Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto - CKS

[unforgiven]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

hey herberto, looking good but very wet.

go easy on the water bud, these girls like it dry. they need you to cycle a wet point and a dry point. it drives good growth.

I only say this because reading back on this page alone, you have watered 2 days in a row now, and they look really wet.

have fun eh

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Yes I agree. I have backed off until now. The soil was bone dry yesterday and each watering I have gave them until now was very little. This was the first time I actually added some water to all the soil. All watering at this point was just around the stem and very little as the soil dried out by the next day. The next watering won't happen until gets bone dry again and wait an extra day and then water with very mild nutrients. The plants has had no run off on any of the waterings yet.

Thanks so much for the info and help unforgiven. Always appreciated.

 

[unforgiven]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

heres a lil tip.

take a replica pot with no plant in it, fill it with the same soil, leave it dry.

lift it, feel the weight of it.

now you have a pot to compare to your wet pots for weight. simplest way to know when to water is by a weight estimate. what looks or feels dry to us may still be saturated in the root zone.

you'll get used to how heavy your pots feel at different stages of watering and drying if you handle them a lot.

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Great idea unforgiven. Thankyou

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Day 7 Veg

Everything seems to be going well. Checking the tent several times a day to let out some of the heat and humidity. Inline fan won't be here until mid this week so I want to keep an eye on the moisture ( especially with the over watering a few days ago) so as to not get any mildew or mold. Added a bigger oscillating fan to help with air circulation. Wanting to pick up a tower fan to save space when the plants get bigger.

Moved my temp/RH meter to the level of the plants will be hanging it from the bars in the next couple of days.

Temp: 70/84F
RH: 40/78%

Ordered the Mars Reflector 144, so should be on its way soon. Not sure if it is a good idea to add it as soon as it arrives or wait until the plants mature a bit more. If it comes as quickly as the last order then it should be here this week. Any thoughts?

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Day 7 Veg (continued)

Some pics of the young ones.

TW1

TW2

TW3

TW4

NL1

NL2

NL3

NL4

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Day 10 Veg

Gave the ladies a feeding of 1/3 strength nutrients. Each plant received 500ml.

Humidity is swinging a fair bit but the inline fan and charcoal filter arrived today. Will have a chance to put it up tomorrow and hopefully that will help regulate inside the tent a little better.

Temp:70/84F
Humidity:35/68%

Lights were lowered to 23 in.

TW1

TW2

TW3

TW4

NL1

NL2

NL3

NL4

 

[unforgiven]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

just cruising right along eh.

 

[jimmyclone]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Nice, ill be doing trainwreck autos as well very soon. Just got my 8*8 tent and 1000w mh/hps.. Will be following closely... Good luck.

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Things are going well so far unforgiven. On cruise control indeed. Watching diligently but trying not to interfere too much

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Nice, ill be doing trainwreck autos as well very soon. Just got my 8*8 tent and 1000w mh/hps.. Will be following closely... Good luck.

Nice! I will be sure to follow along. Have fun

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Day 11 Veg

Spent the afternoon adding the Mars Hydro Reflector 144 to the tent and assembling the inline fan to the filter. Went with the Active air 6in fan and picked up a speed reducer. The speed is a little below medium speed. Had make do with what I had around. Had to use hockey laces to hang up the filter as I only had one nylon strap.

Added some 6 in ducting to help intake some air. Had to cover the opening with cheesecloth because of insects will find their way in. Even on medium the fan sucks pretty good as you can see the tent walls get pulled in when it is on.

The plants seemed to have taken the nutrients well. I noticed one plant, TW2,with what looks like it had some burning on the tips. But this is the only plant that is showing it. And looking at yesterday's photos it looks like it started before nutrients were added so not sure what it may be. Will keep a close eye on her.

I noticed that when I water TW4 that the leaves sag instead of perking up. Not sure what that may be but it is the only plant in a plastic pot.

Pretty sure that I will have to add an intake fan too. Not sure how long I can get away with out adding one.

Replaced the oscillating back with the smal desk fan. Hoping to pick up a tower fan soon.

 

[unforgiven]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

hey nice work on the filter and light.

sag after watering is usually too wet, sag before watering its thirsty. at least, this sometimes helped me. don't take it as religion tho.

it may have been sagging before, but maybe you didn't notice? it's possible, cause like any new parent you watch them after doing something to see if there is a reaction. but you mention it is in plastic? yeh might be wet.

check the weight.

