Stealth - 130W CFL Veg - 400W HPS Flower - Bag Seed - Soil

[GreenmanQLD]

Hey Everyone,
I am extremely new to 420MAG and the journal process, now this is my third grow and I have decided to make my first journal for a simple grow. I appreciate any comments/help/advice/criticism you can offer, thanks for taking a minute to have a look!

Here are all the specs:

What strain is it? Not sure on the strain (nice smoke though)
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? Sativa dominant
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Veg
If in Veg... For how long? 3 weeks
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Highest quality organic vegetable soil with a '5in1' additive. No perlite
If soil... What size pot? approx 15 lts
Size of light? 130w CFL for vegging/ 400w HPS DIY cooled ducted
Is it aircooled? yes, multiple fans
Temp of Room/cab? 28-31 degrees c
Any Pests ? some small vinegar flies
No nutes being added at this stage, will use the GT bloom nutes when time is right.


DAY 21 from seed:

Here is my grow space which is a 1x1x2 tent from china very cheap around $100 AUD.

Here is the unhealthy female today 17/12/14 (just ingored for 2 weeks as I had other plants to tend to) I have just transplanted into the large pot and watered in with a bottle of spring water with a very light mix of seasol seaweed solution to prevent root shock.

Another closer pic of the female, I'm keen to see how she recovers under much better conditions.

This is the bottom half of my tent, as you can see I keep minimal clutter in the tent to prevent contamination.

This is the veg lighting i'm using Which is the Growlush 130w 6500k CFL with reflector, I have used this for veg before and was great. (i will post pics of the DIY COOLED HPS for flowering when we are a bit closer to that stage)

This is my DIY 100mm in-line cooling fan with ducting, the CFL doesnt really require this but with QLD temps reaching 32c+ it is sometimes required. (it will definitely be required once i switch the HPS on, but more on that later)

This is the DIY STEALTH ducting system I have made from some bit and pieces and some black spraypaint (internal view)

External View

I will be putting up pics every day or two, I look forward to sharing this grow with everyone and I really look forward to the feedback, advice and knowledge we can share with eachother.
thanks for subbing

 

[patman13mia]

dang man you got a sick setup!! i will also be getting into the 400 watt hps.. i will for sure be checking out your grow on the daily since your about 3 weeks ahead of me.. also intrested in this DIY 400 watt hps.. is it a cheaper route then buying online? if soo im down!!!

 

[GreenmanQLD]

Thanks so much man,
I bought this light before I realised i could have used the single CFL's like in your grow (which are better in my opinion) because you can manipulate each individual cfl around the plant and into the dark spots, so mine will require a lil bit more training to get max light to the bud sites as they start to show themselves.

The HPS im using is a really simple hood i bought from the hardware store and made some mods to suit the grow tent (which is a relatively small tent for 400w due to the heat, but i seemed to have overcome that with my fan system, ill post some pics for you in the near days

the total cost of the DIY cooled HPS cost me approx $90AUD with a few bits and pieces i had lying around ($10 dollars to buy).

Thanks again for checking out my grow!

 

[patman13mia]

hell yea man ill be standing buy to see all the pics or sure. i think i may go this route once i see how it all works.. i was just going to buy off line but i do like to make stuff myself. its just more fun!!

 

[Subnoise]

Who doesn't like pictures every couple days? Subbed

 

[GreenmanQLD]

UPDATES

This is the female looking a little healthier at day 23 from seed, there is some new growth appearing at the top and the leaves are changing color to a slightly deeper green.

Heres the PH read of my soil, which I am only watering when it looks fairly dry to an inch or two deep and also a shot of my grow temps and RH:

I have also added an additional CFL and i have a very small seedling under it at the moment.

 

[GreenmanQLD]

Here is todays UPDATE
Day 29 from seed:
She's finally looking alot healthier and I can tell the roots have taken with minimal shock,
the color is even deeper green and the plant seems to be drinking slightly more water, also notice the new growth at the top which i will be removing before the next update in an attempt to gain more main colas.

