MunchBaccy's Dirty First Grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

[MunchBaccy]

MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

In which the reader is led down a tranquil path of spiritual enlightenment leading to deep understanding of all that is required to be known.

Let us start at Day 67 where we find our two heroes Listy and Una about to tell us their sex or shall we start at the beginning as I have kept notes and have a few photo's.

The important thing is that I am actually on Day 67 but you will want to know how I got there.

I am a complete noob, and I mean complete. I have never grown MJ before and what's more I don't even smoke the stuff but for one reason or another I decided I needed a hobby and I think I have picked a good one. I am semi-retired and slightly disabled so I can no longer do sports, in my time I have been a rugby player, a moto-crosser, and a white water kayaker but now I have only memories.

2 x 20watt CFL 1 x 12watt CFL. 6,500K 2,800 lumens
Nutes: Formula Flora all in one bloom
Water: Tap water
Grow Cupboard: My clothes cupboard with some shirts and trousers removed.
Medium: Supermarket compost, slow release nutes. 1.5 litre pots
Seeds: Lowrider 2 and unknown lucky bag

That which does not kill me makes me stronger

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

So I found myself in a pretty poor state what with depression and trying to drink myself to death. Eventually got over the depression but 2 years of dedicated self harm with alcohol had totally destroyed my liver and pretty much wrecked my body. The attack of encephalopathy (fluid swelling and putting pressure on the brain) had taken real good care of what was left of my mind. So no longer suicidal and being unable to drink a single glass of wine as alcohol gave me varices which is pretty much like hemorrhoids in your throat only much worse, when they burst as mine did either your lungs or your belly fills up with blood and you don't have long to live which was pretty ironic as I now wanted to live. I was in a bed in the ICU so I asked for morphine but I suppose in hospital the docs keep the good stuff for themselves 'cos they wouldn't give me any. No more booze I reflected. I was facing the rest of my life with absolute and total sobriety. A daunting if not terrifying thought. I was 51 years old and had never touched illegal drugs but now I had no alternative. Somehow, somewhere I had to find the inner strength to become a dopehead.

I considered all the different types of drugs that are available. In one of my stays in hospital the docs decided I could have diabetes which particularly annoyed me as I was not obese and had been disgustingly fit all my life. I had to find something which would not aggravate the diabetes. I spent a few weeks researching on the net and MJ seemed just the ticket, all the possible secondary complications seemed to be mental which was fine by me as they would find plenty of good company in my brain. The possible paranoia was OK as well as it is good to be paranoid — just because They might not be out to get you does not mean you shouldn't take precautions. I was happy to note that schizophrenia did not seem to be one of the possibilities. I got enough problems with in and in my brain not to want someone elses as well.

When I got out of hospital with rubber bands around my throat hemorrhoids I got a friend to score me an eighth of weed. I tried it and I know I had the right dose 'cos I got really strong munchies but the only other effect was to make me feel dizzy. I would need to experiment and the only way to know I was trying what I wanted to try was to grow my own. Back to the internet for a spot of research and I decided to try Lowrider 2 as it seemed perfect for the novice grower. Low growing and autoflowering.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

ordered 10 seeds which came with a lucky bag of 20 mixed seeds.

Money was tight so it would take some time for me to amass the things I would need for a quality grow so I always new that the first grow would be extremely experimental as I would have to mend. fabricate and make do. I also knew that the first grow could possibly yield practically no smoking stuff but it would still be worth doing for the learning experience.

I germinated 2 Lowrider and 2 of the lucky bag seeds using the paper towel method. Both the Lowriders produced tap roots in 2 days and I put them into 1.5 litre pots of compost (2 litre plastic mineral water bottles with the tops cut off). The pots were quite deep so I put a layer of polystyrene packing chips and a disc of aluminium foil in the bottom to create a small reservoir so when I started to see water in the reservoir I knew I had watered enough. 2 days later one of the lucky bag seeds produced a tap root and put it into compost as well but it didn't take.

So I had tried germinating 4 seeds, both Lrs had produced seedlings but both lucky bags had not. I started to think that the lucky bag was maybe misnamed and I possibly had 20 bad seeds. Didn't bother me too much as they were freebies

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

The Lrs grew fast and spindly despite my CFLs being only 1" above the plants. One was so spindly that it couldn't support its own weight so I made a splint for it ( a tube of paper) eventually the stalk thickened and I took the splint off.

Day 27. The big plant is 7" high and the weaky is 4". Growth is very slow and I only water about every 7 to 10 days

The supermarket compost came with a free gift. Black gnat larvae. I saw some gnats on the plants and sprayed them with domestic fly killer. I'll just have to keep an eye on them and spray as they appear and hopefully before they lay new eggs. They are not a huge pest and don't do a devastating amount of damage. I am not going to use compost again so I ordered 60 litres of coco coir and 50 coir jiffy pellets for seedlings.

