Henman's Soil Sour Diesel Grow Journal 2013

[henman]

Hello fellow greenfingers!

I am henman, a first time grower but a long time smoker. Now that the opportunity to grow has presented itself, I couldn't miss out and so here I am. Now, since this is my very first grow, I thought what better way to begin my journey by documenting the entire thing and at the same time share it with the world? Not only can I get help and input from all the professionals here, but hopefully new growers can learn from my mistakes. And they will be made!


Now, for the stuff that you're all here for;

I'm growing a Sour Diesel, as far as I know, and it lives in soil. It started its life in a glass of water for 7 days, and has now been in there for 15 days and 14 days since it stuck up from under the soil. Which makes for a total of 3 weeks and one day.


Left to right; First day after planting in soil. As of today, 27 sept.


I'm using a CFL rated at 36W or 140W lightbulb equivalent. It emits 2200lm at 6500K.
Everything has been installed in this low-budget DIY box here, called the henBOX.
For more pictures, check out my gallery



As I am currently broke, I haven't had time to completely finish the box. But in the end it will feature a humidity and temperature sensor, and a microcontroller that will control the fan accordingly. An LCD on top will provide valuable info as temp/humid as well as fan RPM. A control dial will allow to set desired temperature, or alternatively manually set the fan RPM. A little speaker is also present which will beep if humidity levels are getting critical. For just the sake of it, the fan also plays the melody Redman sings when he sings "Sour deezal" when you boot up the system.

As mentioned, my wallet is empty and so I haven't been able to buy pH testers and nutes, so for the next two weeks or so the plant will have to endure.

Let me know what you think and any question, comments, tips or critiques are more than welcome! I'm simply here to learn and have fun while participating in what seems like an exciting community!

 

[henman]

It's now day 22 of this beautiful plant. There's been some stretching but not much overall growth.



This'll also be the last update for a while, since I don't feel like flooding the forums with abundantly small steps. But also since I keep a personal journal, I don't feel like writing double entries if there's no interest. I'm mainly doing this out of personal satisfaction


EDIT: On a side note, if anyone sees this; when would be a good time to move it to a bigger pot, if at all?

 

[Light Addict]

Ok welcome my friend to 420 its simply the Dogs Nuts here! I only had a few botched grows under my belt when I found my way here. Not to long on from that, using all the knowledge and info available here I got myself POTM Win! This is more a statement about the great community on this site than my own accomplishment.

Anyway your little grow area looks about the same size as my norm space so you'll do just fine I'm sure. My one is a lot more bodged together basic compared with your cool setup. On potting up, do it now straight into a light airy mix, plenty of perlite or vermiculate mixed in. Might as well go with the biggest pot your set up will let you. Then don't feed for a week or two. As the fresh soil will do her well. She looks fine, just don't over water as every new grower tends to do this.
Feel free to drop by my grow and ask anything any time, as said I'm by no means one of the big names on here, there are some folks that are talking encyclopedia's on our great plants.

Keep it up.

 

[henman]

Congrats on the award, mate! I had a look at your journal and it's impressive!

Yeah, I'm getting some minor cash flow this monday, so it's off to buy nutes, a new pot, the rest of the henBRAIN components and a net for the SCROG. I can barely contain my excitement!

 

[kiki1990]

hello Henman and welcome!
if you don't mined I'll be here for the journey.
Good luck!

 

[henman]

hey kiki and thanks!
not at all! a most warmhearted welcome to you and Light Addict!

 

[dutch dragon]

Subbed, Nice little setup. Transplant when your plant is as tall and wide as your pot which is now. What LightAddict said, plenty of perlite in the soil mix and don't over water. GOOD LUCK

 

[henman]

Welcome aboard!
Yeah, this monday is transplant day for sure!

And just for show, here's a little clip I took from within the box in order to see if the air flow was sufficient. Not much to show really, but I wanted to share it because I find it kind of mesmerizing watching the loop

 

[henman]

Hello again fellow seedlers!

Due to personal conflicts, I've been unable to both post an update and buy a new pot and everything that goes with it. Hopefully, I'll be able to make some time later today, but until then my sincere apologies and a small update with some questions, if anyone's able to answer them.

