Pete Detroit's First Grow, Indoor, Dirt, Multi Strain: Round Two

Pete Detroit

Pete Detroit

Well-Known Member
Ok, here we go (Pix to some Real Soon Now)

The Background - 30+ years ago, living near Dallas, TX, roomie and I got burned on a deal for a hundie or two, thought 'Eff That, how hard is it to grow?' Pre-internet, we fumbled a bit, weak seeds we had hanging around, Sprouting technique (paper towels), rooting medium (Perelite) Grow Box (plywood platform, shelving at the corners, hanging shop lights, CFL drop light, wrapped in space blanket for reflection, vented w/ a computer fan through dryer vent, when lights were on) all self designed, in one shot, and it worked WELL. Started w/ 10 - 12 seeds, kept the best, cloned it out for a year or two. Sold some to co-workers (Yeah, it's leaf, but it's GOOD leaf, it WILL give you a buzz, and it's CHEAP) for beer money, but mostly kept all the bud. And there was some NICE bud. So.. fast forward and it's now legal in MI for recreational use, and I'm about ready to get into the game again, because wholly CARP, 3.5g for $100+? I think it's worth a few $10 seeds..

The Basics -
Picked up a Auto Mix Pack from an overseas Seed Bank. Not sure if they're an advertiser, so won't say who, yet...
Anyway, rec'd 5 ea
- Gelato Auto (60 / 40 Sat / Ind, 400 - 600 g/m2, thc 26% - the last two ideal, of course)
- Godzilla Cookies Auto (40 / 60 Sat / Ind, 450 - 600 g/m2, 27%)
- Purple Juice Auto (30 / 70 Cat / Ind, 400 - 550 g/m2, 23%)
They all grow up to 120cm (or less) and mature in 60 - 75 days
The idea was to focus on fast growing, high yield plants, could establish a baseline, and turn over grows quickly, working on 'tweaks' to improve results. Getting 5 pops each should make for good compare, as well as comparing strains for flavor and effect. Realize that things have changed, and there's a WHOLE lot of knowledge our there (>koff< like HERE>koff<) and looking to a) re-acquire old skills, and learn new ones...

Also, the Mix Pack qualified me for 4 "freebies" so I picked
- Gorilla Glue Auto (45 / 55 Sat / Ind, 600 g/m2, 25%)
- Amnesia Lemon (60 / 40 Sat / Ind, 550 g/m2, 21%)
- CBD Lemon Auto (40 /60 Sat / Ind, 500 - 600 g/m2, 17% thc, 17% cbd) - Yeah, that just looked interesting..
- Zkittlez Auto (40 / 60 Sat / Ind, 400-500 g/m2, 23%) (REALLY pretty buds in the promo pix...)

Dirt mix has yet to be fully determined, but for first run, looking to 50 % potting soil, fortified w/ aged manure and worm casts (25% ea) and a bit of perlite / vermiculite blood / bone meal. Will get some dynomoco or other 'bugs' as that seems to be the way to go. hoping that good soil can prevent need for chemical ferts, but can see advantage of high P bloom feed, will consider when it's relevant. May do a side by side, if I get multi plants up.

Grow Space - Have a (small) spare bedroom that I currently use for storage, plan is to use closet for 'out of season' grows, but being on 2nd floor w/ southern exposure, hope to use good ol' sunlight, at first. Ambient temp (70s - 90s this time of year) and RH (same - Ugh. Semi-temperate swamp, it's been called, not wrongly) Supplemental lighting TBD, leaning toward LED (full Spec) probably a Big Box supplier, but will review advertisers / reviews on site... I.E. research in progress - I'm assuming, possibly incorrectly, I have a few months)

