Auto Blackberry Kush LED grow

[HighPalestine]

Hello growers !


this is my first grow,
I germed 1 auto BBK and today is its first day after she broke out of the soil.
I am using 300w LED light mixed with 1 bulb of CFL (100W)
I used regular potting mix that has slow release nutes and coco and some seaweed.
I am not feeding now ofc, and will do a light feeding after she flowers using just regular flowers nutes (I live in a country where these options are very limited, we only have the basic stuff.

wish me luck with my real first grow ever
I got the seeds from seedsman online website, I recommend them, they have good offers and good shipping methods.

this will be a journal on my single auto BBK plant, hope it goes as planned.
by the way, I am using poor budget set up, so please try not to be haters here, support poor beginning growers.

Day 1:

 

[noysy]

Turn off, one of the lights for now pal.

Shes just a baby

-good luck

 

[HighPalestine]

Turn off, one of the lights for now pal.

Shes just a baby

-good luck

so you think i should turn the LED off and let it grow in the CFL for a few days?

 

[noysy]

Either way.

Up to you, but that much light at that stage is just a waste.

 

[HighPalestine]

Either way.

Up to you, but that much light at that stage is just a waste.

thanks buddy, that's what I'm here for, advise

 

[HighPalestine]

Day 3:

I wanted to turn the LED off for a few days but I kept it on, I'm trying to avoid stretching.

waiting for my temperature and humidity meter to arrive, so I can give her best environment possible.

 

[Yekke]

The plant looks well.
I would not light the CFL at all and bring the LED panel to 30-40cm from the plant so it could actually use that light. If you see the plant stretching adjust the light height.
If used, you want to have the CFL horizontal, the bottom of the bulb have much lower lighting then the sides. You can easily make a DIY reflector out of drywall channels and get much more light out of it.
Paint your walls white or put white plastic for reflection of the light and better use of your energy inputs.

Adding a layer of good quality compost and / or earthworm castings (EWC) (6 euro per 18L here) on top of your coco in a week or two will decrease your fertilizers prices by far and I believe will result in a better product. You can use well washed coco to mulch the composts, or a variety of other mulch type such as straw, wood bark chips, perlite (well washed and very let to dry too much - its dust is toxic), fallen leaves etc.
Mulching will keep your pot from going dry too fast which will keep the compost layer wet so it could produce and release nutrients.
I add some generic nursery organic fertilizer, but mainly just horse poop pellets (60 euro per 60L bag, and that is a lot) and composts I mainly make on my own or collect from the outdoors - you can't have it cheaper.

Good luck
-Yekke

 

[HighPalestine]

The plant looks well.
I would not light the CFL at all and bring the LED panel to 30-40cm from the plant so it could actually use that light. If you see the plant stretching adjust the light height.
If used, you want to have the CFL horizontal, the bottom of the bulb have much lower lighting then the sides. You can easily make a DIY reflector out of drywall channels and get much more light out of it.
Paint your walls white or put white plastic for reflection of the light and better use of your energy inputs.

Adding a layer of good quality compost and / or earthworm castings (EWC) (6 euro per 18L here) on top of your coco in a week or two will decrease your fertilizers prices by far and I believe will result in a better product. You can use well washed coco to mulch the composts, or a variety of other mulch type such as straw, wood bark chips, perlite (well washed and very let to dry too much - its dust is toxic), fallen leaves etc.
Mulching will keep your pot from going dry too fast which will keep the compost layer wet so it could produce and release nutrients.
I add some generic nursery organic fertilizer, but mainly just horse poop pellets (60 euro per 60L bag, and that is a lot) and composts I mainly make on my own or collect from the outdoors - you can't have it cheaper.

Good luck
-Yekke

thanks man,

I think I will lower the LED to 30cm above her, and turn the CFL for now, maybe I will make a setup for the CFL after she starts flowering,

 

[Giddy up]

BBK is an awesome choice! Looking forward to see how she does.

 

[HighPalestine]

Day 10:

today I gave her its first feeding, a very light feeding that will be stronger once it starts flowering (maybe after 10 days)

growth is not as fast as i expected, but the plant looks healthy (LED light is not letting me take good photos, but the leaves are dark green with purple hue)

I have a problem with low humidity and temperatures, (24C with 30% HR)
I think temperature is good but humidity is low, and I don't know hot to raise it, because getting a humidifier here in my country is not that easy.

love to hear your comments.

 

[HighPalestine]

more photos of day 10 with the camera flash without the LED to show you the true colors

 

[Giddy up]

Try to set some bowls of water around in your room...it won't happen quickly but your relative humidity should start to increase

 

[Yekke]

Start by raising your temps to around 26-27°C and make sure your lights-off temperature is not below 20°C
That is probably what causing the purpling and stunned growth.

 

[AlaskanAutoGrower420]

Purple stalks usually means it's lacking magnesium, start at 1/4 strength nutes. I am an experienced autogrower too under leds. I keep my led at 24" above the plant, it does make the nodes really tight, looking great so far.

 

[HighPalestine]

Start by raising your temps to around 26-27°C and make sure your lights-off temperature is not below 20°C
That is probably what causing the purpling and stunned growth.

Thanks buddy, I added 2 open bottles of water and another 100W CFL to add more light and temperature, I also stopped the intake fan and kept the exhaust fan on

 

[HighPalestine]

Purple stalks usually means it's lacking magnesium, start at 1/4 strength nutes. I am an experienced autogrower too under leds. I keep my led at 24" above the plant, it does make the nodes really tight, looking great so far.

thanks friend, will work on that, I'll post an update maybe next week

 

[HighPalestine]

Try to set some bowls of water around in your room...it won't happen quickly but your relative humidity should start to increase

thanks, I've done that and it's working better

 

[AlaskanAutoGrower420]

Could be your temps too. Usually cold temp causes discoloration too.

 

[Yekke]

Thanks buddy, I added 2 open bottles of water and another 100W CFL to add more light and temperature, I also stopped the intake fan and kept the exhaust fan on

Bottles of water will not help you with anything. If you want to increase the RH you need to have much more surface area for the water, like a wet towel.
If you want to add heat put on an incandescent light, the cheap old school ones, they give off much more heat than the CFL. You don't need more light.

And again, check your lights-off temps before you move on.

 

[HighPalestine]

Day 14:

the new CFL light helped bringing temperature up to 27c day and around 19.5c night,
the growth is going great and everything looks good and healthy, I believe it will start flowering next week.