First Grow, White Rhino, Soil, CFL 23200 Lumens, Small Stealth

[Vapoorize]

About
This is my first grow. It is a low budget grow. This site was used as my guide and it has been a huge learning experience. I took inspiration from the clowns, jasonlee, roseman, and many others. Although the grow is a few weeks from harvest, I kept a journal and will be posting it here.

Strain

White Rhino is a powerful F1 marijuana hybrid of White Widow and a curiously strong Canadian indica strain. Its father contains more Cannabis Indica-genes than White Widow, its mother, making for denser, somewhat shorter cannabis plants. Because of its high THC content, White Rhino would be very suitable for medicinal marijuana users. --Nirvana

Germinated six, all sprouted, 4 of 6 were female

Soil
The sprouts started in local organic soil with added compost mix and flushed miracle grow perlite, 75/25 soil/perlite in 8" pots.

I transplanted after sexing into FFOF with 80/20 soil/perlite mix in 3 gallon trashcans with a 1" layer of drainage rocks at the bottom.

Cabinet
The grow cabinet was truly thrown together in the last minute using scrap wood. The front wall is a removable panel with a handle for easy access. It is:
3ft wide x 2ft deep x 4ft 6in high

Lights
I vegged under four 2700k 68 watt CFLs for a total of 16800 lumens.

I found some cheap daylight bulbs and added four 6500k 23 watt CFLs for a combined total of 23200 lumens. I know this is odd but I didn't add the blue spectrum until day one of flower.

The lights are in a DIY air cooled box. The glass allows the plants to grow "safely" into the light.

Cooling
I started with large 8inch fan circulating and a computer fan extracting warm CFL air out to closet.
high 90F, low 70F

I changed exhaust from closet to crawlspace which lowered temps. I also directed CFL heat towards exhaust.
high 85F, low 70F

I switched to higher CFM computer fan to lower temps more.
high 81F, low 68F

I also switched from large 8in circulating fan to two 120mm computer fans for air circulation blowing up at bottom of plants.

My final change was adding a DIY carbon filter which raised temps back up a little.
high 84F, low 69F

The temps are higher at top of plants as they grew into the upper area of cabinet. The temps can range as high as the low 90s at top of box and all the way down into mid 70s below soil level when lights on.

Humidity
Ranges from 25 to 60

Pests
Some gnats and other small bugs. Then a friendly spider found a home under one of the plants and pests have been minimal.

Water & Nutes
I used straight tap water for first two weeks. Then, I found out my tap water has 8.1ph. After I obtained a ph meter I started feeding them 6.5ph water.

After 2 weeks vegging I started using Neptunes Harvest Fish & Seeweed fertilizer with almost every watering. Then started alternating NH with Tiger Bloom until finally just using TB every other watering.

 

[raiderdave]

cool

 

[Vapoorize]

Day 0 - germination
I germinated the seeds on top of an external metal hard drive (for warmth) in a coffee mug that was covered. The seeds cracked overnight and I put the seeds in jiffy starter dome under a small CFL desk lamp.

Day 1
I kept the jiffy dome on top of the warm metal and the sprouts grew quickly. They all emerged and already some began growing into the plastic dome. I am very happy with this method.

Day 2 - planted
I planted the sprouts into their 8" containers and put them in their new home under their new lights at 16 hours on, 8 hours off.

Day 3
I watered them for the first time in their new home this morning. The water drained into a plastic trash-bag liner in the bottom of the cabinet and was a pain to clean out.
Water PM, 14oz per plant, some drainage

Day 4
I raised the light and noted the plants starting feeling dry. The temps are too high in the upper 80's.

Day 5
I measured their heights today. Plant #1 and #6 were laying over on their side from stretching too much. I placed saucers under each plant to catch drainage. I wasn't sure, but I left the drain water in the saucers to dry up. I changed the lighting to 18 hours on, 6 off.
P1: 2.25 inches
P2: 1.75 inches
P3: 2.75 inches
P4: 2.25 inches
P5: 2.5 inches
P6: 3 inches
Water PM, 14oz per plant, some drainage

Plant #6

Day 6
I fixed the layover by pushing soil against the stem until they were standing straight up. There was a long power outage today (6+ hours).

