Smokie's CFL Perpetual Auto Grow - 2016

February 1st Update

Days 10 & 3: Names got redone today. Britta is the only one who remains with her original name. Schucks is now Big B, and Angel has evolved into a Nessie.

Temps were 25C and humidity was 55%. Both of the big girls got their pots topped with the left over soil. When I originally filled the pots, I was too excited and completely forgot to let them sit & settle so I'd know exactly how much soil I'd need. It's in the book for next grow though!

Nessie got 1/2 cup of water, and Britta & Big B got their first dose of nutrients! :slide:

My nutrient notes were "Day 10 to day 15: 0.5mL - Grow / Micro / Bloom, 2mL - B1 at 1/2L per plant every second day." After reexamining the B1 bottle, I noticed that 2mL was the full dosage, and not recommended for small plants. So after modifications the girls got 0.5mL - Grow / Micro / Bloom and 0.5mL B1 at 1/2L per plant.

The camera wouldn't focus for some reason tonight, so picture overload!


Britta - Royal Creamatic

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She's growing, she's growing! I played a video of The Little Engine That Could while I was up there yesterday for nothing more than encouragement. Come on Britta, I know you can, I know you can!


Big B (formerly Schucks) - Auto Widow

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Nessie (formerly Angel) - Auto Purple Amnesia

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Oh Nessie, it looks like you're hungry! If it weren't for Glimmer, I really don't think I'd be as excited about Nessie reaching for the light as I am. I'm fascinated with her now. Okay, well I'm fascinated with all of them... but Nessie is so different compared to the other two so far that I have a hard time pulling myself away.

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We got a fan installed last night, but I need to work on air flow behind it today. The adapter/fan splice is the way it is so we can attach another fan this weekend should we need to. Otherwise, it'll be sealed then.

I actually have to leave the girls today for a bit and go out (how will I ever survive?!), but when I come home, they're going to have a visitor for a few hours I'd say. So that should take care of the airflow a bit better.

I *think* I got everything... big day!
 
Nice addition to the cabinet. I'll Check in soon
 
GuttaCannabis said:
Nice looking girls smokie
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Thank you!

Snidrajsed said:
Nice addition to the cabinet. I'll Check in soon
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Thanks!

I spent part of the morning at my local grow shop pestering the gentleman about tent, lights and nutrients. Considering this is my first grow, he said I had my bases covered with nutrients. There's a couple more I could add, and will eventually, but for now I don't need to worry. That was nice to hear.

I also found a tent I really like that has a side compartment with shelves. I took a ton of pictures and noted prices so it can be factored in. I think just the excitement of knowing eventually I will have a grow space that I will actually be able to have a decent garden in, is really propelling me forwards. I have already decided how the harvest is being used, and I haven't got buds yet! :laughtwo:
 
smokiebear said:
Thank you!


Thanks!

I spent part of the morning at my local grow shop pestering the gentleman about tent, lights and nutrients. Considering this is my first grow, he said I had my bases covered with nutrients. There's a couple more I could add, and will eventually, but for now I don't need to worry. That was nice to hear.

I also found a tent I really like that has a side compartment with shelves. I took a ton of pictures and noted prices so it can be factored in. I think just the excitement of knowing eventually I will have a grow space that I will actually be able to have a decent garden in, is really propelling me forwards. I have already decided how the harvest is being used, and I haven't got buds yet! :laughtwo:
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But what about the sense of craftsmanship... Blah blah... Lol I did the same thing. Didn't get a tent to start and made myself a cabinet from scratch, it ended up costing as much as a tent would. With more blood sweat and tears building the damn thing. But a tent Is way more light proof and the vents are there already, It would be a good choice. Sounds like you've got a nice one picked out. Now you can use your old cabinet as a propagator unit. Good day my dear
 
Snidrajsed said:
But what about the sense of craftsmanship... Blah blah... Lol I did the same thing. Didn't get a tent to start and made myself a cabinet from scratch, it ended up costing as much as a tent would. With more blood sweat and tears building the damn thing. But a tent Is way more light proof and the vents are there already, It would be a good choice. Sounds like you've got a nice one picked out. Now you can use your old cabinet as a propagator unit. Good day my dear
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I worked so damn hard on it too, broke my hand and all. It'll be a while before I get the tent. I'm just getting my "wish list" sorted out. I'd rather post it here than keep it to myself so I can get suggestions like this!

What's a propagation unit? I'm not familiar with that term so I'm going to guess something to do with cloning?

The plan for the dresser once the tent gets here is actually a drying box since it will have the fans and everything already attached. The tent has two sides, so plants will be seedlings under my cfl on the smaller side and plants past that on the large side since I'm more than likely sticking with autos. Of course that could change between now and then.
 
Mittin said:
Hey Smokie, your babies are looking good!
I'm exactly a week behind you and I also have one that has started out as a dwarf...lol. Still growing though.
I hope mine will grow like yours. Good job!
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Such kind words! Thank you! I'm going to head over to your journal and check it out.
 
Propagation unit would be where you raise your clones and seedlings. Creating an assembly line of little darlings for you to enjoy.
 
Snidrajsed said:
Propagation unit would be where you raise your clones and seedlings. Creating an assembly line of little darlings for you to enjoy.
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Ah, so I was on the right path. I'm 90% sure I'll be creating seeds through the colidial silver method later on and growing from seed. But that means I'd need a spot for my reversed males, so that would work and be along the same line.

Thank you for poking my thinking muscles and making them work!
 
