Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

[tonymunteanu]

Hi there, you wonderful group!!

First of all, i want to thank you everyone for your important contribution to us, first time growers and to the whole movement in general. I learned lots of things here and there, reading your posts/guides/etc. You are great! Thanks!

After few delays, now i took the courage and i started the journal. Hope i will have only good things to post, and less problems.

About the room

My grow room name is TARDIS (reference). Right now it does not look like an actual Tardis. It is a work in progress, but the final version hopefully would look like it. The effect it is the same... after few puffs

The room is mostly powered by ikea. Room (Width: 78 cm
Depth: 55 cm, Height: 174 cm, Max load/shelf: 50 kg), Medium Containers and Water Reservoir
There is a big box for water with a lid. I made 3 holes in the lid. 2 for drain and one for the waterpump. Two smaller box on top of the bigger one holding the medium (Hydroton) and NFT.
The room haves reflective foil (orca) around it, and the door is made by a plastic (flexible)reflective foil, with magnet on the vertical side and velcro on the horizontal sides.

This room is meant for veg state. This is temporary. I am working on a new room for veg and another one for flowering.
​

The Ladies

I have 4 teenage girls. 2 White Widows and 2 AK47. Feminized seeds.
They were conceived on 4.12.2012 (germination), born/sprout on 8.12.2012 and meet the lights (1x CFL PLASMA LIGHT 150w) with an 18/24 light period.

I also have a foster kid, unknown strain, seed found in one bad bag of weed. I named KK, as in CACA -> Shit. I will give this one a chance as long she has space and will to live. I Want this one for testing purposes (toppings/fims/trainings/etc)
​

First problems

Everything was wonderful and all, they looked very healthy and happy.
Two weeks and half ago I had to leave the country for a week. I lifted the lights and left. When i came back, everything was more awesome. They exploded, they started to have the fat bushy booty i wanted so long.

I stayed for a night home, leaving the lights close to the plants. I had to leave for another week in another city to spend xmass with my gf. I forgot the lights close to the plant!

After five days, when i came back they two of them were burned at the top. Looking healty but burned.

I don't really know what to do. To cut the leaves, to leave them alone... what to do, what to do...
First thing first. I lifted the lights up and changed their position, since they become more bushy and needed the space.

​

A problem don't come alone....

After dealing with the obvious, i saw on the walls some patterns. Floral patterns. They were awesome.
Leaving esthetics aside i took the plants outside, and washed the walls with water and AJAX. I left it a bit to clean the air and put them back in.

After another five days, they didn't seem to grow so much. I guess they are a bit tired.

I like to watch them. Just sit there and look at them, talking, telling them how much i love them, how sorry i am for treating them wrong, and how proud i am for such a great galls.

Doing this routine, i start to notice some issues.

• Burned leaves
• Depozit on the rocks. Looks like salts, but also some ar a bit furry. White furr. maybe mold?
• Shiny but plastick, hardned leaves. I don't have any clue about this.
• Discoloration. Maybe PH is making his moves, maybe it is a sign of soon to be burned leaves... from nutes or not enough water. (i watered two times a day, for 15minutes (to avoid too much humidity), now i changed to 3 times/day, to check if they were a bit underwatered)

The roots look good IMO

When I bought my stuff, the shop didn't have the most important thing. PH tester.
I said i would come back in a week or so but suddenly i had to leave country and when i came back the xmass was in town, everything closed.

First thing i did today was to add another 2,5 l of tap water to the reservoir to dilute the nutes. I had about 10l of water with nutes, about 90% strenght. To see if nutes were too strong.

The second thing i want to do, but after i hear your answers is to wash the rocks with water and vinegar

Since i will have to wait another few days before i can buy a ph meter and ph controllers, i don't really know what should i do or how should i give my plants a good diagnostic.

I really need your help, you guys and girls, so please take a look at the pics posted.
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• Light schedule is 24/7 - 150w CFL PLASMA LIGHT
• Watering was 2 times a day, 12h apart. Now i changed to 3 times(15 min/feed), 7 hours apart.
• Medium is NFT and Hyrdoton under the block and over (to avoid algee)
• I am using IONIC grow nutes (starterpack)
• Tap water. Now i can't control the PH but in few days i will.

