Bucudinkydow
Well-Known Member
I vacillated about starting a journal; actually began one a few days ago but decided with the problems I've been having & the lackluster results I'm experiencing, there appeared to be little I could offer of interest. It then dawned on me that sometimes mistakes can offer as good of lessons as success stories & I've got a long list of "don't do's"! Plus, I'll have to admit, I'm going to be trolling for some guidance from some of you more experienced farmers. This is my first grow & my head is an empty vessel. So here goes. Hop in, buckle up & hang on. Backseat driving is not only allowed but solicited. Hope you folks will chime in when you see me stumbling.
My goals are simple. I hope to determine what I think I know but may not and set a baseline with my first attempt to build upon for subsequent grows. Hopefully, I can nurse a couple of plants to maturity & if I'm rewarded with a little smoke in the end, that'll be icing on the cake! Irrelevant of the outcome, it's only a failure if I fail to learn.
I've chosen heavyweight fast and vast. This is a feminized auto that is 80/20 indica/sativa. The 60 day from seed to smoke was appealing to me since I get wanderlust quite often & find it difficult to stay put much longer than that. Accounts of harvests of this strain seem to have been mostly mediocre at best.
After studying all the different variants of grow medium, I've decided on a mix of coco coir & perlite 75/25. What I thought I knew but didn't: coco is more forgiving of mistakes made in watering. I think this will eventually turn out to be factual AFTER the plant has a better established root system. Right now, I think I'm probably drowning my newborns; pix to follow. Also, what I think I know but may not: coco will allow for more rapid corrections of feeding mistakes or improper water quality. A quick point for all who are new to coco. If you don't plan on utilizing all of your coco brick & choose not to soak it all, have a good plan in place to cut it. They don't call it a brick without reason! I finally cut it on my table saw. I've got a 5k brick coming shortly & im not sure what I'll do with it. Also, have something handy to strain it with when you rinse it. My first experience with coco was similar to the monkey's adventure with the football. I read an old post where someone placed a 5k brick in a pillow case while soaking it so it would be easy to strain. That was just SO wrong!
The nutes I'm using are floranova grow & bloom. Most of the equipment I ordered has been held up (thanx mr bezo) including my ph meter. After soaking my coco & germing my seeds in my well water, I thought it might be a good idea to pick up a standby unit until it came in. Found my water was a ph of 4.9. I also have municipal water that I seldom use & it checked out at 7.8. Bought some ro water & it was 7.5. Ph up & down in the held up order (thanx again mr bezo) & none to be found in my Podunk lil' town so I carefully mixed my well water & ro water to come up with a stabilized ph of 5.8-6.1. All's good.
My grow box is a hashed up unit that's built primarily from repurposed junk I seem to not be able to let go. A friend once said I was the combined spawn of Fred Sanford & macgyver. It measures 16"X46"X48". I'm using cfl's & have a capacity of 9)23w. I have an inline 6" duct fan of 240cfm. It's located in a large building I use for my cabinet shop. Unfortunately, it's not climate controlled & im at the mercy of the weather gods. Temps in the box are running 80-88 & rh has been ridiculously oppressive, most days 60-70%. Hurry up fall!
Well there's the skinny. A quick break & I'll give a shot at loading some pix.
My goals are simple. I hope to determine what I think I know but may not and set a baseline with my first attempt to build upon for subsequent grows. Hopefully, I can nurse a couple of plants to maturity & if I'm rewarded with a little smoke in the end, that'll be icing on the cake! Irrelevant of the outcome, it's only a failure if I fail to learn.
I've chosen heavyweight fast and vast. This is a feminized auto that is 80/20 indica/sativa. The 60 day from seed to smoke was appealing to me since I get wanderlust quite often & find it difficult to stay put much longer than that. Accounts of harvests of this strain seem to have been mostly mediocre at best.
After studying all the different variants of grow medium, I've decided on a mix of coco coir & perlite 75/25. What I thought I knew but didn't: coco is more forgiving of mistakes made in watering. I think this will eventually turn out to be factual AFTER the plant has a better established root system. Right now, I think I'm probably drowning my newborns; pix to follow. Also, what I think I know but may not: coco will allow for more rapid corrections of feeding mistakes or improper water quality. A quick point for all who are new to coco. If you don't plan on utilizing all of your coco brick & choose not to soak it all, have a good plan in place to cut it. They don't call it a brick without reason! I finally cut it on my table saw. I've got a 5k brick coming shortly & im not sure what I'll do with it. Also, have something handy to strain it with when you rinse it. My first experience with coco was similar to the monkey's adventure with the football. I read an old post where someone placed a 5k brick in a pillow case while soaking it so it would be easy to strain. That was just SO wrong!
The nutes I'm using are floranova grow & bloom. Most of the equipment I ordered has been held up (thanx mr bezo) including my ph meter. After soaking my coco & germing my seeds in my well water, I thought it might be a good idea to pick up a standby unit until it came in. Found my water was a ph of 4.9. I also have municipal water that I seldom use & it checked out at 7.8. Bought some ro water & it was 7.5. Ph up & down in the held up order (thanx again mr bezo) & none to be found in my Podunk lil' town so I carefully mixed my well water & ro water to come up with a stabilized ph of 5.8-6.1. All's good.
My grow box is a hashed up unit that's built primarily from repurposed junk I seem to not be able to let go. A friend once said I was the combined spawn of Fred Sanford & macgyver. It measures 16"X46"X48". I'm using cfl's & have a capacity of 9)23w. I have an inline 6" duct fan of 240cfm. It's located in a large building I use for my cabinet shop. Unfortunately, it's not climate controlled & im at the mercy of the weather gods. Temps in the box are running 80-88 & rh has been ridiculously oppressive, most days 60-70%. Hurry up fall!
Well there's the skinny. A quick break & I'll give a shot at loading some pix.