Gang's Second (Box) Grow: CFL + LST + Soil

[gangalicious]

The first grow was awesome fun with y'all, so here we go again. Wheeeeeee!

Strain: clones of "Grape Ice"

Cabinet/Box: 2.4 square feet (13" deep x 26" wide x 34" high); (0.225 sq meters). Various computer style (axial) fans, one 4" inline fan, and DIY carbon filtration. Carbon filtration and stealth mode add additional height (~ 48" total).

Lights (currently in veg): 193 Watts CFLs (3 X 1700Lumen @5500K ) + (5 X 1600Lumen @6500K) = 13100 Lumen = 5458 lumens/sqft = 58222Lux.

Right now the main plant's canopy is about 5-6" below the lights. I will be adjusting light distances to maintain a reasonable temperature range. Just-rooted clones are further away, more like 7-8in.

Lights planned for flowering: CFLs for sure: 250-300W CFLs, mostly 2700K, or a combination of CFLs and LEDs, depending on resources and interest.

Temps/Humidity: 78-84F average. I'm keeping the canopy temp below 87F this time around. Humidity is running about 20-40% lately. If my budget allows, I may add an additional ultra-quiet bathroom fan (thx to Linkorien for the idea).

Soil: Aunt Edna's Best Organic: composted fir bark, sphagnum peat moss, redwood compost, mushroom compost, volcanic pumice, earthworm castings, washed sand, kelp meal, bat guano, feather meal, gypsum, lime (dolomite and oyster shell), yucca shidegera saponin (wetting agent), endo and ecto Mycorrhizae.

Water: 50/50ish mix of filtered tap and distilled water to reduce the concentration of dissolved solids to reasonable levels.

Nutes: Veg - high nitrogen bat guano, organic kelp extract, a dash of Epsom Salts (for magnesium to balance the calcium in the water). Planned for Flower: General Organics BioThrive Bloom formulation (vegan) and maybe a little somethin' extra, I dunno.

I'm gonna be doing a lot of tinkering with this second grow as well. My main goal is to have a kick-ass good time with everyone here, growing marijuana with alternative lighting, in a box, for my medicinal needs. However, for added fun, I'm going to try to exceed my previous yield per plant. Last grow I averaged 1.2oz/plant (equivalent to 307g/sqmeter). This time I'm hoping for 400g/sqmeter (1.6oz/plant) . . . 2 ounces/plant would be equivalent to 500g/sqmeter! . . .

Anyway, the plants are gonna be able to grow nearly 6 inches taller this time since I re-arranged the lights. It'll be nice to have more room and larger plants. I'm much better with the low stress training now, so everything is going to be gentler and better planned this time. The temperatures are under better control compared to the first grow too.

 

[gangalicious]

Here is the main plant on December 1st:

The same plant on December 27th, newly transplanted:

I also have a couple of 21 day old clones that I just put into soil. It looks like both are going to make it. I will likely choose the best of the two to go into 12/12 along with the larger plant. I'll switch to 12s probably within the next week or two.

 

[palcah]

Hey Gang-good luck man. Can't wait to see the progress. Love reading your thread.

 

[Linkorien]

ROUND 2 AND IM NOT LATE WOOT!!!

awesome job with the last grow gang but you already know that lol looking forward to
this new one, i must say that big girls a very awkward looking one lol
hope it all goes as well keep up the good work

 

[gangalicious]

Hey Gang-good luck man. Can't wait to see the progress. Love reading your thread.

Thanks for stopping in again, palcah. Good to have you along.

ROUND 2 AND IM NOT LATE WOOT!!!

awesome job with the last grow gang but you already know that lol looking forward to this new one, i must say that big girls a very awkward looking one lol hope it all goes as well keep up the good work

Link, my man! Yeah, sometimes I look at the plants and laugh my ass off too! Pics are coming up . . .

 

[gangalicious]

Last days of veg are upon us. I'm gonna switch to 12/12 anytime now (for the larger plant). Last time I switched to 12/12 they stretched for about 21 days, so I think I'm ready to get this party started. Looks like this one's gonna be bigger than either of the first two plants from the last grow. Dunno about the little one.

Trouble in paradise. For my first grow the babies seemed to struggle a bit too, but this time it's a little different. It is 36 days since I took these clippings which were put into soil 3 weeks ago. Vertical growth is at a standstill. Yellowing. Then more yellowing. Watering with a 50/50 mix of filtered tap and distilled water. Every other watering or so I add small amounts of kelp extract (1 tsp/gal), molasses (1 tsp/gal), and epsom salts (1/8 tsp/gal), pH=6.5 and usually about 350-550ppm maximum TDS. Also, the humidity had dropped to extremely low levels (~11-15% daytime) for a couple of weeks. There were several times when I came home to find the hygrometer simply read "Lo". I think the lowest it reads is 20%. Anyway, I went to wallyworld and picked up a $20 cool mist humidifier and it works great. Brought the box humidity up to 40-50%. Still, the yellowing continued . . .