How it's growing..
Phase1 - Pffft... started floating 1 ea seed in it's own shot glass ('guest' was the Amnesia, as it was photoperiod - the only one in the group and I wanted to max the natural light) and after a day or so, 2 has tiny tails, the other two swollen / split. I soaked some peat plugs in tap water (other than occasionally taste-able chlorine, Detroit has EXCELLENT water, ask any local micro / home brewer) and plugged the seeds in.. dusted the top of the plugs w/ a SMALL amount of Schultz's Orchid Food 20-10-10, + micro nutes, and waited. And waited A week later, pulled apart the plugs, the seeds all looked ok, one even had a tail... pushed them (gently) back into the plugs, and waited...
On Tues, started the next 4 seeds (Guest this time being the Zkittlez) Yesterday, 2x had 1/4" tails, they got plugged. Today, The other two were in a similar condition and THEY got plugged.
Not sure if the first ones Dried out, or got Fert burn, or what, but these are gonna stay wet until they come up, and NO ferts...

Will update w/ pix of the seeds w/ tails (ohhh, exciting!!!) prolly Sat am
 
OK, As promised, here's the pix of the sprouted Seeds - Neglected to shoot the purple Juice before putting it in the peat plug, it looked just like the Gelato. Nominally 24 hours b/n the Gelato / Purple and the other two.

In the sprout tray, you can see the Gelato seed casings have worked their way to the surface, and there they sit! The one on the left has been like that for basically a week...
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Sprouted Gelato

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Sprouted Zkittles

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Sprouted Godzilla Cookies

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Sprout Tray
 
And again, nothing. I'm guessing that the freshly soaked peat plugs are too soggy, and the poor guys are drowning. One more time, letting the tails get good and long (1/4 - 1/2 inch) and put them into the now dry peat, and spritz lightly w/ water. If it doesn't work this time, will try a different medium...
 
Well, after a few days, NO signs of life, I started round 3 - one each of the mix pack, and a phototype Golden Leaf, developed by a guy who runs a see shop out of Amsterdam. Supposed to yeild 400 - 600gm / m2 Being a phototype, should be able to top it several times, extend the veg to allow for recovery, and SCROG it for max effect. We'll see. MEANWHILE, after a day or two, Rd 3 seeds started popping, grew tails. At b/n 1/4 - 1/2 inch I poked a hole in the peat plugs w a pencil, and dropped the buggers in. Yes, I used the 2nd plugs again, as the initial ones had taken some damage when i went looking for Rd 1 seeds. NATURALLY, one of the Rd 2 seeds decided to wake up, and get in the game too, so now I have the awkward issue of two seedlings in one plug. Thinking as soon as they get a set of REAL leaves on him, I'll go in from the side with a sharp knife, gently extract one, and put into one of the other plugs. What a PITA. But, I've got 2x Godzilla Cookies to fiddle with, top / no top, LST, Fert / no Fert, etc. May even put one under a 20 hour light (as opposed to just southern window sun. Will be interesting...

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2 in one
 
Ok, we got some new guys going on, seems soaking the plugs to expand them, then letting them dry a bit seems to have done the trick! The Gold Leaf exploded onto the scene, seems to maybe be stretching a bit, DEFINATELY tilted toward the window. Clearly, need to turn the tray about noonish, to balance it out. But she's already showing first pair of true leaves! Both Godzilla cookies are also showing first true leaves, will probably separate them tomorrow or Wed. And we have at least one active purple Juice, as well! the only one still 'hiding is the Gelato, which seeing as it was the least developed sprout and just went in yesterday, I'm not fussed yet.
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Day 1 - Purple Juice

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Day 2

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Day 1
 
Hey Pete it looks like you got it figured out, those initial tries looked a bit too wet. They need to dry out so the roots go looking for water, so don't keep them too wet.

As for the stretch, you can bury that extra stem when you upppot. Also, you may want to remove the webbing around the peat plugs when you bury them to allow for the lateral root growth.

You're going to need a better light, though. For now, a small cfl bulb placed close to the plant will work. See Trala's journal and how she starts her seedlings.

What size pot are you going to next?
 
LKABudMan said:
Hey Pete it looks like you got it figured out, those initial tries looked a bit too wet. They need to dry out so the roots go looking for water, so don't keep them too wet.

