Mazar Skunk, Nevilles Haze, Blue Cheese, Purple, and Afghan First Grow

[AK907]

Me and my friend have talked about growing for a while but now we finally decided to start since there is nothing better to do at 40-below lol. First we ordered the seeds from amsterdam; Mazar Skunk, Nevilles Haze, Blue Cheese, Purple, White widow, and 2 free Afghan Kush seeds. We germinated Mazar Skunk, Nevilles Haze, Blue Cheese, Purple, and one Afghan Kush. Half of them on 1/21 and the other half on 1/22. Then we started on the grow room which was an unused space above a stairway....

and then our initial setup...

Mazar Skunk was getting big so it was the first in the 5 gal

we got the 120 watt quadband LED

Mazar Skunk was the biggest

four in 5 gal

Mazar Skunk Still far ahead

and now Mazar Skunk earlier today. It's leaves were curling upward so i looked it up and found it could be a mag deficiency so we went and bought ebsom salts and it definitely made a diff. This is a pic at about 4PM

and this is about 11PM

This is our final setup; 120 watt LED, 7 23W CFLs, 1 60w uknown (mercury vapor?)

here are all the plants as of 1/31 -- 10 days
Purple

Blue Cheese

Neville's Haze

Afghan Kush

Mazar Skunk

Me and my friend will both have the password to this account so we both will probably be posting

 

[Chopper]

nice start....you're gonna have to change the name...420 eschews and hard drug reference. We all call her "LUCY"

 

[whitey78]

Looking nice dude, I should have done exactly what you did with the soil and setup, I went/going out of my mind with hydro. I did however have 7 soil plants growing ..........luckily, otherwise I wouldnt have any. I also have some lucy growing myself. I've had more issues than I care to talk about but the lucy is a resilient strain of bud. I put mine through hell and they just keep going. I am trying like hell to grow but it seems like I try to kill them more than make them live, I figured out you have to listen to them rather than trying to tell them what to do when they are young, "just add water" as they say..... LOL couldnt be a truer statement.

Looks like your off to the right start though, good luck.

 

[AK907]

Went and bought some Fox Farm Grow big and Big Bloom today. When do you guys suggest we start using them? What strength and how often? Should I just follow the directions on the back? Also I seen somewhere that said to get the open sesame, cha ching, ect. Are those necessary or can we get by without them?

I have another question.... how much should we be watering them? I've looked everywhere and cannot find a good answer. At the size they're at now what is a good amount of water we should be giving them and how often. The soil and perllite is about a 60/40 mix. If we figure this out now I think we can figure out how much to give the plant, as it gets bigger, ourselves.

 

[HempRocket]

About the nutes...it's difficult to know without knowing what kind of soil you are using.
About watering...it's a good idea to water when the top couple inches of soil have dried.

 

[Chopper]

there's a really good FFschedule printed here in a how to....the search will work. I usr the FF line from the third set of leaves on. I stop the grow big a few weeks after the pistils start to show. That's when you switch to Tiger Bloom and use that till the end. I use the finishing stuff as well, but have grown sucessfully without them (Cha-Ching and Beastie Bloom) I actually feed more heavily than the schedule, without burns....so it's pretty forgiving. You will get nitrogen claws if you feed grow big to a flowering plant, so switch at the pistils..... They print a conservative schedule on the bottle. *****use nonchlorinated water with the big Bloom....chlorine will kill the microbes and fungi in there****** I use lemon juice because our water is treated making it too saline.....lemon is nice and acidic!!

 

[AK907]

Well yeah that's what we have been doing but the problem is how much water to give them each time? A pint? Quart? Half gallon? What would you suggest for these plants right now? I think were not giving them enough but I've read the biggest mistake of noobs is overwatering.

Also we're using Black Gold Organic soil

 

[whitey78]

You need to get a second bucket for each of your plants so you have a bucket (with plant) inside another bucket to contain the water, drill some holes in the bucket containing the plant and soil (shoulda did this before, it happens though), a fair amount of holes, I drilled some 1/4" 5/16" holes in the bottom and as low as I could in the sides about every 6 inches on the sides and just a bunch in the bottom, enough but not rediculas so soil pours out or anything. Fill it with your water until you get the first signs of it coming out of the bottom. I do mine by pulling out the bucket with the plant and soil, then put the water in and when it starts coming out of the holes I stop watering and put it inside the other bucket so its not a mess. Usually I stick my finger in knuckle deep and see if its feels damp if not I usually water it then. Or water it proper till it comes out and feel how heavy it is to get a feeling for it the first few times to get accustomed to the weight.

