Types of soil... and a few basic newb questions...

Hey guys!

I've been lurking here ALL WEEK while in a boring training session at work... lol

Anyway... I've got 15 apparent 'Sour Diesel' seeds from a local farmer here in Ottawa Canada.

I'm going to setup a tub/box grow with 2 18" tubs...

I've decided to go with two 4" intake fans and one 4" outtake... connected to a scrubber I'm also going to be (hopefully) growing 2 plants using a tomato cage scrog setup.

I've got a 3 socket vanity lighting setup with Y splitters, and 12 bulbs... 6 26 watters for veg, and 6 42 watters for flower.

Seeing as this is my first kick at the can.. I wanna try and keep this simple, and painless as possible...

So...

I got this soil from the local Canadian tire:

http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/premier-potting-soil-15l/10167967?trail=SRCH:Premier+Potting+Soil&fromPLP=true&ancestorID=10009&searchString=Premier+Potting+Soil&startSearch=yes&fromSearchBox=true&addFacet=SRCH:Premier+Potting+Soil

It's a mix of sphagnum peat moss, perlite and humus.

I CAN use this... but just went to the local head shop... and the owner makes this 'Rasta' mix? lol the dude working didn't know EXACTLY what was in it... but I might check it out...

OK... so:

I am going to use the 'paper towel/ziplock' method to germinate the seeds.. then transfer them into a couple of red 'frat house' beer cups (with holes cut in the bottom...)

Once they get a NICE root ball... I figure I'll move them into my 2 10" Pots... and go from there...

Can I install my screen right away... around 9" up from the soil start?? then start bending the branches under from there? I'm going to try and go in a circular pattern if I can and see what's up...

I figure:

veg for 2 - 3 weeks... then start SCROGGING... (if it gets around 3 - 4 nods high) and leave her grow... and just keep working it back through the screen for say 6 weeks total then switch to 12/12?

Thoughts?

Oh yea.. as for nutes.. I figure I won't feed them until flowering... or if I do.. I'll use 1/4 strength 15-15-15 or something with a balanced N/P/K profile... then switch to something with more P for flowering...

I know a lot of these questions are basic, and elementary... so I'll keep using the search function and learning as I go.. Once I have the whole setup built... I'll post up some pics/vids etc...

Happy Growing!

V.

K.. So I went with the Rasta Mix... we'll see how it goes...

I also have 3 4" 5v USB powered fans... I hope they have enough juice for what I need...

Alright... so I setup the box!

I ended up using 2 tubs.. the top has mylar... the bottom white paint... I can't WAIT to rip the mylar SHIT out and spray it.. holy FACK that shit is annoying..

I made a scrog with tomato cages and chicken wire as I described...

Here's some random shots of the box.. the scrubber I made... the plants etc... they are 11 days old from seed...

Here's the box running:



I ran the lighting cable out of the light trap





Here's one of the plants.. funny thing... I didn't think it was gunna sprout... and I planted another.. (fail) so now I have two to deal with...

The temp is around 70 lights off... 80 lights on... not horrendous? but I'm worried once I install the BIG CFLS... I'm currently running 6 26w ones for vegging... If need be... I'll make another hole and install a PC fan to see if it'll cool it off....



THIS guy was pretty well DEAD (sorry about the shit ass lighting... :S) my CAT had it in his mouth walking around with it... it broke soil the SAME DAY as the others... but is all retarded in growth... I'm curious as to what'll happen to it...




The scrubber I made:



My duct work going from the exhaust fan into the scrubber end...





Some more of the kids:



There we have it... 11 days in...

Little bumparoo.. I figure I'll veg them for 2 months.. or until the screen fills up... then flick them to 12/12

Ok guys! So it's now been 17 days from seed... here's where we're at...

This is my biggest plant... I have 4 in there total... well actually 5... I found a bag seed lying around, and figured I'd germinate it as well.. his neighbour next to him in the same plant was the stunted one up there... still stunted, and shitty leaves.. I'm considering pulling this one.. and banking on his pot mate being female... thoughts??


