A Beginners Journal - 250W HPS - Indoor - Soil In Wardrobe - Advice Welcome!

[Simon de Montefort]

Hello everyone!

First of all i wanted to say that this is really a great Website! It gives me a lot of usefull Information and helped me a lot. Thank you guys here for that! English is not my natural language, so please don´t be too harsh with my words

But now, lets move on to my Project:
I decided to grow by myself because of poor quality and expensive Prices if you buy on the street where im living. So i began to lookout for a good location in my appartment first and then i choose my Equipment. Here is my Setup:

The Cabinet:
My Wardrobe, at least a part of it. It is 58x98x190cm

Lightning: 250W HPS by GIB Lightning, Modell Flower Spectrum Pro

Air exhaust: 185m³/h with acf

Pots: 11 litre Pots from my Local Gardening Store


Seeds:

Dark Devil by Sweet Seeds
Autoflowering
Ruderalis/Indica/Sativa
8-9 Weeks from Seed to Harvest

Blue Dream Auto by 1000 Seeds
Autoflowering
25%Indica/75%Sativa
7-8 Weeks from Seed to Harvest

Cream Caramel Auto by Sweet Seeds
Autoflowering
Ruderalis/Indica/Sativa
8 Weeks from Seed to Harvest

Soil:

I use a very Light Mix by CompoSana, because i read that Autoflowering Strains don´t like too much Nuts in their Soil

Nutrients: Complete Hesi lineup



So lets get started. I read a lot of how to germinate Seeds and i tried out to different methods. I packed to seeds in wet Toilet Paper and placed them in a dark place. This was the Blue Dream and Dark Devil Seed. The third Seed was placed direct in the Earth, to see any difference between this two methods. Results was clear to see. The two Seeds in toilet paper where germinated in about 12 hours so I placed them in earth. The other one took a long time to germinate, but you guys will see later!

Additional info:
Exhaust fan is running 24/7, Light cycle is 20/4

Day 1

Humidity 60-80%
Temp 27-34°C

Blue Dream

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 2

Humidity 55-80%
Temp 27-32°C

Blue Dream

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 3

Humidity 55-60%
Temp 27-29°C

Blue Dream

Height: 1 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 1 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 4

Humidity 60-80%
Temp 27-31°C

Blue Dream

Height: 5.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 6 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 5

Humidity 60-80%
Temp 24-31°C

Blue Dream

Height: 6.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 7 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 6

Humidity 60-80%
Temp 24-31°C
Extra Soil added, arround 5 cm

Blue Dream

Height: 3.5 cm
Water: 500 ml, to make sure the extra Soil is wet enough
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 4 cm
Water: 500 ml, to make sure the extra Soil is wet enough
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 7

Humidity 50-60%
Temp 24-31°C

Blue Dream

Height: 3.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 4 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 8

Humidity 55-65%%
Temp 24.1-28°C

Blue Dream

Height: 5 cm
Water: 1250 ml
Nutrients: 1/4 of Hesi Scheme (TNT Complex, Wurzel Complex, Supervit)

Dark Devil

Height: 5.5 cm
Water: 1250 ml
Nutrients: 1/4 Hesi Scheme (TNT Complex, Wurzel Complex, Supervit)

Cream Caramel

Height: 0 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Why did i gave som Nuts at this early Stage? My thought was, because of the Soil is so light, it would be best to gave them a little bit of Nuts to make sure they have everything they need.


Day 9

Humidity 50-60%
Temp 22.1-28.1°C

Blue Dream

Height: 5.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 6 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 0.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 10

Humidity 55-65%
Temp 21.8-27.9°C

Blue Dream

Height: 5.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 6.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 1 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 11

Humidity 55-65%
Temp 21.6-28.1°C

Blue Dream

Height: 6 cm
Water: 1250 ml
Nutrients: 1/2 Hesi Scheme (TNT Complex, Wurzel Complex, Supervit)

Dark Devil

Height: 7.5 cm
Water: 1250 ml
Nutrients: 1/2 Hesi Scheme (TNT Complex, Wurzel Complex, Supervit)

Cream Caramel

Height: 1.5 cm
Water: 40 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 12

Humidity 55-65%
Temp 21.4-28.2°C

Blue Dream

Height: 6 cm
Water: 5000 ml flushed, I thought a gave them too much Nuts, Plant doesnt look healthy. Blade Tips where Rolling down, leaves are starting to get yellow
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 8 cm
Water: 5000 ml, same Reason as above, but overall not so worse
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 2.5 cm
Water: 40 ml
Nutrients: none


Day 13, today

Humidity 55-70%%
Temp 21.2-26.4°C

Blue Dream

Height: 6 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Dark Devil

Height: 9 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Cream Caramel

Height: 5 cm
Water: 60 ml
Nutrients: none

This is the Blue Dream at the Moment

This is The Dark Devil, looking a little better but not healthy

Please guys, for sure i made a lot of Mistakes. I need your help to improve and maybe safe my Plants. I will try to update this Journal every day, so you can see the progress.

