1st grow ever journal - CHERNOBYL

I've spent a good majority of the last few days reading all kinds of satuff on this forum, so I decided I would join! It'll help me keep log of my first grow and get some help and tips from people who been doing this a lot longer than me!

I have a lot of pot smoking friends who have grown pot, but now (after all the reading I've done here) I know that almost everything I ever knew about growing marijuana is wrong. I was going to do my 1st ever grow with bagseed, but last time I re-upped from my guy, I got some of this real frosty stuff called chernobyl. It tastes great. Kinda like a lemon-y pine tree. Its also a good 60/40 sativa/indica hybrid. Well, I initially found SIX seeds in about a half OZ of it..

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February 11th: (Day 1)

I planted all six seeds in separate 16oz clear plastic cups with miracle grow potting soil. (I've read good and bad things about MG..) No, I didn't germinate them, b/c I hadn't really heard of that (or knew of it's importance) at that time. Either 2 or 3 of those seeds were small white seeds. At the time I didn't know that small white seeds are normally immature, as I just recently learned that from this forum. Since they were all Chernobyl seeds I didn't mark them or anything....

I started them on a 18/6 light schedule. I started them off with CFLs, but I really wanna get a MH or HPS light. I'd like to get both (as I've learned of the benefits), but I don't think my budget allows yet.. I 've got 3 CFLs on them right now. Two 5000k (1600 lumens each) and one 2700k (2720 lumens) in the middle of those two. I have these lights very close. Within 2 inches away.

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February 16th: (Day 5)

Got my first little sprout when I woke up this morning and I was ecstatic. Got sprout #2 later that day.




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February 17th (Day 6)

Sprout #3 popped up first thing yesterday morning. I also ran accross two more really nice striped seeds so I went ahead and planted those as well. They'll be 6 days behind, but itll be all good. From this point on though, I'll save the future seeds, when and if I find them.



My set-up is kinda ghetto right now, but honestly I'm kind of winging a lot of this. Trying to fix things as I go. It's my first grow ever on a limited budget with unexpected seeds. Lol. Figured I could make all my rookie mistakes now and learn how to grow marijuana the right way!




I know once I have to re-pot them into their final bigger homes, I'll have to figure something else out. Right now I only have a combined lumen count of 5,920 and that's only good for what? About 3 sq ft? I have 8 seeds planted, but I'm thinking 3 of them aren't going to grow and 2 were just planted yesterday, so I have a little bit of time.. I know i need to get a high wattage MH or HPS lamp. Since I'm on a limited budget I may try to get a ballast and a HPS lamp in the next couple weeks..

Whats with the clear cups? I wonder myself sometimes it it really is bad. I see people doing it all time. It would be nice to see root development if you were to sleeve it into a non clear cup i suppose. Then you could take it out of the non clear and see.

I was told to use clear cups so its easier to tell (for a noobie) when its time to transplant tha babies.

Light kills roots, plain and simple. I like messedups idea coupled with that logic twisted.
I would advise, as this your first grow, use just cfls, no sense in buying an expensive hid light that has no practical use aside from growing, if you decide you don't like it or its too much trouble you can re use the cfls around the house.

yeah clear cups wont do that much damage if used for short time. its just when you are growing in certain techniques that light on containers or roots becomes serious problem. that is when algae has good chance to grow and compete with roots for nutrients.

also the light affected area of the cups is prolly 5 percent of total mass or total area of container. so any roots or subcultures that may be affected would be minimum. when compared to rest of roots and subculture not getting "lit" on lol.

ok to use clear cups. just don't put the light right up next to em. they'll only be in those cups two/three weeks max. then into 2qt/l, then something close to 3gal/11l

edit: i chimed in cause chernobyl friggin rocks. all subs prodigy is top notch dank. got pix to prove it...

Wow, nice pic!!

But yeah, I been shopping around on prices, and what I really want is just barely out of my price range. I know i definitely am interested in future growings that's why I want to do everything as possible as I can on my 1st grow. Genetics (of the plant) are on my side, so if I do my part I expect a decent yield! We'll see..

I do want to get SOME form of HID lighting. CFLs just don't seem to be a match, when compared. I only have the money for either a MH or a HPS set-up, so I think I'm going to go with the HPS. I like the flowering stage benefits, and besides, by the time I get it all, my babies would be at least 2-3 weeks into the veg phase.

I want to try to get a 200W HPS set-up for under $100, but I need to learn a little more about how to use these lights and how exactly a ballast works before that.

That's why I'm such a huge cfl fan, not to mention you can distribute the lights better per watt

Yeah man, I feel ya. Actually, I found a prety good deal online and I bought some new CFL bulbs. They won't be here until later this week, due to shipping ETA, but it's all good. I bought two 5000K 6900 lumens CFLs and one 2700K 7140 lumens CFL. That's a combined 20,940 lumens that I will be adding to my current puny count of 5940. This will buy me more time.

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February 19th (Day

Things are looking pretty good. Still only got three sprouts as of now. I REALLY can't wait to get the 3 new CFL bulbs I just ordered. Hopefully they make it here okay...

Here's a pretty good shot of my three babies thus far!




Here's a close up of my 1st one to sprout up.

you can use clear cups, just put them inside a red cup to keep the light from going through. when you need to transplant take the clear cup out and look if its needed.

