Nerdy's Penniless, Unknown Strain, Micro Grow

[nerdy]

​First of all I am an absolute beginner for this area and start my grow from curiosity. I had some seeds from my smoke and I said maybe I can also grow since it shouldn't be so hard

However I rushed the process and did my first mistake very easy by planting 4 seeds into one 5 lt pot. Anyway then I started to read some and learnt that the process has many variables and its very easy to make mistakes and kill my babies. I had my lesson so far and trying to read as much as possible.

Decided to post this jurnal to have some comments&help from experienced folks throughout my process. Also I can document and learn from my mistakes. Yet, weed still illegal where I live and I had to go stealth and also I can not throw a big budget for this project. For these reasons I am trying to keep the project low budget and stealth as much as possible.

Grow Space:
I found a a carton box which sized as 55cm X 55cm X 105cm and using this as my grow room. After seeing those PC grows I believe this space will be enough for at least 1-2 plants.

Cooling:

For cooling, I amusing these spare 12cm computer Fans and another cheap fan with a bit morepower. My house will be a lot hotter after these days and I hope this 3rd onewill balance the heat and also smell with a DIY carbon filter.

As it can be seen,foil used as reflective surface and this was the second mistake as far as Iread from here. However it was easy,fast, cheap and accessable since I couldnot find mylar in the near stores and online one was a bit expensive thanexpected.

Soil: Ordinary and cheap flower mix from store.

Seeds: I had no idea about the strain and theirgender so I plant all I have to maximize the female possibility. Eventhough Ihave 8 seedlings my plan is to kill male ones and end up with 1-2 plant max. But I have learnt that I needat least 6 weeks and these babies will be developped a lot in 6 weeks.
At the end I do notknow if grow space or pot size will be enough but I do not wan to rush for anychange and kill my babies.

Pot size : I am trying to use mostly materialsfrom home and we had spare 5lt pots. As I mentioned earlier I plant the seedswithout any knowladge and end up with 4 seedlings in one pot which I believe itwill be a problem. However I do not know to fix this since I do not have enoughspace

Light: Again I choose the cheapest option andgo with these poor compact chinese led bulbs. It says 20W on the package and Iam using 4X20W 6500K bulbs currently. Also distance of the lights is around45cm to the plants.
However again thislight choice and the quantity can be a mistake. I am not sure since after Iread some I have learnt that true watt of these bulbs will be around 10W and Ibelieve this will not be enough light. I am checking some splitters to add atleast 4 more bulbs, if can.

Temperature: I am checking the temperaturefrequently and it is changing between 25-30 C.
I believe it will be enough.

Nutes: After reading some I rushed a bitand end up with below nutes for start. Iam not sure if I should start them when they are this small but I am followingthe manufacturers instructions. I add around 1 ml of each to 5lt water and I amwatering them with it around 3 days apart. Also this nute kit provided a PHtest and I only checked the water after addind nutes and it looks ok I hope.

After more than 1 week my seedlings looks fine but who am I to judge I am open for any suggestions folks...

 

[nerdy]

I need to add some more info about the process. After learning that pot siz will be a problem I again rushed and tried to separate two seedlings to another pot.

I did not know any transplanting technique and just digged and pull the plants up and plant to other pot. I may have damaged some roots and it seems that their growth slowed down since others going faster.

The pot on the left contain these two seperated seedlings and also you can see from the last photo they are relatively smaller than others.

 

[lukebro]

You should probably carefully transplant them into their own pots because soon their roots will grow together and it will damage them when you transplant them.

 

[Scrogdawg]

I like your setup, you've certainly put some effort into it. Be careful with the nutes at that early age. I use the same GH brand and would suggest you don't add more than 1/4 strength at this point. Less is better until they get a little bigger.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

I agree with Scrog only I'd be trying to augment the soil first without adding nutrients yet. Who knows what nutrients (if any) are already in your soil.

 

[nerdy]

Thanks for your comments. I will try to add one more pot and seperate 2 other seedling. However I do not know what happens if I have 2 plants for one pot untill they start to flower? If this will be a disaster scenario for the plants I need another solution

Also I will lower the nute concentration for these days as per suggested and I will try to check the PH of the soil and add some photos later on.

