Jon's Second Grow, First Grow Journal, Soil Grow Autos & Photoperiod

[Jon]

Hi Guys -

So I am about to begin my second grow, and this represents my first shot at a grow journal online. It seems there are many ways to post a grow journal and everyone appears to have their own style. Most people seem to begin with a listing of their setups and what plants they are growing. which is a logical enough starting point for me.

I am running two 5x5 tents. One autoflower, one photoperiod.

The Autoflower Setup

Tent: 5x5x6'11"
Soil: Each gallon of soil contains 40% Fox Farms Ocean Forest, 40% Fox Farms Happy Frog, and 20% Mother Earth Perlite #3
Strains for this grow: (3) Dutch Passion Cinderella Jack auto, (1) Barney's Farm Gorilla Zkittlez auto
Pots: 3 gallon fabric pots
Lights: (2) 1200 watt Blurples, (4) 12"x12" 29 watt full spectrum UFO light panels
Ventilation: I grow in a warm place in a garage with no windows. It is required to provide the tents air conditioning in some fashion, or there's no way to lower the temperature for flowering. So my ventilation is this:
INTAKE: 5000 btu window air conditioning unit connected to 8" 405 cfm inline intake fan. AC unit can blow regular air or ACed air.
EXHAUST: 6" carbon filter attached to 6" 8-speed variable 420 cfm exhaust fan
Additionally there are two small fans for underneath air flow and a large clip on fan blowing down from above.
Nutrients/Supplements: Fox Farms nutrient trio of Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom. Great White mycorrhizae. Cal Mag Plus. Blackstrap Molasses.
Growing Methodology: This is my first shot at autoflowers. I have chosen only four so that I give each plant as much space as it wants. I am going to begin them in 16 oz. Dixie Cups and transplant to 3 gallon pots when they're ready. I may or may not try topping them depending on how they grow, and if so I will top inside of 18 days, and obviously only one time. Additionally I will be using low stress training and defoliation as required. Other than that I am pretty much going to leave the plants to do their thing so that I can see how they grow and all that fun stuff.

The Photoperiod Setup

Tent: 5x5x7'11"
Soil: Each gallon of soil contains 40% Fox Farms Ocean Forest, 40% Fox Farms Happy Frog, and 20% Mother Earth Perlite #3
Strains for this grow: (2) Humboldt Seed Company Pineapple Upside Down Cake, (2) Humboldt Seed Company Jelly Rancher, both of which are sativa leaning hybrids in the 70/30 range.
Pots: 5 gallon fabric pots
Lights: Not allowed to name, but I use a bar light with six wide bars that measures 44"x44" and draws a true 680 watts at max power, has a 0-100% dimmer, and is full spectrum "sunlight" with infared and UV on demand. Very good light.
Ventilation:
INTAKE: 5000 btu window air conditioning unit connected to 8" 405 cfm inline intake fan. AC unit can blow regular air or ACed air.
EXHAUST: 6" carbon filter attached to 6" 8-speed variable 420 cfm exhaust fan
Additionally there are two small fans for underneath air flow and a large clip on fan blowing down from above.
Nutrients/Supplements: Fox Farms nutrient trio of Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom. Great White mycorrhizae. Cal Mag Plus. Blackstrap Molasses.
Growing Methodology: This will be a SCROG grow. I spoke to the people at Humboldt, and they let me know that these two strains have the same flowering time, a very similar grow structure, similar height, similar stretch, and like the same environment. They suggested the two strains would work very well side by side in the same tent and using the SCROG method, so I am taking their advice. I will start them in 16 oz. Dixie cups, then transplant to one gallon pots, then transplant to their final five gallon pots. I will top at least once and train the plant as necessary to try and ensure a nice, solid, full, even SCROG.


So that is the overview of the two setups which both live in the same garage. I will post pictures of each tent in a few days after I get done tweaking. You will notice in the pictures a setup designed to accommodate a person in a wheelchair, as I am such a person. It does present it's share of challenges over the course of a grow. I expect to begin to sprout my seeds on Saturday, February 13, which will be the part of the grow I call the "pre-grow." Day One of the journal will be the day the first seed breaks through and sees light for the first time. I guess I'll post update pics from both tents whenever I post.

VERY excited about this grow. I learned a TON on my first. I made tons of rookie errors. I research like a madman. And I have no ego about any of this, which makes it easier to absorb information from others and learn. I appreciate anyone who is interested to follow, and I welcome input/suggestions/criticism anytime. Thanks guys. This is gonna be fun.

The following pictures are from my first grow, which was the same blurples setup basically and was a Pineapple Upside Down Cake strain put out by a different company than Humboldt. It is an entirely different hybrid by the same name. I did okay for my first grow I thought and the finished product was very good. Exceeded my expectations. And that was knowing zero. Now that I know just slightly more than zero (lol) I can't wait to put all this research to work!

