The Bard
Well-Known Member
Hello!
I've been exploring this website for several weeks now, and have learned so much - thanks to all of you that have shared so much of your wisdom and experience. Cannabis became legal (to an extent) in Canada recently, and so I thought I would try growing some. I've been a pretty successful gardener in the past, including a pretty special orchid collection (also grown indoors, in coco), but this is my first attempt at cannabis. My main goals are to:
1) Over time, learn to be a (moderately) successful grower, just for the fun and accomplishment of it.
2) Have a good quality, reliable, home-grown supply of material, which I will use primarily in edible products (already been doing some recipe development).
The Set-Up:
Tent: Vivosun 48”x24”x60” (would have liked a tent that was taller than 5 feet, but the low ceiling in the basement forced this choice).
Lights: 3x HollandStar “Full Spectrum 1000W LED Grow Light” (each drawing about 180-200W according to specs, but I haven't measured)
Hanger Clips: Vivosun 1/8” 75 pound weight each (for adjusting the high of the LED lights, as needed)
Circulating Fans: 2x Vivosun 6” oscillating desk/clip on fans
Media: 60% coconut “regular” coir, 20% coconut “chunky” coir, and 20% Growstone
Nutrients: General Hydroponics Micro/Grow/Bloom, along with Cal/Mag, Rapid Start, B52 (B-vitamins), Voodoo Juice (microbe solution)
Exhaust Fan: Vivosun 6” 440 CFM Inline Fan w/controller, carbon filter and pre-filter
pH and EC: Ronoa pH meter and Health Metric TDS/EC meter.
Temp and Humidity Controller: InkBird IHC230
Containers: Vivosun 3 gallon, non-woven fabric pots
Miscellaneous: extension cords, timers, etc.
Varieties: (four total, one plant of each): Green Crack (Fem/Photo); Girl Scout Cookies (Fem/Photo); Purple Kush (Fem/Auto) and Train Wreck (Fem/Photo). Originally, I had a White Widow (Fem/Photo) planned, but it didn't germinate, and so I pulled out the Purple Kush seed to fill the fourth slot. I am less excited about the Auto aspect, but it will still be a good learning experience.
I started the seeds on Monday, March 4th. Germinated using the "damp paper towel in darkness" approach. Three out of four had nice tap roots within 48 hours. I let the 4th seed go for another 48 hours, with no sign of life - so no White Widow in this grow. As a fallback, I launched the understudy seed (Purple Kush), which put out a root quite quickly.
As soon as the root was about 1/2" long, each seedling was moved to a small rock wool cube (pre-soaked in RO water with a small amount of Rapid Start, pH'd to 5.8), and placed in a humidity dome. The dome then went on a warming mat placed very close to fluorescent tubes. Very little water (RO/Rapid Start/5.8 pH) needed over the next few days as the humidity was, of course, very high. Each day I opened the air vents on the dome a little more, and then removed the lid completely around day 7 as I thought that they were hardened off sufficiently.
As a root appeared out the bottom of each cube, I moved the plant into a Solo cup with a little coco coir at the bottom of each, and returned the cup to the warming mat and fluorescents. [I was thinking that I would share more about how I prepped the coir, and the mixture that I am using, in a later post, if that is of interest.] I intentionally planted them low in the cup, using a trick from my tomato-growing days. As the plant stretched towards the light, and became leggy, I gently tucked more core medium around the stem. Each day more coir was added, until the medium was level with the top of the cup. By doing this, I believe, the newly buried part of the stem puts out additional roots. The coir also provides support to the wimpy stem at this stage. I also had a very small fan placed a few feet away, gently blowing over the little gals, both to strengthen the stem, as well as for fresh air. While in this early stage, the seedlings got watered very lightly, with RO water and Rapid Start, heavily diluted, pH 5.8.
Once all four plants had one set of "true" leaves, they got moved, still in the Solo cup, into my tent. I have had only one of the three LED units turned on, directly over the plants, and started at a distance of about 36". Every day or two I lowered the lights by about 6-8" until it was about 12" above the plants.
I am able to control the temperature with the InkBird turning on the exhaust fan. Maximum temp that I have seen is 77F; the low that I have seen is 69F (when the light has been off for several hours). Most of the time temperatures are about 72-74F when light is on. The InkBird also controls my mini-humidifier. The house is very dry these days because of the furnace running. RH low in the tent has been 47% (when tent is warm with light on), and RH high of 59% when light is off and temperature has declined. I am amazed at how much water gets used keeping the RH at the right level. Of course, there is "leakage" of moist air out of the tent. Much later in the project, I will be able to swap out the humidifier for a mini-dehumidifier, once in the flowering stage. I can change the InkBird over to dehumidify function at that point. By that time, the furnace will not be running, and so the ambient air in the house will be moister. I understand that mildew can be a problem in flowering, and so I want to be prepared to avoid that. By that time, I will probably have the exhaust fan running almost constantly to keep temps down.
My plan is to transplant them into their final pots (3 gallon fabric) later today. I will take photos to share (wish I had thought to take pics of the earlier stages to post here).
I would like to post some additional information on two other topics that I hope might be of interest and generate some discussion: first is the process I used to prep the coir; the second is the approach that I have been/will be using for nutrients.
Since I am still so new to this - both the growing, as well as this "journal," I would really appreciate any comments or suggestions that anyone has.
Thanks again to everyone for all the helpful posts and journals that I have been able to study and learn from.
