JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

[JimyB]

This is my first grow journal and pretty much my first serious effort at growing. Dark Angel is a Indica/Sativa 50/50 mix. Not sure why I chose this strain, I think I was quite high when surfing and finding this site and developing the idea of growing my own plants.
It's listed as an indoor/outdoor plant with a medium thc level. Flowering time is listed as 8 weeks.

Placed the seeds in a wet paper towel on a small plate and placed in a dark warm room on the 23rd of March. Not sure of the exact temp of the room, chose the room because it was the warmest and darkest in the house with little chance of being disturbed.
"Little Rant" I had pics but Microsoft 10 is not friendly to those that take a lot of pics and in the end I lost all my pics.
This is a pretty simple operation with minimal expense at the moment. I kept the paper towel wet, past damp but before puddle state.
No lights at this stage.

 

[dick23rk]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

Hey jimy. i will sub up for your grow if ya dont mind. I as well have started my first journal after a few fairly successful grows with soil.
Could we get a little more information about your setup? There is a sticky at the top of this forum that lists lots of things you can include to give everyone a better idea of what you have going on. This will also better help forum members to help you if needed in the near future. Best of luck

 

[JimyB]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

March 24- Day 2, I noticed the seeds were beginning to sprout. At the end of the day, 4 out of the 5 had sprouted. I planted those 4 seedlings in small (I think) 3 inch seedling pots filled with Pro Mix Organic Seed Starting Mix. It's listed ingrediants are Canadian sphagnum peat moss, peat humus, coco fibre, perlite, lime and organic fertilizer and mycorrhizae. It states that there is .20% nitrogen, .08% available Phosphoric Acid and .08% Soluble Potash and 50% Organic Matter per bag (Pictures attached). The last seedling went back into the dark warm room. The planted seeds are sitting under a T-5 Fluorescent grow light.

 

[JimyB]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

March 26- Day 4, Noticed this morning that they are beginning to push their way through the surface. Excitement is growing. Watered lightly today. Really trying hard not to over water.

 

[JimyB]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

March 27- Day 5
Not much has happened in the last 24hrs. They're still pushing up. The fifth seed began to sprout and was planted in the same soil mix and placed with the other four plants.

 

[JimyB]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

 

[dick23rk]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

Looking healthy jimy. Are they leaned over because they stretched a bit or is your light off to the side of them and not directly above? Maybe stick a toothpick or something similar in the pot to help them stand up straight. was just wondering because they all seemed to be on a lean. Good stuff so far

 

[JimyB]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

I thought I was leaning over while I was looking at the pic...wow. o.k., good idea thanks

 

[dick23rk]

re: JimyB & His Soil Dwelling Dark Angels 2016

I thought I was leaning over while I was looking at the pic...wow. o.k., good idea thanks

Glad i could help! So how far away from the plants are your lights? What is the wattage? I noticed you said you have t5's. You can put them within inches of the top of your plants. If you dont want them to stretch and lean, just be sure you have the light directly over top of your plants and keep it maybe 6inches above the plants. Just far enough away the light doesnt burn your hand any if placed at same height of your plant canopy. Hope that gives you a good idea

 

[Stinky Snid]

Hey jimyb, nice little starter crop you have going. Dick23 there has some good points. Also since that soil is precharged with nutes it important not to over water. The more you do the more nutes are released. When you up pot these plants try and get some added perlite to the mix, or promix high porosity mix works very well. Glad you've gotten underway here, I'll keep tabs on these little ones until they become the plants you dreamt about.

KiG cheers

 

[JimyB]

Day 6

I've converted a closet into living space for my lil girls. I'm using a Hydrotek "Silverstar" light with I believe its a 1,000 watt light. I've attached the polymer( I do not remember what it's called. It and the light have been sitting in my shop rafters for the past few years while I store it for a friend.) or shiny reflecting sheets to the walls as seen in the pics. I've also set up a fan to keep the air moving.

