Sup, folks! Sorry for not chiming in with this sooner. Everything's running smoothly and I recently made a few more modifications to the box!
TRANSPLANT: I had to transplant them. I made a soil mix of 3 parts Scotts Premium Top Soil, 1 part Perlite, 1 part Miracle Gro Sphagnum Peat Moss, 1 part Scotts Organic starting soil, and 1/8 part Miracle Gro Organic Blood Meal. I'm actually VERY happy with what I've seen so far. After the roots took and started growing, vertical growth began to explode. I'm using Fish Emulsion and Miracle Gro Organic Choice All Purpose Plant food and it seems to be working very well for veg growth (yes I know that these things aren't exactly 100% organic, but I don't really mind. I like to find a happy medium for everything... they ARE growing in an artificial environment after all). Soil drains quite nicely and retains the perfect amount of water. Very airy and moist to the touch.
MYLAR: I decided to use space blanket to line the box. It's cheap, I don't have to worry about heat pockets since I'm using LED's, it reflects more light than the white paint I was using, and even if it's not the most efficient, it's cheap and it works.
TOPPING: I decided to top the Peppermint Kush after the transplant. Risky move, but everything turned out quite nicely. There are two healthy tops that seem to speed their growth with each passing day. After those are developing another two nodes, I'll top those for clones and LST the plants to keep them low to the canopy.
Anyways, PICS.
Peppermint Kush, nicknamed Pepper (for everyone that's just tuning in). She's been through some bullshit because I'm still a newbie... lost a few leaves, newbie rushed gung-ho LST, had a bad FIM, and minor transplant shock, but she just keeps bouncing back and growing vigorously. This plant has taught me a
LOT about growing and in the importance of not giving up on your girls. She's also taught me the importance of a stable environment for growing stealth and LISTENING TO THE PLANTS. The learning seems to be paying off.
One of the three bagseed experiments that I'm hoping is a female. Grows green, loves fertilizer, tolerates high heat, doesn't give a fuck about transplanting, and started killing one of her two starter one blade leaves because I wasn't feeding her enough... she eats like it's cool. If this one's a female, I'm going to clone it and try my hand at making feminized seeds.
I'll be posting two pictures of the next one...
This one I'm calling DuckFoot. It has some seriously awkward looking leaves and the new growth has a giant gap in the middle of it. It's healthy, but odd looking... I'd like to see where its growth goes or if it's just error on my part.
The side leaves turn in somehow. They don't look stressed, just... weird lol. Of the newest leaves, the top leaf has a gaping gap in the middle of it. I don't have any pests and the other plants are really healthy, so I'll just watch to see if the plant's just trolling me.
This one I've named lanky. Each plant tells a story, and as you can see, the growth from the bottom up gets healthier as it climbs. This one's very finicky and doesn't eat much. It also suffered from some severe transplant shock (hit shoulder against object, plant re-positioned, everyone had a very bad time). It seems to be recovering quite nicely though. New growth coming in and I've moved it up close to the LED which seems to be helping. The new growth (the top leaves) came in after only three days...
Everything -seems- to be stable at the moment and I will keep everyone posted!
To anyone that's new to growing like me: It's ok to make mistakes. Everything is a learning experience and mistakes are how we learn fastest. Don't give up on your girls, because they sure as fuck won't give up on you!
EDIT: Two more pics
All four, in relation to the one gallon pots they're in.
My camera NEVER does LED's justice.
Needless to say, I found a use for those extra blocks. I'm considering buying more of these LED's and leaving them at the very top of the box since they emit virtually no heat.
Happy growing.