Limited Space & Resources - Zombie Ninja's PC Grow Box Experiment Journal!

[fish cake]

wow wished we could get together. as we speak or type LOL I am playing my 8track player not to toot my own horn but I'am pretty good at it.

 

[GigaGrew]

 

[Zombie Ninja]

wow wished we could get together. as we speak or type LOL I am playing my 8track player not to toot my own horn but I'am pretty good at it.

Don't laugh, Giga...Fish Cake has a serious talent there... I know people who can't play the radio without getting static

 

[fish cake]

Don't laugh, Giga...Fish Cake has a serious talent there... I know people who can't play the radio without getting static

recognize

 

[mcloadie]

Ninja man, May I sit in on your journal. This will definately be a good one!

 

[BigIrishDoode]

in my current 4th journal i give a short rundown of my equipment i use for my sound recording page 2-3 i think, may favorite piece is my monitors i have a pair of near field m-audio BX5a's each one is self powered by dual amps 30watts for the high and 40 for the main drivers theey are bout 25lbs a piece and the bass response is amazing you would swear i was running a sub they are perfectly flat and will melt your face at 50% power i have seen them in music videos and lots of big time pros use them i got them as a gift from my stepdad hes a producer in LA they run 399 retail but they are older now so a pair can b had for 400 nowadays for the $ & size i cant find anything better check em out. i run mine non stop(3 yrs now) we play movies ,music,vid games etc all thru my rig just thought you might dig em

 

[Zombie Ninja]

Ninja man, May I sit in on your journal. This will definately be a good one!

You are MORE than welcome to pull up a chair and join the festivities! Failing a urine sample is my only pre-requisite. LOL

 

[Zombie Ninja]

in my current 4th journal i give a short rundown of my equipment i use for my sound recording page 2-3 i think, may favorite piece is my monitors i have a pair of near field m-audio BX5a's each one is self powered by dual amps 30watts for the high and 40 for the main drivers theey are bout 25lbs a piece and the bass response is amazing you would swear i was running a sub they are perfectly flat and will melt your face at 50% power i have seen them in music videos and lots of big time pros use them i got them as a gift from my stepdad hes a producer in LA they run 399 retail but they are older now so a pair can b had for 400 nowadays for the $ & size i cant find anything better check em out. i run mine non stop(3 yrs now) we play movies ,music,vid games etc all thru my rig just thought you might dig em

Maaan I am drooolinggg over those, I wish had the money to at least invest in a decent set of studio monitors, I have a usb condenser mic and some decent Sony speakers and a 20w sub, I can do alot with what I have, I've learned a good deal about cleaning vocals up and stuff. One day, I'll have the money to do it big

 

[Zombie Ninja]

Okay guys so it's my 50th post, and it just so happens I finally got un-lazy enough to find the pics of my buddy's setup and the dank he's getting ready to pull... so yaay!!! Picture update an shit!!!

I transplanted plant #4 out of it's little baby container today (after knocking it over for about the fifteenth time), so well see how it handles it. I've been a fairly shitty parent to this one on purpose and it just continues to grow. Haha. In yer face, dad. Oh, and steering clear of the sawdust... jus sayin...

I opened up a paper clip and bent it into a 'U' shape, and basically stapled plant #1 back down to the soil yesterday. Today it was turned up and growing towards the light and no more yellow leaves at all anywhere. Totally healthy looking.

I trimmed one of the fan leaves off of plant #3 that was blocking light to the leaves on the nodes so I'm hoping that side of the plant will begin taking off now.

No changes to plant #2. Just growin an shit.

At this point it's become survival of the fittest, and I'm kinda wishing one of em would've croaked by now... I'm amazed that they all continue to spit in my face at what seems to be blatant attempts to kill these poor innocent plants lol.. of course, I'm not really blatantly trying to kill em, I just don't know any better haha.. I was the oldest kid growing up. I know how shit works on the first one l

I'm not gonna do a photo update of my plants today, since I did one yesterday, so instead I've decided to treat you with the pics of the plants I gave my buddy and his setup, as well as pics of the outdoor one he'll be pulling probably this week. These pics were taken two days after I gave them to him, and they had already begin to take off. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Here's my buddy's setup two days after I gave him the three plants.

