I Plead the Fiff! (5th grow, new 5x5 LED soil setup: 4x Crop King seeds under Timber Fatty)

Hello all! Figured I would do another one of these now that I have a little experience under my belt. (Feel free to comment / discuss in this thread) This will be my 5th grow but I have basically updated my entire setup so who knows how this is going to go. I am upgrading from a 3x3 Timber Cree COB setup that I have been running 2 plants in over the last few years. I have been able to pull a tad over 1g per watt (dried) on my best runs and am excited to see what I can do with a bit more light and space. (although not expecting too much this go around with everything being new)

This will start slow, I am still waiting for some supplies to come in and haven't started the seeds yet (will do that shorty) but wanted to get the basics out of the way. For all the experienced guys, this will probably be pretty boring /slow for the first couple months but hopefully other newbs can get something out of it. I basically learned how to grow here so hopefully I can pay it forward a bit by documenting all this.

On to the setup!

Room

• Gorilla Shorty 5x5 Tent (On the way)

Lighting

• Timber Fatty(Ordered Early April)
  • 9x Vero29 COBS (3500k)
  • 3x Mean Well Drivers (will find out model)

Airflow and Filtering

• AC Infinity 8" with controller (On the way)
• TerraBloom 8" Carbon Filter (On the way)
• 3x 6" Vivosun oscillating fans

Timing / Monitoring

• 2x iDevices Switch (Light timing and wattage monitoring)
• 2x Sensor Push Sensors (Humidity, Temp)

Seeds

• 1x Crop King Zkittlez
• 1x Crop King Gelato
• 1x Crop King Harlequin
• 1x Crop King CBD Jack Herer

Soil

• Buildasoil / Coots style mix 5:2:1 (Still gathering bits from various sources)
• 7gal Smart Pots

Water

• Well water (low ph)

I will update with pics,progress and comments as things come in and I get the seeds started in the next few days. Thanks for looking!
Link to my newb first grow for reference

Tent and fan arrived today! My old grow was in a closet like spot so I did not have to worry about any light getting in there even with the passive vents wide open. This one will be in a larger room where light from windows can find it's way in. I will post up some pics once it has found a home and give a little review compared to my Jardin.

Sticking with the 5 theme, 5/5 seemed like a proper day to kick things off so....

DAY 0

Not how I typically start seeds (I have been starting directly in paper towel) but this is how the provided documentation said to do it for the germination guarantee so I will obey. Soaking for 14-18 hours and then into the paper towel, I have never had any issues getting seeds started even several years old but I have only grown Nirvana before this. Hoping these will be just as quality!

Carbon filter came in today, I used a Terrabloom on my 6" and it worked well so went with them again. I have used Phresh in the past and would say it is on par as far as the smell goes. Not sure on longevity as I only did one run with the Terrabloom but it was still working fine when I was drying in the tent.

DAY 1
15 Hours in the water, CBD Jack Herer cracked but the rest are still holding out. Placed in paper towel on plate per the instructions.

Jack close up


Burrito

DAY 2
Jack and Harlequin ready to go into the soil and Gelato / Zkittlez cracked.


DAY 3
Everybody ready and in soil. I put a small layer of potting soil in the bottom and the rest is just peat.

That soil looks rough, lacking of drainage.

PhishPhood16 said:

That soil looks rough, lacking of drainage.

Click to expand...

Thanks, picture is kind of deceiving. Those are just seedling size (shotglass basically) filled with peat and I had just put a little water on top. Peat is a bit hydrophobic until it absorbs some of the water, no drainage issue. I did have problems with a couple of the seeds but more due to not doing things like I usually do. I typically let them grow larger in the paper towel and then plant with the tops just above the soil. Will do a proper update later, I got off track when the site when down for a couple days and then had the seed issues so had to start some over. Back on track and almost everything has arrived.

