My Small Attic Grow

[teiji2]

Plants have been sprouted for close to a week now. I have them in some crappy ace hardware soil and will transplant them into newer and better soil at 4 week mark. They have been growing outside for the full week and as I just finished my box minus the front I plan on running them on the 18/6 light schedule. Right now I will be putting 2 of the 6 sprouts I have in the box and probably transfer the third one in a week. Still have yet to figure out fan set up whether ill do pc fans or fart fans for the bathroom. The 6 sprouts I have going probably came from the same bag but one or two might have been from a different one. Its nothing special just our mersh that comes through town and is cheaper then the KB or Dro. The way I look at it if nothing else at least I got more smoke for myself and a few friends. This should prove interesting as I have seen many outside grows and a few inside that my buddies have done, but as of yet I have not gotten my toes green. The dimensions on the box are as follows 16" x 20" x 12" so over all getting close to just over two cubic feet. The cfls I will be using are as of now three 23 watt 6500k and one 23 watt 2700k bulb. I plan on adding two more 6500k bulbs and a 18" ballast light for my fish tank that is fitted with a nice coral growing light with full daylight spectrum. I think so far my over all cost is fifty bucks in paint, timer, lights, and adapters. Thirty bucks for the half z of mersh that lasted a good 10 days was tasty and dense buds plenty of hairs just a tad seedy. I think ill use a Mylar blanket as a door so it will be easy to open and figure out vents for air.

 

[teiji2]

The set up with no front or vents yet and two small sprouts.

 

[Hypo Hippy]

Yo Teiji.....welcome! Looks like you are off and running. Are you planning to go pretty much straight to flowering? With the limits in overall height you will have to flower very quickly I am thinking. Should be plenty of light with the cfls and they will grow a nice looking plant. Glad to have you here......

 

[teiji2]

No eventually Im going to add a 14 to 18 ballast light on the top and mount more clf's along the edges i figure a decent 12" tall plant should be ok or maybe lst I have a different box i can set up for flowering purposes and use this one for veg and training only. My other box is almost 6 cubic feet either 3' high or wide so if i lst i can set up sideways and scrog it i think. Not sure yet ill figure it out in next couple weeks. first need to set up a front and venting then watch and wait lol.

 

[Hypo Hippy]

Just remember that your plant will double to triple in size after going to flowering. Have to account for the distance above the plants and the space the lights take up. Not trying to be a douche, just pointing it out. Believe me, I have had to think and rethink the way I planned our first indoor grow and it has evolved big time along the way. Anyhow, you are doing it and I'm sure things will work out. Be cool

 

[teiji2]

great word douche lol. yeah eventually im going to move the lights to allow for more space but i didnt even think about the flowering growth. then again though im hoping to have the larger flowering box set up long before the veging is done. All thoughts and tips are much appreciated since im kinda just winging this as I go with all the insight I have learned from this wonderful sight. ill prob get pics again at the two weeks spot. One week with sprout outside and one full week inside box.

 

[CocoJoe]

stopped by to look, your in good hands!

 

[Bandit420]

Hypo's right. When the plant goes into preflower it will have a sort of panic attack and go into an aggressive growth pattern establishing branches for internodes which will develop into budding sites. It does this to insure it has done all it can to further the species by creating as many buds/seeds as it can. This usually means a growth spurt of about 12-18 inches during the two weeks of preflower.
Plants started from seed typically like to grow for a month or two before they can become a viable Mother plant for clones or produce a decent harvest. The clones taken from the mother will adapt better to being flowered at a short height because technically it is just as old as the Mother and for all it knows, it's a twelve inch cola on top of a 5 foot tall plant. Good luck!

 

[tommysnoboard]

Hey orange...I respectfully disagree with your statement about>>>Plants started from seed typically like to grow for a month or two before they can become a viable Mother plant for clones or produce a decent harvest.

 

[Bandit420]

No problem, perhaps I phrased it poorly. Maybe letting a plant establish itself with a solid root structure, vigorous growth, and multiple lower branch developments for harvesting clones at one time takes about about a month or two depending on the conditions would have been a better way to phrase it.

 

[teiji2]

First i would like to say keep the knowledge coming. As i am new to this all insight is appreciated and taken into consideration. As this is my first grow with mersh strain seeds i shall call my harvest walmart. I doubt i will clone walmart #1-#6 but who knows. I figure 4 to 6 weeks before i start flowering and still have yet to decide to add nutes or not since its an experiment i might not just to keep costs down.. One thing i have been lookin into is aquaponics with the nutrient rich fish crap soaked water. I do currently have two large tanks set up n most likely will water with water from the tanks. As with all fish i keep my ph levels and nitrogen levels reasonable for cichlid type fish. At the very least i find out i kill the plants with the fish turd water n i learn not to do it. What do u growers n cloners think? Eventually i will set up an actual aquaponic grow system but for now its an experiment where no matter the results i hope i can smoke the rewards lol

 

[teiji2]

