FatCalvin's First Grow - Northern Lights Auto-Fem - 2013

[fatcalvin]

Hello 420mag!!
Ive been looking over the forums and a few others for a few months gathering information to start my first grow. Being as it is my first grow I wanted to do something a little easier so i went with Nirvana Northern Lights Autoflower Fem seeds. I germ'd 5 seeds and 3 popped in 24 hours. I still have two more that are in a dark, damp paper towel right now and one looks like its tail is about to pop. I got a home build 2x4x5 tent that will hold my plants. Im using a 400w hps/mh 6" cool hood with filter and "claimed 400cfm" inline duct fan(big white one). I got a small 100cfm fan pushing air into my tent and i will have the 6" exhaust from a carbon filter to the lamp and out.
I planted the 3 seeds that popped into 3gal pots. I used sunshine #4 mix just right out of the bag. I misted them lightly for a day or 2, maybe only 1/2oz-1oz of water in the AM/PM to keep the soil on top wet. One of the seeds took off. Popped out of the soil and started to stretch for the light. The other 2 got helmet head and I got them off. One looks like it is facing down but about to put some leaves out. The other looks like a ball on a stick :/. Currently using CFL 5000k bulbs for light source until i get my MH bulb. I didn't want to nuke the plants with too much light yet. Here are some pics of the little girls.
The one that took off

The next two are the one that is facing down kinda

And then the ball plant. LOL. Sorry kinda blurry

So im not sure why one took off and the others are so far behind and im not sure about the other 2 seeds that haven't germ'd yet. They were all done the same way in the same area. I didn't presoak my soil so it was kinda powdery but i just gave them a real watering of about .5L each. Going to let them dry out for a day or two and hopefully it will give me some root growth. The humidity is kinda high in my tent so Not sure if that is a bad thing? And i got my CFLs about 6-8" away from the plants to get maximum lumens.

 

[fatcalvin]

Well the two that weren't doing so well are looking a lot better. 2 of them are looking good from what I can see. They have a little bit of stretch because the light was kinda far away. i was scared i was going to burn them. The plant from picture 2 is actually bigger than the one in the first picture now. The 3rd one with the helmet head looks like a little runt. They enjoyed the extra water that I gave them.

Not sure with the sunshine mix but do you have to water the soil down really good or just give it a little? About how much water would a 3 gal pot "need/take"? I got a soil moisture gauge that you put down in the soil with like a 1-8 "moist" level. If i put it down 4-5" deep it says about 3, which is the low end of the "moist" level. To me it just seems like its dry because the top is really dry. I just dont want to over water them .

 

[fatcalvin]

Its been about 9 days since i planted the seeds. They are still very small and 2/3 are starting to get another set of leaves. Im thinking that I am having a heat problem. I am growing in a 2x4x6 tent but its in a shed. I had a temperature spike of 90 during the day some time. I run 18/6 with my "day" cycle at night. I checked in the morning and the temp only got up to 84. Checked just a few mins ago right after lights on and it said high temp was 90. Is this a little too hot for this strain? I have a feeling that the heat is causing the plants to grow slower.

 

[midowo]

How did this turned out?
90 is a bit too much and around 85 is acceptable.

 

[Truth Seeker]

How did this grow turn out?

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