First time growing! 400w HPS 20 plants

[kkfrank22]

This is the bag seed I planted in the first week of march. The pics all have dates.

I use BC boost, grow, bloom according to label instructions to get an EC of about 1.9 during growth and 2.2 during flowering. I also supplement with cal-mag, liquid karma and sweet throughout the veg and flowering stages.
I experienced slow growth at first due to a highly stressful early transplant for all the seedlings when they were about a week old. I switched from coil to rockwool in hydroton. I maintain a pH of about 5.0-6.0 and I use BC pH down/up to adjust the pH level.
Seeds I planted were bagseed of some unknown variety but the plants are smelling pretty dank as of yet.
I started the 12/12 light cycle from 18/6 after 1 month of planting the seedlings. I am getting kicked out of my house so I need to flower ASAP. I bought the 400W hps online for about $100 (price includes ballast, 2 bulbs, and refelctor). Mylar and pumps were purchased online for about $15 each. The resevoir, table, hoses, timers, and power strips bought at local hardware store (lowes). The air stone and air pump bought at aquarium shop.
All in all, under $300 worth of junk. Im gonna start a new grow room at the new house, and I will be sure to order some high qual seeds (probably going to try Hawaiian Snow or one of many 'haze' varieties- from greenhouseseeds).

 

[da plantDOC]

did you say that you started flowering them if thare the same size in the pic;s good luck they would not hold up thare leaves on the plant is not reddy i grow bagseed to and 2 weeks my plants are 18' tall and very bushy i use advanced nutes what a differnced with a good fert try it if you need some moor help you can email me thay dont call me da plantDOC for nothin thay are not muter yet

da plantDOC

 

[kkfrank22]

did you say that you started flowering them if thare the same size in the pic;s good luck they would not hold up thare leaves on the plant is not reddy i grow bagseed to and 2 weeks my plants are 18' tall and very bushy i use advanced nutes what a differnced with a good fert try it if you need some moor help you can email me thay dont call me da plantDOC for nothin thay are not muter yet

da plantDOC

Yeah man Im going to start flowering asap. I figure the plant wont realize its flowering time for about 2-3 weeks. That might give me a small window of extra growth before flowering is in full effect. If the babies grow about 20cm during that time, I'll be happy. I have to move out of this house soon and I cant risk messing up their flower cycle because I have to pack up all the shize. I also thought that since the plants have very little root space (about 6"x6" each plant) that they wont/cant grow much larger than about 4 feet tall.

Am I totally off base here?? Im not entirely sure if what I'm saying is correct. I saw a vid by Arjan of greenhouseseedco that had him throwing a fresh clone into flowering with excellent yields. I dont know how tall the plants could grow with 6x6in grow space, I dont know how much theyll grow before they realize its time to flower, I dont know how long it takes plants to realize its flower time...

Bassically, I need advice on how to get through the rest of veg, all of flowering and harvest by mid July. Does anyone have any suggestions???
I hope I get some kind of advice before I royally mess up this little grow op.

Thanks for

 

[kkfrank22]

I have been busy with finals lately so I cant upload often. I take pics and record heights daily. The pics from today show total growth after 1 month.

I use BC Grow and Boost, MagCal, Sweet, Liquid Karma, and Super Thrive.
pH about 5.0
EC about 2.5
Temp about 80 F
Grow Medium: clay pellets
Drip irrigation system with feedings twice a day.
400 w HPS
I also use a sulfur based insecticide every few days to kill gnats, mold and fungus.

 

[da plantDOC]

hey frank thing are not looking bad..that thing you seen on greenhouse see thare seed are f1 hightbreds and thare seed are not unstabale... see thay pic 1 father and 1 mother..out of hundreds of plants.. is this your first grow...

da plantDOC

 

[kkfrank22]

Hey
Here are some new pics of the grow. If you look in the pics, you'll see the magic of gentics at work. The great thing about planting bag seeds is the vast genetic diversity you are bound to encounter. The gene pool in my bag was great. I have some plants that look mostly sativa and others that look mostly indica. I'm really looking forward to smoking each of these beauties.

I ended up with about 10 females and 10 males. This is not bad considering it was bag seeds (i.e., prone to hermaphroditism). I gave away some females and killed the males so I could focus all my nutrients, light, and time on the 8 remaining females.

da plantDOC,
Thanks for the positive feedback. Any criticism is appreciated as I am a first time mj grower and trying to learn as much as possible. Yes, this is my first time grow. However, my knowledge of simple botany and genetics is extensive. I understand that the high quality breeders grow stable marijuana strains from extremely well documented and higly consistent mother plants and seeds. I also know that the seeds I germinated were *probably* from a mixed strain and my chances at successfully propagating any stable 'strains' from my 'strains' would be highly improbable.

---beware, science content ahead---

Whats great about growing from seed (as stated above) is the great diversity among the offspring. As far as mj growing goes, any seed grown correctly and nourished to maurity, has the potential to provide some great smoke. If, down the line, I wanted to reproduce that strain and thusly, breed to perfect and maximize the THC content, I would need to take two identical crosses from those parents and look for the offspring with the desired traits. I would then inbreed the offspring with parents, and inbreed again and again, until I know that I have 'filtered out' all the undesirables.

As you may have deduced, I have no intention of doing such a thing. I just want to grow these plants to the best of my ability.

I would buy seeds from breeders simply to have the piece of mind in knowing the THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids' content of the mj Im smoking. I could very well grow something that is much more potent! On the other hand, I could also grow something that produces little buds and ends up being a completely waste of time. Again, I'm reiterating the joy of bagseeds.

