First Timer in a Small Space

Mr Blonde

New Member
This is my first grow. I've never even thought about growing until just recently. So I figured I'd take a shot. I basically watched a vid on youtube and jumped in with both feet. Some things I improvised from stuff laying around the house and the rest of it I got from the local hardware store and I became acquainted with my local hydroponic store.

I got some seeds out of the last bag I acquired. It was pretty good stuff better than the usual I get. So what a great place to start and screw up before I move on to getting some good seed. I started on April 21st. I took 10 seeds and soaked them in a 12 oz cup filled with about 3 oz of tap water aged 1 day. They were then put into an unused freezer in complete darkness for 48 hours. 8 germinated and were initially put into this biodegradable container with some kind of nutrient rich starting pellets (just add water) that I bought from the local hardware store but I wanted to move them to rock wool. Oh by the way this would be a good time for me tell you that I'm using a 2 x 2 flood tray. I have a small 1/2 inch aquarium pump (don't know the gph) which is tubed up to the flood nozzle in the base of the flood tray. the overflow tube is on the other side. My grow space is roughly 22" x 30" x 6'9". It's an old osb/laminate cabinet that is completely white. I built a shelf for the tray. I have pics of my original setup which was completely improvised. Now that I have the flood tray I've moved 6 of the 8 sprouts to 4 x 4 rockwool cubes. 2 are still in the hardware store starter cells. All of the sprouts are extremely tall, thin, weak, and small initial leaves. From what I've been reading that's because the light was too far from the tops. So I've moved it to within a few inches of the tops of the plants. Also I have some browning on the initial leafs so who knows maybe this is going to be a bust. I'm going to check the pH again tomorrow and maybe the neuts are too strong. Pics soon to follow.
 
Welcome Mr Blonde, to the wonderful world of growing your own medicine ;)
On the rare occasion I sprout seeds, I put them dry into wet coco and under light immediately 24 7s.
When they pop up they green up and go. Don't Molly coddle cannabis, just give it grow conditions and expect excellence.
Grows like a weed :yahoo:

+ rep for your wet foot :popcorn:
 
I've read alot about ebb and flow systems. I understand the principles and mine is running great. But I find much debate about how often I should flood the tray when using rockwool. My 4x4 cubes are soaked so I think I'm going to turn the pump off until the cubes get decently dry. Also I've been looking at a 250w combo light it is interchangable with MH (conversion) and HPS. I'm growing on a seriously tight budget. So I really don't have the dough to cough up for seperate ballasts and reflectors.
 
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Here you can see the long stems and small leafs. Since I discoverd this is probably due to the light being too far away I dropped it to with in inches as you can see.
 
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So these are the first shots of my operation. I use Fox Farms neuts. I'm using 1/2 strength of what's recommended for week 1 and 2. pH is about 6 I can't get any more accurate because I have a liquid test kit and not a digital tester. As you can see the light is right above them now. It's a 20w 2 buld florscent that I bought from the local hardware store.
 
You do understand the importance of strong light. 250 HPS is good for your box, works well in mine. This one: HTG 250
You don't need a combination, MH is useless. HPS takes me and many others from seed or rooted cutting to finished bud.
Those big RW blocks can hold enough water for a week or more with small plants. Hand-water till they're big and robust.
Ventilation is also vital, not just because of heat. With a remote ballast outside the box, heat's OK and managable.

Click the Cage to see my 30" box with a 250 driving my grow.
 
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This is Day 17 or 19 in flowering I forget. I've been reading about pre-flowering and that a person shouldn't put a plant into flowering photoperiod until after the pre-flowering is done. Needless to say I'm a first-timer so I screwed that pooch pretty hard. Anyway. Here's StealthyMcStealth. Otherwise known as bagseed. I've LST'd her much much more and the tiny plant in the front right has been pulled because it was male. But the two remaining are females. It's been a real learning experience. Lots and lots and lots of reading here and many books.
 
Its coming along great! I think you've been a little hard on yourself. You're gonna have some nice smoke!

+Reps for throwing your hat in the ring!

:peace:
 
Interesting thing found today. I've been flooding 4 times a day for 15 min a pop. Plants have been growing like w..ds!! Wow. Here's the thing. I changed the resevior out this past Friday and put in what the directions for my Fox Farms neuts called for. Now I'm getting leaf tip down curl and burn. So I added a gallon of water and ph'd the res. We'll have to watch and see what happens. I'm trying to keep a close eye on them for this kind of thing.
 
Also I'm beginning to see the benefits of ScrOG. or LST. Call it what you like it involved bending the plant so more of the lower nodes get light and develop further. It is by far the best I've seen for a small space and I highly recommend it to everyone who's growin in a small space. I've got 14-16 bud sites now. Had I left it alone it would not be there. Crossing fingers and Towes (shout out to my boy in Chi Town. The Capt'n of the best hockey team in the world...The Chicago Blackhawks!!)
 
Very nice work sir, very nice. I can't wait to see my plants like that. haha I'm thinkin about starting LST on my plants today. I'm scared though. I hate even touching my little babies, then I broke one and bent it over, cut one last night, I feel horrible!!! Keep it up man. doin good.
 
Hobble,

I've found that it's best to LST them in the 2d or 3d week of Veggin. Let them get about 5 nodes then do it. I use dental floss. all I do is wrap it around the head of the screw and then loop it around the stem. I gently pull it to the side then wrap it around the screw again. I never bend them to 90 degrees on the first day. I get there over 2-3 days. Gently pulling a little each day. ScrOG is the same thing. You basically let them grow up through a 4x4 hole in the screen then pull them back down to the side under the screen and allow another to get bigger. All your doing is filling the plant to your space horizontally. Once you fill it out...let it flower.
 
Cool thank you for all the advice, I might wait a couple days to start LST then since I just topped Poo and don't want to stress her out. I can't wait till she fills out so I can send her into flowering with a great success rate. Thanks Mr Blonde
 
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Here's the latest shots. I'm beginning to see some white hairs at all bud sites and I'm going to change my res on Friday. I'm going to be using all three Fox Farms Neuts beginning on Friday. Right now I'm only using Big Bloom and Grow Big. The strength is according to their week 8 directions. I think when I add the third this is going to get CRAZY!! Any questions or comments are always welcome.
 
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