drybiedog
Well-Known Member
In the past few weeks I have been totally inspired by all the great journals here so I thought I'd start my own.
The room: (diagram attached)
Basement crawl space that has been dug out to a height of 6.5 feet. One room is veg with a counter to grow on and the flowering room is 3 feet by 4. I insulated the two outside walls and drywalled. The room was incredibly humid (I started to see some mold!!!) so I ran a dehumidifier until I realized the problem --- dirt floor! The humidity was rising from the floor. I laid down 4 sheets of foamy underlay for laminate floors covered by a thick plastic sheet. So far so good. Humidity around 45% (was 85%)
Lighting:
Veg room - 2 florescent fixtures with 2 (40 watt) bulbs each. 2 cool white and 2 aquarium grow lights. 18 hours light / 6 hours dark. I also have some cfls to strategically place as I need them.
Flowering room. One HPS 600watt bulb and ballast that I bought on ebay. It comes with a MH bulb but I don't think I'll use it.
Ventilation:
Two 2-inch holes to the outside for passive intake, currently plugged up until flowering is up and running. A HEPA air purifier is running all the time to get rid of any spores and it creates a bit of circulation in the air. Finally I have a bathroom fan 80CFM pulling air from the outdoor vents via the flowering room and venting to another basement crawlspace. Not going to turn it on until I need it. When do I need to start major air circulation?
Electrical:
I am running a separate circuit for my lights straight from the box and running everything else from a heavy duty extension cord with power-bars.
Seeds:
20 kush from BCseedKing - Arrived on time. 10 for $50 and they threw in 10 extra!! 1 bagseed from a friends bad pot.
Clones:
Not really a clone but a friend of mine gave me a bud from a flowering plant that I'm trying to convert back to veg. (see attached pic) Not looking good, lots of brown leaves but I've got my fingers crossed. See the picture. There is a very good chance I am wasting my time. Any bets?
Soil:
PROMIX Triple mix Link here and a bag of worm castings that I will mix 15% worm, 85% soil.
Water:
Have been using mineral but I may switch to tap (pretty good here) or I can also use dehumidifier water. (any advice?) I am ph balancing with phdown as the water starts at ph 7.5 and i'm trying to get it to 5.5
QUESTION: I have a water bubbler and airstone...do i need this running in my water supply all the time?
Nutes:
DNF bottles of A & B of both grow and bloom.
Environment:
It is going to be a cold winter here so it gets pretty cold outside so I'm not sure how regulating temperature and humidity is going to be but I feel confident and capable of making the necessary adjustments.
Germination:
My first attempt at germinating was disappointing.
I soaked 8 seeds for 36 hours in water. Half cracked with a taproot just visible inside - I planted them all in darkness - half to rockwool soaked in a super weak (2 drops of liquid plant food per litre) ph-balanced mineral water. The other 4 went into soil. The next day I turned the florescents on 30 cm above the plants. Only 2 rockwool seedlings came up. the rest of the seeds all looked cracked and in some the taproot is visible but they never progressed. The ones that still hadn't cracked I transferred to paper towel to soak more and pray.
I know I made a mess of my first germination effort but I've read a bunch and am trying the paper towel method now.
8 more kush seeds and 1 bag seed I snatched from a friend.
This time I will try to keep a constant temperature by leaving them on the computer monitor. I will wait for the taproot to clearly emerge before transferring to rockwool. Also I ph balanced the water with lemon the first time and now I have phdown. So far they have been in the paper towel for 16 hours with no visible change.
The single bagseed which I started a day earlier has cracked with the smallest visible taproot inside but I will wait until the taproot actually exits the seed before planting (although it has been like this for 24 hours now with no change). I live pretty far north and the temperature inside fluctuates quite a bit at night so I'm not sure if that is what is causing my seeds' lack of growth. Anyone want to weigh in?
Hope you enjoy the pics. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there are noobies like myself that want to know more about my set-up - I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Fingers crossed and filled with eager anticipation for the project ahead.
