Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

[ClosedCircuit]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here and my first grow ever. Sooo here's the overview before I go into further detail...


_______________________________________________________________________
-What strain is it?
Dutch Passion's Blue Velvet(f) & Elemental Seed's Trueberry(f) (freebie @ Attitude)

-Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages?
BV is 50/50 The TB is supposed to be high THC. Strain info wasn't clear but seems to be like a 40/60. At least that's what I am guessing.

-Is it in Veg or Flower stage?
Seedling stage

-Indoor or outdoor?
Indoor

-Soil or Hydro?
Soil

-If soil... what is in your mix?
Ocean Forest with additional wormcasting, home made compost, and small amount of compost tea (brewed with EWC, same compost, molasses, kelp meal, and fish hydrolysate.)

-If soil... What size pot?
Going to probably move them into 1 1/2gal square or rectangular pots.

-Size of light?
currently 6 100w equivalent cfl's. 4 6500k, 1 2700k, 1 5500k. When I go into bloom I will add two more bulbs...will probably go with 4 2700kk and 4 6500k and remove the 5500k.

-Is it aircooled?
I am running a 4" inline fan moving 190cfm.

-Temp of Room/cab?
Temperatures are stabilized between 62-73F most days.

-RH of Room/cab?
Hover between 25-35% most days. Has spiked at 50% during the last burst of warm air about a week ago.

-PH of media or res?
N/A

-Any Pests ?
Not Yet!

-How often are you watering?
Right now since they are seedlings I am really just spritzing the plants and soil; keeping them moist. But I plan on one watering and one feeding per week. We'll see when the time comes, though.

-Type and strength of ferts used?
Compost tea half diluted. Read the recipe above.

____________________________________________________________

Ok, so here is a look at in the inside of my cab. I built the cab/cart out of 2x4s with Strong Ties I purchased at Lowes for the corners. This is a multipurpose unit as I also built it to hold my B&W enlarger and chemicals, so its sort of a work bench...which kind of makes it inconspicuous. At least that's the idea.

The grow chamber is 24"x20"x33". However with the Carbon Filter in it I am losing about 7" on the front half of the cab. I'm considering reversing the ventilation so that it blows through the filter and gives me back some of my lost space...but then I will have to build a baffle and somehow rig it to the window I'm using for ventilation (see below) which may not be practical.

The lights are a bit higher than I keep them. Its just 6 cfls for now, but I will be adding more light for bloom. I wired the chandelier myself using the CFL guide in another part of the forum.

This shot doesn't have the side panels on it yet.

This is not an entirely stealth grow...I have a window on the same wall that I put a dryer vent in and ran ducting to. I built a small panel out of 2x1s, weather sealed it, attached the vent and slipped it under the window pane.

Silly me, I thought the white vinyl ducting would be better for such a small space being more flexible and able to more evenly reflect light. I didn't account for light passing through the ducting....but now that the fan compartment is sealed it doesn't really matter now, but I may still tape a trash bag or extra poly film around the ducting...

So now that we have finished looking at my set up, I'll wrap up this post and follow up immediately with one on where my plants are right now.

 

[joegrower619]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Cool Lil setup man looks good

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

I'm just going to jump into my grow log now. This post will cover the last week and a half since germinating the seeds to close to the end of seedling stage (as far as I can tell anyways).

Day 1 - 11/19/14

One Blue Velvet and Trueberry seed were placed in a moist paper towel, placed in a small food container, and put in a dark drawer to begin germination.

Day 4 - 11/22/14 [Temps 68/72F - 32%RH]

Both seeds (!!!) have cracked and pushed out a root tendril. I had the lights and fan on their normal cycle for about a day to get an idea of the temps and RH. I put the sprouts in little pots I had saved over from some ivy I bought from a nursery. The soil is Fox Farm Ocean Forest. I amended it slightly...refer back to the first post to see how.

Day 6 - 11/24/14 [Temps 61/73F - 50%RH]

I know the photo shows different RH...that's after I opened up the cab and it vented out. We got one last blast of warm weather before winter sets in here so the RH spiked.

As you can see the BV on the left has popped out. You cant see it, but the TB is just below the surface. Its about 1 1/2 - 2 days behind the BV.

Here's a photo about a day later. You can see the TB finally emerged albeit slowly.

