Costa Rican 1st Time Grower

[GoodYodels]

Hello guys, I ve decided to open up this thread in order to get as much help as possible from you.

I have read tons of articles about it and i think i know a lot more than before, but its different the practical from the theorical. So ill post here how my grow goes.

Just for you to know, im doing this as stealth as possible because I live with my family and I dont want them to know. So thats why its in my closet(lol).

Personal CFL grow.

Plants quantity: 1

Place: Rooms closet.

Space: 40 cm x 80 cm.

Lights: CFL 2x 15 watts 6400K General Electric Bulbs 940 lumens each.
CFL 1x 20 watts Sylvannia bulb 6400k (dont know how many lumens, pic attached)
CFL 1x 23 watts Lights of America 5000k 1600 lumens.

Walls: 2x White painted (solid walls)
1x Mylar paper
1x Mylar paper ( slide closet wall)

Ventilation: 1 mini fan

Soil: Hydroponic coco.

Light schedule: 18-6

Other details: Since I live at a tropical country you can imagine how good the sun is. It would be great outdoors but it must be stealth. Sometimes it can be cloudy, rainy, or the worst: electric storm. I sleep on a second floor, so when its really sunny on the mornings I put my plant outside into direct sunlight ( my secret spot), but if its not, i just leave it in the closet with CFL lights. Is it good to be switching places?

Here is where I put it on sunny days:

And when its cloudy or rainy, its in my lab closet hehe:

And where is the plant? Hehe, its almost 2 weeks old, its about 8 cm, it has 2 complete bladed leaves and 2 more are coming now. I have not added any nutes yet, though i have them here. My friend told me to wait for 10 cm and 4 bladed leaves, so thats why im waiting. So far I have only added water to it, everyday. Since its on the roof right now I cant take any picture( I would have to go and climb it, making some noise, so I wait till nobody is at home), but ill add them later.

So my main questions so far are:

Is my lightining ok?

Do I have to wait to add the nutes?


Is my closet lab ok?


Any general advice is really welcome.

Thnx and this is how we say in my country: Pura Vida!!! Which means Pure life!!


Thnx a lot

 

[Antics]

Welcome to

The sunlight is GREAT. your plant will love it. You have enough CFLs for Veg, if you can add more it will help a lot. I try to use about 100 watts for each plant in Veg, and 150 watts for each plant in flower.

Are your lights easy to adjust? You will need to move them as the plant grows. It also helps if you can have the lights about 5cm-10cm away from your plants. No closer than 2.5cm.

The mirror can potentially cause hotspots and burn the plant. It might be less likely to happen with CFLs, but it's something I wanted to mention to you.

I grow in soil, but tell us what coco mix you used, and a coco grower can help you with that question.


It will also help your plants, if later when you flower, you use some bulbs that are the 2700K color scale. I use both colors for my growing. When I Veg, I use mostly 6700K and some 2700K.
When I flower, I use mostly 2700K but still keep some 6700K

 

[GoodYodels]

Welcome to

The sunlight is GREAT. your plant will love it. You have enough CFLs for Veg, if you can add more it will help a lot. I try to use about 100 watts for each plant in Veg, and 150 watts for each plant in flower.

Are your lights easy to adjust? You will need to move them as the plant grows. It also helps if you can have the lights about 5cm-10cm away from your plants. No closer than 2.5cm.

The mirror can potentially cause hotspots and burn the plant. It might be less likely to happen with CFLs, but it's something I wanted to mention to you.

I grow in soil, but tell us what coco mix you used, and a coco grower can help you with that question.


It will also help your plants, if later when you flower, you use some bulbs that are the 2700K color scale. I use both colors for my growing. When I Veg, I use mostly 6700K and some 2700K.
When I flower, I use mostly 2700K but still keep some 6700K

Ok first of all thank you very much!! Ill take everything you said into consideration. Ill add up more bulbs to reach the 100w in the veg state, and then get 150w for the flowering(with the 2700k bulbs and some 6000k just like you).