 

[BlackPolo23]

Are you going to top her? It's looking great!

 

[GreenmanQLD]

Hey Blackpolo thanks for checking out my grow dude
Yeah I'm thinking it would be a good idea to top or FIM, as i want as many even colas as possible. I'm considering even leaving the top to grow and just employing some LST to get the other stems to catch up once they appear. any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[BlackPolo23]

It looks like a sativa so it may be a little harder to start training but worth the effort IMO.

 

[GreenmanQLD]

Thanks for the tip man

 

[GreenmanQLD]

UPDATE: Day 30 from seed (recovering)

Just a few pics to compare to lastnight's update, just to show how much growth this girl is spewing out the top, I will top it once the lateral stems are more present.

 

[Subnoise]

Looking good love that sativa look.

 

[GreenmanQLD]

This is actually my first ever Sativa, for nearly 15 years iv only grown Indica so i'm a little green (no pun intended) lol.
Got any advice for topping or fimming sativa?

 

[GreenmanQLD]

I figured I'd post the pics of my DIY cooled 400w HPS fixture that i spoke of earlier in the journal, this cost me a total of around $90 AUD for the build which i believe is much cheaper than purchasing a new grow specific fixture
which would also have to include the purchase of a cool tube, ballast and fans etc...

I simply acquired a 400w HPS fixture with the on board ballast from a hardware shop for around $40 then I roughly measured and cut two holes into the top with my grinder which will a later fit my cool ducting,

I then went to my local glazier and had a peice of 3mm thick glass cut to the size of my reflector which conveniently had a slot to slide glass into that cost about $7 AUD.

I then purchased 2x Ducting tubes and a 100mm exhaust fan from the hardware shop and cut the shroud off with a hacksaw to fit into the ducting to make it a air-tight inline fan, so I then cut one of the ducting tubes in half and fitted the two cut ends onto the fan and have that on the outlet of the tent going to the top outlet on the window baffle, having this heat outlet at the top eliminates the rising heat being sucked back in to the bottom, which is my cool/fresh air inlet and as the tent is slightly air tight when I zip it closed the cool air is drawn in from outside the house.

I will then simply mount the HPS in the position of my current CFL light, insert the two open ends of the ducting into the holes I previously cut with my angle grinder and put the power for the fan on the same circuit as my light, afer running tests the temps are maxing out at 32.9 degrees celsius, which is pretty good considering the ambient temperature with sun exposure (at my location) is around 40 Degrees C (or 104 degrees F) ! which is difficult to manage is such a small grow space but this seems to allow me to use HPS,

I will test with this grow when its flowering time and keep updating on the "running in" of this lighting.


Thanks for having a look! please if you have any information you think may be handy, reply and subscribe!

 

[BlackPolo23]

Leave the fan leafs but cut around there to FIM. Removing the center shoot completely would be Topping .

 

[GreenmanQLD]

Thanks buddy, I think ill go with a fim in an attempt to get 4 main colas as opposed to 2, wish me luck, got a sweet update to add, will post soon, make sure you take a look as it is a interesting one. thanks again!

 

[GreenmanQLD]

UPDATE: DAY 35 from seed.

Explosive top growth! new lateral stems appearing everywhere, As you will see in the pics below I have added a 50w LED side light to help, Started a liquid nutrient feed today mixed with seaweed solution. so far so good, I am just waiting a little longer to FIM as i want the lateral stems to be more predominant, I have also started brewing my own beer with I will use to feed Co2 to my plant as it starts to flower, approx 1 week away from switching out the CFL for HPS and starting the 12/12 cycle.

Here are the latest pics:

Thanks for having a look.

 

[Subnoise]

Looking better and better with every update. Keep it up.

 

[GreenmanQLD]

So I decided to go with the FIM and its looking real good so far. thanks buddy! check out the latest pics too see the results