Bentelly's 1st Grow - DWC - Dinafem Blue Cheese Auto

[Bentelly]

SeedBreeder : Dinafem
Genetic Origin : Cheese Auto x Blueberry Auto
Flowering / Harvest time : 10 weeks seed to harvest- From the Breeder, Ha Ha Ha
Yield: Medium Yield
Height: Up to 120 cm
Indica/Sativa Hybrid

Equipment (starting)
2-Sun God dual spectrum cfl with reflectors
Small grow cabinet 19" wide x 14" deep x 48" tall lined with Mylar film
1 Cpu fan and power supply
Rapid rooter plugs
5 gal bubbler buckets with 6" net, covered with aluminum tape
Hydroton clay pellets
Single port air pump
Cylinder air stone
Digital remote thermometer
Added
Larger cabinet 36" wide x 22" deep x 65" tall pained inside with flat white paint.
4- 24" T5 cfl lights
4" inline fan
4" carbon filter
4 port air pump
4" disk air stone
+1 cpu fan
TDS meter
Liquid PH test kit, then moved to a digital PH meter
Nutes
Started With Dyna-grow line (DG grow) and tap water
Added
RO water
PH up & Down
DG Protekt
Botanicare cal-mag
Botanicare hydroguard
DG Bloom


Hello! I thought it would be fun to start this journal on my my first grow attempt. I've learned a lot during this process and I'll try to include the lessons learned in my posts. I'd also like input and constructive advice if you've got it. I plan on continuing after this grow, so any help is appreciated.

Now when I say first grow, I mean it in almost the literal sense. This past spring I bought some veggies and put in a small garden in the back yard with mediocre results. But other than that, this is really the first time I've grown anything.

To be honest, I'm just a recreational smoker. Over the past year I would put my frequency at about one or twice a month. My wife has chronic pain issues, so her use is medicinal. She's the real reason I tried this. Other than end use, neither of us started out with much knowledge of growing. One good thing we have going for us is we both know how to do our research.

The goal was to find something simple and fairly fast growing. I wanted to keep a small grow, almost stealth if possible. We knew we wanted a sativa/indica hybrid, but were otherwise open to the strain. Our research took us to the original sensible seed co (SSC) and the Dinafem auto. With the "up to 120 cm tall" claim and the pictures i saw, this would be the perfect plant. (Lesson learned #1)

 

[Bentelly]

I have tons of pictures, but unfortunately none of the first day.

Days 1-3
I started with 2 rapid rooter plugs, tap water, and 2 "magic beans". Soaked the plugs in water, squeezed them to drain excess, and put in the seeds. Placed them in a tray with Hydroton to prop them up and kept them warm ~76F. I sprayed the plugs with water about once a day to keep them moist.
Lesson learned (LL) - With this setup, it would have been better to germinate in the bubbler's net. This would have prevented shock to the plants from transplanting.

 

[Bentelly]

Day 4
Time to transplant. This happened much quicker than I anticipated. I wasn't ready with their grow box yet so I kind of panicked. I washed the Hydroton off with tap water and placed the plugs in the pots with Hydroton under, and around them. Plastic bottle bottoms were placed over them with the dual spectrum lights as close as I could get them. Temps still kept around 76F.
LL Be prepared. These plants did NOTHING on my time schedule. They did what they wanted to!

 

[Bentelly]

Day 5
My idea was to build a hardboard box in my furnace room. The space is small in there so I tried to find out what kind of size requirements there would be for the two plants. From what I saw, people were saying I would need about 1-1.5 square feet for each plant. I have a perfect place in a corner of the room so I began. Wood frame with a hardboard skin. I Lined the walls and ceiling with mylar and put in my Sun God lights. I thought I was ready to go.

 

[Bentelly]

Don't know why my pictures are sideways. Hopefully I can figure it out.

Day 6
The filter I ordered came in so I installed it. I know, this was a total newbie thing to do, but I put in a 4" hole in the top of the box. My idea was to use a pc fan under it to blow air out through it. I had a vent hole cut in the door already for air flow. While I was moving a light, the cord fell on Number 1 , bending her almost in half. I straightened her with my finger but she still had a bend in her for a while.

 

[nivek]

heya ben,, good start alright,, don't cha think?? i like the box,, sure shiny tho. painted white works too, but maybe you used the mylar fot light,, too keep it inside the box?? cheers pal,, keep it simple,, watch the nutes

 

[Bentelly]

Hey nivek, great point about the paint. That was another lesson learned. After reading up more on the mylar, I was kind of defeating the purpose by having so many wrinkles. Nutes are a whole other story....LoL. This is where the tragedy began.

 

[Bentelly]

Day 8
Barely starting to show the second set of true leaves. This is where I started to get impatient. Up until now I had just been running tap water. Then I get the great idea to start my nutes...I started with just 2ml of grow/gal. Also, I hadn't been checking ph levels at this point.

 

[Bentelly]

Day 11
Water starting to smell a little funky so I decided to change it out. When I did, I noticed some white slime on the airlines inside the bucket and on the sides of the bucket at the top of the water line. Research tells me I may have killer slime caused by high res temp and/or light leaks. Pretty sure there is no light getting in the bucket so temp has got to be it. Closed off the heater vents in the adjacent room to hopefully lower temps. The bottom of the bucket also has grainy brown crap on it. I am guessing this is from the hydroton, and not washing it well enough. To add insult to injury, the leaves on #2 are a bit brown at the tips.
LL-Rinse hydroton well before using. Wash and sanitize other parts of the system well..I did neither of these things.

 

[nivek]

i gotta say,, ben,, i would surely be concerned about the tinfoil so close to my plant,, tinfoil gives off very sharp reflections,, can burn just like a magnifying glass,, not saying it will, just that it can,, cheers ben,, little one looks fine,, keep it super simple. that thing needs NOTHING right now, cept you,, and water,, cheers

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.