Thanks a lot guys, Crocodoc

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Hi!

Because of some Temperature issues at the Top of the Plants, Temps was reaching 31-32°C (88-90°F), i had to do something. There was no money to order a bigger Fan for exhaust, so something else must had to be done. I decided to use my Air Conditioning which i only use in the Summer month. So i began thinking about how to do it. I thought it would be the best if i do not place it directly into the growroom because of space. So i needed to place it somewhere else. My Wardrobe is big enough so why not take another part of it for that? So here is what if done.

I emtied out the Space of my wardrobe that i needed and placed the Air Conditioning into it. I connected the exhaust of it to some flexpipe and let it blow out the window. Then i placed a Ventilator in front of the hole where fresh air was sucked into the growroom before. Then i closed up the part of my wardrobe with wood and some carton. i left a hole at the Top part to prevent the Air Conditioner using the same air all the time. I made the Lighter test, Air is sucked into, so it works fine. In the Growroom i had another Problem now. The cold Air was now blown directly against my Pots. So i had to do something about that. My Solution is simple but it works fine. I used the carton from one of my Vents to build something like an Air baffle from it. I will take a good Picture of that later when the HPS is off, my Camera just sucks when trying to take a picture in that kind of light. But to show what it looks like, here is a preview with lights on.

So what about the Results?

After running like that for half a day now, my temps are about 23.3 to 25°C ( 73-77°F) when light is on. When light is off, Air Conditioning is off too, so the Temps are a little lower, but just a little. Temp with light off is: 20-22°C (68-71°F)

What do you think will that better up my situation?

 

[Stinky Snid]

Welcome to the forums Crocdoc, that will certainly be better Temperature wise. You're pretty much in the ideal zone now, well done. Is the creme caramel doing ok, no pics of that yet... Good luck on the grow Crocdoc, and as always...

KiG cheers

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Thx a lot Snidrajsed, well i took some Photos of the Cream Caramel, will upload them with this Post. I have a few new Photos of the Dark Devil too, i think she has some kind of Deficiency, but because of i am noob, i didint really know. So, here are my updates:

Day 14

Humidity 55-60%
Temp 21.8-25.9°C (71.24-78.62°F)

Blue Dream

I killed the Blue Dream, it was not growing anymore for Days now and starting to look weaker and weaker. So why grwoing in sick Plant for about 8 more weeks when i could replace it and just loose 2 Weeks insteade of 10? So, a new Blue Dream is germinating right now.

Dark Devil

Height: 11.5 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

I started to LST the Plant today, using copper wire.

Cream Caramel

Height: 6 cm
Water: 1250 ml
Nutrients: 1 ml/l of Hesi Root Complex, 1 ml/l of Hesi PowerZyme

I started LST here too, using copper wire also


Day 15

Humidity 55-60%
Temp 22.0-25.9°C (71.6-78.62°F)

Blue Dream

Still germinating


Dark Devil

Height: 11.5 cm (not changed because of LST)
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

Here are the Photos of it:

Dark Devil LST:

Here is a top view Picture, i hope my Camera is good enough to see the Problems of my little girl:

Cream Caramel

Height: 6 cm
Water: 0 ml
Nutrients: none

I hope you Guys can help me with that. I personally think it could be Zinc, Sulfur, or Iron deficiency. What do you think?

EDIT:
Could it be Nitrogen defiancy aswell? I use a very light soil mix, here it´s Data Sheet:

- pH 5,0-6,5
- 50-250mg/l N
- 80-300mg/l P
- 100-350mg/l K

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Ok, Pot is getting really light now, can someone more experienced as I am please take a look? I need to Water my Lady and need to know if it is a Nitrogen defiency

 

[Stinky Snid]

Imo they seem over watered, the bigger ones are pointing down to the roots as a problem. But the lightening of the Green is troublesome. It looks like nitrogen, but it may be because your roots aren't absorbing it properly. How many drain holes do you have in the pots? I drill dozens to aspirate the medium(allowing to dry faster) and help root pruning.

As for the tiny one those deformed leaves could be over watering aswell, but may also be a result of too much nutes to start in the soil. Hopefully someone can confirm my diagnosis.

KiG cheers

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Thanks for your Diagnosis anyway! My Pots have 10 holes at the bottom, but i can drill in some more quickly if needed. The Dark Devil was dry at the first few cm´s at top and at bottom too. So i gave her some Water just a few Minutes before your Diagnosis. Just fairly enough to have some Drain. I also mixed in 10 ml of Hesi TNT Complex (3-2-3),25ml Root Complex, 10 ml PowerZyme and one drop Supervit into 5000 ml of Water. This is about 1/2 of Hesis Scheme. Hope that will things not even worse, but if so, i gained some knowledge for the next time.

