MegeBudz First Grow

[MegeBudz]

I am already 26 days into this grow and started a log on another site but due to the fact that there is MUCH more traffic over here, decided to continue it here.

Here is the setup:

It was a bathroom out in our shop that I converted over to a grow room... taking advantage of the water and floor drain that was already in there.

"Materials"

• For the plants I have a 4x2 VersaGrow 10 pot ebb and flow system
• Light provided by 4 T12 40W 48" bulbs with 4 100W CFLs in clamp on shop lamps (all 6500k)
• Humidity Dome for starting seeds
• Rockwool cubes
• Growing medium consists of a 50/50 mix of expanded clay pellets and cocofiber
• Nutrients: FloraGrow, FloraMicro, along with MAP AMPED

 

[MegeBudz]

Since this was our first grow we decided to not purchase seeds but to use some of the seeds we had found along the way from my wife's purchases. There was one where we knew the strain due to the fact that we found it while on vacation in a bag of Pineapple Kush. The night we arrived home from vacation I started the seeds in a small plastic bag with a paper towel wet with distilled water. The following evening they had already started to crack open so I placed them inside of rockwool cubes inside of the humidity dome with wet down with a solution of distilled water and very small amounts of FloraGrow and FloraMicro (1/4t of each in a gallon of water).

 

[MegeBudz]

Five days later we had four out of the six germinated and three of those had seed leaves. The seedlings were already starting to stretch a bit even with the two 100W CFLs right above the dome so I decided to transplant the ones that were doing well into the VersaGrow

Reservoir was filled with five gallons of distilled water with a weak solution of FloraGrow and FloraMicro (intent was to slowly build up the strength of the solution until it reached over 1000PPM). PH was initially at 5.1 and PPM 420 (not intentional lol). Entire system was set for 18/6 with the exhaust and fan over the door running 24. Oscillating fan would coincide with the lights and the watering. Watering was set for every 2.5 hours for 5 minutes at a time.

 

[MegeBudz]

Within a week, the ones that had germinated had their true leaves except for one that for lack of a better term was deformed.. not sure what was wrong with it, but since it was a bag seed... who knows and I left it at that.

 

[MegeBudz]

Two weeks into the grow. Reservoir is just about at full strength and a week old (one more week and then time to change).

 

[MegeBudz]

Drained and mixed new nutrient solution.. Followed instructions on sheet with 50ml of FloraMicro and 75ml of FloraGrow and 5 gallons of distilled water. PPM came in around 922 which is a little lower than the 1000 I was shooting for. Also added 10 ml of MAG AMPED.
PH for some reason came in at 4.3 so flushed after first watering with another 1 gallon of distilled water then added PH up and some more Grow and Micro.

 

[MegeBudz]

This pic was taken a few days ago by my wife to show a close up of what kind of growth we have obtained so far.

They're 23 days old and going strong. Ended up starting a couple more to make up for our loss of a few the first batch and out of those 2 only got one good one out of the bunch.. other one appears to be struggling.

 

[MegeBudz]

Day #27

Temperatures getting warmer down here in the South but the temp in the room is topping out at 80 so far with the lights on.. humidity in the room ranging between 58% and 61%.

Planted some more hot peppers in with the grow today since it was time to transplant them out of the humidity dome. Hungarians to go along with the Anaheims that were already in there. Parsley and Dill over on the other side still doing just fine.

Terminated the #4 plant.. still no real true leaves that were not all crumpled and deformed looking... replaced it with one of the Hungarians. #7 looks like it may be headed that way as well... started off pretty good but then the second set of true leaves that came out were deformed. Significant growth on the others though and the room is starting to "stink" a bit. Will have to get the charcoal filter set up this weekend. I doubt that it would permeate through the room.. through the box offices.. and then through the steel workshop.. but better safe than sorry.

pH was right around 5.5 so I added just about an 1/8t of pH up to the reservoir. PPM of the solution is sitting at 1080 and as of today is 6 days old.

Also needed to raise the lights up a few notches to give the babies just a little more room to breathe as they were all pressing against the lights.

 

[MegeBudz]

Plenty of new growth.. plants are near 5 inches in height.

Had to add another two gallons of distilled water to the reservoir tonight with 30ml of FloraGrow, 20ml of FloraMicro and 2ml of MAG AMPED.

pH was a bit on the low side at 5.4 so I added a 1/2t of ph Up.

In addition.. had to raise the lights yet again since all of them were pushing up against the bulbs again.

