420 Newb & First Grow - Coco - Autos - Green-O-Matic - Auto Massassasin - 2016

[W1zard]

Hiya everybody , firstly i'd like to say thank you in advance for all the insight i have gained from reading through your posts , as well any help personally you may pass on to me in future

Many times now ive nearly uploaded pictures of my babies and screamed help, only to end up browsing posts and grow threads and scouring the net instead gleaming tid bits of information from here and there to help resolve and over come any issues and anxieties.

Soo. im happy to say this is not the case today and would now like to take the opportunity to introduce my babies to you all.

I have been keeping a journal of sorts as well should inform you that they are today 30 days from sprouting.

I will post these current photos first and then in a pulp fiction type fashion go back to the very beginning and try show some of my progress working forward


LOL, pls dont pick on me too much , as per my title i am a growing newb thanks again in advance for all your help and support and i hope the thread is not too boring to read..

Peace

My babies today at day 30
The two ladies( i hope) at back are the assasins and the three at front the greenhouse green-o-matics

A close up of one of the green-o-matics

 

[Nismo12]

re: 420 Newb & First Grow - Coco - Autos - Green-O-Matic - Auto Massassasin - 2016

Welcome to ! You are right, this is a great place for information and tons of people willing to help. These girls look great. Nothing to worry about right now I don't think. But it would be great if we could get more info about your setup.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Sign me up buddy, one 8 week subscription please. They look great so far, I'll grab a seat next to Nismo and get to packing the bong. Good luck Wizard! And to the grow family.

KiG cheers

 

[Nismo12]

Sign me up buddy, one 8 week subscription please. They look great so far, I'll grab a seat next to Nismo and get to packing the bong. Good luck Wizard! And to the grow family.

KiG cheers

Way ahead of ya bud, already had one loaded

 

[W1zard]

Thanks guys and appreciate people checking in for a look. i suppose i should get to posting some more details eh?


will start with the little bit of journal info i have saved in txt file and try to accompany with some photos giving a more detailed overview of my set up as is at present.


2/3*seeds placed to germ *paper towel method

5/3Green-o-matic germ'd -6/3 auto massassain

*seeds moved to coco though no nutrients administered 6/3

7/3 1 of 3 Green-o-matic sprouted ,8/3 the rest inc auto mass sprouted

Potted in cardboard i recycled from a pizza box

*note, was very cold in fact snowing on one or two of these days and was concerned. As i have my laptop on almost 24/7 i used the power packs ambient heat by placing it in between the 2 containers i was using to germ/sprout. I placed a box over the three and covered it with some cloth to keep in the heat. (all seeds seemed to appreciate this germing less than 24hrs later)

11/3 set up 140w led. one plant has lost a water leaf with all plants at aprox same height and all showing signs of 2nd set of serrated leaves. (previous to this i was using a cfl but under par for plants at 23w, the reason for this was i felt 140w true led was far to big a foot print to be running on 5 babies?.



Ordered a true 50w ufo led as well 2 daylight 80w cfl's. I plan to use them in a combined fashion across 2 tents/spaces ie, 50w led / 80w cfl veg and 140w led / 2xcfl 80w's

14/3 80w light came today ... not what i was expecting exactly... hahaha .. plants have two sets of leaves, moved from seedling pot to 1L airpots for vegging, will use these pots direct after germination nxt time.

17/3 Plants have recovered from any shock from transplanting ie. no droopy leaves (also confirms that nutrient solution wasnt an issue as gave first major dosage @ just under 1/2 strength with added h&g root excelerator and calmag whilst changing pots) *Nodes have appeared between the first and 2nd set of serrated leaves as well appears new leaves on top are sprouting.

Swapped lights over to the ufo @ 50 true watts to save on consumption. Ordered some grow room led light glasses as well as the new ufo has uv and ir bands, hope they come soon as .

Need to get fans as well humidity temp levels gauges. Not thinking about extractor fan or carbon filter just yet, will wait till i put up tent for flowering or until current setup is too small for plants.. no real smell yet to note of

20-24th was away in Amsterdam, much , plants received watering in lesser quantities as soil not drying out though wanted to make sure they stayed moist whilst away. (*side note , popped into a few seed shops as well made some purchases from sensi seed bank

01/4 plants transplanted to 12l pots using aprox 10l of material/space as well built and put up tent and gave them a 3/4 dosage of nutes

07/5th finally got off my backside and posted on 420 forums

ps, ha i think my delay in postings is due to too many bongs.... speaking of which.. wheres that lighter

 

[W1zard]

Just did a full nute watering and tied down the two bigger green-o-matics. not sure what any ones thoughts are on this , not sure how long i will leave them so , just trying to keep the canopy around the same height.. .. will prob leave like this over night and see how others are progressing..

got to shoot to work so photos will follow tonight as well as the more important info of setup ect

Peace

 

[W1zard]

Ok so as promised a few photos and some info on setup...

