1st time cfl bag seed

[Thomas Stevenson]

I never grew before so I wanted to learn/practice super cropping and topping techniques before investing decent money into a better setup and beans. I only practiced topping on my outdoors which are still vegging. All are a day shy of 8 weeks from seed. Just perlite and top soil with 4 month time released 14-14-14 laying around. I have been using 1 tbsp of black strap molasses(600mg per tbsp) every watering since the 2nd week of flowering. Think I got thrips but I was reading they won't mess with my buds? Should I use diluted hydrogen peroxide or use hot pepper spray recipe? Will either of these change the taste of my buds? I did have 2 small praying mantis the size of my thumb hanging around. I found the first outside when doing yard work and he was there for a week. I haven't seen the first mantis since I added the 2nd a week later. The 2nd is still there and I've been seeing everyday for 2 weeks. This a minimalist attempt at best done with some work light sockets and cfl's laying around.

 

[grapefruitmarmalade]

They are looking good

 

[bhandari1]

Hahaha, looks like my early setup! Looking good man, good job keeping the CFLs close. Judging from the leaf, I think its mostly sativa.

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

Thanks. It looks the the buds are finally starting to fatten up and it's starting to smell good in that room I am in the process of reading up on stuff and I already designed my next setup. I'm going to use PVC to frame out a rectangle(H:6'/W:5'/D:3') and on 2 sides there will be 'shelving' every foot so I can clamp my work lights onto two 2x3's which the PVC shelves will support. I'll be able to raise the height of the lighting via the shelves as needed. There will be 20 150 watt equivalent CFL's in a 3x5 area(15 sq ft). 5 work light clamps each with socket splitter per 2x3. So 10 lights per 2x3(2 total) spaced out roughly 10" from each other. 10 2700k and 10 6500k.

BTW I was looking at your grow journal bhandari1. Very nice! I am looking to get to where you are in the near future. I'm going to invest more money next time. This is just a learning experience for me. Unfortunately my one girl turned hermie when I super cropped her after the 12/12 period. But it was the only 1 of 5 so I am not sure if it was due to bad genetics. So the hermie is outdoors now with the others that are vegging. The outdoor ones that I topped and super cropped are looking short and bushy. I'm going to move them indoors when these girls finish. I have gotten lucky 5/5 were all girls, I hope the 2 outdoor are as well

I am thinking of trying 2 tbsp of black strap molasses the next watering. I have been giving them 1 tbsp for about 4 feedings so far.

 

[bhandari1]

Hahaha, sounds like you're doing great now, and have a solid plan for the future. Good stuff man, your efforts will definitely pay off in the end.

Some advice if I may, be careful with the hermie, pollen has a great way of spreading everywhere. If possible, depending on the size of the plant, it would be best if you can trim off as much male parts as possible as they continue to develop. I kept a hermie once and it accidentally seeded my other plants in another room.

Also, don't go too crazy with the molasses, if I recall correctly too much can mess with pH, so if you do double it, just be sure to keep an eye on your pH...you want it to be around 6.

Good luck, I'll be following along.

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

Thanks. Yea I removed the hermie as soon as I noticed the banana clusters. The hermie has been outdoors for a few days and I noticed some the clusters just recently opened and looked yellowish. I hosed the plant off with water and then cut the rest of the clusters off. The others outdoors are still in veg and have showed no sign of sex. I was planning on letting the hermie finish outdoors and the rest outdoors will be brought in to finish early if they turn out to be females. I was planning on washing off the ones I am bringing indoor before I do and by then they should still be sexless. But I know for a fact none of the banana clusters opened indoor. I took a shower and changed my clothes before visiting the indoors as well. Maybe I'll play it safe and keep it at 1 tbsp molasses. I'll post more pics in a week or so.

I added a 3rd praying mantis but now the 2nd hasn't been around but possibly could still be. I wonder if they are killing each other? The 3rd was slightly bigger than the 2nd. But the the first and second were roughly the same size but one was green and the other brown. But the thrip invasion seems to be controlled regardless. You would think with 4 plants they'd each pick one and leave each other alone lol.

 

[bhandari1]

Sounds like you took all the necessary precautions with the hermie.

LOL, they probably are eating each other.

 

[fishweb]

Great job keeping it cheap and simple as you figure things out. I ran CFLs for my first year and including seeds I spent less than $100 on everything. It bums me out when people drop hundreds on awesome gear before they know the unique quirks of their space or if growing is something they even enjoy. You clearly have patience which is incredibly valuable with this hobby. Im subscribed, best of luck!

 

[SweetHayz]

Buddy you should feed them some flowering nutes. Once they start flowering they suck a lot food. The purple on your leaves is first sign of phosphorus deficiency.

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

Thanks fishweb. Yea CFL's bulbs are relatively cheap and has been the only expense so far; well except for the black strap molasses.. The rest was stuff was just laying around. I am just practicing what I read so far and getting the hands on experience. You are right, patience is definitely key haha. I am not touching them until the trich's are a mix of milky and amber.

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

What would you recommend SweetHayz? I've read people talk about the Fox Farm trio; Grow Big, Tiger Bloom and Big Bloom. Would buying just the Big Bloom be worth the investment this far into the grow?

