Sentry's first grow (6 Plants)

Day 3

Hey everyone. First post, I know I've gone through the site to answer some of my questions and a big heads up to all the growers for lending their time; its really saved some grief for me.

Alright, well the rundown. I used to smoke years ago but quit in 97. Felt the urge to get some gear but I don't have any of the old contacts. I did manage to get a bag of seeds (2 years old) from a mate of mine and had a chinese takeout container full (5 years old) from an ex girlfriend, so I thought I'd give it a crack!

I've germinated the seeds with success, or as much success as I'd expect given the age of the seeds. (Note, I have absolutely no idea what type or where they came from). Ironically I had more of the 5 year old seeds germinate than I did the 2 year old ones!

Now, I had opted for outside growing but today I found a beetle had attacked one of my plants, consumed it, and died in the soil. Great. So instead I'm going to have to stealth grow. Luckily its bulk rubbish collection around so I nabbed a small 3 ft tall set of drawers. It'll do until I find something larger (I really don't want to have another plant die due to bug infestation.. these seeds were hard enough to grow as it was).

So the setup is going to be 2 20w fluros (I know, not a lot of power), in soil with DC fan for ventilation and temperature control. If humidity is going to be an issue, I figure some salt crystals (or likewise hydroscopic material) should be able to handle any load if they're changed regularly. Likewise, a CO2 scrubber tube and planting with mint should eliminate odours.

I'm an instrument tech / electrician, so all will be PLC controlled.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what expirienced growers have to say about the setup. Its always good to get a second opinion I've also thrown in a few pics of the sprouts. (I'm really not fussed if I get males, although preferably I'd want a few females. I need a new batch of seeds)

Day 4

Little bit taller, little bit greener. No bugs drilled the new sprouts overnight so all is good. Have watered less so the roots have to dig deeper to search. Big fuck up, the cabinet I sourced off the side of the road is too small for the light, so I'm going to have to find another one. heh. Should have taken measurements.

Anyway I noticed the sticky topic that says "only post in someones grow journal if asked", so I'm asking Any ideas on the rig I'm setting up?

- A

Hey man! The grow sounds good on paper. Would be interested in some pics as soon as you get it set up. Are your plants outside for now?

The sprouts look good. That's crazy that they were still good after 5 years. Sweet!
Are the floros the only light source you're going to have or will you be adding some?
I would add a few CFLs too since it's 4 plants. And what will you use to flower?

LOL sorry bout all the questions. I'm a curious guy.

Good luck with the grow! I'll be watching this one.

Peace

Hey! I'm not really sure about the lighting arrangement just yet. Really, I'd just like to see them grow a little more. At the moment I'm stoked they lasted longer than my very first attempt 9-10 years ago (bagseed).

At the moment I'm at the stage where I've gone and bought a wardrobe for the shed. Its 1.5metres tall but quite small on the base, only around 500mm squared. The fluro I bought wont fit in horizontally, so I'm going to fit it vertically with some CFLs, or I'm throwing up the idea of installing some T5's all around the side and leaving the top reflective.

Basically, what I'm going for is a lighting arrangement that isn't going to stir any suspicion from the other housemates. They'd be cool if they knew (they do a lot more than just weed) but I'd just rather not many people knew about it for the obvious reasons.

In terms of cooling, the control strategy is going to be:
Fan based cooling only.

• • Turn fans ON at 24 degrees and turn OFF at 22 degrees
  • Fan must run for a minimum of 5 minutes
  • Fan must run for 5 minutes at least once an hour
  • Fan will be turned off for 5 minutes during watering to reduce humidity

Lighting strategy will just be on a simple time schedule, which I'll change when its time for flowering.

Filtering will be done through an active carbon fish filter.

Would love to hear any comments or remarks anyone has to say about this setup. Thanks

- A

Day 8

Plants are doing well. The majority have began to grow taller and fill out. Still having trouble with one of them but I can't complain

Have built and wired the grow cabinet PLC, and installed into the cabinet. Fan is permanently on for the time being and the light is on a 14 / 10 schedule. I figure this time replicates summer. Anyone think different?

The cabinet needs a differen't fan and lighting system but for the time being its not too bad; does alright for small plants. The fan is noisy and if anyone came into the back garage they'd hear it a mile off so I'm thinking of installing 3 PC fans to solve this problem.

Am not watering as much and this seems to be helping. Have bought all 7 plants into the grow cabinet as the weather is apparently turning bad over the next few days.

- A

Sounds good. Interesting time schedule. I guess that does replicate summer, but they would grow faster on 24/0. Any pics of the setup or new pics of the plants' growth?

Keep it up!