 

[handjive4mota]

You indoor growers sure are resourceful and well versed in hillbilly engineering. Hats off to ya'll, gives the rest of us hope

and guidance.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

You know what .....as long as he doesn't put an HPS in a box, then we're all good. Wish I had the urge or know how to build a grow room from a box when I was younger. I might be living in a mansion in Humboldt California by now lol.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Nerd, more than anything the roots will become intertwined as they grow. Then youll end up having to cut them in half to be transplanted into a new container. You want to give each plant more than enough room to grow and so that you can train it and allow it to thrive. To put it into perspective.....when you plant flowers in the garden, do you put them right tight against each other or space them out.......same idea.

 

[nerdy]

Cavallero, the problem is I started too big for my space, I was thinking one plant but since seeds are not feminised I planted them all to have at least one girl.
Now, I need to wait for at least 6 weeks and they will grow a lot before I learn if its a boy or girl. To minimize the risks I can add one more pot but not sure if I can add more than one with this tiny space.

If two plant in one pot will be a big problem untill I figure out the gender, than I am open to any solution since I can not afford one 5lt pot for all my babies. Maybe I should transplant to smaller pots untill gender identification I dunno ?

 

[handjive4mota]

try to follow Guy C's advice, the more ya screw with them the more pissed they get.
don't want your gals PMSing too soon.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

100%..... just put the girls into 1 gallon pots until they are ready to be identified. Once you're sure, transfer into a 10 gallon pot if you want lol. I'm no expert but I don't think a small plant will get root bound in a 1 gallon pot.

 

[nerdy]

Seperated other 2 babies to a spare 5lt pot however your suggestions make me think about buyin smaller pots 2-3lt I am gonna check near stores when I have time.

Besides they seem healthy to me and they are growing for sure however their colour looks a bit light green. Not like the photos shared here but maybe it is genetics of the seeds who knows.

On the other hand I started having heat issue. It was around 25 to 30 C but it is getting hotter at home and now it is up to 32C hope I can drop it before my babies get hurt

15. Day

 

[Gree N]

You could always go too a dollar shop and get some large cups.
I found these awesome cups that are made of re-cycled cardboard paper double insulated cups so the light doesn't come through. Only $2 for a pack of 10. If they get soggy and fall apart it means your watering them too much. Foolproof

 

[nerdy]

I listen to your advices and separate the seedlings to their own 2.5 lt pots. But it was painful to see, I believe I hurt their roots badly. Lets see if all of them survive. Also stopped giving nutes for some time since I have no idea about the soil and one of the plants having yellow parts near the veins.
I will add some photos soon.

 

[Cannoisseuras]

Cavallero, the problem is I started too big for my space, I was thinking one plant but since seeds are not feminised I planted them all to have at least one girl.
Now, I need to wait for at least 6 weeks and they will grow a lot before I learn if its a boy or girl. To minimize the risks I can add one more pot but not sure if I can add more than one with this tiny space.

If two plant in one pot will be a big problem untill I figure out the gender, than I am open to any solution since I can not afford one 5lt pot for all my babies. Maybe I should transplant to smaller pots untill gender identification I dunno ?

You can plant them in anything basically as long as you have drainage...you could even sew the bottom of a shirt closed and fill a tshirt with soil and grow in that. So if money is tight which it is in alot of our cases then dont worry cuz theres stuff all around us we can implement

 

[Cannoisseuras]

You do know you could start them on 12/12 from seed and as soon as you see pre flowers cull the males and switch the ladies to 18/6 and give them some N. Since they are still basically in the seedling stage they will bounce back into veg almost immediately. It don't take long like a normal reveg

 

[Cannoisseuras]

That is not just my opinion. I learned that from a professional grower called the rev

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Not like I'm a pro or anything Canno. ... but that kinda goes against the grain a bit lol. Makes sense though.

 

[nerdy]

Here is the new setup for the seedlings. They all have their own pot now, hope they like it On the other hand they seem health enough and all survived from transplanting I believe.

Also I like this switching 12/12 idea to speed up the gender identification, let me think and prepare the setup for this. Currently I am giving all the light I can with a 24/0 cycle.

Besides all there is one seedling having yellow stains I will try to check what type of problem is it but if you have any idea I am open for diagnostics.