wildsage
New Member
Hi guys and thanks for stopping by to read my first journal ever! I have quite a bit of experience as an outdoor organic veggie and herb gardener so I know most of the basics I think when it comes to things such as soil fertilizers and nutrients and pH levels. I've never grown anything indoors using lights of any kind however so some of the process I'm doing for my indoor grow is extremely new to me. (Though I've been doing a SHIT ton of research for over the past month at least) I would really appreciate any help or thoughts from more experienced growers to help me out! 
The strains I'm starting out with are Tangerine Dream and Critical Kush from Barney's Farm. I picked the TD because it was one of the first strains I've ever smoked when my boyfriend introduced me to weed early this year, and I really really enjoyed it. I ended up getting the Critical Kush as well since it was also a cup winner and from what I read it seemed easier to grow.
My first light is a 135W LED. I got it since it was on sale for pretty cheap and it fit my original tiny grow room perfectly.
For my starting soil I mixed in about:
- 40% of my homemade compost
- 20% coco coir
- 20% perlite
- 20% worm castings
(I added in some cow manure later on with the same mix when I transplanted into larger pots)
As for any additional nutrients I'm using mostly Down to Earth products.
- Soybean meal for a little additional nitrogen and phosphorous in the veg stage
- Seabird guano for a kick of phosphorous during bloom.
- Langbeinite for a whole lot of the potassium in the blooming stage as well.
- I'm planning on giving them a little bit of blackstrap molasses every now and then throughout the blooming stage.
-Also about once a month or so I like to give all of my plants a small dose of epsom salt from walmart with a sprinkle of worm castings.
9/3/16 (Day 1)
I started out germinating both seeds in rapid rooters with some small pots I had laying around outside for my veggie garden. I figured I would just leave them on a south-facing window sill for now.
9/6/16 (Day 3)
The Critical Kush sprouted! I was really surprised by how fast it came. The only thing I'm used to sprouting this fast are the radishes I grow in the backyard.
9/10/16 (Day 10)
At this point I was getting concerned that the Tangerine Dream seed might be a dud since it was taking so long in comparison to the CK, but I was extremely relieved to see this in the morning!
By this time I had already moved the Critical Kush under the 135W LED and it was already starting to grow its first true leaves.
9/19/16 (Day 16)
We took a couple pictures of the plants as just a small progress report of their growth. The Critical Kush seemed to be growing pretty quickly which was nice.
The Tangerine Dream's lagging slightly behind, which is understandable since it took half a week longer to sprout. But other than that I thought it was looking pretty good as well so far too!
The grow room they were in at this point was a tiny 1' x 2' space I had in the side of a closet, and the single 135W LED fit the space well, but at this point I was starting to realize that having two plants in it is probably going to get overcrowded pretty quickly later on.
9/26/16 (Day 23)
I upgraded the grow room and moved the plants into a larger hall closet, where they're currently at. The growing space here is around 2' x 3' with 5.5' of vertical space. I figured this would AT LEAST be large enough for two plants, and possibly even a third in a future grow?
With that thought in mind, I bought a cheap $10 fluorescent grow light from Walmart. I looked this light up and thoughts about it seem pretty mixed? It seems that some people think that they're perfectly fine for seedlings and early veg, while more elitist growers seem pretty dismissive of it. My idea is that I'm going to keep any clones and seedlings up on this upper shelf and just have them growing separately so they'll be ready to switch out whenever what's on the bottom of the closet is done and harvested. The three seeds I popped in up here are: Cheese Candy, Pakistan Valley, and White Berry. I got most of these as freebies when I ordered the Tangerine Dream and Critical Kush from Herbie's.
As for the progress on the Tangerine Dream and Critical Kush, for the most part they're doing really good.
However I noticed on the Critical Kush there's a slight yellowing happening on a couple of the leaves. The worst is the on the one at the top of this picture. I doubt that I've been underwatering so I'm not entirely sure what they're from? My guess is that it might be nutrient burn or some sort of deficiency? Until this point the only additional nutrients I gave other than what's already in the soil is some soybean meal, blackstrap molasses, and a tiny bit of epsom salt and coconut water.
There really isn't any yellowing happening on the Tangerine Dream so far, which is also a little confusing.
Another issue I noticed is that my plants seem to be a little bit on the smaller/shorter side in comparison to pictures of other plants I've seen that are about the same age. I'm thinking I may have had the LED too far away from the plants which may have slowed their growth slightly? I was following the recommended distance of about a meter which came with the light, but a meter is pretty much twice the distance in comparison to what I've heard other growers do.
9/28/16 (Day 25)
So I moved the light closer to the plants, about 1.5' and I also transplanted the Critical Kush into a 3 gallon pot. I'm attempting to do some LST using safety pins to loop a side branch down closer to the side of each pot, but both of the plants are still pretty short that it's kinda impossible to get a real good bend in the main stem from it.
I also have a second LED light coming in a couple of days. I meant to get another of the same 135W LED I already have, but I accidentally got a 138W LED made by the same company since they look very similar. From what it looks like online, the 135W is slightly larger so the 138W might be a little bit more focused directly underneath it. I don't think it'll matter much since I'm planning on just having each light directly above each plant anyways.
