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

Ok great to know. The oldest plants(half of them) are about 21 days old(germinated seed put into soil) and the others are about 18 days old. I was only planning to Veg for a month, which is only a week and a half or two away so I didn't know if it would be a good idea or not to move them to 1 gallon pots now and then to 3 gallon pots in 1.5 weeks. Does that sound like a good idea? If so, I am leaning towards moving them to 1 gallon pots tomorrow and then 3 gallon pots in 1.5 - 2 weeks before going into flower as you have suggested.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Hi, first i want to say that I'm impressed with your DIY skills---nice looking cabinet and setup. Those lights under the reflector are very neat. I'm going to try that next time.

The other thing I wanted to tell you is that I think the problems you are seeing with your plants, contrary to what most tend to say, are due to lack of water. I know everyone gets all freaked out about not overwatering, and that's something to be concerned about for sure. But, in all of your pictures I can see that your soil is very dry...not just dry, but looking really dry.

The roots on seedlings are tiny. They can only take up water that they can reach. Just because there is soil in the cup, and it feels heavy or weighs heavier than dry, it doesn't necessarily help the plant. If you are only watering them in little dribs and drabs then they aren't able to be in contact with much water...and whatever they can reach is soon dried up or consumed. Excess water can get drawn up into the soil but seedlings and small plants aren't good at accessing this in time to stay healthy.

As long as there is good drainage in your pots, and that means when you water lots of water runs out, here's what I do: when your soil is quite dry--SOAK the pot. Don't be afraid of the water. Hold the pot up and let the water run out. Now here's the other part...don't water again until you know for sure the soil is quite dry. I let my spoil get dry enough that I can see the leaves start to droop just a bit. It's telling me it's thirsty. Once you get to know your plant you will know when to water.

The way to not overwater is not by being stingy with water. Not overwatering means don't give water when they don't need it---and of course, don't drown it when you do water. But when they need it let them have all they want....but make sure the excess drains. I actually collect the excess and feed it right back into the plant.

Think of a plant growing outside in the summer---it's hot and dry, and then there's a thunderstorm and everything gets soaked. Then it all dries out again.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Hi Clancy, welcome to the forum and thanks for stopping by my journal and for the advice. I appreciate the compliments on my set up, I am actually not very experienced with DIY projects so this has been a great learning experience so far. The reflector is working out pretty well so far, my only complaint is that it is pretty big for my cabinet but I should still be able to get my plants up to 15 - 18" I hope in here before moving them to the flower cabinet.

I think you are on to something with the watering because I checked today and the pots were very light and bone dry. I watered them tonight because I read online that it is good to water the day before transplanting. I will say I think I have great drainage in the cups because whenever I water I get plenty of runoff without having to drown the plants. I have been putting about 2/3 of a solo cup of warm water in when I water them, basically until I see water coming out the bottom then I stop and let them drain for a minute or so before putting them back in the cabinet. I will be sure to keep a close watch on them and won't be so cautious as to dry them out. I have been trying to let them get bone dry before watering because of what I read here and elsewhere online about that helping the roots to spread out looking for water.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

yeah clancy is 100%. You dont want to over water like you were before but the other extreme isnt good either... you should be able to heft the pot and say its light and give it some water.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

I would veg for at least 5 weeks total if not 6. Depends on your schedule though and if the plants will still fit in the cabinet. Longer veg time = bigger plants
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

If it isn't an auto you could put it under flowering tonight. ^^^ Longer you veg the better! I would wait till I saw a stop in growth before transplanting. I just transplanted into a wide 3 gallon. I've got a little bush growing and I'm pretty sure she loves it.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

LOOKING GOOD! im in my first real run as well! and im subscribed! LOOKING forward to your results friend!
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Thank you everyone for dropping in and or all the advice and suggestions. Good to see another rookie Redlan, I hope you are having good luck with your grow. There has definitely been a big learning curve for me but am getting a little better every day thanks to the help here on the forum.

I will definitely keep an eye on the plants to make sure I don't overwater or underwater. I think you are right about trying to Veg them for 5 or 6 weeks, I will keep them in there until they are too tall for the cabinet. I have finally gotten the plants transplanted over to some bigger pots. I could not find any one gallon pots so I got these 8" round pots that I think are between 1-2 gallons. I put some Perlite in the very bottom of the pots and made a mix with about 2/3 Foxfarm Ocean Forest Soil and 1/3 Perlite with some Dolomite Lime mixed in that I hope will help with PH. I poked some more holes in the bottom of the pots and popped off this water reservoir thing that was on the bottom of them. I also wrapped the outside of the bottom of the pots with some fiberglass window mesh screen to help keep the soil/perlite in the pots. It would have been a lot easier to put the mesh in the bottom of the inside of the pots but I was worried the screen being in contact with the soil in the pot may cause problems. After the plants were transplanted I put in about 1.5 solo cups of water into each until some started running out of the bottom and then let them drain until it stopped dripping out then put them in the cabinet.

