My first grow - Lowryder

[getsumkin]

I have the same light..but 400..same place aswell..great setup..best of luck

 

[stoneytony]

looks awesome man, have you thought about how your gonna lightproof it yet?

Actually it pretty much is lightproof. The door is completely sealed andI ran black RTV around all the edges of the box. The intake is S shaped and is painted flat black so it doesn't reflect light. Now I won't say it's completely lightproof, I have found a few small nook and crannies where I could see a bit of light but I don't think any outside light can get in. I'm not even sure if that matters with auto-flowering plants??


Remind me again though what the significance is of having to have a lightproof setup?

 

[stoneytony]

I have the same light..but 400..same place aswell..great setup..best of luck

Yeah, I would have liked to go with a higher wattage but I was worried about heat in such a small box, so I decided to go with this and a couple of high wattage CFL's. Kind of off topic but would it be possible to somehow convert my ballast to 400 watts in the future?



Thanks for the positive comments everyone! I really enjoy this forum, everyone is nice and helpful and don't bash someone when they may be misinformed or make a mistake.

 

[getsumkin]

is that ur carbon filter in the box..the blue thing...not to sure about the ballast..wasnt sure u could have it in the box..i mite have to set mine up alil deffent....the liteproof the i think is so lite dont get in..wen flowering u shoulnt have lite leaks..can cause hermis..

 

[stoneytony]

is that ur carbon filter in the box..the blue thing...not to sure about the ballast..wasnt sure u could have it in the box..i mite have to set mine up alil deffent....the liteproof the i think is so lite dont get in..wen flowering u shoulnt have lite leaks..can cause hermis..

Yes the blue thing is the pre-filter wrapped around the activated carbon.

Not sure what you mean about the ballast in the box. You wouldn't want that because the ballast gives off heat.

Thanks for the info about the light leaking I remembered something about it but couldn't quite put my finger on it. I went ahead and filled the rest of the leaks with RTV so I should be good to go with that. However, I can see some light come through the plastic I have on the bottom but i highly doubt any indirect outside light will be able to penetrate that.

I'm glad I learned about the no light during the dark cycle now before they start flowering because I had been doing my work in the box during the dark cycle.

On another note, I rent, so I changed the doorknob to this room and replaced it with a locking one. Now I feel a bit safer knowing my landlord can't go snooping if he desires.

 

[Doctor Dread]

Nice man, good thinking about the lock. Yeah the light proofing if so you don't stress the females into going hermie... Not that it really matters (because of your unique strain) but the only amount of light you should let in there during the dark cycle is the amount of light given off by the moon on a bright night.(hardly any) If you have to do work during the dark hours, just be quick. Plants need there sleep too.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted...

 

[mistakeith1]

Looks good. I dig the set up! I'm thinking of building something similar here in the next few months when I get moved.

Good luck!

 

[stoneytony]

Nice man, good thinking about the lock. Yeah the light proofing if so you don't stress the females into going hermie... Not that it really matters (because of your unique strain) but the only amount of light you should let in there during the dark cycle is the amount of light given off by the moon on a bright night.(hardly any) If you have to do work during the dark hours, just be quick. Plants need there sleep too.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted...

Hey, I tried to reply to your PM but it says I don't have enough posts. I got the filter/fan as a single unit off ebay. Used a rotozip bit in my dremel to cut a circle and dropped it in. Used black RTV to seal it up. I included a link to the seller in my PM but I don't think I can put it up here without getting in trouble. The sellers name is aeroscrog. Hope that helps!!

 

[stoneytony]

Hey all, time to update. Not a whole lot has changed with the health of the plants. 2 of the 4 are doing good and the other two are still struggling. I've decided to name the 4 plants just to make it a bit easier to talk about them individually. Stem seed - plant with stem with seed on top, Floppy - plant that got fried by getting to close to HPS, had to support it to keep from flopping over. Scarface - burned by CFL, bears a scar now. And finally Happy - the happiest of the 4 plants, nothing but smooth sailing!

Stem seed is pushing more green out of the shell but still not popping it off. The stem is starting to turn green instead of staying white so that must be a good sign. I still don't understand how these plants growth can be so different in the same soil.

Here are the two healthy ones. Scarface and Happy. Scarface has definitely lost pace with Happy since the CFL burning incident, but she is staying strong.


Scarface

Happy

Ok, I need some input on floppy. She is growing new leaves but the leaves sag so much and have no perk to them. Is it still in the recovery process or is something else going on here?

Floppy

Thanks for all the support everyone!!

 

[stoneytony]

Well I had a minor setback today. I noticed there wasn't any cold air blowing through my vents in the house and realized that the fan wasn't working. I started to freak out as it was already like 85 degrees in the room. I checked them temp in the box and it was up to 100 degrees already! I took the plants out and put them on the windowsill. Luckily it seems that the fan wasn't working on auto so I turned it on manually and that solved the problem. As soon as it gets back down to 70 in the house I'll put the plants back in the box.

 

[Doctor Dread]

Good save...

