Herb Man's First Grow (In Soil)

[Herb Man]

Alright, so I had some extra money in the bank and wanted to do something different, a late Christmas present to myself.

So I thought long and hard about it and finally realised that I could buy a grow tent and equip it they way I wanted it with that money and have a hell of an adventure to.

I have thought about doing this for a while now. No more substandard weed is the first aim.

The second goal to produce some beautiful High Grade.

It was a no brainer.

I took a deep breath and crossed over to the dark side (well the green side).

And so my quest begun, to become an indoor Urban Farmer.

So I bought a Grow Tent Size: 165(L)x65(W)x180(H)cm



Then 4 pairs of so called easy roller for light fixtures.

An electric heat pad (For seed germination).
1 x LIGHTWAVE 4ft 8 TUBE GROW LIGHT
432 Watts, 33200 LUMENS




Potting Compost 11 Liters
&
Perlite

Small pots
Large trays
Small Garden Hoe and Fork
Ph Meter/Moister meter (cheap from garden store) not electric
Electric timer (I need another one maybe)
Thermometer/Hygrometer

First I started with a test run of trying to germinate seeds.

I had tried this before 20011 two seeds in water covered by a small box on my window sill (inside) didn't work.

That didn't instill me with much confidence, but I had a year of reading since then so I went for it with new knowledge.

Once again for this test run I used seeds from a bag of weed I'd had the previous year. They had been laying on a shelf by a window, with plenty sunlight for a year, lol.

I there were around ten seeds. I used the water in a glass method. This time I put the glass in a cupboard under the boiler in the kitchen. This cupboard is always warm. had them in water for a couple of days, nothing happened.

I transferred them to the wet tissue method, put them in a small box and put a the heating mat I had bought for that purpose under them.

And left them for a couple of days and forgot about them (a lost cause).

Went and bought some seeds from a local weed shop.

3 OG Kush
1 Super Silver Haze
1 Expert Silver Haze

I put them all in a glass of distilled water, each strain had it's own labeled glass.
1 day later Bingo 1 shoot appears then two, then three. All but one of the 5 sprouted. One of the OG Kush didn't make it.

I then for some unknown reason transferred them to the tissue method, opened the box to do so and found that one of the seeds ha sprouted in a big way. This seed I named Isaacs Dirt weed.

I kept this seed in tissue and added the other four.
after a further day of germination I potted all 5.

Isaacs Dirt Weed with it's long root popped up first (I have the root on video but didn't take a pic )
Then up came the 2 OG Kush later the same day 2 days after potting
Then nothing.
What happened to my other two babies they were still under ground fighting for life would they make it?
The Silver Haze and the Expert Haze. Two days later up they came shyly, much to my relief.

So 3 sprouted after two days and the last two sprouted after 4 days. Well I planted at midnight so you can take half a day of all those times.



The OG Kush to the left and right and Isaacs Dirt weed standing proud in the middle.

And that my friends was the end of week one.

[FONT=&amp]E[/FONT][FONT=&amp]veryone with positivity, questions, helpful observations or just curious about growing, is welcome to come on in and leave your comments.[/FONT][FONT=&amp]

[/FONT][FONT=&amp]Join the debate.

HM
[/FONT]

 

[Herb Man]

Oh yeah and I'm sick of the inconsistent standard of the weed we buy, so here's hoping for some quality smoke.

 

[Herb Man]

[FONT=&amp]And the medium was straight potting compost for this first phase.

I have the option with this lighting unit to use just 4 of the 8 tubes, so I just used the 4.

I was surprised at how much heat was generated by the 4 bars considering that Florescent lights are low heat emitting.

But the room is generally warm and with the enclosed space of the tent, it got surprisingly warm in there, considering that before I started I thought I would need some kind of heater in the tent to keep the temperatures up.

I need not have worried.

After reading a piece in Ed Rosenthal's book The Indoor Gardener saying it was a good idea to have a 24hr light schedule in flowering I opted for that so never turned the lights off.