Alright all, sorry for the lack of update. Full disclosure there was an issue (aka I probably fucked up) so I had to start 3 of the seeds over. Now that I am basically back on track I will fill in the blanks (dates may not be exact) and be more regular with the updates.

DAY 6
Well, this is where it kind of went downhill. I knew something was wrong when the Gelato was basically the first to pop out of the soil but it was the smallest and last to crack. I have never had issues with seeds before so I will blame myself but I can't totally rule out something else since I have only germinated one way for all other grows. I typically leave them in the paper towel until I can see the cotyledons and then plant them with the cotyledons just above the top of the soil. This time I only waited for the tail to be about a half inch long and stuck them in the soil about a fingertip deep. It worked fine for the Gelato so I can't really blame the method but I will stick to leaving them in the paper towel longer before putting them in the soil.


DAY 7
FML. I dug out the CBD Jack and stuck it back in paper towel to see if it would magically return to life, it looked about how it did when I stuck it in the dirt, same thing for the Zkittlez. Harlequin looked like it was coming along so left it.


DAY 8
Them shits is dead... Nothing changed in the paper towel, I tried to pull the seed part open on the CBD and there was just white goo inside. The Zkittlez was still basically solid but the root had not gotten any bigger, it was just dead. Dunked 2 new seeds.


DAY 9
Seeds into the paper towel, I don't think either cracked in the water.


DAY 10
Zkittlez cracked. Worried about the Harlequin, slow growth and first leaves starting to go yellow.


DAY 11
CBD Jack Herer cracked,


DAY 13
Skittlez gone into the dirt. CBD Jack Herer still needs some time.


DAY 14
CBD Jack went into the soil. Started another Harlequin in paper towel, more yellowing and just not looking good, did not want to waste time waiting on another seed if it went downhill.


DAY 18
Harlequin cracked, rest all looking happy except for the Harlequin. I dug it out a bit to take a look at the roots and found there was basically still just one and it was short. Soil wasn't compact or anything so not sure what was up. It looked like there were a couple little offshoots starting so I just moved it into another separate spot/hospital hoping it would come back. I might have a spare if it survives or could make a mother / experiment or whatever.


DAY 21
Harlequin ready to go into soil, potted it in with the rest. This is an example of how long I typically wait. You can see the cotyledons getting ready to open up. I plant them just sticking out from the top of the soil.



DAY 25
Built the tent. Really happy with the quality although there are a couple of things I will have to live with just because of the size. I will do a more in depth with pictures once I start hanging some stuff in it.


DAY 28
Everything is happy and growing well. I would have potted up the Gelato by now but trying to keep everything similar sizes and such since they will all be living together. I will pot them all up together once the Harlequin has had some time to get established.


DAY 34 (today)
Current Status


Small but alive and going. They are just under a t5 right now, its pretty far away but I measured the output with a par meter so it's in the safe zone for seedlings. The Gelato wants more light and soil obviously but it will be fine, I will pot up in the next couple of days now that the Harlequin is a couple weeks old.

I have pretty much everything I need to mix my soil, I am still waiting on one ingredient but at this point I will not let it hold me up. Also finally got shipping notice from Timber so the light should be here by the weekend! Once that is in I will wire up the tent and do some pictures and give some feedback on the tent, light and rest of the setup. I am still trying to figure out where I will situate it in the room, I will say that I wish there was access on the sides at the back instead of only the back. It would be nice to have the back of the tent against a wall in the room I have but it was the only 5x5 that was short enough to fit where I needed. Will update soon when soil is mixed and they are potted up a bit. I will probably just go one size up and then into the smart pots after that. (Typical way I do it)

Thats day 34? Id have 6inch wide buds by now. Toss those.

The Dankstar said:

Thats day 34? Id have 6inch wide buds by now. Toss those.

Click to expand...

It's only a couple weeks from seed for most of them since I had to start some over. I purposely left the oldest one in the small starter size while the others caught up. They should all pick up as soon as I pot them up.