First Time Grower - Kotsotronic's Grow Journal 2016 - Advice Welcome

[kotsotronic]

After years lurcking in your forums for long,long time i decided to get out of obscurity and build my own closet and start my own crop because i think i can count on all of you guys and your fantastic job and advices you give.
So i got this seeds from a friend and i decided after 20 years of smoking ganja to plant my own medicine.
Specs :

Wooden Closet size :156cm (Height)(yeah its kind short) 177cm x 56cm (sorry for Metric system guys)

Lamp :Veg lamp-400w MH 6400k 30 cm cooltube w/o fan (i think i dont need a fan on tube cause the closet is placed out side and i can regulate the rooms temperature with the open enviroment factor temperature because its cold outside now.Winter is here )
2nd lamp for flowering-400w HPS 2000k 70-30 spectrum

Ballast : 400w HPS/MH

Fans : 16w 125mm x2 Located one on the upper right corner of grow box and the other one on the left bottom side.

Temperature/Humidity digital thermometer with probe.

Soil : Ph 6.0 80% with vermiculite
Perlite: 20%
Nutrients : Advancent Nutrients Ph Perfect Micro-Grow-Bloom

Strain : Mystery (i got seeds from a friend grower to experiment first before i buy some leggit from internet)


Day 1 : Germination (distilled water soaking 24 hours)
Day 2 : Place seeds on soaked papertowel
Day 4 : Plant seedlings in soil with 2 cm root - Watering-Place them under 2 x 25w Fluorecent lamps 24 hour cycle
Day 7 : Watering-Change the light from 24 hours to 18/6
Day 13 : Watering-Change Light from Fluoro to 400w MH, 18/6 cycle , 35cm above plants and vent - Room Temp 27 c Humidity 40% With light on - 14 c and 45% humidity with lights off (Observations : some signs of heat stress and light burns i think from the transfer and the low light level)


So...This is all the steps and Equipment i have so far on my project...
Please feel free to chip in with your advice and help in anything you see or you feel its not right..

Thank you all in advance

 

[GuttaCannabis]

cool I'll help as much as I can I still consider myself a newbie so I won't have all the answers but I'm sure other people will share there input during your journey

 

[GuttaCannabis]

if you can pull your light up about 12 inches that should help with you light burn issue a good way to check if light is to close is to put your four hand under the light for 30-40 second if its to hot for you hand it's to hot for your baby

 

[Emilya Green]

I will sign up to watch too, looks like there is still some room here in the front row! Of course you know we all want to see pictures, but sounds like you have had no problems so far.

Welcome to the forum kotsotronic, and good luck in your grow!

Emi

 

[Emilya Green]

Your soil also intrigues me, and it is going to have some very unique characteristics. Is this a special blend? Is someone you know using this mix? It will be very interesting to see how they have adjusted the way they water because of the vermiculite, but it should be very interesting. It almost sounds like something I would try.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

This does seem like quite a bit of vermicullite. How big are the individual particles of vermicullite and perlite? If they are not huge and chunky the biggest issue I see is with oxygen penetration to the roots and overall sogginess of the medium. I have done a 50/50 blend for ebb flow and hand watering, but never a 80/20 perlite/vermicullite.

I would still recommend a fan on the cooltube even if you are just exhausting inside the tent because an unvented cooltube will overheat and shorten the life of the bulb. It would be better to go bare bulb with reflector if you are not venting the tube.

Also what is your daytime and nighttime temperature? Is the cabinet insulated?

 

[buddha buds]

hey ! nice that uve started for yourself!!
few tips,
- during veg when they are small keep the mh light a good distance form the babies, i used to use that light , id start it at 35" from the seedlings and slowly bring down as they got older ....
-No need to feed until 1st week (use a misting spray bottle do damped soil few times a day first week) and intoduce feeding at lower strengths than said by the brands... Also do water,feed,water,feed,water ect.... make sure 1st 2 inches of soil dry out before next watering!! Make sure ur water always between 6.3/6.8 ph and correct ur ph after adding nutes.
-Your humidity is perfect for flower but would be better too raie to 60%for veg stage (a small dehumidifier will do the job) also 27 maybe abit too high withough CO2 .... buying a cheap co2 generator bag will be perfect , i use them -- CO2 EXHALE BAGS.
- Make sure you top (topping) the plant at about 2/3 weeks (check this out on youtube if you dont kwo abt it already )
- Watch as many videos as you can on all the different training techniques n youtube and familiarise yourself with them but , remeber to keep it simple and leeave time to recover after each bit of training.