I let it (still don't know gender) stay dry since my last updates up until yesterday, when I sort of semi-drenched her, in an attempt to let it suck up the very last nutrients before I repot. I'm not sure if this made any help at all, or if I made things worse, but if anything it sure as hell stretched a good bit during the night, which can be seen here.

Before watering


Roughly 8 or so hours after



Now, here's some concerns I have and hopefully some kind soul more experienced than I can help me out here. As mentioned, I have yet to buy a new pot and nutes. That I can handle myself
But when it comes to soil, I'm unsure if I should keep using the same soil I have now (which is 11-5-8) and change it during flowering, or do I buy new soil now for the repot?

Also, I was thinking of utilizing LBH's 4-way LST technique, where the 5th leaf set is plucked. Now, as can be seen in the pic below, a 6th set is already starting to develop, so my question is, do I pluck both or just the 6th? Opinions would be great, otherwise I'll just experiment and see what happens




Happy grows!

 

[J189RFC]

Hey hey Henman! Welcome! Looks like you are off to a good start. If you have any question just post em. Lots of real knowledgeable people around here! Happy growin!

 

[J189RFC]

Haa oops didint even see the question! I do think you'll need a bigger pot sooner or later. But best way to check if it has enough water is if the pot of light, water it. Fill her up good and full till there is a little bit of drainage out the bottom and then pick it up. That is the heavy weight. When it gets dry it will be much lighter. Shes lookin fine, don't worry too much about it or she will keep you up at night

 

[henman]

Thanks for the welcome and help! Yeah it's doing pretty well it seems! Growing faster than I could have ever imagined!
As for watering, that issue has already been resolved I got the general gist of it, I was merely amazed at what big difference watering can do in just a matter of hours. Really shows that this plant really lives and I love it!
I'm more concerned about the soil and topping

 

[Light Addict]

Soil is a simple personal call, if you get soil with nutes in it you wont want to feed for a couple of weeks. If plain soil your gonna be more reliant on you feed.
Im not sure of the technique you mentioned, topping is again a personal choice. She is still quite short but if you want to train her as you suggested and I got what you meant, then top. Check the beginning of my journal and check how I topped mine.
You said you might just experiment, this is the best way by far to learn. Just listen to her whispering her little hints and trust your own judgement.

 

[KingJohnC]

subscribed. your plant is large enough to transplant it now.

 

[henman]

Welcome John and enjoy the show! And thanks for the input LA!

And now, time for an update! All in all everything has gone well. I found a 10L bucket that I think will suffice, at least for the small cab I'm growing in and ofc I drilled some drainage holes in the bottom.

As for soil, all I could find was a 50L bag of perlite mix, which seemed very overkill. So I went with a regular allround soil and some small lecas. I put a layer on the bottom and mixed the rest of it with the soil. All very basic, but I think it will suffice

The transplant went better than expected, but I sort of felt like a monster doing it hehe. Especially since I topped it rightly after I put it back in the cab. In the end, I'm going for a 4-way LST instead of bending down the fan branches like you do, LA. The topping looked pretty ok, but I'd love some input from more experienced growers!

(damn photos rotates back, any clue on how to resolve?)

It really is time to transplant!



Should be ok, right?


It's starting to get crowded, height wise


Next thing to do will be do come up with a DIY reflector. Also because I really need to get the CFL horizontally before I run out of space upwards

 

[danklover79]

Cfls put out more light from the sides of the bulb, so horizontal would be the way to go. You could start tying her down soon if you wish, I would wait until it's 1-2 inches taller, and make sure she has recovered from the transplant/HST stress.

 

[danklover79]

Subscribed, by the way!

 

[henman]

Good day danklover!
Yeah, they sure do which is why I'm feeling a bit stressed about getting it horizontal as soon as possible. I have an idea for a cheap-ass build which I hope to finalize before the days end.

Stay tuned and buzzed

Forgot to mention that I don't know the gender of the plant, so it's a waiting game so far!

 

[Light Addict]

Cool, looking forward to your update on your set up. Just done one for mine lol. Keep it dry, stinkin and frosty Sir!

 

[waknbak88]

plants look good, not sure of the grow tech. your talkig about but if you want to top you just remove the top shoot, its up to you where you do it. at 5 nodes high you will have plenty to work with as I top mine at the 3rd set.