White Widow & Blue Cheese First Time CFL Closet Grow

[ksmirov]

Thanks King, Im gonna be careful with the progression of the nutes.

Day 22

The LST is working really nice! With the exposure to light for the inner nodes, they are really getting bushy especially the sickest one. But the problem is that there is so much top growth and the stem being like .75" average of the 3 plants, the bottom leaves are touching the soil. Is that a bad thing?

I also have concern about the height of the plant. I look at other peoples journals with the same kind of setup I do, and their plants of more proportional and taller then mines. I'm either thinking its the low
humidity (avg of 30-38 %) or maybe I need Cal-Mag when I water?

It seems like Cal-Mag is very popular among growers. I use only tap water for now being exposed for 24 hours.

Plant 1 (Healthiest)

I see a white root sticking out of this plant, time for transplant?

Plant 2

Bushiest one of them all

Plant 3 (Was Sickest, but really bouncing back after removing 2 bottom leave stems)

Theres a picture of a yellow leaf on the sickest plant, any ideas what kind of deficiency?

 

[KingJohnC]

if you are using tap water you may not need to supplement calcium and magnesium unless you are having a deficiency. as your plants grow they will outgrow the damaged leaves at the bottom, you can remove the damaged leaf at the bottom if you wish. if your bottom leaves begin to get damaged later you can just remove a few of them.

 

[ksmirov]

Thanks King, that's gonna save me a trip to the hydro store not having to buy cal mag.

So my insulated ducting finally came in and it was fairly easy to install. Tucked the fiberglass inside and tape the ends with aluminum tape twice.

Good ol duct tape to attach the fan and the scrubber.

Grozone Fan controller.
Im planning to do HPS during flowering so I got a Hortilux 600W bulb. The ballast and hood are coming in soon.

I was having a hard time trying to setup the bungee cords but this will be a temporary solution till I find a better way. Seriously with the insulated ducting and the door closed, it is virtually silent which I was aiming for. I was thinking of creating a sound box for the inline fan, but no need now.

I am most likely gonna transplant the plants into the 5 Gallon smart pots tomorrow, since I see a few roots coming out of each pot. Also I noticed after a day of watering, the soil gets much dryer then normal.

 

[ksmirov]

Day 24

Wow what a day. So I got back from work and saw that the duct tape that was holding together the scrubber and the fan was literally sliding out. And the only thing that was holding it back from falling was the chain that was holding up my reflector. I made a big mistake and decided to push it back together and apply a stripe of duct tape over it. About 5 minutes later, I watched the inevitable horror, when the scrubber fell on my reflector and I knew I fucked up.

First thing I checked were my plants of course, hearing other horror stories of peoples babies being crushed by the force. Thank God, none were hurt. Although one of my 40w CFL cracked, which I quickly disposed of it, fearing the mercury discharge.

Lesson learned, don't get cheap bungee cables and don't be lazy when securing your scrubber and inline fan.

I happened to have some large Velcro straps, so I chained them together and they really do the job of holding the weight of the scrubber and fan.

I also decided to transplant my ladies into 5 gallon Smart Pots, and again was amazed at the root growth.

I lined the bottom of the pots with a thin layer of small grained perlite. I measured out the remaining Ocean Forest I had for each pot and then mixed in 1/4 of perlite into each one in a small bin first with my hands. Then I sprinkled about a cup of water into the soil and mixed again.

After I transplanted the plants into the pots, I watered again, a cup for each plant as not to over water it and cause nute burn again. No Nutes were added as I know the new soil will have more then enough nutes for it.

Now I am mad tired and going to take a nap.

 

[ShrubHub]

Looks awesome man coming along great!

 

[ksmirov]

Day 25

Babies are doing fine. But they were a few holes in some of the plants apparently from my dropping the carbon scrubber which in effect dropped the reflector on them. But it is very minor.

So far I am LSTing the each plants with one wire holding the stem and the other wire on a node and pulling in opposite directions.

I want to start adding two more wires and pull them in all different directions but all my plants are so goddam bushy, its hard to get a good sturdy node to hook onto.

Also, the stem is so goddam short, when I do bend it over, some of the leaves are touching the soil.

