Noob's First Grow: Indoor, Coco, 4 Plants

Derbybud said:
Hey bard, I know you are looking for Ase to come in but I just want to throw my 2 cents in on quad lining. It's so simple and gives the plant a good structure to help hold its weight. If you been by my journal you'll find I'm all about simple and easy. That's why I quad.
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Thanks Derby! While I would love to hear from Ase, I would very much appreciate advice and input from any of you. I will definitely watch your journal - there are so many great threads on this website, it is a bit like a candy store. What do you think of my little plants so far? Does it make sense to you to transplant at this stage, and then start training a few days from now? I was going to transplant them last night, but got caught up doing other stuff.

Thank you again!
 
Pennywise said:
I'm in for the grow show!
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Thanks Penny! It is definitely amateur hour over here in my first grow, so any advice or counsel would be most welcome. I've enjoyed reading your posts on several other journals as well.
 
Pennywise said:
You got this, just keep it simple and they'll be fine.
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Thanks! I've been reading up on the theory, but a big difference when it comes to the real thing. Fingers crossed!
 
Pennywise said:
Go lite on nutrients and give them plenty of light.
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Great advice, Penny! I think I have been following it so far... nutrient solution is currently at 0.7 EC (including 0.3 of cal/mag given I am working with coco), 5.8 pH, 3:winkyface:2 NPK ratio. Up until just now, the four little plants in Solo cups had been under a 1000W LED (cheap one, so I don't think it is "really" 1000W. Just moved them to the 3-gallon fabric pots, and turned on the other two LEDs, so a total of 3000W. But I really don't know how much "real" light this is. Is sure is bright though! Will work on a post in moment with some new photos. "Lite and Light" - words to live by!
 
So I had been thinking it was about time to move the little ones from Solo cups to their permanent home of 3-gallon fabric pots. I was overdue! Lots of roots in the Solo cups, including some circling in the bottom of the cups. I think I just made it in time (oops - meant to take a photo of the roots, sorry!).

Here are the four fabric. The coir mix (fine coir, chunky coir, and Growstone, 60/20/20 ratio) has been ready for a couple of weeks. I'll do a post later on how I prepped the coir. Neat trick I saw on another post here on 420 - I can't recall where I saw it. I dampened the coir a little and then pushed in an empty Solo cup to create a void.

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Transplanting into 3-gallon fabric pots

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  • Media owner The Bard
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Transplanting into 3-gallon fabric pots

Moved the plants from the Solo cups into the voids. Sprinkled a little microbe power in the hole first. Unfortunately I haven't be able to find "Great White" microbes here in Canada (yet). The top inch or so of each pot is a combination of diatomaceous earth and Gnat Nix - just a preventative measure for bug control. Gave them a watering of RO with Cal/Mag, Rapid Start, Voodoo, B52 and a little molasses. pH of 6.0. Limited water to the base of the plant and a ring around them where the old medium meets the new stuff.

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  • Media owner The Bard
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Transplanting into 3-gallon fabric pots

Here's a photo of my empty tent. Three cheap 1000W LEDs, oscillating fans on the floor, along with a small humidifier (connect to InkBird controller). In the ceiling is an exhaust fan with carbon filter (don't think it is visible in this image).

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Empty tent set-up

And finally, the kids in their new pots, situated in tent.

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Tent with plants just installed
 
Pulling up a chair, everything is looking good so far looks like✌️
 
Glad to see ya up pot them. They were due. By looking at them they look just a little heavy on the feed right now. Just a bit too dark for me. Make sure you keep that whole pot wet or you can get dry pockets in there that will burn the plants later. Your past the point of over watering so make sure you water a good amount every day which induces oxygen into the roots. Give them a week and start training. This gives the roots a chance to reestablish themselves into the new media. Once they look good and you see good new growth beat the girls up. You can't hurt them if their healthy.
 
Eirohir said:
Mr. Bard, sir.

This is no amateur thread, your knowledge is extensive and comprehensive. while this is your first grow and you seem nervous about it, I can assure you, you'll do great.

All of these guys will help you with anything you may need.

Welcome to the forum and good luck! (Not that you'll need it)
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Thank you! That is very generous of you at this early stage. I have definitely tried to do some research, but as I mentioned above, a big difference moving from theory to practical. Everyone has been really helpful and supportive!
 
Derbybud said:
Glad to see ya up pot them. They were due. By looking at them they look just a little heavy on the feed right now. Just a bit too dark for me. Make sure you keep that whole pot wet or you can get dry pockets in there that will burn the plants later. Your past the point of over watering so make sure you water a good amount every day which induces oxygen into the roots. Give them a week and start training. This gives the roots a chance to reestablish themselves into the new media. Once they look good and you see good new growth beat the girls up. You can't hurt them if their healthy.
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Excellent! I did notice the very tip of the biggest one - the Girl Scout Cookies - looked like a bit of nutrient burn, so your diagnosis is spot on, and ahead of me. Awesome. I will use the nutrient solution I have already mixed up, but dilute it with RO by 50% and retest the pH to get back to 5.8 or so. Will use that for a few days, and then gradually increase EC.

On the watering itself... definitely watering at least every day, if not twice per day. Always with nute-solution. However, I thought I had read somewhere not to water the whole pot at first, but rather just in the centre where the plant and roots are located, and gradually enlarge that circle over the course of a few days to a week. It sounds like I should be watering the whole thing evenly though?

I am REALLY looking forward to the training stage. Also a bit anxious about it - want to do the mainline/quadline type of approach, but need to study up on plant anatomy to understand the node concepts etc. Since I have all three LED units running now (was just the centre one on until just now) I have raised them about a foot. Of course there is more total light in the tent, but plants are spread out more. In addition, I am hoping to get a little height to them (is there such a thing as veg-stretch?) so I have a little space to get in to trim and train.
 
Derbybud said:
At this stage feeding once a day is good. Once you flip them then you'll have to rethink more feeds. Also never water at lights out. I try to feed 30-45 min. after my lights come on. That's when the plants roots are up taking nutes.
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Sounds good. For the future, I actually have these cool circular "watering rings" that I was going to hook up to a pump. I have a timer to run it a few times a day for just a short period of time. But happy to stick to hand watering for now... fun to spend some time with the plants.
 
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