It's amazing what can happen when you follow directions......

Hello All, Just want to get some opinions on my first indoor grow. Things I could change or ways I could improve my approach and set up. A quick overview:

- Growing in a 3x3 shower, Apollo digital ballast, upgraded Digilux HPS bulb with improved blue spectrum running 18/6
- lined the shower walls and floor with reflective mylar and am currently leaving one side open as you can see.
- Germinated 5 Blue Cheese on 10/20, sprouted on the 23, and into red cups with FFOF on the 26. Under the light that day as well.
- watered with tap water that had sat out for 24 + hours to evaporate the chlorine off, no PH being done.
- On 11/05 I noticed some yellowing of the lower leaves on my plants,but green new growth.......so after reading, studying, following instructions from all the wonderful folks on RIU...I PH'd my water and found out it was 8.5 +. I purchased some distilled water,which I ph'd and it was 6.0. watered with that for a couple of days,and then gave 1/4 dose feeding of FF Grow Big and Liquid Karma(because following directions on here means that more isn't always better) and what do you know. My plants responded beautifully and now I think I have things under control until the next crisis comes along,and it will I'm sure.
- Yesterday I moved them into 2 gallon pots with my own version of super soil- FFOF, 25% perlite added, azomite, alfalfa meal ,epsom salt ,dolomite lime, worm castings, organic bone meal and some beneficials ........my goal is to go as long as possible without having to use nutes, water only.
- Conditions in the room are pretty stable at 75 degrees and about 50-55% humidity. Also I have a Homebox XL grow tent ordered and on its way.....wife wants the shower back HA HA !!
I hope I'm off to a good start and it stays that way. I know there will always be challenges, but as long as I can get to the forum, find my issue, read and learn then I can fix the problem.
Here are some pics. Please let me know what you think.......Oh and by the way those Blue Cheese already stinking up the room......going to buy a filter for the cent. fan I already have.

looking great!!! subscribed!

All there is about nuts is balance. My first grow was a total failure due overfeeding my plants... lol

Looks like your off to a good start, plants look pretty healthy so far, good job, interested to see how this progresses. Just FYI, a better way of d-chlorinating tap water, if you don't have a RO unit that is, is to put an air stone/bubble wand (like for a fish tank) into the bottom of a bucket of water (hooked up to an air pump & tubing of course) and let it bubble for 24-48hrs, this will not only evaporate the chlorine but it will keep the water oxygenated. Personally I got a storage tote, put in a bubble stone and a fish tank filter with activated carbon like this:(-->Click Here<--), I would imaging that not only would it remove the chlorine and keep the water oxygenated but the activated carbon would probably filter some of the contaminants that's in tap water, I mean it won't work like a water purifier or RO unit but if its all you have I think it would be beneficial and worth doing, it worked very well for me anyway.

looking good! I am also using tap water that is sitting out for at least 2 days. I have the paper strip ph tester from what i can tell all is good so far...

keep us updated!

@sativame..........Thanks for the info....I already have an air stone, but I thought through my studying I read that it would not remove the chlorine, but maybe I'm wrong. Definitely like the idea of the carbon tank filter going to look into that,but I'm more concerned about PH right now. Don't know if that will take care of that as well. Will oxygenating plain water be beneficial to my plants ???

Also just wanted to make a mention.....I said 5 Blue Cheese and obviously there are 9 plants in the picture. The others are 1 Cheese Candy(freebie) 1 Pakistani Valley(freebie) and 2 Sweet Tooth Auto flowers(the two in the front right of the pic) The Autos I'm not so sure about, but what the hell, we shall see what happens. After reading about the strain I'm actually kind of excited about the Pakistani Valley...supposed to be a great strain...we shall see.
Thanks to all who have commented and I will keep you updated. Thinking about going 12/12 on Dec 1st...........

Cadillac1181 said:

@sativame..........Thanks for the info....I already have an air stone, but I thought through my studying I read that it would not remove the chlorine, but maybe I'm wrong. Definitely like the idea of the carbon tank filter going to look into that,but I'm more concerned about PH right now. Don't know if that will take care of that as well. Will oxygenating plain water be beneficial to my plants ???