Day 11 - 11/29/14

TB is finally throwing out embryonic leaves. The BV is already working on its first set of fan leaves. They grow a little more very time I look away then look back. You can see the growth difference in the following photos which were all taken a couple hours apart.

Interestingly, the TB's tap root grew up out of the soil and developed a leafy end. At first I thought it might have been a stray seed from my compost or that snuck into the Ocean Forest. I left it...posted a photo and question at r/microgrowery, said fudge it and plucked it.

Taken this morning (11/30) after I let it sit out so its little shriveled. It definitely wasn't a stray seed because something that small would have just come out of the soil with the whole root intact. This did not. It sort of snapped. I checked the bottom of the pot and there were a couple hair width roots protruding...I figured the roots on the TB are adequate enough to compensate for part of the tap root being removed. The seedling is fine. Its grown since then and little fan leaves are starting the develop.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Joe, thanks man. It cost more than I thought it would, but once I get everything dialed in I should be able to consistently pull 1-2oz with relative ease.

I've done alot of research...not that I know everything, but I think I have most of my bases covered for now...or at least until the inevitable heartbreak strikes.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Day 15 12/03/14 [63/81F - RH32%]

Both the seedlings have started developing their 2nd set of fan leaves. The Blue Velvet is a little further ahead. I suspect there will be a nice little growth spurt in the next few days or so. I think I am about a week away from repotting if everything goes as planned!

I won't post an update probably until said growth spurt happens or I repot...seedlings aren't to exciting to look at ...

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Day 21 12/9/14 [61/77F - 24/38%]

Excuse the update from a few days ago.

So I repotted the seedlings...In the photos you get a before and after right before and after I moved them. I do plan on training the plants before I throw them under the screen....so I guess maybe I should have moved them to their final home instead of a couple 4" pots. Oh well, I wont be doing anything too crazy so I should be able to put them back into their restraints once they go into the final 3 gallon pots.

I also added two more bulbs to cab. Lowe's has these convenient 100 watt equivalent 6500k that are micro sized so they take up a little less space. If you look closely you can see the two other bulbs (2700k and 3500k) are a bit bigger because Lowes doesn't sell the same size bulbs in different spectrum.


[12/14/14]

Just some brief notes from today (I've been out of town for 2 days so there was visible change): The're foliage has gotten alot denser. However, branch growth has been a bit slow. The Trueberry has just taken off and is outpacing the Blue Velvet. They are both at about the same level of growth but the Blue Velvet is staying very tight and dense. Its leaves are not getting much bigger, but it keep putting out new ones and they are all growing over each other. The Trueberry's leaves are a little more spaced out. Both plants already have roots growing out of the bottom so I have been putting water in the pans so they drink up what they need.

We'll see what happens with the added light. So much for the naysayers who say fluorescent lighting will give you spindly plants. These are staying compact and lush. I raised the lights about an inch...hopefully I can get them to start reaching a bit.

I think the pair of them will be ready to be bent over in the next week or so.

Oh ya, I did some work on the cab. I added some paneling to the right side so there about an extra inch of space. I was having a problem with negative pressure pulling the poly film into the lights when I closed the door....I had everything rigged with duct tape, but that looked like shit and kept coming undone. So, once the panel was installed, I stapled everything down and its sexy looking now!

On the same wall I will be adding a passive vent which will hopefully be light proof. I would have installed it today but the PVC joints I got were the wrong size for the PVC I had laying around the house. Oh well. WIll have to make another Lowes run this week.

One last thing before I sign off. I plan on moving the Carbon Filter out of the grow compartment and into the side compartment. I didn't want to believe it at first, but there just won't be enough room to raise the lights once the screen is in there if I don't take out the filter. SOOO instead of sucking through the filter, it will now be a push set up. That means I wont have to use my "fancy" window setup anymore...its probably for the best since I'm worried about the vent drawing attention. The big conundrum I have with this though is that the fan was a bitch to mount. The way the manufacturer placed the screw holes on the mounting bracket makes it so you pretty much need a right angle drill attachment to get it down...or to to use nuts and bolts for easier removal...I didn't think of this in the beginning and it took a miracle to mount it the first time. I bought a flat ratcheting screw driver thinking that it was one that I could adjust to LOOSEN instead of just tighten. NOPE. So it will be returned and I'll probably be purchasing the right angle drill attachment. Meanwhile, I'll be figuring out how I'll get a bolt into the wood with out protruding from the top of the cab. I think they make wood screws with bolt ends? We'll see.

