Afghan Kush Ryder 1st Grow

[tachyon]

For the quick particulars...

Strain- Afghan Kush Ryder
Pure Indica
Currently in Veg. for 2 weeks at time of this post
Two gallon (I think) soil pots currently with two 26 watt 6500K CFL's and one 55 watt 2700K CFL
Currently reside in a closet between 72-75 F
Not sure on RH
Not exactly sure on PH- slightly acidic from litmus strip
Watering every 2-3 days
1/3 strength FoxFarm Veg used lightly

Some background info:
After moving into my new place I had the itch to grow some MJ so for the past few weeks I've been getting a setup going one piece at a time all while trying my hand at raising these two girls for what is mostly a learning experience for future grows. I'll be posting photos along the way so please enjoy what you see and help along the way is greatly appreciated.

 

[tachyon]

Soon after sprouting (counting these as day one)

Day three, uh oh.

Girl#1

Girl#2

Not entirely sure what was wrong; I added Alaskan Fish Fert to girl#2 and watched what happened by taking photos with identical settings 24 hrs apart. After seeing the leaves green up a little, I added some more and dosed #1 up as well. I'm pretty sure the problem was bad soil (maybe to alkaline) as I just used the stuff my girl friend had left sitting in our outdoor room. Lesson learned and just planted some Northern Lights with some Fox Farm potting soil but that's for another journal.

 

[tachyon]

After adding the Alaskan FF 5-1-1 which either added needed nitrogen to the soil or lowered the Ph to a reasonable level such that the plants were allowed to uptake the N the girls started to sing again.

Anyhow, next day, day 4

Girl#1

Girl#2

 

[tachyon]

Now we're at day 8 and can see some solid growth and the girls are looking much better after the yellow scare they had. But we're seeing a bit of some upward turning leaves so possible nute burn? This leads me to believe that the ph in my soil was just a bit too high and already had the proper amount of N in it.

Girl#1

Girl#2

And now we are current with day #14

Girl#1

Girl#2

and Girl#1's legs

 

[tachyon]

Tonights closing thoughts...

Plants seem to be filling up the pots quickly. I'm getting a 400 MH in the morning so maybe that will encourage them to grow out a bit? I like the fact that they're way bushy right now however I didn't fill the pots up with enough soil so the leaves aren't able to grow outward without running into the sides of the pots. I'm also really happy with how thick the stems have gotten. Nothing I'd hate more than to accidentally break my girls but I would doubt that could happen with their current height to stem diameter ratio. Oh and girl#1 seems a bit weepy but I think that would have to do with her flush from the other night. I didn't add perlite to my crappy soil so it really doesn't drain too well. Again, lesson learned.

 

[CliffMohr]

I'm following.

 

[tachyon]

Thanks!

For a quick update, I just put in a 400 MH light...
Not quite sure what I think right now about it. For one, I'm getting less light on my plants (as tested with the light meter on my camera). Also, the thing is bloody hot! Even if I go with some mylar walls to get better reflection, I just don't think it's worth dealing with the heat.

But that's what experimenting is for. Only cost $50 to try it out but now I'm wondering if I would rather try a T5 setup or a CFL setup next. Currently leaning towards the T5 because my grow space is sorta rectangular in nature and I could make great use of the light distribution for future grows.

Letting the light cool down now so I can adjust the hood position and hopefully get better light intensity on my girls. Will let you guys know how it goes.

 

[CliffMohr]

I hear you brother, HID lights get very hot. You definitely can't keep them in a small space without air-cooling them. CFL's or T5's will work great for vegging, but I would switch to HPS for flowering if you can keep the heat under control.
I was also wondering why your plants are so deep inside the plant pots. If you have them sitting that deep inside, the sides of the pot will prevent a lot of the reflected light to reach your girls.

 

[tachyon]

I didn't really intend for them to be sitting so deep as I assumed they would grow tall quick and it wouldn't be a problem; I was wrong on that account. Aside from me originally not putting enough soil in the pots I think the soil may have actually compressed a bit too because I'm certain the soil level was higher...

