180w Blackstar LED in GL60 tent Organic soil (First grow)

I am growing 2 feminized white widow seeds from Nirvana. The only lighting will be from my 180w Blackstar UFO I got from Gotham Hydroponics. The cab is a GL60 tent from GrowLab which I got from Avant Garden. I started the seeds in wet paper towels in a sealed container. Left them in there for about 36 hours. One seed had about 1/2" root showing, the other maybe 1/4". I didn't want the 1/2" one to get too big so I went ahead and put them both in soil. I had them germinating in my tent so it wasn't really possible to keep one germing and have the other one under the light that I turned on when I put them in soil.

The grow will be all organic or "veganic" if you will. I practice a vegan lifestyle and am choosing to avoid animal products in my gardening as well, so no blood meal, bone meal, manure, etc... I am well aware that I may be able to get better results with different lighting or different grow medium etc. That does not matter to me, I want to be as eco-friendly as possible (the lighting), and avoid manufactured chemicals (organic) and avoid possible involvement in the mistreatment of animals (veganic). All I care about is growing quality bud for personal use and I am perfectly ok with the trade offs I am making.

Updates will be made as needed. Thanks for watching. Also since this is my first grow, any and all help will be much appreciated. Please keep any negativity out though, I see no use for it.
 
Description of pics: (Left to right)

1. seed with ~1/2" root on paper towel before putting into soil
2. germination set up, light was not on during this phase. Black lead to digital thermometer sitting on container which is sitting on a heating pad (cold in my closet)
3. underside of light, also showing the fan I have hanging in the top corner
4. self explanatory
5. self explanatory
6. showing germination method, seeds wrapped in folded wet paper towels tucked in a sealed butter tub
 

surgedup

Active Member
Did you get a deal? I got a deal on mine I bought the 240w blackstar I think your model is a flowering model so yeah I plan on buying another 240 or a 180 how much did they charge you ?
 
Looking at what they have it listed for now, I would have to say yes, yes I did get a deal :D. I called them up on the phone to ask questions instead of ordering online so they guy gave me free shipping and the going rate at the time was only $210. So $210 shipped for something they are asking $299 for now seems like a great deal to me.
 

surgedup

Active Member
yeah those were the old prices the dropped by alot... hows that 180 working out for you?? my 240w is doing great!
 
So far I haven't really gotten any use out of it. My first attempt with it was poorly planned and executed w/out the proper tools. I rent an apartment in a very old historic house. My op is in the closet. The closet is unfinished w/exposed insulation and was very dirty. I spent over 2 hours when we first moved in just removing cobwebs and shit. My seeds never sprouted and all my soil had mold on it. Now if it was the closets fault, or me over watering, I am not sure. I bought the GL60 tent to remove that possibility and learned more about watering habits to fix both issues. I just moved my freshly popped seeds into soil and turned the light on today. We shall see how it does in the coming months :D
 
Finally a reason to update. Got some signs of growth today! Oddly enough it was the girl I was more worried about. Her seed had not sprouted as much as the other girl when I planted. Then when watering yesterday the center of the dirt caved in and the seed was exposed, I lightly covered her back up again but now she was a bit further down in the cup. The girl that started with the 1/2" taproot still hasn't broke soil but I will be expecting her to any time now. Perhaps when I do my nightly check in.

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Hudsonvalley82

Well-Known Member
You never know, some times they get stuck under some shit in the mix, there was a piece of bark in my happy frog one time that kept a girl underneath it for 4 days. I almost threw out the cup when I decided to gently remove some of the mix from the top and found that out.
 
Another update :). 2nd lady poked her head out to say hello now. That one was a quite a bit more dry than the other which seemed odd to me. Got them both nice and moist now though. It is funny how exciting this is to me. I have had a vegetable garden before but I think the indoor thing makes it seem like I am having a bigger impact and the plants are relying on me more than a garden outdoors in nature.


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Yeah my first attempted grow w/bag seed taught me about over watering. I just add enough to make the soil moist, not wet. I would rather have to add water 3 times a day than add too much now. Thanks for looking out though.
 

Hudsonvalley82

Well-Known Member
Nice man, I lost a seedling by doing that so I harp like a bitch on everyone I see water their seedlings as a precaution. Live and learn, we both found you the hard way I guess.
 
I am not sure If I have done something wrong. My plants seem to have stopped growing. They are still using the water that I put in their pots, they dry out and need rewatering like usual. I added a DIY CO2 bottle yesterday, still no improvement. They seem to have just stalled. The leaves don't seem to be getting any bigger, they might have gotten a little bit taller but not much I don't think. It seems that they shot up out of the dirt fairly quickly and I am not certain why they seem to have slowed so much. Any tips?

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Looking at the pics from before and today, I can see some growth but it doesn't seem to be nearly as much growth as it had between the 3rd and 4th of the month. From the 4th to today the 7th there seems to be minimal growth comparatively.
 

Hudsonvalley82

Well-Known Member
Give it time, they are establishing the root system and building the beginning of nodes. The first couple of sets of leaves take a while. It has to run off of the energy from just those two tiny leave you got to build its roots, stem, and nodes, so it gets a little backed up. Maybe like a week or so it seems like slow going, and them boom, they explode where you can see significant progress on a daily basis. Hang in there and don't add any nutes.
 
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