Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed 2014

Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Hey, does anyone know if if that fiberglass window screen works good as a filter for intakes to keep out pests/dust/mold/etc.? It is a black mesh screen that I believe is used to replace screen on windows. I already have a roll and am hoping that one layer of that will work on my intake vent or if not maybe a double layer?
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

I'm along for the ride. I hope to get something started next month and im interested to see how this works out for you. :peace:
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Hi Snoop, welcome and glad to have you along for the ride. Everyone here is giving great advice, the forums are really helpful for beginners like me. Thanks Polo for confirming that it should work, I will give it a try.

Here is today's update. I had to make room for my AK99(AK47 x Cindy 99) and Blueberry seedlings so I got rid of a couple of the weaker plants and now have it narrowed down to my final 6 of which I hope to be able to take 2-3 to flower. Here are a couple pictures of the final 6 plants, 2 x AK99, 2 x Blueberry, and 2x random bag seeds.

First from the top:

12675.jpg



Now from the side:

21785.jpg



Seems like they have started growing pretty fast these last couple days. I have lowered the plants 1" in the cabinet to get them the right distance from CFLs. I know I keep putting off finishing the intake/exhaust, but I have been doing it piece by piece and should hopefully finish it up tomorrow and will post pictures.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

buddy, if you don't like the mesh screen for some reason, use woman's pantyhose. that works well, poor man's solution.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Antics - Thanks, it looks like they are starting to grow pretty fast. I found a store with a ph meter that will have them in stock tomorrow night or Tuesday and I plan to pick one up and do the transplant then. Planning to move them to 3 gallon pots and found another use for my screen, I am going to put some at the bottom of the pots before I put the soil in to help keep it in but still let water out.

CO - Thanks for the idea with the panty hose, I had thought about doing that and may still try it if this screen doesn't work out. So far it seems to look like it will do well.


Now for an update. These plants seem to be growing fast now and as Antics pointed out, I am going to be transplanting them to their final pots in a couple days, 3 gallon pots with mesh screen at bottom to help hold soil in and still let water out. As you will see in the pictures, a couple of the plants have started showing a couple small dark brown spots, which I think may be PH related.

First from the top:

12677.jpg



Now from the side:

41220.jpg



Now a couple close ups that hopefully help you see the spots:

21788.jpg


31580.jpg



I did some searching online and I found some issues related to PH that had similar spots and since I have been using plain tap water without checking PH, I assume that must be the problem. I am getting a Milwaukee PH600 ph meter in the next day or two and plan to do the transplant then.

My plan is to test my water's PH and then adjust it to 7.0 using organic solutions I read about online like vinegar etc. and then once I have the water at 7.0 I would water my new pots filled with soil (FFOF mixed with 1/3 perlite) until water starts coming out the bottom and test that first runoff. Then adjust my water as needed to get it right until the runoff is 7.0? Do I keep testing in the same pot til I get the runoff right? Is just correcting the PH in the new soil going to be enough to help these plants that have the spots or should I do something else?

Also, it looks like I may have a little powdery mildew on one of the plants that was at the very outside edge of the space. I read online that Neem oil can help with this. Is that the best organic method that is also easy to solve this? I read it also helps keep some pests away. Should I just add some Neem Oil to my water spray bottle and spray them once a day from now on? Will that do anything bad to the plants or should I just use a little oil now and again in the future when problems present. If it wouldn't hurt anything I would like to use it as a preventative measure to help against any more mildew or some pests in the future. Is that a good idea to do? Anyone else use Neem oil or another method to prevent powdery mildew, mites, etc.? Looking for organic solutions that are easy.

Please let me know if anyone has any other suggestions after looking at the pictures above. Very inexperienced and learning as I go, so all advice and suggestions are welcome and appreciated. I do at least think I have figured out the cup weight water test. I can tell now when they need watering by testing the weight.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

I had someone suggest in another post that the brown spots may be from water droplets left on the leaves that get magnified by the lights and create little burn spots. I have been misting my plants every once in a while with a spray bottle and some drops have stayed on the leaves so that could be it. Anyone else have an opinion as to if that looks like PH problems or from water droplets left on leaves or any other ideas?
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Ok, thanks, I think that is related to PH, right? Hopefully transplanting into bigger pots with fresh soil and properly PH'd water will help.

I wanted to post another update. I finally finished setting up my passive intake and active exhaust. I have been testing it with doors closed for about an hour and temps are in mid to high 70s and the fan is only at half speed so it looks like it is going to work out well. I will go into more detail and post some pictures of it tomorrow.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

all lock outs can be ph related if its way out. but lock outs can also be cause by too much of other elements in your water.. I believe to much nitrogen will lock out calcium, i have seen charts around that show which excess nutrients lock out other nutrients. to me, your plants look very dark green, which indicates high nitrogen, this may or may not be contributing a calcium lockout.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Ok, thanks for the info. I will keep an eye on them and if the PH'd water doesn't fix things when I transplant I will look into that. I haven't fed them anything yet, using Foxfarm Ocean Forest soil cut with about 1/3 perlite in the party cups and plan to do about the same when I transplant. I heard FFOF could be a little hot for seedlings which is why I cut it so much. Hopefully swapping over to the bigger pots may help with that too.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Today's update includes pictures of the passive intake and pc fan exhaust.