Peace

Day 9

(pics to come shortly when the missus leaves)

After taking the advice of the people on this site, I've decided to change the soil. My first mistake was to grab any old soil and throw them in, and it turns out I chose a slow release fertilised soil. The way I figure I'll do this, is I'll transplant 4, wait a day or two, and then transplant the other 6 just to make sure I did it right. After all, I'd hate to transplant and wind up with nothing because I screwed it up. Will go read up on transplanting.

Time schedule is permanently on. Turns out there was a problem with the function block I love xxxxxx brand PLCs, they never worked right.

One plant was low on water and has started to curl its leaves. Will start checking morning and afternoon, especially in the 40 oC weather.

More to come

Photos of stealth cabinet uploaded.

Cabinet was bought for $10 in the quokka, a city based "trash and treasure" style newspaper.

I know, its too small for the amount of plants I have, but I'm not expecting all of them to live, and hopefully I can sex them early, pick 3 or 4 females and grow them in there.

The fan is going to be replaced with 4 computer fans as soon as I buy the power supply. The light is going to be replaced with 4 cfls as soon as I buy the rig and set up the conduit work (2 weeks time), but for now I think it should be alright. As for when the plants get to big, I'll reinstall the fluro on the inside back of the cabinet, and install 2 T5 tubes on the inside left and right so there's plenty of light. Who says you need to have the lights on top

Day 10

After taking some advice I transplanted two of my girls. I picked the two unhealthiest ones so

a) They could get the most out of the transplant, and
b) If they died I wouldn't care so much. I already have a germinated seed ready to take their pot

The one that had the drooping leaves turned brown, but its gaining some colour back. Leaves are still low.

The other.. well.. the transplant didn't go so well but its looking pretty good. All the soil dropped off and it was just laying in the pot. Took a while to set it up straight but I think it'll be alright.

All plants with exception to the one with drooping leaves have their second leaves coming through and are looking very healthy. Photos to come when the housemates aren't here.

- A

Day 15

All plants are growing well. Some have 2 or even 3 sets of leaves which is great.

The two that were transplanted aren't going so well. One of them is on the verge of dying. Its leaves are burnt and curling at the end so I've watered it and taken it outside. Hopefully, if its the light, this will help it get back on its feet. If not, no great loss; it was gone anyway.

Week 4

Yeah its been a while since I updated this journal

Plants are all doing well. I started off with 11 (showing that either I can't count or I planted more than I thought. Had a few double ups in pots) and am just about down to 9. One died as a result of transplanting and general sickness. It had always been sick so I wasn't too concerned. I have another one that appears to be on its way out but given the state of the other plants I'm not too concerned either.

Four of the plants are doing very well, with an extra two that look like they'll prove to be good as well. The rest have just been replanted into decent soil and as small as they are, I'm sure they'll catch up. So at the moment I've got 8 plants in my small cabinet (the sick one has been isolated), which will prove to be a problem when they get bigger. One of the housemates knows about the plants; she saw a few of them outside and she's got no problem with me growing. Nice

The four that are doing well have their third set of leaves and I've had to raise the light four times. Pictures to come.

Comments and questions welcome!

Week 5

Geez, 5 weeks already! Okay, a few of them have died due to an unknown reason. I transplanted the 3 that died on the same day, so I'm guessing there might have been a contaminant in the soil. I have one thats barely hanging on, one that is getting better and four that are doing really well.

So far I've noticed I've got two strains, although I couldn't identify which is which for the life of me. One has thin leaves that stretch right out and the other has fat, stumpy leaves. Either way, four are doing well with another not far behind it.

Haven't taken any pics this week; the timer has shut the light off so I'll try later on during the week. PLC program is running fantastic; couldn't have asked for it to work any better. Will post up the program if anyone is interested in seeing it.

Modifications:
I need to change the lighting rig. At the moment I'm running 2 x 18watt fluro's. I went to look at grow lights at a hydro store but the guy was just about sales and not about help. What I *DID* happen to get out of him, was I can continue this lighting arrangement until they're about 9 inches, and then I'll have the change it. Well, they're close.

What I've done is bought 6 x 8 watt energy saving globes, 6 x bayonet holders and pilfered some gear from work. What I'm going to do (had I bought the fucking 20mm conduit home) is put 2 globes per side (one higher than the other) and still use the 18watt fluros. That way I'll have all the sides covered, except the door of course. I'll use a milk crate to get the plants close to the lights and I'll have a fairly energy efficient stealth grow. Will also need to mesh a barrier so the plants don't burn themselves on the lights.

Please feel free to post any comments and questions. This is my first time growing and it'd really be appreciated