I was also thinking about getting an 150W HPS light since I read that mixing HPS and LED gets the best of both worlds during blooming. The only thing is I'm worried about any heat the light might produce? my 135W LED is pretty cool and the temperature in the closet is about 75°F whenever the lights are on and I have a clip-on fan for air circulation. I'm concerned that the light might raise the temp above 80°F which I heard is too hot for optimal blooming? Or would the light be weak enough heat-wise to keep it below that normally?
The strains I'm starting out with are Tangerine Dream and Critical Kush from Barney's Farm. I picked the TD because it was one of the first strains I've ever smoked when my boyfriend introduced me to weed early this year, and I really really enjoyed it. I ended up getting the Critical Kush as well since it was also a cup winner and from what I read it seemed easier to grow.
My first light is a 135W LED. I got it since it was on sale for pretty cheap and it fit my original tiny grow room perfectly.
For my starting soil I mixed in about:
- 40% of my homemade compost
- 20% coco coir
- 20% perlite
- 20% worm castings
(I added in some cow manure later on with the same mix when I transplanted into larger pots)
As for any additional nutrients I'm using mostly Down to Earth products.
- Soybean meal for a little additional nitrogen and phosphorous in the veg stage
- Seabird guano for a kick of phosphorous during bloom.
- Langbeinite for a whole lot of the potassium in the blooming stage as well.
- I'm planning on giving them a little bit of blackstrap molasses every now and then throughout the blooming stage.
-Also about once a month or so I like to give all of my plants a small dose of epsom salt from walmart with a sprinkle of worm castings.
9/3/16 (Day 1)
I started out germinating both seeds in rapid rooters with some small pots I had laying around outside for my veggie garden. I figured I would just leave them on a south-facing window sill for now.
9/6/16 (Day 3)
The Critical Kush sprouted! I was really surprised by how fast it came. The only thing I'm used to sprouting this fast are the radishes I grow in the backyard.
9/10/16 (Day 10)
At this point I was getting concerned that the Tangerine Dream seed might be a dud since it was taking so long in comparison to the CK, but I was extremely relieved to see this in the morning!
By this time I had already moved the Critical Kush under the 135W LED and it was already starting to grow its first true leaves.
9/19/16 (Day 16)
We took a couple pictures of the plants as just a small progress report of their growth. The Critical Kush seemed to be growing pretty quickly which was nice.
The Tangerine Dream's lagging slightly behind, which is understandable since it took half a week longer to sprout. But other than that I thought it was looking pretty good as well so far too!
The grow room they were in at this point was a tiny 1' x 2' space I had in the side of a closet, and the single 135W LED fit the space well, but at this point I was starting to realize that having two plants in it is probably going to get overcrowded pretty quickly later on.
9/26/16 (Day 23)
I upgraded the grow room and moved the plants into a larger hall closet, where they're currently at. The growing space here is around 2' x 3' with 5.5' of vertical space. I figured this would AT LEAST be large enough for two plants, and possibly even a third in a future grow?
With that thought in mind, I bought a cheap $10 fluorescent grow light from Walmart. I looked this light up and thoughts about it seem pretty mixed? It seems that some people think that they're perfectly fine for seedlings and early veg, while more elitist growers seem pretty dismissive of it. My idea is that I'm going to keep any clones and seedlings up on this upper shelf and just have them growing separately so they'll be ready to switch out whenever what's on the bottom of the closet is done and harvested. The three seeds I popped in up here are: Cheese Candy, Pakistan Valley, and White Berry. I got most of these as freebies when I ordered the Tangerine Dream and Critical Kush from Herbie's.
As for the progress on the Tangerine Dream and Critical Kush, for the most part they're doing really good.
However I noticed on the Critical Kush there's a slight yellowing happening on a couple of the leaves. The worst is the on the one at the top of this picture. I doubt that I've been underwatering so I'm not entirely sure what they're from? My guess is that it might be nutrient burn or some sort of deficiency? Until this point the only additional nutrients I gave other than what's already in the soil is some soybean meal, blackstrap molasses, and a tiny bit of epsom salt and coconut water.
There really isn't any yellowing happening on the Tangerine Dream so far, which is also a little confusing.
Another issue I noticed is that my plants seem to be a little bit on the smaller/shorter side in comparison to pictures of other plants I've seen that are about the same age. I'm thinking I may have had the LED too far away from the plants which may have slowed their growth slightly? I was following the recommended distance of about a meter which came with the light, but a meter is pretty much twice the distance in comparison to what I've heard other growers do.
9/28/16 (Day 25)
So I moved the light closer to the plants, about 1.5' and I also transplanted the Critical Kush into a 3 gallon pot. I'm attempting to do some LST using safety pins to loop a side branch down closer to the side of each pot, but both of the plants are still pretty short that it's kinda impossible to get a real good bend in the main stem from it.
I also have a second LED light coming in a couple of days. I meant to get another of the same 135W LED I already have, but I accidentally got a 138W LED made by the same company since they look very similar. From what it looks like online, the 135W is slightly larger so the 138W might be a little bit more focused directly underneath it. I don't think it'll matter much since I'm planning on just having each light directly above each plant anyways.
I was also thinking about getting an 150W HPS light since I read that mixing HPS and LED gets the best of both worlds during blooming. The only thing is I'm worried about any heat the light might produce? my 135W LED is pretty cool and the temperature in the closet is about 75°F whenever the lights are on and I have a clip-on fan for air circulation. I'm concerned that the light might raise the temp above 80°F which I heard is too hot for optimal blooming? Or would the light be weak enough heat-wise to keep it below that normally?
cheers
