First Grow Fire OG LED 900W In Soil

[KevinL]

 

[KevinL]

Little update, I planted GDK #1 on 6/15. And planted GDK#2 on 6/17 (today) GDK#2 germinated for like 5 days, and the taproot was barely showing, so I just planted it. Just in case it doesn't sprout, I already started germinating another seed. (On 6/15) which has been germinating for about 36 hours. So we will see what happens.

If anyone has any input on whether it matters how long the taproot gets, I'd like to hear it. The other seed's taproot grew to like a 1/4 inch. So it's just weird to me.. Anyways...hoping they both sprout, I would like them to start at the same time.

 

[meumitsumgrow]

 

[KevinL]

Ok, well thanks for the input, meumitsumgrow lol

 

[KevinL]

So as I suspected, GDK #2 didn't make it. Just dug a little dirt up to see if maybe it was just about to pop, but it looks dead. So not sure what happen with that seed.. But GDK #1 sprouted and is doing good. And I just planted the back up seed I had germinating. So that will become GDK #2 now. So little bummed over all, but hey that's life.. It's just frustrating paying for seeds that never grow..

 

[KevinL]

GDK #1

 

[KevinL]

Also I know the smart pots aren't filled all the way, it wasnt done on purpose.. as they grow, I will be adding more soil to fill it.

 

[KevinL]

Just wanted to give a update, both girls are above ground and seem to be doing good. GDK #1 (Charlotte) sprouted on 6/19, and is 1 week 1 day old. GDK #2 (Alice) sprouted on 6/27, today is her day 1. So there's really only a 1 week difference, so it's not too bad. But GDK #1 got a 20/4 light cycle her first 10 days, and #2 will only have it a few days, then 18/6. I have been watering with just PHed water for their first week. I will start 1/4 strength nutes for both on their second week. Temp has been around 80-82 lights on, and as low as 69-70 lights off. RH is High: 57 Low: 35.
Other than that, not much else to report.. Excited to make my new light purchase, which will be very soon! Here's pics, #2 is hard to see, but it's there.

 

[KevinL]

Was really hoping to get any kind of feedback, if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it. That, along with being able to keep a personal record, is what drew me to 420 and to make a journal. The 420 people seem awesome! And I have learned tons of info on this forum. I get that the beginning seedling stage can be a little slow and boring. I just hope that as my grow progresses, I can get some feedback if any problems arise. I really want this grow to be successful! So please, if anyone has advice or anything, feel free. All are welcome

 

[KevinL]

Update: GDK #1 (Charlotte) is in her second week, and has had one feeding with nutes so far. GDK #2 (Alice) is still in her first week. Has not had any nutes yet. Everything seems to be going pretty well so far, there is some twisting on some of GDK #1 's leaves. But it doesn't look too bad, seems to be getting better each day. Anyways, if anyone has any input about anything, please don't hesitate! All welcome

Pics

GDK #1

GDK #2

 

[KevinL]

Update: First off, for all those who are American and live in the USA, Happy 4th of July!! The grow has been going well, so far. GDK #1 (Charlotte) is doing great! She's really starting to take off! She is 2 weeks 1 days old.
However, GDK #2 (Alice) is worrying me. She is 1 week old today. She seems to be getting off to a slow start. #1 was bigger than she is after 2 days. Although it's worrying me, she doesn't look like she's in bad shape, just taking her time. Maybe she's focusing on her roots, I don't know. I just hope to see some new growth here very soon!!

Here's some pics of the ladies. If anyone has input or advice, or any questions, feel free!

 

[KevinL]

I'm really hoping #2 starts showing new growth and pulls through! Wanted to be able to harvest 2 plants, because although this is my first grow, I wanted a decent yield. If it doesnt, well, hopefully I can still get a decent yield. I'm going to be trying some lst. Topping at the 3rd or 4th node, and using plant ties to grow it out flat and bushy! My realistic yield goal for my first grow is
2 plant harvest- 3.5 ounces dry
1 plant harvest- 1.5 ounces dry

I think that is pretty obtainable, hopefully am I crazy?