I originally had them vegging in a cardboard box tower i constructed in my closet. @ this time i only had my mars hydro 300w led, true led at 140w. Feeling that this was a little over kill for the space i was using and presuming i would be leaving them in there for a few weeks i purchased a 120w(i think), 50w true led ufo which also had the added uv and ir range.


Once the ufo came i retro fitted it to my tower by adding another level as the plants had increased in height.

Trying to maintain a 20 inch distance from light. (company specs suggest 18inchs though after watching a bud doctor lecture ave decided leaving a couple extra inchs for the plants to grow into is possibly best ) and running at 19/5 cycle

Plants were left in box tower until leafs were beginning to touch sides. Put up tent repotted from 1l airpots to 12l(3gallon) grow bag /smartpots and continued running ufo until day 32 (yesterday) when i swapped back over to the Mars Hydro 300w light

Medium, coco and perlite 80-20% though will increase perlite in next mix as feel it takes to long to dry out (longest 6/7 days)
temp between 20-25c (18 at night) and humidity at 40-60
tent size, 80cmx80x160

Using Dutch Pro for ph + - using Canna Calmag, H&G root excelorator and a Generic Coco nute solution (not what i thought when purchased online, was using happily till i found it stocked at the local poundland?!? dollar shop. oh well seems to be working so bought another bottle each of the grow, bloom and pk boost as well was surprised to see they do a rooting powder (contains algae and seaweed and other good stuff)as well. so for 1/4 of what i originally paid online i nabbed all 4)

Going to get some H&G Bud xl and possibly top booster. If i can afford it might forgo on the booster even and get some H&G Top shooter or shooting powder.

Any thoughts on the nutrient choices or light setup , hours under, would be much appreciated. Getting along nicely i feel though it has been an expensive start and would hate to have any probs later on or be harming future yield size.

again i would like to point out no one has advised me and ive done this on my own , complete newb except for the smoking part.. just did alot of reading and decided wanting a low heat signature as well an inexpensive electric bill that this was a good way to go?

very happy for feedback peace

ps photos to follow , uploading now

 

[W1zard]

Pics of 1 my 80w cfl light. if u read earlier the size wasnt exactly defined in the online advert

Germ process paper towel method

​

Getting a lil sadistic with my babies, Greenhouse Green-o-matic 1/3

Green-o-matic plant 2/3

One of the Massassassins

The space - 2x Massassassins at front 3x Greenhouse Green-o-matics at back

 

[Stinky Snid]

Good thinking on the laptop as a heating pad... Very ingenious. Your plants are lucky to have such an attentive grower. Reps+ for that idea.

KiG cheers

 

[W1zard]

Haha, thanks Snidrajsed

hmm, having some issues resolving what exactly the best ph lvl is for coco.. i know between 5.5 n 6.5 is the basis and ive been shooting for between 5.8 and 6.2 but ive been reading some stuff recently which suggests i need at least a 6 or over? is this correct?

Not sure if plant is suffering from a calcium deficiency or or is a nute lock out from poor ph. many thanks for your help

 

[Stinky Snid]

From what I've been told is treat coco/soiless mixes as if it were hydro. But I do the average in between also, I've tried to keep my Ph as close to 6 as I can. My pots usually drift from 5.8 to 6.5 wet to dry respectively. This allows for good nutrient uptake by my experience. I use advanced nutrients Ph perfect, so I usually don't adjust it and it comes to a Ph of 6.0<6.4 once mixed. Does that help... Let me find a link...

Here's an excerpt

Coco and PH
The buffering process also means easy adjustment of pH in the Coco, which is imperative when it comes to the optimum uptake of nutrients throughout the plant’s life.

Soil PH can be hard to change, since it takes time to correct, flow check and restore. It takes longer to correct the problem in soil, than it took to cause it.

The PH of fresh Coco is marked on the bag from 5.0 - 7.0, however all of the coco I've tested was always between 6.0 - 6.5. Changing the PH of Coco takes a few waterings of pH-adjusted water, perhaps only one. The medium is very reactive to the PH of the water given to it; this gives coco growers rapid control over pH
What is important is that you use 6.0 - 7.0 pH water, 6.5 being optimal if in pots.

That's from this thread...
Using Coco as a Substrate

Hope that helps man

KiG cheers

Ps.. So upon reading that again, I'm doing correct. Unless your using it as a hydro medium then 6.0 is good.

 

[W1zard]

Champion ty Snidrajsed yeah not sure but think im going with a cal deficiency , will add a lil more cal mag if it gets worse.. so far so good .. fingers crossed. Ordered some more specialized additives last night so hopefully they come soon and can start benefiting from there goodness

so any who , with out further adieu, some shots of the girls at day 35

The Girls

Greenhouse green-o-matic 1/3

Greenhouse green-o-matic 2/3

​

And call me impatient but lol, thought i should get going on a 2nd grow so id like to introduce u all to these girls..