Have a good night everybody and thanks for stopping by!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Day 31 12/20/14 [61/82F - 16/34%RH]

SOOO I've done some more work on my cab since the last post. I put in the passive vent which is working nicely. Considering I added more lights, my temps have only gone up about 2-3 degrees Fahrenheit. If I hadn't added the vent it would have probably started to get up into the mid to upper 80's. Next on the list is to find a suitable mini fan that will hopefully (crossing my fingers here) drop the temps back to where they were. I don't really have the space to add a humidifier, which brings me to my next problem. My Rh is probably half of what it needs to be. I have a little pan with water in I've filled up twice since last week...but it didn't do much. My thinking is that a fan would get more of the moisture out of the pan and into the air.

The other big fix was that my carbon filter is no longer in the grow compartment. I moved the fan and remounted it thinking I could mount the filter to the fan in the same side compartment...yadda yadda end of story there wasn't enough room so I left the back of the two side compartments open for now so I could run ducting between the two. I'll have to do something about that as well...but that's for a later day. My only worries with the placement of the filter is now the hotter air temps in the grow comp are being displaced right by my passive vent...which is in turn pulling some of that warm air back into the cab. We'll have to find a work around for that too. Fine tuning, people. Fine. Tuning.

Anyways, let's get on with the grow.

I started training my girls a couple days after my last update. At first it was pretty mild stuff.

Blue Velvet

Trueberry

A day or so later after the stems began to give I went ahead and moved the stakes further up the stem and tied off the base of each plant - as one does

Blue Velvet

Trueberry

So I lied, these are after a few more days of training and were actually taken this morning before lights out. Its just not that interesting to show a bunch of LST pics, so I skipped ahead. After I had trained them sideways I managed to open up the canopy a bit and that's what you see above. Trueberry is doing much better with the training than the Bluevelvet which refuses to branch out and remains really dense leaf-wise. I am thinking I will have to top it, and while I'm at it I might as well top the Trueberry. I'll give them a couple days and see what happens with their growth before I make a decision. I raised the lights to about 7 inches above the canopy so they would stretch. If they don't, they will definitely be topped. I WILL GET MORE BUD SITES IF I HAVE TO SUMMON SATAN HIMSELF.

cough.

Closing thoughts....I am a little concerned with their growth. They look very healthy and are putting out all kind of new shoots but vertical growth is rather slow. This could be because I waited to feed them since they were kinda slow from the get go...looked like little seedlings for 2 weeks. It could also be because I may have transplanted them too early. However, Trueberry's root system is moving along quite nicely. Blue Velvet's (not pictured due to lack of sex appeal) receded back into the bottom of the pot, or rather self pruned, when I first started training them.

Here's a side by side from yesterday...I think.

OH YA I have gotten some great advice from the folks over at r/herbgrow and I will likely be implementing a live soil method once I transplant my girls into their final pots. Living soil pretty much entails that I will be adding compost worms to the soil and covering it with mulch (dried barley) to retain moisture. Everything else I am already doing re: compost tea. I will not be recycling the soil at the end of the grow because it will be home to said worms who will continue to enrich the soil between grows. I'll be planting a cover crop of clover (most likely) which will help to maintain the myko presence in my soil between grows and add more nitrogen. Clover especially has a very high presence of nitrogen fixing bacteria in its root system, which is a nice added benefit. In theory, and rather easily, the soil will only get better with age as long as I keep adding compost top dressings and compost tea.

Have a good one!

 

[Dusty Kiefers]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Subbed up man.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Subbed up man.

Ain't much to see yet but I have an update coming in a day or so.

 

[Tomster420]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Hey bro,

I'm also growing the trueberry atm and just finished her first week of flower Man does she smell nice already can't wait to see yours and my flowers! Good luck bro

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Hey bro,

I'm also growing the trueberry atm and just finished her first week of flower Man does she smell nice already can't wait to see yours and my flowers! Good luck bro

Hey night,

That's awesome. I haven't found too many people growing it. I have been waiting to post an update because there isn't much to see. But ill probably post one today. I'm 4 days into flower in my grow. I topped her the day before Christmas and she has responded reply well with 4 new branches. She is a breeze compared to my Bluevelvet which is being stubborn and doesn't really want to branch out.

I'll check out your grow, thanks for coming by!

edit: hey I thought you had a journal going for it...my bad! you should share your work! Id really like to compare my plant to yours.