 

[JimyB]

I'm not sure why there is piping entry/exit ends on each end of the light. dick23rk and Snidrajsed I'm sure you two know. I have a few squirrel fans I can attach, just not sure which of the light to attach them to etc. Also I'm really trying hard not to overwater them. Should I spray them with water as well as adding water to the dirt ? How close to the light do they need to be etc.

 

[dick23rk]

Hey there Jimy. Things are looking much better now, all standing straight. Good job. The piping at each end of the light reflector is for hooking up an exhaust system. If you had and exhaust fan and ducting you could hook it up to one end to exhaust some of the hot air outside the top of your grow space. Then if you had a port or 2 at the bottom of the grow space for fresh air to come in, the exhaust would create negative air flow inside the grow space and pull in fresh air thru the lower ports. For the opposite side of the light reflector your would add a carbon filter which would filter the air being exhausted outside so its not stinkin' up the place so bad when your plants get bigger. ( hope this was easy to understand, I just smoked my morning greener haha)

As for your watering, just make just the majority of the soil is moist. where you are using jiffy style pots, make sure there is a hole in the bottom for some drainage and slowly water enough to moisten everything and maybe get a little run off from the bottom through the hole. Its ok for those jiffy cups to be damp, just be sure everything isn't saturated.

Your light appears to be at a good distance away from the plants canopy. Like I mentioned before, just put your hand at the top/above your plants and leave it there for about 15 seconds or so. If the light is irritating or burning your hand, it will likely burn your plants to. But you wouldnt want it to far away either because it will make those babies stretch towards the light.

Hope all this helps you out Jimy. The best thing you can do if you're really unsure, is a ton of research. Thats what I did in the end. Read lots and ask questions to verify or compare after. There are lots of different answers out there and lots are based on what works best for that person. Always do what works best for you. Best of luck my friend

 

[Stinky Snid]

I'm not sure why there is piping entry/exit ends on each end of the light. dick23rk and Snidrajsed I'm sure you two know. I have a few squirrel fans I can attach, just not sure which of the light to attach them to etc. Also I'm really trying hard not to overwater them. Should I spray them with water as well as adding water to the dirt ? How close to the light do they need to be etc.

I'm pretty sure you need to run air through that fixture to keep the 1000 watts of heat from getting so hot it causes a meltdown. I'm not all that familiar with hps but that's what they call a vented hood. And if you've got the Plexiglas shield it gonna get extremely hot. So I'd strongly recommend installing a exhaust fan to pull hot air out of the hood and suck cool air in the opposite vent.
Distances I have no idea... Sorry.

KiG cheers

 

[JimyB]

I threw in my squirrel fan, intake to the light and exhaust out of the closet. I'm keeping the fan on them at all times, is that o.k.?

 

[dick23rk]

Yep that's fine as long as the fan is blowing to hard directly on the plants. Usually 1 just over the top of plants and 1 below at the pots. Point them from opposite sides of your space

 

[dick23rk]

Yes that should work fine. Be sure to allow fresh air to get inside the tent from the bottom as well. And yes you can keep your other fans on the plants as well. One blowing above them and one blowing below around the pots. Keep up the good work, I'm sure you will be pleased with the outcome of exhausting the closet and light heat exchanging it for fresh air

 

[JimyB]

Day 9

I've noticed growth (height) has slowed right down and now the leaves are starting to grow. They are much broader and appear healthy. I've had to shut the one oscillating fan down. I'm either going to have to hang it up higher or get a smaller fan that will blow above and through the plants.
I'm just watering for the most part now and watching them grow.

 

[JimyB]

At what time in their growth should I consider up potting? Are there indicators that I need to watch for?

 

[Stinky Snid]

Do those pots have holes in the bottom? Once you see roots popping out then it's time ( I like to wait even a little longer to establish a good root ball for photos) autos should be done in a way that doesn't affect the plant at all, so do it before roots are popping out.

KiG cheers