Anyway, I made a note of it and next time, the plants are sitting higher in the pot

 

[mortimer]

I grew this exact plant in a PC. Was really great weed too. I tried to post a link to the journal but its on another forum so it would not work.

 

[tachyon]

Dang dude; think you could post it with a space in the url? Kinda like "www.goo gle.com"

 

[gardengoblin]

You started a little early with the nutes but tht seems to be something all new growers do haha, but uve pulled it back so good on ya ive grown this too, real stoney smoke one of the bigger yeilders of the auto strains aswell, good luck

 

[tachyon]

Haha, for sure. With the Northern Lights I'm going to wait a while on the nutes. Thanks for the tip.

Here's a quick update for the night.

We're on day 16 and the girls are looking fantastic. I clipped a set of leaves off of Girl#2 so I could take a better look at some brown and yellow spots but what I found looks like a bit of a nute burn. Still haven't given them anything in over a week but I'm sure the soil still has remnants of what I did give them so the girls are still overcoming. Flushing really doesn't work as this soil doesn't have any perlite but I have been giving them filtered water and it seems to be working.

Anyhow, Girl#1

and Girl#2

I also adjusted the MH light such that the intensity is just as good as the CFL's but the coverage is better. I've been dealing with the heat by not running the heater in my house and just leaving the closet door open all day. Seems to be working as the surface soil temperature if 75 degrees.

 

[tachyon]

Oh and in the past day or so, I've seen quite a bit of vertical growth. For an autoflowering plant and my setup, that can only be a good thing.

 

[mortimer]

Dang dude; think you could post it with a space in the url? Kinda like "www.goo gle.com"

PM an email and I can send a link that way. My journals are very detailed. You might find some interest in it.

 

[tachyon]

I would be it won't let me PM until 50 posts.

 

[gardengoblin]

Haha, for sure. With the Northern Lights I'm going to wait a while on the nutes. Thanks for the tip.

Haa its something every new grower seems to do mate, i did it and so did everyone i knw, think everyone gets it in there head that cannabis is this super plant that needs all this food and special care, when really its is jst well as the name suggests a weed! Less is more make the plant work for u searcing for food makes those roots bigger and stronger which equals a bigger plant! As a rule i start feeding at week2 or 3 with quater strength nutes i dont even get to full strength, ever! Those greedy nute comanys just want u to run out quicker

I also adjusted the MH light such that the intensity is just as good as the CFL's but the coverage is better. I've been dealing with the heat by not running the heater in my house and just leaving the closet door open all day. Seems to be working as the surface soil temperature if 75 degrees.

An idea for keeping your lights cool is to jst have a fan blowing juster under the bulb i have to do this because i have to 400w HPS in just a 1mx1m tent.

And superthrive is a good product to have handy, its super concentrated and designed for seedling and clones, it pretty much brings plants round from problems, its saved my ass and alot of other peoples, just dont get it on ur hands it stinks!

Anyway plants look like there coming round and looking good for there age mate quite developed especially for soil, your doing well.

Good look for the rest autoflowers get interesting about 3/4 weeks look out for those hairs!

Peace

 

[tachyon]

Thanks GG, I'll pick up some Superthrive next time I'm in the hydro shop.

Quick question though, I've got what I think are pre-flowers on my larger plant but wanted to run it by you guys. So what do you think? Am I seeing things or are these really pre-flowers?

Just to be clear, I'm looking at the three pieces of stringy vegetation growing from the node.

 

[gardengoblin]

Ye man looks like u got a girl

 

[tachyon]

Fantastic! So when would you recommend me warming up the lights?

Here's some photos of the girls

Hairy Girl#1 - She's looking fantastic BTW. The bright lights tend to bleach the colors but believe me when I say she's all sorts of green.

Girl#2 - She's still a bit pissed about too much nutes as evidenced in the brown spots but otherwise she's coming along nicely.

And last but not least a sneak peak at the Northern Lights that sprouted up yesterday.

Dang cotyledon is screwed up on this one. But it's out of the ground and will have true leaves shortly so probably no big deal.