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

hey nice work on the filter and light.

sag after watering is usually too wet, sag before watering its thirsty. at least, this sometimes helped me. don't take it as religion tho.

it may have been sagging before, but maybe you didn't notice? it's possible, cause like any new parent you watch them after doing something to see if there is a reaction. but you mention it is in plastic? yeh might be wet.

check the weight.

Thankyou. The plastic definitely doesn't breathe as well as the fabric pots. It is still holding double the weight of the other pots. It was super light when I fed it. Will keep a close on her.

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

I noticed that one of the plastic screws was missing from the light panel.

Sent a message to Mars Hydro and they were very quick to help me with the problem.

So went ahead and took out all the screws that were holding together the two panels.

I shook the light gently so the nut would move to a space where I could grab it.

Wanted to take a few pictures of the inside but there are zip ties that hold together the connections to he LED's and I didn't want to mess things up .

Secured the screw to the nut. Was careful not to over turn as I didn't want to strip anything.

Closed the panel back up and the job is complete. Pretty straight forward and was happy to see how clean and organized it was inside the panel. Was a little bummed out to see the screw had fallen out but was happy to get a little experience taking apart the light as little as it my seem.

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Day 12 Veg

Added a tower fan to the tent. Happy to see all the plants swaying in the wind. Set to oscillate and the lowest setting.

Noticed that all the Trainwrecks are starting to droop a bit but nothing major. The soil is still moist so they are not thirsty. The tips are still burning a bit on TW2.

The Northern Lights are starting to lighten up a bit on the older leaves. Maybe a nitrogen deficiency. Not going to do anything yet will see how they look tomorrow and go from there.

Temps are lower overall with the addition of the inline fan.
Temp: 73/84
RH: 40/60%

Inline Fan speed was increased to medium.

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

Day 16 Veg

Things are going well still. Gave the plants another round of nutrients a few days ago. Each plant got:

1 Litre 1/2 strength nutrients
pH- 6.2
Ppm- 430

They seem to have taken the nutrients well. The NL's seem to be growing a lot better then the TW. I have also noticed that I am getting burnt tips on some more of the plants on the older growth. I had to remove the first set of true leaves on TW2 as over 50% of the leaf was dead. Not sure what it is.

TW1

TW2

TW3

TW4

NL1

NL2

NL3

NL4

Temp/RH

I will try to pics of the plants some better lighting.

 

[unforgiven]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

hey lookin good herberto.

them yellowin leaves at the bottom are likely just cuz they got hit by the water too often. we all do it. i just wait til they are almost kaput and off they come. so you got it bang on buddy

have fun eh

 

[HerbertoChiba]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

hey lookin good herberto.

them yellowin leaves at the bottom are likely just cuz they got hit by the water too often. we all do it. i just wait til they are almost kaput and off they come. so you got it bang on buddy

have fun eh

Thanks so much unforgiven. Helps put the mind at ease . Not sure what I should do next in terms of watering/feeding. Definitely going to let them run dry but when I water them next should I soak them until the water runs through the bottom (which hasn't happened yet) or just give them a drink. It will be a few days until they need to be watered again (1L of nutrients fed on the 13 th) and if I soak them they won't be ready for next round of nutrients until probly week 4 judging on how quickly they are drinking. Not sure if they can go that long without a feeding with the soil mix I have.

 

[unforgiven]

Re: Herberto's First Grow Journal - Soil & LED - Northern Lights - Trainwreck Auto -

everyone has slightly different ways of watering and feeding. myself, i generally feed between 1/3 -1/2 the pot size. so, for my 2 gallon pots they get up to a gallon of feed once a week. if they need a flush i take them to the bath the following week, or anytime and flush through 3-4 gallons of fresh tap. if they are thirsty midweek, but don't need a flush, they just get about a 1/2 gallon of fresh tap.

the trick when feeding less than having runoff, is ensuring that you cover the entire top of the soil with water, so it drains down the entire pot of soil. otherwise, the roots won't be searching for water farther out from the center.

if you only water at the base of the plant that is where the roots will grow.

good luck,
and have fun eh