I will also be purchasing the new LED within the next 10 days. I think I will finish up the Veg cycle with just the two 300's. Then when I switch to flower, I will put the new lamp in. Not sure yet if I will use all 3 LEDs during flower, or how I am going to arrange them, but I will cross that road when it comes.

 

[headlaaa]

Best of luck mate I've subbed can't wait to see how this goes...hope No.1 has a spurt

 

[KevinL]

Thanks headlaaa! I hope so too! Just read over your threads, good luck with your grow experience as well! If you get a grow journal going I'll definitely check it out! Cheers

 

[KevinL]

Ok I think I know what the problem is with #2. To water I use tap water, and filter it . It's a really good filter, it brings the ppm to 0 everytime, it even came with its own ppm meter. But the ph is always a little high, around 7.2 and I'm pretty sure I forgot to add ph down for her first and maybe second watering... so for today's watering I gave her plain water PH 6.0-6.1. So hopefully that will even things out. Not added any nutes yet, even though the schedule I'm following suggests you start adding nutes week 2. She's still not ready in my opinion, plus FF ocean forest, well,, actually its Happy Frog top 2-3 inches, should provide plenty of nutrients for now. Anyways I hope this solves the problem, I'm really hoping she comes through! I don't know what else it could be.. any suggestions?

 

[Mr Sampson]

Ok I think I know what the problem is with #2. To water I use tap water, and filter it . It's a really good filter, it brings the ppm to 0 everytime, it even came with its own ppm meter. But the ph is always a little high, around 7.2 and I'm pretty sure I forgot to add ph down for her first and maybe second watering... so for today's watering I gave her plain water PH 6.0-6.1. So hopefully that will even things out. Not added any nutes yet, even though the schedule I'm following suggests you start adding nutes week 2. She's still not ready in my opinion, plus FF ocean forest, well,, actually its Happy Frog top 2-3 inches, should provide plenty of nutrients for now. Anyways I hope this solves the problem, I'm really hoping she comes through! I don't know what else it could be.. any suggestions?

Hey Hey! Take this with a grain of salt but I've been using ascorbic acid (vitamin c) to neutralize the chlorine in my tap water. Just a pinch in 5 gallons does the trick and not only does it provide antioxidants for the plant it helps acidify the water as well.

 

[knighthawktfc]

I'm pulling up a chair and following along.

Your about a week ahead of me in planting, also in 4x4 and first grow, you were smart though and went with the smart pots.
Your ladies look great, what are you on like day 17 on #1 and day ~9-10 #2?

As for realistic yields I have about the same expectations 1.5 each dry on what probably should be 2each by an experienced hand.
If I get 3z's or so out of 2 plants I will consider it a success, anything more super confidence building, 2 an expensive 'lessons' learned but worth it, and less than 2 sort of a disaster.

She's still not ready in my opinion, plus FF ocean forest, well,, actually its Happy Frog top 2-3 inches, should provide plenty of nutrients for now. Anyways I hope this solves the problem, I'm really hoping she comes through! I don't know what else it could be.. any suggestions?

I'm doing exact same thing almost, actually I did give mine 1/4th of the already 1/4th'd "schedule for success" nutes from technoflora (only difference in our soil it seems is basically the nutes, I should have planned to use FF too but technoflora stuff came with my tent so wtf might as well use them right..). So about 1/8th to 1/10th what's on the side of the label of the nutes. lol Basically nothing. I'm also in FF-OF.. I also mixed in 10-15% perlite and also mixed in 10-15% Happy Frog..LOL. That said my HFrog is mixed, not on top, and i have a little layer of stones and perlite at the bottom, which you don't need with the smart pots. I also like you am planning to add a little top coat after the first 15-20 day to account for compaction, not much but maybe an inch nothing more cause I don't want too many extra nutes getting in there beyond veg-time (mine are auto flowers though, not photo period so my veg time will be shorter and uncontrollable).


