My First Grow Ever! Excited!

[Scientific]

I'm a chemist major in college and have a weird love of biology. This is just something new for me and I feel the need to record everything as if it were an experiment hahah. Now for a question...

For the 5 I put outside, we only get 15 hours of sunlight here. Will that be ok?

Your knowledge of chemistry will serve you well. Maybe jump all the way in next grow and try hydroponics? (Then you can help me unravel the mysterious pH variations in my reservoir...)

As for "only" 15 hours of sunlight a day, ideally of course your plants will have a southern exposure and get direct sun from dawn to dusk, but even six hours of direct sun should be "enough" to produce some useful flowering. Maybe you are thinking of photoperiod, though? That shouldn't be an issue, except of course photoperiod plants won't flower until the days get shorter...

Below for your amusement is a shot of the plant that has lived out on my deck since the last day of winter. It lived and flowered with short, cold, dark days, so cannabis can survive without a lot of light. They just don't grow.

Dwarf Low Flower planted on the last day of winter at about 70 days of age

 

[Scientific]

Also I'll be getting some calmag on Friday as well as a light meter and some mylar blankets. For the plants outside in the ground should I use to calmag on them as well?

If you are a U of O Greener Eugener, then Ca/Mg supplementation may be a useful boost to your probably essentially mineral-free H20 (and local soil??), but it may make no difference at all. Your water utility's website can tell you all about the mineral content of you local supply.

 

[DominaMortem]

If you are a U of O Greener Eugener, then Ca/Mg supplementation may be a useful boost to your probably essentially mineral-free H20 (and local soil??), but it may make no difference at all. Your water utility's website can tell you all about the mineral content of you local supply.

I'm not at U of O. Currently out of school while my husband finishes his degree up. The soil is local, I have a guy that mixes it for me and it's the same that he uses. I will definitely check the water company's website, thanks for that tip! I was talking about photoperiod as they are just seedlings but they will get quite a bit of light where they are at.

 

[Scientific]

I will definitely check the water company's website, thanks for that tip!

Being a hydroponics guy (and a fish keeper), I'm probably overly focused on H2O. But it's interesting to know about your water. I would image that anywhere west of the Cascades is going to be soft...

 

[DominaMortem]

Being a hydroponics guy (and a fish keeper), I'm probably overly focused on H2O. But it's interesting to know about your water. I would image that anywhere west of the Cascades is going to be soft...

I'd like to try hydro with my next grow. I feel like I'd be more confident with being able to test pretty much everything. But I need to get the basics down first

 

[DominaMortem]

So here are the ones still inside. Will be transplanting the 2 seedlings tomorrow so I can properly cover them deep enough. Also the one picture is the one with the red stem.

 

[Tony Urban]

Very nice! Some nice branching going on with the big one. I think that slight redness in the stem is within normal limitations.

 

[MullenFarms]

They are healthy as can be.

 

[Scientific]

They look good. I do think that they all look like they want more light, but you know by now that that's my one-note tune.

 

[coopexquisite]

I'm a chemistry major in college and have a weird love of biology. This is just something new for me and I feel the need to record everything as if it were an experiment hahah. Now for a question...

For the 5 I put outside, we only get 15 hours of sunlight here. Will that be ok?

I think as long as its more than 12 hours you should be OK.

 

[coopexquisite]

So here are the ones still inside. Will be transplanting the 2 seedlings tomorrow so I can properly cover them deep enough. Also the one picture is the one with the red stem.

Do you pH your water? I had red stems before I got a pH meter. Once tested, it was at 7.2! Now its 6.5 and everything is coming in green as can be!

If it's not the pH then it could be the type of water you're using, as it may have what the plant needs like RO or distilled water.

My $.02

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Do you pH your water? I had red stems before I got a pH meter. Once tested, it was at 7.2! Now its 6.5 and everything is coming in green as can be!

If it's not the pH then it could be the type of water you're using, as it may have what the plant needs like RO or distilled water.

My $.02

Just gonna jump in here as I was under the impression that PH doesn't matter that much when growing in soil? I thought that the soil buffered the PH....at least to acceptable levels? I was also under the impression that PPM, was a soil growers go to.....trying to keep mature plants feeding levels below 1200-1400 PPM, and younger plants in around 800......is this wrong? I don't even own a PH tester.

 

[Scientific]

Just gonna jump in here as I was under the impression that PH doesn't matter that much when growing in soil? I thought that the soil buffered the PH....at least to acceptable levels? I was also under the impression that PPM, was a soil growers go to.....trying to keep mature plants feeding levels below 1200-1400 PPM, and younger plants in around 800......is this wrong? I don't even own a PH tester.

People can and do skip measuring pH of the water they give to plants, but the name of the game in cannabis culture seems to be to optimize all of the growth conditions from humidity to light levels to soil pH etc. Experience has shown that cannabis does best when the pH of it's soil is at a certain level, so you check the pH of the water going into the pot and running off to try to get the pH into that ideal range. Or such is my understanding. That just seems to make sense.