Day 7
Each time I need to water, it is a pain to move the light up and down using the string on a screw method. I'm afraid I may crush the plants with one false move. I should have used chains.
Water PM, 14oz per plant, some drainage

Day 8
I added some additional reflective car windshield shade material found at the dollar store.

Plant #5

Plant #6

Day 9
Plant #5, the biggest, is starting to show a brown tip. I'm starting to worry about the unknown PH of my tap water.
Water PM, 14oz per plant, some drainage

 

[basement grow]

Excellent, love the CFL box!

 

[Vapoorize]

Day 10
There is now more yellow showing on the plants. I flushed with 3x normal water. I'm such a newb that I'm crazy worried.
Water PM, 48oz per plant, lots of drainage

Day 11
I directed the warm ballast air to the exhaust. This lowered the temps to the mid 80's.

Plant #1

Plant #3

Plant #5

Day 12
The soil feels dry.
Water PM, 14oz, some drainage but less than usual

Day 13
I finally checked the PH of the water today. The water from the tap is 8.1ph. Oh No!

Day 14
The plants are starting to smell. I changed the string to chains on the light. The light is now easier to move up and down. Today is the first day I'm adding nutrients to the water: Neptunes Harvest Fish and Seeweed (NH). I adjusted the PH of the water down using white vinegar.
Water PM, 14oz per plant, little drainage, 1/2 tbls NH

Day 15
The smell is becoming very noticeable.

Day 16
Growth over 11 days:
P1: 2.25 to 5 inches
P2: 1.75 to 4 inches
P3: 2.75 to 5 inches
P4: 2.25 to 4.75 inches
P5: 2.5 to 6 inches
P6: 3 to 5.5 inches
Water Noon, 14oz, little drainage, 3/4 tbls NH, PH in 6.4 runoff 7.2

Plants #3, #4, #1

Plant #6

Day 17
I found that the lights were going 24 hours a day for the last 4 days. Woops! I changed light schedule back to 18/6.

Day 18
Today I started using PH up/down from General Hydroponics to adjust PH. I also attempted to build a square carbon scrubber. Things were not panning out so I said f**k it. Tomorrow I'll follow what everyone else has done and build a cylindric one.
Water AM, 14oz, little drainage, 3/4 tbls NH, PH in 6.1 runoff 7.2

Day 19
I built a carbon scrubber. It has greatly reduced the smell.

Day 20
I accidentally smashed plant #4 a little. It was not serious. Also, I can still get a whiff of smell.
Water AM, 14oz, little drainage, PH in 5.5 runoff 6.9

Day 21
I watered prior to leaving for the weekend. I noticed grayish spots showing up on 3 plants in their mid fan leaves. I raised the lights.
Water PM, 14oz, little drainage, 1 tbls NH

Day 24
Those gray spots turned brown. The plants seem ok. Some of the older leaves are dying off. It must have been that PH spike from day 20. Lesson learned, be careful with the PH down.
Growth over 8 days:
P1: 5 to 9.5 inches
P2: 4 to 7 inches
P3: 5 to 10 inches
P4: 4.75 to 7.75 inches
P5: 6 to 12 inches
P6: 5.5 to 8.5 inches
Water PM, 18oz, little drainage, 1/2 tbls NH

Day 25
I placed a higher CFM fan on the exhaust and replaced the circulating fan with PC fans (pics below). It dropped the temps some.
Water PM, 18oz, little drainage, 1 tbls NH

Day 26 - last day of vegging
I took down the lights at 9:30pm and added 4 new light sockets. These light sockets have their own light-switch so I can run either 8 or 4 lights.

I knew I needed to start flowering because I have a vacation coming and I need to sex the plants before I leave. I also do not have much room in my cabinet for them to stretch into.

Day 27/0 - flowering start of week 1
At 8am, I turned on 4 additional 23w daylight bulbs for the first day of flowering.

More Lights Wired

Circulation Fans

 

[Gordon d'Angelo]

hi mate.......just got caught up....nice.....i have a few questions to ask if i may ?........do you feel your leafs on your plants are yellowing...or does it just look that way in the pics....when ive seen those computer fans before.....they always seem to do a better job if 6 inches off the wall..and hung from your cabenet roof......just my two pennys worth thou lol........i love the way your documenting everything you do i found it so helpful 2nd grow........im interested in your thoughts.....be lucky weedtastic

 

[JuicyFruit4Me]

Loving your Mylar Choice........ WINK WINK!

