Hello fellow stoners,
I decided to make a journal out of my first serious attempt to grow indoor marijuana. I hope this serves as a space for learning and sharing, especially to the newbie growers out there!!
I'm planning on growing indoor, small number of plants (1-2). I have tried twice before but never got past the first 15 days, that's why I consider this my first real attempt.
So, to start, my setup:
THE "ROOM": It's a DarkRoom DR60 that I bought in Austria in 2014 while on a trip. Carried that shit on my back while hitchhiking, we've got a connection. She's not very tall, but has 60cm x 60cm of base and that's quite enough. It has an area of roughly 0,36m^2 or 4ft^2. The plan is to fit two plants inside it. She has 2 entrances for ducts and one smaller one that is supposed to be for wires.
THE SEEDS: I had two type of seeds: DH Shoreline and Sensi's California Indica. I like Shoreline most, but since it's known to be very skunky, and given that the CI doesn't grow so tall, I preferred to try and germinate some CI seeds. They aren't feminized, so I've got a odd of 1/2 of getting a female. I only had 3 seeds, but I decided to go with 2 first because I tought I was feeling lucky. If I get one female out of that it's okay for me, so my good scenarios have a 75% chance of happening. Let's see!!
THE MEDIUM: My access to supplies is limited so I went with the Sunshine Mix #6, that's some sphagnum turf mixed with some other things, has a good PH of 6,2 (+- 0,5). I believe it's the best option I have available. Along with the Sunshine I added some perlite (70-30) and then to all that I added a little more vermiculite (less than 10%). To control the pH I'll be buying water gallons to supply the plants with a nice pH level, and also I have a pen pH meter and can use some fixers sometimes.
THE LIGHT: Many will not agree with this, but I went for the 150w HPS. That decision was made a long time ago (in my first attempts) and now I don't want to spend more money, initially. I wish I had gone with 250w cause then I'd had a 250w ballast and could use a metal halite for vegetative and then turning the HPS on for flowering. But for now, it's what I've got so I'm working with it. I got a reflector that covers a good part of the tent, and since the area is small and there's not a huge number of plants they'll get enough light. I think it'll be something like 4000 lumens per sq feet.
THE VENTILATION: For the initial period of grow, I'll follow SecretJardin's guide to the DarkRoom and use only an exhauster. It's a little PC cooler, that can move 60m^3/h (the tent recommendation is 70). As the grow proceeds, I'll eventually need to acquire or make a Coal Filter, so I think I'll be adding another exhauster with that and make the cooler throw air in instead of sucking it out. I've test the temperature with the 150W HPS and the cooler on, it was steady at 76F at night. So I think there won't be any heat problem.
THE NUTES: Also in my last attempts I acquired a General Hydroponics FloraNova Bloom and Grow, which I'll be using through the grow. I think they're quite alright.
POSSIBLE UPGRADES:
So, for upgrades apart from the Carbon Filter, another option for later on the road is changing the light system to 250W, acquiring a HPS, a metal halite and a new ballast. I also saw that LED light's are good for the vegetative phase and they go easy on the bills as well so that may be an option...
Right now the seeds have been germinating for almost 6 days and still nothing. I bought them some years ago and I read that older seeds take longer to germinate, so I'm waiting. Everything is already set up to work!
I'm keeping them on a moist paper towel inside a bowl blocked by a plate, so it's dark. But it's not so warm right now, and I think that may be delaying them some more!!
Well, I'll keep uploading stuff. Comments are welcome!! I'll add some photos as well, asap!
I decided to make a journal out of my first serious attempt to grow indoor marijuana. I hope this serves as a space for learning and sharing, especially to the newbie growers out there!!
I'm planning on growing indoor, small number of plants (1-2). I have tried twice before but never got past the first 15 days, that's why I consider this my first real attempt.
So, to start, my setup:
THE "ROOM": It's a DarkRoom DR60 that I bought in Austria in 2014 while on a trip. Carried that shit on my back while hitchhiking, we've got a connection. She's not very tall, but has 60cm x 60cm of base and that's quite enough. It has an area of roughly 0,36m^2 or 4ft^2. The plan is to fit two plants inside it. She has 2 entrances for ducts and one smaller one that is supposed to be for wires.
THE SEEDS: I had two type of seeds: DH Shoreline and Sensi's California Indica. I like Shoreline most, but since it's known to be very skunky, and given that the CI doesn't grow so tall, I preferred to try and germinate some CI seeds. They aren't feminized, so I've got a odd of 1/2 of getting a female. I only had 3 seeds, but I decided to go with 2 first because I tought I was feeling lucky. If I get one female out of that it's okay for me, so my good scenarios have a 75% chance of happening. Let's see!!
THE MEDIUM: My access to supplies is limited so I went with the Sunshine Mix #6, that's some sphagnum turf mixed with some other things, has a good PH of 6,2 (+- 0,5). I believe it's the best option I have available. Along with the Sunshine I added some perlite (70-30) and then to all that I added a little more vermiculite (less than 10%). To control the pH I'll be buying water gallons to supply the plants with a nice pH level, and also I have a pen pH meter and can use some fixers sometimes.
THE LIGHT: Many will not agree with this, but I went for the 150w HPS. That decision was made a long time ago (in my first attempts) and now I don't want to spend more money, initially. I wish I had gone with 250w cause then I'd had a 250w ballast and could use a metal halite for vegetative and then turning the HPS on for flowering. But for now, it's what I've got so I'm working with it. I got a reflector that covers a good part of the tent, and since the area is small and there's not a huge number of plants they'll get enough light. I think it'll be something like 4000 lumens per sq feet.
THE VENTILATION: For the initial period of grow, I'll follow SecretJardin's guide to the DarkRoom and use only an exhauster. It's a little PC cooler, that can move 60m^3/h (the tent recommendation is 70). As the grow proceeds, I'll eventually need to acquire or make a Coal Filter, so I think I'll be adding another exhauster with that and make the cooler throw air in instead of sucking it out. I've test the temperature with the 150W HPS and the cooler on, it was steady at 76F at night. So I think there won't be any heat problem.
THE NUTES: Also in my last attempts I acquired a General Hydroponics FloraNova Bloom and Grow, which I'll be using through the grow. I think they're quite alright.
POSSIBLE UPGRADES:
So, for upgrades apart from the Carbon Filter, another option for later on the road is changing the light system to 250W, acquiring a HPS, a metal halite and a new ballast. I also saw that LED light's are good for the vegetative phase and they go easy on the bills as well so that may be an option...
Right now the seeds have been germinating for almost 6 days and still nothing. I bought them some years ago and I read that older seeds take longer to germinate, so I'm waiting. Everything is already set up to work!
I'm keeping them on a moist paper towel inside a bowl blocked by a plate, so it's dark. But it's not so warm right now, and I think that may be delaying them some more!!
Well, I'll keep uploading stuff. Comments are welcome!! I'll add some photos as well, asap!
