Preacher's first grow: Micro

[preacher]

Hey, there. Thanks for all the inspiration everyone. I'm going on my first grow and it seems to be fairly good so far, but I know I'm going to need help soon. Thanks to those who responded in the Vegetative cycle forum!

Here's the info so far:

I started with 1 box approx. 15" wide and 20" tall and 15" deep. After the 6 " tall pots, I have about 12 inches of space before I hit the lights.

I germinated 6 seeds on 1/10/08 under 3, 42 watt cfl's. Turns out they were soft white since I didn't research that too well beforehand. Maybe it will help in the end since I need to keep everything fairly short anyway.

I'm using ocean forest soil and sea tea from gardenville (Every 4 days now) so far. No other nutes yet. I'm sure I need to do something else soon.

Here's how they looked right before I started to flower on 2/2.

So now fast forward to now, 2/16 and here they are:

The 4 main plants are about this size now. That's a 6" container:

My 2 best plants are wilting and the stems are turning more red. They perk up after a night. I'm trying to keep the temps a little lower and I'll see if that helps.

I think that's all I have for now. Hope that's not too long.

I'll update with close-up pics of the first buds soon. I'm excited!

 

[Boss]

I think it's the low temps causeing the red. The plants look very healthy, it looks like you have a fantastic start, and a great choice of nutes and soil.

+rep for luck!

 

[HHGreenHand]

Looks good, Preacher. Glad to finally see your grow in the works. How do you plan on dealing with the height issue? If you have 12 inches before you hit the lights, you want to finish them before the get within 2 inches of the lights.

The kids look great, bushy, and healthy. + reps dude for following through! Rockin' it!
Im glad I could help.

 

[preacher]

Thanks, Boss. I bet the redness is because of the coolness. Does that also sometimes make yours wilt at the end of the day? They are always fine in the morning?

Hey, HHGreenHand. Yes, thanks for your help and inspiration! I'm glad to be going. As far as the height goes, I was waiting to see how much they grow, but it looks like they are getting to a size where I could start LSTing them. What do you think?

I now have 2 boxes, so I gained some width, but the height is still an obvious issue. Any other ideas on the height? I am trying to keep the temps close, but don't want to run the heater too much at night.

Oh, since I have more horizontal space, I'll be transplanting into wider-but not taller-containers soon, too.

 

[Boss]

I am a bit afraid of the pot size so large, they may outgrow that box no matter what you do. Anyone?

 

[shaggie-420]

i agree with boss, you might have trouble with the size my grow started in a box a little bigger than yours and a 6 in pot. i had to make a new spot to go in to flowering.
again i am new to indoor growing not much problems with hight outside

 

[fillabong420]

well with that size of the box i would tie and flower asap. unless you have a bigger space looks good for cfls man! reps

 

[preacher]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I started flowering on 2/2/08 when they were about 3.5 inches tall. They are about 6 inches tall now.

I'll leave them in these pots for now until something forces me to make a change then. Thanks!

I really appreciate the help! It's so great to have such a resource.

Almost time for them to wake up and I'll see how much they've grown, making my life difficult.

 

[HHGreenHand]

Yeah. I would def. start tying down. Aim for the stem to wrap around the pot's edge.

 

[preacher]

Thanks, I'll tie 2 of them today since the soil is drying up a bit.

 

[preacher]

Hey there. Everything seems to be going okay and the buds are starting to form!

I LST'd one of them 2 days ago and it's a little unhappy and droopy. I'm waiting to see before I do the other 3. I was as careful as possible when doing it, so surely I didn't do any damage. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

I'm 18 days into flower now and still just giving gardenville sea tea every 4 or 5 days. Is that okay? 100% one time and 50% the next. I'm also watering with 50% solution every other water. The new growth is always bright and happy so it seems everything is going well, but I don't want to short change those buds if you guys think I need to give some FF big bloom or something. I was hoping to keep it organic.

Pics soon

 

[HHGreenHand]

Cant wait. How did you LST,Preach? Unless you snapped the stem I dont see any reason that she would droop.

 

[preacher]

Greenhand, I used a round plastic tie. A slightly more heavy duty one my chords came wrapped in. Definitely no snapping on the stem. You would have heard me scream from Florida.

Everything looks pretty healthy. All the leaves just aren't standing up to the light quite yet. I'll bet she comes around tomorrow. The main stem is turned back up though, so all is good there.

Man, seeing all the crystal bound pictures of hairy buds is making me impatient!!! I don't even know what the strain is, but I suspect it's a shorter flowering period considering where it's from. I hope so. Watch it be White Widow or something. Guess that wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

[HHGreenHand]

Heh. Whatever it ends up being, claim it for your own. The homegrown can put a smile on anybodys face.

I know what you mean about the minor drooping. Its happening to my kid that ive been tying down. Some of the lower fan leaves may not adjust but they can be trimmed off eventually. Keep on...

 

[preacher]

Here are a few pics from the last few days.

The LST is coming around now.

I should probably get on LSTing at least 1 more of them. They are still staying pretty short so far, at 7 or 8 inches.

Good times.

 

[fillabong420]

preacher them plants are comming along niiiiice. good job

 

[preacher]

Thanks!

 

[HHGreenHand]

Remember, they may double in height when fully flowered.

 

[preacher]

HH, I tied down 2 more today. I'll try to fight the height.

The 1st LST plant is looking great and the bud sites are definitely getting more light.

I have to also watch out for my horizontal space. I really think next grow, I'll just have 1 plant in each box. I figured some would be males or die. I had no idea.

I'm getting a slight yellowing on the lowest fan leaves of one plant, but I gave sea tea in my water last night so hopefully that will help. Also gave them foliar tonight which is always a treat when you don't really get to do that much to the plant. I spent way more time on the environment than the plant.

 

[HHGreenHand]

If you have a big problem with the width of the box, you can trim some of the larger/older fan leaves. It can turn into a problem and leaves that arents getting any light dont serve much of a purpose anyways. Just be careful. Trimming during flowering does stress a slight bit.

It looks like lush, new growth. Awesome Preach.