This is a snap of the other pot... two in there as well... I am pretty certain they won't BOTH grow in a 3g pot.. so I'm going to have to figure something out here... I'm again hoping that one if male one female.. should make things easier to determine regarding what to keep... lol

I moved away some leaves, to see the stem/stalk

Another rando pic

Here's the wee little guy that was attacked by my cat.. still alive though!!

More stem/stalk photos





And that's it!

What do you think up to now? How do they look???

So, far, so good?
Keep it up...
Good Luck!

Thanks man... good times..

It gets up to 90 degrees in there... MAX... and it's hot... RIGHT at the top though.. Hopefully it's not TOO too hot....

Fackin' Canadian Summers man.. RIPPIN' hot here.. AND humid...

My girls are really startin' ta phatten up.. I'm excited..

gotta bring those temps down or all your hard work will be wasted, gotta find a way dude.

Your problem may be that your intake and exhaust don't match. I think you would be fine if you had 2 * 4" passive intakes(no fan) instead of only 1 active 4" intake. with only one intake and two exhausts your exhausts are limited by the amount of air they can pull past the single fan.

You need to get rid of the 2 plants in the one pot unfortunately. How many plant's are you growing? 15 ?. In that device you made, which shows a lot of ingenuity by the way, it is going to be a little tight. I might think of keeping 2 in there, but I doubt you can fit much more.The heat is going to kill everything unless you get it straightened out soon. Peace

Hey...

Ya... I have 2 * 4" passive and one 4" active intake... With a 6" exhaust... I honestly think installing AC in the house and having the air outside the box getting sucked in cooler will help... I hope...

If you can keep the temp at your canopy below 90 you will survive, but yield will suffer at anything over 85. Under 80 would be ideal, and sativa strains from tropical regions will be more tolerant of heat, but you don't want to affect your yield after this late in the process!

Yea.. fair deal.. I honest think my thermometer is bunk too... one reads 85 the other 90 lol... it's terrible...

I'm only keeping 2 plants in there... not 15.. so I should be good... That said.. I decided to cull one of the weaker plants.. so I have two pots.. one with one plant.. and one with two... for a total of 3... if I can sex them early... I figure I'll take out one if it's male... and hope the other one in the other pot is female as well...

Here's some updates pics... (25 days from seed)





This little guy on the bottom got pulled.. so there's only one in the pot now...



This one still has 2... I dunno which one to yank... or if I should wait 'til I can sex them...

Lowering the ambient air temperature outside the box did it...

I wound up installing TWO window ACs... one in the living room, and one in my bedroom.

The closet in my bedroom has the box... so that one was key... It was SO GOD DAMNED COLD last night I was shivering when I woke up... hahhaahaha... I went right to the box.. and it was sitting at 82 degrees... WITH the lights blasting all night...

So I think we're in business... if I keep it going like this... lets just hope that the flowering CFLs don't raise it back up...

Just for shits... I'm growing a variety of sour diesel that I picked up... and I believe it is mostly sativa based... so at least I have THAT on my side...

I can't WAIT for them to get up to the screen...

I have another question actually...

Seeing as SD tends to stretch up to 3 x the length... should I switch from veg to flower as SOON as the plants grow past the screen... or would you guys wait until it's like 10% - 30% full?

Thanks a lot for reading guys!

I actually switched before they got to the screen with an indica, then filled up the screen during the stretch. I would imagine for a sativa you need to do the same

Yea eh? Makes sense.. ok cool! Ummm.. did you switch when you were near the screen? Say 1 - 2 inches or so or??

Thanks a lot for your help..

Yup, probably 3 inches or so from the top, had a pretty even canopy from the LST when I switched. I did not even put the screen in for the first couple weeks then installed the screen right at the canopy.

Awesome... I can't wait for them to get big enough to switch... I was hoping for a month after seed... (July 1st...) but we'll see how tall/big they are first...

Vibealive said:

It gets up to 90 degrees in there... MAX... and it's hot... RIGHT at the top though.. Hopefully it's not TOO too hot....

Fackin' Canadian Summers man.. RIPPIN' hot here.. AND humid...

My girls are really startin' ta phatten up.. I'm excited..

Click to expand...

No they will survive that heat. It will reduce your yield but right now in the Mojave we are heating up. 110 outside today. My canopy runs 105 all summer long. I don't run CO2 either.