As for the stretch, you can bury that extra stem when you upppot. Also, you may want to remove the webbing around the peat plugs when you bury them to allow for the lateral root growth.

You're going to need a better light, though. For now, a small cfl bulb placed close to the plant will work. See Trala's journal and how she starts her seedlings.

What size pot are you going to next?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was spritzing these from the top, to keep 'em moist. Now that they're Up (and under a light) I'm adding a bit of water to the bottom of the tray as well.

Thanks for the tip on the webbing - I thought perhaps it would dissolve, but just getting rid of it entirely makes sense.

Picked up a LED grow light at local big box, may need more / bigger eventually, will have to see how crazy I get, if I'm only doing one or two at a time it might be sufficient. Heavily red and blue, supposed to be what they're hungry for...

Going to up pot them into final 3.5 gal buckets for the autos, 5 gal for the photoperiod. I've read Emilia's post about watering small plants in big pots (top water to encourage spread, and occasional drench down the center to encourage depth - makes sense to me. And, being basically lazy as poo, the benefit to ME of only having to much w/ it once is significant, as well as the benefit to the girls (less stress)
Picked up buckets (and boot trays to catch runoff) at the same big box, so this w/e I'm drilling buckets, and mixing dirt (will post the deets on that when it's done, but potting soil amended w/ worm casts and manure, perlite, and bone / blood meal. My DynoMyco showed up today, will add that in as well (the side by side results I've seen are amazing, why NOT do it!) Not sure if I'm going to get the whole grow w/o nitro ferts, but will start that way. Will look into bloom feeding in a few weeks, when it's relevant...
 
Ok, as noted above, picked up my DynoMyco today (Amazon drop shipped to a pick up counter at a local Rx - that closes at 5, or I'd have had it yesterday... Grr! Anyway - used sharp knife and cut into the plug where the two g'zilla cookies were, and gently coaxed one out, dropped her into her own plug, and not a day too soon, they were already starting to twine roots. Dropped some Dyno in the hole first, and crumbled more peat crumbs on top, spritzed well. Also put a few crumbs in the cut for the other one, and 'top dressed' the other two. Unfortunately, brushed 'Stretch' w/ the light, and he took a kink. If she starts to fade I'll cut it above the kink and try to re-root, but so far she seems to be hanging in there.
NO sign of life yet, from the Gelato. Not impressed. 3 of 3 sprouted, and disappeared. POSSIBLE I drowned all three, but seems unlikely this last trip. No worries, I've placed a few more orders of 'interesting' things 'on sale' - in short, I can at this point plant a seed a month for YEARS - and that's assuming I don't get any males, to breed in, and even 30 ya I was successfully cloning the trimmings (those we didn't dry and smoke / sell)
Oh, since it appears they are a sponsor, my auto mix pack was from Herbie's. Don't know what seed bank the Gelato was from (a few choices) and they DID all sprout - but I don't think I'm going back to THAT well - unlesAnys one of the remaining 2 blows my socks off...
Anyway, today's pix - The separated 'Zilla Cookies, the (tall) Purple Juice (who appears to be alone, after all) and the 'bonked' Gold Leaf Photoperiod...
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Living apart

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Looking good!

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Stretch Bonked
 
Look forward to watching your grow.

Your new LED will help out a lot.

Once you are ready to upgrade @Mars Hydro is probably a great bet.

If your current light is taking care of your needs then you don't have to be in any hurry to buy a new light.

Seed hording and light hording are as addictive as being a fornicator and nobody wants to be a fornicator cause it makes God cry.

Good luck going down the fun learning curb of growing phenomenal weed. This will be a fun and frustrating journey through a semi dark woods, where the light at the end of the tunnel is piles of kind bud.
 
Yeah, Following Emilia's DynoMyco sxs compare grow, she's using a mars to great effect. Hopefully get my dirt mixed, and the gals up-potted tomorrow. One advantage to having them under light, I can move the whole kaboodle to the basement, where it's a little cooler, and there's a dehumidifier... We'll see how well the light does, will likely have to get an additional one, any way..
 