February 2nd update

Days 11 & 4; temps were really off all day. Anywhere from 22-30C, they just wouldn't stay stable. Humidity was low. My frustration stayed high all day. At one point, the pots themselves had a towel around them because the floor was freezing, along with the air directly off it and I didn't want roots freezing and then sunburnt foliage. It was a long day.

The camera decided that suddenly, all photos must be deleted the second turns off, so we have nothing for yesterday photo wise. We had a less than civil discussion afterwards, and it turns out, the card is dead! There is a back up around here somewhere...

Plants haven't changed much. Britta is still bitty, Big B is still taking it like a champ, and Nessie still looks hungry. Although her finger leaves are starting to poke out the sides, so that's an improvement!

So that's it for days 11 & 4, boring update. Sorry folks!
 
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The leaves look slightly like they're twisting. Normal, or an issue? Posting from the iPad so I can take more photos of need be. Looking in photos it looks like it's been happening since they came up, and I'm slow at noticing things. Since nutes didn't correct (or make it worse), I'm going to guess try calmag or PH levels? Can anyone confirm or deny my diagnosis? I don't have a PH tester, nor can I get one at the moment. Although I can do a rough check with aquarium strips.

Edit: PH is 7.6 for right out of the tap water, 6.2 with micro, grow and bloom added, and 6.4 with B1 added to the AN nutes. Could watering them at 7.6PH for 10 days have done that to the leaves? Need to get PH down asap.
 
No nutes or very little nutes are required yet. Just keep your water sitting out for atleast a day to off gas.
you can correct the ph down alittle with a drop or two of some acidic product. ie vinegar or lemon juice. if you dont have some ph down stuff. i would just be watering around her circumfrence of leaves, making the roots look for water more. Id add a little voodoo and root growth nutes but not any significant macro nutrients max 1/4 dose . cheers my dear
 
Snidrajsed said:
No nutes or very little nutes are required yet. Just keep your water sitting out for atleast a day to off gas.
you can correct the ph down alittle with a drop or two of some acidic product. ie vinegar or lemon juice. if you dont have some ph down stuff. i would just be watering around her circumfrence of leaves, making the roots look for water more. Id add a little voodoo and root growth nutes but not any significant macro nutrients max 1/4 dose . cheers my dear
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I'm more or less following A Train's schedule. Britta & Big B are on day 12, so they've only got .25mL per 1/2L water. Water always sits out minimum 24 hours. I have 8L on rotation, the 7.6PH was from this water. On just water days, drop of lemon, shake, and water?

Learning on the grow... Sorry for the newbie questions!
 
February 3rd update

Days 12 & 5: Temps were roughly 28C, and humidity was 40%. PH got fixed, so the girls hopefully won't be doing the twist anymore. I also got news that a tent will be here on the 5th, and an inline fan is awaiting my pick up. So our weather should be fixed this weekend as well!

Britta - Royal Creamatic

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Big B - Auto Widow

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Nessie - Auto Purple Amnesia

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Slow growth still on Nessie & Britta. I expect that to start to change with the arrival of tent and inline. I'm going to DIY a scrubber for the fan and stick with my CFLs for now, so it should be interesting!
 
Quick update:

I got the tent set up. It's 36" wide, by 20" deep and 63" tall. The temp stays around 28C with the lights on, and humidity is about 45%. A definite improvement. However, Nessie couldn't take the heat and looks like she's toast. Big B and Britta are still twisting despite correcting the PH. I'm feeling very defeated right now, and thusly have not wanted to take pictures.

Nessie is being given until Monday to perk up, but I suspect I'll be pulling her then. I'm going to flush the other girls tomorrow with PH corrected water, and see if that helps. If not, I will try the calmag with their next feed. After that, I'm at a loss. I'm going to try to force myself to take pictures tonight anyways, if not for me, for the journal.

Should all else fail, I'll start the next set of girls and only be using bottled water.
 
To me it sounds like your are to far ahead of your plants, they seem so small to be taking on so much food. Has the medium been moist the whole time? That may have stunted root growth and is now trying to catch up to the leaf development. If the soil stays too moist then the roots don't need to find water and they stay smaller, especially on 24h lights. What light schedule are they on. They will restart vertical growth soon, be patient. Some phenotypes are slower than others but only time will tell. Doesn't hurt to pray :Namaste:
 
Also the promix veg soilless it think had nutes in it to begin with. That may be the reason for the twisting, flushing will make it worse, imo. I'd say no nutes at all for Nessie, and no flush for the others it might drown them completely.
 
Snidrajsed said:
To me it sounds like your are to far ahead of your plants, they seem so small to be taking on so much food. Has the medium been moist the whole time? That may have stunted root growth and is now trying to catch up to the leaf development. If the soil stays too moist then the roots don't need to find water and they stay smaller, especially on 24h lights. What light schedule are they on. They will restart vertical growth soon, be patient. Some phenotypes are slower than others but only time will tell. Doesn't hurt to pray :Namaste:
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No, I've been letting it dry out. Pots weigh 11.4lbs dry so I've been letting them close. They get 2 cups of water every second day. Every second watering is nutes so yesterday was their second feeding. I couldn't find out much about the organic promix, so I have no doubt that you're right.

Light schedule is 18/6. I don't think I had mentioned that yet.

And I am definitely praying. A couple generations back, my family could just breath on plants and they would grow. Half of my family are farmers, and the other half gardeners. Yet somehow that gene completely missed me and my mother.

Just checked on Nessie. She's dead. She fell over completely. Her taproot didn't get much longer. I dumped the cup, and the bottom was packed too tightly. So I know my mistake there at least.

I will stop using nutrients and switch back to PHed water for now. How will I know when they require nutrients since I won't be following A Trains schedule? Wait for deficiencies?
 
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