Unfortunately Ed should have said under optimal conditions, that is when the temps and Humidity were on point.

My temps were high, up in the low 80's Degree F and my humidity was low (in the 30's) so that was a double wammy.

I did not know that this was such a big problem at the time. [/FONT]

 

[Sincerely420]

I'll be around boss! Good luck with the operation

 

[perkele]

me too, I'll be around

 

[Ninjabowler]

Ninjas subbed, hope you have a little fan rockin in there to move air and fight high temps. I have a tent and it gets to hot so i just leave the door open lol. As for two timers, just remember that a standard power strip can handle 15 amps comfortably. Also you probably want to check the breaker box to see what amp breaker your useing. If you over load it itll trip the breaker at lights on and that sucks. I can tell this is going to be a fun journal

 

[Herb Man]

You are most welcome gets. Thanks for your comments, I will be updating daily.

Ninjas subbed, hope you have a little fan rockin in there to move air and fight high temps. I have a tent and it gets to hot so i just leave the door open lol. ....

I can tell this is going to be a fun journal

Well at first I didn't know anything about optimal temps and humidity, lol, and did not think I would need a fan straight away.

But then by the end of the week read in the Indoor Gardener that temps shouldn't reach 80 deg F, yikes I was at 83

Then read that Humidity should be around 60-75 in veg, I was in the 30's

No fan in week one, hot like an oven.

 

[Ninjabowler]

Get one fast, powdery mildew can set in early if theres no air moving, youll make your stalks stronger too any crappy one will do, if it blows to hard just point it in the opposite direction into a wall, the air should move the plants around for ya.

 

[Sincerely420]

You'll be good as long as you don't go over 85 and stay there bro and a fan or two or three is a necessity!
Chillin' at 83 wouldn't/shouldn't have caused much is any issue. I've read tho photosynthesis slows passed 85 and 60.
All these books have the same info but in different words. And although some things vary like the temps by a fw degrees here and there,
it's all the same advice generally. And I never monitored my humidity. If you can manage you temps, the humidity shoudn't be a prob.
I'm sure I can't be the only grower on here that doesn't worry about it .

But maybe there is a perfect humidity??? Idk. GET A FAN ASAP haha! Like yesterday lol

 

[djkronique]

Will definitely be around, you should update with what your tent looks like on the inside with lights and all. As all of the others have mentioned what are you doing for air circulation , because in my opinion it can drastically mess with the end product. Anyways I will be around here's to good bud!

 

[Herb Man]

Thanks for your comments guys.

Week two: Bought a small 6 or 7inch osculating fan, to stop my babies cooking.

It's giving good air movement and has brought the temps down a bit, but it's still hovering around 80 Deg F.

The babies survived the oven like first week but I suspect that apart from Isaacs Dirt weed the others may have suffered the high heat low Humidity double whammy (only time will tell) stunted growth is my fear.

Re-potted the three biggest plants, IDW and the two OG Kush. I've left the two last to hatch, in their small original pots.

Will change them a couple days later.



As requested a pic of the tent. Inside top and straight on.

You will see the lighting at the bottom of pic two and at the top of pic 3, close to the plants.

Then the babies, Isaacs Dirt weed still proudly in the middle, the two OG Kush to the left of the pic and the Two Haze's to the right of the pic.

 

[Herb Man]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I included Perlite in the re-pot 33%.

I also put a 2cm layer at the bottom so there would be root strands dangling down there, good for the final re-pot.

And will be doing likewise for the remanding two Haze's.

I wet the soil in each original pot and held the pot upside down and held the plant at stem level as it slid out.

Just in case there are any virgins out there who were wondering.