Day 36. Height of the plants now 10.5" and 9". Watered and gave them quarter strength Flora Bloom with molasses. I am adding the molasses to every nute watering as I read on another journal that it is good for micro nutrients. Decided to start LST on the weaker plant. Not because she needs it but for practice.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

Day 39. Watered with half strength FB and molasses. Gave the plants names Una for first and Listy for the one I am practising LST on

Day 44. Well a really slow start but they are growing much better now. Water with half strength nutes.

Day 49. Got another ECFL and now have 3,800 lumens. Water with half strength nutes.

Day53. Pure water to give them a bit of a flush, just a preventative to help ensure no salts build up in the soil.

Day 55 and Day 57. Water with half strength nutes.

Day 60. They really are soaking up the water and nutes. Bought 2x2 and a half gallon buckets and repotted Una and root ball into coir. Water with half strength nutes.

Day 62. Still no sign of flowering on either of my plants. According to what I have read the entire grow should be complete by now and I should have up to 40g of bud from each plant, though I would be happy with just 10g considering how I have treated my babies. So much for autoflowering on 24/0.

Tonight I am going on to 14/10 to see if that triggers flowering. I don't understand why peeps do 12/12? Surely weed doesn't need the equinox to start flowering. I am thinking in the summer you have longer days than nights.



Day 66. Listy is suffering too much and I just can't bear it anymore. All her lower leaves are yellow and some of her upper ones also. She is definitely pot bound so I repotted her into a 4 litre pot (just under a gallon). Her roots are healthy, no rot. She took to the new pot well and within 9 hours had really perked up and grown half an inch and a set of stipules.

I started building my new grow light today. Before you can build new you sometimes have to destroy and one of 4 wooden drawers I had salvaged was selected for sacrifice to provide me with a plank of wood 23" long by 4" wide. One side was painted flat white and on the other I mounted the CFL electronic control gear and some choc bloc. On the reflector side I mounted 2 x 2g10 lamp holders. Tomorrow I will fit the lamp supports and hook up the mains. Currently I have 2x3,000K 55 watt PLL lamps giving a total of 9,6000 lumens. Cost for my grow lamp is £12 for the lamps, £8.50 for the ecg and about £5 worth of hardware. £25.50 for 9 and a half thou lumens is OK. My old ECFLs will do side lighting so when I have the grow cabinet completed I will have a total of 14,400 lumens.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

Day 67. The grow light is completed and working. The spread of light and foliage penetration is so much better. It took some time to get all the pieces but the build was simple. I am so happy. (and so are my plants)

The bigger pots don't need watering so often.

I have enjoyed reading DocBuds completed journals and got a whole load of good info there. It appears that I am halfway to doing hempy grows myself so with all the good stuff I have gathered from the good doc and his readers I shall convert to doing hempy grows and I shall have to bear that in mind when I build my grow cabinet.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

That brings me up to date on the grow so far. I will post some pics soon. Can't say exactly when as tomorrow I will be in hospital for a wee operation. I will try to do it tonight, definitely by Wednesday.

Looking at my plants they are by no means perfect but the top growth continues and is healthy. I might get some bud after all.

Sometime soon I should get a magnifying glass and a digital pH meter from Hong Kong.

Anyway if anyone has read this I hope you have enjoyed it.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

Here'are a few photos from day 35 in their 1.5 litre pots with compost




Day 35 - ignore the 2 plants on the left - they for eating

Day 35 - a bit closer

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

Some more photos just before I go out this morning. I should be back in the evening if I am not kept in overnigt and if so I will post some photos of my homegrown CFL grow light.


Day 37 - No problems but..... spindly

Day 49 - Listy showing a wee bit of leaf damage

Day 66 - Una in her 2.5 gallon pot. Lower fan leaves very yellow

Day 66 - Una in side view

Day 66 - Una close up of stipules

Day 66 - Listy

The next photos will show the CFL PLL grow light construction.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

OOPS sorry for duplicating Day 66 Una top views instead of the 2nd one being a side view. I have a plaster on my thumb ( souvenir of ripping apart the drawer to make my grow light ) and that is my right click thumb.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

I had some cfl lamps but I wasn't happy with them so I looked for what was available. Basically I wanted more power and even distribution of light without it costing the earth.

The first thing you need to understand about CFLs is there are two types: integrated and non integrated. Integrated lamps combine a tube and an ECG (electronic control gear which is sort of like a ballast). Integrated lamps are mainly designed to be direct substitutes for domestic incandescent bulbs. Non-integrated have simple cheap tubes and expensive fittings which contain the ECG. External ECGs are very much better quality than the small ones fitted in a domestic CFL and it is normal to replace the inexpensive tubes many times during the life of the ECG.

As I intend to only grow 2 plants at a time I chose 2 of the PLL model which is a quad pin 2 tube. An example of this tube is the Osram Dulux L which uses the 2G10 4 pin fitting and is available in all the suitable Kelvin ranges. Other PLL models work the same but use different 4 pin fittings. Dulux L bulbs generally cost about £3 each plus p+p. I was lucky to find the correct Osram ECG for only £8.