As for the watering... I wouldn't fret about the 2 waterings at 7.2, I would just feed them ph'd 6.5 (after nutes added and sitting for minute or five) from here on out, I don't think you need to compensate for the 7.2 with 6.0 now. That said I'm a newbie so anything I say is not from experience just from reading lots, and for that matter 1/3rd of that conflicting info. *giggle*

BTW are you filtering with like a zero-water pitcher thing, or more specialized RO thingy? I only ask because I was thinking of getting one. Cause picking up like 10-12 gallons at a time of distilled at the market is getting annoying, and I rarely need more than a gallon or two a day which most of those will do.

Anyway like Mr.Sampson said you can probably use unfiltered tap if you want, so long as you leave it out for 24-36 hr to get the chlorine out (or like 12-18hr if you air stone it), that said you have to know if your water has chlorine or choramine (sp?), the later will not evaporate like chlorine will. Your water dept\providers website should have a recent (last year or last quarterly) quality report that shows you which you have. What little I know is that there is actually some benefit it using unfiltered (minus chlorine) tap if the ppms are pretty low because it'll usually have some cal and mag in there which a positive particularly in led grows, also makes ph'ing little more stable cause there is stuff in the water already to buffer what you're adding (be that nutes or just ph-up\down). For example my tap is 45-46ppm... running it through a Brita... 43ppm..(almost pointless - lol) which I'm guessing it's only removing the chlorine cause that's the same ppm amount I get if leave the water out for 2 days, and per my water co. quality report there should be 2-3 ppm of chlorine.

 

[KevinL]

I'm pulling up a chair and following along.

Your about a week ahead of me in planting, also in 4x4 and first grow, you were smart though and went with the smart pots.
Your ladies look great, what are you on like day 17 on #1 and day ~9-10 #2?

As for realistic yields I have about the same expectations 1.5 each dry on what probably should be 2each by an experienced hand.
If I get 3z's or so out of 2 plants I will consider it a success, anything more super confidence building, 2 an expensive 'lessons' learned but worth it, and less than 2 sort of a disaster.



I'm doing exact same thing almost, actually I did give mine 1/4th of the already 1/4th'd "schedule for success" nutes from technoflora (only difference in our soil it seems is basically the nutes, I should have planned to use FF too but technoflora stuff came with my tent so wtf might as well use them right..). So about 1/8th to 1/10th what's on the side of the label of the nutes. lol Basically nothing. I'm also in FF-OF.. I also mixed in 10-15% perlite and also mixed in 10-15% Happy Frog..LOL. That said my HFrog is mixed, not on top, and i have a little layer of stones and perlite at the bottom, which you don't need with the smart pots. I also like you am planning to add a little top coat after the first 15-20 day to account for compaction, not much but maybe an inch nothing more cause I don't want too many extra nutes getting in there beyond veg-time (mine are auto flowers though, not photo period so my veg time will be shorter and uncontrollable).


As for the watering... I wouldn't fret about the 2 waterings at 7.2, I would just feed them ph'd 6.5 (after nutes added and sitting for minute or five) from here on out, I don't think you need to compensate for the 7.2 with 6.0 now. That said I'm a newbie so anything I say is not from experience just from reading lots, and for that matter 1/3rd of that conflicting info. *giggle*

BTW are you filtering with like a zero-water pitcher thing, or more specialized RO thingy? I only ask because I was thinking of getting one. Cause picking up like 10-12 gallons at a time of distilled at the market is getting annoying, and I rarely need more than a gallon or two a day which most of those will do.

