First "Official" Grow

Hi guys, my names Cody. This is my first post on rollitup, but have been using this forum for information for months. I just finished my setup about a week ago and have a 4x6x6 box in my basement with a ventilation fan in the top and an intake fan on the bottom left hand side. All the walls & the floor are painted white. I currently have 3 150watt hps, but will be getting a 400 watt hps soon. I started 2 plants about a 2 weeks ago, which ended sadly because I under estimated how much heat those hps give off. SO I've decided to start new and make a journal this time. I've sprouted 15 mango kush seeds that I got from a friend of mine (he said there may actually have been another strain mixed with those seeds, but he doesn't know what it is). I just put the sprouts in rock wool cubes last night after having the seeds sit in damp paper towels for about a week. I dipped the rock wool cubes just over half way into purified tap water (using one of those pitcher purifiers) and let it absorb a little. They're currently sitting under one of the 150 watt lights about 2 feet away from them. Honstely, I may have waited too long to plant a few of the sprouts (they were already busted out of the seed and had the first 2 round leaves) so realistically I'm only expecting about 5 to survive the rock wool cubes. There isn't much to take pictures of right now, but here in the next few days I'll get pictures of my setup and hopefully a couple of the plants up on here. I've decided this time I'm going to go out and buy a cheap pH meter, a moisture meter, a couple thermostats and possibly a humidifier (we have an indoor grow store about 10 minutes away, but if you have any brands of these things you particularly like let me know!). I haven't decided what type of soil I'm going to plant them in yet, but I've been thinking about foxfarm because I've heard a lot of good stuff about it. I've also been debating what type of lighting to use 24/0 or 18/6... I hear 18/6 is better because it helps root development, but I've also seen a lot of people say they like 24/0 (I have a timer either way). If there is anything else you can think of that I might need or you have any feedback please let me know! Thanks!

Day 2 Germination
Today I found that 5 more of my seeds how sprouted in the paper towel so I got them in rockwool cubes and put them with the rest. There is now a total of 20 sprouts. 7 of the original 15 have already popped out of the cube and have their first leaves, the little circle ones (now that I see this I'm getting a little excited, I hope the rest pop!! ). I've been keeping the rock wool wet using purified water, other than that nothing has been changed.

The two pictures of the plants in the pots are the two that I killed with the lamp, I've just been holding on to them hoping one of the times I check on them to see growth lol

Also I only have 2 lights up in this picture, but I assure you I have another I just haven't got to hanging it yet. I may end up getting a 400 watt ballast that can hold both MH and HPS that way I can use the MH for veg and then just switch it for flower, still looking into it.

The 450W seems too little wattage for that area. But I think with a good array you could make the 400 and 3 150s work nicely. A 600 and 3 150s even better.

FF is a good choice. I've seen a lot of people use it in their journals and I use it. Popular so easily available for those who like to go local for soil. I also use their nutrient lineup.

If you want stronger/deeper root development look into mycorrhiza. When I transfer my babies to pots i'm going to put some on the bottom layer of soil and then put the transplant on top.
Fans blowing on the plants as they grow helps strength.
Also I hear not watering your plants often gets them deeper in search of water and reduces your risk of fungus gnats which are a problem with organic soils like FFOF.

I'm going with 24/0 until I get my timer, stupid place sent me single outlet instead of the double I ordered and are being lazy sending me a double, but I got a single for free so not complaining.

Look into a cool tube for your lights. My reflector came as a cooled unit and it helps a lot.

I heard that some soil actually includes mycorrhiza. Is it better to get the type of soil that its included in or is adding better? or does it even matter? I was thinking about using 3 gallon buckets, how much would you say to add? Also, do you think thats big enough for the full grow? I really want to stay away from transplanting as a beginner because I've read it's hard on the plant.

Btw I got my double outlet timer at Lowes for like 16 bucks, pretty good deal if you ask me.

Thanks for the quick reply!

looks like u covered...subbed....

Depending on how big you're going 3 gallon sounds fine. I got 4 gallon as my tent is 6' 8" tall. Every foot of plant per gallon pot roughly.

I'm waiting till my batch gets a 8"-12" in the party cups until I transplant into their final home.

I'd imagine the kind in the soil wouldn't hurt. Just needs to be in contact with roots to be effective. I heard 1 TBL at the base over a small layer of soil for every quart of root ball for transplanting. Not sure for mixing into the soil. If you're going to add to an existing plant use a dibbler or anything blunt that will go into the soil to make 4 holes for your sized pot about 3 inch radius from the base and go in about 5 inches and put 1 TSP of the mix into each hole.

I'm a beginner also and i'm going to transplant. I'm using free seeds as my safety this first grow. I feel like the more that goes wrong on this freebie grow will be more of a learning experience. With each new obstacle comes a solution which comes knowledge you'll have forever on how to handle or prevent it in the future. Reading helps but I think seeing it in practice finalizes it all.

nice post first time are...rep given...

firsttimeARE said:

I'm a beginner also and i'm going to transplant. I'm using free seeds as my safety this first grow. I feel like the more that goes wrong on this freebie grow will be more of a learning experience. With each new obstacle comes a solution which comes knowledge you'll have forever on how to handle or prevent it in the future. Reading helps but I think seeing it in practice finalizes it all.