 

[Linkorien]

my humidity fell to 10% to 15% for 2 weeks before i went out and got that $20 cool mist humidifier as well lol we are so much alike in grow patterns its not even funny...
your probably my neighbor and we don't even know it lol

thing is my plants didn't seem effected by it to much..... i don't think its that...

when was the last time you gave them some N your soil sounds good but that plant looks A LOT like my hash plant haze did after growing to about that size, it was in a mix of 3 bags one seed starter soil witch is almost nothing vermiculite and perlite also nothing.... it started to look just like that so i gave it some miracle grow all around plant food at half the directions recommendation and in less then 2 days it was bright and green again...
i honestly don't know im just telling you how it was for me good luck i hope she comes around bro

also if you don't have a name for your big girl PALM TREE seems fitting lol

 

[gangalicious]

my humidity fell to 10% to 15% for 2 weeks before i went out and got that $20 cool mist humidifier as well lol we are so much alike in grow patterns its not even funny...
your probably my neighbor and we don't even know it lol

thing is my plants didn't seem effected by it to much..... i don't think its that...

when was the last time you gave them some N your soil sounds good but that plant looks A LOT like my hash plant haze did after growing to about that size, it was in a mix of 3 bags one seed starter soil witch is almost nothing vermiculite and perlite also nothing.... it started to look just like that so i gave it some miracle grow all around plant food at half the directions recommendation and in less then 2 days it was bright and green again...
i honestly don't know im just telling you how it was for me good luck i hope she comes around bro

also if you don't have a name for your big girl PALM TREE seems fitting lol

Hey Link. I ended up taking action and made my way to the hydro place and picked up some InstaGreen (by Grotek) to foliar feed nitrogen right away. I'll add some guano to their next watering. I also have some Miracle Grow sitting around somewhere, and I'm not afraid to use it at a diluted strength, but only if the new stuff and guano don't resolve the yellowing. I think it'll be okay tho.

I was wondering whether I should name the new plants. She may be a Palm Tree now, but she's about to start stretching, and who knows what she's gonna end up looking like!

 

[palcah]

Hey Link. I ended up taking action and made my way to the hydro place and picked up some InstaGreen (by Grotek) to foliar feed nitrogen right away. I'll add some guano to their next watering. I also have some Miracle Grow sitting around somewhere, and I'm not afraid to use it at a diluted strength, but only if the new stuff and guano don't resolve the yellowing. I think it'll be okay tho.

I was wondering whether I should name the new plants. She may be a Palm Tree now, but she's about to start stretching, and who knows what she's gonna end up looking like!

I have a name for the Big Girl-Gaia! In greek mythology, she is the greek goddess representing Earth; the lil ladies? Maybe Echidia (sea viper) and Ceto (another sea goddess)-they are both the children of Gaia. Whatever you name them, I'm sure the lil ladies will perk up soon!! The Big Girl is looking so fine.

 

[MountainHigh]

Subscribed!


I am far too noobie grower to give for sure advice but that looks like a nitrogen lockout...I had same thing on 5 of my 6 girls from an uncorrectable PH problem in the idiot soil (well whatever you call what I made them) and came to the conclusion that my soil PH was dropping to 5.5 and maybe lower from averaging what their runoff was with the water I put in (7.0) and the run off was between 6 and 6.5...anyway that is just one cause of nitrogen lockout. I think some others are cold wet soil.

Another guess is she is an exotic strain (purple), maybe she has a tight PH she is happy in. Or maybe she is nutrient sensitive, some strains are.

(Just some idea's to work with, peace )

 

[Sonzor]

Im in for this grow for sure. The bid plant looks wonderful and ready for some monster buds.... That little one looks like it needs a little work. The soil you are using sounds like it should be giving that little one everything it needs. But obviously there is some issues with it. I had that issues when I put my clones into MG Organic and the plants seem to fight through it and do fine once they get a little more established. But it would be nice to figure it out before then of course. Maybe hit it with a small dose of N and see if it greens up a bit. Its hard when you have all that stuff in you soil already cause you cant control what your plants are getting. You are kind of at the mercy of the soil. Anyway enough blabbering. I am sure you will get it all figured out and hopefully someone with a lot more knowledge than I can chime in and get you on the correct track... Good luck..

 

[gangalicious]

I have a name for the Big Girl-Gaia! In greek mythology, she is the greek goddess representing Earth; the lil ladies? Maybe Echidia (sea viper) and Ceto (another sea goddess)-they are both the children of Gaia. Whatever you name them, I'm sure the lil ladies will perk up soon!! The Big Girl is looking so fine.

