My First Grow Nirvana's Bubblelicious Ocean Farm Soil & Perlite

[omegared]

Hello Everyone I'm Omegared this my very first grow and im super nervous about messing up. I welcome all tips, comments and feedback i'm really just here to learn everything I can about growing.


So I started with 5 Nirvana Bubblelicious Feminized seeds

On 3/8/19 I soaked these seeds in a cup of water for about 14 hours then put them in a water soaked paper towel inside a ziplock bag. Three days later on 3/11/19 All the seeds had popped open with roots growing out.

For Soil I used Fox Farms Ocean Forest with 30% Perlite. I planted in this soil mix into red Solo Cups on 3/11/19. I put ziplock bags over the cups to maintain humidity until they sprouted from the soil. I added drain holes to the bottom.

Several Days beforehand i had Set up my grow Tent. Which is a Apollo 48x48x80 Horticultural tent near a window in my bedroom. My tent has 2 of its holes uncovered. One for Intake which has a VIVOSUN 6 Inch 440 CFM Inline Fan attached to a carbon filter hung horizontally inside my grow tent. This fan/filter inside the tent pulls in air from Outside. With no place to go the Air leaves through the other hole which i will eventually exhaust out the window as well. Also in the future i wish to move my Filter/fan closer to the back of the tent so that my light won't be underneath it giving me more height to grow with.

For my Light Im using an LED light HLG 550 V2 its a quantum board from horticultural lighting group. I chose it because it had very good reviews and it doesn't draw alot of electricity. Im limited by the amount of amps i can draw. I also have a oscillating fan and two thermometers inside the tent. I Zip My Tent up Around the Cords Because i find it to be easy. When my plants flower i know i will have to cover the area near the cords so light doesn't get in.

3/13/19 All Sprouts sprouted.

I Watered them on 14th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, and 25th. About every 2 to 3 Days.

March 13th

 

[Old Salt]

I'm looking forward to what you have planned. Have you gathered anything for your grow yet?

 

[omegared]

I keep my lights on for 20 Hours and off 4 on timer. I keep my light right now about 18 to 24 inches from my plants. They seem to be growing nodes and leaves at a rate consistent with other grows but they seem to be alot shorter and their leaves are starting to seem droopier then other plants that are also two weeks old. Im worried im doing something wrong. I plant to transplant them to gallon containers at week 3. So far I haven't given my plants any nutrients but I did buy some fox farms Big Bloom, Grow Big, and Tiger bloom.

 

[Old Salt]

They look healthy. Plants grow at different rates under different conditions. It's nothing to worry about.

 

[omegared]

Thanks for the feedback. i'm glad they look healthy to you. heres a few more pictures of my tent. In the first one you can see how the carbon filter hangs over the light. I intent to move it to the back of the tent with a vent going across the side so the ligh isn't blocked. The second picture highlights my amateur wiring skills.

 

[omegared]

3/27/19 fed 3 tea spooons big bloom 1 tea spoon of big grow diluted into a gallon of distilled water. less then half the recommended dose because i've heard nutrients aren't needed when using ocean forest soil.

3/28 19 Transplanted all plants into 4.2 liter pots and gave them a watering until they started leaking from the bottom.
They seem very droopy to me which worries me. Also the leaves drooped into some of the wet soil getting them a bit dirty. I hope it doesn't interfere with photosynthesis.

I hope the roots weren't too root bound. Any advice on when to water next would be helpful.

 

[Old Salt]

Have you read @Emilya's article "The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant?" It should tell you all you need to know.

 

[omegared]

4/1/19 Gave my plants a watering I didn't water them since transplanting.
4/2/19

Hopefully they are bouncing back from the transplanting. They are now 3 weeks old. They look healthy too me, but their the only marijuana plants i've ever seen so its kind of hard for me to judge. Im thinking they will need to stay in these pots another 2 or 3 weeks before transplanting to 5 gallon pots and turning the lights to flowering, but im not really sure this is my first grow.

 

[omegared]

4/3/19

They look pretty healthy to me, I think tomorrow I might try topping or fimming them. Any advice or feedback would be great, I'm a little scared to cut their heads off. I also added a humidifier to the room and figured out how to adjust the intensity of my light which i turned up to maximum.

 

[omegared]

Hopefully I fimed this properly

 

[Old Salt]

Looks good, but you won't know for sure until they grow some more.

 

[omegared]

If i pot up to these will they be too cramped in my grow space? I know i'll defintely need to get a wall mounted fan.

 

[Old Salt]

You'll have to control the growth to prevent overcrowding.

 

[omegared]

Is that something I need to start doing now, like keeping my smaller pots in the corners and trying to bend new growth towards the center with a scrog?

 

[omegared]

Watered on the 4th and on the 7th, My plants are drooping pretty bad i fear that i might have over watered them, im thinking i should let them dry out more before watering, they haven't been watered in 3 days but about an inch and a half under the dry soil it seems wet.

Im really nervous i might make a mistake and lose them, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Old Salt]

Have you read @Emilya's thread "The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant?" It's become the "goto" reference for watering in soil.

 

[omegared]

Yes I read it, and her comments about how to fix overwatered plants.

 

[omegared]

Update 5/10/19
So its been awhile since my last update real life got in the way. I overowatered my plants and had to dry them out a bit this led to yellowing and wilting of the leaves, had to cut off a bunch of fan leaves. They ended up looking like charlie brown chrismas trees for awhile. These plants bounce back from the dead though they can really take a beating and now look good (in my amateur opinion)

Renuzits for scale. Killed off one plant to make room in my tent. Still debating on when i should flip to flowering, and if i should get some sort of a net to screen of green them.

 

[omegared]

trellised my plants today, im a little worried they will get to big for their pots, i think i should flower asap. They are 6 gallon pots

 

[Old Salt]

Once your plants grow a little more they'll be locked in position. You won't be able to move them for trimming or watering. Make sure you can access the plants, both above and below the screen.