EsotericGrows - 1st Time Soil Grow - Royal Dwarf Grow Journal - 2015

[Cruizer]

Yeah i would like to see the comparison. Seems like the bigger bulbs will give off more all around light, but what about canopy penetration? I've got a 32 watt that's rated at 2000 lumens at 5000k, some plants don't like it. Weird!

 

[EsotericGrows]

I picked up some more 23w 6500k bulbs to give better coverage all around the plant and unhooked that 1 42w 2700k bulb until the flowering phase. I've still got the 42w 6500k bulb hooked up though. I think I've got 5 42w 2700k bulbs when flowering starts.

I just read some amazing information on trimming and maintenance techniques.

 

[EsotericGrows]

I started to notice the first signs of budding yesterday under 24 hour lights with all 6500k bulbs and switched over to 5 2700k (red) bulbs and only 1 6500k (blue) bulb + any residual light it gets from the plants next to it in the same closet. Looks like now I need to start thinking about having multiple chambers or closets for flowering vs budding stages because I've got multiple plants in various stages of developments. I've been taking pics and will post an update with the progress either in a few days or next weekend (June 14) after the inlaws who are visiting leave.

I also picked up one of these 5" inline fans to keep the closet more cool but have not installed it yet. I'm not sure but I think I might need more or bigger vent holes in my closet. It sits pretty close to 30 degrees Celsius in there and sometimes just over that even if I move the thermometer to further proximity from the light fixtures. I'll be posting updates on that in my closet grow construction post.

 

[EsotericGrows]

Just a quick update since I have 15 minutes to complete this post, shower and get ready to go out with the in-laws who are visiting and staying with us until Thursday June 11. I wanted to show a sneak preview of a bud photo just to see if there's any recommendations. I'm stuck with 1 veg/flower closet mix which isn't ideal but that's what I got for now.

Buds! Buds! Buds! Yeah!

Closet setup.

Cruiser: So my closet setup has evolved a bit. I took your recommendation on the el cheapo option and purchased a reflective mylar tent and taped it up to the door temporarily. I didn't see one of those car ones but I can always pick one up another day and replace the tent. The light reflection will be better than the black garbage bags I had stapled onto the door to keep the light from shining through.

Anyhow the plant on the left is the one this grow log has been following. I rigged up a quick simple scrog using a metal dish rack. Anyhow gotta go, just wanted to share my enthusiasm for my buds and see if anyone had advice for sharing 1 closet with buds/veg. I saw some people separating top from bottom but my concern is how to go about dealing with this heat and exhaust.

 

[Cruizer]

If that gets too noisy, Office depot has some large sheets of cardboard thick white construction board you might consider.

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 38 (May 25, 2015) S#3 —

Day 39 (May 26, 2015) S#3 —

Day 40 (May 27, 2015) S#3 —

Day 47 (June 03, 2015) S#3 —

Day 48 (June 04, 2015) S#3 —

Day 50 (June 06, 2015) S#3 —

Day 51 (June 07, 2015) S#3 —

Day 52 (June 08, 2015) S#3 —

Day 53 (June 09, 2015) S#3 —

Day 54 (June 10, 2015) S#3 —

Day 55 (June 11, 2015) S#3 —

Day 56 (June 12, 2015) S#3 —

Day 57 (June 13, 2015) S#3 —

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 58 (June 14, 2015) S#3 —

Day 59 (June 15, 2015) S#3 —

Day 60 (June 16, 2015) S#3 —

We had really hot weather this day and the temp in the closet heated up and I hadn't watered in a couple days so the plants suffered from heat stress. I saturated the grow medium with water and did a heavy misting every few hours to rehydrate the plant.

Day 61 (June 17, 2015) S#3 —

Day 63 (June 19, 2015) S#3 —

Day 65 (June 21, 2015) S#3 —

Day 67 (June 23, 2015) S#3 —

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 68 (June 24, 2015) S#3 —

Day 69 (May 25, 2015) S#3 —

I started noticing something strange with one set of leaves. It looks sort of like an insect had chewed away the leaves and left the stems but perhaps this was a result of the heat stress incurred earlier?

Day 70 (May 26, 2015) S#3 —

 

[EsotericGrows]

Any idea when I should harvest by the photos I've shared or is it necessary that I acquire a magnifying glass or microscope to get a closeup of the trichomes and make sure they're mostly milky with a bit of amber to tell if it's harvest time?

 

[Cruizer]

THC 13%
CBD Low
Yield Indoor 150-200gr m2
Yield Outdoor 30-80 grams per plant dried
Height Indoor 40 - 70 cm
Height Outdoor 50 - 90 cm
Flowering time 6-7 Weeks
Harvest month 8-9 weeks after sprouting
Genetic Background Skunk x Ruderalis
Type Sativa: 60% Indica: 10% Ruderalis: 30%
Effect Physical stoned
SPECIMIN #2 & #3 PROGRESS LOG

According to this, you are past the harvest date and it being 60% Sativa, I would think 14 weeks minimum. Doesn't look ready to me. You should get a 60x scope to look at the trichs.

