Our First Grow... Uh, Second Attempt

Hi! This our first journal entry and first time, sort of. We already attempted this once, and after doing a lot of research decided to start again. Although we are still running into a new problem every day, we think we have enough knowledge and tools this time around to be successful. We appreciate any comments or suggestions!

Here's our set-up:

• We made a grow tent using tarp and white painting sheets.
• We have a blower for intake at the bottom of the tent, and a vent exhaust fan up top. We also have a box fan on low inside.
• We are using 4 - 4' T5 54W Fluorescent bulbs. The area we're using is about 2' x 3'.
• We made CO2 using yeast and sugar, and we also have a bucket of water for humidity. It's not working that well though, so we're going to try using a frozen 2 liter bottle of water.
• Average low temp is around 70 and high is up to 100. We know this is a problem. We've been brainstorming and trying different ways to lower it.
• We're just using bagseed and Foxfarm Ocean Forest Soil. We use spring water that we tested for pH, which was 6.4. Our soil pH is around 7.0. So we think everything is okay here.

Here are a few pictures of the set-up and we'll keep you updated on progress. We started germinating on July 1 and they just got planted today! Any thoughts or suggestions on anything? Let us know! We owe it to this message board for everything we know about our new hobby!

forget about Co2 making for now ..... its not that important at this stage of your game .. let them grow . see what happens .. Good luck

Well we were using the co2 in hopes it will lower the temps inside the room.

Thanks for the advice.

by what u have done and are doing you will have a good grow
just make sure to keep us updated with pictures and you will get a better responce..
happy growing

Love the set up Clean,tidy ,lots of space.

The green pots are cool

wat strain?

Thanks dave! Took us a while... lots of work but worth it.

The strain is just bagseed... taken from multiple bags. We just had a bunch of seeds saved for when we started this. Hopefully these work better than the last bunch of bag seeds.

We'll try to put up more pics tomorrow with some updates (as long as there are updates lol)

Butthead08 said:

Well we were using the co2 in hopes it will lower the temps inside the room.

Thanks for the advice.

Click to expand...

Actually, the CO2 will raise the temps. Think greenhouse gas.

unless your humidity is below 45% you absolutely don't need to add humidity

Hi Everyone! So far, our older plants seem to be responding well to the bigger pots. Also, on the babies, one has already sprouted! We are still having questions on watering though. We watered them last night and today they seemed dry. We used a moisture meter and the top half was a 1 to 1.5 while the bottoms were 3.5+. So we used a spray bottle to moisten the top layer of soil. Any thoughts on this?? Is there any kind of rule-of-thumb for watering without over-watering? We have them in 8'' pots.

So here are a few new pics!

#1: Older plant that we transplanted into a big pot. This one looks the best so far.
#2: The one seed that sprouted!!
#3: All of our new potential plants.
#4: Just a shot of the temp and humidity.
#5: The other older plant. This one does not seem to be growing very much, but it doesn't look like it's dying either... we're really not sure. We're just going to give it some time.

We'll keep you updated and thanks for the comments, they're appreciated!

If that's your attic your going to have a real hard time with temps. Is there anyway you could get some ac in there? Get a oscillating fan in there as well, it'll clear the stagnant air around the plant.

CO2 will help plants handle higher temps but I don't know if sugar & yeast produces enough.

Let the plant get dry 1-2 on your meter at the bottom of the pot, let the roots search that water out. They do look a little over watered but if you just watered them that could cause them to droop.

McLovin420 said:

If that's your attic your going to have a real hard time with temps. Is there anyway you could get some ac in there? Get a oscillating fan in there as well, it'll clear the stagnant air around the plant.

Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the input! Since we switched our light cycle to be off during the hot hours, the temps have been a whole lot better. So far the temps don't go above 89 and they go down to about 72. We know that's a big difference between max and min, but the plants seem to be doing okay.

The tent has great air flow, though. We have the box fan, and intake blower, and an exhaust fan. The air is definitely moving. Thanks for letting us know about the water level! We've been going crazy wondering if we should or shouldn't water.