For the passive intake, I took one of the plastic shelves that came with the unit and cut it down to a smaller size that would fit in the very bottom of the cabinet and then cut out a pathway for air in the very back of the shelf and two big holes covered in mesh window screen. I drilled lots of holes along the bottom of the back of the cabinet and have it to where air feeds in through those holes through a mesh screen into the floor vent panel and then through the two big mesh screens into the cabinet. Here is a picture of the intake(the floor under the screen looks like that because it was spray painted black but when I was installing this some of the paint came up):

21789.jpg


For the exhaust, I took an aluminum turkey roasting pan and cut some of the width out to make it where it was about 12" by 6". I then attached a 120mm PC fan to the center of the bottom of the pan and attached the open area of the pan towards the top center of back of cabinet which covers up a large area of drilled holes with a mesh window screen covering the holes. The pan is taped to the wall with foil tape. Here is a picture of the exhaust:

12678.jpg



And here is a picture of the plants in the cabinet enjoying the breeze:

31581.jpg



The exhaust fan is hooked to a speed controller that is running it at about half speed and it is keeping the temps in the cabinet in the high 70s with the door shut. I can notice a smell when very close to the plants so I went out and picked up a couple Renuzit air fresheners to put in the room. Does anyone know if using Renuzits like that is safe in the room outside the cabinet? I don't plan to put them in the cabinet itself, but around in the room outside the cabinet. I just want to make sure nothing from the freshener is getting into the plants. I will have a carbon filter on the flower cabinet.

Some of the plants are starting to have droopy leaves, which since I am pretty sure it isn't from a watering problem, I think the plants may be getting root bound. That should not be a problem since I am planning to transplant them tomorrow. I am not sure but I think I may have a slight Powdery Mildew issue on one of my plants. I was reading about Neem Oil, seems like that may be a good choice. Anyone else use it? Would love to hear some feedback about it or other natural resolutions. I heard Neem Oil also helps keep some pests away so it sounds like a pretty good idea all around. Should I mix some in a spray bottle and mist the plants once or twice a week from now through a couple weeks into flower? Any reason I should not do that? I want to make sure nothing affects the plants in a way that it gets into the final product. I am open to any kind of organic inexpensive solutions that are relatively easy to do. Any advice would be appreciated here.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

yeah, you have 3 that look happy and 3 that look not so happy. if they are that root bound I would get a transplant done asap... your sure your not over watering??? As for the powerdery mildew, can you post a couple of pictutres, I cant help you with a solution as I have not ran into that yet, but I know my wife uses milk on her pumpkins, you could look into that.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Thanks, I think you are right, there are a few that aren't looking so great. I am planning to do the transplant today so hopefully that will help things. I haven't watered them in a few days so I don't think it is over watering but I am still new to all this so I am not sure. I waited until they were very light and the soil was real dry before watering and that was half a week ago. I think I read something before about milk so I will take a look at that too. I will take some more pictures after I transplant with a couple close ups.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

I did not get around to transplanting today because I have a couple questions before I do this. I have limited space in my veg cabinet and am trying to figure out the best way to conserve space and money. I was originally going to go from the solo cups to 3 gallon pots, but wouldn't that be a big waste of this expensive soil before I know the sex of the plants? Can you easily reuse soil from pots that had males in them? I of course will be killing any males but if I have 6 plants, and 3 of them end up being males, I would hate to waste the 9 gallons of soil used in their pots. Would it work for me to transplant from the solo cups into one gallon pots and use those through the rest of veg and into flowering until I know the sex and then after I know the sex and get rid of the males, transplant females into 3 gallon pots for the rest of flowering. Is that wise? Or if that is a bad idea, could I take the soil from the pots that had males in them and save it for my next grow? I would think the solo cups to 1 gallon pots to 3 gallon pots after sexing them would be the best choice, but I am new and don't know if that is a good idea or not. I also have read about some people taking clones of their plants and sexing the clones to know which are males that don't need to go into flower. I am really new and would rather not have to clone unless that is my only option.

Any advice would be appreciated. It would help to know this by tomorrow afternoon so I can go ahead and transplant because these plants aren't looking too happy in their current cups.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

We'll cloning would be good practice. I have a regular seed flowering in a gallon pot, I didn't want to waste any soil either. I'm going to leave it in their till harvest, the gallon pot isn't a bad choice.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Looked at some pics and they are definitely rootbound, so a transplant will fix some problems. Just be careful with those roots when transplanting, they are fragile. You still need some kind of ventilation for that grow area right?
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Thanks for stopping in and for the advice. I am planning to use 3 gallon pots for most of the flowering, just would hate to use all that soil to fill a bunch of 3 gallon pots for half or more to end up being males and lose that. I may try cloning on my next grow but for now would rather keep it as simple as possible. I will be careful with the roots when transplanting. So, do you think 1 gallon pots would take me all the way to sexing them and then I could switch to 3 gallon pots after sexing? I have limited vertical space so I am planning to only veg until they are about 18" high so I am not sure if I will be able to see sex before then? I would rather not have to transplant again after they are in flower, but don't know if I will see the sex until then since I will be putting them in flower once they are that tall.

So, if it is ok to do, I could just transplant them into one gallon pots tomorrow and then leave them in that until I can tell the sex, which since they won't be staying in Veg a real long time means I would be transplanting from the one gallon pots to three gallon pots in flower. There has to be an easy solution to this or do all soil growers just throw out all that barely used expensive soil?
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

You want your plant to be in it's final pot before flower starts, so pretty much put it in the final pot 1-2 weeks before flower.
 

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