Here is a picture of them now that they are in their new pots:

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I am glad I did not go with bigger pots, these 6 pots just fit in the cabinet as it is. I am hoping these pots will take them through til I know sex and then will transplant the females into 3 gallon pots for the rest of the grow. Well that's the update for tonight. I hope the plants get happy again now that they have some more room for their roots to spread out.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Thanks, I continue to think of improvements as I go so I am sure my second grow will go a lot smoother. I hope I get 3 females but will have to see. If these were put in soil after germinating 23 days ago, how much longer do you think it will be before I may start seeing preflowers?

Today I went in and removed the fan I had circulating air in the back of the cabinet and made another setup so I now have a 120mm pc fan on both the left and right sides of the box blowing air towards the middle to improve circulation. I added 2 more CFLs to the hood so now I am running 8 23w 6500k CFLs. Once I added the extra bulbs the temps went up to high 80s in middle of box at top of pots. To help get more air in and out of the cabinet I cut big open slots where I had drilled holes before and especially on the exhaust could tell more air was coming out. Between the larger openings for intake/exhaust and the two fans circulating air, the temps are now down to low 80s, around 81-82 in center of cabinet right under lights at top of pots. Here is a picture of the cabinet with the fans now at the sides:

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The two in the middle are AK99, the front right pot is Blueberry, the other three are random bag seeds. How long after transplanting do previously root bound droopy plants usually start perking back up?
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

You've got about an inch and a half of space that could have been used for root development. Did you flush them? If so you should see them looking happy tomorrow! Again there are many variables in this every tree develops different.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

I ran out of soil and spread it out as evenly as I could. Plus I had originally wanted to go into 1 gallon pots but I believe these are about 1.5 gallons so I am hoping they will be good enough for 1-2 more weeks until I hopefully see some preflowers. After I know the sex they will be going into 3 gallon pots and I will of course have more soil then and will fill them up to a proper height. When I transplanted I put a little perlite at the very bottom of pots then an inch or two of soil then put an empty cup in and poured soil around it to make a hole the size of the plant coming in and put them in and poured a little more soil on top. The soil is 2/3 Fox Farm Ocean Forest, 1/3 Perlite, and some Dolomite Lime. I then watered them with warm water, about 1.5 or so solo cups worth until I saw water coming out the bottoms. I let them drain until it stopped coming out and then put them in the cabinet.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

They are looking fine, could stand to be more humid though, I feel like that's the reason they are drooping. Does that meter say 29% humidity?
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

It is about 29% humidity in the cabinet right now. I was hoping the doors being shut would help with that but it is still low. I put a little dish of water in the bottom to see if that helps any but nothing so far. Do you think misting them a couple times a day with a spray bottle would help? The last couple times I did that it looked like some of the drops on the leaves made burn spots so I haven't misted them anymore. Should I start back? Other than that, I would need to look up other inexpensive ways to raise humidity without a humidifier.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Yea spray them just before lights off for 18/6 cycle. If you're running a 24/0 cycle then try to give it less intense light until the water on the leaves evaporates by raising the light or something. The ideal humidity for veg is 55-60% and flower is around 40-45%.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Time for an update. The plants seem to be growing well. The three plants that were root bound before are still droopy but I am hoping that works itself out in the next few days. I am seeing a problem with the bottom leaves. On several of the plants some of the bottom leaves are turning yellow and some have brown spots on them(though the spots have been there a while and someone before said they may have been from the lights burning the leaves where drops of water were from a spray bottle). Here are a couple pictures:

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I did some research online and looked at some pictures. To me it looks like a Nitrogen deficiency. I have not fed the plants anything yet since I started them out in Fox Farm Ocean Forest. The plants are now about 28 days old from when I put them in the soil. Do you think I should start feeding them some nutrients? I want to stay organic. What would you recommend I start feeding them and how often? Right now it looks like I am watering them about 2x per week.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Those leaves are the oldest one probably. I think the plant is just sapping up the nutrients from the lower leaves as it grows. If its healthy enough just pluck off those yellow leaves, just dead weight once they get that yellow.
 
Re: Buddy McNug's First Grow - Indoor Soil - CFL & LED - AK99 - BB & Random Bag Seed

Ok great, thanks for the tip. I went ahead and pinched off the yellow leaves from the bottom of some of the plants. Does it look like a N deficiency? Since I have not started feeding yet should I start feeding? They are now 30 days since I put them in the soil and have only been watering with tap water.
 

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