 

[ukfarmer]

hi looking good cant wait to see them grow!!!

 

[Vapoorize]

cool

Excellent, love the CFL box!

Nice light box! love your setup

Thanks amigos. You can see more pictures of the light box in the DIY CFL Reflector thread.

do you feel your leafs on your plants are yellowing...or does it just look that way in the pics.

Yes, my plants were not very green until I transplanted them into FFOF and added some blue light on day 1 of flower. I had a bad ph spike on day 20 that caused some of the leaves to die off early.

when ive seen those computer fans before.....they always seem to do a better job if 6 inches off the wall..and hung from your cabenet roof.

Those computer fans are low speed and thus they don't need to be far off the wall. Their purpose is only to pull air from down low and move it around upwards. I thought of having just one high speed fan hanging and may try that on my next grow. Thanks for the tip.

hi looking good cant wait to see them grow!!!

Check out the buds, they are coming below:

Day 28/1
I raised the light a little.
Water PM, 16oz, little drainage

Day 29/2
Water PM, 16oz, little drainage

Day 32/5
I've been looking really close for the last few days for signs of sex. Two of the plants appear to be showing female. The largest plant is looking male (not surprised).
Water AM, 16oz, little drainage, 1 tbls NH

Day 33/6 - sexed
4 of 6 are female! I removed the 2 males. Booyah... oh no, I'm excited that I beat the odds and have 4 females but I'm worried because of the tight growing conditions.
P1: Male
P2: Female
P3: Female
P4: Female
P5: Male
P6: Female

Plant #1 Male

Plant #5 (largest) Male

Roots

Girls

Closeup of Pistils

Day 34/7 - start of week 2
I started using Fox Farms Tiger Bloom (TB) today.
Water PM, 20oz, drainage, 2/3 tbls TB

Growth over 10 days:
P2: 7 to 12.5 inches

Day 35/8
I transplanted into 3 gallon trashcans (see pics below). I put about an inch of drainage rocks in the bottom of the can. I then added FFOF mixed with perlite 80/20 into the new containers. I attempted to even the canopy to around 14 inches. Plant #6 had stinky roots.

Day 36/9
I watered for the first time in their new pots.
Water PM, 5 cups, 1" of drainage

Day 37/10
I raised the lights some. There are no negative signs showing from the transplant.

Day 38/11
I ran out of water so Plant #3 got 1 less cup.
Water AM, 4 cups, normal drainage, 2/3 tbls TB

Day 40/13
I accidentally left the lights up higher than usual.
Water AM, 3 cups, drainage, 1 tbls NH

Day 41/14 - start of week 3
A couple plants have grown up into the glass. I've noticed that the plants don't smell as much lately.

Day 42/15
I moved the lights up 6+ inches prior to leaving for 7 days. I'm really worried about leaving them and I hope they don't die of thirst.
Water PM, 4 cups, drainage, 2/3 tbls TB

Dying Camera - my camera is dying and that is why the pictures look weird

Top down view of plant #6

Group Shots

From left to right #4, #6, #2, #3

Day 49/22 - 1 day into week 4
I return very late. The plants survived and thrived during my absence. Phew! While I was away, I visited my first grow shop. What a cool experience.
Water Late PM, 43oz, no drainage, 2/3 tbls TB

Day 50/23
The plants grew incredibly while I was gone. They must have grown like an inch a day. The buds are taking shape and I already see good trichome production. Wow, I didn't know the crystals came that early. Plant #3 had a brown tip from growing into the glass (not burnt).

Week of unattended growth

Early buds

Early Crystals

Day 51/24
I started to use a 20oz bottle with the top cut-off to make it easier to water.
Water PM, 50oz, drainage, 1 tbls NH

Day 53/26
There are brown dots showing on a few mid fan leaves of largest plant. The plants don't seem to be growing any taller. This is good as there is not much room to move the light up.