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Day 16 update

Dark Devil, ongoing LST

Cream Caramel

Blue Dream germinated

Preparing the Pot for the Seed

Filled it some fresh earth

I drilled some more holes into my Pots, here is what they look like now

I hope my Dark Devil will do better in the next Days, well i have to wait and see

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Day 17 update

Humidity 55-65%
Temp 21.9-27.0°C (71.42-80.60°F)

to help my Plants evaporate Water i raised the Temp by 1°C. Hope that will avoid overwatering a little more.

Dark Devil,
in my opinion she is doing a little better now. Their leaves are getting their green back and newer leaves are not deformed anymore, espacially in the lower parts of the Plant. There are a lot of smaller branches that seems to be growing fast now. I will wait a few more Days to see if the Plant is recovering further. No feeding or watering today

Cream Caramel,
feeded her 100 ml arround the Stem today, to prevent having deficiency Trouble like the Dark Devil. She has also grown a little bit. There is hope for her.

Blue Dream,
I can see her breaking through the Soil right now, i will take a picture when it´s worth it. No watering or anything else for her.

Snidrajsed, it seems to help the earth drying out more fast with more holes at the Pots, thanks for that!!

 

[7Dust]

looking good. keep it up

 

[twonappyroots]

Snid is a beast with the advice. I'm inclined to agree. My plants have been perkier with less water, not more.

Subbed. Keep up the great notes. the LST looks good. Autoflowering strains are so fascinating.

Happy growing!

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Thank you Twonappyroots, yes i am very thankful for his advice. When you are a first time grower, it seems to be hard to wait and beeing patient. Your Brain is working all the time to figure out what exactly the problems are. So it´s very lucky to get some information from a third party you can trust

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Hello everyone, i was a little busy yesterday, sorry for that!

Day 19 update

Humidity 45-55%
Temp 21.4-26.7°C (70.22-80.06°F)

Here is the Dark Devil:

She has grown a lot in this 2 Days, most of her grwoth was at the lower Branches, Stems are getting a lot stronger now. Seems like my little Girl is gaining Muscles to prepare Her Pot is getting very light now, but seems to be not completly dry at the Moment. In my Opinion, her leaves are also looking much better now, and they dont feel dry. I´m not sure if i should water her now or maybe tomorrow. What do you guys think? I will definitly feed her with half of the nutrients i gave her the last time. But i´m not sure when to do it...

Cream Caramel:

Sorry for the bad image, my Cam just don´t know how to deal with this lightning

Blue Dream:

She had her breakthrough today, but as you can see, she is very very small.

 

[Simon de Montefort]

DAy 20 update


Today i made only Photos of the Dark Devil. The other two wasn´t worth it, not much changed since yesterday. But the Dark Devil is now growing faster and faster. Today i came home from work and while LST i found the first pistins at her! Unfortunately i fed her before i went to ork with arround 2L 1/8 Scheme Veg Nutes. But i had to, soil was very dry and pot was really light. I will give her Bloom Nutes next time.

Here she is before LST

This is after LST

Here are first signs of preflower

 

[7Dust]

looking good.

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Day 21 update

Humidity: 45-53%
Temps: 19.1-24.9°C (66,38-76,82°F)

More and more Pistins at the Dark Devil. Overall she is doing nice, seems to be healthy. I´m looking forward to the next weeks, hopefully she will stretch a little bit more. Temps have fallen here, wich means Temps when Light is off are falling. I have to keep an Eye on this. The good thing about it is, there is no more need for the AC to run. This should save a lot of money because the AC is consuming about up to 860W in eco mode.

Dark Devil:

For the next feeding i prepared 5 liters of 1/4 Hesi TNT and 1/4 Bloom Complex. So overall she will get about 1/2 of the Hesi Scheme. I also give her the full Scheme of Root Complex.
1.25ml/l TNT Complex
1.25ml/l Bloom Complex
2.5ml/l Root Complex
1 Drop Supervit per 5l

 

[7Dust]

Looks good mate

 

[Simon de Montefort]

Day 22 update

Humidity: 44-50%
Temps: 19.1-23.8°C (66.38-74.84°F)

Dark Devil is growing nice now, just look at the Pictures I think the Cream Caramel will not make it. I pH-tested her Soil, it is about 5. Don´t know if there is anything more wrong which i guess. I give her one last chance in the next days, if she is not going to heal, i will throw her away and her soil also. The Blue dream is doing fine, i will take pictures of them tomorrow

 

[gyftobill]

Everything here looks great mate. Pls don't throw her away. The most problematic plant of my first grow gave me the biggest yield so far. It was a Big Bang Auto she was born with yellow leaves and i did everything i could to kill her like overwatering etc. My opinion is that as long as its alive give it a chance.

She was like this

and turned out like this

Just be patient with watering and feed them as suggested from the brand you use.


at

 

[gyftobill]

The ideal temps for lights on is 25-27 C and for lights off 20-21 C

Air condition is a good solution if you have temp problems. I used during summer too. But be careful where the cool air hits. A plant close to the cold air could be shocked by it (it happened to me).