1st Grow (bag seed, cfls)

Starting this a bit late, but now that I feel I've gotten into some type of 'flow' I wanted to share my experience with my first grow, and how it's been going =]


I have ordered seeds, and received them but wanted a grow under my belt before attempting anything with expensive seeds =O

I intended on going with a HPS, and a aeroponic system my first time around, but I decided against it not being able to have a system making noise (exhaust fans, etc) so I couldnt get the HPS I wanted to go with (at least not now)

I germinated my seeds with the paper paper towel method. Put them directly into these rockwool starter cubes (which I do not like!) http://htgsupply.com/viewproductSo .asp?productID=50867

Pic of the temp box


Just a large storage container. I was using this light
High Tech Garden Supply
I didn't do enough research and this light only produced 4,000 lumens!



I did quite a few things wrong from the get go =O. Let me list them....

1 - I used bad water. Tap water had a ph of 8.0+!!!!
2 - Over watered!
3 - Let my plants become rootbound!
4 - Lights too far away
I fixed my water problem originally by using a brita filter to water. That brought the ph down, but I didn't feel the water was that great still. I've been using bottled distilled water from the grocery, and it's been working well.

I was drowning my plants in the beginning. I just didn't know any better. Was so worried about my plants drying up. Didn't realize I was just slowing things down!!!

Like I said I originally intended to go aeroponic so I had started in rockwool...Well..BAD IDEA! Since I ended up going soil I should have moved the rockwool into the soil much sooner. The roots were all over the place out the bottom and I'm sure it kept the plants from growing.

I kept my lights wayyyyy too far away from the start. Was scared of heat. But that t5 produces none.

Here is a pic around 2 weeks


Now here is a pic a week after moving them into soil


Then a few days later



Ok..now remember were still in that crappy storage container.

Well here is my cabinet I built =]





Those pictures were before I finished painting, and sealing the box.

The picture of the back shows my intake, and the picture of the side shows my exhaust & cord hole.

The intake/exhaust fans are these
Newegg.com - Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan - Case Fans
They are super quiet! Well worth every penny.

I used 6" flexible duct I got off ebay to take care of light getting in/out. I painted the inside of the duct black before installing it. Also each duct has 2 90degree bends (not shown in picture didnt do this till after lights were installed) to keep light from reflecting in.

I used 2 of these lights for the cabinet
High Tech Garden Supply
10,000 lumens each! These things are great!!! Produce barely any heat, and I'm amazed at how well they are working.

I needed my setup quiet, so therefore I couldn't have any crazy exhaust or intake fans. So these pc fans & lights worked perfect together.

My temps have been 73-80.

Here are pics after the plants being in the cabinet under these lights after 1 week




I started flowering them 8 days ago. I gave them their second dose of nutes 2 days ago and they are loving it =]. No signs of nute burn.

I know it's crazy I still have these in dixie cups, but I need to sex them before I replant. I can't afford anymore $ in this grow right now. Next time around I'll purchasing some smaller square pots to use, but for this first time dixie cups are doing fine =p

Anyways after a week of flowering i'm already seeing some plants sex

Found my first male tonight


I am hoping these mights be females, al though it's only been 8 days (hoping to finish sexing by next weekend)



Only time will tell =]

I will be using 7" pots for whatever turns out to be female. I have 8 available spots! So with 14 plants now I have a decent chance at getting that. Long as I get 4 I'll be happy!

I'm using Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil, and all fox farm nutes (big bloom, grow big, tiger bloom). I love their products, and the local hydro store sells them all as well (buying locally is nice sometimes).

Those sex pics were from just like an hour ago, and so is this pic


Things are looking good! My intentions of this cabinet and setup were to do sea of green and keep the plants short. I'm not sure anymore though. I'm suprised at how the lights are penetrating. The lower growth on the plants seems to be great, and I'm super over crowded right now since I still haven't sexed yet.

I hope since I started flowering about 6" - 7" I'll end up with 18" - 24" plants. I built room for extra, but that is the size I was hoping to obtain. Guess will find out soon enough =]. Let me go measure the plants now to guage how much growth we've had after 8 days of flowering.