Yes, my lights are really easy to adjust. They are pasted to the wall with a double sided tape, so its really easy to remove and re adjust. I know i have to move them as the plant grows.

The other thing is that its not a mirror, its my closet door with "mylar" paper on it, so it reflexes like a mirror but it isnt.

I have to go the store where I bought the Coco mix and ask cuz i definetely dont know.

Overall thank you very much!

 

[2BLgL]

Welcome to the 420, look forward to watching your grow.

 

[HunterHunt]

Wow! First thing i noticed is the razor wire on your BALCONY! Your plant will have great security! haha...

A few things to add. Be careful of double sided tape holding lights up... This is not safe. As the bulb and base gets hotter or the tape gets less sticky from you moving it, possible fire hazard if it falls.... Safety first!

6500k spectrum for vegging (before flowering)
2700k spectrum for flowering (12/12 light schedule when u want her to flower)

No nutes until 3-4 real sets of leaves. Not the first 2 sets.

Looking good! Im in for this grow!


And welcome to

 

[GoodYodels]

Welcome to the 420, look forward to watching your grow.

ty very much!!

 

[GoodYodels]

Wow! First thing i noticed is the razor wire on your BALCONY! Your plant will have great security! haha...

A few things to add. Be careful of double sided tape holding lights up... This is not safe. As the bulb and base gets hotter or the tape gets less sticky from you moving it, possible fire hazard if it falls.... Safety first!

6500k spectrum for vegging (before flowering)
2700k spectrum for flowering (12/12 light schedule when u want her to flower)

No nutes until 3-4 real sets of leaves. Not the first 2 sets.

Looking good! Im in for this grow!


And welcome to

HAHA, The razor wire lol!!! Yeah man its really protected right there! You know , Its not that insecure here, but you know... we better have it just in case.

Back to the main topic, yes you´re right! I better think of a better way to put the lights or it might fall. It doesnt get hot in there so I dont think it can melt, but ill definitely double check that.

And no nutes right now. Ill add new pics now.

Thnx a lot

 

[GoodYodels]

Pictures.

 

[HunterHunt]

Is everything ok GoodYodels ?

 

[GoodYodels]

Is everything ok GoodYodels ?

Hello Nitro!
Thnx for asking because I really need help. As a noob I screwed it a bit by overwatering. The bucket was too big for the seed. I saw the slow growing and the leaves kinda going down, so I decided to transplant it to a really short one with dryer soil mix. I went to another garden store and showed my coco soil and the guy said it sucked, so I bought a new one. Right now I'm not home so I don't remember it's name but I'll see it ASAP. Now into the mini bucket I put it again under the lights. I hope it can recover cut I read that its very bad when you overwater them because the roots don't grow bushy and white.

 

[GoodYodels]

Ok so here are the pictures.

Here is when I say hmm something is definitely wrong. Leaves are pale green and this is the coco soil that I first bought, then I was told it sucks.

I went on checking articles about over watering and it seemed to me that in fact it was happening. I dont even feel I overwatered it because I had like 2 days without giving water. Reason of this is because it was really wet and it didnt dry. Then I read about root´s appereance when its overwatered and all that stuff. What I found when I transplanted was that there was a really small amount of roots, not white nor brown... maybe like a in between term.

What I think my mistakes were:

1. First of all not reading enough before doing stuff.
2. Putting the seed into a huge bucket with bad quality soil.

So the bucket was too big and wet for the little plant to have oxygen and grow healthy.

Right now it is into a mini bucket with a 50 50 vermiculite/soil. I sprayed it a bit with half strength of the nutrients shown below(tell me your opinion about them please)... but its not wet, so I hope it can recover.

Vermiculite and soil pictures.

After transplant

Nutrients used. 5 cc per liter.

