5x5 Grow Tent Barney's Farm LSD

[fers93]

Although I have done much reading on this site for guidance during my first grow, I decided I would finally make an account and post my first grow journal. The reason for this being that I want as much input as possible as I know this is a long learning process.

5x5 Gorilla Grow Tent
1000 watt MH for veg and 1000 watt HPS for flower w/ digital ballast and air-cooled hood
(2) 6" fans for air circulation
6" exhaust fan & carbon filter I forget the exact CFM but it is in 400's
The setup is like this: Carbon Filter inside the tent>Ducting>Air cooled hood>Ducting>Exhaust Fan>Ducting going outside of tent>To a roof vent
(9) 3 gal pots (the ones with the thin fabric to let air get in)
Barney's Farm LSD
Fox Farm + Organic Roots

I am ready to get started but need guidance as to germinating my seeds. From my understanding, you should completely soak them in a glass of water for no more than 24 hours to "wake the seeds up". Should I simply plant them in the soil afterwards?

 

[fers93]

Well, I threw them in a glass of distilled water for 24 hours on Wednesday, September 23rd. They remained there for 24 hours until Thursday. None of the seeds had cracked so I put all 10 seeds in between a moist paper towel between two ceramic plates. I then placed the structure on top of my cable box. After 24 hours on Friday, all seeds had cracked and 7/10 had roots sticking out so I went ahead and planted the ones with roots. The following morning on Saturday the remaining had roots and I planted them as well.

I then placed all 10 red solo cups underneath my light on Saturday morning. The light is a 1000 watt metal halide but on my ballast I can bring it down to 400 watts. So that's what I did. Because they are seedlings I have the light about an entire 2 1/2 to 3 feet above the cups. I have the lights on an 18/6 schedule which will remain constant until flowering...

Before I left for work this morning (Monday), 5 of them had sprouted above soil and you could see a few others just barely breaking ground.

SO FAR SO GOOD

I am using 3 gal pots the ones which are made out of breathable fabric to eventually transplant to.

QUESTION: The guy at the hydro store said to use happy frog for seedlings and beginning 2 or 3 weeks and then transplant to fox farm ocean forest and mix with organic roots. Is this credible information?

 

[fers93]

Well I was expecting more replies but I guess that's not how these kind of things work for a new member on a forum. I have never been a part of a forum before as I don't like communicating online, however after reading through several threads per day for the last month I was sure this was a great site for advice and guidance that I cannot obtain from anyone I know.

Whatever, I guess this can be for my own reference anyways as well as for any new growers in the future who want to try Barney's Farm LSD.

Here is a pic of all 10 cups with most sprouts. As of this morning, September 29th ALL had sprouted and I can confirm a 100% germination rate and 100% sprouting rate for Barney's Farm LSD using the standard 24 hour soaking in distilled water and then the paper towel method for 24 hours and then planting 1/4" under the soil and then give a good watering and then place under light. Pretty simple and standard from my findings


Although I have a feeling no one will respond, it is worth asking even though I am going to research it anyways to get my answer. How often should I be giving these little tiny sprouts water? I am understanding that as long as the bottom of the cup is moist, then the main root will spend it energy trying to reach the moisture since it is looking for water.

I pretty much feel 99% confident I can eyeball it, I was just wondering what others do as far as how often to water seedlings.

 

[fers93]

It has been one week since I saw my first sprouts from these babies and I thought I would post a picture I took over the weekend on Saturday October 2nd.


I watered them on Sunday which was the first time I watered them since they were planted. I am trying to let them dry out before watering to encourage root growth as far as making the main root look for water.

I started my 1000 W ballast off at 400 W, then over the weekend changed it to 600 watts. I suppose I will switch to 750 this week and then the following week be at full 1000 watts.

 

[DesertGrow89]

Nice looking plants, fluorescents are generally better for sprouting seeds than HID but it looks like they came out fine. Hope your venting is setup well because an enclosed tent should be difficult to keep cool enough running 1000 watts. How far is your HID away from the plant canopy?

 

[fers93]

It is getting difficult, if it wasn't October, I would probably be screwed. It is averaging 83 degrees during daytime which I read isn't TOO bad but obv I would like to be at 75-78 from everything I read. Anyways, right now it is about 2.5 feet away from canopy. I'll take a pic when I go home for lunch today and I will post a pic.

Only problem I have had this far is the plants are getting too heavy and the stem is having trouble supporting all the new growth. Any cheat trick to stand them up? Like I said I will post a photo here in a few hours

 

[DesertGrow89]

It is getting difficult, if it wasn't October, I would probably be screwed. It is averaging 83 degrees during daytime which I read isn't TOO bad but obv I would like to be at 75-78 from everything I read. Anyways, right now it is about 2.5 feet away from canopy. I'll take a pic when I go home for lunch today and I will post a pic.

Only problem I have had this far is the plants are getting too heavy and the stem is having trouble supporting all the new growth. Any cheat trick to stand them up? Like I said I will post a photo here in a few hours

Yeah I've had the same problem with temps but it's with highly efficient 315w bulb/ballast. You should try just staking wooden skewers right next to the seedlings where they are falling over, just so they are leaning on the support. Be gentle seedlings are at their most vulnerable stage.

