Toneking’s First Grow In Soil 2020: Multiple Hybrids

[Toneking]

Hello.
First attempt at this, so have mercy on me. Joined in progress after prompting in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Six plants going, from seed. Sprouted 12/5 and 12/6 2019, germinated via wet paper towels and then popped into perferrated Solo cups a half inch deep. All six broke the surface, but one Amnesia had helmet head and one Cali Orange had goofy looking cotyledons. More on her later.

Strains are Amnesia (2), California Orange (2), a White Widow, and an Alaskan Purple. All are hybrids, the White Widow and Alaskan Purple being Indica dominants, the other two are Sativa doms. Seeds procured from Seedsman, approximately three weeks of transit time from Spain to central US.

My set up is typical beginner 101. 48”x48”x78” tent. Two Chinese LED burples, one pulling 185 watts, the other pulling 615 watts. Yes, I fell for the “1000 watt” spiel on the initial lamp, only learning later that my space would be seriously underlit with just that lamp. I added the 615er (advertised as a 3000 watter of course) to get up to snuff, thinking I’ll eventually upgrade and add another tent, effectively giving myself a veg tent and a flower tent. Yes, I’m THAT addicted already.

Medium is FF Happy Frog, stock, straight from the bag into 5 gal smartpots. Seedlings moved into these pots around the time the leaves cleared both sides of the Solos. No issues noted below decks, all six had filled the Solos with twisty white roots.

Temperatures have been between 77F and 50F, humidity very low originally (upper 20s to mid 30s), so I added a humidifier, and then it got moist here. Ha! Currently maintaining 55 to 65 RH with the occasional post-drink surge to 70 or so.

I have an oscillating fan in one tent corner, one of those tower thingamajigs, and I have an inline 4” tent fan/carbon filter rig with dryer tubing that I haven’t gotten around to installing yet. I have the FF trio of nutrients, have been adding the Micro and Grow at 1/2 strength every other watering cycle for the last 10 days or so. The girls seem to like it so far.

They got topped above the fourth node once I could get my scissors in there, and I still managed to lop off one side of the fourth node on one Amnesia plant. She hasn’t complained much, but looked a little lop-sided until I bent her over and tied her down, just like her sisters.

More later. Tonight we drink, and some out of tent pictures shall be taken.

Happy growing and thanks for reading.

TK

 

[shottafire]

Hello.
First attempt at this, so have mercy on me. Joined in progress after prompting in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Six plants going, from seed. Sprouted 12/5 and 12/6 2019, germinated via wet paper towels and then popped into perferrated Solo cups a half inch deep. All six broke the surface, but one Amnesia had helmet head and one Cali Orange had goofy looking cotyledons. More on her later.

Strains are Amnesia (2), California Orange (2), a White Widow, and an Alaskan Purple. All are hybrids, the White Widow and Alaskan Purple being Indica dominants, the other two are Sativa doms. Seeds procured from Seedsman, approximately three weeks of transit time from Spain to central US.

My set up is typical beginner 101. 48”x48”x78” tent. Two Chinese LED burples, one pulling 185 watts, the other pulling 615 watts. Yes, I fell for the “1000 watt” spiel on the initial lamp, only learning later that my space would be seriously underlit with just that lamp. I added the 615er (advertised as a 3000 watter of course) to get up to snuff, thinking I’ll eventually upgrade and add another tent, effectively giving myself a veg tent and a flower tent. Yes, I’m THAT addicted already.

Medium is FF Happy Frog, stock, straight from the bag into 5 gal smartpots. Seedlings moved into these pots around the time the leaves cleared both sides of the Solos. No issues noted below decks, all six had filled the Solos with twisty white roots.

Temperatures have been between 77F and 50F, humidity very low originally (upper 20s to mid 30s), so I added a humidifier, and then it got moist here. Ha! Currently maintaining 55 to 65 RH with the occasional post-drink surge to 70 or so.

I have an oscillating fan in one tent corner, one of those tower thingamajigs, and I have an inline 4” tent fan/carbon filter rig with dryer tubing that I haven’t gotten around to installing yet. I have the FF trio of nutrients, have been adding the Micro and Grow at 1/2 strength every other watering cycle for the last 10 days or so. The girls seem to like it so far.

They got topped above the fourth node once I could get my scissors in there, and I still managed to lop off one side off the third on one Amnesia plant. She hasn’t complained much, but looked a little lop-sided until I bent her over and tied her down, just like her sisters.

More later. Tonight we drink, and some out of tent pictures shall be taken.

Happy growing and thanks for reading.

TK

I’m gonna tagalong from the start.
sounds like you have a good plan of attack and your keeping it simple.
Should be a fun grow to watch

 

[Toneking]

Thanks for joining. I hope it’s interesting on some level.

 

[shottafire]

You need to add a link in your signature so people can find you easier. There is a tutorial on here somewhere

 

[Toneking]

Thirsts have been quenched and two tent sisters got undergrowth trims. We fed tonight, again using 6ml of FF Micro and 6ml of FF Grow. The trimmed girls got half a quart extra each, running off a little more than I’m used to. We’ll see how they recover.