To all die hard cultivators that actually care about the proliferation of all hybrid marijuana strains: I'm sorry for downplaying what you guys do. I know the importance of perpetuating the species and so forth but I am not going around spreading the seeds and pollen from the bagseeds I aquire. I am not looking to dilute the species or w/e and all growing I do is for personal, medical purposes. I am also very careful to document all strains observed and I am a strong supporter of the scientific method (documenting anything and everything). I am the average irresponsible grower I guess.

To sum up the rants and raves, the plants are growing well. I have seen some great branching on some, and little branching on others. I attribute any growth variations to the genetic properties of each plant. I am pretty sure what Im doing to correct considering the growth rates I have observed (during flowering, one plant grew about 6cm in one day).

I am supporting some of the branches with some wire. The branches dont need support just yet but I am just trying something thats cheap and easy. I bought the wire at the hobby store in the silk plant arrangement section. You can wrap this wire around the branches or simply make a large loop around the entire plant. The wire costs about $.90 for over 100 feet. This is markedly cheaper than any other trellis.
A week after I started the flowering (12/12) light cycle, I took a cutting of my largest and fastest growing plants so that I could hopefully grow it again a lil later. I was sure not to cut a branch that showed any signs of sex. The cutting is doing well in a deep water hydro clone chamber that I made out of a styrofoam cooler and an air pump with an airstone.

I will eventually upload my daily logs with hopes that the newbie grower wont look at this (or any other) set up and feel intimidated.

Sorry for the poor picture quality.
Im not a great photographer and my camera is a POS. I try to take the best pics I can with the POS cybershot, but it sucks ass.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback guys!

 

[Picasso345]

How are they coming?

 

[kkfrank22]

New Pics. Reduced light to 10hrs/day

 

[Picasso345]

Coming along nicely. 10 hrs/day? How does that work?

 

[kkfrank22]

Thanks.

The flowering cycle is usually anywhere from 10-14 hours of light per day. However, I dont really expect a big difference in growth or maturation rates due to the light change. Im just experiementing, but the light cycle the plants were on (12hrs on/12 hrs off) was sufficient for the plants to finish flowering. I'll post new pics asap.

 

[GrnMan]

Are you still using the liquid karma? Did you experiment around with it? I was going to pick some of this stuff up ASAP. I'm also thinking about adding other supplements as well.

 

[kkfrank22]

I changed the water yesterday and added some Blossom Blaster plus a root stimulator. The root stimulator, although mainly used to root cuttings, can also be used to increase root growth of a plant during flowering thus increasing nutrient uptake. This process may slow vertical growth a little (doesnt bother me any) but it is should lead to fatter buds in the long run.

GrnMan-

I ran out of LiquidKarma. I havent really tried to track any changes after I stopped using it. I'll go over my logs later and try to find any differences in growth rates and I'll post it to you.
My current nutrients are:
BC Bloom 6mL/L
BC Boost 6mL/L
Blossom Blaster (0-39-25 powder) 1g/10L
Nova roots 2mL/L
ppm ~1450 EC~ 2.9
I water 3x/day for 30-90 minutes on a drip system
light 10/14 (on@6am, off@4pm)

 

[GrnMan]

Your images aren't showing at the top. I see the image tag there, but nothing. Looks like you are pulling them from your computer. Try uploading them to an image server like photobucket or tinypic.

They are looking really good. I see water on the leaves there..so your misting them? I also noticed your light schedule...I know that they are most active at night, are you seeing better results with the longer periods of darkness?

 

[kkfrank22]

GrnMan- Thanks for the comments. Yeah, you're right- Im going to have to start using photobucket so the preview pics show up on the thread and not as shitty thumbnails.

I try to only spray the larger fan leaves. I do it because my closet is very dry even with all the plants and I think the resin production will be boosted by slight moisture. I make sure not to spray the buds just in case the whole "bud rot" thing is true. Me thinks that the plant will do just fine considering plants naturally growing in the tropics are just as good as any.

EDIT*******
I also forgot to mention that I just started to add CO2 to the room.
I bought some yeast and a gallon of grape juice.
Drank a glass of grape juice, yuck.
Drilled a hole into the cap of the grape juice.
Inserted 3 foot tubing into cap of bottle and run other end of hose into the resevoir.
Dropped packet of yeast into grape juice and sealed it with the new cap.
Created air tight seal around the tube in the cap using silicon glue
Watched bubbles come out of tube in resevoir to make sure seal was airtight.
Covered the bottle with a pair of boxers to keep it away from light.

This should be enough C02 for at least a week if not 2 full weeks. Waaay cheaper than a crazy CO2 tank system.

 

[GrnMan]

Yea, just be careful when spraying them. They are more susceptible to mold and fungus during this time.

Yea, I'm using the homemade Co2 method as well. 5 cups of sugar along with 2 packets of active yeast with half a gallon of water.

I'm almost tempted to get a real Co2 setup with tank.

**update**

Ahh, looks like it's fixed now.

 

[kkfrank22]

Im tempted to go all out as well. I mostly get those thought when Im getting impatient and start thinking of total yield and ways to maximize it. Its tough not to get caught up in all those thoughts and lose track of credit card statements. Im just gonna wait it out. I know the expensive way is best, but our methods have grown some fire herb. so f it.

im high

 

[GrnMan]

Yea bro, that's just an added feature. You don't really need it, but would be nice.

I hardly even use my Co2 and my plants have been doing well. They wake up in 30 minutes...I found out I had a male so I hoping the other two are female. One of them is showing signs, but not enough to tell now. But it definitely doesn't look male, you can really tell when you got a male.

 

[kkfrank22]

I added this a few days back.

 

[GrnMan]

What's that? You used that in your Co2 mix?
​

 

[kkfrank22]

Its sno-cone flavoring that i added to the base of the plants.