Anyone have advice or pictures of 2+ wire LSTing?

 

[ksmirov]

Update

Over the weekend, I had to attend a wedding (was a groomsmen) so I literally wasn't able to see my babies for 3 straight days! Also some of my relatives were living in my house, and I was not able to care and look and admire them as I pleased.

I told them I was turning vegetarian and was growing potatoes, tomatoes and chilis in the closet. LOL!

They aren't dumb people and jokingly mentioned that they thought I was growing marijuana since I had the door locked the whole time they were there. I just laughed it off and changed the subject.

I was able to go home and water them for a brief amount of time. I was freaking out because the average temp in there was like 84-86 F. But overall they looked ok, but they need my tender loving care everyday which they missed.

Ill be back tonight and get some updated photos!

 

[The General]

Update

Over the weekend, I had to attend a wedding (was a groomsmen) so I literally wasn't able to see my babies for 3 straight days! Also some of my relatives were living in my house, and I was not able to care and look and admire them as I pleased.

I told them I was turning vegetarian and was growing potatoes, tomatoes and chilis in the closet. LOL!

They aren't dumb people and jokingly mentioned that they thought I was growing marijuana since I had the door locked the whole time they were there. I just laughed it off and changed the subject.

I was able to go home and water them for a brief amount of time. I was freaking out because the average temp in there was like 84-86 F. But overall they looked ok, but they need my tender loving care everyday which they missed.

Ill be back tonight and get some updated photos!

Tomatoes LOL

86 in not too bad, don't worry yourself.

 

[ShrubHub]

All my friends and family know Im a staunch organic/non-gmo consumer and since I have a patio full of vegetables that I talk about all the time people are sick of hearing about. Only one person pointed out my slightly glowing closet and when I said I was growing a varietal of purple heirloom tomatoes that don't do well in Florida climate due to high temps and humidity THEY changed the subject for fear of a lecture about the government poisoning our food lol

 

[ksmirov]

All my friends and family know Im a staunch organic/non-gmo consumer and since I have a patio full of vegetables that I talk about all the time people are sick of hearing about. Only one person pointed out my slightly glowing closet and when I said I was growing a varietal of purple heirloom tomatoes that don't do well in Florida climate due to high temps and humidity THEY changed the subject for fear of a lecture about the government poisoning our food lol

Lol, I totally see how u can turn their suspicion against them.


Day 30

So finally back in my house today. Picked up an old skool Humidifier from my parents house, just gonna test it out overnight and see if its safe with power supply and the CFLs.

Also got some Neem Oil from a drugstore just in case of them spider mites.

Plants are getting really really bushy, with little nodes that aren't getting light. So I'm tying down the main stem, the 2nd to top node, and 2 lower nodes that I think would allow more light.

Only incorporated once of the 1/4 strength of the Big Bloom and Grow Big in my feed. So tomorrow I'm thinking of doing 1/2 strength. I'm thinking about doing my first topping tonight.

 

[KingJohnC]

up to 90° Fahrenheit is acceptable for grow room temperature.

 

[ksmirov]

up to 90° Fahrenheit is acceptable for grow room temperature.

Woo, I'm glad 86 wasn't certain death.

Morning 31

I decided to FIM my plants this morning, having never topped or FIM before.

Found myself a razor blade and tried my best to cut an oval shape to the 80% mark to the Top node.


Plant #1

Plant #2

Plant #3 (before cutting)

Plant #3 (after cutting)

 

[ShrubHub]

Thanks for this post in detail, I wanted to fim but chickened out lol

 

[Smokemupm8]

Firstly, Ill introduce myself - Hey Mate
I have to say - I like your enthusiasm!!!! Sit seeing them 200w CFL's made me drool.. If I had 5 or 6 of em, Id toss my MH out - The CFL's seem to grow some phat girls and theyre close node spacings etc;
I also see youre into LST, Same as me - I noticed Australian filter You from the land of Oz too?? And shit your gunna be outta space soon pending on how long you Veg them plants buddy, my girls are 6ftH x4.5ft Wx2.5ftD and I am hoping I get around 1.5 pound from this girl indoor in soil, I use a HUMUS soil, theres a few guys having issues with FoxFarms defic or burn occurring?? Seems to me not that good? So what Veg & flower times do you expect to run, and are you doing perpetual?
Have a good one and GREAT WORK AND VERY WELL SET UP GROW! Nice one, Chat soon anyways, Smokemupm8