Ok...biggest plant is only 10" tall from the soil to the tippity top. From what i was told most upward growth should stop after 2-3 weeks of flowering. So even if they double again I'm still where I wanted to be =].

I will continue to add pictures once a week to this thread.

I will be removing males as I find them all week, and will be sure to post pictures of a few more males, and all the females once I identify them.

The ladies will all be moved into 7" square pots (1.6 gallon). These size pots should be perfect size for the height of the plants I want.

I'm praying for 8 ladies!

anyways gnite <3

Very nice I like the setup about how much total did it cost you to build your box setup? What lights are you using in there also?

ttuason1369 said:

Very nice I like the setup about how much total did it cost you to build your box setup? What lights are you using in there also?

Click to expand...

Box was kinda pricey =O

After the wood, hinges, and misc things to seal it all up cost me about $200+

I am using 2 of these lights inside it High Tech Garden Supply

Okay heres the story.......i germinated the seeds in this dark eye glasses case in a wet paper towel that i find out to be very usefull.....but its only one seed just to experiment.when it sprouted i put it in this cactus soil i got at walmart..(which only costs 3 dollars and has excellent drainage)and i plant it in the soil for the first time and sat it in the morning sun all day(because im still setting up my grow area)..and for some odd reason the other part os the seed is stuck on the top so now the leaves are stuck together in a little ball like thing.....so what do i do?......do i juss take it off by myself of is it natural in the first couple days......?
Please help me.........

Very nice If i had the money I would love to do something like that for mine!

808fatclouds
I've never had that problem nor have i heard of it being like a ball, If i was you I'd just let it's self work it out I wouldn't mess around with the plant.

*UPDATE*

No time for pics tonight (sorry) =O

But I just opened up the cab to see how my babies were doing. Didn't see anymore males. Noticing more plants with white pistols by the day though =]

Hoping to pick out the 8 best females by the weekend and get rid of the excess plants. I'm sure my ladies are dying to move into their new pots.

The few males I removed so far I pulled out of the dixie cup and rootbound was an under statement! The roots were wrapped around the bottom of the cup many many many many many times!

The plants are doing well though...I gave them their closest dose of full nutes yesterday and as of today no signs of nute burn. I will water the next to 2 times with just plain water then give them a full dose for the next feeding after that.

I am however having some issues with plant heights. Some plants are much taller then others. Since im using bagseed lot of misc strands. I was forced to pinch 3 plants tonight to be able to keep my lights somewhat close to the rest of the plants.

Will be sure to post some pictures this weekend when I have my 8 ladies picked out and transplant them into the larger pots <3

nice looking forward to new pics, i think i might get 2 of those fans

Couldn't sleep so I did some topping/pinching (whatever you want to call it) and took a few pics.

Only reason I topped a few plants was because my bag seed is obviously random strains and some are much taller then others. So I'm trying to give some of the smaller plants time to catch up.

anyways pics =p

BTW it's day 12 of flowering

i want to build a box like that going especailly down the road when get into the g-13 and it strains like that.. heres a pic of my closet room thing i'm thankful space isn't a issue but hope fully it will!!!

im growing in pretty much the same thing as you, but i didn't build it myself, it will be interesting to see how this turns out, i have a heat issue even though my plants look really good, hits the 90's alot because i dont have any ventilation like you in the back, i just have a opening in the back for air and a fan inside

this is for my air out take..but i think it will bee to much and i will probably vent directly into the actual room and not outside for kind of a heater

dogglet forever said:

this is for my air out take..but i think it will bee to much and i will probably vent directly into the actual room and not outside for kind of a heater

Click to expand...

That thing looks loud & dangerous =0

blacksnow said:

That thing looks loud & dangerous =0

Click to expand...

def seems like overkill

aerogrowerman said:

def seems like overkill

Click to expand...

well you cant move too much air...but those type of fans are loud...

look into these ive heard tons of good things about them...will be my next purchase

Soler & Palau Commercial Centrifugal, Axial, Propeller, Exhaust and Supply Fans - Soler and Palau - HVACQuick.com

word ill check em out

the fan is surprisingly quiet i'm amazed actually it's about as loud as a dryer ... as far as too much air i have my electrician friend putting a controller on it so i can speed up and down.

