Rastas' First Grow

[Rastas]

I just typed a massive update and lost it trying to make my photos the right way up. So here's the condensed version. I ended up working on site until the afternoon today which I didn't plan, so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. As soon as I got home, I got building.

I cleared out and paved an area under the house. There's a PVC pipe running straight though my grow site, but I'll be re-routing the drainage to go around the tent this week when I get a chance. The the tent will slide back.

So, time to get germinating! I'll be using my propagation kit and rock wool.

How long do you leave the seedlings in the kit once the sprout?

Can I put the kit in my tent once they sprout and keep them under a light until they're ready to transplant?

Thanks guys!

 

[Rastas]

Mars Hydro LED should arrive on Monday. Photos when it comes.

 

[Noob4x4grow]

I germinate using the glass and paper towel method. Seeds in a cup of water, place in dark. After 12 hours, poke seeds to bottom of cup from floating on top of water. After 24 hours, pour seeds and water from cup on plate with a folded paper towel. Fold the wet towel over the seeds and place back in darkness. Check in 12 hours to 24 hours for tap root. Once tap roots show, into my solo cups with soil. 100% germination rate so far. Good luck

 

[Noob4x4grow]

Make sure you pH your water to 5.5-5.8 for rock wool.

 

[dick23rk]

Yes be sure to soak any rockwool cubes in ph'd water as noob4x4 said if you are going to use them. If you don't do the pre-soak it will really screw with your ph levels for the seedling and could hurt it. What type of medium will you be growing in? Soil or soil-less and what is it? I have tried the rockwool before and planted it into coco and didn't know about pre-soaking/pre-charging either of the 2 and wound up with problems at the roots. Let us know as much info about what you plan to do as far as planting goes and we should be able to help get ya going. When in doubt, research is key!

 

[Rastas]

Update!

My LED didn't arrive today, so I spent the afternoon installing my ventilation system.

I bought two Phresh Hyper Fans, both 8", which is more than plenty for my grow room. But I figured while I was at it I may as well buy the climate control system, so I did that too

The fans are so very quiet that you don't need a silencer. I wasn't going to install a carbon filter, but as it may be a necessity later, I decided to pop one in too.

Now I have one of the fans removing the waste through the carbon filter and the other pumping nice fresh oxygen inside. I've the duct running through a breathe hole to outside.

My seedlings are in a propagation kit on a heat mat buried in rock wool. Hopefully they sprout in the next few days.

Next update will be the LED and hopefully a tiny bit of leafy green

 

[Rastas]

Yes be sure to soak any rockwool cubes in ph'd water as noob4x4 said if you are going to use them. If you don't do the pre-soak it will really screw with your ph levels for the seedling and could hurt it. What type of medium will you be growing in? Soil or soil-less and what is it? I have tried the rockwool before and planted it into coco and didn't know about pre-soaking/pre-charging either of the 2 and wound up with problems at the roots. Let us know as much info about what you plan to do as far as planting goes and we should be able to help get ya going. When in doubt, research is key!

I'll be planting in coco. I got all the appropriate nutrients to go with it. I just hope these seeds sprout!

 

[Stinky Snid]

Hey rastas, that's a spiffy looking setup. Congrats on the first step, that grow fever is fierce this time of year. Good luck with the germination, I'll be following along as they and you grow. I look forward to many more posts to come...

KiG cheers

 

[weenmeoff]

Hi rastas.

Welcome to 420 magazine! It's a great community. Looks like a great set up so far. You may want to put a piece of rigid insulation under your tent if brick is anything like concrete it will suck heat and moisture from your plants. If you stop by my journal you will see that I've been asking lots of questions and there are lots of helpful people. I am glad to hear that MMJ helps you when traditional medicine has failed, another MMJ success story. Good luck with your grow!

 

[Rastas]

Hi rastas.

Welcome to 420 magazine! It's a great community. Looks like a great set up so far. You may want to put a piece of rigid insulation under your tent if brick is anything like concrete it will suck heat and moisture from your plants. If you stop by my journal you will see that I've been asking lots of questions and there are lots of helpful people. I am glad to hear that MMJ helps you when traditional medicine has failed, another MMJ success story. Good luck with your grow!

That does make a lot of sense. I've a heap of carpet off-cuts I can use. Thanks for the tip, weenmeoff!

I'll be sure to check out your journal too. It might save me from asking the same questions. It's great here. It seems that no matter where you're at with your grow, someone was just there a few days ago, so most of my questions have been covered so far. Then it just comes down to...but which was the BEST answer?

 

[Rastas]

Also, I've got my propagation kit including the heat element sitting in the tent now with a T5 hanging a couple feet above just waiting for the girls to show up.

 

[weenmeoff]

I noticed one more thing that you may want to think about, your inlet fan may be better placed at the bottom of your tent....? I don't even have an inlet fan but I draw air from the bottom of the tent. I have a gorilla too, it's 4x4. It's wake up time soon, gotta go visit them and instal New LEDs.