 

[Tokin Roll]

@Jon very impressive for your second grow.

Nice images also.

Tok..

 

[Jon]

@Jon very impressive for your second grow.

Nice images also.

Tok..

Thanks man. Appreciate it.

 

[Jon]

Ok so the grow has officially begun. This is the second journal post. Since the last one I have been setting up the tents and tweaking them, along with tweaking my space and all that fun stuff. I actually do enjoy the setup part.

This journal is dedicated to all the experienced growers on here who have helped me to this point. In particular I wanna give a shout out to Emilya, who has helped me more than she knows! I would encourage anyone interested in growing to read her stuff.

NOTE: This particular post is kind of aimed at hopefully helping newbie growers like me. I have no illusion that any of my setup posting will change the lives of any experienced growers. Lol. But the small percentage of new growers on here may find it helpful.

One thing I have adopted from Emilya is this: GARDEN LIKE A BOSS. I take that to mean, either do it RIGHT, and do it ALL THE WAY, or don't do it at all. That's my approach anyway. For me, Garden Like A Boss begins with the setup. Here's the thing about the setup: in a tent grow, this is your plants WHOLE WORLD. For their entire life. You want, therefore, the environment to be as close to perfect as you can make it with the means at your disposal. That means taking TIME to set up right. Tweaking. Being patient. Making as sure as you can that you can affect temperature and humidity. Making sure your power outlets can support the amperage you're drawing. Testing to see how a hot day affects the ambient air temperature in the room your tents are in and what that does to the temperatures inside the tent. Etc, etc, etc...

The point is, I make sure to take the time before I think about a plant to make sure the infrastructure is solid. Cuz without that you have nothing.

As this is my second grow, I highly doubt I have any brilliant revelations for most of the people on here. However, I have found as a new grower that I can learn a ton just from checking out other people's stuff on every level. As such, I am going to go through my setup and tweaks, with pics, in this post. For any newbie growers, I have spent countless hours thinking about how to do this or that, researched a ton, asked a ton of questions, and now on my second grow these pics are what I have come up with. I hope including the setup part of a grow is appropriate for a grow journal. Haven't seen a whole lot of folks doing it, so if it's inappropriate I assume I will get an email from one of our lovely moderators, lol.

SO....

My basic setup situation and concept is this:

I have a standard sized, one car garage with no windows, just a garage door and a door on the inside into the house. Into that space I had to fit both my 5x5's, with AC units for each tent, along with something to hold all my nutes and tools and all that fun stuff, and a table to mix nutes on, trim on, etc. AND I had to have access to all doors of the tents from my wheelchair. (I'm a crip-grower....Crip Growers UNITE!) So dividing the space effectively was a bit of a challenge.

Here are a few things I permanently adopted following my first grow in terms of MUST DO's that I include in the tweaking too, ie;
- As little as possible on the floor of the tent. Maximize the space inside the tent where the plants grow.
- ALL cords tucked away for both efficiency, and so you don't ever have to deal with them later. NOT hanging all over the place looking like a dumpster fire. Is that OCD? Maybe a little. But neatness counts! Trust me you'll be happier later the neater you begin your grow.
-All controls you need to get to and cords/power strips you need to access should be accessible. Duh. Sounds dumb to even mention, right? Lol. You'll see, when you have to unplug and replug cords over and over cuz you didn't think it through enough at the beginning. My goal is to eliminate all variables except the plants.
- CLEAN your tent before each grow. There may well be some crap leftover you need to get rid of, ie mold, dirt, or anything that can negatively affect the next grow. I thought I cleaned mine before packing it up between first grow and now, and when I unpacked the tent I found I had not done an adequate job. Cleanliness counts more than neatness!!!!! Any number of molds and pests and crap can mess up your grow, so be clean. It's common sense.
- I like to try to bring some sense of style and visual fun to the setup. I figure during the grow I am going to spend more time in that room than any other room in the house, so I may as well be as comfortable as possible in that space.
- DO NOT SMOKE CIGARETTES ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR GROW ROOM. Pot plants hate cigarette smoke. I am a smoker. Don't mix tobacco and grow space.
- TEST TEST TEST. I just did five days of testing. Hot days. Rainy days. What happens to temperature and humidity on those days? How will the fans need to be adjusted given various conditions to maintain a consistent environment? The weather outside affects your tent grow inside the tent unless you have some crazy high end space and way more money than me. Most of us are subject to some extent on having to compensate for the outside weather. Be aware of that. Test.

Ok, pictures: So I will begin at the garage door with the table and go panoramically around to the right. If you scroll top to bottom the pics take you around the whole garage. That's my setup. The AC unit that enters the one tent from above instead of at the base like the other I did for a couple reasons: first, so it's not in the way of my wheelchair. Second, the blurples I use in that tent (till I upgrade them) get HOT. I used them on my first grow and they are manageable. But this time I thought "what if the cold air intake flowed down onto the lights? Wouldn't that help cool them and cool the tent more evenly at the same time than having it come in at one corner?" This setup is an attempt to answer that question. i didn't have the option with the other tent but it worked out nicely on this one.