Click to expand...

This is exactly the same way I feel. I thought about buying seeds online, but after I saw how quick my first 2 plants went it's not even worth the money. I'll probably throw down a couple trial runs with these seeds before I actually go get some with good genetics.

As for the mycorrhiza I'll probably just do what you said initially and add a little to the bottom of my 3 gallon buckets whenever I move them over.

I think I'm going to use FF Ocean Forest with like 25% perlite for soil.

I did buy seeds for my next grow though. Going to get another tent and a 600W MH/reflector/ballast for a mother/veg tent so I can start -5 weeks before projected harvest and eventually have some sort of perpetual grow. Find a few different strains that have similar flowering and vegging times and make clones of all of them and once they're done you can smoke and decide which one is the best and keep that clone for each strain to turn into a mom.

I got some Seedsman Seeds Power Africa and World of Seeds Chronic Haze. Monday i'm going to order some Reserva Privada OG Kush.

Just updated with some pictures of my setup and the start of the grow!

Day 3 Germination
Today I noticed 3 more popping out of the cubes for a grand total of 10/20 so far. I'm super excited and am having a hard time not looking at the little ones grow! I put a box fan into the grow room facing backwards on the lowest setting to produce a small draft (as you can see in the picture). I also got them wet with purified water just over half way up the cube. There's 3 of them that have a noticable start on their first set of fan leaves. And there's one that really popped up quick!

PICS!

Day 4 Germination
There are about 15/20 showing signs of life right now! I watered them again just over half way up the cube with purified water. I went out and bought FF ocean forest, perlite, mycorrhizae, a ph/moisture probe and a thermometer/humidity yesterday afternoon. Speaking of which the box is sitting at 80 degrees F and 50% humidity (which I believe is pretty reasonable), so I didn't end up buying a humidifier. No pictures today. I'm going to wait a day or two so you can see a definite change in the babies. But so far so good!

don't forget to rub one off all over the rockwhool tray 8 D

tren said:

don't forget to rub one off all over the rockwhool tray 8 D

Click to expand...

Thanks, I almost forgot.

Day 6 Germination
All around I'd say the grow is coming very well. I've been dipping the rockwool cubes in purified water just over half way 1-2 times a day depending on how dry the cubes are (after 12 hrs they are usually pretty dry). Tempurature just over 80 degrees. Humidity just over 50%. One 150watt hps approx 2 feet away from the tops of the middle sized plants. 4 out of the original 20 have died (probably due to bad handling when I was putting them in the cubes), however I have replanted 3 of them and they are now on Day 3 (19 plants total). This leaves about 13 really healthy looking plants and about 3 with some small health concerns:

1) One of the sprouts broke one of its small round leaves off when it was coming out of the seed (picture 4), but it looks like its really healthy besides that and the first set of fan leaves are coming in.
2) One of the sprouts have defective small round leaves because one didn't grow and the other barely grew (picture 5), but this one also is starting to get its first set of fan leaves.
3) One of the sprouts is having a hard time coming up, both the small round leaves are out but they're noticably skinny compared to the others and its only about a cm out of the cube (if any of them are going to die I'm betting on this one, but I would really like to see it survive. If you know any tricks that might help let me know please).
4) On a couple of the sprouts there is a little tiny whitish/yellow around the tips of the plants first set of fan leaves (the right plant on picture 6 for example), is this a health concern? The rest of the plant looks really healthy.

The biggest one (picture 3) is starting its second set of fan leaves. Also, 4 or 5 of the bigger sprouts have shown signs of root growth as you can now see the root at the bottom of the cube. When should I start planting these? I have seen rockwool cubes covered in roots before. Should I wait that long? Any advice is appreciated!

let em get few more roots mate but there looking good mate...

Day 11
Today I transplanted 5 of the cubes with the most visible roots into their new soil home! I ended up using 75% FF ocean forest 25% perlite with 2 1/2 tblspoons of mycorrhizae in 3 gallon bucks. I read that your supposed to water them pretty heavily when you put them in soil so I did, but I made sure to water the soil around the rockwool rather than right under the plant. They're looking really good and hopefully they start exploding soon! Hope to plants at least 5 or 6 more in the next couple of days just waiting on a few more roots to pop out. Once I get a majority of them planted I'm going to start the 18/6 light cycle. With the lights on it stays about 85 degrees and around 45% humidity, with the lights off it drops to about 70-75 degrees and goes up to about 70% humidity.

looking good mate. if you want, put some big clear rubermaid or tupperware over the cubes and spray room temp water on it for a humidity dome...young plants/clones love humidity i read.

^^^^ definat up humidity in lights on ...

Day 17
Today I planted 4 more of the best looking sprouts for a total of 13 plants. There are 3 more fighting for my last two buckets of soil as can be seen in the picture. The first ones planted are really coming along the best looking one has finished its first set of three leaves and is starting to grow even more! They're getting bigger and bigger everyday and I'm really excited! I think I'm only going to grow them about 2 feet tall before flower, but I'll probably top them a couple times. I need to get my hands on that 400watt for when they get bigger because now that I see the 3 150s in action it definatly isn't enough (though it's working good so far). More updates to come as they grow!!

nice update and the 400 will make all the difference...