 

[MegeBudz]

Roughly at the one month point since start. Plants are roughly 6+ inches tall and very dense. Here is the next week or so the LED lighting should arrive and I will be putting them under that to finish them out. Although I am pretty happy with the fluoro setup I have right now, having to raise some pots up in order to be closer to the light has become a pain in the ass.

Here is a pic from last night... the plant on the left was started roughly a week after the one on the right.

 

[josh223]

Looking great brother!

 

[Lester Freeman]

Subscribed

 

[KingJohnC]

Subscribed

 

[Calyx Hunter]

I'm glad this subscription is free

 

[MegeBudz]

First time I have left them unattended without daily checks... wife and I went away for a few days for a mini vacation. They are growing so fast now that I am having to raise the lights up every day so before we left I added some additional water and then raised the lights so that they were 4-5 inches from the plants. Came home today and they were all pressed right up against the T12s!

Nutes were two weeks old so I drained the reservoir and then flushed them with a gallon of distilled water. Let that all drain through and then cleaned that out of the reservoir as well. Added 5 fresh gallons of distilled water and added 75ml of FloraGrow, 50ml of FloraMicro and 10ml of MAG AMPED. Tested the PPM and it came in at around 1,000.. pH was at 4.0. I've noticed that since starting to use the MAP AMPED that the acidity level of the solution has been high.. will have to be sure to add the pH up as a part of using it.

Will add a couple new photos once the wife puts them out on the network from her phone.

 

[josh223]

You're going to want to up your PH level. I grow in a semi-similar fashion as you. I aim for 6.0 for PH. Letting it fluctuate between 5.5 and 6.5 will allow of optimum uptake of different micro and macro nutrients. Mr. KingJohnC has a little chart he posts. I don't have the personal link. I'm sure he'll post it on here for you.

But, with soilless medias, I have awesome results at 6.0 for the average. 4.0 is too low-the plants won't be able to metabolize some forms of the what they need.

Just my two cents and all. Looking forward to the upcoming pics. For a first time grower, you seem to know your stuff. Much luck to you in all your future endeavors.

 

[MegeBudz]

Thanks Josh! Yeah having the pH in that range is where I have been during the entire grow... I am thinking that the MAG AMPED is causing my initial issues when creating a new batch of solution. Going to try and remember tonight to pour some of the supplement into a cup to test the pH of just it on its own... Am interested to see what it is.

I had about 2 months between when we started to grow and when we were finally able to so I did a lot of reading. Did the same thing when I started working glass... So much so that by the time I actually sat at a torch I felt like I had already done it lol

LED lights should arrive today so will also get pictures of them when we get it all set up.

 

[josh223]

In most instances the nutrients will lower the PH of the water. Trust me though, you're going to want to be higher than 4.0. A bottle of PH Up from General Hydroponics is super cheap and definitely worth the small price. Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) will help out in a pinch though it won't be near as stable. But I have used it in the last month with good results.

Purely out of personal curiosity, what brand of LED did you go with? I've been wanting and wishing to step up to LED for over a year now but am always short of $$$. Looking like I'll have the opportunity in around a months time. To save on the wallet I'm most likely going to go with a pair of Top LED's Mars II's.

We're also in the process to buy our first home. Once we are moved I'm going to change my grow style. I currently flower in a 4'x4' tent with around 800 so watts of HPS, CFLs, and T8 fluorescents. I'm going to ditch the tents, well use them for mothers and clones, but make an actual grow room in a basement bedroom. I currently use the Hempy Bucket method using 75% perlite and 25% vermiculite with what I consider great results. I plan on building drain tables. Possibly in the near future I'll also be switching to 100% organic. Even if I step away from the passive hydro, I still want the drain tables.

I envy your hydro set up. I'd grow the same as you if I thought I could maintain a reservoir. I struggle to keep one of my two aerocloners going at a time and they only hold around 2 gallons each.

 

[thegreengrocr]

sub me in.

 

[MegeBudz]

A bottle of PH Up from General Hydroponics is super cheap and definitely worth the small price.

That is the exact bottle I have up on the shelves in there Put about a teaspoon or so in there last night and will be checking it again tonight when I go out there.

Purely out of personal curiosity, what brand of LED did you go with?

I ended up going with the TOP LED 96x3 Reflectors.. got 2 of them and I just finished unpacking one of them to inspect. They did not have any of them in the states in stock must be so it came directly from China in just over a week via FedEx. Packaged extremely well... and FedEx did not even ding the boxes at all (surprise surprise).

Will post some updated pics tonight hopefully after the lights are set up.

-M