But anyway u get the jist... experience is what u need so give it a few goes and im sure ull stat to understand their needs and habbits...

Giving "jorge Cervantes- the gowers bible" a read will be masively beneficial and will help u along with your crop...

GOOD LUCK !!!!

 

[kotsotronic]

Here are the photos of the project...

Thank you very much guys for your support and welcome to my First steps...i am really excited doing that step and having you as my precious advisors...seriously... Thank you all

 

[GuttaCannabis]

look good so far like the setup you got there one thing I would say I notice is it looks like you over did it on the watering hold back on the watering let the soil dry up alittle at this stage they don't take up water as much correct me if I'm wrong other growers

 

[kotsotronic]

This does seem like quite a bit of vermicullite.
Also what is your daytime and nighttime temperature? Is the cabinet insulated?

Vermicullite is at 10% as i read on the soil bag so it is a good 70% soil at 6 PH

Daytime enviroment temp at 15-10c - Nightime enviroment temp at 7-4c
Daytime Closet enviroment temp at 27c - Nightime closet enviroment temp at 14-16c

Closet is Wooden made and sealed like a Hatch

 

[buddha buds]

completely agree with gutta......
also make sure that no light can get into your cabintet.. ths is crucial during lights out

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Vermicullite is at 10% as i read on the soil bag so it is a good 70% soil at 6 PH

Daytime enviroment temp at 15-10c - Nightime enviroment temp at 7-4c
Daytime Closet enviroment temp at 27c - Nightime closet enviroment temp at 14-16c

Closet is Wooden made and sealed like a Hatch

Ok cool, the verm % is fine then. The nighttime environment could be a bit warmer, I usually don't like to drop under 65F (18.3C). I think you may be ok but higher would be optimal. Low soil temps can lockout some nutrients like Nitrogen. If you can insulate a bit with some foam it may help you a bit in this regard. Daytime temps are just perfect as is for you. Definitely get some foam for the floor of the cabinet, this will help insulate the soil container from the cold floor.

 

[kotsotronic]

Your soil also intrigues me, and it is going to have some very unique characteristics. Is this a special blend? Is someone you know using this mix? It almost sounds like something I would try.

I made this blend based on the research Ive done all this time and not having any personal experience.(Almost put woodash but water ph is already up

 

[Emilya Green]

interesting mix, definitely. Well, some characteristics of typical container grows are going to change a bit for you and your vermiculite... but you are going to have to do this exactly right to be successful.

Thank you for the pictures, and in them we can definitely already see signs of watering too often... the classic new growers mistake. Your soil is going to make it even harder for evaporation to remove water from your system, and your plants are going to have to do all the hard work. It is going to be imperative for you to let those containers dry out completely between waterings, top to bottom, but done right your plants should love it.

Also, you have a soil that when dry will revert back to 6.0 pH. This is a very good thing, if done correctly, but next time I would recommend adding maybe a teaspoon of dolomite lime to 5 gallons of soil, to help raise that base pH of your container mix to within the 6.3-6.8 range... but this will work. You should never have trace mineral deficiencies in this soil. Your biggest problem with that pH will be getting your magnesium, and you are going to have to be careful to water at 6.5 pH with everything you give the plant, to temporarily raise the pH up to the point that magnesium is mobile in the soil.

Other than that, you have created an interesting soil that is going to hold many times its volume in water and nutrients. Your wet/dry cycle will be longer than most, but that is ok, because the entire container is suffering from the same lack of water table problem. Done right, this mix can and should produce a very superior root ball, but done incorrectly by keeping that medium wet, you will quickly kill plants in this mix. Learn the lift method now, and trust it... your plants have never seen anything like that space age, gravity defying moisture holding vermiculite... and it is going to be interesting watching you adapt them to it.