Here's the outdoor beauty:

Be easy peoples

 

[jandre2k3]

Today's update:

The three plants I gave my buddy are the three plants in the middle row of the bottom picture. This leaves me with 4 plants, two that have sawdust mix (the one in the black pot, and the one in the clay-colored pot), and two that do not (the one in the blue solo cup and the one remaining plant in the small planter thing).

The only plant that has showed showed any kind of adverse reaction to the sawdust mix is the one in the clay colored pot. I noticed when I woke up yesterday morning that the bottom two leaves ( the first two true leaves) were slightly yellow on the edges. You can barely see it in the pic I took yesterday morning. It was also the only one of the plants that seemed to struggle after the transplant to the sawdust soil. The leaves had been slightly curled under since the transplant. None of the others showed these effects, so I most likely attribute it to the ratio not being quite right in that particular pot as I mixed them all separately by hand.

As a curiosity, I decided to test the runoff water after I watered that particular plant. Not sure how accurate the reading would be, but I was curious as to what I would find. I was even MORE curious by what I DID find:


Nitrate: went up from 0 to between 40-80.
Nitrite: went up from 0, to between 0 and .5
Total hardness: went up from 0 to around 50.
Total Alkalinity: went up from 0 to about 40.
pH: went DOWN from 6.8 to around 5.5!

Being that it was late, I didn't post this data last night. I googled how to naturally raise pH, and the most common result I came across was wood ash. The ratio called for 1/2 lb. of wood ash per square foot of soil for a pH that was around 5.5. I did the math and decided that about 3.5g of ash would suffice, to be on the safe side and not risk over-kill. Now, since this is the only plant showing ill effects, it was the only plant I treated... I did not transplant the plant again (for fear of further damage), so I simply sprinkled the ash on the top, mixed it in with about the top inch and a half of soil, cut the two bottom dying leaves, and gave it a lil water. I checked it when I got up at 2:30 this afternoon and the entire plant was green again and the leaves standing up well for he first time since the transplant.

I was also wandering around in the building looking through some stuff and realized we still have some fertilizer from the summer garden, an 10-10-10 mix. I decided to mix 1/2 tablespoon of it with my plant water in a separate cup. I fed it to the two smallest other plants, one that has sawdust and one that does not. I didn't give the largest plant anything but my regular water, it's also in the regular yard dirt-MG soil. So we'll see how it goes.

The single female that's the healthiest is going to get this box to herself. I have plans for the rest of them as well. But we're gonna see if we can get a plant to flower in this box. peace

pH going down? try a little sprinkle of bone meal around the edges, and water it in.

 

[jandre2k3]

lots of ppl do 50/50 with good results, i have done a whole grow with 6500k and got a nice little harvest of a couple ozs 2 plants one gave really dense dank nugs the other more like what you normally get from cfl growing decent tasty not quite as dense bud that does the job nicely, but i think 1 blue 2 red for you will be nifty

for flowering, what bid said....however if it hasnt started flowering yet (pistils) its still veg even if on 12/12 and would be 2 blue 1 red.

DING DING DING!! These are seedlings, yet, and are still vegging. Blue is needed more in veg, and less in bloom, BUT still needed in bloom.

These are going to be in "Veg Mode" until they're roughly between six to nine weeks old, then they'll start to transition. This is a personal observation from sprouting seeds directly into 12/12. I have seen no sex organs at all until at least 6 weeks from seed, unless it's a very fast auto, and then it was roughly 30 days.

 

[jandre2k3]

Okay guys, so it's been a rather fun and enjoyable day, my fiance's brother is in the service, and still stationed in the States for now. He got to come home today for Christmas break, he's here to till after Christmas and we've all been hanging out and catching up Him on his Bud Light, me on my meds I'm allergic to hops so drinking beer is out of the question for me, unless I drink wheat beer, most of which sucks ass. I'd rather just smoke. But to each his own But anyways, that's the reason for the pic update delay that I promised you guys.

I labeled the plants to help me (and yall) keep up with what's going on with each plant since I am experimenting with different soils and nutes and junk:

Plant #1: is the one in the red clay pot. It is one of the plants with the sawdust/yard dirt/mg mix soil. The only plant to seem to show any ill effects after the transplant into the sawdust, this little plant lost its first to true leaves to yellowing. I just removed the second single true leaves after I uploaded the photo. But it IS growing. I hope the little bit of wood ash I added a few days back has helped.I'm not doing anything else to this plant but watering when it needs it now.

