First Time Grow Journal. For the Budget Grower.

SoMEgrowNewb33

SoMEgrowNewb33

Well-Known Member
Hello Friends.
I recently had a spare room in my place open up so I figured I'd put it to use. Ive spent a ton of time over the last month watching videos and reading about the process, tips and tricks. My goal is to document my progress, and to go from a budget grow to something more professional. So keep that in mind as I post. Anyway here goes.

My tent.
I had an extra queen size box spring mattress laying around and I needed wood for my tent, so, i tore the box spring apart and it gave me 12 6ft 1x2 and a bunch of 4.5ft 1x2(not all really straight but o well). so I built my tent about 4x2x6. I went to the local hydro store and bought 10x25ft of black and white poly for walls and stapled it up. I took a piece of plywood and drilled it up on the back wall to mount electrical stuff and eventually fan control ect. I rigged up 4 computer fans ( which probably don't do anything) that i had laying around to a power cord for an exhaust fan.

My Lights and Hood.
I found a lot of good ideas on youtube so i took a few of them to make mine. Im going cheap so obviously i have to go with CFLS. I went to home depot and bought a piece of stove pipe, some threaded rod and nuts. I bent the pipe so it was a half circle and marked and drilled holes at all four corners and ran the threaded rod thru both sides and used nuts to keep it all tight. Then I ordered a 6 light bathroom vanity from amazon. i used self tapping screws to secure the vanity to the middle of the "hood" and used an old computer power cord to wire the vanity.
Right now i have 9 23w 6500k 1600lumens and 1 27w 2700k 1750lumens.(planning on getting more)

My Plants.
I germinated 12 bag seeds thinking only a few would actually germinate... 10 did but i know out of those only a few will make it or be female. I planted them in a coco soil-less mix with some perlite its Oregon's Only Organic Soil less mix #2. Once in veg i will be using Veg+Bloom Dirty for my entire grow.
 

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SoMEgrowNewb33

SoMEgrowNewb33

Well-Known Member
Here are more pics of my girls. I jumped the gun after putting them into pots and watered way to soon i think, these are at day 13 so im pretty sure that they are so small because of the over watering? I haven't done anything to my water except for let it sit for 24 hours other then that its tap water. i did just order a Ph meter from the zon that should be here at the beginning of next week. but i was told that since i am just staring out with seedlings and its to early for nutes that my ph shouldn't be a problem... yet.
The Girls are under a 18/6 light cycle, i have a 16in fan in there as well as a temp controlled space heater as i am in Maine and its cold even in the room where my veg tent is.
 

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SoMEgrowNewb33

SoMEgrowNewb33

Well-Known Member
GrowHydro2193 said:
keep on keepin on
Click to expand...
Thanks man. I'm getting there, I just hope that I didn't screw it up too bad by over watering. I let them dry out completely the last few days and watered them this morning as soon as the lights kicked on. Ph meter should be here on Tuesday so I am curious what my tap water is at after sitting in room temperature for 24 hrs. I'm really new at this and any tips would be of great value and much appreciated friends. Keep in mind I DO KNOW that a hid setup with MH/HpS is better I just don't have the funds... Yet ;)
Thanks
Happy growing!
 
DrunkenRampage

DrunkenRampage

Well-Known Member
Unless you plan on keeping that whole room dark during your flower cycle, you need to find a way to block light from coming in through your computer intake/exhaust fans. You can find square to circular sheet metal reducer units at home depot, and run 10-15 feet of ducting and curl it up with no kinks. Im in maine too, monitor your temps well and be prepaired to run a small heater if temps get out of control in the winter, good luck!
 
SoMEgrowNewb33

SoMEgrowNewb33

Well-Known Member
DrunkenRampage said:
Unless you plan on keeping that whole room dark during your flower cycle, you need to find a way to block light from coming in through your computer intake/exhaust fans. You can find square to circular sheet metal reducer units at home depot, and run 10-15 feet of ducting and curl it up with no kinks. Im in maine too, monitor your temps well and be prepaired to run a small heater if temps get out of control in the winter, good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you sir! I am actually thinking about leaving this room as a veg room and buy a nice grow tent for my flowering room. I'll be making small upgrades as I can. But I did by some ducting from the local hardware store for that reason, I thought it was flexible and, well, it wasn't and it tore apart so I return it. also I also figured the lights are out from midnight to 6am anyway so it won't be a big deal for now.
Thanks for your input!
 
JoeyV

JoeyV

Well-Known Member
A few things you could try...

If you have enough left over white poly you could cover the outside of the tent with it to both help block light better and give an additional layer of insulation. I don't like having rugs around the grow area. It could harbor bugs. If you can't remove the rug from the room, you could try using one of those big plastic desk mats under your tent.

Also, you could replace the small CFLs with 65 watters from Home Depot when the time comes to flower. They produce roughly 5000 lumens each and only cost about $15 a piece. They come in 2700K and 6500K, I believe.

From the pics it seems you're fan may be a little much for the tent at this point. Once the girls grow up a bit and you've got more lights you could step up to the larger fan, but I'd find a smaller one for your seedlings.

As far as over watering goes, it looks ok from the pics. If they're continuing to grow don't fret it. However, if over watering appears to have stunted their growth, you could dig the seedlings out and replant them in drier soil. Be careful not to disturb the root ball. If the roots are growing well, you won't be able to separate the soil from the root ball. The plant will pop out of the pot with all the soil surrounded by roots. In that case it's time to replant. It doesn't look like your at that point yet, though.