Thank you very much for everything you already did for me and for all the help you'll give me, sometimes even without you or me knowing. Please bear in mind that this is my first grow, i have a lot to learn and even i am prepared for some fails here and there, i want to try the best to prevent failures and to keep them alive, happy and healthy.

All the best.

 

[tonymunteanu]

Re: Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

Busy busy busy.
Today i went to the grow shop and i got myself the most important things that i should really had from the beginning.

• PH Tester
• PH down
• CO2 Tabs
• H2o2

First of all, my ph was 7.5 :rolleyes3

Afterwards, i cleaned my tank very good with hot water, rinse, clean again with water and h2o2. I also cleaned my pump, leaving her inside the h2o2 with water to run for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, i took the babies out and cleaned the clay rocks for extra salts.

I added 20l of water (boiled and left in room for couple of days), nutrients, a small piece of co2 tab and less than half strenght of h2o2. Left it there for few minutes, after a good stir, checked and fixed the PH. My ph is 5.3, but i guess there is also some PH in the rockwool, that will adjust mine.

I made some pics of the plants to see how the ph adjustment, co2tab and h2o2 will affect my plants, and i hope for the best.

Suggestions? They would be MUCH appreciated.

 

[tonymunteanu]

Re: Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

Learning the hard way: The good, The bad and The Ugly
Last night i was thinking to try a cup of hot water with a co2 tab inside the growroom and check the results.
The good: One of the plant skyrocketed. It was a plant i FIMed 48 hours before. I don't know why she exploded up so much. Can't be sure what was the reason.
The bad: As i mentioned, i have 2 White Widows, 2 Ak47 and a unknown strain form a bad bag of weed. This one skyrocketed.
The ugly: On the clay rocks there was a white fuzz. Not on all of them, just on those the dripper drips.

Any idea? Was the hot water caused the fuzz? Did the co2 had any implications with the rapid growth of the unknown strain?

I cleaned the rocks. The plants look nice and healthy but i really don't want to see mold inside the grow room.

 

[TsaktuO]

Re: Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

I think you are on a great start now man, I just recently took up DWC and hydro growing. I can tell you a cool fact, your PH will go up at night, and it will go down during the day light. So being that you placed it 5.5 it will level out to around 6.0 give or take the situation. But setting it lower to let it drift up is good, then toping with new nutes or just tap water will be find, till you need to change the solution again.

Looks like you got it all under control, I was told with CFL of that size to have them 15 inch form top.. but there are a lot of factor that involve how close you can place your lights to the canopy, just do what your gut says and use the back hand trick.

Like your light reflector, did you make it? About to make a new reflector for my 2 CFL. they are 105w each. 12400 lumen together.
cheers!

 

[tonymunteanu]

Re: Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

Thank you, TsaktuO

The reflector is not made by me. I didn't really know what material is good for reflection and does not create hot spots. This one is the cheapest reflector i could get. Around 15$. The downsize is he wasn't built for the heavy CFL and the bulb hangs on a 10 degree angle. Does not bother me so much, but i will make it a bit sturdier.

I plan to make few reflectors/light system my own, since for the second room (flower) i want to combine 6400k/2400k CFLs and also have some side light with few smaller size CFLs.

My plan for flowering room is:

TOP - 1 big 2700K CFL combined with 2 smaller 6400k ~42w
Left/Right - 4 small CFLs ~42w with mixed light spectre​

I don't know if this is overkill or not it will depend on the space and no of plants.

Since i live in a country where it is illegal to grow, i am thinking to grow fewer plants with LST and SCRoG to minimize the best i can the worst scenarios may or may not happen.

 

[tonymunteanu]

Re: Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

Update on plants.

Captain's log:
Almost one week since my last update. This week was a busy one for me and also for the plants.
After some research i decided i will defoliate my plants. They become a bit bushy i believed the branches didn't get enough light, the fan leaves blocking their way.

I asked few questions to Cultivator, but while i was waiting for his reply, i got a phone call that informed me that i will have a tight schedule for the next few days, so i took the matter into my own hands and conscious and went with my gut.
I thank Cultivator for his help/answers.

On the 8 January 2013, the captain's log recorded the defoliation. It wasn't easy, but it is done.

5 days after the defoliation, (Jan 13), i had to change the water. The water was 9 days old, and i saw inside a gray slimy something.
What could it be? It was on my unused drip cables, which i submersed back into the tank. After some thinking, i realized that i used h2o2 with some organic solution. STUPID. I KNOW. I realized this today, when i almost did it again.

