First Grow Ever, Using CFL

[CFL man]

Well, gotta start growing!

I am new and im gonna start right off with a grow log. I am gonna load lots of pictures to this thread. I hope to get your thoughts on my process, tips and if you notice something give me a heads up.

ATM got my 7 plants, under 4 CFL 26w 24/7 veg, in a ghetto ass box(i have a cupboard 600x700x1000(mm) coming soon). The insides of the ghetto ass box are covered with blank a4 papers, from which i also used to make ghetto ass reflectors. The temp ranges from 24 to 27 celsius degrees in there just under the lights. first had 2 vents and 3 lights in there but then added one more of each. The starting soil medium is peat moss with nutes.
The strain... Is also a ghetto ass, of unknown genetics, maybe ghetto or smth lulZ ^_^, with luck it is a good smoke and a pleasureable high? I think it should come out indica.

I started everything in a poor mans way, working with what i got and working my way up as i go. But i hope this to be a good and a pleasurable XP and i really do hope to smoke some in the end.
Got more lights, more vents and a nice ass cupboard in the making.

These pictures are a day from when they poked their heads from the ground

Gotta love seedlings

I got high hopes on this one

Well... My grow box as it is, but for starting veg only

Inside view

2 days from last pictures
Looking green right?

The middle one i have high hopes for

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Looking good so far CFL,

Just an observation: You're gonna want to put those babies in some different containers, or cover the outside of those clear ones before the roots reach the sides of the containers. MJ roots don't like the light.

 

[mako]

Nice seedlings im doing a similar small cfl grow SUBSCRIBED

 

[CFL man]

Yeah, im going to replant them into clay pots in about a week, I hope the roots wont be showing sooner.

Got some close ups today!

A nice group shot after watering with a spray bottle.

 

[CFL man]

They are now exactly one week old, potted them into clay pots,started to see roots. Im still using the same seedling soil i used before, put 1cm layer of vermiculite to the bottom of the pot in hopes of giving better air to the roots. Also added 3 more lights so there is one CFL shining right onto one plant. Also made adjustments to the fans.

They look good? yes? Need confirmation!

Overview

group shot

Close up #1

Close up #2 - the one i have high hopes for

Close up #3

They looking okay right?

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Looking great! just keep giving them water and light, and they'll be big in no time.

 

[PhishyPhil]

so far so good! good luck, ill be watching

 

[CFL man]

They are about 9 days old now.

Today i gave them first half strength 2,5ml of nutrients to 1l water. The ratio of the nutrients is 7-3-6. I water them till water drips from the bottom of the pot. I hope to see good results, if its all good i will give them half strength nutrients every two days for a week and after that i hope to up it to 5ml of nutrients to 1l of water every two days. Does it sound like a good idea or should i give nutrients once a week? I think i will experiment, if it shows signs of over feeding i can flush it out, but is it worth the hassle? The humidity is really low 20%-30% so i need to water them a lot. Still winter here...


They grow so fast

Today's group shot looks awful due to the light but here it is

Close up #1
The sides leafs of this plant show just a little yellowing and i think it is due to light burn and low humidity

Close up #2

Close up #3

 

[MountainHigh]

Your babies look great! I am subscribed for this .

from the mountains. +rep

 

[MojoNojo]

Looks great, i'll be checking back, kind of jealous at how big they are... damn lol

 

[CFL man]

I thank all of you who have tuned in, do not hold back on the feedback

Yeah they are growing like crazy, i am suprised and also scared... I hope the new nutrients in there wont kill them. Kinda pushing the limits...

I got one problem tho, i'm really afraid for the pH. I know my soil pH is good, but the water and nutrient pH is kind of a mystery tho...

 

[MojoNojo]

I thank all of you who have tuned in, do not hold back on the feedback

Yeah they are growing like crazy, i am suprised and also scared... I hope the new nutrients in there wont kill them. Kinda pushing the limits...

I got one problem tho, i'm really afraid for the pH. I know my soil pH is good, but the water and nutrient pH is kind of a mystery tho...

I could be wrong, but if you were to do a soil pH test from like Home Depot or something with the test tube and the powder... If you use the water that you water it with to fill the tube, that's being taken into account for the pH reading you'll get...

I COULD BE WRONG, but it's counterintuitive to me to think otherwise about it ATM.

 

[mako]

looking nice cant wait for my second set of leaves

 

[MountainHigh]

First off if you can afford it ($6) at the nursery or maybe a pet store, get the drops test with the little test tube. Knowing the ph of your nutes and starting water will save you heartache later. Be careful nuting babies, but since your little babies aren't all burned up and dying, you probably know that

I ph my water and my nutes when I water to 6.5 during bloom, and on the safe side of 6 during veg. Soil ideal is 6.0 swept to 6.3 (grow) or vice versa depending on grow or bloom. Higher up to 7 is safe, but lower than 6 you can get deficiencies as stuff gets locked out, very strain specific on how sensitive they are too. During grow cycle plants generally eat more nitrogen so the soil ph will climb, first part of bloom is a crap shoot, just monitor it. But later in bloom your soil will go acidic as the plant eats the potassium and phosphorous/phosphates.