 

[Time2Scrog]

You said your mistake was putting them in too large of a pot. It's impossible to put them in too large a pot. Imagine if they were in the ground--they could have metres and metres of soil around them! The problem you have is over-watering! For seedlings, I suggest putting them in soil straight from the bag, and to just mist the top of the soil until it is wet. I see people putting seeds, and trying to grow seedlings, in far-too-wet soil time and time again. Also, the standard 'rule' of watering until a percentage of water drains out the bottom is complete crap. You would end up over-watering a larger pot. The point is: You have to just get used to how much they need at each stage of development. You'll figure it out with time. Less is more. One thing I definitely think should be a 'rule' is to water around the plant--leaving a few inches near the stem which is dry--as this allows the roots to reach for the water, and the roots in the dry soil can get oxygen. Switching from an all-over watering to this method has boosted my plants speed of growth.

I wouldn't recommend using vermiculite at all. 25% perlite in soil or just plain soil, IMHO. The vermiculite will only exacerbate the over-watering problem, as it stores water whilst perlite helps with drainage. The fact that you are using CFLs as well, and not HIDs, means the soil will take ages to dry out--a recipe for disaster!

Are you using nutes already?! Jesus Christ, stop now! Use nutes at 1/4 strength after (at the very soonest) 1 week of veg. Trust me from my own experience, nutes from 2 weeks from seed is ideal for maximum growth. You only need to water with nutes once a week. Only bump up to 1/2 strength at flowering. Never go above 1/2 strength unless your plants are showing deficiencies in early flowering.

Not trying to be a downer--just trying to help you ASAP!

 

[Antics]

LOL @ "Are you using nutes already?! Jesus Christ, stop now!" I wish you were around to tell me that lol.
He's growing in coco/hydro though, I've read you have to use nutes early

This is what happens when you use nutes too early in soil.

 

[HunterHunt]

Im very sorry im not experienced enough yet to give you good advice on soil and what you need.... I can give you a few basic tips that might help out...

No nutes are needed yet.... I would wait until at least 3 sets of REAL leaves. You have no real leaves yet. The next set will be the first set of real leaves...

Also with hydro/coco no nutes are needed early... The plant has enough stored to use the first few weeks.

Also vermiculite is the opposite of perlite.... vermiculite holds moisture in. You DONT want that... You want perlite in your soil. I use 25% Perlite for my soil grows. Perlite helps with drainage and helps your soil dry out faster. You dont want it staying wet all the time for a soil grow. Let it dry out(should feel light when you pick it up) Then you can water. Even if it takes 7 days to dry out make sure you let it.

And you dont want to spray your plant with anything... Just water it when needed.

Maybe someone with more experience can help you out and give you more suggestions.

Hope this helps!

 

[Antics]

Im confused now..

Yodels! In the first post you say you're growing in hydroponic coco. But later on you show a soil/vermiculite mix?

What growing medium are you using exactly?

 

[GoodYodels]

Hello everyone, I´m back!

To make a longstory short, my plant from seed died from overwatering so I made some research and found this method called DWC. I decided to give it a try with a clone I got. The strain is Girl Scout Cookie. BTW the DWC is very simple.

So Im using:

5 Gall bucket

1 Air Pump 1 Airstone

Same lights, same place, same room.

General Hydroponics nutes.

Plant Progress:

So thats my progress so far. Any opinions?

Im planning to make a lot of colas maybe 8, with the training techniques.

Thnx

 

[Antics]

It looks great to me.

To make 8 colas, you should only need to top it once, and just train all the branches with LST, so it should be really easy.

 

[GoodYodels]

Hi guys. I encountered a little problem.

Like I told you I wanna make it have 8 colas so i hv to main line it. Ive read a lot and I think i know what to do. BUT... this plant is a clone, so it has grown assimetrically! It already has like 6 nodes and growing fast. I read i have to pick a node and make it its main node. As it is assimetrical i have to correct it via bending it. Am I ok????

 

[Danishoes21]

Subscribed

Hablo español también.

 

[GoodYodels]

Which 2 should I choose to be the new 2 mains?

Remember its assimetrical so thats why I dont know which.

Notice the the BLACK ARROW one is not exactly at the opposite side!