First grow in closet

Ok I was given some silver pearl seeds.

So first I germinated 2 seeds (a brown and a white one) on a wet tissue in in a closed plastic tub. The best place I found was on top of the PC but any where warm and dark probably would have done.

Anyways 4 days ago they both started to germinate so I put them in two 6" pots filled with indoor potting mix burried 1/2" and lightly covoured. Not sure if I planted them too soon so when I see little green shoots poking through you will feel my happiness where ever you are

Now my grow closest is half a built in doube wardrobe. I'm using a 23w cfl with a big shade to direct the light down. I have hung the light using some cord which is tight off along it's length so that I can raise the light to match the growth. All this is plugged into a timer set 18/24.

I'm planning on using a slow release firtilizer because I don't know any better .

Ok later...

Fox Farm Ferts but not until after the first month.

ye what mogie said, also dont forget to use 1/4 strength recommended nutes and work up from there.

Thanks, I've already bought some Osmocote Plus for pots and indoors. I don't recall seeing Fox Farm on the shelves but will have another look as I can always use the Osmocote for my other plants.

Hey Catgirl, I tried to research Osmocote Plus but got conflicting information, is that a time released fertalizer? If so, I don't believe that is a good thing to do.
I bet your pretty excited about your new grow, I wish you lots of luck in it!
Peace

Hey Videoman, yeah it says controlled release plant food plus trace elements.

And yes I am very excited about my first grow. I hope I don't make too many mistakes but that's how I learn - always the hard way so all help is appreciated - thanks.

Using slow release nutes reduces your control over the nutrient levels, just be aware of that. It's up to you tho, good luck catgirl

Been awhile and thanks for all the good advice.

Well the seeds never surfaced so I started over with the 5 seeds left and only one germinated which has also surfaced and seems to be happy .

Times and things...

31st March put seed between damp cotton wool between two saucers on top of computer.

4th March only 1 seedling sprouted so planted in 15cm pot with indoor potting mix and Osmocote.

6th March I went on holiday so covered pot with loose cling wrap to keep in moisture.

9th March returned to find my baby pushing against the cling wrap which I removed. The cling wrap must have blocked some of the light because the stem was about 1.8" tall.

19th March replaced 23 watt warm white Tornado cfs with 40 watt day light cfs as second lot of true leaves are starting to appear.

Today 24 March my baby is throwing out new leaves every day and looking really healthy. I was concerned about the stem length so added more potting mix to raise the level by about .8" leaving a 1" stem which is stronger.

i used oscomote balls to but i smashed them and mixed them in water and fed some plants. i used a little at start point, good luck catgirl rrrrrrrrrrooooooooorrrrrrrr

Hey Stoner thanks for that tip

Yesterday I noticed that she was starting to raise her leaves as she grew closer to the light. As I said I'm running a 40 w daylight compact flourescent which isn't hot but does give off a cosey warmth which is needed to take the chill off as we are moving into winter down here. BTW I don't know yet if she is a he or a she but am just trying to be optimistic

So my interpretation of this behavior was that she was angling her leaves up to reduce the surface to light ratio, to prevent heat and maybe light stress. To test this I raised the light to about 5" and within 1/2 hour her leaves lowered to level exposing max surface to the light. Has anyone else noticed this behavior?

Also I'm using a large bowl shaped lamp shade which seems to give an even light distribution at around 5" below the bottom of the light for a 16" diameter surface area. I think a large metal conical shade would be even better as the one I'm using is white plastic and does leak some light through it's surface, and when I can afford it I might invest in an 85 watt daylight compact fluorescent. I forgot to mention that I have lined the growing area in my closet with a light silver reflective survival blanket I got from a camping store to reflect more light back into the area.
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30 March

Noticed some roots had grown out the bottom of the 6" pot into the water tray. So I re-potted up to an 8" pot fairly smoothly with little mess. I hope it wasn't too much of shock for her? I also picked up a second hand alum conical shade which I think might reflect the light down better. So will see how she is in the morning.

Oh and I'm running the light on a timer 17 hrs on and 7 off to match my sleeping because the timer makes a loud click when it switchs in my bedroom.

After re-potting she didn't go into shock and in fact the growth rate has increased considerably which could be due to the new shade. Noticing some deformed leaves so need to research this...

pix would be wonderful, and please stop by my thread...

https://www.rollitup.org/toke-n-talk/12657-ok-ladies-step-up-stand.html

hi cat girl,

you may want to put a sheet of newpaper down at the bottom of your container... this will allow water to escape but keep your roots IN...

I usually pour about 1/4 inch of PERLITE at the bottom of all my soil grows.. along with the newspaper... roots love this...

love

kindprincess said:

pix would be wonderful, and please stop by my thread...

https://www.rollitup.org/toke-n-talk/12657-ok-ladies-step-up-stand.html

Click to expand...

Yeah I would love to, but I don't have digital camera

Garden Knowm said:

hi cat girl,

you may want to put a sheet of newpaper down at the bottom of your container... this will allow water to escape but keep your roots IN...

I usually pour about 1/4 inch of PERLITE at the bottom of all my soil grows.. along with the newspaper... roots love this...

love

Click to expand...

Hey thanks Garden Knowm, I'll try that

Ok it's the 12th May 07 and I've just increased the cfl from a 45 w to a 105 w and drilled some vent holes in the top of the alum shade cause these things do run a little hot and increased the distance to 6" from the top of my baby.

4 nodes high so far and still growing strong with lots of healthy leaves

get a pc fan; it will help with temps tremendously.

how are you girl? check my thread if you like...

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/12512-kp-gets-her-feet-wet.html

Hey there KP. Thanks, the cfl is not burning hot, but it could cook a little at the top of the fitting if it's not ventilated as the 105 w do have big vent slits around the ballast area which is at the top well away from the plant so I don't think there is a real danger of plant burn from heat. I will keep an eye on things and if the light fitting gets too hot then I'll switch it to brass non-plastic. I think I did get a bit of plant burn at the start from the 23 w tornado I was using first, possibly due more to the color spectrum than heat

It's not hot in my closet so I think my 'silver pearl' will like the little bit of warmth. Just popped a thermometer in there to see what the actual temp is at ground zero... and seems to be around 26 C or 78 F at the back of the closet on the lip of the pot which I'm thinking is good.

My next mission will be to get something to leave in there to keep the smell down which is ok at the moment but I can guess will get worse. Not too good going out with my cloths emiting a mild hue


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Just did some research and found that a cfl coolwhite is in the 4000 - 4200 k range which is ideal and the daylight runs around the 6400 kelvin.

So I'm guessing from what I've read here that the 105 w coolwhite cfl that I've now got should be ideal for veging and budding when I drop the light to 12/12