Thanks again, be sure to check back!

The temp swing is alright. Mine temp range is pretty close to that.

Your tent may have great air flow but you need an oscillating fan. They do 2 great things for your plants - 1 they move the air around the plants & 2 they encourage stronger stems which your plant will need to produce large buds. It needs to oscillate or your plants could get wind damage.

Pick up your pots every day. When it feels like the pot is empty, pour a generous amount of water through it, letting a good bit run out the bottom. The more important issue for you is the heat. The reason your older plant isn't growing is the temps. The others will be the same. You HAVE to keep it under 85, even that is heat stress. Unfortunately, the only option since you have good ventilation already would be to get one of those portable a/c units. But they're $200 and require an exhaust duct. It sucks but you have to find a way to bring the temps down.

McLovin420 said:

The temp swing is alright. Mine temp range is pretty close to that.

Your tent may have great air flow but you need an oscillating fan. They do 2 great things for your plants - 1 they move the air around the plants & 2 they encourage stronger stems which your plant will need to produce large buds. It needs to oscillate or your plants could get wind damage.

Click to expand...

Hey thanks for all the info! Yeah, we're going to go get another oscillating fan, you've convinced us lol. Actually, we had looked at them the other day and considered buying one... I really don't know why we didn't lol. Thanks! Keep in touch!

mared juwan said:

Pick up your pots every day. When it feels like the pot is empty, pour a generous amount of water through it, letting a good bit run out the bottom. The more important issue for you is the heat. The reason your older plant isn't growing is the temps. The others will be the same. You HAVE to keep it under 85, even that is heat stress. Unfortunately, the only option since you have good ventilation already would be to get one of those portable a/c units. But they're $200 and require an exhaust duct. It sucks but you have to find a way to bring the temps down.

Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing up the water situation! We're still trying to figure out more and more ways to lower the temps. I had thought about getting a portable a/c before, but when I went to look at them they started at $4\00 at this particular store. Too much money for me at the moment, so we'll keep trying other things. Maybe we'll get one after we get some funds!

We really appreciate all the feedback, so keep watching and keep suggesting! We want to make this as perfect as possible!!

Thanks again!!

if you have a room n your house that doesnt need a/c redirect from your existing unit or just tap in and direct where needed?

but i dont know if your air ducts are in your attic?

IF they are i would really think about this it will solve your problem completely you could even add a HID and get better yields!

With a small space a/c is really the one thing that will help air flow is good but this is a must have for marry but nice freash air that is cool and circulated will prove outsanding results and if you guys plan on growin more that a couple crops.

goingreen2008 said:

if you have a room n your house that doesnt need a/c redirect from your existing unit or just tap in and direct where needed?

but i dont know if your air ducts are in your attic?.

Click to expand...

You know, a friend suggested that same idea... not really sure either. I pulled out some insulation and found the a/c "pipes"... but i think i need someone pretty handy to figure this one out.

Maybe i'll see what he thinks... and if it's possible. He said it was, so maybe i'll let him look at it again. He's pretty handy like that. Thanks for the suggestion! BTW, your pic is great lol!!

Well, it's a sad day. We lost all of our seedlings. Well, at least they look pretty dead. I watered them to try to bring them back to life. Not really sure what the primary cause was: temperature, too CLOSE to the light (my fault), not enough water, etc.

Here's the thing, every time I checked on these new seedlings, they were bone-dry. We used those bio-degradable small containers, not sure if they were sucking up all the water from the soil.

Oh well, no use crying over dead seedlings. We're going to germinate new ones today, so we'll see what happens. We have plenty of bagseeds to mess with, so here we go again.

Those jiffy pots dry out fast. I've lost a couple of seedlings myself because of them. Put them in a cloning tray & that will help, or just use some plastic cups.

The 2 on the outside of the contained kept drying out way faster then the others.

Don't worry to much I killed 20 or 30 seedlings by the time I got 2 good plants. I just loved the little things to death.