I've been exploring this website for several weeks now, and have learned so much - thanks to all of you that have shared so much of your wisdom and experience. Cannabis became legal (to an extent) in Canada recently, and so I thought I would try growing some. I've been a pretty successful gardener in the past, including a pretty special orchid collection (also grown indoors, in coco), but this is my first attempt at cannabis. My main goals are to:
1) Over time, learn to be a (moderately) successful grower, just for the fun and accomplishment of it.
2) Have a good quality, reliable, home-grown supply of material, which I will use primarily in edible products (already been doing some recipe development).
The Set-Up:
Tent: Vivosun 48”x24”x60” (would have liked a tent that was taller than 5 feet, but the low ceiling in the basement forced this choice).
Lights: 3x HollandStar “Full Spectrum 1000W LED Grow Light” (each drawing about 180-200W according to specs, but I haven't measured)
Hanger Clips: Vivosun 1/8” 75 pound weight each (for adjusting the high of the LED lights, as needed)
Circulating Fans: 2x Vivosun 6” oscillating desk/clip on fans
Media: 60% coconut “regular” coir, 20% coconut “chunky” coir, and 20% Growstone
Nutrients: General Hydroponics Micro/Grow/Bloom, along with Cal/Mag, Rapid Start, B52 (B-vitamins), Voodoo Juice (microbe solution)
Exhaust Fan: Vivosun 6” 440 CFM Inline Fan w/controller, carbon filter and pre-filter
pH and EC: Ronoa pH meter and Health Metric TDS/EC meter.
Temp and Humidity Controller: InkBird IHC230
Containers: Vivosun 3 gallon, non-woven fabric pots
Miscellaneous: extension cords, timers, etc.
Varieties: (four total, one plant of each): Green Crack (Fem/Photo); Girl Scout Cookies (Fem/Photo); Purple Kush (Fem/Auto) and Train Wreck (Fem/Photo). Originally, I had a White Widow (Fem/Photo) planned, but it didn't germinate, and so I pulled out the Purple Kush seed to fill the fourth slot. I am less excited about the Auto aspect, but it will still be a good learning experience.
I started the seeds on Monday, March 4th. Germinated using the "damp paper towel in darkness" approach. Three out of four had nice tap roots within 48 hours. I let the 4th seed go for another 48 hours, with no sign of life - so no White Widow in this grow. As a fallback, I launched the understudy seed (Purple Kush), which put out a root quite quickly.
As soon as the root was about 1/2" long, each seedling was moved to a small rock wool cube (pre-soaked in RO water with a small amount of Rapid Start, pH'd to 5.8), and placed in a humidity dome. The dome then went on a warming mat placed very close to fluorescent tubes. Very little water (RO/Rapid Start/5.8 pH) needed over the next few days as the humidity was, of course, very high. Each day I opened the air vents on the dome a little more, and then removed the lid completely around day 7 as I thought that they were hardened off sufficiently.
As a root appeared out the bottom of each cube, I moved the plant into a Solo cup with a little coco coir at the bottom of each, and returned the cup to the warming mat and fluorescents. [I was thinking that I would share more about how I prepped the coir, and the mixture that I am using, in a later post, if that is of interest.] I intentionally planted them low in the cup, using a trick from my tomato-growing days. As the plant stretched towards the light, and became leggy, I gently tucked more core medium around the stem. Each day more coir was added, until the medium was level with the top of the cup. By doing this, I believe, the newly buried part of the stem puts out additional roots. The coir also provides support to the wimpy stem at this stage. I also had a very small fan placed a few feet away, gently blowing over the little gals, both to strengthen the stem, as well as for fresh air. While in this early stage, the seedlings got watered very lightly, with RO water and Rapid Start, heavily diluted, pH 5.8.
Once all four plants had one set of "true" leaves, they got moved, still in the Solo cup, into my tent. I have had only one of the three LED units turned on, directly over the plants, and started at a distance of about 36". Every day or two I lowered the lights by about 6-8" until it was about 12" above the plants.
I am able to control the temperature with the InkBird turning on the exhaust fan. Maximum temp that I have seen is 77F; the low that I have seen is 69F (when the light has been off for several hours). Most of the time temperatures are about 72-74F when light is on. The InkBird also controls my mini-humidifier. The house is very dry these days because of the furnace running. RH low in the tent has been 47% (when tent is warm with light on), and RH high of 59% when light is off and temperature has declined. I am amazed at how much water gets used keeping the RH at the right level. Of course, there is "leakage" of moist air out of the tent. Much later in the project, I will be able to swap out the humidifier for a mini-dehumidifier, once in the flowering stage. I can change the InkBird over to dehumidify function at that point. By that time, the furnace will not be running, and so the ambient air in the house will be moister. I understand that mildew can be a problem in flowering, and so I want to be prepared to avoid that. By that time, I will probably have the exhaust fan running almost constantly to keep temps down.
My plan is to transplant them into their final pots (3 gallon fabric) later today. I will take photos to share (wish I had thought to take pics of the earlier stages to post here).
I would like to post some additional information on two other topics that I hope might be of interest and generate some discussion: first is the process I used to prep the coir; the second is the approach that I have been/will be using for nutrients.
Since I am still so new to this - both the growing, as well as this "journal," I would really appreciate any comments or suggestions that anyone has.
Thanks again to everyone for all the helpful posts and journals that I have been able to study and learn from.
to the forum...
2. To get that ratio, it takes 100 parts of Flora Micro, 80 parts of Flora Bloom, plus Cal/Mag, a few drops each of Voodoo, B52, and Rapid Start. I say "parts" as opposed to mL or teaspoons, as the cool thing about that nutrient schedule is that it can be scaled up or down depending on the batch size. I measure to get to the PPM/EC suggested on the link I shared.
