IlEastmanlI
Member
Ok so I just started my latest indoor grow...I'm not sure that anyone remembers, but I grew several plants up in my last apt, and was able to make a pretty penny AND have plenty of smoke left over for myself. Anyway, my last grow journal didn't pan out too well for personal reasons, but I WILL be doing weekly updates on my grow. As far as set up I don't actually have it all setup completely just yet. I consider each "new" grow as an ever-expanding operation in which stages of the plants' growth that require little setup will have just that, and I basically build everything back up as per the plants' growth cycle. Right now I have 3 seedlings, one of which is Medibud from marijuana-seeds.nl, and the other 2 are Mazar x Afghan that came free with the Medibud order. I have had tremendous results with both strains in the past, and I am really looking forward to this grow. They were set to germ on 1/20/11, and were planted on 1/25/11. The seeds took longer than expected to germ but that's because I fucked up & let their paper towel dry out on the first day. Luckily, I was able to germ all 9 seeds, however only 3 survived. I started them all in seed starting potting soil that was pH neutral and had no nutes. However, I noticed within a couple of days a rather rancid stench emanating from my closet. When I went to check on the plants one day, there were 12 or so gnats flying around & there were some emerging from my soil mix. I immediately extracted all 3 seedlings last night and they are now safely in their new home, which is my aeroponic system I built last year. I didn't really get to clean it out the way I wanted before transitioning into it, but there was little residue from the last grow to begin with. So, here's what my plants look like after sprouting 10 days ago.
I know they look like shit but there were 3 key factors that were detrimental to their growth. 1...Gnats! Damn I hate them! Now that I have removed the soil from the area, though, I don't see them sticking around for long. 2...Light. As I understand, seedlings can have too MUCH light, or light may be too intense for the young leaves. I started out with 6 100w CFLs, but have since removed 3 of them so that the plants have just the right amount AND intensity of light. 3...Hydration. Once I began removing the seedlings from their 16 oz cups to prepare them for the hydro system, I noticed that the soil which had not been watered in 5 days was still soaking wet. Yes I punched at LEAST 8 1/2" drainage holes in each cup. The soil's drainage was just that poor.
So now I'm just waiting to see if their health starts to improve now that all 3 issues have been resolved. I think they will be fine now as long as they start growing more roots, which one plant already has just since I put them in last night! I also fortified their irrigation system with a minute amount of rooting hormone so that should speed up the process a bit. The last time I did that when the plants were seedlings their growth EXPLODED almost overnight.
Anyway, back to my setup. When everything is fully operational, I will have 700 watts of CFL, a 20W "grow light" which is mainly used to mitigate temperature levels if they drop too low, and a 70W HPS lamp I got at Lowes. The HPS is just to supplement a lack of 2700K light during flowering. However, with my current setup, there's not really any way to curtail stale air from remaining in the growspace, so to accommodate for a lack of airflow, I have been pondering purchasing a greenhouse from Lowes. I have already seen this item in person and I know for a fact that it would fit perfectly into my growspace, with plenty of overhead to hang lights. It also has a vent at the top and the bottom of the greenhouse is open, so given the facts about this greenhouse, would it be safe to assume that temperature, humidity, airflow, and light disbursement can all be regulated more efficiently WITH the greenhouse? Please leave your thoughts below. Oh, did I mention that the greenhouse is a shelved unit, and that it comes with not just 1 but 2 screens that are the perfect size to convert the unit into a SCRoG?! Considering the limited space inside the greenhouse, I think scrog would be the optimal choice here. Also, if I do purchase the greenhouse, I will also be purchasing 3 24" flourescent light fixtures from Wal-Mart that can easily be mounted vertically on the inner walls of the closet.
I know they look like shit but there were 3 key factors that were detrimental to their growth. 1...Gnats! Damn I hate them! Now that I have removed the soil from the area, though, I don't see them sticking around for long. 2...Light. As I understand, seedlings can have too MUCH light, or light may be too intense for the young leaves. I started out with 6 100w CFLs, but have since removed 3 of them so that the plants have just the right amount AND intensity of light. 3...Hydration. Once I began removing the seedlings from their 16 oz cups to prepare them for the hydro system, I noticed that the soil which had not been watered in 5 days was still soaking wet. Yes I punched at LEAST 8 1/2" drainage holes in each cup. The soil's drainage was just that poor.
So now I'm just waiting to see if their health starts to improve now that all 3 issues have been resolved. I think they will be fine now as long as they start growing more roots, which one plant already has just since I put them in last night! I also fortified their irrigation system with a minute amount of rooting hormone so that should speed up the process a bit. The last time I did that when the plants were seedlings their growth EXPLODED almost overnight.
Anyway, back to my setup. When everything is fully operational, I will have 700 watts of CFL, a 20W "grow light" which is mainly used to mitigate temperature levels if they drop too low, and a 70W HPS lamp I got at Lowes. The HPS is just to supplement a lack of 2700K light during flowering. However, with my current setup, there's not really any way to curtail stale air from remaining in the growspace, so to accommodate for a lack of airflow, I have been pondering purchasing a greenhouse from Lowes. I have already seen this item in person and I know for a fact that it would fit perfectly into my growspace, with plenty of overhead to hang lights. It also has a vent at the top and the bottom of the greenhouse is open, so given the facts about this greenhouse, would it be safe to assume that temperature, humidity, airflow, and light disbursement can all be regulated more efficiently WITH the greenhouse? Please leave your thoughts below. Oh, did I mention that the greenhouse is a shelved unit, and that it comes with not just 1 but 2 screens that are the perfect size to convert the unit into a SCRoG?! Considering the limited space inside the greenhouse, I think scrog would be the optimal choice here. Also, if I do purchase the greenhouse, I will also be purchasing 3 24" flourescent light fixtures from Wal-Mart that can easily be mounted vertically on the inner walls of the closet.
I can't wait to give my setup a serious overhaul! Oh btw out of the 4 beans I added to my hydro system, 2 of them are sprouted...just waiting for the plant to actually be standing vertically to take pics lol. One of them was a very deep purple color when it emerged from the soil though, which I though was kind of odd. Anyway, If the other 2 don't sprout I have another tiny plant that can take its place. I'll be back later for an update on my "new" grow room lol