 

[stoneytony]

Stem seed is dead I pulled the shell of it in hopes that my aid would give it more green to get some photosynthesis goin on but by the morning it was a goner. So I'm down to three now. Lets hope floppy makes a recovery!! I'm really hoping the odds will go with me and the remaining 3 will be female. That would definitely make up for this loss.

 

[pcmoe5000]

good luck man!!! I have been thinking of mabie doing something like this as well.

 

[stoneytony]

Thanks pcmoe5000! Good luck to you too if you decide to go through with it!

 

[stoneytony]

Ok guys update time. Hope some of you are still following me cause I really need some help/advice!! Floppy is almost dead, and scarface is starting to show signs of unhappiness!!

the bottom (first two round leaves of the plant) were yellow, all the spike leaves started curling up, and started turning yellow. The plant is a very sad site and looks like it's on the brink of death!! I searched around the forum and it looked like a Nitrogen defieciences to me comparing pics. I didn't think this MG soil would have deficiences. I gave it a 1/4 dose of the recommended in a plant food I have that is high in nitrogen yesterday. If this is nute burn will then i guess I really screwed myself. Here is the sad site.

This next one is Scarface. This one is starting to get yellow too, starting at the tips, again I thought N deficiency so I gave the same amount of fert of as floppy. It hasn't shown any affect yet positive or negative.

Now for the only positive update. Happy is still VERY happy and putting the other two too shame. I also gave it the same fert as the other two, even though it doesn't look like it needed it. I'm guessing this one is pretty close to sexing? It's about two weeks old now.

Thanks for the support so far everyone..I really need some advice now. Also I want to apologize for the low quality pics. All I have is my cellphone for now but I think a digital camera will be on the x-mas list this year.

 

[Doctor Dread]

The only advice I can prescribe is to get them out of that mg, and into some good organic soil...
I think floppy is a goner, but if you fix the problem, you might be able to save scarface. Good luck man.

 

[RooRman]

Ok, this is most definitely nutrient burn. The MG soil has very strong time release chemical ferts. in it already and then in addition you gave them more. You have started aggressive feeding much too early.

My analysis:

Floppy: Lost cause, too much irreparable damage. Dump it and move on.

Scarface and others: Still have a chance. Flush the soil immediatly and do not feed them until they show signs of improvement.

It is better to start with neutral soil and feed the plant as you go. Starting the plants in "hot" soil will cause problems from the start, which is what has happened to you. Stay away from everything MG for cannabis growing. There are other soils/nutrients readily available for the same price that will work much better.

 

[stoneytony]

Yeah, On this forum everyone hates MG but other cannabis forums have lots of people who use it and say it's fine as long as you don't fert till flowering. I was worried it was nute burn...guess it's hard to tell the difference between N defiecency and burn. It's also weird how that Happy is doing so wonderful and the others went to shit. The only place to get Fox farm is 100 mi from me, besides that it's earl may and walmart. Walmart is out of grow season so they don't stock shit anymore besides the main brand time release soils. Is MG organic real bad? heard things about bugs and such...


Well I guess I wanted to find out for myself if MG was really THAT bad and I guess I got my answer. I will definitely know to go organic now!!

 

[TxState]

Yeah, On this forum everyone hates MG but other cannabis forums have lots of people who use it and say it's fine as long as you don't fert till flowering. I was worried it was nute burn...guess it's hard to tell the difference between N defiecency and burn. It's also weird how that Happy is doing so wonderful and the others went to shit. The only place to get Fox farm is 100 mi from me, besides that it's earl may and walmart. Walmart is out of grow season so they don't stock shit anymore besides the main brand time release soils. Is MG organic real bad? heard things about bugs and such...


Well I guess I wanted to find out for myself if MG was really THAT bad and I guess I got my answer. I will definitely know to go organic now!!

I used MG Organics Choice and that has got to be one of the worst soils for weed. They hardly grew at all in that stuff. When I transplanted them I used regular MG potting soil (hydro shop to far away to go get ocean forest)... my plants then tripled in size in 6 days and are looking VERY healthy... and I also have been using 1/2 strength fox farms grow big. So MG potting soil is not that bad you just need to really watch how much nutes you give them.

 

[stoneytony]

I used MG Organics Choice and that has got to be one of the worst soils for weed. They hardly grew at all in that stuff. When I transplanted them I used regular MG potting soil (hydro shop to far away to go get ocean forest)... my plants then tripled in size in 6 days and are looking VERY healthy... and I also have been using 1/2 strength fox farms grow big. So MG potting soil is not that bad you just need to really watch how much nutes you give them.

Well the thing is I didn't feed them until after this whole yellow thing started. The bone and blood meal I mixed in in the begining was so nominal, I mean were talking a few tablespoons for like 15 gallons of soil. So I doubt that would cause nute burn. One of the plants is doing wonderful and the other two are doing shitty with the same variables. I don't really see what I did to for them to burn like this. It seems the soil is doing this to me rather then me doing it to the plants.

On the other side though, like I said I've heard of people having great grows with MG before...I just don't know what they are doing different. Seems everyone has mixed reviews on the MG organic soil too. I looked it up on google and it was like half the people like it and the other half hate it.