First real grow, soil, t5, 400whps, 400w mh,autos

a month ago I tried growing using the dwc method. i couldnt even get off the ground. i did many things wrong...now im starting over but using soil. heres my setup

SOIL
40% Fox Farm Ocean Soil
40% Perlite
10% Vermiculite
10% Peat Moss

Pre- Germination i soaked the soil in ph correct liquid kelp water with 6.0 ph. Instead of using the paper towl method or the cup method I simply planted the seeds straight into the soil about a half inch down and then put a little more water with kelp ontop. I did just for shits and giggles put a seed in a cup filled with water and a little liquid kelp. The seed sunk immediatly and once it cracks i will plant it and see if it is behind or grows faster than the seeds that were just planted.

SEEDS
- Auto Northern Lights Blue
- Auto White Widow
- Auto Pinnapple Express
- Auto Skunk Mass

LIGHTING
- T5 flouresant lights with 4 bulbs. 10,000 Lumens
- 400w Apollo HPS 53,000 Lumens
- 400w Apollo MH 32,000 Lumens

VENTILATION
- 6" exaust fan that has duct going into the ballast then duct going out the other side and into a 6" carbon filter
- small circulation fan

HOUSING
- 6ft tall by 2ft deep by 3ft wide. Grow tent lined with mylar. ( it is very cramped )

NUTRIENTS
- Fox Farm Nutrients
- grow big, big bloom, tiger bloom, open sesame, beastie bloomz, cha ching, kangaroot

So right now i have 4 solo cups filled with my soil mixture which is completely soaked but the mixture is designd to allow for alot of air and it wont hold too much moisture. the cups are under the T5 right now. I plan on leaving them under this until its almost time to flower which will be in about 4 weeks. I am going to have the lights on 24 hours until i see the plants break through the soil, then i will switch to 18/6. then 12/12 once its time to move them into the tent for veg. I currently have two dirt herb plants that are 9 weeks old in there now. i performed many experiments on those plants so they are not in the best shape. they are both sort of budding. one has a ton of white hairs in 9 different areas but they are not massing up. they were in a pot outdoors up until a week ago. Once i remove those plants i will have to bleach and scrub the tent down so not to infest any diseases onto the good plants.

Please comment as much as you want. I am very new at this but have done a ton of reading and any criticism would be very welcomed. I will be posting pics throughout as well.

So PH is 6.0 and humidity is always around 51%. im considering puting ceran wrap overtop of the solo cups during the germination process. Last time i did this, once they grew and i took off the ceran wrap and the humidity dropped, the seedlings fell over within an hour of removing wrap. i dont get it. So i may see how these do without it.

May i take this seat sir?

hell yea. welcome!!! have a seat and enjoy the roller coaster...any advice would be great...i decided to leave the lights off until i see something break the surface and i also decided on puting ceran wrap on the cups. my only concerns are.....my soil mixture doesnt hold enough water to properly germinate the seed....the soil temperature may drop too much to germinate the seeds.....im sure i am over thinking everything so i will just leave it all alone and give it a few days....i have 48 more seeds on its way so i wont be left with nothing if this fails. oh and the sead thats now somehow floating in the cup is called pakistan valley.

subbed, awesome variety of girls you're going to have

I'm extremely interested in this grow.

Why are you putting them on an 18/6 at the start? Does that speed up the sprouting itself? Subbing to this for more infoooo!

I was going to have them under no light until they sprouted. I'm attempting to mimic nature a little so I decided to go with 18/6. It's been just under 72 hours since I planted the seeds. The norther light seed has just poked its head up through the soil, it still has the seed on it but I will leave it alone and it will come off. I don't see anything else in the other four cups. I am a very impatient person so I peeked at the white widow and the skunk. Both seeds have cracked, so I covered them back up. I'm confident they will all be above the soil in the next 48 hours. I removed the seran wrap on the tops of all the cups. I wanted fresh air to get to the soil and also the cups were always very warm to the touch and I want to cool the soil down just a bit. The room they are in has gotten very warm with all the lights going. Inside the tent it is 90. I need to invest in an ac for the room. When the lights are off it is usually 73 and when I keep the door open to the room it gets to 84 during the day. I will post pics when there is more to see. I was hoping for a faster sprout, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong if anything. So I will give it another 48 hours before I start sweating it too much.

Well, I've never tried sprouting my own through the soil, but they should be fine, as you said. When I sprout seeds I usually use the cup'o'water method and just let'em sit for a day, a day and a half or something, until it cracks and begins sprouting. Then I throw'em in.

I did the cup of water method with the Pakistan valley seed. It still hasn't broken the soil. If all the seeds sprout soon then I will always just plant the seeds. I do like the idea of softening them up before planting though.

I think I planted some of the seeds too deep. I dug down a little and saw that all of them sprouted but were struggling to push through the top. So all 5 are visible now. Another day or two and they should take off. I was banking on one of them failing, I only really have room for 4. Oh well. Could be worse. The white widow looks a little funky but it's too early to tell.

The pineapple express grew without its colydons, therefore....executed. I put a biodeisel mass auto in a cup of water and will join it up with the gang.

White widow is sloooooow, it has a root but it has stalled and won't shed the seed. I have planted biodiesel mass and holy grail 69. I also just received a shipment of 48 seeds. 11 diff strains. Most regs. I'm going to attempt the mainline technique with one of the regs. The northern lights looks great and the skunk mass is right behind it.

Yea WW is known to require patience. So you have 4 going now? It's awesome to have so many strains to chose from, what's all is on the list?

UPDATE: The white widow had stalled very badly, im not sure if it had enough energy to get out of the rock hard shell. i think the seed was old...anyways i tapped on the shell just slightly and the head detathed from the root....white widow has died...very sad. i partially blame myself.

So now I have Northern Lights Blue growing perfectly. I have Skunk Mass growing almost as well and fast as NL. Two days ago I planted Holy Grail 69 and BioDiesel Mass. About 36 hours after planting Holy Grail 69 it has broken the soil and is looking good. I just removed the seran wrap and have placed it next to NL and SM. Biodiesel is yet to break the surface. I am shocked how fast HG69 took off.

I have two Mothers Mix Seeds chilling in Rockwool right now and I have Star Berry sitting at the bottom of a cup. So there are only 3 under a light. The confirmed deaths are....white widow, pineapple express and pakistani valley,

I have 48 seeds on stand by...here are my strands......

Northern Lights Blue
White Widow
Skunk Mass
Holy Grail 69
Bio Diesel Mass
Pakistani Valley
Pineapple Express
Blue Dream
Train Wreck
ChemDawg
Zambezi
Drakensberg
Malawi Gold
Afghan Kush Special
Cheese Candy
OG Kush
Star Berry
Poison
Mothers Mix ( 13 seeds, these were freebies and nobody knows what strands they are. i guess they are a surprise. sucks I will never know though)

DAY 9 ( From time I planted seed ) Northern Lights Blue

DAY 9 ( from time I planted seed ) Skunk Mass

DAY 2 ( From time I planted seed ) Holy Grail 69


Ive been feeding NL and SK 3ml of FF Grow Big every other watering and just plain 6.0 Ph'd water everyother watering.