Bckush's First Grow - Soil - Mixed Bag - Autos & Who Knows What Else - Dec 2016

[bckush]

Hello everyone and welcome to my first grow.....well maybe that's not quite true...I grew up around cultivation of cannabis, had a few family members that were personal growers so I do start this journal with some good knowledge of the plant, lighting, and the basics of growing. I know that I will make some mistakes along the way, that's part of the process, but hopefully with the vast knowledge and experience of the members on this site it can be what I would consider a successful first grow.

I know this is going to be a lengthy first post but i'm 15 days into this grow and this may take a bit....here we go. For my first grow I really felt like I needed to keep it simple and not put alot of expectations on the end product. I feel that if I can do that and get the help I may need from the community in the end I will at least have something respectable for a first grow. How much, how good, we shall see in the end. I hope that some may find this grow interesting, informative, and a good read. I would really be stoked if something in this journal was helpful to someone else.

Goal number one: KEEP IT SIMPLE

Here are the specs:

Cabinet is 36" x 32" x 41" tall
AH 190 cfm fan
Phat 4 inch carbon filter
8 x 55w pl-l ( 27k and 65k ) I know i'm going to hear about this ( i know i know hps this led that ) the majority of this was salvaged from a local shopping center remodel with permission....its amazing what you can get if you just ask they would rather give it to you than carry it to the dumpster....cost of lighting $45

soil is ff happy frog mixed with about 25% perlite
nutes: ??????

light schedule: 20/4 veg

Goal #2 Have fun and meet people...follow their grows...we all love the same plant no matter how we grow it.

Strains: Wow this is really a mixed bag of stuff going now ( sour d, birthday cake kush, and some general bag seeds) with some autos on the way ( gdp, caramelicous, and pineapple kush ) originally the autos were suppose to be here at the start of the grow but due to my bank being ##### it took 16 days for the transaction to clear. They are on the way and i should get them maybe this week. All the general bag seed is expendable, more of a dry run kind of thing...they have another home to go to. These are the ones I get to do some experimenting on until the autos start going and go... here ya go you can have these...lol

The cab is not 100% complete but should be by end of this weekend. I need to move the fan and filter outside of the cab to maximize all the space. Only 4 bulbs on at the moment, going to turn the other 4 on soon.

Some pics at the beginning, pre-germ some seeds in wet paper towels and zip lock on 11-17. Turned on the lights on 11-21 and put seeds in starters with hf mix.

The one on the left is a seed I pulled from a bag of sour diesel the others are unknown at this time. They are bag seed from some pretty good stuff that i have saved over the last couple of years.

Gotta take a break, be back soon with some more pics and posts and bring this grow up to date so I can start asking some questions.

 

[GanjaNative]

re: Bckush's First Grow - Soil - Mixed Bag - Autos & Who Knows What Else - Dec 2016

Looks alot better than my set up, so far i got around 700w on them but the box is still being made bit by bit hope to see your plants grow

 

[SlantEye]

Awesome I love watching these micro grows. Do you think youll have enough room for all those?

 

[bckush]

Re: Bckush's first grow/ soil /mixed bag / autos and who knows what else/ Dec 2016

Thanks GanjaNative, Are you running a journal?

Slanteye thanks for stopping by. Read the following

Here are some more pics of the grow so far and some vitals


this is 7 days from lights on....new edition on the left, my wife pulled a seed from a fresh bag of birthday cake kush. I soaked this one over night and then paper towel etc. On the right, Sour diesel at 6 days old. Everything else is bag seed. A couple of the seeds are from unknown strains maybe one seed in 4 oz or so..some kick ass weed. The others are... who knows. Some aren't going to make it .

So far things seem the norm, cab is running pretty smooth. Rookie learning curve....I feel I may have been better off just going from ziploc to solo cups and skipping the starters. With fresh seeds of known strain I shouldn't have a dying off problem. Some of the seeds I used could have been up to 15 yrs old or so. I started with 4 germ bags. first bag had seeds at least 15 yrs old.I put about 50 of those in a bag, not one spouted...not surprised at all..second bag had seeds between 5-10 yrs or so, another 30 or so...had 3 sprout...third bag had seeds that were less than 5 yrs old, most as recent as 2 yrs, virtually all sprouted. forth bag had the sour diesel and 3 unknown seeds but the smoke was I kept the diesel separate from the unknown ones.