I didn't plan on updating today, but the data loss is a perfect excuse. hehe

Since so much information was lost, I'll do a brief description of each plant's journey thus far. With pics (today) of course.

All four of my plants are in 3gal 12" pots.
A, B, and C were planted on Feb. 11th and are 35 days (5 weeks) old today.
D was planted on Feb. 17th and is 29 days old.
Here is a list of my current light set-up:
2 - 23w (5500k) CFLs
1 - 42w (2700k) CFL
2 - 105w (5500k) CFLs
1 - 105w (2700k) CFL
1 - 150w HPS
= 42,000~ lumens



Plant A.This plant was the first to break soil and never slowed down. This one has always been the best looking and most resilient one of the bunch.



Plant B. This plant has had some troubles. Light burn (twice), nute burn, leaf tore off, cat dug up, etcc.. but nevertheless, it's still here with us.



Plant C. For those of you that might remember, this is the one that lost nearly all of it's roots when my cat dug my plants up. I knew it would survive, but I didn't think it would amount to much. Look at it now!



Plant D. This one is 6 days younger than all the rest. It's not the BEST looking plant for it's age (4~ weeks), but it really starting to come along in the last couple days.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/250-Watts-Digital-HPS-MH-Grow-Light-Giant-Hood-Sun-Lamp-Reflector-Ballast-250W-/390356584403?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae310c7d3#ht_3441wt_1139 fixed your problem

lol just saw the start date lol

Sooo, I'm guessing you think they're a little small??

My plants are starting to smell! They're a little over 5 weeks into veg so it surprised me a little!

The top set of leaves on a couple of the plants (A and B) are starting to get little white speckles and developed a pleasant (to me lol) smell. They're due for a watering soon so I'll probably try to get some more pics tomorrow or the next day!

thatsmessedup said:

Whats with the clear cups? I wonder myself sometimes it it really is bad. I see people doing it all time. It would be nice to see root development if you were to sleeve it into a non clear cup i suppose. Then you could take it out of the non clear and see.

Click to expand...

I purchased clones once from a dispensary and they had clearish green cups (green tinted but still see through, like a colored condom if you will). I have not found these (or looked to hard) but these would be ideal for anyone noob to expert due to the fact you CAN see root growth and based on the idea that you can use a green light bulb in your grow room during dark and it doesn't harm your plants. Seems the green cups would filter out the light from the roots also.

DQ Blizzard said:

I purchased clones once from a dispensary and they had clearish green cups (green tinted but still see through, like a colored condom if you will). I have not found these (or looked to hard) but these would be ideal for anyone noob to expert due to the fact you CAN see root growth and based on the idea that you can use a green light bulb in your grow room during dark and it doesn't harm your plants. Seems the green cups would filter out the light from the roots also.

Click to expand...

Yeah man, i just put my clear cups in taco bell cups and use those as sleeves so i can just take my clear cup out and look. works good and it's easy/cheap.

Ahh my room is startin to smell good.

It's been 4 days since I took pictures so I guess I'll post some more. They're starting to look pretty good.. Plants A, B, and C are 38 days into veg and plant D is 32 days into veg.



Plant A. I moved some of the lights from this plant to my other three so the others could catch up a little. Trying to get equal size when flower time comes. The plant didn't like it too much, but it's still growing.



Plant B.



Plant C.



Plant D. Here's the baby of the group. Almost as tall as it's older brothers/sisters (taller than B), but not near as bushy.

Alright guys, we're getting close to flower time.

Plants A, B, and C are 46 days (6 weeks, 4 days) into veg today.
Plants D and E are 40 days (5 weeks, 5 days) into veg.
(I'll explain about E with the picture)

Just measured the height of plants A - D..
A = 17.5"
B = 11.5"
C = 14"
D = 13.5"



Plant A. Was the bushiest, now it's the tallest, by far.



Plant B. Over six inches shorter than A, yet this was the first to start showing alternating nodes.



Plant C. 2nd place height-wise, but most definitely my thickest plant.



Plant D. Six days younger than the above three, but still keeping up quit nice with it's brothers/sisters.



Plant E. This one was wrote off as dead and cast to the back of the closet a few weeks ago. Found it a few days ago with a little green left: re-potted it and nurtured it back to health. This plant is 40 days old today.



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I'm probably gunna switch plants A - D to 12/12 friday. Not sure what I'm going to do with E...

Okay guys, haven't updated in a week or so, so here's another one.

Plants A, B, and C are 53 days old today. (48 veg/5 flower)
Plants D and E are 47 days old. (42 veg/5 flower)

I don't have a good enough camera to get good pics of the nodes, but they aren't showing me too much yet anyways. I'm going to try to borrow a better camera in the next few days to post pics for sexing help.

I'm almost certain C is going to be female. I'm a little scared A is gunna be a male though. Not showing much yet, but it towers over the rest of my plants as far as height goes...... B is my shortest, but it's starting to bulge at the nodes like a male... D and E are six days younger than the rest and aren't showing anything at all.



Here's a few pics. I'll try to get some better pics soon.



View attachment 2106158View attachment 2106159
(Of course, these pictures are in alphabetical order, A-E.)