Xlr8's PPP and Snow White grow cab journal 2009

[Xlr8]

Hi all - I thought I would attempt to journal my first grow - first of all, I welcome constructive feedback, and feel free to give any valuable advice you might have here!

A few details -

Really only trying to provide for myself, so this is small scale. I'm starting with PPP and Snow White for this first attempt... Gonna dive in and try hydro.

Using a BC Northern Lights Mothership with Roommate upgrade (Roommate upgrade allows flowering in the cabinet as well - hps bulb). Cab uses 400 watt MH for veg and 400 watt hps for flowering... Similar to the bloombox, but with out the separate chamber, and a bit smaller.

Germination - 5 seeds total (2 SW and 3 PPP) Papertowel method: folded paper towel into 4ths, used distilled water (PH around 6) to keep the towel moist, almost completely wrung out. Put seeds in middle. 1st SW seed showed taproot within 24 hours, 3 others within 36 hours. One PPP didn't show taproot. Used large plate with bowl covering damp towels with seeds and set this on cable box. Measured temperature fluctuated between about 79 and 83 degrees. Mostly around 82... Worked great

I'm using rapid rooters to start seedlings under dome, and then thinking I'll put them into hydroton afterwards.

More info and pics to follow...

 

[Xlr8]

Ok to get up to speed:

Day 3: Planted all seeds into rapid rooters — inclucing 1 that didn't pop. 1st SW seed sprouted up and shed it's casing within about 6 hours. Put everything in cab with 400mh aircooled lamp — currently about 2 feet away

Day 4: 1st SW now about ¾ inch tall, showing first real growth of leaves, 1 PPP about ½ inch tall, showing leaf growth. 2nd SW and one PPP have broke the top, but not opened. Seed casings were removed from PPP (1) and (2) and SW (2) using a sterilized tweezers and a steady hand. 3rd PPP has not broken through rooter — may be a dud... All emerged seedlings are showing a tap root through bottom of rapid rooters already — the early rising SW is through about ¾ inch already. Apparently I had 1 dud PPP.

 

[Xlr8]

Here's where we're at now with some pics:

Both Snow Whites:

This one is having trouble opening - it's kinda stuck together...

1st PPP, also has some seed gunk still stuck to it - tried to carefully remove it, but got kinda paranoid about screwing it up:

Here's a shot of both PPP:

The healthier looking PPP has a twisty root - seed got turned around?

Temps are typically around 71 outside cab, and 78 to 80 inside.

I'll try to keep this going - thanks for any helpful insights!

 

[pan4gold49]

Nice start you babies are looking good.
Best of luck with the hydro.

Pan4

 

[Xlr8]

Nice start you babies are looking good.
Best of luck with the hydro.

Pan4

Thanks Pan!

They do seem to be doing well, I'm just not sure whether I should be concerned at all with the one that is stuck together...

 

[Xlr8]

Okay day 5 and roots were poking through all over in the rapid rooters, so I moved the rooters from the dome to the net pots with hydroton. I am currently giving them a real mild nutrient mix (about 290 ppm of sensi grow a&b in distilled water). I'm realizing that I have a few more nutrient purchases to make tomorrow as well, as I'm missing some things. But at this stage, I'm hoping this is good until tomorrow at least.

I'm hand watering with my nutrient mix and ph is balanced at 5.6

Just took the plunge and separated the stuck leaves on the one, think it went okay...

Couple of questions if anyone reads this and can help: How much should I be watering when I hand water (thought I'd wait a week or so before I started in with using the hydro tub), and should I be covering the rooters with the hydroton to keep in moisture?...

 

[Ms.Fox]

I really just made sure the cubes didn't dry out. If they felt dry, I added water. Good job on separating the leaves! They may look a little funny for a while. It almost looks like nute burn until they grow a new set of healthy leaves. ;-) + rep!

 

[Xlr8]

Thanks Ms. Fox. They do look a bit funky, but I'm optimistic they'll come around. I know you have a BCNL box too, have you tried putting an oscillating fan in there at all? If so how did you do it? Not sure where to run the cord and hate to cut into this thing... Really appreciate your help and insight.

 

[Ms.Fox]

I just ran the cord to the front of the box and carefully placed the cord in where the 2 doors meet. I don't have a pic of the whole thing, but I have a pic of the fan. It's a window fan.

 

[Xlr8]

Perfect Ms. Fox. That's the best I could come up with as well, but I haven't tried it yet. Not sure of the best time to add a little air movement. I'm wondering, should I wait, or make this more of a priority sooner rather than later... ?

Thanks again - you rock Ms. Fox!

 

[Ms.Fox]

Well thank you!

I really didn't need the air movement until my plants had some really dense buds. It was an attempt to keep mold from growing which I had a real issue with. I think adding in extra movement from the very beginning would be a good idea, and I'd try it just to see.

 

[noob420]

looks good xlr8... I am very interested to know how you like the roommate.. and also interested on how it is going to handle the smell.. Good luck with the grow... Subscribed to this one...

 

[Xlr8]

Thanks Noob420! I'll keep you posted on the smell, etc. too. So far I like it, but it's kinda early. The one thing I would say so far is it's louder than I thought. Not impossibly loud, but not quiet either. Like a loud refrigerator almost... The people at BCNL seem pretty cool and have already answered some questions for me - both for technical reasons and grow questions -even when I call fairly late at night. Can't beat that aspect of it. Overall I like it.

 

[Ms.Fox]

^ They also have live help on their site. ;-)

 

[noob420]

Any updates on your grow Xlr8?? very curious how the roommate is doing with the grow.. I hope it is going well for you

 

[Xlr8]

Okay here are some pictures from today... So far so good. I had a little trouble in the beginning (I think the plants stressed some from having to change nutrients - ran into problems getting Advanced Nutrients around here, so I switched to Dutch Masters. After a little stress (man it happens fast!) the new growth looks good to me. Roots are growing through the bottom into the reservoir very nicely and the air-stones seem to be doing their job. Right now they are getting Dutch Masters Gold 2 part with suggested additives at about 450ppm and seem to like it. Here's some pics - I'm open to comments or questions:

Here's the first Snow White:

And the second Snow White:

PPP #1 is looking pretty good:

This one (another PPP) was hit a little harder early on, but new growth looks good...

 

[pan4gold49]

Looking good

Very clean man.

Pan4

 

[Xlr8]

Wow - they're really growing fast now. I can't believe these are the same plants as 4 days ago. All of the new growth looks extremely healthy and green. It just started to smell yummy too. (not too much smell, but I can tell what kind of plants they are!)

I've had some issues with PH crawling up daily - I've had to adjust it slightly sometimes twice daily. It seems to climb pretty consistently to 6.1 and I have to adjust it back down to 5.5 - 5.6. From doing research here, though, I realize this is pretty common, and I think may be in part due to not rinsing the hydroton good before I started (live and learn). Temperature inside has been kept at around 76 degrees during the "daytime" and about 68 degrees at "night". Nutrients are at about 500 ppm right now, and they seem to be loving it.

I'd like some input: I've got fairly limited space height-wise (about 3 feet total) - - how close am I to switching to 12/12 and flowering? Thanks in advance for the input - as this is my first grow.

Here's all 4 of my pretty ladies:

A bit of a side-view:

Snow White #1

Snow White #2

PPP #1

PPP #2

 

[pan4gold49]

Nice growth.
Love that Dutch Master Gold.

Pan4

 

[illadelph0099]

any updates xlr8?? cant wait to see how the roommate turns out, ive been lookin for a good grow cab and narrowed my first choice down to the roommate so i cant wait to see it in action. Thanks for posting a journal on it!