Vyserage's First Indoor Soil Grow - 2017

[vyserage]

Some Pictures of the setup:

Strains:
Pink Cadillac

Gorilla Glue #4
Sativa Dominant Hybrid - 70% Sativa / 30% Indica
THC: 25% - 28%, CBN: 1%

Tent: 48x48x80 (4x4 apollo tent)
Light: 600W LED Viparspectra
Nutes: Foxfarms trio, CalMagic

(8/14/17) Day 1
* Day 1 has begun! I got 3 out of 5 of my seeds germinated (the seeds were given to me for free so no telling how many were gonna be good). Germinated seeds (had tap roots) then placed into clear party cups (to observe root growth more easily) with slits on bottoms for water drain.
* Light has been hung 34 and 1/2 " from top of soil, recommended by manufacturer was 36" to 40" for seedlings in the first week or 2.
*Adjusted the pH of water to be 6.3 (was above 7 before adjusted).
* Soil Used: Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix
* Water runoff PPM = 2030's, -44 ppm from water = 1986 range. Hopefully this wont destroy my seedlings, we'll see! Another plants ppm read in the 1600's, so i guess just that first one got a real high dose to start with haha. These ppm tests are from just the soil, i did not add nutes of my own. I will start adding my own nutes later if i see the ppm drop below a value range.
* Soil Ingridients:

* Tent has 2x small fans in the air ducts of tent. Bottom fan is intake, top fan is outtake.
* Temperature inside reads 81F to 84F. An acceptable range as im not able to get it colder.
* Humidity is anywhere from 32 to 38, my humidifier is on its way so i can leave it at a perfect 40 all the time.
* No pests as of yet. A single ant found its way inside and was circling the water tray. A quick finger pinch took care of him!
I look forward to recording down my findings for this and future grows! If i missed something, feel free to comment!

UPDATE added a plant: I added my brother's backyard small potted marijuana plant that he's had for like 5 months and it was clearly stunted and not well taken care of. probly about 18 inches tall, maybe a little smaller. All of the bottom leaf's had fallen off by themselves, leafs were pretty dry and had maybe 6 sets of leaf's going up from there to the top. Looked like somebody lolipopped it in a way lol but was naturally done-in from time and neglect. I attempted to transfer it from its small pot size to a 3 gallon grow bag. As i pulled the plant out of its original pot (which lots of the dirt just kinda fell away as it was upside down), the roots were pretty brownish and showed clear signs of root circulage on the bottom. The roots on the bottom were perfectly formed as the bottom of pot and kinda hardened with what i think was light case of mold. As i observed the roots more i noticed int he soil and on roots were tiny white'ish bugs, probably a little transparent. Assuming these were mites. I decided this was not worth adding to my poppulation as it would just infest the other's over time. Instead of discarding the plant, i snipped it off close to the bottom where the last leaf's remained. I then peeled away some of the leaf's closest to that buttom point (not much resistance) and planted into a clear cup like my current newborns. Watered it to fully wet all soil in cup and measured ph=OK, ppm=1600's. Here is a picture of its now current state:

 

[knighthawktfc]

Good luck, should be interesting.
Subbed.


On the humidity for first couple weeks if you can it a bit higher then 40 the plants will enjoy it.

 

[vyserage]

sure! ill shoot for 50?

 

[knighthawktfc]

sure! ill shoot for 50?

I shot for between 50-65 during veg, and a little lower as my autos slowly flipped to flower mode. Was able to get there with small atomizing humidifier on 24x7 at about 3/4th max setting that I had to fill up about every 24hr. The 60-65 usually came during lights out and after a watering. I will say though I noticed difference in growth\progress between starting around 35-42%RH.. and the added 10-20%. It could have just been pure timing, but they really seemed to like the added humidity I added late in week two through week 4-5. Now I'm busying fighting the reverse...(keeping it < 55% during sleep time in flower). lol

Good news for you is come flower time sounds like you don't have to worry about a dehumidifier.

Maybe shoot for 50 with lights on but don't fret too much over it, 40's will work fine too, it's the low 30's that caught my eye for seedlings that would be little concern, could always cover them with little humidity dome\clear plastic, I did that my first 5 days before getting my environment dialed in better.


I'm on my first grow as well, so remember gains of salt with most my comments.

Oh on the light distance... listen to the mfg esp first couple days above ground, I'd error on the higher side than the lower side.

