GC's First Indoor Cabinet Grow

[Governmentchz]

Thanks Sara, and thx Light Addict. I'm quite jazzed how everything has come together. No doubt there's some luck in this. I've just read a few books and lurked around. This place has some really good growers AND some really good teachers. The friendliness and desire to truly help others be better growers is invaluable and I am quite thankful.

Here are a few comparison pics from this evening, Day +22 and just 3 days since the last pics. I usually find myself saying "Nah, they don't change enough in 3 days to be interesting, but when I do a side-by-side comparison, it's really amazing to me. So, here they are:

 

[PeeJay]

They are definitely growing quickly. +reps

 

[Governmentchz]

O.K., I took a peek this morning before heading to the salt mines. Big Sis is almost dry, but I think she'll make it another day and that should give her a chance to finish the last few drops of her soup in the res. Little Sis is still about 1/4 full so will go at least 2 more days (probably Sunday) before feeding her.

I know I've stated my intentions are to just let them grow, but (there's always on of those...) I think I'm going to top Big Sis tomorrow morning when I do my weekly tend. That will be 2 days shy of 4 weeks. Then I'll let them run 2 more weeks to fully heal and probably throw them into flower.

I'll have more pics tomorrow after feeding, topping, turning.

 

[Governmentchz]

O.K., I decided a little housekeeping was in order and trimmed some undergrowth last night. I really thought I was being aggressive, and took off a nice big handful, but it looks like they could still use some more thinning underneath. I also topped Big Sis as I wanted to give her sibling a chance to catch up a bit. Depending on how they respond, I would like to take them to at least 5 weeks veg (but that's only 10 more days). If they haven't hit the 15" height mark by then, I will definitely let gem go another week.

From the plants' behaviors, I'm getting every indication they are loving this light. Every leaf is green and they are so bushy (I had trouble at the start of trimming just getting in there). I fed this a.m. and they are both drinking pretty well. I mixed their soup with 4:1 of Floraduo Parts A&B (4ML:1ML), 1 ML CalMag, (659ppm, pH 5.8). This recipe resulted in no need to pH adjust. After feeding, there was about 10% DTW that showed (384ppm, pH 7.4) on the meter. I'll just be checking them out today to see how they feed and respond to their skirts being shortened.

Here are a few pics as unexciting as they are:

This them drooping slightly right after defoliation.

A look at Big Sis

This is right after topping Big Sis.

And Little Sis after some lower leaves removed.

 

[stealthgrow]

They are really growing quickly, and a little defol never hurts. nice work GC, keep it up.

 

[Governmentchz]

Hi all. It's been a few days since the last update. Nothing profound to report other than the fact they are both growing really well despite my efforts...lol. Wife turned the AC up again and the girls got a little hot (94f). It was probably for about 3-4 hours. I regulated the temps and they seem no worse for the wear. I fed them yesterday and will probably have to feed them again Saturday if not Friday as I'm still unsure of exactly how much evaporation occurred during the high temps today. I trimmed a few straggler leaves left undone the other day, and took a few pics this afternoon.

Temps were still coming down when I took this

Big Sis after a trim

This is her top 3 days after I trimmed it. I swear I wasn't trying to FIM, but the leaves are still trying to pop out.

Big Sis right now. Temps are stabilized and further trimming finished.

Little Sis can't be left out.

Thanks for taking a look.

 

[SpaceCroc]

Interesting!
I'm looking at buy the same LED panel. I can see it is doing well in vege stage.

Nice and clean setup, great looking sisters!


Question: is 35% humidity not too low?

 

[KingJohnC]

Ideally you want to keep your relative humidity at 50%-70% for vegetative growth and 40%-50% for flowering.

 

[Governmentchz]

I'm sure you're right in that it's too low. This is just the ambient air in my house from my AC unit. Not sure how I can raise the humidity in there, but certainly open to ideas. Maybe a regular portable humidifier just in the room? It's pretty well sealed. I weatherstripped and filled the door with Great Stuff.

 

[SpaceCroc]

Ideally you want to keep your relative humidity at 50%-70% for vegetative growth and 40%-50% for flowering.

I'm curious: what could be the effect of high humidity durign flowering?

I'm sure you're right in that it's too low. This is just the ambient air in my house from my AC unit. Not sure how I can raise the humidity in there, but certainly open to ideas. Maybe a regular portable humidifier just in the room? It's pretty well sealed. I weatherstripped and filled the door with Great Stuff.

A/C has a tendency to dry the air.
You could start with a flat bucket or a tray fill with gravel/pebble stones and fill with water; located somewhere in your growing room.
Not sure it works for cannabis, but it does the trick for orchids.

 

[Governmentchz]

That's a cool idea. Thanks for that. I dipped by WalMart and snagged a cool mist vaporizer. On the box it said it could adjust a room 250 sq/ft, which is about the size of the spare room. With it on an hour, RH is up to 44% from starting at 38%. We'll see this afternoon if it will stabilize, get over 50%, or fail miserably. The unit was about $26 and there were a couple more expensive models, but this one seemed to meet my needs so I grabbed it. I'll give brand name, specs later this eve after observing most of the day.

 

[Governmentchz]

This pic taken after about 2 hours with the humidifier running. By the time I got around to posting, it was already up to 48%. Also, I fed/watered yesterday. They took the whole gallon with only ~5% DTW. I mixed 3ML GHFD Part "A", 2 ML GHFD Part "B", 2 ML CaliMagic (total 719ppm, pH 5.9 unadjusted). I'm not going for giants here, so am starting to plan when I'll flip. Leaning towards next weekend which would put it at 5 1/2 weeks total veg.

Big Sis:

Little Sis:

 

[Light Addict]

Looking nice and bushy, well done!

 

[Governmentchz]

Thanks man.

 

[EyeDooIt]

Subbed man! Looking good!

 

[Governmentchz]

Thanks Eyedoolt. Your timing is good. I expect to flip to 12/12 in the next few days. I'm using the default spectrum from the factory and my plants are loving it.

 

[stealthgrow]

Hi again GC, I'm up to date again with your journal, they are really coming along nicely.
In my opinion your right about the flip, they are ready whenever you are. They look about the same size as mine when I flipped and they ended almost 4 feet tall.

 

[BigIrishDoode]

Sum booootiful ladies there chz, love how LED chunks them up aka tight mode spacing,funny I never fuss with humidity we either have none or it's outrageous they do really well for me all years except during summer, when the humidity and temps all but ruined my crop, maybe I should worry about it, but they are doing so well why fix what's not broken,

 

[Governmentchz]

Hey BID, thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the props on the ladies. I decided to flip them today and programmed 5a-5p, so lights out at 5p this eve to start flower. All just when I'm getting comfortable with the 19/5 routine...lol. They are almost dry today so I'll feed them between 5-6a tomorrow morning. I grabbed some pictures under normal light as I was reprogramming the timer.

The ladies

This was one of the fan leaves I removed this evening too. It was covering 3 other branches and good bud sites.

This is where things have settled for the last 4 days

 

[SpaceCroc]

Looking like litl' sys caught up with big'sys