Setup complete. I am short my exhaust fan in the one tent which goes in Tuesday when I grab it from the storage unit. All I have to do is connect it to the filter and duct which is already in place. Ten seconds. At that point I will begin the autoflower grow in that tent. The seeds for the photoperiod grow in the Gorilla tent are between wet paper towels right now.

The photoperiod grow strain selection got tweaked just a little. I'm doing:

2 Humboldt Pineapple Upside Down Cake
2 Humboldt Jelly Rancher
1 Humboldt Blueberry Muffin

All those five will be in five gallon pots. I guess my next post will be the seeds sprouted and I will outline my beginning methodology for seedlings and veg until transplant, as well as pics of the final setup with the missing fan added and a final decision on what autoflowers to grow in that tent.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my journal.

 

[Backlipslide]

Sweet setup bro!!
I’m in for this one!

 

[Jon]

Hey Guys -

Couple tweaks to the setup today and some activity.

I finished insulating the one intake air duct into the autoflower tent. Photo is below. I sacrificed a t shirt I never wear for the decoration. But more importantly I started the photoperiod grow. The seeds are between two wet paper towels waiting to sprout a tap root. Of course I hope and expect to go 5 for 5 with Humboldt SC genetics. I also prepped the Dixie Cups for the sprouts when they're up. That is explained in more detail below, as is the easy setup of the little greenhouse setup I adapted from household materials for the seedlings.

So regarding the Dixie cups....again I have taken a page from Emilya's playbook although I believe I have improved on the idea. Her idea is to put the cup you drop the seed into INSIDE a clear cup. Drainage holes in the bottom of both cups. Easy as hell. Why do this? So you can see when your roots get to the edges of your cup. It will help to dial in the day you want to transplant. GREAT. And cheap and easy. So now I took that idea and thought about the transplant itself. Everyone talks about the "shock" to the plant that results from transplant. We could argue for hours about whether or not it's shock, or if it's just the plant adapting to a better environment. But I don't think transplanting necessarily results in a whole lot of shock to the plant, nor does it automatically lead to a few days lost to recovery time. IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. And while I don't actually KNOW what is the "right" way, or if there is one, I DO know that there are certain things I can do to minimize the stress on the plant. The first is to be as gentle as possible during the process of switching containers. Obviously. So that said, back to the Dixie cups - you see in the picture below I use THREE cups, and that there is a "slot" in the first (most interior) cup. The first cup is colored and holds the soil. I cut that cup entirely in half along the top to bottom center axis, including the bottom. This leaves me with two half-cup pieces. Then I take an eighth of an inch off each side of the cut. Now the cup cut in half goes inside a clear cup. Then inside another colored cup. This allows an entire top to bottom slot on both sides of the soil cup, including the bottom, so you can see when your roots hit the edges all around. And by placing inside the clear cup that's your window. Then the outer cup so the roots are never exposed to light. All of that is really easy, and obvious. But here's the great part: When I go to transplant out of the Dixie cup it is now as easy as it could possibly be. I don't have to cut any cup. Or worry about wet or dry soil when I transplant. Or worry about getting the plant out of the cup. All I have to do is simply take the one half of the cup off and then the other and drop it in the hole. I figure by doing that I minimize the physical shock that the plant experiences during transplant. On my first grow I dropped a plant between the Dixie cup and the pot and it ended up buried under some dirt. I dug that shoot out and replanted it and it was a bit of a runt but turned out just fine. Very resilient, these plants. But why not reduce any and all stress they experience whenever you can? This seems to be one way to do that. I would not have dropped the plant if I h(ad done this the first time, it happened when I tried to cut the cup away. Lol.

Anyway, the other pics are the little greenhouse type thing I made for these. As long as they live in Dixie cups I wanna keep them as tight together as possible and centered under the lights. I also want to be able to test the runoff from watering the Dixie cups. So by putting them in this little setup (a styrofoam delivery container, a few pieces of scrap lumber, that's it, literally) I accomplish those things. But I also make them real easy to pull out of the tent to manage. And, I have six inches in the bottom under the plants to fill with water if I like. Not to water from below but to increase the humidity. I can create about 72-73% humidity. But for seedlings I want maybe 80-85 for like the first week. I could not worry about it cuz really the plants would be just fine. And fine is just that...it's fine. I'm not going for fine. I'm going for art. Art dictates that if I CAN raise the humidity those last ten points, I should. So how? I know I can't afford any more equipment and I don't have a humidifier. It's only a few extra points. So why not just have some extra water in the tent to create humidity? Easy. Free. So this little setup lets me have a reservoir of water under the plants that will add a tiny bit of humidity as it evaporates. I know it's not much. But that's the point. It's the little things. The ones you CAN control.

