MerryMonk’s 2020 Quarantine First Time Grow: Autos In Soil Under LED

[MerryMonk]

Hi all,
Posting the start of my first journal here, or anywhere, for that matter. I am an avid outdoor gardener, and this spring (February/March) I started researching the idea of growing marijuana indoors. I invested in a small tent(2x2x4’), ventilation system, built an elevated area in an unused closet, bought a no-name burple led online, and ordered my seeds! And they didn’t come.... they were seized at the border. As I attempted to deal with their customer service, a little pandemic set in, and they appeared to drop off the grid. So I sourced some seeds from another 420 sponsor, Seedsman. Although they took some extra time, they finally showed up this week!
In the months of waiting, I found this site, began lurking and learning, and decided to upgrade my grow op before I had even started a single seed! I found a bigger tent that fits my space almost exactly, at 2.25’x2.25’x 5.25’ and a Mars 600 LED full spectrum light. I was able to take advantage of free return options, but I still have that “new growers tend to spend too much” mentality on lock!
here’s a pic of my setup

Anywho, got my seeds, finally, and planted two auto strains- a Lemon and a White Widow. I went right to soil, using Fox Farms Ocean Forest, with 50% perlite mixed in. Then I ran out of dirt, so my third seed was potted the following day. I used 50% FF OF again, but mixed in about 35% coco to 15% perlite, which was also running low at this point.
here’s some pics of them. The two I potted on Monday popped today!

I plan on using FF liquid fertilizer- I have the big 3.
I look forward to getting expert help and advice; I’m sure I’ll need it!

To start, I had a couple of questions:
1. Is there a general rule of thumb for when to start feeding?
2. I have read a lot about the importance of water. Is rain barrel water a good source? I tested mine the other day using the cheap ph/ppm meters I found online and it was fairly neutral, from what I could tell, and had a ppm of 40- probably trace bio material in the runoff from leaves in the gutter system. Am I good to use this water?
Getting distilled is getting tough at the grocery store, and my puppy needs to drink it for medical reasons!

Thanks in advance for any advice/ guidance/ moral support along this journey! I’ll try to be good about posting updates and pics, and look forward to joining the community!

 

[TorturedSoul]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your grow!

2.25’x2.25’x 5.25’ and a Mars 600 LED

You're going to want more light, IMHO, even with autoflowers. The TS-150 might have been just about adequate, assuming you keep the light on 18 hours per day all the way to harvest day. It's a little ($60, before factoring in forum discount code) more expensive, but outputs 50% more light-energy.

 

[MerryMonk]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your grow!



You're going to want more light, IMHO, even with autoflowers. The TS-150 might have been just about adequate, assuming you keep the light on 18 hours per day all the way to harvest day. It's a little ($60, before factoring in forum discount code) more expensive, but outputs 50% more light-energy.

Yeah, thanks I was looking between the 600 and 1000- the 150 was too wide for my tent. I went with the 600 because of the lower power draw (electricity costs) and lower risk of fire- I was worried abour too much heat with the larger light. In retrospect, the 1000 probably would be fine...I guess I’ll see how this one goes, and upgrade as needed!
any advice on the water?
also, when should I worry about yellowing?
heres a pic of my the first lemon auto, and the leaves are quite yellowed. a cause for concern?

 

[TorturedSoul]

The TS-1000 is the product I was meaning. Apologies for calling it a TS-150. It is a 150-watt device and... well... I haven't been getting enough sleep .

and lower risk of fire- I was worried abour too much heat with the larger light.

Fire risk should be 0 as long as common sense practices/procedures are followed. One assumes there will be adequate amounts of airflow through the space, for example (as the plant(s) will need it).

I guess I’ll see how this one goes, and upgrade as needed!

Whatever works. I was just making the suggestion now (then) in case you were still within the return/exchange window. It's easier/cheaper to spend a little more now on the right product (if you can return the current one for full credit, I mean) than to wait and have to purchase another one.

any advice on the water?

Er... Stop getting the seedling wet .

 

[MerryMonk]

one week in, and my plants are growing, slowly... here’s the white widow-

and the two lemons...

I am thinking about starting nutes, in the form of fox farms, around day 14.
I know I’m probably fretting, but I’m already worried they are not as vigorous as I would hope at this stage...

 

[Moneyman223]

one week in, and my plants are growing, slowly... here’s the white widow-

and the two lemons...

I am thinking about starting nutes, in the form of fox farms, around day 14.
I know I’m probably fretting, but I’m already worried they are not as vigorous as I would hope at this stage...

You're good bro, there isn't much to be excited about in the seedling stage.. next few weeks you will see a good amount of growth as long as you do your best to not stress the plant (over watering, light burn, nute burn etc)

 

[TorturedSoul]

Seedlings look healthy. They always seem to take forever and a day at that stage, especially to the new gardener. I wouldn't be in a great hurry to add additional nutrients right now. I don't think they will grow to a size to have allowed them to have consumed all the nutritional value of your soil in only seven more days. The owner of this plant asked someone if he should begin feeding it:

Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil, lol.

