Mystery Seed's 400W LED Grow Journal - ScrOG - 2'x2'x5' Tent

Welcome to my first grow journal. I look forward to sharing with and learning from this wonderful community.

I live, work, and play in Colorado. About a month ago, I started work at a retail grow operation trimming buds and performing odd jobs. With my new job and 420-friendly roommates, no time seemed better than now to start a mini-garden in my closet. The plan is to veg a handful of plants with the intent to transplant half of the plants to a friend's outdoor garden near Cortez. The rest I plan to flower in my closet under a 400w LED light using Low-Stress-Training and a ScrOG.

Here is my set-up:
  • Mars Hydro Grow Tent 2'3" x 2'3" x 5'3" (Mars Hydro LED - the Best Solutions for Horticulture and Indoor Plants)
  • Mars Hydro II 400w LED Grow Light (80x5w)
  • 2x 3-Gallon Smart Pots
  • 1x 2-Gallon Smart Pot
  • 1x 1-Gallon Smart Pot
  • 2 Cu. ft of Happy Frog potting soil by Fox Farm
  • 6" Clip Fan
  • Titan Controls heavy-duty mechanical timer
  • 6-outlet Surge Protector
  • Indoor/Outdoor digital thermometer and hygrometer
  • 2x Bubbalicious Autoflower Plants (Indica Dominant)
  • 2x Papaya Feminized Plants (Hybrid, Indica Dominant)

My current set-up:
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I bought my seeds which arrived hassle-free within 14-days of ordering and came with 10 "freebie" mystery seeds.

{Day 1} On March 25th, I soaked 3 Bubbalicious autoflower seeds, 4 Papaya feminized seeds, and 5 Mystery seeds for about 4 hours then placed them in Rapid Rooters inside a mini-greenhouse seed starter to germinate . Of those, all but 3 Mystery seeds sprouted. I transplanted the sprouts into various containers sized 1/4 to 1-Gallon plastic pots of Happy Frog soil. Some plants went into a window sill, while the rest went into my homemade grow box made from an Omaha Steak cooler lined with tinfoil. It had two 30-watt CFLs for light and a small fan for air circulation. I'm not proud of this first grow box, but the plants in it did better than those left alone in the windowsill.

A baby seedling a few days after sprouting (March 29th, 2015):


{Day 9} Inside my old, homemade grow box (April 2nd, 2015):
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{Day 17} Plants doing well under CFL lights (April 10th, 2015):


On April 10th, my Mars Hydro II 400w LED grow light arrived in the mail (Mars Hydro LED - the Best Solutions for Horticulture and Indoor Plants). In my excitement, I decided to put 4 of the plants (two Bubbalicious and two Papaya) into their final containers and placed them about 20" under the 400w LED light on a 18/6 schedule. My big mistake here was over-watering the plants as soon as I transplanted them into bigger pots. By the next day, I was seeing signs of over-watering (firm leaves bend downward and soil still damp on the surface).

The same day, I finished my new stealth grow box made from an old speaker. I placed a few of the window plants into the box after moving the other plants to my closet under the 400w LED.

{Day 17} Plants after transplanting into final pots, placing under LED light, and accidental over-watering. That's a lot of stress all at once. The two Papaya plants are in the bigger smart pots, and the two Bubbalicious plants are in the smaller smart pots:


{Day 17} Some close-ups... because we all love watching our babies grow:


{Day 17} Inside my new homemade, stealth grow box made from an old speaker.


{Day 21} One of the over-watered plants at its worst. Notice the leaves curling downward? The plants are all slowly recovering as the soil dries out. (April 13th, 2015):

{Day 23} Inside my new grow tent from Mars Hydro. (April 15th, 2015):
{Day 23} A few more photos of my recovering plants. (April 15th, 2015):



{Day 23} Inside my stealth, speaker grow box with new 135w LED grow light.

That pretty much wraps up my first grow journal entry. In hindsight, I learned about the dangers of over-watering and sudden changes in environment. Even with a few bumps in the road, the plants are still healthy and growing as you'd expect something called "weed" to grow.

In the past few weeks, a lot of things have happened and/or changed. To recap, 9 seeds sprouted (3 Bubbalicious autoflower, 4 Papaya feminized, and 2 Mystery). In the grow tent are 2 Papaya plants in 3-gallon smart pots and 2 Bubbalicious plants in a gallon and a 2-gallon smart pot respectively. In the stealth grow box, I currently have 1 Bubbalicious, 2 Papaya, and 2 Mystery plants.

I'll try to update in the next week or sooner if something major happens. Until then, keep your feet on the ground and your mind in the clouds.

One love,
X

P.S. Questions, comments, suggestions, and praise are all welcome. :thumb:
 
Here are a few more photos of my stealth grow box made from an old speaker:

From the outside, it looks simply like a speaker used as a small table.


Open the front and voila!


The light is a 138w LED grow light (46x3w). The inside of the grow box measure 12" wide x 9" deep x 24" tall. Not a lot of space, but enough to veg a few plants while the others are flowering in my tent. Or conversely, flower some clones to sex them out while I veg the tent to the proper size.