Exhaust fan is here and will be installed to complete the autoflower tent later on too. I am ready to go. Fingers crossed on sprouts.

 

[Dabeast09]

Your setup kicks ass. I like your documenting style, it's going to be interesting!
Good luck, seems like you won't need it!

 

[Jon]

Your setup kicks ass. I like your documenting style, it's going to be interesting!
Good luck, seems like you won't need it!

Thanks man! I'll take all the luck I can get though. Lmao!

 

[katyjane420]

Lookin’ good! I’m excited for you.

 

[Bill284]

Hi Guys -

So I am about to begin my second grow, and this represents my first shot at a grow journal online. It seems there are many ways to post a grow journal and everyone appears to have their own style. Most people seem to begin with a listing of their setups and what plants they are growing. which is a logical enough starting point for me.

I am running two 5x5 tents. One autoflower, one photoperiod.

The Autoflower Setup

Tent: 5x5x6'11"
Soil: Each gallon of soil contains 40% Fox Farms Ocean Forest, 40% Fox Farms Happy Frog, and 20% Mother Earth Perlite #3
Strains for this grow: (3) Dutch Passion Cinderella Jack auto, (1) Barney's Farm Gorilla Zkittlez auto
Pots: 3 gallon fabric pots
Lights: (2) 1200 watt Blurples, (4) 12"x12" 29 watt full spectrum UFO light panels
Ventilation: I grow in a warm place in a garage with no windows. It is required to provide the tents air conditioning in some fashion, or there's no way to lower the temperature for flowering. So my ventilation is this:
INTAKE: 5000 btu window air conditioning unit connected to 8" 405 cfm inline intake fan. AC unit can blow regular air or ACed air.
EXHAUST: 6" carbon filter attached to 6" 8-speed variable 420 cfm exhaust fan
Additionally there are two small fans for underneath air flow and a large clip on fan blowing down from above.
Nutrients/Supplements: Fox Farms nutrient trio of Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom. Great White mycorrhizae. Cal Mag Plus. Blackstrap Molasses.
Growing Methodology: This is my first shot at autoflowers. I have chosen only four so that I give each plant as much space as it wants. I am going to begin them in 16 oz. Dixie Cups and transplant to 3 gallon pots when they're ready. I may or may not try topping them depending on how they grow, and if so I will top inside of 18 days, and obviously only one time. Additionally I will be using low stress training and defoliation as required. Other than that I am pretty much going to leave the plants to do their thing so that I can see how they grow and all that fun stuff.

The Photoperiod Setup

Tent: 5x5x7'11"
Soil: Each gallon of soil contains 40% Fox Farms Ocean Forest, 40% Fox Farms Happy Frog, and 20% Mother Earth Perlite #3
Strains for this grow: (2) Humboldt Seed Company Pineapple Upside Down Cake, (2) Humboldt Seed Company Jelly Rancher, both of which are sativa leaning hybrids in the 70/30 range.
Pots: 5 gallon fabric pots
Lights: Not allowed to name, but I use a bar light with six wide bars that measures 44"x44" and draws a true 680 watts at max power, has a 0-100% dimmer, and is full spectrum "sunlight" with infared and UV on demand. Very good light.
Ventilation:
INTAKE: 5000 btu window air conditioning unit connected to 8" 405 cfm inline intake fan. AC unit can blow regular air or ACed air.
EXHAUST: 6" carbon filter attached to 6" 8-speed variable 420 cfm exhaust fan
Additionally there are two small fans for underneath air flow and a large clip on fan blowing down from above.
Nutrients/Supplements: Fox Farms nutrient trio of Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom. Great White mycorrhizae. Cal Mag Plus. Blackstrap Molasses.
Growing Methodology: This will be a SCROG grow. I spoke to the people at Humboldt, and they let me know that these two strains have the same flowering time, a very similar grow structure, similar height, similar stretch, and like the same environment. They suggested the two strains would work very well side by side in the same tent and using the SCROG method, so I am taking their advice. I will start them in 16 oz. Dixie cups, then transplant to one gallon pots, then transplant to their final five gallon pots. I will top at least once and train the plant as necessary to try and ensure a nice, solid, full, even SCROG.


So that is the overview of the two setups which both live in the same garage. I will post pictures of each tent in a few days after I get done tweaking. You will notice in the pictures a setup designed to accommodate a person in a wheelchair, as I am such a person. It does present it's share of challenges over the course of a grow. I expect to begin to sprout my seeds on Saturday, February 13, which will be the part of the grow I call the "pre-grow." Day One of the journal will be the day the first seed breaks through and sees light for the first time. I guess I'll post update pics from both tents whenever I post.