 

[vyserage]

Hey you're still ahead of me so of course ill take the info! I'll shoot for 55% humidity when the humidifier comes in tomorrow! I'll keep it at 55% all the time until vegetation then during flowering ill shoot for 45% In the final couple weeks ill go down to 40% and hold

 

[EastCoastGhost]

Subbing in, I just started my second grow, looks li you have everything you need, best of luck to you...️

 

[vyserage]

Subbing in, I just started my second grow, looks li you have everything you need, best of luck to you...️

Thanks! It makes me very happy to hear you say that, im very glad i have everything i need for starting! I hope my first grow goes as well as yours!

 

[vyserage]

Updated my main post.

 

[knighthawktfc]

Updated my main post.

oh... don't know about that. You might want to keep that attempted clone as far away from the others as possible for awhile, make sure she didn't bring anything in with her - some mites\problems actually can live\lay eggs inside the leaves themselves. That said seems you did about everything you could do to prevent it thus far and still take a shot at saving her. I'd probably spray her with something one time for good measure if\after she takes solid root.

 

[vyserage]

oh... don't know about that. You might want to keep that attempted clone as far away from the others as possible for awhile, make sure she didn't bring anything in with her - some mites\problems actually can live\lay eggs inside the leaves themselves. That said seems you did about everything you could do to prevent it thus far and still take a shot at saving her. I'd probably spray her with something one time for good measure if\after she takes solid root.

What kind of spray should i spray the leaf's with?

 

[knighthawktfc]

Probably would depend on what the known bugs where, or what if anything you see going forward after the clones establish themselves.

Sounds sort of like root-aphids is what you saw on the original plant (but that's just on the description and I'm no bug expert). If they were though, given what you mentioned (and assuming no other contamination from clothing etc), they probably shouldn't have tagged along. That said, I was just thinking like once it had some roots I'd just spray it down anyway with some like safer-garden insecticidal soap (nothing special), wait a day or two then then give it single dose of Neem as a sort of a preventive thing, just out of paranoia.

 

[vyserage]

thats a good idea, even at the least i would then have those items should i run into pest problems!

So i found them both on amazon, neem oil extract which is same brand - safer-garden i believe. Those are the 2 i need right? Now i see the insecticidal soap is a spray bottle so i would spray all the leaves and stem correct? As for the neem, mix in jug of 1 gallon water and just water my plants with that when its a normal watering day.

That sound about right? Just want to make sure thats how the process for those 2 go.

 

[knighthawktfc]

Sounds about right, again though I would not do it till plant is reestablished (ie roots and looks fairly healthy),yes you spray the leaves top and bottom and stem a bit, ideally with lights out or close to lights-out time as to not let the lights burn the wet spots, I think you can spray the neem as well (long as not in late flower), but yeah if targeting the roots I suppose putting it in their water works too - just follow the instructions that comes with it I guess. Those are two products I have on hand... along with some sm-90, thankfully not needed any of them yet, but better to have on-hand and not need then the reverse if I ever wake up to an infestation one day.

 

[vyserage]

why can i no longer edit my main 1st post? The edit button is missing D:

 

[knighthawktfc]

why can i no longer edit my main 1st post? The edit button is missing D:

I had the same question when I first started.

Posts can only be edited for a few hours after they are made, I don't know what the exact time is, I think it's like ~6hr. I don't like it either,but is what it is.

 

[vyserage]

Day 2: 2 of the 3 seedlings i had in soil have sprouted up with 1 still completely under the soil. No watering needed as the soil still appears damp. Clone appears to have turned the very bottom leaf's yellowish, all leaf's are droopy.

Day 3: Watered plants as they appeared dry. still moist a couple inches down but watered anyways since roots are still higher up in the more dry soil. This was 4 hours before hitting 3 days exactly. The clone doesnt look so great but we will see how it goes.

Added in the humidifier and set to 55% humidity level. This helps keep the higher temp in my tent down too i've noticed! Awesome benefit for us in the valley (California)

PPM of the plants water runoff measured at 1600's, plants seem to be enjoying it so far.

1 of the seeds/plants seems to be struggling ditching its shell of a seed to show its first set of leaf's. This is also the same 1 that had the head start of all other plants sprouting. Each day it looks like the leaf's are slowly moving out away from the seed and attempting to raise towards the light. When i watered this specific plant, the entire sprout fell over! I kinda picked it up straight and packed down some dirt on top of it to ensure a more stable environment. It just wasnt well rooted in place, likely due to me not packing it in a little fromt he get go.

