Second Round

[Steve McStoferson]

Whats up fellow growers. First of all I want to start out by thanking all of you who were involved in my first journal. Without your support and help, I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten to experience the joy of smoking your own herb.

A little review of the last grow; I started out with 6 plants, 3 turned out to be male, 1 was a hermie, and the other 2 were female. I think I would have harvested a solid oz if i hadn't smoked so much of it before harvest, but when you're out of bud, it does the job.

My first grow consisted of MG organic choice soil, ~200W CFL's and shop lights, and a grow box I made out of PVC pipe and 2mm Mylar. I used no nutrients in my grow until about 1 week before harvest when I was able to pick up some cheap bloom nutrients, which I wasn't able to use enough to make much of a difference. My plants grew beautifully until a few weeks into flowering when I noticed a deficiency due to lack of nutrients. I have since learned from this experience and plan to grow better than last time.

After harvest, I had 6 plants going and after 2 weeks, they were only a couple of inches tall. I think it was due to the temps getting too cold in the grow room. I scrapped those ones, relocated my area into a warmer place, and started germinating some more seeds.

My new babies broke soil a few days ago and are going strong. I'm using the same soil, and random bag seed. I got a few seeds from the last grow, and I have one of those in the mix to see what comes of it (I'm not sure how my plants got pollinated, but the pink plant was packed with seeds). These babies are the same size as the last batch was after 2 weeks of growth. They have been above soil for about 2 days, so I have a good feeling about this batch.

Some new additions to my arsenal include:

• Milwaukee PH600 PH tester

• General Hydroponics PH Control kit

• Fox Farm Grow Big

Currently I have 8 seedlings which are all a couple of inches tall and are looking very healthy. I have 80W of T12's on them as of now and I plan on feeding them the second watering after they are transplanted. Now that I can closely monitor the PH levels and make sure the nutrients are available to the plants, I should be able to reduce the stress and hopefully harvest at least twice as much as last time.

The plan is to have a 600W MH/HPS system by the time I start flowering. Until then I will continue to use my CFL's, which will be used as veg/clone lighting when I get the HID.

My schedule is to start some new seedlings every 2 weeks so I don't have to wait as long until I have a flowering plant to tend to.

I'll throw some pics up when they start getting bigger. Until then, buckle up and enjoy the ride!

 

[OldSkoool]

Got my ticket, looking for a window seat for this ride!

 

[PeaceNGreen]

Count me in! i want the aisle though overactive bladder lol jk

 

[Steve McStoferson]

lmao you got the isle all to yourself in that case PeaceNGreen haha

Not much of an update, I watered them yesterday. Temps are stable, humidity is at 40%. It's a little low, but I can't see it causing any problems as long as I keep them wet.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Not much of an update but they're slowly coming along. I had one runt that didn't do much for the first few days, but since then it has caught up with the others.

I need to take some pics of the updated grow box and the new babies.. Maybe I'll get that done tonight for you guys.

I've been reading through 420fied's aero journal quite a bit putting together a list of equipment I need to perform something similar. I only want to run one 600W HID so I think I might run 2 of the 4'x4" PVC's with 3 sites on each. This will allow me to run 6 clones at once, which should get enough light from the 600W. Then I can use my CFL's for vegging some mothers in soil to take clones from. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think a 600W MH/HPS properly positioned can veg and bloom 6 clones? I don't plan on letting them get too big, but I'm also not really planning on going with a screen, at least for now.

Either way, I'm kind of getting to the point where buying soil and hauling it along with water and everything else is too much work and too time consuming. If I can construct a decent Aero setup, I will be very happy with the results.

But the light needs to come first, and then the hydro after. I'm hoping I can get the light this round, and then grab a clone of some real genetics to use as a mother for the next go around.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Ok, so sorry for the lack of pics, but I think my soil is what's causing the problem. This bag has time release nutes and some of the seedlings are starting to turn yellow. This is super messed up because the last bag of this soil I bought worked very well.

Oh well, you live and learn I guess. It goes to show the inconsistency in MG products.

I don't really have the ability to get better soil right now, so I'm just going to baby them and hopefully they pull through.

 

[Retired Three]

I am looking forward to reading the progress of your grow and seeing some pics! Good Luck we are all here for you Bro!

 

[OldMedMan]

I'm in for this one too my friend, I'll take an isle seat too, across from groover would be fine. May the mj gods smile on you.

 

[Retired Three]

Is Smoking allowed on this flight? LOL! Were gonna need a big bowl for this ride!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

smoking is mandatory on this flight bro. If you're not smoking, you're not welcome lol!

Sorry I havent gotten around to throwing up pics.. The truth is, the plants are still really small and are struggling, I'm 99.9% sure its the nutes in the soil that's doing it. I'm hoping they pull through and develop decent roots so I can transplant them into better soil.

I have the funds set aside to get my 600W MH/HPS but unfortunately have no time right now to go pick it up. My only free day is on Saturday, and I now have to work until 3, and the place closes at 4. I'll have to wait until next Tuesday before I can go pick it up.

I figure I'll run the MH on them for a couple days and see what they do, then transplant after that and hope that the nute burn didn't stress them enough to come out males.

All 9 of them are about 3-4 inches tall and have sprouted their 3rd-4th set of leaves. They are pretty much all curling under pretty badly and the older leaves are yellow. The new growth is slowly coming and is staying green though, so I have faith they will pull through.