Wow, THAT was a day! Between having been unemployed for over 6 mo, then full time WFH over two years ago, I've had a HIGHLY sedentary life for rather a while. Getting Covid in Jan and being basically flat on my back for 3 weeks didn't help. Upshot being, when 10 min of activity required 15 min 'recharge' fairly simple (but energetic) tasks can take a while. THAT having been said, I got all my ingredients into the tote, mixed up my soil, got in into the pots (had drilled the pots yesterday) Lugged them to the basement (got the d-hume set to 65, and have the output directed to another bucket - should be as good as distilled, and free. when they get BIG (an thirsty) will supplement w/ tap, but want to keep the DynoMycro away from chlorine as long as possible - will top dress w/ that, next week) So, the Mix - and sorry, inconsistent measures, sorry). Base - 40lb bag of potting soil, opened and slightly used for something, at one point, years ago; "mostly full." 6L (or 8L?) Medium bag, anyway, Perlite for fluff. 1/2 - 2/3 '1 cu ft' of mulched manure. Call it 25 lb. 12 lb worm castings. 1c each blood / bone meal. was unclear if I wanted / needed more, but better to error low, and top dress later. Will likely hit them all w/ more bone in flower, may need aux bloom ferts, may also need more veg ferts, esp for the Gold Leaf photo that is going to get vegged for "a while" (Like until the autos are trimmed, and 'in cure' and I have time to futz w/ it... Current plan is to top one of the G'cookies and see how much difference it makes in terms of quality / quantity of bud. All the autos are going to get LST (wires to holes drilled into bucket lip seems to work well?) and the photo is going to get topped repeatedly, and probably super topped / cloned for a 2nd grow over the winter (may try another batch of autos again, to go with that, have received some do-se-dos that look interesting, and waiting on others...) Scrog frame just seems to make sense, too. NEED to get a better 'tent' set up, this was a whole lot of 'do it NOW' and 'good enough'... clearly, need to open / remove the reflector on the light, so it can fully open. Need some reflective (should have a few 'emergency' blankets around, they work well, iirc) and a frame to hang it from, and better light mount, blah blah blah. Plenty to keep me busy for the next month, or so.
Anyway - 4x buckets - 3x 3.5 gal for the auto's, and a 8? gal fermentation bucket for the photo, which has 2-3x the soil in it (all of soil mix was dist among the buckets) After planting the taller plants a little deeper, they all seem to be about the same height off the floor. All had 6 (or 8) holes (3/8? 7/16?) holes bored in the bottom, lined w/ marble "chips" for gravel, and filled w/ soil (used a bucket to fill buckets for first 3, then trowel filled the last one.
Here's the pix -
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3.5 Gal bucket, for Auto, holes (3/8" 7/16"?) bored in bottom, for drainage

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3.5 Gal bucket, marble "top dressing" to help ensure drainage

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Last bucket, end of soil

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All buckets, all dirt

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Stretch, buried deep, hopefully didn't take TOO much damage in handling

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Purple Juice in bucket

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G'cookeies #1

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G'cookeies #2

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Whole set up - left to right
Upper Gold Leaf, Godzilla #2
Lower Purple Juice, Godzilla #1
 
Ok, spent the weekend away, 100th b-day celebration for my Aunt... ANYWAY
Got home, it's glear teh motor on the timer has failed, and they're getting inadequate light, 24 / 7.
They were bone dry, so watered 'em good. Since I now have a good supply of condensate, will mix some DynoMyco into the soil tomorrow. Also clearly need to cut back the unneeded reflector that is preventing the leaves of the lamp from opening fully, Prolly need to Upgrade the lamp soon too. In any event, NEED to get a timer that works...
Colors are weird as lamp was on. Last week that triggered the flash, and pix were good. This week, they're red.
Whatever. May try different camera. Anyway, Here's the ladies at two weeks...
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Purple Juice

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Gold Leaf

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Godzilla Cookies (1)

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Godzilla Cookies (2)
 
You are off to a great start, which shows in your hard work.

