Tnoldons Indoor Lemon Skunk Grow (Poor Man's Grow)

[Optimus PrimeBud]

Ok so here is the update. I killed the white widow....dumb mistake I didn't wet the soil when I went to plant it and lost her when I dropped her in needless to say she dried up and it was a very costly mistake Anyway I now have the Rocklock strain ready to be planted and I'll be more careful this time.

The Lemon skunk is doing ok she is on her 4th set of leaves the first set of true leaves have completely turned brown and fallen off and it is spreading to the next set of leaves. I'm not sure there is anything I can do to stop it really. If anyone has suggestions on that I'm listening.

The lemon skunk seedling in the hydro set up is growing at a slow pace, but looks healthy to me and thats what matters.

I wonder if the light set up I have isn't enough and that could be causing the slow growth in my plants? right now its 4/27w cfls and 1/15w cfl I might try 4/ 42w cfls and 2/27w clfs and see if this helps. Anyway thats my update I'll post pictures tonight. I think I'm finally getting better at this growing thing

 

[UglyMuppet]

i have seen many people use just one CFL to start their plants. i used 8 6500k CFLs then thought i need more light and added 5 more.... it was too much. i would use (2) 6500k 23w CFLs for each plant unless they are close to each other then they can share some of the bulbs. i would keep them about 6 inches above the plants and run the lights on a timer of 20 hours on and 4 hours off. mist them and PUT THEM UNDER A DOME!! so they do not dry out.

 

[UglyMuppet]

while i only grow in hydro and have never grown in soil. i have read a bunch of bad things about the MG soil.... i would try something else. it is going to piss you off to loose all your crops due to cheep soil.

 

[Optimus PrimeBud]

Thanks UglyMuppet! I know the MG soil is bad its only in the lemon skunk its all I could find at the time. I know am using FFOC. I might attempt a transfer but I'm afraid to hurt the root system. As fas the the lights all the plants are close together so i'll try the 2 cfls close. I haven't seen any cfls around me that are 6500k though? I have 27w and the lumens are only 1,700? is it a certain brand of cfl that has the 6500k I need? Also I have a dome under the seedling but not the lemon skunk does she need a dome too? and how long do I keep the dome on for?

 

[Optimus PrimeBud]

I must be confused and sound kinda dumb but I'm guess 6500k and the lumens are not the same thing at all right?

 

[UglyMuppet]

the 6500k is also known as a "daylight" bulb. it has a blueish light to it. the color is good for vegging. if you have to use a lower wattage light you can. but you might need a couple more. i have couple of 13 watt bulbs in my set up and they work just fine as well.


be very carfull when moving your plant... do not touch the roots. if you are moving them to hydro, you can lightly flush the roots under some water. try to remove as much soil as you can, if not all of the soil from the roots. if you are switching to another soil you should be able to get by with leaving some soil in the root structure. but there should be no soil when going to hydro. the soil will throw off your PH big time.

 

[UglyMuppet]

the term 6500k means the spectrum of the light output of the bulb. 6500k is a "daylight" blue/white light. 2700k is a "warm" orange/yellow light.

 

[UglyMuppet]

some people use 6500k for vegging and 2700k for flowering. although i am using a mix of both for an added "full spectrum" light set up.

 

[Optimus PrimeBud]

Oh ok well all my lights are the daylight ones with a blue spectrum. I might try to get a few more smaller wattage ones to through in there. Also I would be moving the lemon skunk to the FoxFarm soil since I only have one bubble bucket. Would I still have to flush the soil before transferring it? Or would putting it in better soil correct the problem? It was in rockwool then put in the MG soil so i'm not sure how much of the roots have gone into the soil by now.

 

[UglyMuppet]

it should be fine... just gently shake the soil from the roots and transplant to the new soil. water with just plain water for a couple of days.

 

[UglyMuppet]

the plants will take a few days to recover. it will shock the plant somewhat but they should pull through. give them a few days to recover. it might even take a week or so to show some improvement.

 

[Optimus PrimeBud]

I will be attempting this tonight and posting pics. I really hope this works she is my oldest plant and so far my best one it would be hard on me if she didn't survive the transplant so wish me luck! Maybe it will stop the nute burn since the FFOC shouldn't be as hot.

One thing. Since the roots will end up being exposed to the light for a short amount of time. Will this cause shock to the plant?

Thanks for all the help UglyMuppet!

 

[UglyMuppet]

as for your bucket..... the air stones/air pump adds oxygen to the water so they will thrive when the roots sit in the water. but the pump has to stay on 24/7. just wait until the roots hit the water.... the plant will "explode" with growth.... keep a very close eye on your water levels as the plant grows the water consumption will increase. i add 4 gallons a day to my 5 plant system right now.

 

[UglyMuppet]

ill take pics of my add on drip system and post them up in here for you to check out.... give me a couple mins to get them done...

 

[Optimus PrimeBud]

Awesome! How long does it take normally for the roots to hit the water? Will they be able to sneak there way around the rocks they are in? Its been in there for only 3 days so far and I haven't seen any roots coming out just yet. I am however having a super difficult time getting the PH levels down they are above 7 I tried using PhDown using 2 drips per gallon i ended up using 8 drips and still the water was above 7, any suggestions. Maybe next time ill PH gallon by gallon to make it easy.

 

[UglyMuppet]

yes you should get your PH down!!!! too high of a PH will cause a nute lock out.... it should be down below 6.0. it is easier to PH each gallon. the roots will make it down through the rocks. it will take a lil time to get the roots to the bottom. what type of water are you using? tap water, reversed osmosis, well water??? if using tap water try letting it sit open to the air for 24 hours so the chlorine can evaporate.

this is the drip system i used to start my plants. i had a small "cloner" system.
you could build something like this for your hydro set up. but i had multiple sites to water and you have only one. you might have to hand water for a while.

 

[Optimus PrimeBud]

Great pics! I'll have to try that set up. I'm using tap water for know but I did let it sit out a full day before using. I will probably empty the bucket and start over with fresh water and get each one down to about 6ph and then dump one by one in the bucket so I don't waste thew PH solution trying to down 5 gallons of water. SInce its a seedling and has no soil should I be adding a small amount of nutes to the water?

 

[UglyMuppet]

no nutes... after about 2 weeks add 1/4 strength nutes.
maybe you could buy some distilled water from the store, that is what i did before getting a reverse osmosis set up.

 

[Optimus PrimeBud]

Ok yeah I should be able to get some distilled water its pretty cheap anyway. I actually have nutes in there right now about 1/4 strength I'm gonna dump the water tonight and hope it hasn't done any damage.

 

[UglyMuppet]

i know that it is hard to do...but... do not over analyze you grow... i was in the cabinet every hour as soon as my seeds popped.... these plants are strong and will grow very well. even better as your experience level increases. it does seem like you are trying out every possible way to grow (hydro and soil) both at the same time. you will go nuts. as one problem in hydro will be different than the other in soil. my recommendation would be to make a choice and ether go all hydro or all soil.... the switch after your first crop. then pick what way you like best.... in the mean time we will help with your current grow and get thess plants to harvest....