Ak automatic, 1 Sensi Skunk , and 1 Silver Haze

say hello girls

they going to be crazy i feel , only germd yesterday and already has lil serrated leaves showing on two of them (18 hrs?)

ps, a 2nd grow journal will be started shortly, your more than welcome to tag along

 

[DocBuddin]

Nice setup. Lights look like they can be lowered however

 

[W1zard]

Nice setup. Lights look like they can be lowered however

Noice , ty very much was worried as manufactures pamphlet said between 18 - 32 depending on veg or flowering , i think i had them at 18-20 at those photos but only just raised the light after taking that..

I was worried that they weren't getting enough light though was not sure

U think i should be lowering it? its a mars 300w running at true 120w with a foot print of 1.5 - 2ft squared. i was thinking about adding in the true 50w ufo i had but if you think i just need to lower the hydro. I also have 2 80w daylight cfls that i could use *shrug

 

[W1zard]

Here she is, a link to my 2nd grow SeNsI-sKuNk-SiLvEr-HaZe#9-AuToMaTic-Ak

Come take a gander and chuck in your two cents worth

 

[W1zard]

Nice setup. Lights look like they can be lowered however

hmm so i have taken your advice , seems i might be in need of more lights in general according to the mars hydro light thread/posts

Anywhos for now have pushed the plants back in the tent a lil tighter leaving about 8-12 inchs free space in the front of the tent and repositioned the light bar over it so as to maximize what ever light i am getting to them.

Lowered them to 16 inches as most of them are starting to or are in flower, will lower them further until any signs of heat stress up until 12 inches through flower as per manufactures instructions. Also ive slide the mars hydro over a lil to incorporate the ufo led. - still not sure this is enough but am much happier about the over all light coverage now

Giving them last feed shortly ,with the grow being the major nutrients/fert, possibly do a 50/50 with bloom and weed the grow out..

Question , when should i use pk boost ? especially more concerning as i have some high powered products from H&G top booster, bud xl and top shooter powder so dont want to over do it. - Not planing on using any of them until next couple of waterings

New lighting arrangement

Green-o-matic showing some nice undergrowth

Now this one im a lil concerned about. i believe that shes just running a lil slower than the rest but the real concern is that it might be thinking about swapping over?!?!

I believe in my novice experience and from what little knowledge ive gathered that "she" may just be starting to show signs of sex and going the right way but if you guys cold help alleviate any worries would be muchly appreciated.

Massassin

Im sure there was one more thing i wanted to ask but i forget now , ha, go figure *shrug

Thanks again in advance for your help guys and girls

Peace

 

[W1zard]

argh, just learnt the formula and realised i been running way under par for watts. Read it before when i was researching growing but didnt take to much into it as was so much else i was focusing on and at that time the space i have wasn't going to be so big..

ok so im using aprox 27w a foot within the 6.75 foot of space (only learnt it in feet so far, lol, will have to convert at a latter date and when im no so tired)

anyways just got off ebay and another mars hydro light on its way

should give me aprox 41w overall, and 58w with 5 12l/3gallon pots pushed up the back . much better i think

Will have to see what the girls reckon

 

[W1zard]

Hi all, Hope alls well

Had noticed this in a milder manner a week ago though at this time it only constituted a mild annoyance as well had autos growing so wasn't too concerned. Recently as ive popped in some feminized seeds im beginning to worry.

The layer of fabric inside the tent thats supposed to sit over the zipper dog ears up when i open it and it seems to have created a leak.

any thoughts, ie, is it worth worrying about. perhaps tape some weights to the skirting? idk *shrug

I only ask because i assume if i can see light coming out then it must be getting in

thanks in advance

 

[W1zard]

otherwise the girls after a lil Lst'ing

q? any thoughts on trimming some fan leaves, kinda wanna ,but with everything ive read i kinda dont...

oh well , dilemma dilemma

 

[W1zard]

Just got home from work and found power was out. brother hadnt topped up electricity and so as we on a pay to go it shut off, hmmmm.

ok so standard timing is lights shut off at 3 am , come back on at 9am and go through the day.. looking at the timer it shut off at 5pm and i just turned it back on at 11pm giving it 6 hours dark.

Normally i would have lights on through to 3am and let them sleep for 6 hours again but not sure what i should do. as they have just had 6 hours and as i have the feminized seedlings (3 days old) in there growing with my autos, dont want to be confusing them to much?

so , normally would b running a 18/6 cycle, though today after 8 hours of light power went out for 6 . just turned power on again though wat cycle should i run it at for least interference with grow do you think. should i just have today as a freak day and run a 8/6/4/6 getting it back to normal cycle , or would it be best just starting a new days light cycle

As you can imagine im extremely happy about this situation just not sure how to go about embracing it, any thoughts?