 

[ksmirov]

Firstly, Ill introduce myself - Hey Mate
I have to say - I like your enthusiasm!!!! Sit seeing them 200w CFL's made me drool.. If I had 5 or 6 of em, Id toss my MH out - The CFL's seem to grow some phat girls and theyre close node spacings etc;
I also see youre into LST, Same as me - I noticed Australian filter You from the land of Oz too?? And shit your gunna be outta space soon pending on how long you Veg them plants buddy, my girls are 6ftH x4.5ft Wx2.5ftD and I am hoping I get around 1.5 pound from this girl indoor in soil, I use a HUMUS soil, theres a few guys having issues with FoxFarms defic or burn occurring?? Seems to me not that good? So what Veg & flower times do you expect to run, and are you doing perpetual?
Have a good one and GREAT WORK AND VERY WELL SET UP GROW! Nice one, Chat soon anyways, Smokemupm8

Elo Mate! Thanks for checking out my Journal!

Yea, I kinda wished they were less bushy since it makes LSTing and watering a hell of a pain.

You can say I have love of the land of OZ but those bands came with the Phresh filter where they harvest the carbon.

As for as the height of the plants I want to veg till, im shooting for 1.5 feet - 2 feet range. I know I have 6 feet from under the hood to work with, even more if I move the carbon scrubber to another side railing that I already have setup there. This is my first ever introduction to marijuana growing so I'm learning as I grow.

I'll be happy with even a pound with all the girls together. Yea that over-watering the FFOF soil mad me shed a tear to see what it did to them. But I have to fail first to learn from my mistakes!

This first grow, I am not gonna do Clones yet because I have yet to have space for a veg tent, but hopefully in the future I will have this as a perpetual grow year round.

Im excited for flowering because I have the components for a 600W HPS flowering cycle, anxious to see the difference between CFL and HPS grows.

Thanks man, I'm gonna look at your grow journals too! Take care mate!

 

[ksmirov]

Day 31!

Week 4! So today I fed the babies about a gallon of water with 1/2 strength Fox Farms nutes. Im thinking I went a little overboard on watering this time, crosses fingers. But there was no runoff on the bottom of the plant after 1-2 hours.

Also the Humidifier has been working wonders. Before, my day and night humidity ranged from 30-35%. Now its between 50-60% and for some reason it has really dropped the temps from the 79-82 degrees range (with my living room ac on) to 73-77 degrees. So happy about it but I know the effects it has on electronics and light bulbs. I have it on a timer to power off during its dark periods and when I am home, I would turn it off and on occasionally.

And hopefully I did the fimming correctly.

 

[waknbak88]

We got the same thermometer lol, plants look awsome how do you like the smart pots? I was thinking about getting them to help combat my gnat problem.i think they would help keep them from getting in through the bottom

 

[ksmirov]

We got the same thermometer lol, plants look awsome how do you like the smart pots? I was thinking about getting them to help combat my gnat problem.i think they would help keep them from getting in through the bottom

Haha from Lowes right? Initially I was fantasizing about these pots. But there are some pros and cons to it.

Pros
Good air for the roots

Cons
When soil is dry, and you move the pot, you can see the outline in the soil of when u last transplanted the pot
Kinda sucks when LSTing. You really have to tie down further then u intend to make up for the springback

If I were to choose now between your plastic buckets or smart pots, I would choose your buckets.

I guess the smart pots would help with the gnats.

 

[ksmirov]

So I'm just making some preparations for the eventual flowering stage. I'm gonna be transitioning from CFL to HPS during that stage and have a air sealed Reflector. Was wondering if my 4" Vortex is capable of supporting the setup below. Total ducting will prolly be around 6'

I was thinking of this setup, because I cannot make another hole in my grow closet.

 

[KingJohnC]

sounds like a good plan for flowering.