Keeping it clean and clutter free up top.

My mini 4-in table fan gets the job done well in this small box.

A view from the top. I keep the glasses there for looking inside. It's awfully bright in there.

I mounted the surge protector on the side for convenience, but it could be tucked behind a desk or other piece of furniture for stealth.


With the light on.


With the light off.

A few photos of my babies to wrap up.




I

The vitals...
Light: 138w LED UFO grow light (46x3w) Actual power draw ~80w
Ventilation: 70mm computer fan for exhaust and 4" table fan for circulation. (note: the computer fan moves a lot of air, but it's loud.)
Medium: Happy Frog potting soil
Distance from Light: ~10"
Average temp: 80'F
Temp Range: 63'F - 90'F
Average RH: 35%
RH Range: 30-45%

I would do more to control the temperature and humidity; however, several of these plants are destined for the great outdoors, so I want to raise hardy plants that will adapt well to a more natural habitat. If you have questions or suggestions, please post away.

One love,
X
 
Earth Day Update

Happy Earth Day to all you earth lovin' people out there.

Since my last post, a few things have changed. To start, I moved all 5 plants from my small stereo speaker grow box to the tent. This move saved the cost of electricity, roughly 44-cents a day (3.14 kilowatts per day x 14-cents per kilowatt = 44-cents per day), and the noise of the computer fan which would work well if I could dial down the RPM. Any tips? Maybe a dimmer switch or a similar device?

More plants in the tent under the 400w LED have made it crowded, but air flow remains adequate and the humidity has pleasantly increased a few percent. The 4 plants in large smart pots haven't been watered since April 10th. They are no longer showing signs of over-watering and the nodes are all growing close together, but I still feel they were stunted a little from the transplant. The bottoms remains damp and the leaves still plump, so I'm waiting a few more days to water the smart pots. The plants moved from the grow box have been getting water every 2-4 days.

Vitals
Temp: 61-84'F
Soil Temp: 57-69'F
RH: 27-61%
Light: 18/6

Aside from the move, I numbered each plant to more accurately track water and nutrient schedules along with recording growth and any sudden changes. This also feeds my desire to approach my grow in a more scientific manner, and it makes me feel like Gregor Mendel and his pea plants.

Anyway, I present the plants:

{Day 29}All the pretty plants in one tent. (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Papaya #1 (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Papaya #2 (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Papaya #3 (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Papaya #4 (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Bubbalicious #1 (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Bubbalicious #2 (April 22nd, 2015)
IMG_64714.JPG


{Day 29} Bubbalicious #3 (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Mystery #1 (April 22nd, 2015)
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{Day 29} Mystery #2 (April 22nd, 2015)
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The light of the LED shining through the partially open tent door. I hope these are the light wavelengths my plants want.
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That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by my journal. Have a great day!

-Mystery Seeds
 
I must say this is going to be a very awesome journey. You can count on me.
;)

All the best

Glad to have you on board. Looks like things are going well for your first grow. I love the bonsai style plants.
 
looks great. i am very interested in seeing how this grow develops.
I am using a 140w Led 7 spectrum for veg, with additional cfls for flower.
Is it a dual spectrum led?

Glad to have you on-board, Jimbory.

This is not a dual spectrum LED. I considered buying a dual spectrum light, but I got a good deal on this light. Also, I plan to keep this light in the flower tent, so I want to give my babies as much of the light spectrum as they can handle. When it's time to flower the non-autoflower plants, I'll probably follow suit and add a few CFL's.

Until next time, happy growing!
 
SWICK Watering System

Quick update:

After over-watering the two Papaya and two Bubblicious Autos in smart pots, I didn't water them for 14-days. The soil several inches down was bone dry, but the bottom of the pots were still moist. This, I thought, would prove to be a problem until the plants grew bigger, then I read about the "SWICK" watering method described here: SWICK Watering Systems: Letting The Plant Water Itself

Today, I went to the local gardening store and picked up a bag of Perlite. I removed the plastic saucers beneath the smart pots, filled them with Perlite and added water. I put the saucers back in the tent under the pots, then filled the Perlite-saucers with water almost to, but not touching, the bottom of the smart pots. After 30 minutes, I checked back and the smart pots had wicked up all of the water. I have refilled them two more times in the last several hours and may need to do it again shortly.

To say the least, I think this new method of watering will save me a great deal of guesswork when it comes to watering my babies. An added benefit to this system is the ability to leave the plants for several days without worrying whether they are staying hydrated.

I haven't started adding nutrients yet. When I do, however, I plan to top-feed the nutes as I fear they won't wick into the soil with the water. In her post, SweetSue also mentions "drenching" the plants once in a while to prevent salt build-up.