I also wait a few hours and check the PH of the run off water and then dump it, I dont know if you should or not but the thought of root rot in a soil plant scars me so I dont let the soil sit in water for more than 12 hours. That may be too much, I dont want to take a chance with that, had it in my hydro res and not something i want to fight again..........................Ever

 

[xbox4him]

Oh the first grow, all i can say is take it easy, dont spazz about anything bad going on right away, fixes take time.

umm, water when the pot feels light. Feel it when its dry, and then feel it when you've watered, you'll see the difference. When you feel its weight is close to the dry weight, then water. IMO i use epsom salt in EVERY watering until the harvest flush. Dont give nutes too early, your most likely good for the first month without feeding her.

Also, move the CFLs closer down so their like 1-2 inches away. Vegging in CLFs is great, use the color 6500k. I use 2 x 23 watt bulbs for my vegging. about one month and their about 1.5 feet through clone.

Ill tag along man and give more tips and comments when more pops to mind

 

[AK907]

Thanks for the advice xbox and everyone

I took pics 2 days ago so these pics are at day 16

Here is the Mazar Skunk

Neville's

Blue Cheese

Afghan

Purple

We also decided we needed 2 rooms, a vegging and a flowering, so yesterday we put up a wall and this is what we have so far

The new room is on the right

 

[xbox4him]

Coming along nicely man

 

[AK907]

Ok I have 2 questions. Would you say that the mazar skunk plant is fast, or would you say it is growing at normal speed and the rest of the plants are slow?

2nd is do you think mazar skunk is big enough to take 1 or 2 clones? If so, where is the best place to cut them from?

 

[xbox4him]

1. They all grow at thier own rate, the more ideal the lighting and conditions, the faster it grows.

2. Probably not big enough, i personally wait till one of the lower branches at least 4 inches long (could be shorter) before i cut it for a clone.

 

[whitey78]

U should wait I would say, u can get a clone but u are gonna stress and slow down the growth of your mother if you take cuttings. U should wait until you can get several 3 or so inch clones. Don't rush it dude, I'm going into my 6th week from germination and havent been able to take clones yet because I stressed my plants, and the ones that were only slightly stressed just aren't big enough to get good clones yet.

Is your plant even showing sex yet???

What I was saying above referring to my mistakes, is don't rush it dude. You'll regret it. Wait....you'll be happy u did.

 

[AK907]

Moved the plants into their new room today... so much more room in there

Mazar skunk has some yellowing on 2 leaves and I'm thinking nute burn but can you guys check it out and confirm?

Heres the whole setup now

lights setup on a pulley to easily adjust

Here are the plants at day 20
Mazar

Blue Cheese - My favorite looking

Afghan

Nevilles

.....and purple... the runt. its just an ugly plant lol

 

[HempRocket]

What are your temps and RH? Kind of looks like heat stress.

 

[AK907]

Not sure about either but id say about 80 degrees. I've been meaning to get a cheap thermometer but just haven't got around to it. It doesn't seem extremely hot though. But maybe it is. What is the best temp for plants?

 

[whitey78]

Thermometers/hygrometers (humidity) are like $3 at walmart, get yourself one asap dude.

Temps should be between 70 and 80F closer to 70 the better. Humidity should be @ 40% for veg and 20-25% humidity (I think) for flower (havent been there yet).

 

[AK907]

Where are the thermometers usually at in walmart? I've looked before but never found them. Just the $40 thermostats. It's the biggest walmart in alaska so I think they should have something like that

 

[whitey78]

Look in the do it yourself sections, I think I got a digital hi/lo ones for less than $10. I think in the same isle with the light bulbs or very close to it, within 2 or 3 isles of the tools and light bulbs, and paint and all that. I ended up spending a few bucks on the one that has an outdoor sensor that you leave in your grow room and a little monitor that you keep in your general space and no ones the wiser unless they know the proper temp range for marijane. I got a couple and none of them match up with each other but I always rely on the old faithful mercury one which was like $2.50 at walmart or H-depot, I know I got at least one from walmart for less than $10 and there is definitely ones cheaper than that there.