Day 54/27
There are more dots showing on more leaves on 2 plants now. The plants are all unique in some obvious way:
P2: Always been the smallest, normal looking
P3: Stretched quicker, tiny but denser trics, greener than all the rest
P4: Smashed during veg, main stem stretched and twisted, became tallest, nodes far apart
P6: Grew three leaves at each node, cola has two heads

Day 55/28 - start of week 5
The dots are going from rusty to darker.

Day 56/29
The dots are getting worse. I think it may be nutrient burn. I've learned to be patient and not try anything drastic.
Water AM, 50oz, drainage, 3/4 tbls TB

Day 57/30
The dots are dry and darker. The tips look brown. I'm leaning towards nutrient burn. I will flush with next watering.

Day 58/31
I flushed the plants and drained the waste.
Water PM, 1+ gallon, lots of drainage

Day 59/32
I think the dots are already looking better in AM.

Day 60/33
There is another plant showing dots. That is 3 of the 4 plants.

Day 61/34
The leaves with the dots seem to be dying.

Leaf Dots

Buds filling in

Plant #4

Plant #6

Day 62/35 - start of week 6
Water AM, 1/2 gallon, drainage, no nutes

Day 66/39
Water AM, 60oz, some drainage, 1/2 tbls TB

Day 67/40
Some of the leaves with dots are very slowly dying. They are dry rusty brown between edge and veins. It is happening so slowly, I'm not alarmed but I am concerned.

Day 68/41
Water AM, 60oz, little drainage

Day 69/42 - start of week 7

Plant #2

Plant #3 & closeup

Plant #6

Group

Day 72/45
Water AM, 60oz, drainage

Day 73/46
The first leaf with dots totally dried up and died (this took almost 3 weeks). However, the buds are looking good so I'm not too concerned.

Day 74/47
The plants are starting to smell stronger again.
Water AM, 60oz, little drainage, 1/2 tbls TB

Plant #2

Plant #4

Plant #3

Lower bud shots

 

[tricome]

Excellent DIY grow box! The CFL hood is ingenious, and your girls look frostylicious! A+

 

[ukfarmer]

what sort of glass do you use
heat proof glass ???

nice box

i live in uk

we dont have your y adapters so you can have 2 lights in 1 socket that sucks lol



am inspired to make a box my self


i have same space as you mabey more hight mine 8ft


any advise would be good

 

[jrebel]

Sweet grow I want to do something very similar. Thanks for the detailed journal.

 

[619ster]

Very nice grow. Well documented too. Good job bro. +reps for ya. And keep up the green work

 

[Vapoorize]

Loving your Mylar Choice........ WINK WINK!

Yo JuicyFruit4Me, you've been an inspiration for me throughout this grow. I love your video action updates!

WOW I love that box u built very clever looking and some AWESOME looking plants you came out with. that DIY CFL Hood is awesome man! I got some clamp reflectors I plan on using in a tent. Going to use 5 2700k and 5000k 105W and 15 42W 6500k bulbs. If you can help me with an idea to make a reflector It would be awesome.

That is alot of light. I think your clamp reflectors should work fine and would allow you more positioning options. With my light box, I only had a high side and a low side and there always seemed to be one plant that was way taller growing into the glass. With all those lights, if you feel ambitious, you could build multiple light boxes and have more configurations.

Your ladies are looking super tasty

Now I'm gona check uot your diy light box

Excellent DIY grow box! The CFL hood is ingenious, and your girls look frostylicious! A+

Thanks guys, but all the credit for the CFL hood goes to SkooterClowns. He was my inspiration with his growing with CFL in a limited space thread.

what sort of glass do you use
heat proof glass ???

I used regular glass... which i noticed a couple weeks ago has a crack from one edge to the other. If possible, I'd suggest buying the acrylic or plastic glass. I may consider removing the glass for the next grow to see what happens.

Sweet grow I want to do something very similar. Thanks for the detailed journal.

Very nice grow. Well documented too. Good job bro. +reps for ya. And keep up the green work

Thanks for checking out my journal! Appreciate the reps!

I'll be posting the next couple weeks leading up to harvest which should be happening soon. Stay tuned!

 

[Giovanni831]

They look great bro. I cant wait to see what you end up with.

Im just setting up to clone then flower mine this week.