First weeks temps were between 58 and 84 , by the way the cabs intake is from the garage right now so intake is ambient outside air. It ran cooler at night than i wanted so I put in reflectix and temps come up to avg. 65 - 86..great....not so fast....

Day 9.... I transfer some to solo cups and sadly had to pull a few and some had germed but never made it out of the soil, i'm thinking those may have the few from the old bag. I now have 14 plants...almost all will go to a new home...I get to choose the few who stay.

Back right is diesel at 8 days and you can just see the bckush sprouting in the clear solo cup. The ones in the starters im going to put in to cups in a day or two. Trying to keep them small...those 6 one of which had some mess up leaves...it produced like half leaves...really stunted, I think you may be able to see it in the pic, those came from probably one of the most grosses bags of smoke I ever had. Some really reg stuff from south of the border.



Here's where the not so fast comes in. Around day 12 we had a warming trend and outside temps rose to near 90....I know right....88 in dec....so temps crept up...I cranked the fan up and managed to keep temps around 92....a little to warm im thinkin so I moved the off time to between 2-6 pm solved the problem plus they are calling for highs 50's and lows in the 30s in a few days so im sure i will battle low temps.

That brings up a question, since they are in veg would it be an issue to move the lights to 24 on, if the cab wants to run to cool?

Diesel at 8 days

Thanks again for stopping by....please....feel free to comment

 

[medgrwr541]

U should be fine switching from 20 to 24 hrs. Personally I always run my lights 24 hrs for the first couple weeks then switch to 18/6 if I'm starting from seed.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[bckush]

Day 14

Not much to say...cab is running good, the weather has me on my toes with cab temps...outside, 87 one day 56 the next. I am able to keep in a good range so far between 62 and 84. Waiting on lamp sockets to light the other 4 bulbs.

They look pretty healthy to me.....anybody??

Sour diesel at 13 days...growth is really starting to kick in

SD with birthday cake coming along in the background

I haven't stated yet but watering with 6.5 ph water with runoff 6.7-6.8 That seems good right

Still waiting on seeds..........

Another question.....Right now the plants are easily moved in and out of the cab and I have been putting them outside in direct sun for 2-3 hours a day when its nice out....This isn't going to cause any problems is it....they usually go outside from around 10 am till about 1:30 pm or so then back in the cab for a few min then lights out till 6 pm


Thanks all...almost up to date....one more post

 

[SlantEye]

Lots of people do that with no problems. Just make sure it aint to cold out there when you put em out

 

[bckush]

Day 16

Not much to report...weather is cooling off. Worked on the light hood today while they were out basking in the sun, should have all lamps on tomorrow will post some pics of the hood tomorrow. The five plants left in the starters from the worst bag ever went to a new home today down to 9 plants at this time...still waiting on seeds....

Decided to take two plants and do some topping and pinching to see what would happen

topped this one....did I do this correctly? I think I should have cut a tad higher

This one I pinched 2-3 nodes worth of growth

I will post some new pics of these tomorrow. The one I cut doesn't look like it has grown , the one I pinched looks it didn't slow down.


How early can they start showing sex...not preflowers...but a point at which they are mature enough that you can make an educated guess?


Thanks again for following

Throw me a thumbs up once in while to let me know who's watching.

 

[bckush]

Lots of people do that with no problems. Just make sure it aint to cold out there when you put em out

What would be considered to cold? Today's high was 72... beautiful day for some natural sunlight however tomorrows highs are going to 52....a little to chilly I would think.

 

[bckush]

Sour d at 17 days

 

[bckush]

Major revelation

I was looking at the sour d plant above and in an effort to see where this plant was in development compared to other sour d at approximately the same age. Something interesting came up in my research.....Now i'm no expert but I do not think this is sour d. I believe sour d is a sativa dominate plant and this plant to me looks really indica dom.