Anyway like Mr.Sampson said you can probably use unfiltered tap if you want, so long as you leave it out for 24-36 hr to get the chlorine out (or like 12-18hr if you air stone it), that said you have to know if your water has chlorine or choramine (sp?), the later will not evaporate like chlorine will. Your water dept\providers website should have a recent (last year or last quarterly) quality report that shows you which you have. What little I know is that there is actually some benefit it using unfiltered (minus chlorine) tap if the ppms are pretty low because it'll usually have some cal and mag in there which a positive particularly in led grows, also makes ph'ing little more stable cause there is stuff in the water already to buffer what you're adding (be that nutes or just ph-up\down). For example my tap is 45-46ppm... running it through a Brita... 43ppm..(almost pointless - lol) which I'm guessing it's only removing the chlorine cause that's the same ppm amount I get if leave the water out for 2 days, and per my water co. quality report there should be 2-3 ppm of chlorine.

Hey there nighthawk! My ladies today are #1 - day 18 and #2- day 10. But number 2 has had some serious problem, no new growth since the first set of real leaves. Not sure what it is.

I just use a zero water filter. It works pretty well. I think my tap water is about the same ppm as yours (40 or so). If I remember correctly, I have all the info for my city tap water. The filter brings it to about zero every time. It has its own ppm meter, except it doesn't show ppm number, just turns a certain color if ppm reaches over 6, so I know to change the filter. But I do leave it to sit for 24 hours, just in case. So it works for me. I have cal-mag I use in every feeding. So I like my regular waterings to have low ppm.
Anyways, thanks for stopping by, appreciate all the info!

 

[KevinL]

Update: so today GDK #1 is 18 days old, and #2 is being replaced. It really doesn't look like its gonna make it. Don't know why. But still no new growth. Weird. And dissapointed. Out of the 10 pack of seeds I bought, I've used 4. One good one, one germinated for 5 days, taproot barely showing, planted and then, nothing... and now this one, nothing.. but, this seed im germiating right now has a good taproot. Have high hopes for her! And athough it will be like 3 weeks behind, it will just have a smaller veg period. I'm OK with that, I just want to harvest 2 plants.

Anyways back to GDK #1, (charlotte) is doing great, growing at a good rate. I started training on her today. Just topped the main stem, at the 3rd node. She had 5 nodes before top. She seemed to barely notice, still perky and looking good. Hoping now that all the under growth is exposed, it will explode with growth! When the new #2 is ready, I'm going to top her earlier, just as shes started to grow her 4th node. And hopefully that will cause the least bit of size decrease. Need her to grow as fast as possible. Lol #1 was last watered on 7/5. One gallon, no nutes. She will probably get another feed tomorrow, but I'll make another update for that.

18/6 light cycle now, temp: high-82 low-70 humidity: 60%-40% still using my exhaust fan on the lowest setting, slight negative pressure. Keeps temp perfect. So that's where I'll keep it until flower. I will be taking pictures and posting them with my update tomorrow.

 

[KevinL]

Update: so I watered GDK #1 today, one gallon. PH 6.3. 3 teaspoon Big Bloom, 1 teaspoon Grow Big, 1 &1/2 ml calmag. She is 19 days old today

Also topped #1. She had 5 maybe 6 can't remember, nodes before. Topped at the 3rd node. And after the two new main stems grow out a little, I will tie them down and start the lst. She's looking good after the top. So hopefully she will start to explode with growth.

As for #2. Again I'm super disappointed. I got a 10 pack because being a noob at this I knew there was a chance some may not make it. But I have gone through 4 seeds already, two no good. And this one germinating better make it. It will become the new #2, and her name will be Dolly. As a result of all this happening, It's got me starting to stock up inventory on seeds. Gonna be making a few more 10 pack purchases. As soon as I can decide on what strains! Lol so many out there. So that's basically it for now.

Temps have been good. High of 83, low of 70. Humidity has been decent. High 55%, low 38%.

Ps. Sorry for the poor quality pics so far, left my camera at my parents house last time I visited. Need to get it back..

Pics of GDK #1