First Grow Bluedreamatic & Majin Buu 2020

[Timhomegrow]

First timer and first grow journal. I've learned alot so far.

Soil grow, 3'x3'x6' tent, 600 wat Giixer LED. Bluedreamatic auto and Majin Buu photo. Yup one of my mistakes doing auto and photo together ha

Had some watering issues, low temp issues and high humidity issues in the first few weeks with the tent in my garage. All have been corrected.
7 weeks in since germination and they seem to be doing well.

 

[013]

Hi Timhomegrow!

Welcome to 420 Magazine!

Nice setup, your plants are zooming right along! You have the potential to fill up that tent. Yes sir, getting your environment dialed in is critical. I’m gonna drop in periodically and peek over your shoulder, keep on keeping on.

 

[Timhomegrow]

Thanks 013....I'm sure I'll need some help and guidance. Now that my temp is right (78-72 lights on) and humidity is 45-50% they are doing better. Got a 50 pint dehumidifier for the garage as the dehumidifier in the tent didn't do much.

I'm worried the damage is done to the autos they look scrawny and stretched. I think the one photo plant looks better but not sure. If I get one good plant to finish this process and learning I'll be a happy guy. The next go around should be better ha

 

[013]

Hey Tim,

Yes my autoflower adventure crashed & burned too. I will try again soon but found photoperiod to be more of my thing for now. You mentioned low temps & garage, I learned this the hard way.... the concrete slab can suck the life out of your plants. When covered inside of a building the concrete will stay around 55 to 58 degrees year round. Can you insulate between concrete & tent floor? A couple pieces of sheet foam from hardware store? And / or if possible put each plant on top of an inverted milk crate or plastic tub. Warm air rises, cool air sinks downward but an indoor concrete slab has fooled many startup growers - myself included! Sad part is I’m a builder among other things so I knew about indoor concrete temps but it took forever to learn this was one of my major problems!

 

[Timhomegrow]

I did insulate the bottom with several layers of cardboard and bubble wrap.....all I had at the time. We had really cool nights in April in GA, much cooler than normal. Next year I will wait until May for sure as temps got right first week in May. Dehumidifier really helped too.

 

[013]

Great job then, bubble wrap for the win. I have those snap together foam squares on concrete, then a sheet of Dow builders foam on top of that & finally the tent. Cool I’m 2 states to the north of you.

 

[Timhomegrow]

Well an update on my first grow....things continue to be pretty bad ha. I did add a new light that is 1000wat (270watt at wall). My old light was just 70 watt at the wall and I think not enough light.

Garage dehumidifier, running constantly has my tent at 45-50 Humidity. My next concern is high temps here in Georgia. With the new light the tent temp is 78, but outside temp (outside of house) is only 85 and we will get into the high 90s come summer. I'm thinking of moving it into the finished basement to control temp, and I have less humidity inside the house so hopefully the dehumidifier doesn't need to run all the time (getting 55-60 humidity in the basement currently).

Some more pics of my pathetic babies. If the new light doesn't make the buds better in a few days I'm thinking of tossing and starting over. I'm not sure I can get much of anything from this grow but I'm way better prepared for the next

 

[013]

Hey Tim!

Don’t be discouraged they are still standing & that’s a good sign! I’ve killed a bunch along the way. Congrats! Yes, the new light should kick start the party. The plants may take few days to adjust to it.

Yes, the environment is critical. There’s a wide range of acceptable conditions for temp & humidity but cross the line & girls will not be happy. Also for hot weather, I think kelp meal is used in soil to help with high temps. That last pic come out cropped so can’t see your plants well, maybe try embed feature next time.

Anyway looks like they are doing well but not big buds yet. You are the boss in your garden but by growing them out you will learn something & possibly you can start more right along beside them.

I’m not grow master by any stretch, but it’s slow going even if plants are big. Soil is a slow medium, hydro is faster but you can kill them more easily. Anyway - cruising thru your journal!

 

[Timhomegrow]

Just a few days under the new light and they really improved. Think I'll add the second light tomorrow, both 270w from the wall.

Is that yellowing (may be bright green I'm color blind ha) normal?

They are autos and on their 8th week, but with all my earlier issues I'm not sure how much they will ripen/fatten. If I get something I'll be happy and better prepared for my next grow immediately after

 

[013]

Glad to hear she’s perking up with the new light. Oh shit twin 270’s.... nice selection. Yeah that will do the job. Pic turned out better this time, before it was cropped, now we can see much more of the plant. She looks fine sir, really good and that’s the right attitude!

 

[Timhomegrow]

Adding the second light raised the temps too much and even turning it off I couldnt cool it. It was 81 on one temp gauge and 78 on the other. So the girls have a new home in the finished basement with HVAC controlled temps. Positive, humidity is only 50% without the dehumidifier running.

One plant has some too leaves, attached, that have curled. Could it have been the high temps or having two lights?

 

[013]

Could be first sign of heat, usually leaves will look like a canoe or taco from heat / light stress. Great catch on temp rise! Last summer my hps kept the tent at 84 but fans brought it down to 82 and mine did ok with the temps. Your leaves don’t appear cooked, don’t think they will skip a beat.

I read the entire collection of a fairly well known grower who shall remain unnamed and his mantra was 3 most important variables in a grow are

Environment
Environment
Environment

It kinda blew me away because I was expected some secret ingredient like the sweat from a unicorn or 2 pound bag of hand harvested butterfly dung. My environment is not perfect but since switching from hps to led im hoping my summer (unfinished basement) temps will be 80.

 

[Timhomegrow]

Buds continue to grow and fatten

I did some research on the hooked down leaves and discoloration....it could be too much nutes or the heat. Since they weren't in the heat long I'm thinking nutes. Today was their water only day. On the next feeding day I think I'm going to cut back the nutes

 

[013]

Good eye, the leaves are trying to talk. Could be Nitrogen claw, could be wind if fans are punishing her greenery. Yes dial back on nutes see how she responds to that. Good deal - water only day!

 

[Timhomegrow]

2nd feeding of just water and the nitrogen toxicity seems to be improving. Some yellow (I think colorblind) spots are on a few leaves, guessing it's damage from the nitrogen toxicity?

The two plants (bottom and right) I had trimmed a bit when my light was inadequate, probably not a good idea with an auto, but they are budding. The one on the left, while budding, is not far along and was not trimmed. I tied down a few branches today to allow in more light and hoping that helps.

 

[Timhomegrow]

They are getting better and the nitrogen toxicity is over in one and almost over in the other. The biggest one (top right) is getting some deficiency signs I believe so she got fed 1/2 strength nutes. The too left one, still some dark green shiny leaves for full water again (3rd feeding) and the bottom one got full nutes as it looks the best ....but still not flowering strong, but also the only girl I didn't trim.

Got three things going on to see what works best ha

 

[Timhomegrow]

Also messed around with the digital microscope. Need to figure out a way to get the microscope to be steady while down in the plant, hard keeping it steady by hand ha

 

[Timhomegrow]

Some issues, thought the leaf hooks were nitrogen toxicity. Three waterings of just water fixed that but now leaves Turing color. Started with half the amount of nutes yesterday.

Buds are coming along though. Picture with camera flash and one without

 

[Timhomegrow]

Gave the girls a feeding today, this is my best one ....finally starting to look like something good

The one auto I didn't trim is still dragging on flowering well so today I cut the fan leave branches.

 

[Timhomegrow]

This one I never touched until today, was my "middle girl" in veg. She looks great but just moving slowly.

A bit worried, it's an auto, and I'm just under 10 weeks. Perhaps my cold garage temps in April out her in a suspended state so she's a few weeks behind ha