4 mysterys / 2 auto ak47 first timer.

Well my journey started in a rather laughable matter.
Had went to my buddys house grabbed an ounce and mentioned now that I was legal I was thinking about starting a couple plants. Few minutes later he's got 4 seeds & some solo cups and goes have at it.
Overly excited and oblivious, I proceed to germinate (dec 1st)
December 7th rolls around all 4 have cracked and proceeded to get a few inchs long so I planted them, now here's where the laughable part begins. I did zero research aside of a quick Google search for a 'grow light' lone and behold Lowe's has an led full spectrum for 63$ so I think well that'll be a good start till they get bigger. Get it home & set up , bring my overly excited ass back up stairs and decided to do further research (little late lol) & ended up coming across this forum and quickly realized I fucked up , cause this little 19W '85w' replacement was useless and of course the child had mutilated the receipt by the time I had came to this realization. Fast forward to dec 19th I go to my local hydroponic store picked up some good soil ( had previously used old potter soil, Yes another laughable mistake ) and some ak 47 auto seeds. Started germinating two of those proceeded to do further research on lights and prices while having a couple household cfls on them in the meantime.
Dec 21st comes along he hooks me up with a 400w hps setup with magnetic ballast for 175 tax included. Beat the brakes off the online prices i had been seeing and no shipping so quickly snatched that up and got it hooked up. Babies are thriving now and I'm back to being overly excited and probably in line for a few more laughable mistakes.

Anyways thanks for reading that eye full hope I've given you a few laughs. once I discover how to post pics I'll update the before and after setup which will add to the humour

Led was 19th and the other two was taken yesterday

Dec 26th noticing some slight discolouring on two leaves . ph meter still in the mail . no nutes, potting mix soil with limestone and perilite . watering based on weight of cup so far 2-3 day average . hydroponic store said city tap water was about 9ph. Meter can't come fast enough.

Haha now your addicted .

wizard cabbage said:

Haha now your addicted .

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Daily smoker since I was 14, at the point of 2oz a month. So 400$ monthly is becoming a little much with two little ones running around. Aside from work and video games I lack a hobby so I think this fits that niche perfectly lol .

Tap water should be left out for chlorine to evaporate and filtered even a Brita will likly bring your ph down . 9 is high

wizard cabbage said:

Tap water should be left out for chlorine to evaporate and filtered even a Brita will likly bring your ph down . 9 is high

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I've got a couple 24 oz cups of water downstairs sitting . had a Brita until the child tried to help herself and it broke it 2 pieces lol. Wife got an amazon prime free trial last night so I ordered a 5 pack of 7 gal fabric pots & a ph tester. Had a 54$ one on sale for 20 . not sure how good it is but I'm sure it's better than the typical 15$ one. 2 day shipping says it'll be here by Friday ( fingers crossed ). I'm seeing a minor Browning at one leaf tip & slight discolouring on two others between the 4 mysterys . I'm chalking it up to improper ph since I haven't used any nutes and made the rookie mistake of over watering the first week while seedlings. But have figured out the dry/wet weight of my cups so I think I have that part sorted.

Any info/tips & tricks are appreciated soaking everything I can up like a sponge lol.

If your unsure about anything just do a search . When you give them Nutes make sure u start with a low amount it’s easy to nuke seedlings .

wizard cabbage said:

If your unsure about anything just do a search . When you give them Nutes make sure u start with a low amount it’s easy to nuke seedlings .

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I was lucky there local store steered me clear of nutes and just suggested a better soil since I had really crappy reused potting soil from summer my flower garden . said after 6 weeks it would be worth it But before that the seed has enough of Its own.
Sensei or sensi grow / bloom was the ones he recommends for later. Any experience with that brand or heard anything good or bad lol . 45$ for both tax included. (haven't purchased any yet)

Ak47 auto's have went from seeing a tiny seed enclosed leafs to these babies in the 6hour darkness period 9am off 3pm on
Happy happy happy.
Then the big two mystery's & the smaller two. Hoping to sex the mystery's soon. Ak's are auto fem's as back up in case all 4 mystery's fail me.

Watered at 9am at lights off. Pics at 3pm lights on.
Lowered light 3 inches.
May still be too high. Haven't deciphered optimum height yet.
Still awaiting fabric pots / ph tester hopefully in by tomorrow.

Well pots are in, ph tester is not due till 31st-4th now. Sorta sucks but oh well nothing I can do. Waiting to pick up the wife from work & hitting the hydro store to grab some more dirt, then time to transplant these puppies out of their cups.
Watered 9am yesterday morning and when I got home from work at 10pm I had to water again as they were light as a feather . checked at lights on today and again dry as a bone. Held off on water for now . had to raise the light an inch and a half last night when I got back from work looked like they didn't like the lowering . slight curls on a few of the smaller leaves. As of 9am before lights off they were lazy as usual and perky as can be at lights on.

Pics after transplant.

Baby ak root sticking out of the bottom surprised how far down that lil buggar got .
Turns out the pots couldn't have gotten here at a better time. All 4 mystery's were what looked to be root bound solid 1 inch of wrapped roots in the solo cups .

Got some nice soil 30$ for a 107l bale of nutri hp mix.

Lowered lights down to 2ft since the tables no longer in play. Not sure if I should lower further or not. Reflector corners are currently parallel to the plants so I fear lowering it would take away from the outer plants.

Moved tower fan a little closer to allow for more movement in the back plant. Still skeptical of how hard to have them blowing . front ones are moving a fair bit, but main stems look steady.

Looking good Nate! Me and you are in the same boat I just started too. Here’s my baby’s they are 9 and 10 days old today

Way2-High said:

View attachment 4256315 Looking good Nate! Me and you are in the same boat I just started too. Here’s my baby’s they are 9 and 10 days old today

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From seed? Damn I'm a bit jealous lol. I put the two auto's in paper towel on the 19th & in soil on the 22nd. The mystery 4 are pretty small for how long they've been going but due to my laughable rookie mistakes early on I'm surprised they're alive lol.

Ya from seed, I’m pretty sure I’m getting lucky or my diligence is paying off, who knows. I soaked in water for a day then straight into the soil. They popped out on the 18th and 19th.

Judging by your pics they are doing fine man. Btw I’m from Ontario too.

Way2-High said:

Judging by your pics they are doing fine man. Btw I’m from Ontario too.

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I lack patience, so this is a hobby thats hopefully going to teach me it lol. Defiantly haven't done this much research since high school. Ahh another proud canadian

Yea!!! I also had no patience until I started aquascaping years ago, luckily that exact same patience carried over perfectly to growing above water too.

Way2-High said:

Yea!!! I also had no patience until I started aquascaping years ago, luckily that exact same patience carried over perfectly to growing above water too.

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Actually had to Google aquascaping lol. Turns out it was what I thought it was . Not sure I'd have the patience for that though it sure does look cool. Always wanted an aquaroim, but the bird and cat seem to be enough maintence lol.