Mountain is rambling again.....

I use a technique for watering recommended by one of the grow support ,Setting Sun, and it made perfect sense to me. I water until I get about 20% of what I put in back out (very approximately for me). And I judge if my plants need water based on their weight, my bad back is a good judge of a light pot versus a heavy one... (for the pain), letting them almost dry out promotes root growth. It sends them looking for more water for thirsty leaves.

To check the soil ph you measure the ph of the runoff and add/substract the difference of the two. . (Very rough estimate btw) So say you put in 6.5 and your runoff came out 6, you will be able to guess your soil started at 5.5. You will have a problem if you continue to let it drift that way. So the next time you water, you will water with 7.0 to pull your soil up even farther. You keep doing this until your runoff is about 6.5. You will learn your plant's drift after a few waterings, just remember to always check in any transition stage of life for the plants, they eat different things during those times and need monitored. (I always check now after I let a baby get sick in my second grow being lazy)

I also recommend getting small bottles of ph up and down, they are pretty cheap and you can be sure they won't have anything your plant don't need.

Please don't be offended if this seems pushy, but it is offered in the best of intentions, a successful grow. And if I am wrong on any point anyone, please let me know.
I want to know the best way too .

CFL man

 

[CFL man]

Whoa! This actually makes sense! Many thanks on the pH thing! Im getting my pH tested tomorrow on my tap water(yeah i use tap water but we have really good tap water in our small town) nutrients, water+nutrients mix and the runoff. I could not yet afford a pH meter, neither could i find a place where i could buy it without ordering, but i found a place where i can take my samples and get .001 accuracy for a few bucks in total.

I think the nutrients are working OK, tho i found something interesting on one first leaf, little brown spots. I couldn't find anything from the plant abuse chart though and i cannot make sense of it myself either, it only appears on one of the plants.

But i think im still going to give them the same amount of nutrients after i find out my pH levels. Only trouble is that to get the runoff one of the plants has to be first to take the hit, so a question, should i hit it with nutrient solution or just plain water?

 

[ol hippy]

You don't need a ph meter just get the little bottle and the liquid it works fine, do you have a small fan blowing on your plants ? it will help the stems get stronger. Looks like your doing fine so far just be carefull that those 6 plants don't outgrow there confines ! You may need to split them up as they get bigger. Once you can determine their sex it will be easier , you may be chopping out up to half od them. But thats probably a bit later on . If you want to buy a meter get a PPM meter (hanna makes one for about 20 bucks ). good luck CFL man...

 

[MountainHigh]

Don't really think it matters when you test it, but I really recommend trying to find those PH drops, they are only $6 bucks and let you keep monitoring as you go...not always easy to get your nutes ph'ed first try.

Keep watch you might be starting to overnute...might wanna try just water this time to see. (Give your plant a few waterings between nutes to use up the nutes you gave no matter if it is one or two weeks between, or you risk buildup in the soil.)

You can't get behind them and push them to grow any faster (without more light and other things like CO2). So too many nutes is always counterproductive.

 

[3lions]

"half strength nutrients every two days for a week"

Have to agree with Mountain High, don't overdo the nutes. Do not overwater either. Normally they probabaly only want watering every 2 days so it may be safest to add nutes every other watering, so every 4 days of course. At thsi stage it seems best to very slowly increase as to have to cut back.

Best of luck with this, count me in ;-)

 

[quagland]

looking good! I wish I had the same luck with my seeds that you did. Can't wait to watch them grow.

 

[CFL man]

Thank you all for your input, you are making me smarter by the day, the idea of watering with nutes, then water, then nutes and then water sound a lot safer!

But the pH test is in, i only took it from one pot. I don't think the runoff differs a lot because they all have the same conditions.

1 - Tap water 7,33
2 - The runoff 7,12
3 - The nutrient mix 7.39

and the given soil pH is 5.0-6.5 on the package.

They are pretty neutral, even the runoff. Im gonna test the runoff again in a week or two.

But i read in the internets that

"When growing marijuana in soil the pH of the soil should be between 6.5 and 7.0"

"Most fertilizers cause a pH change in the soil. Adding fertilizer to the soil almost always results in a more acidic (lower) pH. As time goes on, the amount of salts produced by the breakdown of fertilizers in the soil causes the soil to become increasingly acidic."

So i think i should not get pH down at the moment?

Pictures will be given again tomorrow after watering, i don't like to move them around a lot.
I gave some water in the morning to one plant, to get the runoff. The soil was kinda moist and i felt like force feeding it and stuffing junk down it's throat. Feels bad man...

Otherwise they look golden
guys!