First Grow - Think Different Soil Scrog - CFL Lighting

[JCull]

First of all I would like to say Hi to everybody here at rollitup. I have been following posts and grow journals on this forum for around 6 months now and have gained masses of great information and advice. Thank you to all that spend the time and make the effort to share their wisdom with others.

So here is some information on my grow (currently on day 8 from seed (day 5 above soil)):

I germinated 7 think different seeds using the paper towel method after 12 hours in a shot glass of water and I can't stress enough how important it is to do this in a warm dark place. Altogether germination took around 40 hours. 6 were successful with 1 failure. I replaced the failed seed with 1 northern lights blue auto seed which popped so I now have 6 think different and 1 northern lights blue. I have read nothing but praise about both strains and am amazed by the yields people have achieved using think different in a scrog.

I planted the seeds 1/4" deep in my soil mix straight into my final 10L pots as I don't want to have to transplant my plants at a later date due to them being autos.
I didn't mix my soil to exact ratios but here is a rough guide to what I used:
60% canna coco
20% pure worm castings
20% clay pebbles

The lights I am using are 3 x 300w Dual Spectrum CFLs. I have started with 2 and will introduce the third when needed. I had the lights around 1 meter above the soil and gradually lowered the lights as the seedlings emerged. The lights are now around 8-10" above the plants (This will vary based on the temperature at plant height). I have an inline vent bringing in fresh air from outside, an oscillating fan and an extractor attached to a carbon filter.
I am running my lights, inline vent and fan on a 20/4 rota and have the extractor running 24 hours a day.

I've been giving the plants small amounts of water and allowing the soil to almost dry out before re-watering and today fed them with with a worm castings tea.
I will be using Advanced nutrients (grow, bloom and overdrive) and blackstrap molasses when they are ready.

I had a lot more information on this post which was deleted when I tried to post and this is all that the auto save feature saved so i'm going to re-upload the pictures and post again as it is. Pissed off to say the least!

Thanks for looking guys, stay tuned

 

[Closetgardner]

Nice set up man! Props for reading loads before diving in. One thing, id hang those bulbs horizontal to get more light to the plants. You cn use a beer can cut in half length ways and layed over the top of the bulb as a reflector.

 

[JCull]

Hi Closetgardner!

Thanks for the reply to my post. I spent far too long researching the positioning of cfl bulbs and found a mass of mixed reviews. I eventually decided to hang my lights vertically so that by using reflective mylar I could make use of the whole bulb (rather then 50% of the light being reflected towards the sky). I understand that more light is emitted from the side of the bulb and that I will lose around 5-25% of light by the time it is reflected back onto my plants. once I introduced the mylar I held one of my bulbs horizontally and did not actually notice a difference in the amount of light reaching the plants. Another reason that I chose to go vertically is that when I do my scrog I am considering curving the edges of the scrog up the walls slightly and the lights being positioned this way will be effective on the full scrog.
I really appreciate your advice, please don't think that I have just disregarded the information that you have given me.... all suggestions will be taken into account.

Thanks again dude!

P.S. Here is an image I found online with the scrog being used vertically at the edges just in case I confused anybody.
View attachment 2900135

 

[Closetgardner]

Fair enough JC. It was just an option for you, and its wha I've always done lol. Good luck mate hope the mj gods smile on your grow man

 

[pacificarage]

I'll bet that soil mix will do great. So far so good, man.

 

[authentic196]

hang them sideways and cut a pringles can in half or a few beer cans for a reflector

 

[Gmz]

Looks like you need more lights man , I also keep my CFLs just inches away from the plant. They just look like they are starting to stretch trying to find light

 

[JCull]

I'll bet that soil mix will do great. So far so good, man.

Thanks man

 

[JCull]

Looks like you need more lights man , I also keep my CFLs just inches away from the plant. They just look like they are starting to stretch trying to find light

Thanks for the advice! I had the light a little closer but the temps were slightly too high at the end of the day when the ballast got hot. Weather is getting colder now though so that should help.

 

[JCull]

Day 6 above ground (Day 9 from seed). Lowered the lights today, trying to keep temps around 27c. Plants are coping very well and growing by the day.

 

[JCull]

Good evening guys, just a really quick update to keep the blog rolling.

Day 10 from seed (1 week above ground):

Today I gave my plants a very weak feeding using half the recommended dosage for seeds and cuttings. I also fed a single plant using the full dosage for seeds and cuttings. I will monitor the plant that received the full dosage over the next 48 hours and if it shows more of an improvement than the others I will give them all a full dosage feeding next time round. I cant see this feed causing any problems due to the fact that it is mixed at a ratio for seeds and my plants are 10 days since seed but only time will tell. I took a few photos of the plant and the dimensions so that I can monitor the change. I am currently watering my plants with 280ml of water (or feed) each every 2 days to keep them slightly thirsty but will double the volume in a week so that I can get some moisture into the lower part of the pot to stretch the roots. I will post another update on day 12 from seed with a follow up to the nutrient test.
Getting excited already and the plants are still babies. I'm looking forward to a nice homegrown sativa spliff with the think different and a little sprinkle of indica influence from the northern lights blue

Here's the images.....

Thanks for looking

 

[md97]

that's a nice setup JCull! Looking forward to your next update and future development of your ladies. I'm a couple of weeks ahead of you doing SCROG too. good luck!

 

[JCull]

that's a nice setup JCull! Looking forward to your next update and future development of your ladies. I'm a couple of weeks ahead of you doing SCROG too. good luck!

Thanks for the comment man! I'm subbed to your grow... Looking good! Lets do CFLs proud brother

 

[JCull]

Day 35 (5 weeks)

Alrighty Then. Its been quite a while since my last post as I didn't want to bore everybody with updates no different from the last. I have been tying down every bit of growth for the last couple of weeks to get as may bud sites as possible and today was the final day of tying down as i'm sick of coming back to snapped stems from the pressure of the string. Some of the plants are larger than others, this is due to snapped stems early on which put me off applying any pressure to them. However... Plenty of bud sites now so I think it should increase the yield quite a bit. I was hoping to carry on tying down until around early January but I fear that any damage caused from now on will not have time to recover. As you can see from the images I have gone a bit crazy on the tying today with it being the last day but they always seem to bush back out within around two days so I will give an update when everything recovers. Due to the fact that I have stopped tying down early I will end up with plants of various sizes but I don't see this being a problem as I'm using CFLs and I can just adjust as needed.
Thanks for looking people

P.S. Ignore the Scrog title (Change of plan)



Happy Smoking and Merry Christmas

 

[perspextoe]

very nice setup jcull,

your going to have some nice girls there…. came across this coz I plan my 2nd grow to scrog my bitches next time…...

I would love to grow sativa but space issues prevent….

best of luck man, ill pop back later in your grow….

peace…

 

[JCull]

very nice setup jcull,

your going to have some nice girls there…. came across this coz I plan my 2nd grow to scrog my bitches next time…...

I would love to grow sativa but space issues prevent….

best of luck man, ill pop back later in your grow….

peace…

Cheers man, I did plan on doing this grow as a scrog but didn't reach the height I was after in time. Also the main stalk of the NL blue auto is very thick and has no flexibility so I had to just let it grow. As for the think different, I would strongly advise for a scrog if you are planning on using autos. When you tie it back to expose bud sites and come back a day later you find several new main stems.

Good luck with your grow man,

Peace.