 

[fers93]

Well I would rather not put my location, however it is the middle of October here where I live and the temps are finally starting to legitimately drop. It is helping my room temps remain in the low 70's. If you put the thermometer at the top of the tent it is reading 86 degrees, but the canopy temperatures are a solid 76-78 so I am pretty happy about that.

I noticed yesterday that one of the babies was starting to experience a nitrogen deficiency. The side edges of the leaves were becoming a very light green and the tips were suffering slightly. I transplanted them into the 3 gallon pots at about 11:00 AM (I mixed the Roots Organic and FFoF (3 parts FFoF, 2 parts roots organic...I had no logical reasoning or guidance on this mixture I literally just guessed, hope it works), gave them a good watering, and when I got back home around 8:00 PM, the plant looked 100% completely normal. I am a new grower so shit like this for me is so cool. SCIENCE...lol

 

[DesertGrow89]

Nice, were the roots cup bound when you transplanted them?

 

[fers93]

The roots were all over the surface of the soil, I think they still had room left to expand but I didn't want to cut it too close.

I have since lowered the light to within 18" of the canopy so I am getting better light penetration. I attempted to FIM all of the plants and I think I screwed up on a few and cut too high. Not really a big deal from what I see, I may have just slowed down my veg a little bit as the ones I screwed up are growing back normally just with leaf tips that are cut. Maybe I will try again in about 2 weeks.

These sprouted on 9/29. Today is 10/21, meaning they are 3 weeks old. I am aiming to achieve anywhere between 1-2 lbs by the time this thing is over, my hydro guy said with my setup and the correct feeding schedule as well as monitoring their status every day that I can definitely achieve my goal. My question is, how big should I veg these ladies in order to achieve my goal of 2-3 ounces per plant?

 

[DesertGrow89]

The roots were all over the surface of the soil, I think they still had room left to expand but I didn't want to cut it too close.

I have since lowered the light to within 18" of the canopy so I am getting better light penetration. I attempted to FIM all of the plants and I think I screwed up on a few and cut too high. Not really a big deal from what I see, I may have just slowed down my veg a little bit as the ones I screwed up are growing back normally just with leaf tips that are cut. Maybe I will try again in about 2 weeks.

These sprouted on 9/29. Today is 10/21, meaning they are 3 weeks old. I am aiming to achieve anywhere between 1-2 lbs by the time this thing is over, my hydro guy said with my setup and the correct feeding schedule as well as monitoring their status every day that I can definitely achieve my goal. My question is, how big should I veg these ladies in order to achieve my goal of 2-3 ounces per plant?

Sounds like you timed it right. Make sure your light is covering that entire field, the plants look spread out, I know its because of the trays but keep them as tight as possible. You should easily be able to achieve 2 oz per plant w/1000 watts! Looking good man. Flip to flower when they are at least 1 ft tall, I wouldn't go taller than 2 ft as you don't want to run out of room. The more leaf/root development you have going into flip, the more bud yield you will produce!

 

[DesertGrow89]

What are you using for nutes? Never tried the soil you are using but hear that it's "hot" so you may not want to feed yet.

 

[420PyRoS]

I'll be watching your thread fers93. I'm on my first grow also but with LED with a couple autos. Thing is though, I'm looking to try female instead of auto on my second grow and I've picked up LSD from Barneys farm also. I'm excited to see how yours will turn out!!! LSD sounds awesome by the way they describe it as an almost psychedelic high. I might try their Vanilla Kush too!

Keep posting!
Cheers

PS Nice setup, looking good!

 

[fers93]

@DesertGrow89 - Right now I am finishing up my starter box of General Organics. I sort of bent the truth when I said this was my first grow - On August 6th, 2015 I sprouted 2 bagseeds in a homemade growbox made out of wood, a bathroom exhaust fan, and a 250 watt CFL (one blue spectrum for veg and one red spectrum for flower). It basically was my trial grow to see if I wanted to invest the money in a tent and real-deal equipment (which I did, obviously). I flipped to 12/12 on September 10th, 2015, threw one of the plants out as it was a male, and attached is a picture of what the lady looked like yesterday on October 22nd (42nd day of flower). They aren't the greatest as I grew with CFL's, but for my first grow in a shitty ass setup I thought I have done a decent job thus far. What do you think?

So yeah, I am running out of the General Organics because most of it got used on the amateur grow. Once it runs out (next 2 weeks) I am planning on switching to Humboldt. Humboldt was recommended to me by my hydro guy, he says General Organics was just bought out and that Humboldt is more of a local operation that ACTUALLY grows. I was also told you don't have to worry about pH with Humboldt. Also attached is a picture of the ladies yesterday, October 22nd. You can see they have taken off since last week and the tops are doing their best to catch up. Oh BTW! The FIM worked on about half of the plants, the other half I must have cut too high. They are growing normally and I think I will try again in about a week.