Hey Palcah, thanks for the name suggestions. Too hard for me to decide though. The ladies are gonna look better anytime now. Fo sho.

Subscribed!


I am far too noobie grower to give for sure advice but that looks like a nitrogen lockout...I had same thing on 5 of my 6 girls from an uncorrectable PH problem in the idiot soil (well whatever you call what I made them) and came to the conclusion that my soil PH was dropping to 5.5 and maybe lower from averaging what their runoff was with the water I put in (7.0) and the run off was between 6 and 6.5...anyway that is just one cause of nitrogen lockout. I think some others are cold wet soil.

Another guess is she is an exotic strain (purple), maybe she has a tight PH she is happy in. Or maybe she is nutrient sensitive, some strains are.

(Just some idea's to work with, peace )

Hey MountainHigh. Thanks for stopping in and throwing out some ideas. If it is N deficiency, then the foliar spray should be kickin in anytime. I sprayed one of the babies yesterday, and gave both of them a soil feeding of high-N guano tonight. No changes yet in either plant except that they are also getting a little more purple color. Temps at night bottom out at about 72F. I'm going to get a new pH test kit to see if that might be the problem. Roots look good though, so I'm thinking they'll be better in a couple more days. Peace.

Im in for this grow for sure. The bid plant looks wonderful and ready for some monster buds.... That little one looks like it needs a little work. The soil you are using sounds like it should be giving that little one everything it needs. But obviously there is some issues with it. I had that issues when I put my clones into MG Organic and the plants seem to fight through it and do fine once they get a little more established. But it would be nice to figure it out before then of course. Maybe hit it with a small dose of N and see if it greens up a bit. Its hard when you have all that stuff in you soil already cause you cant control what your plants are getting. You are kind of at the mercy of the soil. Anyway enough blabbering. I am sure you will get it all figured out and hopefully someone with a lot more knowledge than I can chime in and get you on the correct track... Good luck..

Hey Sonzor! Yes, the big girl is gonna wake up tomorrow to a shorter day. Here we go!

I know what you mean about how your plants did fine once they were more established. The clones from my first grow struggled a bit too when I put them in soil. When I received them they had very nice roots. And yes, they turned a bit yellow when I put them in the soil, but they were able to fight through it fairly quickly, like within a few days. This time it is taking them longer to establish whatever it is that needs establishing. No worries tho, I've already hit em with a little nitrogen and I'm planning on switching soils to see what happens. Thanks, Sonzor.

 

[gangalicious]

Okay, there have been some delays in getting this girl into 12s, but now it's happening for sure. I'm also in the process of replacing some of the reflective material with mylar, which you can see on the doors. Day 0:

More good news: the babies are starting to pick up. I have been foliar spraying just one of them with the InstaGreen, and starting yesterday I thought I could perceive a little more green in that one compared to the other, but today the difference is a lot more noticeable. Took about five days to notice a significant improvement.

Definitely much better:

Oh, and did I mention: I got some FFOF all up in this house! The babies are already livin' in the new soil, so I can't wait to see what happens. I had pulled one of the babies out of its pot the other day to check the roots and was disappointed in their development, so I repotted both of them today. Not sure what I should do about Gaia I: the Great Palm Tree. She looks pretty good overall, but she's not as green as she should be. Prolly the soil. Or maybe something awful I did early on. Or maybe the humidity changes. Who knows. Still, I think she's gonna kick ass.

 

[MountainHigh]

I am glad they are doing better!!!

I really like the FFOF myself.!

Peace bro.

 

[palcah]

Yippee on the babies. They definitely look better. So Glad to hear it.

 

[Sonzor]

The big one looks like it is doing well, Hope the new soil helps out with those little ones. Good luck......

 

[gangalicious]

I am glad they are doing better!!!

I really like the FFOF myself.!

Peace bro.

Yippee on the babies. They definitely look better. So Glad to hear it.

Even since last night the babies have improved significantly. I think what I've experienced should be called "reverse transplant shock." The only "shock" was how quickly the babies took to the FFOF soil: immediate. I gotta give thumbs up to both the InstaGreen foliar spray and Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil for saving my babies, Flotsam and Jetsam. One might say that the Ocean Forest soil has turned the tide for them. Get it? No? Ooof! Tough crowd. Don't worry, I'll keep my day job.

Big improvement w/ Flotsam:

 

[gangalicious]

The big one looks like it is doing well, Hope the new soil helps out with those little ones. Good luck......

The little ones are already getting back on track with the new soil. I think I'm even beginning to see renewed growth.

 

[MountainHigh]

I am so glad!!!! Gratz on the fix!

 

[Sonzor]

Cool, glad to hear they are back on track, Great job...