VERY excited about this grow. I learned a TON on my first. I made tons of rookie errors. I research like a madman. And I have no ego about any of this, which makes it easier to absorb information from others and learn. I appreciate anyone who is interested to follow, and I welcome input/suggestions/criticism anytime. Thanks guys. This is gonna be fun.

The following pictures are from my first grow, which was the same blurples setup basically and was a Pineapple Upside Down Cake strain put out by a different company than Humboldt. It is an entirely different hybrid by the same name. I did okay for my first grow I thought and the finished product was very good. Exceeded my expectations. And that was knowing zero. Now that I know just slightly more than zero (lol) I can't wait to put all this research to work!

Beautiful.

 

[Jon]

THIS IS AN EXCITING DAY!!!!

After about 18 hours between wet paper towels I am 5 for 5. All five of my photoperiod seeds have sprouted. As I expected them to considering the excellent genetics. The tap roots on all five are about 1/4-/12" long. Closer to 1/4". So I'm going to let them go overnight and in the morning they will hit the Dixie cups. Everyone knows what it looks like to put a seed into a 1/2" deep hole you made in the dirt with your finger and gently cover it over with soil, so I am not going to waste time posting pictures of me doing that. Lol.

I will say this about my process of going from the wet paper towel to the Dixie cup:

The soil in the Dixie cup is exactly the same as the soil they will be transplanted into when they outgrow the Dixie cups. Some people use a "gentle" soil or a soil "designed" for starting seeds and for seedling growth. The worry I guess is that the soil is going to be too "hot" for the seedlings and burn them, as they are real sensitive when they are babies. I also had that worry. Since this grow is all seeds from Humboldt Seed Co., I called them and asked them what their suggestion would be to ally the fear of burning the seedlings. The suggestion was to mix Ocean Forest and Happy Frog 50/50. Their thinking was that the Happy Frog will not burn a thing but the Ocean Forest sometimes does. I was originally going to use all Ocean Forest for this grow to check it out but after talking to them I switched to the mix of the two. That sounded logical and good to me so that is my soil mix, amended with Mother Earth perlite #3. If you're a numbers person, it's 40% Ocean Forest, 40% Happy Frog, and 20% perlite #3. The soil in the Dixie cups will be just a very little bit moist when I put the seed in the hole.

This is important: before I put the seed in the hole I will dust the hole with Great White microchyrizzia. I helps your roots to develop and I am going to start it with the very first hole the seed gets dropped into. I will use it again in the hole on the final transplant and also feed them once a month a nice meal of Great White again, mixed in a solution with regular feeding.

And a note on the perlite: many people add perlite to soil mixes, but my strong suggestion is to RINSE the perlite first. No matter how high of quality perlite you buy or how big the chunks are supposed to be, there WILL be a bunch of dust in the bag when you get it. You don't want that dust in your soil or tent. It tends to rise up and make the surface of your soil all crappy. The solution I believe is to simply rinse it real well in a colander first before mixing with your dirt. Simple. Not work intensive. Eliminates the dust.

Once I put the seeds in the dirt in the morning, the cups will go into the Gorilla (photoperiod) tent and live in the tent in darkness, but with the fans running and negative pressure going, until they break ground. Why? I want the soil, the seeds, the emerging roots, etc. to begin to experience their lifelong environment from the womb on, ie, as soon as they are in Dixie cups. It doesn't really matter as they are going to be kept dark anyway and there's really no bad spot until they sprout. But that's why I made that silly little tray thing for them (the white styrofoam container in the previous post photos). They just go into that and that sits in the tent. It's easy and self-contained. When they sprout (or as soon as the first one is out of the ground), the lights come on. That is the day I call DAY ONE of the grow - the day the seed breaks ground.

The only other significant development today is that the exhaust fan got installed in the autoflower tent and both tents got their final tweaks. The infrastructure is now 100% finished, including tweaks, for the entire room and both tents on all levels.

TIME TO GROW SOME GREAT WEED.

 

[Bill284]

THIS IS AN EXCITING DAY!!!!

After about 18 hours between wet paper towels I am 5 for 5. All five of my photoperiod seeds have sprouted. As I expected them to considering the excellent genetics. The tap roots on all five are about 1/4-/12" long. Closer to 1/4". So I'm going to let them go overnight and in the morning they will hit the Dixie cups. Everyone knows what it looks like to put a seed into a 1/2" deep hole you made in the dirt with your finger and gently cover it over with soil, so I am not going to waste time posting pictures of me doing that. Lol.