*UPDATE*

DAY 13 OF FLOWERING

Sorry will post some pics tomorrow night, or sometime this weekend.

I moved 5 nice looking females into the larger pots tonight. The one side of my cabinet is kinda crowded right now, but The roots were literally coming out the holes in the bottom of my dixie cups =O..i mean they were wrapped around the bottom of the dixie cups in a circle at least 20 times. was insane!

I did have a few issues though =O...the few plants i pinched yesterday are looking ok but when water tonight i broke the top off of one plant completely =O...it was a female also =[.

Then when I was doing my transplanting I snapped the head off another female that I had pinched last night =O.

I still kept them because I'm sure the bud site will grow back at the top..and im not to upset because im sure it will just slow the growth for a sec while if focuses its energy on repairing itself. which is fine because i needed them to slow down vertical growth anyways.

I have 3 spots left for females, and 10 plants competing for the spots. I have 2 definate girls that the heads fell off but i wanted to give the other plants to show sex and compare how their overall look was b4 i gave away any permanent seats =]


Also I wanted to give an update on an odor situation I forgot to mention earlier.

My plants started to have a pretty distinct smell after week 4...After starting flowering that issue became wayyyyy worse!

I did the DIY Carbon Filter from walmart I found on here
https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/101248-best-diy-ez-walmart-carbon.html

The issue isnt that the filter doesnt work good the issue is my exhaust fan isnt powerful enough to pull all the air up through it so a lot of the air leaks out of the cabinet =O..because if i put my nose the carbon filter i made i cant smell a thing.

anyways someone on here suggested this eBay Store - Massage Tables KitchenAid iPod: Wooden Massage Table Portable, iPod 80GB, KitchenAid 5qt 250 watt

I purchased one originally and placed it in the closet my cabinet is in...it seemed to help a bit...but after a few days i still caught the occasional hint of my stinky stuff =O

I need to move the filter into the cabinet but wont have room till this weekend when i pick out the rest of my 8 ladies =]....that will cut the smell from leaking out i hope

i ordered 2 more and have placed 1 in the room the closet is in, and another in a room not far away...they work well and i will probably put one in every room down the road. not really because of my grow but because they clean the air welll =]..

im sure once the other is in the cabinet you wont be able to smell a thing

anyways pics this weekend

<3

ALSO

My plants cant seem to get enough nutes right now =O

i planned on feeding like this:

nutes
water
water
nutes

Even after their closest to full dose of nutes last time around they are still showing some signs of N-P-K deficiencys. Nothing serious but some red stems, and some yellow lower leafs...

i still have remained true to my feeding schedule, but saturday is nute time and i will def be going with a full dose!

**UPDATE**

DAY 14 OF FLOWERING

Checked out my plants tonight when the lights came on and everything is looking good =]. The 5 girls I transplanted last night are doing great! Even the few plants I pinched have perked up and look like they will heal up fine.

I see 2 females I will move moving into the last 3 remaining spots tomorrow, but im having a hard time finding the final plant =O. i will have to pick tomorrow night though because i want everything in the larger pots

I did a little trimming tonight on the plants I had already moved. On 4 of them I removed basically the lower 1/3rd of the plant. since it wouldnt be getting much light and just take away from the upper bud production.

One plant however has amazing low bud production =O. Its the purdiest female I have and id have to guess some type of saxy indica. I removed 2 upper fan leaves to make sure light got down to these bud sites good.

I will measure my plants tomorrow, and take pictures of all 8 ladies in their final homes, and trimmed =]

I will also be going will a full dose of nutes tomorrow for the first time ever.

Pics tomorrow.

<3

**UPDATE**

DAY 15 OF FLOWERING

Well I threw away all the plants I didn't need tonight. Was sad to get rid of some, but I had my 8, and that's all I had room for.

Transplanting went well.

Anyways here a few pics

I'll keep everyone posted

<3