Dr. Greenthumb's Endless Sky

This is sort of a "plan as I go" grow, haven't really thought out exactly how things are going to be set up, but I thought I would just get things started.

Nov 2 2008

Bought some potting soil at Walmart, watered it and fluffed it up and filled three pots. Dropped one seed in each pot. Set them up in the bathtub.

Nov 6

I was curious, so I dug up the seeds to see where they were at. Two of the three were cracked and had started to sprout, not bad I guess. I hung a 2xT8 over the pots with a shower curtain rod.

pots in tub

Nov 8

And we got sprouts! The two that cracked are climbing, and they got their helmets on

number 2
number 3

I'm heading out of town for a week and a half tomorrow. Someone is handling the watering while i'm gone, but I decided to put up a second light before I go.

two lights

Nov 21

The two that have sprouted are coming along nicely

number two
number three

I dug up number one to see what the deal was, I guess it was a dud. The seed was cracked open a little, but there wasn't any taproot sprouting out. I might throw another one in there.

Nov 24

Well, the two sprouts were starting to look not so healthy. Bottom leaves going yellow/brown, top leaves green but light green not rich green.

Nov 26

Well after a bunch of reading and stuff, I figured the plants are not getting enough nutrients so they are stealing the nutrients from the lower leaves to feed the growth.

Bought some Advanced Nutrients 2-stage veg nutes and gave them a light dose.

Nov 27

Hmm I was hoping for a faster turn-around, doesn't look like things improved at all!

Nov 28

Alright! The nutes definitely did the track, these are back from the dead and doing great.

I have decided to move these potential moms out of soil into hydro, I just can't wrap my head around the soil thing, I just find hydro so much easier.

I have also made some more decisions on the grow itself, it's going to be a perpetual similar to Al B and stinkbud. 3 stages, 45 days strain, 15 days per section.

Nov 30

Built two bubbler buckets today for the two potential moms. Two airstones in the bottom of each backet. Got some black spraypaint made for plastic, to prevent light from gettting in to the roots. The plants are going to be suspended in PVC pipe in hole in the lid of each bucket. I would like to get some netting, like some nylon mesh, to hold the roots together so they don't clog up the airstones.

I'm giving them 24 hours for the silicone to cure.

Dec 1

Ok, after 24 hours the silicone is cured. I ran the buckets without the plants in them for an hour to make sure there are no leaks, no issues.

So I dug up the moms, tried not to damage the roots too bad, rinsed off the roots and into the buckets they went.

Also stuck three more seeds in a moist paper towel, into a plastic bag, and carried it around in my front pocket all day to keep them warm.

Dec 2

Ok, well the bad news is that growth appear to be stalled, not surprised, this is probably transplant shock.

Good news is they don't look any worse

The three seeds in the paper towel, I opened it every few hours and let them breathe, they popped, yay! So I planted 'em, taproot down (and fingers crossed lol)

Some more decisions about the actual grow room.

The room is about 10' x 11', plus there is an attached bathroom which I will use for moms and cloning. I was thinking of starting off small and then scaling up once I have the technique down and the kinks worked out.

To start, there would be three stages, 15 days each, in a linear configuration, using SWC (shallow water culture). Each stage would be comprised of 2 Rubbermaid Roughneck totes (the 16" x 24" ones) placed together lengthwise so basically each "station" is 24"W x 32" D (16" x 2). So i'm thinking 1 x 600W HPS for each station, as i'm going straight from rooted clone to flowering. Between station 1 and station 2, all lower growth would be trimmed, to get a main cola "pop can" grow. This is actually one of the reasons I went with Endless Sky.

I need some sort of shelving to hang the lights nice and low above the SWC tubs... will wodden shelving be safe? If not, where do I get metal shelving that can be slapped together in custom configurations?

Also, how do I calculate how many air stones I need for the tubs?

Dec 5

The two potential moms have recovered from their transplant into hydro and have started growing.

The three new seeds have sprouted and got their first set of fan leaves, I gotta get more buckets built!

Dec 7

Built three new buckets. Will give them 24hrs for everything to cure.

Dec 8

Ok, new buckets ready. Dug up the three seedlings and put 'em in. They're probably gonna stall a little.

Here's a pic.