I will say this about my process of going from the wet paper towel to the Dixie cup:

The soil in the Dixie cup is exactly the same as the soil they will be transplanted into when they outgrow the Dixie cups. Some people use a "gentle" soil or a soil "designed" for starting seeds and for seedling growth. The worry I guess is that the soil is going to be too "hot" for the seedlings and burn them, as they are real sensitive when they are babies. I also had that worry. Since this grow is all seeds from Humboldt Seed Co., I called them and asked them what their suggestion would be to ally the fear of burning the seedlings. The suggestion was to mix Ocean Forest and Happy Frog 50/50. Their thinking was that the Happy Frog will not burn a thing but the Ocean Forest sometimes does. I was originally going to use all Ocean Forest for this grow to check it out but after talking to them I switched to the mix of the two. That sounded logical and good to me so that is my soil mix, amended with Mother Earth perlite #3. If you're a numbers person, it's 40% Ocean Forest, 40% Happy Frog, and 20% perlite #3. The soil in the Dixie cups will be just a very little bit moist when I put the seed in the hole.

This is important: before I put the seed in the hole I will dust the hole with Great White microchyrizzia. I helps your roots to develop and I am going to start it with the very first hole the seed gets dropped into. I will use it again in the hole on the final transplant and also feed them once a month a nice meal of Great White again, mixed in a solution with regular feeding.

And a note on the perlite: many people add perlite to soil mixes, but my strong suggestion is to RINSE the perlite first. No matter how high of quality perlite you buy or how big the chunks are supposed to be, there WILL be a bunch of dust in the bag when you get it. You don't want that dust in your soil or tent. It tends to rise up and make the surface of your soil all crappy. The solution I believe is to simply rinse it real well in a colander first before mixing with your dirt. Simple. Not work intensive. Eliminates the dust.

Once I put the seeds in the dirt in the morning, the cups will go into the Gorilla (photoperiod) tent and live in the tent in darkness, but with the fans running and negative pressure going, until they break ground. Why? I want the soil, the seeds, the emerging roots, etc. to begin to experience their lifelong environment from the womb on, ie, as soon as they are in Dixie cups. It doesn't really matter as they are going to be kept dark anyway and there's really no bad spot until they sprout. But that's why I made that silly little tray thing for them (the white styrofoam container in the previous post photos). They just go into that and that sits in the tent. It's easy and self-contained. When they sprout (or as soon as the first one is out of the ground), the lights come on. That is the day I call DAY ONE of the grow - the day the seed breaks ground.

The only other significant development today is that the exhaust fan got installed in the autoflower tent and both tents got their final tweaks. The infrastructure is now 100% finished, including tweaks, for the entire room and both tents on all levels.

TIME TO GROW SOME GREAT WEED.

Wow sounds terrific, I'm going to enjoy watching.

 

[Jon]

I love every step of this process so much. I think I'm addicted to growing. The entire time between grows I had to move, so everything was boxed up. I couldn't WAIT to get started. Chomping at the bit every day. It's just so goddamn exciting and fun.

So the seeds for the photoperiod grow have gone from the wet paper towels to the Dixie cups and are now comfortably hanging out in their nice warm tent in the dark until they break ground, at which point we will introduce them to their brand new sun. Really excited to see what this new light can do.

So now we wait, and in the meantime start mixing the soil and filling the pots, and get the autoflower grow off the ground. Awaiting a bag of perlite that arrives today, and once that arrives the auto seeds hit the paper towels. The autoflower grow got tweaked just a bit too, as I had some seeds arrive that I thought would not be here in time (yay!). The five autoflowers will be:

2 Dutch Passion Cinderella Jack
2 Pineapple Express (asked by management to not mention company of origin)
1 Royal Queen Seeds Gorilla Zkittlez

Below are pictures of the seeds before they hit the Dixie cups. All five of these seeds germinated in exactly the same time frame (around 36 hours to get to the point in the photos), and as you can see, the tap roots of all five are remarkably consistent in length and girth. I took that as a good sign. I can hear these girls screaming at me already to let them free to do their thing. In order top to bottom: the one Blueberry Muffin, the two Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and the two Jelly Rancher. As mentioned in the previous post, I dusted each hole with Great White before putting the seed in.

It's on like Donkey Kong.

 

[Bill284]

I love every step of this process so much. I think I'm addicted to growing. The entire time between grows I had to move, so everything was boxed up. I couldn't WAIT to get started. Chomping at the bit every day. It's just so goddamn exciting and fun.

So the seeds for the photoperiod grow have gone from the wet paper towels to the Dixie cups and are now comfortably hanging out in their nice warm tent in the dark until they break ground, at which point we will introduce them to their brand new sun. Really excited to see what this new light can do.

So now we wait, and in the meantime start mixing the soil and filling the pots, and get the autoflower grow off the ground. Awaiting a bag of perlite that arrives today, and once that arrives the auto seeds hit the paper towels. The autoflower grow got tweaked just a bit too, as I had some seeds arrive that I thought would not be here in time (yay!). The five autoflowers will be:

2 Dutch Passion Cinderella Jack
2 Pineapple Express (asked by management to not mention company of origin)
1 Royal Queen Seeds Gorilla Zkittlez

Below are pictures of the seeds before they hit the Dixie cups. All five of these seeds germinated in exactly the same time frame (around 36 hours to get to the point in the photos), and as you can see, the tap roots of all five are remarkably consistent in length and girth. I took that as a good sign. I can hear these girls screaming at me already to let them free to do their thing. In order top to bottom: the one Blueberry Muffin, the two Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and the two Jelly Rancher. As mentioned in the previous post, I dusted each hole with Great White before putting the seed in.