Also just wanted to make a mention.....I said 5 Blue Cheese and obviously there are 9 plants in the picture. The others are 1 Cheese Candy(freebie) 1 Pakistani Valley(freebie) and 2 Sweet Tooth Auto flowers(the two in the front right of the pic) The Autos I'm not so sure about, but what the hell, we shall see what happens. After reading about the strain I'm actually kind of excited about the Pakistani Valley...supposed to be a great strain...we shall see.
Thanks to all who have commented and I will keep you updated. Thinking about going 12/12 on Dec 1st...........

Click to expand...

Yes the bubble stone will absolutely help evaporate the chlorine, it will also help keep the water oxygenated and yes that's a plus (why do you think hydro setups usually have bubble stones), this I was told by a plant Guru at my local hydro shop and he knows his shit. As for your PH, unless your using nutrients that have PH stabilizers like Advanced nutrients or Earth Juice Sugar Peak your going to need to PH your water and nutrient solutions, If your using soil, nutes with PH stabilizers and your hand watering/feeding then you don't adjust the PH of the solution, you just mix your nute solution and let it sit (preferably with a bubble stone/wand bubbling) for an hour, the PH will automatically stabilize, if your not using nutes with PH stabilizers then I would highly recommend that you get a digital PH meeter, the name brand ones like Bluelab & Hanna can be pretty pricy (totally worth it though), I got a Milwaukee for $30 at my local hydro shop and it's worked very well for many months now, you can probably find the best deal online like ebay or Craigslist, however I don't think I would buy a PH meeter used, lol.
Well I can't wait to see how this progresses, Blue Cheese & Pakistani Valley are some Primo Dank! Just keep up like you've been doing and you should be very happy with the results, keep us posted and Happy Holidays.

I'm getting ready to move into my new 4x4 tent. This actually gives me 7sq ft more than I am currently in. This might be a challenge that I haven't dealt with yet, but could probably over come...Heat,Humidity etc. I do have a 6" 450cfm cent. Fan that is in the waiting with a box of ducting as well. I don't really know if I am going to need any form of "powered" intake, but I will check that out as well. If anyone out there can give me advice on a tent I am all ears !!

UPDATE: So moved them out of the shower and into a 4x4 tent. My 6" fan is keeping the 600w hps light to a minimum heat wise and so far no major problems. I will say it has only been a short time, but I think I'm hanging in there. Temps,Humidity, and overall happiness are what I'm keeping an eye on. Just had some days of rain and the wife collected several buckets. This is new to us,but we had fun doing it. Lots of different opinions about rainwater,but ours ph'd at 6.5 and are not from gutters, pure rainwater. We have had some rain previous so I think the pollutant thing is a non issue. After watering with just rain water, I decided to ph the water from the soil run off which was 8.5...however everybody seems to be happy so I will not freak at this point. The next step is going to put them into flower on or about Dec. 1st. I'm hoping to keep the plants manageable in my space. All advice and opinions welcome..................TOO-DA-LOOO..........

SO................Here's what I have going right now......starting from L to R. First three photos are my Barney's Blue Cheese,including up close of my "Runt" but still looks healthy going to let it go and see what happens. The next Three are of my Pakistan Valley. I only have one, but it's very happy and healthy. The last three are my Sweet Tooth Auto experiments,and the last image shows its top beginning to flower. Now.......I seem to have had a little issue, but nothing critical I hope. When we set up and moved into the tent my 600w HPS on a variable ballast accidentally got set down to 50%. I didn't catch this for about 5 days. Even though the light cycle remained at 18/6, with 50% light, they started to show their sex. My original plan was to start flower on Dec. 1st, but it will start today instead. From what I can tell (and it's early)the ones revealing their sex are Females,some have yet to show anything. I will be keeping an eye on them to eliminate any possibility of males. Running my light cycle from 6am to 6pm, which is their original dawn, and dusk being cut by 6 hours. This will take advantage of the natural darkness during the night thus assisting with the "Light Leak" issue.......If anybody has anything for me .......Fire away !!