PTSD's - Unknown - 600W MH/HPS - Grow Journal

[PTSD 4 ME]

Unknown Strain
Espoma Organic Potting Mix
600W MH/ HPS
LST to be used



Well to start out here is a little background..... I myself am not a smoker and doing this for my wife more then anything. She found a seed in a great bag of what she figured was Sour Diesel so we will go with that as the strain. I haven't ventured into indoor growing, but I have been known to have a green thumb... Although I have had a few successful outdoor grows that really impressed me..... Due to our current climate outdoor is out of the question.... But here we go on the log...

Seed popped after 2 days in tap water and placed in moist papertowel till better sprouting.... then transferred to a quart sized Pete Pot with Espoma Organic Potting Mix. A single CFL was used after the window lighting was only resulting in a stretch and no growth... The growth was good once introduced to the CFL and then halted and yellowing. So now I have switched to a 600W MH bulb rated at 68000 lumens. The ballast is running at 50% and the light fixture is about 18" above the plant. The plant is currently in a 5 gallon bucket cut down to about 3 gallons in size due to lack of soil access in my area. I live in the middle of no where and supplies are extremely limited. Here are some pictures of the growth and some explanations of the issues and what I have done....... Hope you guys enjoy and sure hope I don't see testes any time soon......

This is what the plant looked like once under the CFL for about a week. The CFL was a 60W full spectrum bulb. A little overwatered at this point but issue is being resolved.

This was the first real sign of the issue I am currently trying to resolve.... Cotyledons are dieing and bottom leaves yellowing and drooping.....

Here is where I currently am at...... What I did was transplanted to a new pot with the same soil...... I tested my bottled water I was using as water and it tested at 7.2 so maybe a PH problem.... Using some of my previous gardening experience I know lemon juice will Bought a lemon to lower PH and was gunna try to just lightly mist the soil.... Well the lemon exploded in my hand so I did a good flush washed the plant off.... and here we lie... Although new growth has started to perk up the yellowing seems to be moving into the next set of leaves.... cant get a handle on it and hope this don't end up scratching the grow till we get our next seed

I want to use LST on this plant since size is limited.... I have it in a closet set up. A single fan is blowing and keeping air moving for me. Some aluminum foil is lining the walls and a small pump is in a 2 gallon pot to keep the humidity up to roughly 30%.... The temperature in the room is 80 and heat is something I will not be able to really knock down due to how its set up..... the door will stay cracked to help here..... Again hope you guys enjoy and I will make sure to keep current and post pictures often.

 

[Equanimity]

Hey, welcome Great start on the grow, wouldn't recommend the tin foil though; it can cause hot spots (did you ever see the episode of Futurama where all the methods to combat global warming were explored?) Anyway, with CFL it probably won't be an issue as much but if you must use foil for reflectivity, use the dull side rather than the shiny side.

The bag seed germinated which is just great man, one seed... my strike rate for bagseed is like 12:1, so you did well there.

So now we want to look at your pH things

Here's my suggestion:

Make a big feed, get a refreshing amount of water (let's say two of your American gallons) into a preferably wide mouthed container (a basin, a sink, the bath, whatever); the wider area the water is spread across, the less time you'll have to wait... anyway.. what your waiting for is the pH to naturally balance itself, which it will. I leave it overnight for my feeds (between 8 and 18 litres), larger amounts might take longer.

Once it's giving a nice reading, put half the water through the plant (you want a good flush) and pop it back in the cupboard.

Give it like 12 hours and bang the rest of the water through; when you do this, capture some run off and test the pH.

Is it coming out right?

Yes - > Resume normal watering schedule when soil is dry on top (to a depth of circa 1.5 inches)

No - > repeat flush, test again, keep at it til it balances.

Follow this up with regular run off tests, and maybe consider leaving all future feeds to stand for a period to let them arrive at a good pH naturally, as them chemicals sometimes take the pH too far in the opposite direction and then you're like "i could pH UP this..." and before you know it there's half a bottle each of Up and Down in there lol

My final thoughts would be around drainage; you want a good amount of holes in the bottom, don't be afraid to stab the shite out of it with a screwdriver. If you have any barbecue skewers or similar you can stab a few holes through the soil, give it a wiggle and such, loosen it up a bit. Also, 80f is a great temperature, don't worry about that, I'd even raise it a little for babies, mine like it about 28c.

