Justtryingtogrow
New Member
Hey guys. After doing a bunch of reading around, I thought it might be a good idea to do a grow journal for all to see and give me advice if you see me screwing up. I've been keeping a log anyway, particularly of my setup and all, so why not share.
Background:
I have grown once before successfully in soil using HPS light rig. Temp was a constant struggle as was exhaust. I wanted to try something different. This time I wanted to LED.
Day -20:
Got some seeds from Seed Supreme Seed Bank (Amnesia, Girl scout, and Afghan Kush). After 5 days of shot glass method and none popped, I went to paper towel method. Still nothing after another 6 days. Still wouldn't pop! My house is usually pretty cool so I put a heating pad near the bag and put it in the spare bathroom and blasted the heat for 2 days. still no tap root. I gave up. Ordered more seeds from Seed King (Afghan Kush, Wedding Cake, Skywalker Triangle, and Jack Herer...all feminized, none autoflower). Got a Rapid Rooter tray kit and these new seeds popped after ~3-4 days! Yay!
SETUP:
5x5x8 Secret Jardin tent
Vortex S-line 711cfm 8"exhaust fan (i know its way overkill...paranoid about mold).
-exhaust tied into dryer vent outside using a Y connector
smaller Active Air 4"inline fan for fresh air in
2x Spyder Farms 2000 LED lights
HydroFarms PAR meter
clip 4" fan x 2. One fan per 2 plants
Humidifier x2 (vicks and cheapo from Amazon)
Day 0:
Instead of transplanting in solo cups then bigger pot, I went straight to medium pot (6" wide) with Foxfarms Oceanforest & 25% perlite. Water to wet with distilled water and begin 18/6 cycle.
Day 4:
The babies look healthy. The pics below in order are: Afghan Kush, Jack Herer (is this a new strain??), Skywalker Triangle, and Wedding Cake). Started watering with tap water pH adjusted to 5.9 by adding lemon juice concentrate, around every 2-3 days. My tap water is ~9.8-10.5. Obviously, still too early to add nutes. Lights were ~60 inches from plants with a PPFD of ~606-650. That seemed a bit too high for such youngings but they began stretching (~2" tall). I decided I'd rather risk giving it too much light than risk it stretching too much and not being stable, so I dropped light height to ~40 inches above. I read after the fact on here that the HF PAR meter is literally the worst and super inaccurate. Great. I'm a scientist by training (chemist) so not knowing the measurements bugged me but a common piece of advice I've heard alot is listen to your plants. They will tell you what they like and don't like. They seemed to respond positively to dropping the height. Temp was a nice 72F but humidity was too low (40-50%). I realize its because of my jet engine exhaust fan.
Day 6:
Temp 73.6, Humidity still too low ,so got a cheap humidifier from Walmart. Continue watering and with pH adjusted H2O
Day 19:
Start watering with Fox Farms trio (Tiger Bloom and Grow big) at 1/4 strength solution, still pH balanced at 5.9 at rt. add to soil every other watering. Temp at 74 and humidity at 60%. I did notice a orange spot on the Jack Herer plant only on two leaves. Wierd...some speculated I spilled something on it? It shown below with the Skywalker (L), Afkghan Kush (R). Last pic is JH. Brought lights down to 20". Apply nutes.
Day 23:
Transplant into last big (20" pot from HD). Fresh FF OF soil with 25% perlite. Water with pH water. Got a 2nd humidifier and now its ~68-74%.
Day 30:
Started getting a dark green leaves on the bottom set of Skywalker and Wedding cake along with a bit of canoeing. The AK started a bit of white tips on top set. Seems like the consensus on canoeing is too much heat or not enough humidity. Can't be either because I was 72F/70% and even used an IR thermometer I got at Home Depot. I raised the lights to 24" above plants just in case. The dark leaves and white tips indicating N excess makes sense since I applied nutes only a couple days before transplanting in new soil...with nutes. Stupid. Didn't realize until it was done. Still trying to run water. Looks: They are getting really bushy and only ~12" tall. See pics below: L-R =Skywalker Triangle, Afghan Kush, (upper R-lower R)=Jack Herer, Wedding cake. They all starting to smell great though. is 12" for these strains at this stage taller?