Lots more pics to follow.
The room: (diagram attached)
Basement crawl space that has been dug out to a height of 6.5 feet. One room is veg with a counter to grow on and the flowering room is 3 feet by 4. I insulated the two outside walls and drywalled. The room was incredibly humid (I started to see some mold!!!) so I ran a dehumidifier until I realized the problem --- dirt floor! The humidity was rising from the floor. I laid down 4 sheets of foamy underlay for laminate floors covered by a thick plastic sheet. So far so good. Humidity around 45% (was 85%)
Lighting:
Veg room - 2 florescent fixtures with 2 (40 watt) bulbs each. 2 cool white and 2 aquarium grow lights. 18 hours light / 6 hours dark. I also have some cfls to strategically place as I need them.
Flowering room. One HPS 600watt bulb and ballast that I bought on ebay. It comes with a MH bulb but I don't think I'll use it.
Ventilation:
Two 2-inch holes to the outside for passive intake, currently plugged up until flowering is up and running. A HEPA air purifier is running all the time to get rid of any spores and it creates a bit of circulation in the air. Finally I have a bathroom fan 80CFM pulling air from the outdoor vents via the flowering room and venting to another basement crawlspace. Not going to turn it on until I need it. When do I need to start major air circulation?
Electrical:
I am running a separate circuit for my lights straight from the box and running everything else from a heavy duty extension cord with power-bars.
Seeds:
20 kush from BCseedKing - Arrived on time. 10 for $50 and they threw in 10 extra!! 1 bagseed from a friends bad pot.
Clones:
Not really a clone but a friend of mine gave me a bud from a flowering plant that I'm trying to convert back to veg. (see attached pic) Not looking good, lots of brown leaves but I've got my fingers crossed. See the picture. There is a very good chance I am wasting my time. Any bets?
Soil:
PROMIX Triple mix Link here and a bag of worm castings that I will mix 15% worm, 85% soil.
Water:
Have been using mineral but I may switch to tap (pretty good here) or I can also use dehumidifier water. (any advice?) I am ph balancing with phdown as the water starts at ph 7.5 and i'm trying to get it to 5.5
QUESTION: I have a water bubbler and airstone...do i need this running in my water supply all the time?
Nutes:
DNF bottles of A & B of both grow and bloom.
Environment:
It is going to be a cold winter here so it gets pretty cold outside so I'm not sure how regulating temperature and humidity is going to be but I feel confident and capable of making the necessary adjustments.
Germination:
My first attempt at germinating was disappointing.
I soaked 8 seeds for 36 hours in water. Half cracked with a taproot just visible inside - I planted them all in darkness - half to rockwool soaked in a super weak (2 drops of liquid plant food per litre) ph-balanced mineral water. The other 4 went into soil. The next day I turned the florescents on 30 cm above the plants. Only 2 rockwool seedlings came up. the rest of the seeds all looked cracked and in some the taproot is visible but they never progressed. The ones that still hadn't cracked I transferred to paper towel to soak more and pray.
I know I made a mess of my first germination effort but I've read a bunch and am trying the paper towel method now.
8 more kush seeds and 1 bag seed I snatched from a friend.
This time I will try to keep a constant temperature by leaving them on the computer monitor. I will wait for the taproot to clearly emerge before transferring to rockwool. Also I ph balanced the water with lemon the first time and now I have phdown. So far they have been in the paper towel for 16 hours with no visible change.
The single bagseed which I started a day earlier has cracked with the smallest visible taproot inside but I will wait until the taproot actually exits the seed before planting (although it has been like this for 24 hours now with no change). I live pretty far north and the temperature inside fluctuates quite a bit at night so I'm not sure if that is what is causing my seeds' lack of growth. Anyone want to weigh in?
Hope you enjoy the pics. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there are noobies like myself that want to know more about my set-up - I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Fingers crossed and filled with eager anticipation for the project ahead.
Lots more pics to follow.
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