 

[Ninjabowler]

Sweet lookin babies, theyre lookin healthy. IDW looks pretty cool lol. 80 degrees is nothing to worry about, nor is the humidity. If you cant change it dont worry about it. You might have issues in the summer but thats months away, humidity doesnt really stunt growth, maybe the tiniest bit but nothing to even worry over. Nice job so far

 

[Herb Man]

Sweet lookin babies, theyre lookin healthy. IDW looks pretty cool lol. 80 degrees is nothing to worry about, nor is the humidity. If you cant change it dont worry about it. You might have issues in the summer but thats months away, humidity doesnt really stunt growth, maybe the tiniest bit but nothing to even worry over. Nice job so far

Thanks Ninja, but as you know, as a new guardian, you cant help but look at your babies and think they should be bigger (maybe because I'm tall) lol.

The descriptions on the seed bag tell you what height you should expect them to reach. At this moment I’m wondering if their growth rate is slow, but then as a first timer I've got nothing to compare it to, so I'll just have to be patient.

I've seen a humidifier that may fit the bill, that's next on the shopping list and of course with flowering comes that sweet sweet smell which has to be taken care of.

So after the humidifier a carbon filter/fan exhaust system is on the list.

That will also take care of any remaining heat issues (pulling hot air out as well as the odors).
Although I will no doubt have new heat issues when I start using my 400watt HPS Duel Spectrum at some point in flowering.
I’m wondering if there will be a significant difference in electric used between the 8 tube T5 and the HPS.

My understanding is that although the T5 is rated at 425 watts 25 more than the HPS it draws less electric.
Don’t know how true that is?
I guess I’ll find out pretty soon

 

[Herb Man]

And with regards to Isaacs Dirt Weed, that damn plant looks so sweet that I'm tempted to keep her as a mother plant. But I want to taste her fruit also, now, lol.

Decisions decisions.

Can you take clones from a plant when it's in the flowering?

It would have more branches to choose from at that point.

 

[Ninjabowler]

No, dont take clones in flower, they suck. Theyll try and flower for a bit and then reveg and thats stupid. Right before you put them into flower take clones. It may be a nice plant now but its from unproven genetics. My biggest plant was my smallest yielder. Not saying its going to suck, it might blow the kush outta the water, who knows. Oh and when your out and about go into a bathroom and look for one of these on the wall....theyre usually just hanging on a tac. Refills are 12 bucks and they last two months. Youll know theyre there cause the bathroom will smell real good, usually theyre in bars and restaurants

 

[yankeegreen]

Hey HM, I'm subbed up for ya. First off, that is fantastic growth for only two weeks! I'm counting five sets of leaves can that be right?

Next, a fan in the tent will circulate air, but in order to get air flowing in/out of the tent you really need to have an exhaust fan pulling air out of the tent an pulling (passive) air in. In terms of odor, of your strains I have only grown OG Kush. The do get pretty stanky so if you have other people breathing the same air or are in an apartment, definitely take measures to take care of it. Low humidity is a happy problem to have, if a problem at all. You can always mist a bit to bind with your babies.

 

[zooka]

Hi Herbman...I just finished an OG Kush and they stretch alot even in the last 3 weeks of flowering..Best plant ive ever grown..Will only be growing OGK from now on...Good luck with yours mate..

 

[Herb Man]

No, dont take clones in flower, they suck. Theyll try and flower for a bit and then reveg and thats stupid. Right before you put them into flower take clones. It may be a nice plant now but its from unproven genetics. My biggest plant was my smallest yielder. Not saying its going to suck, it might blow the kush outta the water, who knows...

Yes Ninja, I'm definitely intending to take some clones a few days before flowering even though, I'm gonna hate cutting my babies, it makes economic sense.

Yep it's from unproven genetics and it's possibly gonna be substantially taller than the rest which could be awkward in the later stages of the grow, lighting wise. So weighing up my options about what I'm gonna do with her right now.

I Just found the last 3 IDW seeds and I'm gonna see if they can geminate, highly unlikely. But if one does sprout, I might pull IDW 1 (and Keep as a Mother) and put the new hatchling in with the other plants for the last couple of weeks in Veg then put her straight into 12/12 with the others as a little experiment.

 

[Ninjabowler]

Sweet dude, cutting clones gets alot easier when youve done it a couple times. Its nice when your topping at the same time. Your getting more even production from four tops and getting another plant outta the deal. Win win.