I don't want to disparage your work (or your asparagus), but, from the pics, the tent you built seems kinda flimsy. I'd be careful of the weight hanging off the top of it. I know you're trying to do it on budget, but you could use a 48"x18"x72" wire shelving unit or a 48"x24"x72" garage shelving unit (home depot, lowes, target, wherever...) and cover three sides, the top, and the bottom with your white poly. Instead of a door, you'd have something more akin to a curtain on the fourth side. And with four or five shelves you could easily have both grow and flower areas within the same unit. Leave the bottom shelve about 6 inches or so above the floor so you can clean/vacuum under it. Use 2 or 3 gallon pots and keep your girls small, topped a couple times, and flip them to 12/12 once they're roughly 10"-12" tall. Nursery pots from your hydro store are pretty cheap and reusable.

You are going to have to consider what to do about the smell. Can you vent it out the window? Are you going to use a carbon filter? Are you going to be safe if the smell is noticeable outside the room?

Eventually you'll find your own groove. Until then it's all about learning, experimenting, and learning some more. The best part is smoking your own for the very first time and every time after! Good luck.
 
SoMEgrowNewb33

SoMEgrowNewb33

Well-Known Member
JoeyV said:
A few things you could try...

If you have enough left over white poly you could cover the outside of the tent with it to both help block light better and give an additional layer of insulation. I don't like having rugs around the grow area. It could harbor bugs. If you can't remove the rug from the room, you could try using one of those big plastic desk mats under your tent.

Also, you could replace the small CFLs with 65 watters from Home Depot when the time comes to flower. They produce roughly 5000 lumens each and only cost about $15 a piece. They come in 2700K and 6500K, I believe.

From the pics it seems you're fan may be a little much for the tent at this point. Once the girls grow up a bit and you've got more lights you could step up to the larger fan, but I'd find a smaller one for your seedlings.

As far as over watering goes, it looks ok from the pics. If they're continuing to grow don't fret it. However, if over watering appears to have stunted their growth, you could dig the seedlings out and replant them in drier soil. Be careful not to disturb the root ball. If the roots are growing well, you won't be able to separate the soil from the root ball. The plant will pop out of the pot with all the soil surrounded by roots. In that case it's time to replant. It doesn't look like your at that point yet, though.

I don't want to disparage your work (or your asparagus), but, from the pics, the tent you built seems kinda flimsy. I'd be careful of the weight hanging off the top of it. I know you're trying to do it on budget, but you could use a 48"x18"x72" wire shelving unit or a 48"x24"x72" garage shelving unit (home depot, lowes, target, wherever...) and cover three sides, the top, and the bottom with your white poly. Instead of a door, you'd have something more akin to a curtain on the fourth side. And with four or five shelves you could easily have both grow and flower areas within the same unit. Leave the bottom shelve about 6 inches or so above the floor so you can clean/vacuum under it. Use 2 or 3 gallon pots and keep your girls small, topped a couple times, and flip them to 12/12 once they're roughly 10"-12" tall. Nursery pots from your hydro store are pretty cheap and reusable.

You are going to have to consider what to do about the smell. Can you vent it out the window? Are you going to use a carbon filter? Are you going to be safe if the smell is noticeable outside the room?

Eventually you'll find your own groove. Until then it's all about learning, experimenting, and learning some more. The best part is smoking your own for the very first time and every time after! Good luck.
Click to expand...
Hey Joey thanks for the info. I was thinking about buying one of the shelves you were talking about and putting it in the tent, but i didn't think about using it as the Frame for a tent...Good Idea. Because, yes your are correct it is a little flimsy but at the same time not bad for wood from a box spring mattress that was not straight at all lol. I have looked at those big cfl's and was gonna buy a few, but now i def will. The fan I though might be a bit big for what i have there, but i do have it pointed up as much as it can so it more circulates the air and at the same time does blow on my girls a little. I will be getting a smaller desk fan because i just don't have a lot of space in there.
As for the smell I will be getting a carbon filter and inline fan from the hydro store they have a decent combo for around $200. I still have a little ways to go before i have to worry about smell right?
Thanks again!
Happy Growing!
 
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JoeyV

JoeyV

Well-Known Member
No prob...

Yeah, depending on the strain, you might start smelling them once they get out of the seedling stage, or not until they're in mid flower. With bagseed you never know. The nice thing about bagseed is that it could be 'meh', or you could be pleasantly surprised. I had a sativa bagseed that was ok from the baggie, but grew out some killer trippy bud.

Ya learn as ya grow. Good luck.
 
SoMEgrowNewb33

SoMEgrowNewb33

Well-Known Member
yeah im a little excited about these seeds. ive been up and down the east coast some are from Florida, Maine, Mass ect. and i only saved the one i found in really good bud. so that should be a surprise what they come out looking like...that is if i get any femals, Fingers Crossed!!

Thanks again man
Happy Growing!
 
SoMEgrowNewb33

SoMEgrowNewb33

Well-Known Member
Ok so last night I took one of the seedlings that wasn't looking good and did a experiment. I think that when I filled the pots with soil I compacted it too much. So I figured I'd see if it was possible to transplant it into some less compact soil. When I took the plant out of the spot the oil was definitely compact but roots were definitely growing as well. Some were down at the bottom and out by sides already. So I guess they should be fine then if the roots are still getting through the soil right? Since the roots were all over the place and I I needed to trim off some of the soil I did disturb the roots so I doubt it will continue growing in the new soil but maybe!
 
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