Am germinating 2 more seeds to try adding them to the group in case of males (throwaway for me). 1 of the 2 is GG and its tap root is looking good. Almost ready to transfer it into a cup from the papertowel. The 2nd seed hasnt cracked open at all in over 24hrs of being in water.

Here are some pic's for day 3!

 

[knighthawktfc]

Yeah don't worry about the clone attempt next couple day, will probably start to look worse before better.

One thing though you could do to try and help that clone attempt out is mist\spay the good leaves (tops and bottoms) with just plain ph'd water, or even just straight distilled once a day near lights out time - basically giving it a chance to take in some h2o directly before it has roots to do the job.
Though now that you have added humility that will help too, but I might still try it.

 

[vyserage]

8/17/17 Day4: 1 of the 2 seeds germinating succeeded, other failed and trashed. Added another plant addition to the group, thats Gorilla Glue #4 as well. Watered the soil down good and everything looks good. Humidity is in the 50's range and temp never hotter than 86. New plants water runoff ppm = 1100's. I used a different soil for this plant, lets see how it goes.

8/18/17 Day 5: Plants continue to grow heathily, clone looks worse day by day.

8/19/17 Day 6: Plants continue to grow heathily, clone looks same'ish. still declining. Soil not yet ready to water (as of AM's of this new day).
8/20/17 Day 7: Watered all plants as soil is looking dry (top of soil clearly dry, less so an inch down). Plants continue to grow. PPM measured out in the 1000's to 1200's for all plants, pH of water give to plants in the 6.4-6.5 range. Here are some updated pics! So far so good! I've had a fly problem but ordered fly strips. Somehow a little caterpillar got inside the tent too! He wont be munchin on my greens! Also ordered a 12' oscillation fan to put inside tent to blow on all the plants.

Lowered light down to 24 inches from top of highest plant! Thats what is recommended by light manufacturer after 1 to 2 weeks (been 1 week now). Says to go down to 15-18' when flowering, so lets see how things go! Hopefully thats how everyone who uses this light does it too.

 

[knighthawktfc]

Looking ok so far. With that light at 24" that's with veg-only switch on right?

On the close attempt, that's what I would have expected after a few days (ie it looking worse before it might get better), I'd still mist it once a day near lights out time for few more days if u can. Or another option that might work is 2 or 3-liter clear bottle with bottom cut out that you could place over the whole thing (poke a decent hole or two on sides for little air), to act as humidity dome.

Good idea on the fan, might help with flies...so long as it was just random and not say from the soil or something, they not so fond of wind. lol. How the heck did a caterpillar get in there? 86f is a little hot, especially if that the tent generally and it's warmer at plant height, the fan will help little of course, but maybe think about what you can do to keep that <85f, particularly at plant level.

 

[vyserage]

Yes, VEG only switch. In bloom ill go 18' from top of highest plant (hopefully most are within same height).

As for the clone, im just gonna let her be, if she survives, she was meant to, if she doesnt, poor girl wont have to suffer anymore lol. Either way i have my 5 plants in there going good so far. 5 may be a little much for just 1 light, but ill be throwing away the male plants so who knows how many male vs female are in there. Wont know that until a week or 2 into bloom as far as i understand?

so long as what was random and not from the soil? I should add the flies have been dropping...like flies lol. The light seem's to kill the ones that stay under it for too long. Really brought down my fly count lol. Either way ill have those fly traps inside today when they come in.

As for the caterpillar, the exact one that it looked like is from my work. They have crawled on me or fallen on me from the tree's above where i work. I'm assuming it enjoyed the ride home with me and into my room lol. Must have made its way into the tent. When i saw it int he tent, it looked to be dieing so for whatever reason i left it alone and was gonna grab it later when i went to water the plants. Later that day when i went to go water plants, the little bastard was alive and well, crawling around between the plants water collector tray lol. I grabbed the little bastard and flushed him. Now that i think about it i should have let the poor guy live outside :'( He survived falling or crawling onto me undetected, an entire drive home without crawling off, and then into my room and found its way into the tent. Hell i should have given him his own little encaged home and watched him grow too!

The temps reached 91 degree's once, before the humidifier was in there. Now the hottest i've ever seen it get is 86 degree's, and thats due to my father turning off the AC that night and me not turning it back on until like 9am. I dont foresee it getting hotter than 84 as long as AC stays on. Most of the time its at 81 and 82 degrees. He now know's we cant have the AC off without it getting too hot in tent. We went 50/50 on this investment of growing indoor lol.