 

[kotsotronic]

hey ! nice that uve started for yourself!!
few tips,
-Your humidity is perfect for flower but would be better too raie to 60%for veg stage (a small dehumidifier will do the job) also 27 maybe abit too high withough CO2 .... buying a cheap co2 generator bag will be perfect , i use them -- CO2 EXHALE BAGS.

But anyway u get the jist... experience is what u need so give it a few goes and im sure ull stat to understand their needs and habbits...

Giving "jorge Cervantes- the gowers bible" a read will be masively beneficial and will help u along with your crop...

GOOD LUCK !!!!

thank you very much for your time.Ok....so now i droped the rooms temp at 24c and humidity at 47%...
Jorje Cervantes is awsome ive wached his videos and read his book...but i think i will try NVclosetmedgrower' s series cause he explains alot and make LST and Supercropping looks like childs play..Thank you very much...apreciated

 

[nivek]

Uploading Photos: A Video Guide

that is a link to a video on uploading pics etc

best of luck with yer en-devour,,

check my bottomest link there for other member resources, cheers

 

[kotsotronic]

interesting mix, definitely. Well, some characteristics of typical container grows are going to change a bit for you and your vermiculite... but you are going to have to do this exactly right to be successful.


Also, you have a soil that when dry will revert back to 6.0 pH. This is a very good thing, if done correctly, but next time I would recommend adding maybe a teaspoon of dolomite lime to 5 gallons of soil, to help raise that base pH of your container mix to within the 6.3-6.8 range... but this will work. You should never have trace mineral deficiencies in this soil. Your biggest problem with that pH will be getting your magnesium, and you are going to have to be careful to water at 6.5 pH with everything you give the plant, to temporarily raise the pH up to the point that magnesium is mobile in the soil.

Other than that, you have created an interesting soil that is going to hold many times its volume in water and nutrients. Your wet/dry cycle will be longer than most, but that is ok, because the entire container is suffering from the same lack of water table problem. Done right, this mix can and should produce a very superior root ball, but done incorrectly by keeping that medium wet, you will quickly kill plants in this mix. Learn the lift method now, and trust it... your plants have never seen anything like that space age, gravity defying moisture holding vermiculite... and it is going to be interesting watching you adapt them to it.

Really apreciate the tips you've given me and already put them to action...i have only made the soil blend that needed for the seedlings and i was waiting to see how they are going in case they,by any chance,die cause of my amature skills and overprotectiveness (this is my first children after all and i think i am allowed to be a little overprotective with em even though they are mystery seeds )so i wont waste a good, by my standards, soil...So i was thinking of getting some dolomite lime to add on the transplant mix.

 

[kotsotronic]

Ok cool, the verm % is fine then. The nighttime environment could be a bit warmer, I usually don't like to drop under 65F (18.3C). I think you may be ok but higher would be optimal. Low soil temps can lockout some nutrients like Nitrogen. If you can insulate a bit with some foam it may help you a bit in this regard. Daytime temps are just perfect as is for you. Definitely get some foam for the floor of the cabinet, this will help insulate the soil container from the cold floor.

I think i wont need the foam because the closet's bottom is about 15cm from the ground and have no contact with it so maybe no need for foam...And also i count on the wooden floor of the cabinet which is bad contactor for heat so the cold ciment wont effect the bottom's temp...However i foamed the back of the cabin which was one sheet of wood not thick at all ...I also regulate the Daytime Temp at 24.5 humidity at 45% and nightime Temp at 17 with humidity at 45%-47%..Soils Temp at 19-20c but i will have to check again with this Temp after the lights turned on cause now they are sleepin

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Cold will steal heat even through wood. Think about sitting your butt on a wood bench in winter. But put even a thin piece of foam under your butt and you become much more comfortable.

 

[kotsotronic]

Cold will steal heat even through wood. Think about sitting your butt on a wood bench in winter. But put even a thin piece of foam under your butt and you become much more comfortable.

Thank you for spending your precious time.
I post a photo so you can see how far is the closet from floor

i dont know if you can see the gap between the floor and the bottom of the cabinet...it is a good 20cm far from floor standing on wooden legs...