ManGrow Journal - Chapter One

This is my first official grow and my first official grow journal. I've grown up doing research about all the different styles, techniques and important factors involved. I've got a pretty good bond with weed and I've always wanted everything to be perfect for my first grow, however, I understand the importance of starting slow and learning everything as I go along. My first goal is to just have a grow room, something to build on.

I've started out with a Secret Jardin Dark Street II, 400W MH and decided to use soil that I got from local growers supply store. I've always wanted to do Hydro but decided I would be better off starting with the basics and understand why exactly hydro is better instead of just assuming it is.

This is my current setup:



From here I had to choose a strain and it wasn't that simple. I pretty much just ended up flipping through some pages and randomly selecting a couple but there was some order. I knew that I didn't want Kush, Kush is king don't get me wrong, but it's also not hard to find. I didn't want to grow something I could just as easily buy. In Canada Cheese is uncommon, I went with Dinafem Cheese and Exodus Cheese - I figured I would compare the 2 and go with the better one, or both. My other selection was easy; Diesel - I went with Dinafem Diesel.

Seeds are expensive and when it's your first grow I figured I should be careful. I only used 2 of each strain, giving me 6 plants. I was right to do so because I ended up losing a couple of them and realizing how and where I need to improve. As of today I still have 1x Dinafem Cheese, 2x Dinafem Diesel and 1x Exodus Cheese plants still alive in my veg room.

Dinafem Cheese
View attachment 2037054
Dinafem Diesel
View attachment 2037066View attachment 2037069
Exodus Cheese



There are some things that I already know I have to get, unfortunately, I have to wait until I paid to get them. On Thursday I'll be getting a small clip-on (~4") fan, a CFL lamp (preferably clip-on), A PH meter, PH down, Carbon Scrubber + fan. After that I will probably be broke.

On Wednesday I'm going to start germinating 6 more seeds in anticipation for the enhanced setup. These 6 seeds will start underneath a CFL and remain outside the tent for the first few weeks of their lives, then I'll move the ladies into the Veg room to join their older sisters.

While all this is happening I'm going to be preparing what I consider the hard part: the flowering room. I'm going to have to purchase a more sturdy tent, I'm leaning towards a Secret Jardin Dark Room II because it has stronger supports and more ventilation holes allowing for air-cooled lights. The tent will go directly next to my current tent.

I'm going to have a 1000W HPS, hopefully silver star reflector, I already have a 6" Typhoon inline that I bought a couple weeks ago. I'll need another carbon scrubber + fan, and I'll have to set up some better exhaust and air intake. Not sure if temperature control will be an issue or not but I'm hoping it wont be too bad. I have a basement window that is pretty much covered outside which will work great for the air, I just have to build around it.

Subbed , nice start umbre , along for the ride ........

Another thing to remember is throwing money at your grow does not cover for lack of experience , i made this mistake , also when doing research , don't flash read , take your time , take it all in,
Information is key , looking good keep it up.......

So, my humidity level is sitting at around 27% and that seems quite low. Any ideas on what I should do to raise it up?

Yup , if you have a spare fan , and have the room , place a bowl of cold water in front of it and let the fan blow on it vigorously , this will work , and also wet towels will do the same .... other than that , a humidifier .....can be pricey although some micro 1's are available , misting 3 times a day with a spray bottle will also help....
Clonex...

okay I got a towel down, also, I'll mist. Thanks.

I made some altercations based on the advice I have been given/read about in the forums. I added a fan and a piece of wet towel on top of my heating pad, the temps were a little low as well as the rh so it was a good combination. I also added a dish of water but the rh went from 27% upt o 44% in about 2 hours, so I took the water dish away.




The plants are raised up on a wire cage that I had to keep them from sitting directly on the heating pad. They are closer to the light now but I figured that it would be okay as long as I kept a close eye on the temps - which are low right now.

Hey ManGrow, lookin' good so far.
What are your temps like with the MH lamp on?

surprisingly low, I lowered the light and turned the heating pad on high, they're sitting at around 24*Celsius with the light 1 meter away so I moved it to about 50-60 cm.

Illl def B following this thread Keep up the good work skunker.

Clonex said:

Yup , if you have a spare fan , and have the room , place a bowl of cold water in front of it and let the fan blow on it vigorously , this will work , and also wet towels will do the same .... other than that , a humidifier .....can be pricey although some micro 1's are available , misting 3 times a day with a spray bottle will also help....
Clonex...

Click to expand...

I needed this info thx man come check ma thread if u have some time.

Got the temp and rh fixed, a good way that I found was by putting a wet towel on top of a muscle heating pad I had. As long as I keep the towel damp then the humidity will continue to climb. It's not a permanent fix unless I want to keep checking the humidity every few hours until the plants can keep the rh levels in check themselves.



I read that it's a good idea to keep the soil on the top loose and to let it dry out a little bit in between watering, so that's what I did. I loosened up all the soil and am going to keep a close eye on the soil, with humidity levels dropping rapidly I would assume it's best to water a little more frequently as the soil would lose moisture faster.

Dinafem Diesel


Dinafem Cheese

I'm pretty positive that the other Dinafem Cheese is dead, not that it's a big deal because I'm starting more Wednesday.

Exodus Cheese

I helped the other Exodus Cheese by taking the remainder of the shell off but if it doesn't start to perk up soon then I'm going to replace it on Wednesday.
Thanks for all the advice so far it's really helpin.

what up mangrow, i am subbed.

Looking good so far. subbed

Glad to have you aboard, gonna keep the pics frequent, rep+ to you both. I was just gonna ask if anyone knew about what nutrients I should be starting with, or what you guys have used? I've done some research but there's so many out there I was hoping someone could help me narrow down the list of the basics, and what they're good for.

just get what you can afford. I use GH floraseries micro and bloom lucas method(hemp bucket), u can try fox farms they are reasonably priced.

I have noticed alot of nute companies are selling Young or new plant versions of their brands , not sure how good they are , or if it's just the same as their main range watered down ,

http://www.vitalink.eu/en/_range/vitalink_plantstart.htm

I use all the vitalink range , it's fairly new , has new properties and lots of good info on their site , i use vitalink max grow and bloom,
very forgiving....worth a look.

Last night I started to germinate 7 more seeds, 2x Dinafem Cheese, 2x Dinafem Diesel, 3x Exodus Cheese.

Starting to grow a little faster now, looking good. Took out the dead ones, 4 seedlings remain, 7 seeds in germination.

Dinafem Diesel



Dinafem Cheese
[Photo coming shortly]

Exodus Cheese

I use FoxFarms nutes and i've heard they're pretty good for soil.
Just start your solution at very low strength and get a feel for what your plants need, too little is much better than too much.
You wont need to fertilize for a few weeks though

Some nice growth came in overnight, lookin good. No signs from the seedlings but they're comin', i can sense it.

Dinafem Diesel


Dinafem Cheese


Exodus Cheese

lol @ sense it .............. are you telepathetic ?