So upon waking up I checked on my walmart #1 n #2. #1 has started its second node growth and upon closer inspection noticed the first node has three fan leaves instead of the normal one. Ill keep an eye on it for now just to make sure I wasnt seeing anything as I often have short flashbacks. #2 is doing nice. I also added #3 to the box. #3 has been growing normally outside but we have a nice rain storm moving in and the temps still drop outside to near freezing. (I hate the cold just as much as walmart)lol. I will be assembling my two pc fans probably today so i can have the decent air flow the plants need. Noticed without air flow box stays a nice 85 to 95 degrees, so think ill be changing the water schedule as the soil dries out over night. I started fish water yesterday and will observe the growth closely to make sure not killin walmart. My worry is that the excess heat over past few days will stress walmart out n force it to go male. Is this worry not necessary? Or should I not sweat it till they getting a tad bit bigger. also I was thinking about forcing the flower once walmart #1-#3 hit about six inches in height. What do you guys think? Any help is much appreciated..........

 

[Hypo Hippy]

You have some interesting ideas.....like watering with the fish tank water, but you know what? Every current technique that is accepted as the "norm" once started like your fish water idea. I don't see where it would hurt. Watch those temps. 95 degrees is too warm in that small box and it is not a quantum leap in a small area like that to jump to 105 if you know what I mean. All plants are different (as are the growing condtions) but to give you an idea on size we have plants that are 17 inches tall at 32 days and that is with them bent over in LST bondage. Just keep in mind the final height you are looking for and what your grow space can accommodate. Anyhow, keep doing what you're doing .......

 

[Bandit420]

I dont think the heat contributes to sex determination very much if at all. The sex chromosones are already determined in the genetics though there is some inconclusive evidence that Superthrive promotes females but I'm not sure on that one. It's generally just a luck of the draw that usually comes out around 50/50. My best odds were 8 ladies and two gents and my worst was 9 males and 1 lonesome lady. My last two seed starts of WW and Ak48 were started with feminized seeds and I gotta tell ya, the extra cost is well worth the convienence of not having to presex the plants.
As for the sun leaves they shoud emerge in sequence of 1,3,5,7,& 9 points and some strains will continue up to 13-15 point leaves. By the time it pops out it's first set of seven pointers, that one and three point set will probably be dying off.

 

[teiji2]

yeah Im starting to think more and more about LSTin. My flower box will be close to three feet long and two feet high so figure if I LST and set up a ScrOG the over all height of one of them wont matter. But as Its all an experiment not sure just yet but i will decide soon. Thanks for the note on the heat I really plan on setting up the vents and fans tonight after the GF leaves for work. If i worked on it while she was awake or home I think i would lose my balls and my walmarts lol,

 

[Bandit420]

If the O'l lady's not on board she might be asking you to call pest control to get that skunk out of your crib in a few weeks!


On the fish water, I've watered plants with pond water that had fish, frogs, and God knows what else and I have also used river water. I cant say that either increased my harvest or anything but my plants never died and they turned out pretty good.

 

[Hypo Hippy]

Teiji...not trying to harp on this, but remember you have to account for the light (the couple of inches it physically takes up....for a cfl that is probably about 2.5 to 3 inches and the 2-3 inch spacing you need from the light to the tops of the plants. Also need to take in account the height of your pots. Even if growing in a small pot that is 8 inches tall you are essentially talking about a final plant that can't be taller than 10-12 inches if my math is right. Does that make sense? If growing in such a small space, you will have to go to flower mode very quick since plants generally double to triple in size during flower. FWIW......it's fun doing this stuff anyhow, right?

 

[Bandit420]

Hypo's on it again bro. That box is suitable for seed starting and clone propogation but that's about it. I would advise you to invest in a small grow tent and be prepared to add more lighting as the plants grow.

 

[teiji2]

Yeah the light isnt in its spot yet eventually im setting a halogen ballast on the top and moving six cfls to the three sides. im going to set them up on the two sides and on the back. But ur right I didnt take into account the size of the pot. think ill cut a hole in the base and raise the box up till the top of the pots will be an inch above the bottom.lol but as this is a first im considering finishing my flower box this week. As far as room goes though I have seen many pc grow boxes and they sent it into flower stage after about a month so im still weeks away. Right now the space looks tight cuz i have yet to mount lights properly and set up my vents. I did see a really cool co2 release device someone made out of two 16oz water bottles and some fish tubes so I will be making one of those when im in flower stage. Thanks for the comments keep them coming so I can correct mistakes and clarify any misnomers u guys n if any girls chime in u too might have about the set up i am doin. This is a learning experience for me so thanks for making me focus on the issues I could run into....

 

[Bandit420]

With the size of garden your running you really dont need CO2. Theres plenty in the ambient air to feed a garden that small.
If your planning on using a halogen you may want to reconsider. Halogen puts out an obnoxious amount of heat compared to it's light output and the spectrum is not suitable for quality plant growth. Mercury vapor lamps should also be avoided.