In some ways talking about pH and PPM is apples and oranges. pH will affect PPM, but PPM doesn't give you pH. My one gripe about measuring PPM, as powerful as that is, is that it doesn't tell you what those parts per million are (sodium ions? potassium ions? calcium?). You may be reading a good PPM number, but the ratio of nutrients in that number can be way off...

In any case, probably best to measure both, it seems to me, not having done it.

But yeah, feeding younger plants at lower concentrations does help to prevent burn and monitoring PPMs in runoff would definitely help to monitor your fertilizing regimen, but I think the real value would come by measuring and recording it at every watering and then comparing the value from watering to watering (or feeding to feeding) and comparing PPM in vs PPM out...

Again, this is all just theoretical on my part. I have read a little about this, but I'm a hydro guy...

 

[coopexquisite]

Just gonna jump in here as I was under the impression that PH doesn't matter that much when growing in soil? I thought that the soil buffered the PH....at least to acceptable levels? I was also under the impression that PPM, was a soil growers go to.....trying to keep mature plants feeding levels below 1200-1400 PPM, and younger plants in around 800......is this wrong? I don't even own a PH tester.

pH is important to both. The intake of nutrients is dependent on it and it's different for soil and water. There may be some soils out there that can buffer the pH but I am not sure if that is common across the board.

PPM just tells you how much stuff is in your water, but not the quality of whats in it. So your water could be full of garbage, or just the right blend of additives that work for your plant. And from what I've been reading your PPM numbers look good. You can pick up a basic digital pH meter up for $20ish off Amazon. Cheap investment for healthy plants if you ask me...which you didn't. But if you did...lol

 

[Scientific]

You can pick up a basic digital pH meter up for $20ish off Amazon. Cheap investment for healthy plants if you ask me...which you didn't. But if you did...lol

Just be sure to buy some pH 7.0 calibration fluid and use it so you're getting accurate numbers. pH meters are finicky beasts.

But yeah, having a pH meter and a PPM meter give you so much power to see into the process. (A light meter is pretty nice too, but I don't think it's as useful.)

All of this stuff is so cheap in the age of microelectronics and cheap Chinese imports that it seems silly not to have all the measuring tools. They pay for themselves in increase yields and peace of mind.

 

[DominaMortem]

I thought ppm meters were only for hydro. Also, I tested my water this morning. Distilled water was 6.63 and the RO was 5.58.
Ordering the light and ventilation system today. Should be here early next week.

 

[KushGod]

So I made a grow journal a couple of days ago but I don't like how I did it (trying to get it deleted). So here is my new one. I hope to make some growing friends alone the way.

So here's my specifics.

I have 4 clones
2 Girl Scout Cookies
2 Sour Durbans

I also have 7 seedlings

4 are Afghani (currently 2 days old)
3 are Pineapple Chunk (almost 2 months old.

Now here's the story with the Pineapple Chunk....
I had done no research when I germinated them and just put them in the window. They were there for a couple of weeks and were so stared for light that hey didn't grow much. I put them in the basement but didn't monitor the temperature. And of course, temps got below freezing. Can't believe the poor gals are still alive. They aren't growing much taller but are starting to finally grow more leaves.

My grow room is a room in our basement. Two walls are concrete and the other two are wood.
Temperature ranges from 74.3-78.6.
For lights I have three fluorescent. One on the wall and two above.
Don't quite remember the wattage of the wall light. The overhead lights are 48W and 28W.


Just some personal notes:
I need to figure out a means of air circulation.


Question for anyone who can answer, are the youngest seedlings too tall?

They look a little stretched but nothing too major. The bigger plants look lovely btw. I'll be stopping by to see how they go on!

 

[Scientific]

I thought ppm meters were only for hydro. Also, I tested my water this morning. Distilled water was 6.63 and the RO was 5.58.
Ordering the light and ventilation system today. Should be here early next week.

I think PPM is used mainly in hydro. Distilled and RO water being essentially pure H2O, they should of course measure pH 7.0 in theory, but in the absence of any buffering they can change pH a lot and quickly from things like just shaking the container. (And try the old science class experiment of blowing into it with a straw and watching the pH crash from the carbonic acid formed from the CO2 in your breath. If there is a little bit of mineral content in the water, the pH is more stable.)

RO water with a pH of 5.6 makes me wonder about your RO water.

 

[DominaMortem]

I think PPM is used mainly in hydro. Distilled and RO water being essentially pure H2O, they should of course measure pH 7.0 in theory, but in the absence of any buffering they can change pH a lot and quickly from things like just shaking the container. (And try the old science class experiment of blowing into it with a straw and watching the pH crash from the carbonic acid formed from the CO2 in your breath. If there is a little bit of mineral content in the water, the pH is more stable.)

RO water with a pH of 5.6 makes me wonder about your RO water.

Wonder in that way? The RO is from the seedlings which have not gotten any nutes

 

[coopexquisite]

RO water with a pH of 5.6 makes me wonder about your RO water.

Run-off water, not reverse osmosis...