First Grow

[BonghornLeghorn]

Ok so it turns out the seed had risen to the surface but had no sprout whatsoever. So I took advantage of this failure and made a better grow space. Two 131 gallon storage containers, 4 lampholders, 1 small lampholder, splitter, 1 50 CFM bathroom fan, and two hinges. Total of 70 dollars. All I need is 3 more planting pots and two rolls of Gorilla tape to stop the light from leaking out so much.

I put them all together, and voila! Now I can even attach a carbon filter to the exhaust of the fan. Future smell problem averted!

I decided I'm going to be growing three plants now. I chose:

1x White Widow

1x Ruderalis Skunk
1x Afghan Kush

I have them soaking in separate and labelled shot glasses and sitting on my water heater under a cardboard box.

BTW that picture with the box running--all the lights were off in the room and hallways. It was pitch-black. That seriously lit up the place lol.

 

[Thedillestpickle]

Good stuff, now make sure you have 30% perlite mixed into your soil, and in two weeks or maybe 3 youll be needing some nutrients to add to the soil, so if you don't have a hydro store nearby order that online now so itll arrive in time.

Looks like your off to a good start now. If you can afford to put more lights in the box you wont regret it, assuming you can keep the temperature under 80 you should try to get as much light in there as you can. more light=more bud
but the 100watts you have there will be enough to grow some bud, so that is fine too.

what will you start the plants in? I suggest 16 ounce beer cups. Only fill them halfway with soil, seedlings tend to grow a bit taller than you want straight away so its good to leave some space so you can fill in the rest of the cup to burry the stem

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

There are actually 207 (780 equivalent) watts in that setup. Thanks for the perlite info that was my next question

I'm just going to pick up some solid white 12 or 16 oz plastic cups for the germinating. How should I get them to sprout? Put them on a window sill? Or should I put a light over them? We are currently getting about 10 hours of light where I live.

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

I have the entire grow space done minus the half I need to cover in tape. now has room for 6 lights. Between the ones I chose it will have 207 actual watts going through it. I also placed a light switch on the side so I could turn the UVB light off when I wanted to get inside. Can't say I followed electrical code too well lol. However I have it airing out right now as to remove the toxic fumes from it before I put my babies in it, so in the meantime I took the living room lamp and put it in my room with some books to raise the cups to about 4 or 5 inches away from the light.

<-- This is just a pic of it dry. It got soaked before it went under

 

[Thedillestpickle]

This is actually starting to look really good, your seeds should sprout just fine like that, some will say you shoudl cover the cup with saran wrap to hold in moisture and then remove it when the seedling emerges, but I found that unneccessary. 200watts ought to give you a nice little bush in there. I don't think you will need the UV light just yet though. This is just my oppinion based on nothing but information I have gathered and no actual experience, but UV light works by directly converting CBD into THC, when it is magnefied by the trichromes onto the membrane at which THC is created. You don't need to worry about that kindof thing until near harvest. I would wait until halfway through flower before you start using the UV lights, as UV an stress plants and wont be doing any good anyways. Right now your concerned more about growing a good healthy vegetable. Later on you can start thinking about increasing the THC potency with UV. just my $.02

 

[Thedillestpickle]

I would use 24/0 lighting for the first 2 weeks at least

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

I would use 24/0 lighting for the first 2 weeks at least

I was doing some thinking and this is what I come up with. We are trying to mimic a spring/summer season for the plant, as well as recreate as best as possible the conditions that it would grow outdoors. I don't see how 24/0 would be beneficial for the seedling at all. Besides if the plant sprouts and I cut it back to 18/6 wouldn't that cause stress on them? If it's temperature wise, the space (which is my bedroom too) is sitting at a warm temperature of 22. Perhaps there's some reason that I'm not seeing, if so I'd like to be enlightened. Just my thoughts.

 

[Thedillestpickle]

I was doing some thinking and this is what I come up with. We are trying to mimic a spring/summer season for the plant, as well as recreate as best as possible the conditions that it would grow outdoors. I don't see how 24/0 would be beneficial for the seedling at all. Besides if the plant sprouts and I cut it back to 18/6 wouldn't that cause stress on them? If it's temperature wise, the space (which is my bedroom too) is sitting at a warm temperature of 22. Perhaps there's some reason that I'm not seeing, if so I'd like to be enlightened. Just my thoughts.

Alot of people claim that indoor growing is "trying to imitate outdoor conditions as best as possibe". Thats simply not true or we would be growing 15 foot trees indoors, which no one wants...

I like 24/0 for seedlings and clones because it makes temperature control easier. It also reduces stretching which is something that should be avoided, especially in tight quarters. While the seed is germinating in particular, it is good to keep a steady temperature to keep the enzymes activated.
Were not trying to imitate nature as closely as possible, were trying to manipulate the artificial environment to what works best for growing good quality high yielding plants in small spaces.
Your plants won't be stressed by changing from 24/0 to 18/6, but if you were worried you could always ease it down a few hours at a time. I'm not a fan of vegging the whole way with 24/0, just the initial first two weeks. You'll get more root developement with the 6 hours night period(assuming you keep it warm)
18/0 will also work just fine

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

Ya I switched it to 24/0. There's a good chance that there'll be pics tomorrow of the seedlings. I thing the Ruderalis Skunk is going to pop out right away.

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

And so my Ruderalis Skunk starts to show her face. I saw the White Widow was in the same stage this girl was 8 or so hours earlier, so I'm fairly certain that she'll show her self tomorrow too. Haven't seen any signs of the Afghan yet though. And yes, I got more perlite. This is going much better than last time so far, and it's only been two days. hahahahaha

This pic is of the Ruderalis Skunk

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

Well the White Widow and Afghan didn't make it. So I planted a Sensi Ruderalis Indica and a Nirvana Northern Lights auto. We'll see now. The Ruderalis Skunk is doing good though.

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

So, all three have sprouted. Here are some pics. In this order:

1) Ruderalis Skunk
2) Ruderalis Indica
3) Auto Northern Lights by Nirvana Seeds



I'm also testing the temps with the new grow box before I stick the plants in later. I'll report those in a couple hours.

 

[BonghornLeghorn]

So I ran some temps in the grow box before I put my seedlings in there. The air going into the bin is around 75 and when it leaves it's sitting around 84. The inside thermometer is registering about 81 lower-mid grow box. These are pretty good temps right? The fan is rated at 50cfm and the box is 8 cubic feet, so there's lots of air flow in there.

Also my Auto Northern Lights is still looking droopy but better than last night, from what I'm guessing is me be overzealous with watering. I think I'll just let her air out some more today and see how she looks after work.