VLV's Experimental Soil Grow

[Viva La Vega]

This is my first grow, so it's going to be more of a learning experience than anything. I'm currently growing bagseeds just to get the ball rolling and to eliminate pricey mistakes. Here are the grow specs:

What strain is it? Unknown/bagseed
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Veg stage
If in Veg... For how long? Still seedlings
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor closet grow
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? As of right now, cheap Miracle-Gro seedling starter soil mix, mixed with perlite. I plan on going with a more reputable mix when I transplant
If soil... What size pot? 20oz styrofoam cups
Size of light? (1) 110w Tek 2 HO T5 6400K, (2) 23w CFL 2700K
Ventilation? Small desk fan

So since this is my first grow, I don't have everything I need to conduct the grow I want, so I will be continuously changing my set-up until I find a happy system.

As of right now, I have 3 seedlings, all of which are under a week old. I germinated 7 seeds in soil, but only these 3 sprouted (I suspect bad seeds).

I would like to pair my posts with daily questions to make this journal as informative as possible for all of the readers, so look for those please! I would really appreciate any and all feedback along the ride...

So, without further bullshitting, let's get green!

 

[Viva La Vega]

Here is a quick look at my current set-up in my veg closet right now...

My Tek 2 is about 8in from the tops of my tallest plant right now, and the (2) 23w CFL 2700k bulbs are just for a healthy spectrum

Left: Middle child; sprouted 9/12
Middle: Oldest child; sprouted 9/11
Right: Youngest child; sprouted 9/14

Daily Question: When watering, should I water until there is some run-off or is that too much at one time? I poured quite a bit of water in each of the 3 seedlings today but none of them had any run-off. Could that point to a drainage issue?

puffpuffpass

 

[Viva La Vega]

I've been extremely busy the past few days, so here's an update:

I switched out the (2) 23w 2700k CFL bulbs for 6400k bulbs. My seedlings (2/3) have been advancing slowly and it might be because of too much red in the spectrum? We'll see if there is any difference over the next couple of days.

I also watered all 3 plants this morning until run-off, it'll probably be another 3 days before I water again.

I made the terrible mistake of washing some excess soil down the shower drain when I first planted the seeds and now it's coming to bite me in the ass. I've been fighting off a Drain Fly infestation for the past couple of days. Since my grow room is in my bathroom closet the flies were in close proximity to my babies. I think I might have gotten the situation under control with no apparent consequences (plant wise). Here's a look at these little devils:

Here are all 3 of the girls. Notice the size of the outside plants compared to the middle.

A closer look at my main bitch, her nodes are coming in nicely!

Question of the Day: It's getting close to the time to transplant my tallest plant (currently 8 days old). What's an effective transplant solution? I've heard that a couple of drops of superthrive/gal works well and provides a nice growth spurt.

Thoughts?
puffpuffpass

 

[Viva La Vega]

Just got back from the store with a 1.5CF bag of FoxFarm Ocean Forest. I also picked up (3) 3 gallon smart pots. I'll probably transplant the eldest plant in a couple of days, and the others in about a week. Still looking for a proven transplanting solution, let me know what you think.

puffpuffpass

 

[J189RFC]

I personally wouldn't transplant just yet. It really should be out of seedling phase before having nutes added, transplanting, toping or lst'ing done to it. I would wait about a week before putting it in something bigger. You don't really need to add anything when transplanting, just take steps to prevent stress. Make sure she isint wet when taking her out, careful that you dont bend her too much or break roots. Water once in the new home and she will be fine. There are transplanting booster solutions out there and they should be used as directed. Myco is a natural root builder and lots of people here use it.

 

[Viva La Vega]

I personally wouldn't transplant just yet. It really should be out of seedling phase before having nutes added, transplanting, toping or lst'ing done to it. I would wait about a week before putting it in something bigger. You don't really need to add anything when transplanting, just take steps to prevent stress. Make sure she isint wet when taking her out, careful that you dont bend her too much or break roots. Water once in the new home and she will be fine. There are transplanting booster solutions out there and they should be used as directed. Myco is a natural root builder and lots of people here use it.

Should I gradually increase the pot size when transplanting or will the change from a 20oz. cup to a 3 gallon pot be okay? I've gotten conflicting answers on appropriate pot size.

 

[J189RFC]

Up to you really. I would probably not transplant it more than once or twice. I don't like the idea of transplanting large plants.

 

[Viva La Vega]

Alright thanks for the advice J189RFC!

Update: Everything is running smoothly right now. I think that the change from 2700K CFLs to 6400K CFLs was a good choice because the younglings seem to be loving it. Nothing else exciting to report yet, but hopefully things are going to pick up in a hurry!

puffpuffpass

 

[Viva La Vega]

The babies are progressing smoothly with no complications as of yet. I watered again this morning, I'm sticking to watering every 2-3 days for now. They'll get only water for another 2-3 weeks.

Here's a closer look at each plant:

This is my furthest along plant right now. She's showing signs of maybe being a three-bladed plant? Her nodes are sprouting up like clock-work. The transplant clock is ticking!

Here is my second oldest. Both of my youngest plants seem to be struggling with their second set of leaves. Notice the small curved leaf in the bottom front of the picture.

And lastly, the youngest. She is also having trouble getting past her gimped leaf. I'm expecting my two youngest to show similar signs of growth throughout their life. They appear on the verge of shooting up like my oldest, hopefully I'm right.

No question today, just let me know what you think of the babies so far! I'd really appreciate some more input from the community.

puffpuffpass

 

[Viva La Vega]

Just a quick update: I transplanted my tallest plant this weekend and it looks like everything is okay so far. I'll post additional pictures later. At first she was looking a little droopy, but this morning she was back to her perky self. Unfortunately, this morning I also discovered some discoloration on the leaves of 2/3 of my plants. See photos below...

I water every 2-3 days with water from the tap that I have left out in an open container for days. None of my lights are too close to cause any issues. When I was examining one of the leaves, the tip crumbled in my fingers. Also, if you can see, the cotyledon leaves on the plant above are also showing signs of yellowing as well as dark spots.

From what I've seen on Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial, it looks like it could possibly be either calcium def. or nute burn. Only thing is I haven't feed any of my plants yet so I know it can't be a burn. However, I do not have a pH meter or thermometer in my grow room yet so I can't completely rule those variables out either.

Please let me know what you think I might be dealing with!

puffpuffpass

 

[Viva La Vega]

Unfortunately it looks like one of my seedlings might not make it much longer. The discoloration is spreading and one of the leaves has rolled up on itself. At first all of the symptoms were only on the first set of leaves, but they are now spreading to the next level of leaves.


All of these pictures are of the most severely affected plant. My other 2 aren't nearly as concerning.

I have no clue what could be causing the issue. Does anyone have an idea of what it could be?

 

[David Bowman]

Is this grow still alive?

If so, please update us with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read the photo gallery tutorial: Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.