Since the bag this seed came from was a very recent purchase, and a major reason I built the cab , was also in a labeled bag that said sour d , I called my friend and asked him what else did he have at that time I bought this. I went there for Sour d but I remember he had something else to offer. He said that he has only had two types in the last 3 months Sour d and Cookie dough. This was also confirmed by texts to my wife that told her he had that to offer and did she want that instead. Her response was get the sour d...ok hun.....now keep in mind my wife wouldn't know one kind from the other, neither would I for that matter. We usually only smoke one type of named weed....reg...lol

As customary....my friend and I smoked a bowl or two.. some of that being the cookie dough and watched some football and I remember making a remark that..Dam that was good.... To which he informed me, While lhfao, that I was so high from the cookie dough that I chose to buy the cookie dough and that we had switched the label from the sour d so my wife might not be upset (We had tried a sample of sd a few days before and she had really liked it.) Sorry love

This was also confirmed by a text from him a few days after, asking if she liked the cookie dough.

So I believe that I have made a mistake in saying that this was sour d and I have plenty of proof to convince myself that I have. The pic of the plant above sure looks more like cookie dough than sour d to me .

What should I do

 

[bckush]

everyone

Day 18 update

With last nights revelation I felt bad for calling something that it was not...my bad...honest mistake right

So I guess now I have a cookie dough and a birthday cake kush as my prides right now. This brings up a good question for a rookie.....Both of these seeds came in bags from a medical dispensary, I would think that it would be highly likely that these are fem seeds maybe....slight chance of autoflowers( that would be awesome ) but likely fem right. Anybody ????

Slanteye I learned a valuable lesson today. mid 50s might not be the best to take them outside. They seemed to be enjoying until I forgot about them and they ended up shaded for a while..bit windy. when I went to bring them in they did not look very happy about it. Super saggy and not well. Couple hours in the cab warming up and they look fine.

Finished the light hood today but discovered 2 bad bulbs...getting replacements this weekend.

Need to find some reflectors and install them for better light direction.

Finished some other small odds and ends such as finish putting up the reflectix, made a intake vent cover from a pc case and put a filter on the intake. A couple of small details left: forgot to put the prefilter on carbon filter and install a couple of small server fans around the cab to improve air movement.

Here is a shot from today

I think they are looking super so far.. ?????....bottom right is the cookie dough and just above the birthday cake is starting to come along nicely. cookie dough has shoots and branching coming out everywhere.

My auto seeds arrived yesterday however there is a slight issue with my order. I received two of what I ordered...pineapple kush and caramelicious but instead of gdp auto's they sent Mazar regular seeds. I contacted customer service about it and awaiting a response....If they dont stand by their word as having the best customer service and fix this I will not be using them again.

So I soaked a Pk and a caramel last night and by morning they had already cracked....gotta love fresh seeds....put them in paper towels and baggies this afternoon and will put them in dirt sunday or monday depending on how fast the tap root grows.


Thanks for following

Some pics coming tomorrow

 

[golfer420]

Looking great BC. Autos should start showing sex (little white pistils) around 21-28 days. Photos will start showing that about 5-7 days after you flip the lights to 12/12

 

[bckush]

Day 19

All the plants seemed to recover from cold mishap yesterday

Still haven't heard from the seed company I used.....I know, I know It's the weekend

This cabinet was built with intentions of growing autos, Now that I have my seeds ( well most of them ) this grow will become a little more focused. Up until now its been fun and I have sprouted and vegged around 16 plants. All are super healthy looking and doing well. 5 were sent to a new grower to start his garden with and I culled one that was kinda messed up. I have another garden to send any plants that I may not want that will be ready in about a week. I know for sure that I am keeping the cookie dough and the birthday cake as I believe they will be females if not at least I will have some good strong male genetics to get some pollen from.

That leaves 7 plants left...I may choose to give all seven away or I am thinking about keeping one or two. A couple are showing some really good growth below the canopy, are very short and stout and seem like great plants for topping and for a scrog. Others are a littler taller with little or no growth below. I have a little more time to decide and that brings up a question, At about what age will plants start showing pre flowers and will a 20/4 light cycle delay that?