 

[Tomster420]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Hey night,

That's awesome. I haven't found too many people growing it. I have been waiting to post an update because there isn't much to see. But ill probably post one today. I'm 4 days into flower in my grow. I topped her the day before Christmas and she has responded reply well with 4 new branches. She is a breeze compared to my Bluevelvet which is being stubborn and doesn't really want to branch out.

I'll check out your grow, thanks for coming by!

edit: hey I thought you had a journal going for it...my bad! you should share your work! Id really like to compare my plant to yours.

Here's my journal that i made today bro happy growing!
Nights Hydro Trueberry - Twilight & Unknown 90's Strain - 2015

 

[Tomster420]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Should update bro!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Day 46 - Day 4 Flower 1/4/15
63/77F 28/58RH

Big update guys!

Firstly I transplanted the plants into 3 gal totes and added some barley mulch to the surface of the soil to keep it moist and protected because this is going to become a "living soil" grow. I'm waiting on a shipment of Red Wigglers from Jim's worm farm. They'll be added to the soil so they can aerate and continuously replenish it from the compost and other organic material in the soil. I will not have to replace the soil as the worms will continue to reproduce and do their thing. The idea is to replicate the soil conditions of the great outdoors. Lastly, I supplemented the soil one more time by mixing compost, glacial rock dust, kelp meal, and more Ocean Forrest and top dressing the soil with the mixture. The idea is that every time I water from now on the nutrient from the top layer will drain down into the rest of the soil.

I ordered the barley mulch and glacial dust from BuildASoil - Custom Organic Soil and Organic Fertilizers along with free information to have your best harvest yet. They are awesome! Shipped to me really quick...way earlier than it was scheduled to get here (across the country). Their products are very nicely priced and they aim to educate their customers about all aspects of organic soil building.


Ok next...I put the plants into flower on the 1st of the year, and before that I replaced half the 6500k bulbs with 2700k bulbs. So its now an even 4/4 mix. As soon as I made the change the plants began to thicken up. The Trueberry especially grew about 4-5 inches in a couple days. At this point it would be important to note that I topped both plants 2 days after the last update...making it December 23rd. Both the plants have the same amount of new branches, but again the Trueberry has far outstripped the Blue Velvet which has remain more centralized.

Here's the Trueberry before the lights were changed and a few days after it was topped 12/28.

Here's the Blue Velvet at the same stage.

And here is the Trueberry from yesterday after changing the lights and 4 days of flower.

Blue Velvet after the same.

Side by side

For some of you tuning in you probably would have waited to flower the plants...but its already been over a month since seed, and the growth was very slow coming. I know now that it was because of the spectrum of lighting I was using, but this is supposed to be a discrete grow. I couldn't let the plants continue to veg for another month so they could get to pace with where they should have been.

I should be able to salvage the grow and still scrog them a bit...but they just wont be as filled out as planned. Keep in mind that this recent growth is likely just the change in lights. The plants should stretch for up to 2 or 3 weeks into flower...but we'll see.

After all, this is my first grow. As long as I end up with some smokeable bud and a lesson learned I'll be alright.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Should update bro!

Read away!

 

[Dusty Kiefers]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Great update man. They will no dout get big after that transplant. They look realy good.
Thanks for the link.
So are you just using water with living soil?
Sorry if you answered that I will read back, been a long day and getting good and properly meddicated

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Great update man. They will no dout get big after that transplant. They look realy good.
Thanks for the link.
So are you just using water with living soil?
Sorry if you answered that I will read back, been a long day and getting good and properly meddicated

I make compost tea and apply it whenever the soil dries out. The barley mulch helps retain moisture so I haven't had to apply as much recently. I use RO water, home made compost, EWC, kelp meal, fish hydrolysate, and molasses.

I'll have to see how the soil improves once the worms come in...but once they are applied (and if they don't die lol) scheduled tea feeding isn't as necessary. Making an application of just RO water, molasses, and kelp meal can suffice between tea feedings. Been talking to this guy and learning from him over at r/herbgrow.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Mini update.

I just got my worms in today and added them to the totes. Let's see how it turns out!

 

[Tomster420]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Looking really good bro! Keep up the great gardening!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

re: Organic Blue Velvet & Trueberry Micro Grow - CFL - Scrog - LST

Meehhh, next grow will be killer.