 

[EsotericGrows]

Yeah I read that the harvest times that they advertise on auto flowering seeds are usually way less than they should be. I think that's probably a best case scenario? Are those scopes an online only type item or is it something local retailers would carry? This will be my first time harvesting, drying and curing so I'm hoping I don't mess everything up during one of the final steps after all this waiting.

 

[Cruizer]

I live outside the U.S. so I had to order online. I have the 60x-100x microscope. There are also jewelers loupes and usb microscopes, to look at.

 

[EsotericGrows]

woops I just noticed this post I put May 25 and May 26 but it should read June 25 and June 26. I can't seem to edit it for some reason though.

Anyhow, new progress reports:

Day 71 (June 27, 2015) S#3 —

It's about 2 feet tall at this point, slightly curved since I trained it a bit and forced it to grow on an angle.

Day 72 (June 28, 2015) S#3 —

Day 76 (July 1, 2015) S#3 —

I got this Hands-Free magnifier from walmart, it's the best option I could find locally. It only does 1.5x power or 4x bifocal, hardly enough to inspect trichomes.

I did however get some pics by holding the 4x bifocal part of the magnifier to my camera lense. Here's the results of the buds at 4x through the magnifier:

Day 77 (July 2, 2015) S#3 —

Today I was looking around for magnifiers and found some glasses I got for soldering/electronics but they only do 3x max but I was really excited when I remembered and was able to find this 50x zoom device that I forgot I had purchased for inspecting defects in PCB's.

Unfortunately I find it hard to use the 50x hand held magnifier because it's difficult to hold it steady free hand and get it the trichomes into focus. I think I'll need to pull the plant out of the closet and use some helping hands to hold it the magnifier steady for me. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a pic through the 50x zoom though, I'll have to wait for the USB zoom view device to come in the mail.

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 79 (July 4, 2015) S#3 —

Some new photos of the progress of the bud sites that are forming (note: I think I took pics of all 3 strains so not all these ones are of the royal dwarf. I should've taken them seperately so I knew which was which):

Update on the what the entire closet looks like:

Lets open the doors a take a look inside. This is the automotive sun shield material that cruiser recommended I try. I cut it into 3 sections to make it easier to roll up and cover the entire door. It really helps cut down on light from escaping out the cracks around the doors when the room is pitch black.

Lets roll up the auto-shade sections and see what it looks like in the closet:

And here's a top down view of my girls:

I should also mention I was able to work with the 50x hand held magnifier much easier by taking the entire plant out of the closet and using putting light directly above the plant. Most of the difficulties of me trying to use the magnifier the first time was because it was so awkward trying to stick my head into the closet and keep my hand steady. I had no problems when I pulled the plants out to take a look at the trichomes though.

It turns out that most of the trichomes are still either clear or cloudy. I'd say most are cloudy. There's very few amber trichomes, just a couple I could locate.

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 83 (July 8, 2015) S#3 —

This is the size of the Cola in reference to a lighter. Not very big but oh well it's a first time grow under 24 hour CFL with a very poor beginning compared to what it could have been.

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 85 (July 10, 2015) S#3 —

OK so my USB microscope I ordered isn't going to arrive until sometime next week and I don't know if I should wait that long to harvest or not. I'd like to get some nice photos with it if possible prior to harvesting but I don't want to ruin my harvest by waiting too long. Perhaps someone with more experience can take a look at these 3 areas of the plant (I'll separate into 3 posts) and let me know what you think. I rigged up a poor mans trichome inspection device so you can at least get an idea of what they look like even though the pics are only clear in a small area and blurry in the rest...

This is the section of the plant at the lower to mid range. I circled which bud area I'm focusing in on to show the trichomes in that region.

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 85 (July 10, 2015) S#3 (continued) —

Middle Range Bud Site. Again I've circled the area of the plant I'm focused in on to get a comparison of different areas of the plant:

 

[EsotericGrows]

Day 85 (July 10, 2015) S#3 (continued) —

Upper Cola Bud Site. The third area I've inspected. I circled the area of the plant again I'm focused in on to get a comparison of different areas of the plant:

 

[Cruizer]

It depends on the effect you are going for. I can see mostly cloudy trichs with some amber. You are close to harvest. Some would do it now, some wait for more amber. It is a Royal Dwarf so it's not going to be huge. Good learning experience and now you are ready for the next grow. Nice job

 

[EsotericGrows]

Do you think I should keep watering it or start letting it dry out while still in the dirt?