How the plants are looking? I hear you say.....
Well, i like to think they look good, but i believe they can look greater.

I noticed some lower branches that grew bigger, some branches started growing on those branches and more light in the growroom

I saw some few leaves that look a bit down. They have good coloring, but they hang a bit like over watering. I water 3 times/day, 7 hours apart, 15 min each watering with drip.
I hear the water drip back into the tank, and few times i also shake the 'pots' to see if more water will drain. Nothing. I took some of the Hydroton out, till i got to the roots/end of the container, but there was no water and the roots were bright white.

Is this a plant related thing. Is this something i should be concerned? Or it is just me, being mental about it?

 

[tonymunteanu]

Re: Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

In case you wonder what is the plastic along the plants... It's a food grade container, turned 90 degrees, where i put a clone.
When i was defoliating, my girlfriend asked me some questions, and i cut a wrong leaf.... wasn't a leaf, was a small branch part of a bigger branch. I said, oh well.. we now have the first clone. I believe it was too small for a clone, but... better than throw it away.

I believe my plants are a bit late for LST,except of a particular one (bag seed), who i keep just for these tests. The first LST i did on her was with Paper Tape, but i really don't like the idea of glue and detach the glue from my plants, so i made myself some hooks.

I used some old metal coat hanger from work, where nobody uses them. Made 8 hooks from one hanger. For now i tape them on the outside of my containers and just hang down the plant.

 

[tonymunteanu]

Re: Wip Tardis - First Grow - 2 White Widow - 2 AK47 - 1 Unknown - Advice Welcome

Again i start to see some spots on few leaves. Look like rust.... Nute burn/Rust/Something Deficient... who knows... ?! )
I topped the reservoir with water, adjusted the PH, added a bit of H2o2 to the tank and also spray them with a weak h2o2/water mixture.
Hope things will get back on track.

Question about the nute burn: Is nute burn something you can ignore if not too serious? I heard that some people don't mind a bit of burn on the edges of the leafs other people says it is dangerous. Opinions?

 

[Truth Seeker]

How did this grow turn out?

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I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.

 

[tonymunteanu]

With shame of being away for so much time, i took the courage and finish this grow blog.
My first grow had a great finish for me. Many pros will laugh at my results and it is understandable. I learned a lot. A lot. It is so fascinating to grow and growing becomes such a big passion in one's life, you never finish or get bored learning. Even when reading the same info, watching others make same or even bigger errors than i do is in a way of other rewarding. This sounded evil. It is not.

My grow had, what many would say: tiny anorexic buds... But they will drive you crazy.... like women nowdays
This was before flushing.

After flushing, and cutting and tasting i forgot i have a camera and used my phone instead. Guess who's to blame? So i did some crappy pictures of what was the most loved achievement of the year: Few strings of drying buds and few cups of popcorn.

Some of the popcorn was smoked while the buds were drying/curing, some of them (and leafs/stems) helped me to learn how to make the mighty butter.

Few days after i set the buds to dry, we went to the sea side, where i took a small jar of popcorn letting the "big buds" to rest. Late in the night or early in the morning, not sure, the sun was rising and the music was good, I decided to go back to my room, roll one and go to on the roof to watch the sunrise. When i got there, there were few people from another country lighting a joint. I lighted mine and shared with them, making friends. They didn't knew how i got the weed, but they were so impress and amazed by the taste and high, they said it was the best they had. They even started to pass theirs more quickly to us, and smoke more from ours. For me, that was the most silent congratulation i could get. (Their weed was really bad indeed. Full of seeds and trims. Horrid taste)

Sorry about the long talk that have nothing to do with growing. It was a long time since i finished this grow and i forgot many of the numbers, or technical grow details and the pictures speak from them self (mostly).
I really wanted to finish the journal, and since your first grow is not only about how much you get in return, but what you learn and how close you get with these sticky plants, i wanted to tell you my story.
Since then, i've done more crops, having the good, the bad and the ugly dead plants. Learned more, didn't give up, fall in love each time a seed germinate, getting anxious at every flowering period and finaly, upgrading my room not for the greed of the weed, but for the love of plant.

Thank you i couldn't do it without 420magazine. Even if not logging in (due TOR bugs), i read many times the forum, sometimes to learn, sometimes just from pleasure. Thanks again.