I'll be keeping an eye on this.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

I appreciate the insight on this Equanimity....... The PH thing that is basically what I did last night. I gave it a good 1/2 gallon flush although I know that my next watering I will need to add more as the amount that came out the bottom was very miniscule compared to the amount of water that was added. I tested the run off however and it was at 6.2 so hopefully as the lemon juice continues to loose its concentration it will come up I don't want to keep shocking this lil shit by flushing and reflushing. I have a bunch of large holed drilled into the bottom and it should be more then adequate to allow for proper drainage. 12-1 is a damn good ratio and I sure hope to follow suit on this one. OK so the lemon idea was a real shit idea, and a lesson learned.... I miss large scale gardens I truly do. Anyways I will give a good update by Monday hopefully see some progress or if the lemons were truly too much then RIP to this little guy and more then not, RIP to any future grows for a while, seeds aint exactly the easiest to come by out here. I removed all the dead and dieing foliage from the plant and I guess just keep my fingers crossed that future foliage comes out strong. I will be leaving for a week here in a few days so keeping my fingers crossed that I come home to some good new growth. But again I appreciate the insight on this...........

 

[Equanimity]

Oh, with my advice here I was not trying to patronise you or anything; the generally accepted standard in these forums is to explain thing as if you're explaining it to a rookie, that way we can almost guarantee some understanding.

The lemon juice... probabilities not a great idea, though I can see why, lowering the pH. We've all got our own equivalent tale about a poorly thought out plan that nearly killed our plants, mine involves an excessive amount of molasses lol

Also 12-1 is awful; 12 seeds and only one sprout... and even that died in the end... and that was my fault, i totally manhandled it and snapped it with my big dopey "wralph hands" lol

 

[lushgreen]

lemon juice is useless for managing pH. Phosphoric or nitric acid is what you need.
Whatever that soil is, it is too hot for seedlings hence the mega nute burn.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Trust me any guidance is appreciated in this grow as I did state my previous experience is definitely lacking in this category. I thought your 12 - 1 was in reference to female - male ratio not success lol.... I have always had great success with either dropping the beaners in tap water and setting the cup on a heater vent or the papertowel method with plastic wrap on top. As long as the beaners don't crush in your fingers.... they pop for me 95% of the time. I don't know I can have nute burn without nutes.... The potting mix I used was actually quite eased on nutrients to my surprise after some research...Although at this point I am thinking its still the prob if it be drainage or what.... I should've increased the perlite in it.... call that a lesson learned. And Equanimity I in no way feel patronized by your responses and in all reality I do appreciate the help and actually have 2 gallons sitting in a basin now as we speak for the next watering. The plant though is growing finally although the yellowing is moving up into the next set of leaves.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

A little progression I suppose I can see a little more progression on some of the small foliage.... Ill be going out of town for a week here in a few days so hopefully I return with some good news.
Everything has stayed the same and it seems like my lemon episode didn't have any real adverse effects.

Maybe one more update on Friday before I head out and Sunday when I return.

 

[Equanimity]

She looks ok, It's difficult to see with the colour saturation in the second pic though, can't see the individual segments so clearly.

Definitely wanna avoid the lemon juice in future lol oh, just remembered that I once killed a plant with hydrogen peroxide too, so yeah, not so much of that either lol

 

[Antics]

Looked like an overfert problem to me too, but looks better now.

I tried lemon juice, it's way more expensive than using PH down for plants, and much less effective.

When your transplanted, did you leave that fiber pot on? If so, remove it. They won't break down fast enough to allow the roots into the fresh soil, and will end up causing the plant to get root bound.

Other than that, it looks like everything else has been covered, and the grow is looking good!