Any unique or odd strain specific advice you guys can give..or general comments? Any observations I'm missing? This is where I am right now but do plan on continuing this journal.
Background:
I have grown once before successfully in soil using HPS light rig. Temp was a constant struggle as was exhaust. I wanted to try something different. This time I wanted to LED.
Day -20:
Got some seeds from Seed Supreme Seed Bank (Amnesia, Girl scout, and Afghan Kush). After 5 days of shot glass method and none popped, I went to paper towel method. Still nothing after another 6 days. Still wouldn't pop! My house is usually pretty cool so I put a heating pad near the bag and put it in the spare bathroom and blasted the heat for 2 days. still no tap root. I gave up. Ordered more seeds from Seed King (Afghan Kush, Wedding Cake, Skywalker Triangle, and Jack Herer...all feminized, none autoflower). Got a Rapid Rooter tray kit and these new seeds popped after ~3-4 days! Yay!
SETUP:
5x5x8 Secret Jardin tent
Vortex S-line 711cfm 8"exhaust fan (i know its way overkill...paranoid about mold).
-exhaust tied into dryer vent outside using a Y connector
smaller Active Air 4"inline fan for fresh air in
2x Spyder Farms 2000 LED lights
HydroFarms PAR meter
clip 4" fan x 2. One fan per 2 plants
Humidifier x2 (vicks and cheapo from Amazon)
Day 0:
Instead of transplanting in solo cups then bigger pot, I went straight to medium pot (6" wide) with Foxfarms Oceanforest & 25% perlite. Water to wet with distilled water and begin 18/6 cycle.
Day 4:
The babies look healthy. The pics below in order are: Afghan Kush, Jack Herer (is this a new strain??), Skywalker Triangle, and Wedding Cake). Started watering with tap water pH adjusted to 5.9 by adding lemon juice concentrate, around every 2-3 days. My tap water is ~9.8-10.5. Obviously, still too early to add nutes. Lights were ~60 inches from plants with a PPFD of ~606-650. That seemed a bit too high for such youngings but they began stretching (~2" tall). I decided I'd rather risk giving it too much light than risk it stretching too much and not being stable, so I dropped light height to ~40 inches above. I read after the fact on here that the HF PAR meter is literally the worst and super inaccurate. Great. I'm a scientist by training (chemist) so not knowing the measurements bugged me but a common piece of advice I've heard alot is listen to your plants. They will tell you what they like and don't like. They seemed to respond positively to dropping the height. Temp was a nice 72F but humidity was too low (40-50%). I realize its because of my jet engine exhaust fan.
Day 6:
Temp 73.6, Humidity still too low ,so got a cheap humidifier from Walmart. Continue watering and with pH adjusted H2O
Day 19:
Start watering with Fox Farms trio (Tiger Bloom and Grow big) at 1/4 strength solution, still pH balanced at 5.9 at rt. add to soil every other watering. Temp at 74 and humidity at 60%. I did notice a orange spot on the Jack Herer plant only on two leaves. Wierd...some speculated I spilled something on it? It shown below with the Skywalker (L), Afkghan Kush (R). Last pic is JH. Brought lights down to 20". Apply nutes.
Day 23:
Transplant into last big (20" pot from HD). Fresh FF OF soil with 25% perlite. Water with pH water. Got a 2nd humidifier and now its ~68-74%.
Day 30:
Started getting a dark green leaves on the bottom set of Skywalker and Wedding cake along with a bit of canoeing. The AK started a bit of white tips on top set. Seems like the consensus on canoeing is too much heat or not enough humidity. Can't be either because I was 72F/70% and even used an IR thermometer I got at Home Depot. I raised the lights to 24" above plants just in case. The dark leaves and white tips indicating N excess makes sense since I applied nutes only a couple days before transplanting in new soil...with nutes. Stupid. Didn't realize until it was done. Still trying to run water. Looks: They are getting really bushy and only ~12" tall. See pics below: L-R =Skywalker Triangle, Afghan Kush, (upper R-lower R)=Jack Herer, Wedding cake. They all starting to smell great though. is 12" for these strains at this stage taller?
Any unique or odd strain specific advice you guys can give..or general comments? Any observations I'm missing? This is where I am right now but do plan on continuing this journal.