@420PyRoS Thanks for stopping by, feels good to have some support especially when the only people I can talk to about it are my mother and step-father (who don't grow, they just smoke). I am excited to see how this LSD turns out as well, oh and I got some free Vanilla Kush seeds from the same company which are feminized and I will probably do a mixture of them with other strains come January. Again, thanks for the feedback!

 

[420PyRoS]

@DesertGrow89 - Right now I am finishing up my starter box of General Organics. I sort of bent the truth when I said this was my first grow - On August 6th, 2015 I sprouted 2 bagseeds in a homemade growbox made out of wood, a bathroom exhaust fan, and a 250 watt CFL (one blue spectrum for veg and one red spectrum for flower). It basically was my trial grow to see if I wanted to invest the money in a tent and real-deal equipment (which I did, obviously). I flipped to 12/12 on September 10th, 2015, threw one of the plants out as it was a male, and attached is a picture of what the lady looked like yesterday on October 22nd (42nd day of flower). They aren't the greatest as I grew with CFL's, but for my first grow in a shitty ass setup I thought I have done a decent job thus far. What do you think?

So yeah, I am running out of the General Organics because most of it got used on the amateur grow. Once it runs out (next 2 weeks) I am planning on switching to Humboldt. Humboldt was recommended to me by my hydro guy, he says General Organics was just bought out and that Humboldt is more of a local operation that ACTUALLY grows. I was also told you don't have to worry about pH with Humboldt. Also attached is a picture of the ladies yesterday, October 22nd. You can see they have taken off since last week and the tops are doing their best to catch up. Oh BTW! The FIM worked on about half of the plants, the other half I must have cut too high. They are growing normally and I think I will try again in about a week.

@420PyRoS Thanks for stopping by, feels good to have some support especially when the only people I can talk to about it are my mother and step-father (who don't grow, they just smoke). I am excited to see how this LSD turns out as well, oh and I got some free Vanilla Kush seeds from the same company which are feminized and I will probably do a mixture of them with other strains come January. Again, thanks for the feedback!

That's kinda what I'm doing, sorta a trial run atm. I have a few things in mind on a more serious level with my LSD seeds also.
I haven't tried topping or fimming yet with my trials, but as I'm limited in height, I'm going to try my luck at some lsting. I also grabbed a whole bunch of Advanced nutrients stuff for the next go. Your plants are looking good in my mind and I wish the best of luck. I'm jealous you have Vanilla Kush too

Cheers!

 

[DesertGrow89]

Yeah those buds look good for growing under cfls. I've heard that dyna-gro foliage pro 9-3-6, Peters 20-10-20 citrus and Peters 20-20-20 are great fertilizers I've heard about from experienced growers. Definitely excited to see how these turn out! Looks like your plants are starting to have legs.

 

[fers93]

@420PyRoS I am trying to decide whether to LST my ladies as well. I have been bending some of the branches over but not tying them down. Any ideas on what to hold the branches down with? I used string on my trial run but that gets to be a pain in the ass trying to tie a knot around each branch, and I certainly am not doing that to all 10.

Thanks @DesertGrow89, It is on Day 47 of flower today so hopefully it will be wrapping up shortly. I am just now doing research on how to identify when the plant should be cut down, I have been trying to judge the trichomes with a 30x jewelers coupe but it is more difficult than it looks. I think they are clear but I would need something to compare it to that's milky so I would know the difference. Right now I will just play it by the naked eye until about 2 weeks from now. Also will have to do some thorough research on the drying/curing process. I honestly know absolutely nothing about that, and it seems as though it is one of the most important phases.

Just wanted to post an update as my ladies are approaching 1 month of life since they sprouted. As you can see I am experiencing no deficiencies thus far, which I do not expect any until 12/12. I have been reading that I should let these ladies go another half a month in veg, let them get to about 1.5-2 feet tall, then flip. I think 1.5 feet is more rational considering I only have 7 feet of tent height and I have to leave room for the light. Meaning if they were to triple in size come flower time, they still would only reach 4.5 feet tall, giving me enough room.

 

[DesertGrow89]

What is the NPK ratio of the nutes you are running and what is the npk of the humboldt stuff? If you do a Google search for plant ties, amazon or whatever should have some rubber costed wire.

 

[fers93]

The General Organics is as follows: BioThrive Grow 4-3-3, BioRoot 1-1-1 and CalMag+ for veg and BioThrive Bloom 2-4-4, BioBud 0.5-0.1-1, CalMag+ for flower. I am not sure about the Humboldt stuff yet, still haven't run out of the current stuff

 

[DesertGrow89]

The General Organics is as follows: BioThrive Grow 4-3-3, BioRoot 1-1-1 and CalMag+ for veg and BioThrive Bloom 2-4-4, BioBud 0.5-0.1-1, CalMag+ for flower. I am not sure about the Humboldt stuff yet, still haven't run out of the current stuff

Right on as long as that stuff keeps your foliage green until chop. They are starting to bush out, one of my LSD is 11 inches tall, 22 inches wide, LOL. But it was also topped right above the second true node. It will be interesting to see how much they get their stretch on in flip mode. One tip that I heard from a master gardener is to bury the stem as much as possible with dirt (even if you have to pinch off a few sucker leaves), for maximum root development.