I started off with a plank of wood 23” x 4” and drilled holes to screw in the 2G10 fittings on 1 side and the ECG on the other. I painted the reflecting side with flat white paint and then mounted the ECG and choc bloc strips to extend out the ECG connections which are push fit with1mm wire out to the choc bloc. 4 brass hooks for hanging the light were screwed in. On the other side I mounted and wired the two 2G10 fittings and 2 plastic support clips. The tubes are 50cm (19.7”) long and the end away from the base fittings need to be supported. Connected the mains lead to the choc bloc and that was it completed.

Modifications. Now that it is working I can see that the 2 lamps are too close to each other so I will rebuild on a 23” x 6” wood chassis. That width will also allow me to add small angled wings to better reflect the light downwards. The ECG is running within spec for temperature but any electronics will last longer at lower temp so I will line the wood with an aluminium strip under the ECG and manufacture cooling fins. Apart from that I am very happy with the result and I guess it would just about suffice for 4 plants in a square.

Photos showing the construction

You can just see the plastic support clips about 1/5th across from the left

And the proof, here is the grow light in action

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

Whilst I am trying to keep my grow simple and rely on the plants wanting to grow I realise that indoor growing is unnatural and they will need some help so I was researching and found that magnesium sulphate was important for chlorophyll and was particularly recommended for tomato, pepper and yes, cannabis plants so I bought some to add to my nutes. Also bought a non toxic spray for greenfly, blackfly and spider mites.

Two more close up photos for day 69. No sign of pollen balls so I am hoping they are both girlies.


Day69 Una

Day69 Listy

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

My pH meter came in the mail this morning and I tested my tap water at 8.7. My 3 in 1 meter had said 7. I did some research and because I live in an old city which still has a significant amount of lead pipes the water authority makes the water alkaline. Acidic water would absorb lead.

Jeez, I'd rather have lead poisoning than my babies not get their nutes.

Made up a batch of 6.5 water. My plants will need watering tomorrow or the day after and it will be interesting to see the effect.

In a more enlightened society my water authority would be forced to issue cannabis growers warnings "Our water could cause serious health problems to your plants".

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's dirty first grow 2011 — Lowrider 2

I have another 8 Lowrider seeds so I don't need to clone just yet but a this is an experimental grow I'd like some practice. I have some new growth very low down on the plant and I think if Una turns out to be female this little branch would make a good clone.

Anyone with some experience cloning like to tell me if this would be a good one to try?

 

[MunchBaccy]

I watered today with a weak solution of nutes. Run off was 6.8 whch is at the top of the range I want 6.5 to 6.8.

 

[MunchBaccy]

The pH adjustment is working. The yellow leaves are all green now except for the parts of the leaf which were too damaged or already dead. There's no point in posting new photos yet, maybe in another 2 or 3 days.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Day 74 and it is great news, Listy is a girlie.


You should just be able to make out 2 hairs just above the center of the photo against the green stem.

And a longer shot of Listy looking a lot happier now I have the pH better

I am not normally a prude but I don't think Listy should be sharing accommodation with Una as I think Una may be a boy.

 

[Goodolddays]

Re: MunchBaccy's Dirty First Grow 2011 – Lowrider 2

Looking great Munch, the stretch came from the low wattage lights when i started mine i first used 9 watt energy saving cfl 2 of them but my seedlings stretched a lot so i switched to 36 watt energy saving flood lights and they soon stopped stretching...I haven't smoked since 1995 and im also doing this as a bit of a hobby really so i don't need my plants to be big i just want to succeed at growing under cfls and maybe ill take up smoking again if all turns ok well, i prefer using a vaporizer, back in the early 90s we made our own it was cool.

 

[MunchBaccy]

Re: MunchBaccy's Dirty First Grow 2011 – Lowrider 2

It is good to hear from GO, Almost contracted your name to GOD Hehe. I was begining to think no-one would ever post on my journal and I was getting lonely. I know I am a newb but I though I might at least get a welcome to the community.

I Just started growing all sorts of stuff in pots this year, herbs, peppers, tomatoes, chilis, swiss chard. I have a garden but it is brand new and it costs a fortune to get even a veg bed set up half decent. I guess you are probably correct about the low wattage CFLs stretching the grow.

Like you i just want to grow something decent and max yield is not a priority, I havent done chemistry since I was at school over 30 years ago and I dont want to start now. If I grow a tomato plant I want tasty toms and am not really bothered whether I get 20 or 10. If I only get 10 that is still 10 more than I had at the start.

Was the info on the home made grow light any use to you?

Best

 

[KingSativa03]

Re: MunchBaccy's Dirty First Grow 2011 – Lowrider 2

plants are looking really nice how long do you plan to fower for?