 

[MerryMonk]

Yeah, they are coming along well- I can see that I am just being a nervous Nellie. My white widow and the second lemon are doing well-

however, i am a little worried about my first lemon. It is now smaller than its sibling- which was planted a day later, and there is some cupping on the leaves, and a few spots of yellowing that are worrisome. As you said above, i dont want to sress them out, an I am worrying about over/under watering them. Is this more new parent worries? Or something I need to address?
here she is:

thanks for all the responses so far!

 

[MerryMonk]

Week 3! Looks like most of my worries were unfounded- new parent worries....
here are the girls.

The white widow is still largest.

and the two lemons are evening out.

the fan leaves are large in them all.
I am a little worried at their height - will they grow enough to give room for lower bud sites to grow?
prolly worrying again, but that’s my tick, and what the medicine helps with- worrying too much.
I‘ve seen some people using lst on autos, and I’m debating doing the same, looping the main cola through one of the fabric handles to expose the lower bud sites to light. Any thoughts? is it worth it to do this?

 

[MerryMonk]

Well, I can see how many of these journals get started, and never finished, but I can also see why- it’s tough! Especially when the quarantine has every day bleeding into the next, and weeks following suit. We started week 5 well, with the plants growing in leaps and bounds.

however, I did notice on the white widow, I have one leaf that looks funky:

any suggestions on what’s going on here? Is this something to worry about? The leaves are underdeve, and have some Tiny holes in them, but I can find no pests...
any suggestions would be welcomed!

 

[MerryMonk]

Week 6 and things are looking good! I added another light to my tent, it‘s a small, single bulb led, but I figure it adds a few extra PARs to the party, so why not.

As the girls head into flower, there is definitely some difference in timing between the plants. The white widow is flowering liberally,and has been since my last post.

the two lemons, sprouted a day apart, are several days apart in development- the older one is in flower, while the younger is still developing pre- flowers, and hasn’t quite reached the height of the other two.
lemon 1

She’s kind of jammed into the corner- I am thinking that three may have been a stretch for my area- at 27” square,I’m having difficulty keeping my humidity levels down. ( they stay between 65%-80% pretty constantly)
here’s lemon #2

Not the best solo pic, sorry!
I tried to clean out the lower veg, on all of them, but am unsure how much I can continue to cut as they slowly grow to fill my entire space!

If anyone has good trimming tips, they would be appreciated!

 

[MerryMonk]

The girls are coming along nicely-here they are this morning...

Bought a cheap ’microscope‘ for my smartphone. It ends up working better on my iPad, so I took some pics of my white widow up close- prolly 50-60x mag, with the zoom from the camera all told.
trichomes galore!

my first lemon is popping too- the buds are small, but already sticky with growth!

However, I also found two leaves, both old fan leaves in the interior of the vegetation that had some weird, brown spots-

Any ideas what’s happening here? I figure it’s nothing to worry about, as it is not evident on any of the new growth, and the plant is otherwise healthy. I was thinking it might be splash from watering onto the , but they are not that low on the plant.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[MerryMonk]

Girls are good-

I bought a microscope for the smartphone and took some up close pics-

trichomes galore! more to come.

 

[MerryMonk]

Well, I followed advice, and gave all three girls a good flush, then start with full strength nutes. They responded to the flush well, and I will see if they respond to the feeding. So far, some of the discoloring is worse on the main cola of my whippet widow, but again, this is the only place i see this on the plant.

the rest of the cola is healthy

The two lemons are so different, even though they were planted a day apart.

lots of snow!
and some up close pics

 

[MerryMonk]

New pics... week ten.
The girls are doing ok, but the rust contin to hit some of the leaves
I gave everyone a week ten flush, and am looking forward to the last two weeks, and harvest!
tricomes are looking good.

 

[MerryMonk]

Welp, things got away from me... a day became two, then one week three... I got busy with other projects! Summer calls!
anywho,i continued with the FF feeding schedule up until the last week, when I gave them water. I ended up harvesting the white widow, and the first lemon on Sunday. But leaving the other lemon, which was still all clear in the trichome department, to go for an extra week. i knew that this might make my drying process longer, not doing it all at once, but I figure I’ll cross that bridge then.
here is the lemon I took down. Tbh, part of my reticence about posting was the ugly rust that developed on this lemon, and my white widow. I was told it was under feeding, but my other lemon has never shown this burn, despite being on the same exact feeding schedule. The only difference was the lemon without burn was grown in 25% coco, 25% perlite, 50% ffof. The other two were 50/50 ffof and perlite. I guess the coco makes a difference?

here‘s the white widow...

again, the yellowing, burn was disappointing, but the buds were still large, so I started to cut....
who knew trimming was such a pain in the ass!

fun stuff! Two hours later, after a rough wet trim, I hung the results in my new drying box:

I cut air holes in the sides and top, then put filters over the openings. I also put a flange in the back (you can see it in the second picture) and connected a 4” vent to draw air throut the box, into my tent, and through the air filter... no smell!
i was worried about it, but fit both plants inside the box fairly comfortably. but it was full!

the screen on top was used for some of the smaller buds that came off during trimming.

keeping the humidity down in the midst of a humid summer has been my biggest battle, but I’ve been maintaining 50-60 % for the most part.
I’m looking forward to snipping the other lemon, and dry trimming the results from my first harvest in a few days. I sampled some of the loose buds from the screen last night that were just getting to ‘dry’.... whoooeee! So excited to smoke my own harvest!
thanks to everyone who helped with advice!