When I get the new light, I'll definitely take some pics of the setup and the new equipment. From then on, make sure you all have at least an ounce with you because its grow time

 

[HealingKronic]

hey, i read your having some issues... id like to offer some advice if your listening! always start clones in nute-free dirt, (i prefer rockwool) even if you plan on doing soil rockwool is great. also, if your growing from seed, grow em out a bit then flower them... take clones from the best females, toss the mother plant then grow out your clones. what i do is take clones from my plants the day before i flower and i always have plants ready to go into flower when im harvesting! keep doin what your doin and learn from yours and others mistakes!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

thanks for the tips Kronic. I haven't ever taken clones, but once I get the new light and some good plants going, I definitely plan on cloning them.

Still waiting on some time to go pick up the light. I think I figured out the issue with my plants yellowing. I don't think it's related to the soil at all, as I checked my pH level now that I have a pH tester and it must be my water.

The only thing different that I'm doing this time around is using tap water that has sat out for a few days instead of the bottled water I was giving them last grow. I ran some pH tests and got these results..

Tap water: 7.0
Filtered tap: 4.9-5.0
Bottled: 6.3

This only makes sense, and from how they look, it does appear to be a nute lockout.. Not that I'm feeding them right now, but they aren't getting anything from the soil at all.

I'm going to hit them with some filtered tap water next watering which will hopefully drop the soil pH a bit and bring things into check, then i'll check the levels again and should be able to run bottled water through them after that.

I'm hoping the lockout hasn't stressed them too much. They're still pretty small, I'm not sure how well the roots are developed yet, but I don't think it's that much as the one seedling keeps falling over when I water it.

Once I get this pH issue corrected, they should explode with growth.

I'll update when I water next, which should be in a couple of days. They're still a bit damp.

I thought about flushing with the filtered water now to lower the pH but they're fairly wet and I don't want to risk over watering them. Anyone have anything to add, or does it sound like I have it under control?

 

[Retired Three]

I always let my tap water that I feed my plants with sit out so that any residual chlorine would be evaporated... Food for thought... if you are filtering the water let's say with a brita filter you may be taking all the minerals and other goodies out of the water that the plant likes to absorb. I thought I would just throw that out there...

 

[Steve McStoferson]

yeah i thought about that too, but I only plan on running filtered water through them once to get the soil pH down and then run bottled through it. I did it a few times my last grow when I was out of bottled water and didn't notice anything bad coming from it.

I thought about continuing the use of tap water and just balance the pH before watering, but the bottled is already at a stable 6.3, so I'll just run that through them. $3 for a case of 24 bottles isn't bad, and at this point in their life, one bottle will water all the plants twice.

It's just sad that the first 20 days have been wasted. I might be better off just starting new seeds, but I have hope for these girls that they will pull through and become monsters. I tell them every day about the new light that is coming for them. Hopefully they listen and keep the balls in lol

 

[Retired Three]

Cloning has become a challenge for me that I want to Master... I have found it to be harder than it looks.. It looks like I have 2 clones that are going to make it to dirt!!! weeeeeeee! Due to the lack of seeds that I possess cloning seemed like a logical choice.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

I put together some plans for an aero cloner, pretty similar to stinkbuds design, but a bit different to work with my needs a bit better, so I'm excited to build that and hopefully if these ladies pull through, I can start cloning.

Yesterday I ran plain 5.0 pH water through them and relocated the grow box under a powerful vent, which definitely helped to raise the temps as they were getting kind of low, around mid to low 60's at times. Next watering I'm going to hit them with 6.3 pH water and continue with that and hopefully they pick up. I noticed all the new growth on them is looking fairly good, and its only the first couple leaves that are dead. They have 2-4 nodes each, but they're still VERY small.

I'll try and snap some pics of them now so I can have a before and after shot of what high pH does to seedlings

 

[Retired Three]

I am looking forward to seeing some pics of the new design.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

A little update, since I fixed the pH issue, the seedlings are pulling through very well. I have a good feeling about this round.

Since I have 9 plants this time, I'm thinking of just using 3 gallon pots, since the 5 gallon seemed a bit overkill for my application. When I chopped the last batch, the roots only reached maybe 20% of the available soil. I figure I can save 18 gallons of soil this way and free up a bit of space in my grow area.. as it is, 6 5 gallon buckets pretty much filled up the whole space. The hydro place I went to to look for a light has 3 gallon pots for about a buck, so I'll pick up some of those when I get the light.

Still unsure of when I will get the light.. It's about $50 cheaper if I buy it online, but I don't know if I want to risk buying it online and end up with a broken bulb or something. I have the funds for it, I'm just out of herb and I need to see how much another couple bags will be, then I'll grab the light and transplant.

Another thing I'm thinking of doing is buying a bag of FF soil and a bag of perlite when I get the new pots and light. I know they will like it A LOT more than the MG shit they're in now. I figure I'll veg them in the cups for another week or 2 and then transplant and throw the MH on them.

I can't wait to see how they react to the new light and soil. Hopefully they will reward my efforts with 9 ladies.. We can all dream right?

 

[GMT1975A]

I'm in...where's my seat?

 

[CharlieMopps]

I'm in...where's my seat?

lol I'm glad you got the ph straightened out. I'm in too.