Anyway, here are a few photos to make this post not-so-boring:

I finally figured out how to change the white balance on my camera. The LED light is still on, but no more purple-ish hue. Yay!
IMG_64913.JPG


The saucer filled with Perlite and water. Notice the finger-hole in the Perlite on the left? I use that to judge the water level. For deeper SWICK systems, I've seen people use glass cups with nothing inside shoved into the Perlite.
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The smart pot sitting on top of the Perlite.
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Papaya #1
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Papaya#2
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That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

One love,
X
 
Hanging Lights and Ventilation

Mystery,
What are you doing for ventilation?
How are you hanging your lights?

For ventilation, I jerry-rigged a 7" clip fan to the 8" exhaust port. Smell and CO2 needs are minimal at the moment, so buying a true vent fan and carbon filter can wait a little while.

My light hanging setup came with the Mars Hydro LED light, which I supplement with parachute chord and additional carabiners to adjust the height. If it matters, I used a basket-hitch knot to hang the light because it doubles the strength of the para-chord. If knots aren't your specialty, then ratcheting hangers are an option.

Here is the view above my light:
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These questions were originally answered in Dchannn's grow journal: Burning Lights on Cold Winter Nights. Worth checking out.:thumb:
 
Inverse Square Law for Light

Found this graphic on the interweb and thought a little math and science could benefit us all.

If you think of a light like a shower head, the closer to the shower head you are the more intense and concentrated the water. As you move further from the shower head, the intensity of the water decreases as the coverage area increases.

isqrr.gif


"Oh, and your welcome!" -Nick Burns
 
Subscribed! Like what you are doing! Like the stereo boxes, never thought of that...in the future for seedlings maybe...to far ahead of time to think about it. Hopefully, you can (or someone out there that has the knowledge).... oh, and by the way, this is one place that people do not treat you like you are a moron for asking something...some other sites, some of the people are so crude...only go there when I'm googling something. Still haven't quite figured out how to use the search here...keeps wanting to do an advanced search, wanting other things, where to look...tags...haven't the foggiest! Teaching an old dog....haha

First, around me, the large box stores that have a garden center, none of them carry Fox Farms soils or nutrients. Any idea what other ones I can use, even if I need to add to them? Have you used coco coir and perlite? Read some where that it rocks when using it for MJ.

With this grow, you use led lights. Do you know the real difference between the Hydro brand you bought and the "cheaper" ones you can buy online? I hear people say you should stay away from these "cheaper ones", but when I read the technical information, I don't ind too many differences. Do you know? I would love to invest in led lights, but the systems they seem so expensive. And every place seems they work better with hydroponic set ups...do they work the same way with soil?
Thanks for everyone's time...good grows to all!
 
Sub'd man looking good. Alot of new mars grows starting up will be fun to see how we all end up.:Namaste:
 
Your plants look great Mystery Seeds. I am glad you turned your over-watered plants around. They all look healthy now.

I will be using the swick system to water my plants growing in soil soon as I get to the store for some perlite. I think it should help us both raise the humidity a bit.

Good luck! :high-five:
 
Sub'd man looking good. A lot of new mars grows starting up will be fun to see how we all end up.:Namaste:

Thanks, Arellanobrian. From former grows that I've observed the Mars lights perform nearly as well the more expensive LEDs, so I'm expecting at least decent results from my first grow. Still undecided on which nutes I'm going to use. I'd like to try out Doc Bud's High Brix Kit, Subcool's Super Soil, or Clackamas Coot's Organic Soil Mix... but that might have to wait until my next grow. :Namaste:
 
Your plants look great Mystery Seeds. I am glad you turned your over-watered plants around. They all look healthy now.
I will be using the swick system to water my plants growing in soil soon as I get to the store for some perlite. I think it should help us both raise the humidity a bit.
Good luck! :high-five:

Thanks Green! When I fill my saucers with water, the humidity rises to between 45-60% and rarely drops below 40% even when I neglect to water them for a few days. Humidity is important; however, I plan to move 4 or 5 plants to an outdoor garden in Southwest Colorado, so I want them to be prepared for a more arid climate to avoid transplant shock. The fellow at my local garden store (which specializes in cannabis) suggested that I take my plants for a few car rides so they can get used to different conditions. Sounds a little silly when you tell your roommates that you're taking your plants out for a drive, but why mess with experience. Anyway, hope your grow continues to go well. I'll be keeping a watchful eye. :popcorn:
 
Plants look very healthy. I'll be watching. Thinking about switching from T5's to LED light. Subbed.

Thanks for tuning in! I can't speak for T5 lights, but I'm happy I went with an LED light instead of a HPS or MH because I don't have any heat issues, which cuts down considerably on cost and hassle.
 
Thanks for tuning in! I can't speak for T5 lights, but I'm happy I went with an LED light instead of a HPS or MH because I don't have any heat issues, which cuts down considerably on cost and hassle.

I don't have any heat issues with the T5 either, actually it's very cool to the touch, there's isn't too much heat coming off the fixture. My temperatures are pretty consistent. Gets up to about 85 at the most and when the lights shut off down to about 66. I've been looking at LED's still pretty expensive. I have a 4x4 grow tent so I need one with a bit of coverage. The Mars 1200 I believe is about $500.
 
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