Plant #2: is in the round black pot, I replanted this one to the starter leaves, It is also in sawdust mixed-soil. Hasn't really shown any ill effects. The last watering this one got a drink of some watered down 10-10-10 soil nutes, (a tblsp to a whole solo cup, watered with about 30% of the cup). It's next watering will be plain well water. It appears to be a different strain as the leaves seem to be a little darker and fatter than the rest of the plants. But idk.

Plant #3: my buddy came by and checked em out tonight, and he asked me what I've been feeding this plant to make it grow so fast. I told him absolutely nothing... this plant is in a mix of yard dirt and mg about 60/40 yard dirt and has been getting straight well water. This plant was always the biggest, though, even when they were all still in small planters getting the same stuff. I tied it down to the solo cup and it continues to grow like a monster. Praying this is my girl, but I know how fast males tend to grow..

Plant #4: this is the only plant still in its original planter, it's also in the 60/40 mix that plant #3 is in. I've pretty much done what I can to neglect this plant, only watering it when needed, last water I gave it the same 10-10-10 water that plant #2 got, and this thing is growing like hell too. I will replant it before the weekend is over. It's looking good. But small.

All plants are growing pretty well and the node spacing is pretty tight, there's really no loss of light in a box this size. Any idea what plant #1's problem could be? Hope I got it straightened out. Don't wanna over react.
Here's what I saw when I opened the box today:

As of now it's been 25 days since germination for all plants. I have some pictures of my buddy's orphans I game him and the dwc setup he has, as well as an outdoor beauty that he is harvesting in the next few days. I'll put them up as soon as I get caught up on journal reading

I wouldn't worry too much about the bottom pair dying off on that one. thre rest of the plant looks pretty healthy, eveb with the little yellowing around the edges, so, it may have just been a little stress from transplanting. You can try a little B vitamin water on your next transplant to help control that.
Also, if that is the one with the low pH, get some bone meal in there- just a light sprinkle, not too much, and only around the edges. Lightly work it into the top, and water it down.

 

[Zombie Ninja]

Oh man I've got so much information to post. Some questions, too...

What's up guys, thought I'd let ya know what's been going on here. My plants are 28 days old today!! Woohoo! 4 weeks!!! LOL, so far so good

Plant #1: (The drama queen): Still kicking, but still doesn't look quite as healthy as the others. It's getting there, though, and I haven't given up on it yet. I may have found a remedy which I will discuss later in this post (and oh yes I have questions) lol

Plant #2: Ohhhh boy.... This plant has grown into something I have never ever seen before, maybe it's pretty common, but I've never seen it, but the second set of leaves on this plant grew in a mirror image of 4 leaves on both sides... not 3 leaves, not 5 leaves, but 4?? Is this a trait specific to a certain strain(s), or is it possible for the same strain to grow different foliage configurations depending on the health of the plant? (Assuming the plants are not subject to stress training yet?) I must admit, it does look different though. Can't wait to show you the pics.
I have also been reading up on femming, and I was looking at this plant (#2 still lol) the other day and it told me to cut it. LOL. I dunno why, but it did, yo. It just did. The leaves were coming in perfect to try it. It was at the 4 node, and I know this plant is fairly small already,but I figured what the hell and chopped it. We'll see if I got it right in a couple of days. The way I've heard it described it's a win-win situation regaurdless. But I dunno. I just did it cause the plant told me to. Otherwise, this plant is healthy. And growing 4-leaf lucky charms status an shit.

Plant #3: I have tied Plant #3 down to the cup again, and I've now trimmed a total of like 5 fan leaves off all together since I planted it. (I think). The leaves on the nodes that are now without fan leaves are growin like a mofo. This plant still seems stupid healthy. Stem is getting amazingly thick really fast since I've started with the LST.(Please be a girl cause this bitch is growinnnn).

Plant #4: This plant looks like a little miniature replica of plant #3. The nodes on this plant are growing so dense, the plant kinda looks like a little mini bud growng. I mean absolutely NO stretch.. I pinned it to the soil and it's just growing squat and green as hell. It looks so much like Plant #3, that it's got me wondering if this plant isn't a female and plant #3 a male of the same variety (since # 3 is soo much bigger) could just be healthy genes... but at this point, it's anybody's guess.