It's on like Donkey Kong.

You just have to love freshly popped Beans.

 

[Backlipslide]

Five for five? right on, good job bro

 

[Jon]

You just have to love freshly popped Beans.

I spoke words of encouragement to them before they went in the dirt. You know how expectant moms and dads talk to their children while they are still inside the womb? I play music for my plants beginning in the womb, ie, today. Today my plants to be will be listening to the Dead, Broome County Auditorium '77. I would absolutely love to know/see if anyone has ever done actual studies on pot plants to see if music, kindness, and words of encouragement could POSSIBLY have any effect on the plants. I wonder what, if anything, would be different if you did a side by side grow, and you spoke kindly and played good music to one set of plants, and yelled and denigrated the others and played them the shittiest music you could find, like aggressive screamo shit?

 

[Jon]

Five for five? right on, good job bro

Thanks! I keep score. Beginning with my first (and only till now) grow, I have attempted to germinate 11 seeds total in my life. I'm 11 for 11. It's not exactly rocket science, lol. If you know you can count on your genetics, I think you should EXPECT to germinate every one, barring the very occasional dud.

 

[katyjane420]

I spoke words of encouragement to them before they went in the dirt. You know how expectant moms and dads talk to their children while they are still inside the womb? I play music for my plants beginning in the womb, ie, today. Today my plants to be will be listening to the Dead, Broome County Auditorium '77. I would absolutely love to know/see if anyone has ever done actual studies on pot plants to see if music, kindness, and words of encouragement could POSSIBLY have any effect on the plants. I wonder what, if anything, would be different if you did a side by side grow, and you spoke kindly and played good music to one set of plants, and yelled and denigrated the others and played them the shittiest music you could find, like aggressive screamo shit?

I love this so much. I hope your babies love your music.

 

[Jon]

I can scarcely believe I am posting this at 4:14 am on Thursday morning on the east coast of the US. I just woke up and like the grower junkie that I am, I went to the Gorilla tent to check on the seedlings. I put them from wet paper towels to their Dixie cups yesterday at about 8 am, and it is 4 am, so after only 18 hours in soil I was really checking just to make sure the cups weren't completely dry and see if I needed to mist them a little. There was zero thought in my head that I would see anything peeking up from the dirt, cuz in just 18 hours, that would be impossible, right?

NOPE. I'm a father!

Somehow, FOUR OF FIVE of my seeds have already broken ground. In 18 hours. It's astounding. My jaw was on the floor. Granted, my only personal reference point is my first grow, but those seeds took more like 36 - 40 hours to break ground. That was six plants of the same strain. These five seeds are three different strains, and all three different ones are out. Only one Pineapple Upside Down Cake is not up yet.

So I notice a lot of newbie growers talking about the various stresses they go through during their first couple grows or so. Am I doing this right? Is this an issue? Etc. I also experience these. I fret a little about anything and everything. So honestly, my first thought when I saw these guys had broken ground was, "how the hell is this possible, what did I do wrong?" Lmao! So I reviewed the process I went through putting the seeds in the cups. Mine is the same as most: I simply moisten the soil a little in the cup, push a finger about 3/4" deep in the middle of the top, and place the seed in. That hole I make with my finger is shaped like a round crater - like your fingertip. Then I take a toothpick and create a smaller hole - a hole within a hole - that is for the tap root. When I place the seedling in, I use tweezers and I place the seedling gently in the hole, then VERY gently and patiently work the root into the hole within a hole so that I KNOW the tap root is straight down and I KNOW when I cover the hole with dirt that the head is straight up and I am not going to bend the emerging root when I cover the hole. I also know that the seed is not too close and not too far from the surface of the dirt - about 1/2" to 3/4". This is the exact process I went through yesterday morning. So after 18 hours, four of five are already up, and I know I did it right. These guys just want to grow and produce and meet their new sun so badly they are screaming!

It may be the case that it is perfectly normal for seedlings to break ground in 18 hours and I am all excited about something that is no big deal. What is anyone's experience with this? Do you guys normally have your seeds break ground that quickly? How long does it usually take for you?

Anyway, I buckled the tent back up and kept the light off and am going back to bed. Lol. In the morning I will check them again. This will be in conjunction with turning on the sun for the first time. If the fifth plant is not up by the morning she is simply going to have to surface into the light, as her four friends are ready to play.

I will post a picture in the morning of the state of affairs.