Speaking of seeds

Pineapple kush

48 hours from getting them in the mail In the soil you go

Not as far along

Caramelicious

Don't you just love new babies

Dam I wish I had my GDP's

Any advice would be great

 

[bckush]

Day 28


Hello all, well here we are day 28 and the garden has changed a little bit. 5 more plants went to new homes and now the garden is taking shape. The only thing I hated about giving plants away is I still dont know the sex of any plants but the auto's. I don't know if I gave away male or females, but I kept the Plants that I wanted and hope for the best. They should be showing pre flowers soon I would think.

Here are some updated pics

Pinapple kush auto 6 days

Caramelicious auto 6 days

I know I should have put these into there final pots after sprouting but as this is my first grow I wanted to use this as a learning opportunity. Some of the other plants I grew to about 20 days inside clear solo cups placed in color solo cups to protect the roots from light, I did this so that I could watch root growth of the plants and I wanted to compare photo's to autos as they grew. There root system grows quite fast.

cookie dough 26 days. This plant has awesome growth. It is getting some training and some topping. She( i hope) looks like she would be great for a scrog.

birthday cake kush 19 days. This plant has struggled from the beginning,very sluggish, her color was way off. She is just starting to perk up since the transplant and now her color is way better. I did use a different starter mix for this one, might not do that again.

bagseed 24 days. She has been topped and trimmed since she was little, the result is this one is a very stout bush. She is beginning to explode also after the transplant.

One more plant but have to snap a pick and talk about that one.



Currently running 18/6 on the lights. Can any one answer this, Does light cycle 20/4 or 18/6 have any impact on plant pre flowers or it that determined by plant age and at what age.

Thanks all for any help.

 

[bckush]

Day 35

Hello all.....5 weeks into the grow and the cab is changing around a little. The auto's are coming along and have been planted in their final pots.

pineapple kush auto 14 days and topped

caramelicious auto 14 days

A shot of the cab

I installed an exhaust pipe from the top right of the cab up into the attic. I just need to move the fan and filter to the attic and all my space will be freed up.

I have 6 plants total at this time, the two autos above and a few good bag seeds. However my cookie dough plant

would appear to be a boy

Can someone confirm my suspicions about this?

The other three I have I just can't tell yet. I think two of them are girls and the last is not showing any signs that I can see yet.

A shot of birthday cake kush at around 27 days

It is showing some sex signs but just not developed enough to make a call yet but I think its a girl.

Unknown bagseed

This one has been topped and trained and is about 32 days old, I also think this may be a girl.

I think my plan going forward is to grow out the two auto's while scrogging two other plants if I end up with enough females. I will put the autos in the center and scrog a plant on each side. I just need 2 for sure females and the right shaped containers and I should be o.k. I have tried to keep the plants short for now And hope this will work out for this grow. I figure I can grow probably 4 plants max in this space, maybe just two with a scrog, maybe 3 autos. I really have no clue. The 4 plants are pretty much pot bound but I am trying not to replant until I can tell male from female, which I hope is in the next few days.

Thanks again for any help.

 

[dirt mcgert]

Subbed

 

[TimmyHaHa]

Hey man! Great grow so far!

I have a question for you - I read that you shouldn't do any HST like topping or FIMing on autos because they, in theory, don't have enough time to recover in the veg stage before they start going to flower. I'm also growing an auto right now and wanted to do some HST but was told by some guys at the grow store that I should only do LST on autos. So it'll be interesting to see how your autos come out compared to mine.

Looking forward to following your journal, bud!

 

[bckush]

Welcome to the grow.... Dirt and Timmy. I hope someone finds some use of it, if not it should at least be a lesson in what not to do,,,lol.



Timmyhaha......I have read the same but I started following a sticky in the auto flower section on topping and i'm pretty much sold on it. I decided to top one and not top the other and see. I have seen some done both ways and I think top once early and a little lst equals a nice producing plant all the way down. here is the link

Auto Topping Thread

Garden is doing well pics to come soon. I believe that of the six plants that I have I only have one male. The two autos should be female but the other 4 was unknown. I think 3 of those are females and one is def a male. I have pics to post for opinions on monday or so.

Thats all for now...happy growing

 

[Cannoisseuras]

Ok im here now....subbed