/13

2/27/13 (no cut )

2/27/13 (top+fim)

2/27/13 (top+fim)

2/27/13 (top+fim)

2/27/13

2/27/13

 

[dadadenny]

Hey, your Jamaican plants just getting adjusted to the Canadian winter, in a closet, grown under light bulbs. When they realize this is home they'll ask daddy for a toboggan, a toke and get it on and grow.
Hey, whats fiming?

 

[Danishoes21]

yeah they are doing ok, its a long process without all the high tech equipment, but I like the results so far, By the end of the month I'm switching lights 12/12. Here is a link where you'll find all about the FIM technique.
What is the FIM technique?

 

[Danishoes21]

Starting the Gas Lantern Routine, for 2-4 weeks, then finally switching to Flowering. Will post new pics next week with this new lighting Schedule.

 

[Danishoes21]

Quick Update; Since the last Pictures, I've done this so far, topped and after Fim 3 plants and SuperCropped all. Today watered, Co2 every monday and friday. Changed lighting cycle to 12hrsON/5.30hrsOFF,1hrON,5.30hrsOFF for the next 2 weeks. A lot of new growth, this time minimized stretch. Waiting to know how many females I get.

Suggestions anyone...?

03/04/13

03/04/13
THE MONSTERS

Natural grow

 

[dadadenny]

Looking gooud man. I did go read about the fiming, what i took from that page is instead of topping a plant to get two appical buds you try to tap into the maristem tissues and cause a malfunction and get multiple apical buds? As I understand it? I'm wrong often. If that is what it is and everyone who posted after that said that was what they were going to do and post pictures. Its been a year, and i don't see any new pics or praise. But I don't get out much and can't read so good, well i can read most words but i have a short attion span and drift often. what was i saying , oh yea, how is fiming different than topping and making the plant grow out not up?
Then I did a search for Gas Lantern routine and found about that process of an interrupted dark period to mess with the sex hormones. That'll be good to read about your process and see the pics. What I liked about that page was the oddity of an interrupted dark and then a simi natural shorting of the daylight time length by a half hour a week to increase quality and yield.

Thanks for the update, keep em coming.

 

[Danishoes21]

Well, Im also in my first attempts, so everything I post Is a new experiment. This are my conclusions so far.
Topping: I used it to stop the stretch up between internodes. where you cut one 2 come out
Fimming: used it to make the plants grow new branches. where you cut one 4 come out
SuperCrop: used it to promote and stimulate and force new growth.
Lanterne Routine: Using it to trick the plants to show their sex, without flowering.
diminishing fall schedule: will use this technique for the last month of flowering.

The Diminishing Lighting Schedule

The diminishing fall schedule begins with an evenly halved light schedule, using 12 hours for the first two weeks to trigger the plant into bloom, and then further reducing the lighting for increasing darkness time by one half hour every week.

The final week of flowering will provide the plants with a mere nine hours of light, with 15 hours of darkness, forcing a resulting final explosive hormonal buildup. This sends the plant into blooming overdrive and produces resin far beyond the normal plant’s limits.
When the Gas Lantern Routine and Diminishing Light Schedule are used together, they create healthier, more naturally robust plants.

 

[Danishoes21]

Hello everyone, just a quick update before I leave my plants for one week 'cause I have to travel, hope this doesn't bring any bad news when I get back.

3/8/13

 

[Mono]

Looking really good for a first time grow. I would get the lights within 2-4 inches of the plants if you can and try and keep them like that way. Really labor intensive but worth it in the end. Temps of 30 degrees may be a little high, if you are able to keep them around 25 the plants will prefer it.

I am more than happy to answer any questions you have with the best of my ability, still learning myself too.

 

[Danishoes21]

Hey 420 here my update, after a week im back and I fund some small problems, hope someone could help out.

It's the second week in to 12/12 and still no signs of sex... the smell is wonderful.

this one showing some light green on the top.

this one is perfect, bushy inside.

just a dark color on the stems, and small first leaves dying at the bottom.

recovering from a super crop/

PROBLEM HERE!

the monsters (top+fim)

Overview