 

[SweetHayz]

If u grow organic bone meal and molasses are relatively cheap. Me personally I mix my own nutes witch chemical combinations. I can't give you advise on store bought nutes. But if you tell me the npk ratio and micro elements of each i could tell which would be good for what

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

I've been using Plantation unsulphured black strap molasses which has 600mg K per tbsp. I've been using 1 tbsp of the molasses per gallon every feeding for a few weeks. Is Espoma Organic Traditions Bone Meal 4-12-0 ok? How would I add this to my soil mixture without stressing them? What about organic garden lime? I know these are after thoughts. Like I said before I just used perlite and top soil mixed in with 14-14-14 continuous release granules. My next time I would definitely invest my money and make a organic super soil. To some this might come off as half assed but to me it is a hands on learning experience and intentionally minimalistic. If something goes wrong because of my error I don't lose much.

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

Had to move 2 of the plants to water so I figured I'd take a few new pics. They still have 3-4 weeks easy I'm guessing, possibly more. 1 of 4 is a indica which finish quicker if I recall correctly? The first 2 pics (7&6) are the same plant(indica). The third pic(10) is 1 of the 3 sativas. The last pic(9) is a different saliva that has been mutated from the beginning lol. Not sure whats going on there. I didn't take a pic of the last sativa.

 

[wiethe20]

Thanks. It looks the the buds are finally starting to fatten up and it's starting to smell good in that room I am in the process of reading up on stuff and I already designed my next setup. I'm going to use PVC to frame out a rectangle(H:6'/W:5'/D:3') and on 2 sides there will be 'shelving' every foot so I can clamp my work lights onto two 2x3's which the PVC shelves will support. I'll be able to raise the height of the lighting via the shelves as needed. There will be 20 150 watt equivalent CFL's in a 3x5 area(15 sq ft). 5 work light clamps each with socket splitter per 2x3. So 10 lights per 2x3(2 total) spaced out roughly 10" from each other. 10 2700k and 10 6500k.

BTW I was looking at your grow journal bhandari1. Very nice! I am looking to get to where you are in the near future. I'm going to invest more money next time. This is just a learning experience for me. Unfortunately my one girl turned hermie when I super cropped her after the 12/12 period. But it was the only 1 of 5 so I am not sure if it was due to bad genetics. So the hermie is outdoors now with the others that are vegging. The outdoor ones that I topped and super cropped are looking short and bushy. I'm going to move them indoors when these girls finish. I have gotten lucky 5/5 were all girls, I hope the 2 outdoor are as well

I am thinking of trying 2 tbsp of black strap molasses the next watering. I have been giving them 1 tbsp for about 4 feedings so far.

Heat and pvc

 

[wiethe20]

Had to move 2 of the plants to water so I figured I'd take a few new pics. They still have 3-4 weeks easy I'm guessing, possibly more. 1 of 4 is a indica which finish quicker if I recall correctly? The first 2 pics (7&6) are the same plant(indica). The third pic(10) is 1 of the 3 sativas. The last pic(9) is a different saliva that has been mutated from the beginning lol. Not sure whats going on there. I didn't take a pic of the last sativa.

Indica will be longer

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

wiethe20, I appreciate your response although it is contrary to what I have read from multiple sources. Indica's apparently finish quicker. Do I have to cite 10 different sources? Sativa's take longer to finish...

 

[SPLFreak808]

Indica will be longer

other way around. and way to go, you almost made him over-ripe his indica...

 

[Thomas Stevenson]

wiethe20, what about heat and pvc? Could you be more specific? It won't get hot enough to distort the PVC if that is your concern? I suppose I could use wood instead. I am still debating what i want to do. I might build a box out of wood, paint it matte white and connect in line fans etc... Or I just might buy a tent. I'm possibly thinking of buying a Pro-Grow 400 (LED) which would be suspended at the top of the box. Not really sure what I am going to do yet to be honest. I am checking out all my options and comparing the costs of each setup.

 

[sno capz]

Thanks. It looks the the buds are finally starting to fatten up and it's starting to smell good in that room I am in the process of reading up on stuff and I already designed my next setup. I'm going to use PVC to frame out a rectangle(H:6'/W:5'/D:3') and on 2 sides there will be 'shelving' every foot so I can clamp my work lights onto two 2x3's which the PVC shelves will support. I'll be able to raise the height of the lighting via the shelves as needed. There will be 20 150 watt equivalent CFL's in a 3x5 area(15 sq ft). 5 work light clamps each with socket splitter per 2x3. So 10 lights per 2x3(2 total) spaced out roughly 10" from each other. 10 2700k and 10 6500k.

BTW I was looking at your grow journal bhandari1. Very nice! I am looking to get to where you are in the near future. I'm going to invest more money next time. This is just a learning experience for me. Unfortunately my one girl turned hermie when I super cropped her after the 12/12 period. But it was the only 1 of 5 so I am not sure if it was due to bad genetics. So the hermie is outdoors now with the others that are vegging. The outdoor ones that I topped and super cropped are looking short and bushy. I'm going to move them indoors when these girls finish. I have gotten lucky 5/5 were all girls, I hope the 2 outdoor are as well

I am thinking of trying 2 tbsp of black strap molasses the next watering. I have been giving them 1 tbsp for about 4 feedings so far.

With the amount of money you'll spend on those cfl's, piping, sockets and everything else you could have bought a T5 HO fixture.... Not to say yours won't work because it obviously is... However it will optomize and organize your next grow much better