 

[Hypo Hippy]

very nice grow,i'm in for the rest of it.
HH

 

[Vapoorize]

They look great bro. I cant wait to see what you end up with.

very nice grow,i'm in for the rest of it.
HH

Thanks for stopping by. I have some pictures to post of day 79/52, 85/58, and today 91/64 which is a few days into week 9 of flower. I hope to get them posted tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Harvest should be soon.

 

[Vapoorize]

Day 79/52 - 3 days into week 8
Over the past couple of weeks, it has hit me that this grow has been very successful. It is amazes me that I grew these plants from the earth.
Water AM, 50oz, minor drainage

Temps are hot at 90F

Smashed plant #4 grew tallest

Plant #3 bud

Day 81/54
The leaves still dying off.
Water PM, 40oz, no drainage

Day 83/56 - start of week 9
Plant #4 has some leaves that look sick differently than others.
Water PM, 60oz, drainage

Day 84/57
The mid fan leaves of plant #6 are yellowing.

Day 85/58

Plant #2 bud swell

Plant #3 bud swell

Day 89/62
Water PM, 48oz, little drainage

Day 91/64 - one day into week 10
I found a scope and looked at two small clippings off a couple plants. The trichs look mostly clear with some cloudy and like 1% amber. I'll continue to be patient as they still look like some buds on the colas are swelling and the lower buds are filling in. I am amazed by the size of the colas.

Plant #3, #6, #2, #4

Look at all those lower buds

Plant #3 and closeup

Plant #6 closeup

Day 92/65
I flushed the plants today. I haven't used any nutrients since day 47 of bloom so I think they should be cleaned out by now. I'm ready to harvest any day now.
Water AM, 68oz, lots of drainage

 

[Gordon d'Angelo]

hi mate looks like you have quite a harvest there ...well done.......i wanted to pick on a few points that you have raised so here goes............the dots on your plants and the rusting of the leafs ......ie rusty spots....leads me to think poor ventilation which causes the leafs to suffer they get like a fungal infection....which causes these spots.........i have suffered this in previous grows....i added a dehumidifier to my room which fixed the problem also i added extra ventilation........when your leafs started to show paleing.....ie going yellow.....a shot of epsom salts 1 table spoon per 8 litres of water fed without nutes will fix this every time....however no more than twice can you hit em with epsom salts.....or it can cause nute lockout.......you stopped nuteing your ladies at day 47 is that right ?.....why did you stop feeding them ?.......2 weeks before you harvest is best time to stop feeding and this gives you a 2 week flush period..........please don t think im being negative on your grow.....as i think you have done a fantastic job.......i just noticed when you had these symptoms nobody chimed in with an explanation or a cure.......well done again and congrats....wot do you have in mind for your next grow ?..........be lucky weedtastic

 

[Vapoorize]

Hey weedtastic thanks for stopping by. You have great advice.

rusty spots....leads me to think poor ventilation which causes the leafs to suffer they get like a fungal infection....which causes these spots.

I was beginning to suspect the rust spots might be due to ventilation. In fact, I put a much better fan on the exhaust and it lowered temps and seemed to help things. However, I took it off after a week because it was too loud. We had guests sleeping in the next room over and it needed to be stealth. Since then, I've bought a fan controller so I can leave the better fan on the exhaust and just turn the speed down when I need extra stealth.

Also, I should have repositioned the circulation fans after I transplanted. As they are positioned now, they only hit the lower part of the plants.

going yellow.....a shot of epsom salts 1 table spoon per 8 litres of water fed without nutes will fix this every time....however no more than twice can you hit em with epsom salts.....or it can cause nute lockout

I will definitely try the epsom salts next time. Also, I've always heard that it is normal for the fan leaves to yellow and die off towards the end of their life.

you stopped nuteing your ladies at day 47 is that right ?.....why did you stop feeding them ?.......2 weeks before you harvest is best time to stop feeding and this gives you a 2 week flush period

I stopped feeding them because I thought I had fed them enough. They smelled green/swampy and the rust spots made me think it was nute lockout. They do smell better today but I probably should have kept feeding them. I'm learning.

Again weedtastic, I really appreciate your feedback. This is why I love this forum.

wot do you have in mind for your next grow?

For my next grow, it will likely be same strain as I have more seeds of the White Rhino, but I'm thinking of trying with bubbles instead of soil.