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Ill use our good camera this week the fix the saturation problem but the new growth really does look good and healthy. Im thinking maybe the CFL just sucked and it really wanted the new lights. I didn't leave the Pete pot on due to that and previous use growing outdoors I ended up having to dig em back up and break the pete pot off once planted. Thanks for the encouragement tho on this one, obviously the grow is VERY halted as I am on week three already although it is definitely starting to pick back up and I am guessing after this week vacation that I will see some solid growth and hopefully get a sex within a month or so..... Again Equanitity I appreciate the help on this one!! I am going to really try not using any type of additives or nutes on this grow besides some natural additives once in flowering. Things are looking up not sure what exactly did the trick to turn her around but I am counting on the light issue..... More to come!!

The tips are a good color green and the inner leaves are also a good color the real issue was more or less on the camera..... No more yellowing on any leaves.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

There she looks 100% finally.... Again I aint sure what did it but what ever it was worked. Thanks again for the assistance on this one. Ill have another update at the end of the week and then when I return a week later.

 

[FatBeaverBuds]

Looks good best of luck on your grow!

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Going to be making my SCROG screen over the weekend. I guess my only real question is that my grow area is only 4' x 2' with no real height issue. Will this be big enough to allow for a good SCROG grow?? I want to top the main stem once and then the 2 new ones once am I going to run into an issue with this or am I better off going with the classic LST?? If the plant extends into the walls is this going to create problems for the grow?? My light being 600W will be more then sufficient for lighting at any size since its only one plant.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

I know that it was a bit early then most people suggesting topping. Due to the time frame I have to finish this grow (June 1st must be in jars) and with leaving for a week Friday I decided to do it tonight. I want to do it once more on the 2 new stems... Anyways it was the 4th node of the plant and its been growing just over 3 weeks now. Anyways I got pictures of the plant before, the clipped growth, and the after. I cut it down below just the leaves until it got into the "moistness" of the stem. I used a sharp pair of my wives nail scissors so the stress to the plant was minimized. I hope by the time I return from VACA that the growth will be back on schedule. Anyways here we go....

After

I guess I hope I did good on this, and didnt do it to early or too deep for that matter but regardless I guess if anyone has insight on my previous post and questions that would be awesome.... Be ez.....

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

So even though I did lots of reading and research I think I messed up topping.... Recently I have been reading to keep atleast 1/4 inch of growth on the node I will be cutting. the node itself was only 3/4 of an inch or so and I cut it pretty much clean to the next set of leafs.... Also I read that it needs to be done in the morning to give it full light from the entire day. Idk I just hope this worked.

(Edit) I guess the real question is can you top a plant too close?? I read and saw people just reach in and rip the nodes off which would indicate a complete removal of the node. With continued research I found people who only got a scar and no actual splittling...If I cut to close / too young will the plant die and if I did it too close what are the possible outcomes from this?

 

[Antics]

Don't over complicate it

Just find the area you want to top it, you should see 2 fan leaves, and just above them, the new branches growing out of the stem. Just cut above those branches and you're done.

If you cut too low, like cut those new growth branches off, but left the fan leaves, it will still be topped, but starting at the node below this one.

As long as you have 4-6 leaves when you top it, it shouldn't kill the plant, and should only experience a slight slow down in growth for 2-7 days, then continue on like nothing happened.

 

[Growmanzilla]

Liking and learning alot im doing my first grow myself under 600w no one really checks my stuff out but really learned alot from your thread im subbed

 

[Growmanzilla]

I topped my plant the same way mine is doing ok

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Well I have now returned from my week away.... Well while gone something came up and the door on the closet had to get closed for the last 5 days of the trip. I expected that the temperatures were about 90-95 degrees with about 12% rh during the days. I came back to nearly all the ground medium dry and a very odd looking plant. The topping of the plant did go very well however. Two very symmetrical new tops have came in. The new leafs that came are very odd looking. After some research it became very evident that the culprit was simple heat stress. The leaves came in twisting and instead of nice sharp tips the were almost round. The two big fan leaves at the bottom had some big yellow splotches and curling so I cut all that off... After a good watering they have really started coming back, and after a few days to recover from this I am going to begin the LST.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Decided to do a bit of lst. 4 of them to start with an anchor.