Parnelli's Covid-19 Indoor Grow

[parnelli]

Hey fellow weed wizards. It is time to start an indoor grow to get me thru the winter, give me something to look forward to for Spring, and make sure that there's future weed aplenty in case this year's outdoor grow sucks.

I have started (in the Aerogrow) two seeds from Ace; another Panama Red (I really like it) and an Auto Malawi x Northern Lights (feminized). They've both popped and have the first green leaf showing in the pod.

No, I don't have the virus but we've certainly isolated ourselves this Summer. No travel; no dining at restaurants, minimal social contact with friends. The good weed I've grown sure makes isolation a little more enjoyable.

 

[HunterHunt]

Awesome! Give us some more info on your setup and lights!

 

[parnelli]

Here's some of the vital indoor planting data:

Seeds - feminized; source: Ace seeds
Sprouted in Aerogrow filled with room temp rainwater
Transplanting in a combination of 10L Happy Frog Potting Soil (brown bag), 7L Miracle Gro potting mix, and 2L generic ACE Hardware potting soil; I couldn't get anymore Happy Frog locally
19L Vivosun fabric grow pots
18 hour vegetative cycle using Induxpert 600W full spectrum LED grow lamp
40W incandescent light providing a heat source for grow tent during the colder Winter months - I try to keep the temp between 68 - 72F; I found that I have to partially surround the tent with insulating material to maintain an optimal temperature in an unheated basement
36x20x60 grow tent

 

[Jack420]

Count me in

 

[parnelli]

Here are the most recent pictures of this grow. I'm prepping for the transfer to soil.

The Panama Red is on the left and Malawi on right. The Aerogrow lamps (2 x 26 watt CFL grow lights) are set at 9 inches above the plants. Fed with standard Aerogrow liquid plant food. pH of the hydroponic solution is low 6's (best I can do with litmus paper).

 

[parnelli]

I'm back - I decided to transplant the two plants in the Aerogrow to soil because the Red had an unstable main stem that I was propping up. I must not have pushed the germinated seed far enough into the growing medium to support the stem so it was transplant time - no harm done. To fill the two pots I used all of the soil I had ( see info from Oct 13 ) . The grow tent temp is 68F and 57% rh (relative humidity). Not yet being winter the basement is warm enough to maintain this temp with no supplemental heat or insulation. Since the tent is only 5 feet tall I'll be training the plants to grow horizontally -note the clips on the Malawi on the pot on the right. Still thinking about a more effective way to train for the Red on the left (I used paper clips and string last grow).

 

[parnelli]

Brown leaf pix - I'm hoping the brown color has to do with the rooting issue. Other grow journals seem to back this up.

 

[Konks Dirt Empire]

see covid-19 grow

K

Here's some of the vital indoor planting data:

Seeds - feminized; source: Ace seeds
Sprouted in Aerogrow filled with room temp rainwater
Transplanting in a combination of 10L Happy Frog Potting Soil (brown bag), 7L Miracle Gro potting mix, and 2L generic ACE Hardware potting soil; I couldn't get anymore Happy Frog locally
19L Vivosun fabric grow pots
18 hour vegetative cycle using Induxpert 600W full spectrum LED grow lamp
40W incandescent light providing a heat source for grow tent during the colder Winter months - I try to keep the temp between 68 - 72F; I found that I have to partially surround the tent with insulating material to maintain an optimal temperature in an unheated basement
36x20x60 grow tent

Ok...

Brown leaf pix - I'm hoping the brown color has to do with the rooting issue. Other grow journals seem to back this up.

I have almost 1 grow under my belt here, but will toss my guess in the ring that your miracle grow is hot enough to be a pita. I still dont follow "rooting issue", but I bet I haven't seen all sorts of stuff.

 

[013]

Ok, real important for basement growers.... a concrete slab is a heat sink, it can pull the warmth out of your roots. Warm air rises - cool air sinks, the floor is the coldest point in any room, ceiling is warmest. On an indoors or covered concrete slab like garage or basement etc... the slab stays around 55 degrees year round due to contact with soil and the water vapor that rises out of the ground.

Yes most homes have vapor barrier installed under the slab but a thin sheet of 6 mil plastic disintegrates in about 2 years. Think you may have cold feet going on with your girl. I’ve got kids snap together foam squares directly on the slab, then 2 pieces of 3/4 inch thick sheet foam. Then my tent, then a cut down pallet, next is kiddie pool for drip pan, then plant elevator for air flow and last are the plants. Put as much distance as possible between slab and your girls, even setting tent on 2 pallets can make huge difference. Alright - enjoyed hanging out and talking gardens! Stop by mine anytime

 

[parnelli]

013 is correct about basement floors. It is hard to see from my pix but I follow 013's advice. I have the pots sitting on a clear plastic "dish" that elevates the pot off of a hard surface and leaves a little "breathing" space underneath the pot. These "dishes" sit on a piece of 1 inch Styrofoam further insulating the pot from the cold basement floor.

 

[parnelli]

I cut off the brown leaves. The others are still looking good.

I'm noticing the difference between last year's soil mix and this year's. This years is much lighter in texture than last year's 50-50 Happy Frog Potting soil and garden Topsoil.

 

[013]

Nice! Couldn’t agree more - I’m dropping beans now for winter garden too

 

[parnelli]

Watered each plant with 1.5L h2o - last watering was Wed AM. Both plants are looking great. 68.8F & 48%rh in the tent. The Malawi is big enough to start training and I'm using pipe cleaners this time to bend the stems to my will. My wife ordered 1000 of them as nose supports for Covid masks so I grabbed a few and they seem to work very well.

 

[parnelli]

Just started to train the Red this AM. Used an idea I saw from 013 to use a support at the base of the stem to keep the stem from breaking and pulling immature roots from the soil.

 

[parnelli]

The girls are looking great. The training is starting to take shape and the pipe cleaners seem to be working well. I added 0.75L h2o to each plant. They are still small and don't seem to require much water yet. I haven't added any nutes yet to the watering cycle because instructions on the Miracle Grow soil (in the mix) indicated a waiting period of 3 weeks before adding nutes was recommended. (68.9F; 51%rh in the tent)

 

[BirdieNumNum]

 

[parnelli]

Well that's a first

I went a little too far in training the malawi and snapped the main stem - I hope it is just ends up a topping of the plant - tho it seems a bit early in the veg cycle to top a plant; but it is a weed and it ain't called weed for nothin' (70.1F 61rh)

 

[BirdieNumNum]

I managed to snap mine on my first attempt at training.

Lets hope it isnt catching just like coronavirus.

 

[parnelli]

What a f**kin' maroon I am!

I should have attempted to clone the stem I broke off.

 

[013]

Sucks doesn’t it...? Actually that could have been taped and supported so it would grow back. You just have to loosen the tension on the tie downs and it can be splinted or taped until it grows back.

Ok there's an old saying amongst men.... Woman.... she will bend a mile but not give a damn inch.... Same is true for these plants you can bend the crap out of them but do it over several days to slowly increase tension until you get her bent just right. It’s all good - probably not your first time and won’t be the last either