I mentioned earlier that one Cali Orange sprouted with goofy cotyledons. She has continued to produce oddball foliage, and I was tempted earlier to post her picture in the grow forum seeking advice, but I have decided to just LIFTA and see what she does. I haven’t trained her, and probably shouldn’t have topped her either. She appears genetically stressed enough already. If I can figure out how, I’ll load pictures of her.
For comparison purposes, here’s the other Cali. The other five all resemble this next one, all germinated together, all have had the same soil, same lighting, same everything. I told Mrs TK that I have five pot plants and one rutabaga.
Quite a difference. They smell a lot alike though. Maybe NOT a rutabaga after all.

The plan is probably at least three more weeks of veg, and more undercarriage trimming if the first two don’t object too much. Topping as required to keep the canopy consistent, then flipping the first or second week of February. Strain specs have all these strains flowering 55-63 days, so I’m assuming 8 or 9 weeks minimum.

I’m really enjoying this so far, and have fairly low expectations since it’s my first time around. Any yield will just be a bonus - the experience and the opportunity to learn a bit about this phenomenal plant is the true benefit here.

Happy growing, and thanks for reading.

TK

 

[Toneking]

You need to add a link in your signature so people can find you easier. There is a tutorial on here somewhere

Thanks - good idea. Another thing to figure out. Ha!

 

[Silverfox125]

Saving my seat. I’ll catch up and be ready for the show!

Glad you made a journal!

 

[Toneking]

Welcome aboard Silverfox. I just read through your first grow - very nice indeed. I’ll be tickled pink if I do half as well as you did.

 

[Silverfox125]

The first grow is definitely a learning experience. I know you’ll do great.

 

[cr8grow]

Good luck on your first grow!

 

[Zincite]

I'll sit in on this grow, looking good so far.

 

[Toneking]

Thanks and welcome aboard. I’m honored and humbled every time someone shows up, and I end up falling down the rabbit hole reading everyone’s threads.

 

[Toneking]

I took a quick peek at my lovelies this morning before heading off to work, and everyone had perked up after last nights trim and drink.

Two, however, have chomp marks readily visible on upper leaves. Ut oh. I’ll post pics later.

 

[shottafire]

Your in good hands here

 

[Toneking]

Yes indeed! The level of support and expertise here is nothing short of astounding

 

[Zincite]

Lil chomp marks wont hurt to much.

 

[Toneking]

Some random thoughts here, gathered after reviewing a few of your threads and journals. I had a few “light bulb” moments, where the blatantly obvious miraculously appeared in my synapses.

Light bulb moment #1 - my LST technique sucks.

Light bulb moment #2 - pulling the girls OUT of the tent makes working on them a ton easier.

Light bulb moment #3 - I have a couple too many plants in my tent for...

Light bulb moment #4 - I need to work a screen into this grow.

I’m thinking I can lose the rutabaga and one Amnesia, leaving me with one plant of each strain to work with. I bought feminized seeds, but also understand that that’s no guarantee I won’t have a male or two in the group. Then I could fashion a screen perhaps 36”x36”, leaving room for my tower fan and dehumidifier and making it marginally easier to water and prune the remaining plants in my 48”x48” tent. Also considering that this approach might minimize the long term effects of my rudimental LST efforts, since I could tuck and weave to make a nice, uniform canopy.

Being a rookie, I assumed originally that I’d be better off with as many plants as possible, and six is the legal limit in my state, so that’s how I got here. In retrospect 6 weeks later, maybe not the smartest approach.

Comments and ideas most welcome at this point.

Thanks for reading, and happy growing.

TK

 

[Toneking]

Lil chomp marks wont hurt to much.

Thanks. I’ll get some pics up in a bit. I’m hoping I don’t have a serious critter issue.

 

[Rhys777]

Hope you don't mind, newb grower here but I'll be jumping in to follow along and learn a thing or two

 

[Bluesunshine]

Some random thoughts here, gathered after reviewing a few of your threads and journals. I had a few “light bulb” moments, where the blatantly obvious miraculously appeared in my synapses.

Light bulb moment #1 - my LST technique sucks.

Light bulb moment #2 - pulling the girls OUT of the tent makes working on them a ton easier.

Light bulb moment #3 - I have a couple too many plants in my tent for...

Light bulb moment #4 - I need to work a screen into this grow.

I’m thinking I can lose the rutabaga and one Amnesia, leaving me with one plant of each strain to work with. I bought feminized seeds, but also understand that that’s no guarantee I won’t have a male or two in the group. Then I could fashion a screen perhaps 36”x36”, leaving room for my tower fan and dehumidifier and making it marginally easier to water and prune the remaining plants in my 48”x48” tent. Also considering that this approach might minimize the long term effects of my rudimental LST efforts, since I could tuck and weave to make a nice, uniform canopy.

Being a rookie, I assumed originally that I’d be better off with as many plants as possible, and six is the legal limit in my state, so that’s how I got here. In retrospect 6 weeks later, maybe not the smartest approach.

Comments and ideas most welcome at this point.

Thanks for reading, and happy growing.

TK

TK, not that experienced myself did one grow a few years back and did fine.
I tend toward thinking that if you have room for two in a 48 x 48 you probably have room for 4.
I wouldn't be chucking anything until I see how the space is working out after you flip and see how the space is going you can then decide what stays and what goes with a bit more to go on,, that's my gut feeling anyway!