I have a box I'm getting ready to put to good use, it was my Christmas present, haha, it measures about 32"x32"x48", and I'm about to have an awesome new home for the plants that don't make the cut in this PC box. I will put pictures up of that as well as I get on with construction. I have already mananged to purchase or scrape up everything I need to make it work, with the exception of ventilation fans. I'm gonna try to get that squared away next week.

This being a very, very low budget grow, I went to the local hardware store to poke around and see if I could find some stuff for cheap.(My lady gave me $25 to buy plant supplies for Christmas to go with the box )
Now on my word, as soon as I have the loot, I'm going to invest in the BPN stuff,because I have seen the results of their grows and I can't argue with results...but for now, I gotta make do. I hope yall understand. I'm not here to advertise for certain companies. I'm here to do the best I can with what I have right now.
So I bought some stuff, seems legit, and I want to transplant the crop into this when I find out sex in the next few weeks:

I found a bag of perilite at the wal marts for like $3.50.
At the hardware store:

I found a bag of 'Just Natural' brand Natural & Organic composted cow manure 0.5 - 0.5 - 0.2. Cost me less than $3. I want to transplant directly into a mix of this and perilte to get out of the MG/Yard dirt/sawdust compound that I'm currently in. Will this be beneficial to my plants in the long run?

I picked up some 'Jobe's Organics' brand all purpose granular fertilizer, 4 - 4 - 4, to feed the plants. The ingredients read 8% calcium, 0.5% magnesium, 0.15% water soluble magnesium, 1.4% sulfur, derived from Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Composted Poultry Manure, and Sulfate of Potash. Will this suffice to give the plants fairly close to what they need to keep them healthy and have a decent yield? (For the >$5 I payed for it?)

I decided to give the plants a little bit of this fertilizer tonight when I watered them. 1/2 strength of the recommended dosage for plants in pots my size.Hopefully we'll see some improvements, especially in that little slacker Plant #1.


I will do another picture update in a couple of days. I think for now once a week will have to do on the pics unless something major happens, being the Holidays and all, there is alot going on. Hope all is well with yall!!!

Peace

 

[jandre2k3]

Fan Leaves can have any number, evens, and odds, from 1 to what I've personally seen, 11. I've heard of 12, but that's a REALY happy plant, but I never actually saw the plant.

Usually you can determine the happiness of the plant by simply counting the blades on the newest growth.

On the composted manure, you're going to want to be really careful with feeding i this stuff. Poultry compost is worse, but cow can get pretty "hot" meaning an increased "N" content. Go to your local dollar store and get some packages of their potting soil. I get mine at the 99 cent store, here. A dollar a foot ain't bad if all you need is 3 or 4 feet. Mix that at 1:4 manure:soil, and bare root transplant into it. Now you've gotta be careful with the roots, of course, but you wanna make sure you don't have any of those MG granules in between the roots to really heat things up. Let them get settled, watering with clear water when needed, and see how they react. If needed, then you can mix up some compost tea, and add a little tiny bit of the 4-4-4.

 

[Zombie Ninja]

The composted manure has a nitrogen content of 0.5%, The MG has 21% nitrogen.... and you're telling me the nitrogen is too rich in the compost??? The main reason I picked this composted soil up was because the listed nutrient contents were so low. It was the closest to 0 out of all the soils I seen, I figured at least this way I could know for sure what nutrients (and how much) I could give the plants without burning them, because I have no idea the content of my yard dirt. If I'm wrong, correct me lol but my was my thinking behind the purchase.

 

[GigaGrew]

composted manure...is that compost with manure in it, or is it the concentrate like 1 hand full per sq yard. a link to the compost bag would be good so we are all on the same page =)

 

[oldman60]

"The composted manure has a nitrogen content of 0.5%"

Where did you get that figure from?

I have some composted chicken and cow manure that way hotter than that.

 

[CoryDavid88]

my very first grow i was haveing 13 fingers. yet that doesnt make me happy i want some with only 3 fingers known as skywalker og i beleieve.

 

[Zombie Ninja]

Where did you get that figure from?

I have some composted chicken and cow manure that way hotter than that.[/QUOTE]

Jolly Gardener Products, Inc.

I'll post a picture to show the content of the stuff as soon as I can. Here's a link

 

[stedfast82]

cool