So tomorrow's post in the morning is DAY ONE of this grow. I count the days from the day the plants break ground and the light gets turned on.

In the voice of Barney from the Simpsons...."It begins!"

 

[Jon]

DAY ONE

So as of 6 am this morning all five of the seedlings have broken ground. That's literally five for five sprouted in 20 hours from when they hit the soil. (More on this later) Astounding. If you zoom on the photo with all five cups you can see all five sprouts, and I have also included a closeup of each strain's sprout.

Since they are all up it's time to give them some light. Here's one of those judgement calls we all face during the course of a grow. This light is my new light. I can't name it, but it is POWERFUL. It gives off a max power of over 1700 uMols, which is comparable to the highest on the market. I have no experience with this light. It has a dimmer. So I begin with the manufacturer's recommendation in terms of how high to hang the light above the seedlings and what level of power to use. Well, this light is specifically designed to be very close to the plants at all times. Their recommendation for seedlings/first two weeks of growth is to use the light at FULL power, and at 18" from the seedlings. (They recommend full power the entire grow, which is my preference too, I prefer to keep the lights at full power and if I need to adjust I prefer to do so by adjusting the height of the lights rather than their power level) So after I took the pictures and before I put the girls back in the tent, I tried the light at the height and power they recommend. Man, it was WAY WAY WAY too much. I thought. Who am I to argue with the folks who designed this light? (They are growers too, btw, so I figure they have some idea of what they are talking about) So I'm looking at this thing, and I'm thinking about how I wish I had more experience so I could know what to do, and I'm wishing I had a real good par meter so I could simply test the numbers and adjust accordingly, and I'm continuing to think this is just WAY too much light. So there's the judgement call. I decided to dim the light, and I dimmed it by 60%, and I raised the height from the plants from 18" to 24". Going off how it looks and feels mostly. The photo showing the light is there to show what this light does at 40% power and to show the distance from the seedlings to the light. I will very closely monitor the plants and adjust the light height and power as necessary. The goal is to always keep the light as close as possible to the top of the plants and to always use it at as close to 100% power as possible. Obviously that allows me to shoot for tightly spaced nodal development, no stretching, and vigorous growth.

I begin the 18/6 light cycle from Day One, ie today. So their cycle started at 7 am. 7 am to 1 am is awake time, 1 am to 7 am is sleep time. I do it that way because the weather allows me to run my lights during the day, and because I like the plants to sleep when I do. This is because I choose to do something most growers would probably say is stupid - I don't use timers for my lights. I am the timer. I don't trust ANY timer. One mistake with the lights is all it takes to make a hermie sometimes. What happens to the timer if the power goes out? I just don't trust them. I DO trust ME. So this light cycle accommodates my need to sleep occasionally. Many growers apparently give the seedlings a different light cycle to begin for a short time, like 20/4 or whatever. I don't do that. I want to get my own cycle down too and the idea of using other than 18/6 to begin seems to be a non-consensus thing. So 18/6 it is.

A word on the quickness of the sprouting: I believe it is due to the Great White. When I put them in the cups, I dusted the holes with it before putting the seed in, per their directions. But on one of the Pineapple Upside Down Cakes I forgot, then I remembered after the seed was covered. So I simply sprinkled the Great White on top and watered it down. Well, the four that had popped out by 4 am this morning in just 18 hours were the four that had the Great White directly in the hole. The one that got the surface application of it came up a few hours later. Between that and the fact that all are up in 20 hours is pretty good anecdotal evidence that the Great White has done what it said it would and has jumpstarted the growth in a big way. It's awesome. My first time trying this stuff and already I'm so impressed that I will never not use it again. I can hear my roots thanking me already.

For the numbers people, my tent conditions are:
Low temperature: 74 degrees
High temperature: 82 degrees
Humidity: Pretty steady range of 65-78%
Distance from "canopy": 24"

A note on those numbers: The temperature range is due to the ambient temperature range of the garage the tents are in during the course of a whole day in this climate in this location. Same with the humidity. That said, if I leave the garage door closed but the door to the house opened, I can maintain the tent at a very consistent humidity level if I was concerned about the range, because the garage equalizes to the temperature of the house. I have found that I can pretty easily maintain those number without even engaging my AC units. Which is awesome. Last grow I started in the summer and I had to use the AC from the beginning. The season is to my advantage right now, as obviously I don't wanna use the AC if it's not necessary. The units have a low and high fan setting that just draws in and blows air (not cooled), and that's all I am using for now, along with the two small side fans you see in the picture. I want these guys getting used to air blowing and starting to develop a strong main stem from day one.

We'll see how it goes. For watering I am using Emilya's manifesto on How to Water a Potted Plant, which is my bible and is highly recommended. She has another one on How to Water a Seedling which is also my bible and the reference I am following currently until transplant. The girl knows her stuff.

Pictures below. Day One. So exciting.