 

[Rastas]

I noticed one more thing that you may want to think about, your inlet fan may be better placed at the bottom of your tent....? I don't even have an inlet fan but I draw air from the bottom of the tent. I have a gorilla too, it's 4x4. It's wake up time soon, gotta go visit them and instal New LEDs.

Those were my exact thoughts and initially where I was planning to have it, but because the fans are so strong the inlet fan circulates the air beautifully. It pushes the fresh air down the centre, then I have two (they're not in the above photo) wall fans which circulate that clean air around the room. I feel like I've put enough thought into it, but I'm sure if you guys see an issue as my plants grow you will give me a heads up. We'll see!

 

[Rastas]

Also, the inlet draws cool air from out in the open through a breathe hole in my brickwork.

 

[Rastas]

Oh, and that inlet fan actually angles down, unlike the photo shows. I've tied it up and pulled in the zip-ties.

 

[SweetSue]

Sweet environmental system Rastas. I haven't read all the way through yet, but I had to tell you how impressed I am with the set-up. It looks like you put a lot of thought into it and that's going to pay off with big dividends. Putting the filter in was smart. Trying to do that when they're in full flower would have been a royal pain.

Now I'm gonna jump back and read from the beginning.

 

[SweetSue]

A lot of opinions going now, huh? I had to smile at the frustration in your second post, when you thought no one would notice.

I grow autos and photos together in the same tent. I grow sativas in a tent only 5' high. It's all in the training, and I was mentored by Graytail, so I have no problem with controlling sativas in a closed environment. Having said that, if I had the option to grow outdoors, every sativa in my personal seed bank would be outdoors. I couldn't be more thrilled that your mother's going to let you grow under Sol Systems. You lucky duck. Your sativas are going to put the fear of God into you growing wild outdoors. Take lots of pictures when you get to that stage. We'll all droll over them.

I like the way you spare no expense. Admirable and enviable. You've gathered a companionable band of fellow cultivators to help you get to a successful harvest. Enjoy the ride. I'll stop in periodically to check up on you.

Hey guys, good to see you all here. A couple of you are new to me, so an extra special hello to you. I'll get to know you better as we watch Rastas impress himself growing the best cannabis he's ever smoked.

Rastas, have you determined yet whether you respond better to sativas or indicas? Are you exploring higher CBD levels, or have you found that higher THC are more beneficial? My impression is that you're so new to this that I'm speaking Greek to you. Am I correct? If so, I'll keep my eyes and ears open as I search for topics for my study hall. If I hear anything about treating bipolar I'll be sure to make note of it for you. We should be able to figure out what works best for you.

 

[KodiakKid]

Hi Rasta, jumping in here to watch and learn. You have some awesome help here. I'm on my second grow outdoors.

 

[Rastas]

A lot of opinions going now, huh? I had to smile at the frustration in your second post, when you thought no one would notice.

Lol! It was about my third post on here and I thought the f-bomb would be censored, but 420 is all about freedom, so it didn't, then I didn't edit it quick enough and now it's a permanent fixture. Not my finest moment

I grow autos and photos together in the same tent. I grow sativas in a tent only 5' high. It's all in the training, and I was mentored by Graytail, so I have no problem with controlling sativas in a closed environment. Having said that, if I had the option to grow outdoors, every sativa in my personal seed bank would be outdoors. I couldn't be more thrilled that your mother's going to let you grow under Sol Systems. You lucky duck. Your sativas are going to put the fear of God into you growing wild outdoors. Take lots of pictures when you get to that stage. We'll all droll over them.

I like the way you spare no expense. Admirable and enviable. You've gathered a companionable band of fellow cultivators to help you get to a successful harvest. Enjoy the ride. I'll stop in periodically to check up on you.

Hey guys, good to see you all here. A couple of you are new to me, so an extra special hello to you. I'll get to know you better as we watch Rastas impress himself growing the best cannabis he's ever smoked.

Rastas, have you determined yet whether you respond better to sativas or indicas? Are you exploring higher CBD levels, or have you found that higher THC are more beneficial? My impression is that you're so new to this that I'm speaking Greek to you. Am I correct? If so, I'll keep my eyes and ears open as I search for topics for my study hall. If I hear anything about treating bipolar I'll be sure to make note of it for you. We should be able to figure out what works best for you.

Thanks so much for joining me! It's great to have so many wise heads on board. I honestly do not know which is best. I touched on it when I posted in your journal, but where I am it's very hard to buy a particular strain of cannabis unless you know the grower. I prefer the indicas at night, but i do have some Juicy Fruit at the moment and that is a 50/50 hybrid of Afghan/Thai. Wowee! The sativas make you feel so good! I will buy a medical strain soon with a very high CBD content and experiment with that too. Eventually I would like to have a few grows going or at least a 3 light rotation.

 

[Rastas]

This is how she'll be for a couple of weeks hopefully.

This is how the ventilation is set up now. You can see how the air gets pumped straight through the middle.