Getting older really blows. Last Friday I was out in the hot sun a good three hours working on my gorilla grows.
That really took it out of me and left me questioning how in the heck I use to bale straw and hay in my youth.

That is pretty cool to attend your Aunt's 100th birthday.

Went to a woman's 100th birthday once. She was an African American woman who grew up in a segregated village a mile from the main (caucasian) town. She was like speaking directly to history placing a light on a past that my eyes only saw in history books.
 
Farmer Reading said:
You are off to a great start, which shows in your hard work.

Getting older really blows. Last Friday I was out in the hot sun a good three hours working on my gorilla grows.
That really took it out of me and left me questioning how in the heck I use to bale straw and hay in my youth.

That is pretty cool to attend your Aunt's 100th birthday.

Went to a woman's 100th birthday once. She was an African American woman who grew up in a segregated village a mile from the main (caucasian) town. She was like speaking directly to history placing a light on a past that my eyes only saw in history books.
Click to expand...
Cool Story, Bro!
Had heard from Dad that her husband had had a MG - TC, TD, one of the Fendered ones... Asked Aunt about it. She told of taking it to visit her folks (Near Traverse City, MI, presumably from St Louis - about a 12 hour drive NOW, w/ freeways! must have taken DAYS) and they put their luggage on the rear luggage shelf, and put the bassinette w/ their oldest on top of the pile!
 
Ok, Day 16, nominally a week after potting. The girls are all putting on height and weight, seem pretty happy. got sick of futzing w/ the light reflector not allowing the blades of the lamp to fully open. Grab a Dremel, 15 min and about exactly one cutting disc later, Viola! reduced reflector and happier lamp. Still gonna need a bigger one, Imma think. As Zilla(2) is getting better light, she's the one gonna get topped. (along w/ the photoperiod Gold Leaf - gonna beat THAT gal UP!) Timer apparently IS working, after all - may step it up to 20 hours on...
Top dressed the pots w/ DynoMycro, 2T / 3gal, and 3T in the big pot, used about 1/2 the tube. Stirred the dirt slightly to mix it up, watered w/ 1/2 L of condensate (should be about as good as distilled)
Between the improved light and the 'bugs' in the dirt, these ladies ought to bounce! Leaves look firm, nice dark green, no drooping or spots...
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Two Nodes, 5 blade leaf

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Also showing strong 5 blades, large leaves

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three nodes, showing 5 blades, Zilla(1)

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Also three nodes, Zilla(2)

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Lamp, Trimmed
 
Been a few days, figured the girls might be getting thirsty. They each got ~250 ml of water (filled a 1L soft drink bottle, split it 4 ways. They all look a bit "stretchy" moved some shit so I could position them better under the light.
Also ordered a Mars Hydro TSW 2000 (300 watt dimmable) Didn't really see the value added fTopped or the 3000 at 50% more. Almost went w/ the 1000 for 1/2 the price, but figured I'd wind up buying the bigger light soon enough, so effit, cut to the chase, right? May need more / bigger lights if I expand my grow room, but for now I should be set. May want to set up a card table and elevate them, (and raise the light) to get everyone closer together, in the mean time...

Topped (first time) the Gold Leaf (photoperiod, he's gonna get pinched a FEW times) and Godzilla Cookies #1
I KNOW, you DON'T top an Auto, I'm seeing what difference, if any, it makes.

Side note, I'm about fed UP w/ this stupid camera - seems to use flash randomly, and only focuses clearly with the flash. May well need to locate a different photo solution - not like I don't have 4x cameras laying around...

Anyway, here's today's pix.. Hmmm, seem to be missing Zilla(1) ...
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Zilla(2) not topped

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Gold Leaf (Topped)

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Purple Juice
 

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