We Should K.I.S.S - Second Grow

[JGibs420]

K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple, Stupid!
(I'm the stupid one mentioned above)

Hi and welcome,
On my first grow I made many mistakes, one of which was starting a grow without planning and having equipment ready beforehand. Lighting being my biggest issue due to my location and absurdly high prices on them. For that reason I'm kind of limited to using CFL.

So now join me on my second grow as I try to cultivate decent buds from mystery seeds. I grow in a melamine cabinet that I picked up for around $25, the rest of my setup is also done in a way not to break the bank, I'm on an extremely tight budget. Thus I'm Keeping It Simple

Some information about my grow, my setup, mystery seeds and my plants
- As with my previous grow, I'm using bagseed: but this time some really good outdoor marijuana I got from an acquaintance a while back, so I have no idea about the strain or percentages. I do apologise for the lack of strain information.
- As far as memory serves.. it was Sativa..

Maybe on my Next grow I'll obtain a clone.

I actually named the seeds in order to track the different outcomes, want to see if seed selection has any impact (even though they're from the same bag)
(From left to right they were named [purely by appearance and only for my, and maybe your, entertainment] Dark Side, Gator, Middle Child, Song Sparrow, Scarface)

I put them in Jiffy Pots to germinate, wrote their names on it and the journey began

- Germination took 4 days, kept them nice and moist at all times.
- Currently in Veg, but technically only sprouted yesterday (18 July 2017) with #2 Gator popping it's head out first, followed by 1DS, 3MC, 4SS, 5SF surprisingly in that order, a few hours apart. They all sprouted between 01:00 and 22:00 on the 18th.
- They're in Jiffy Pots right now, but will be growing in a soil based medium (with some perlite / vermiculite) mix to be revealed as I transplant.
- Pot size tba

The light setup
- Doing 100% CFL lighting, for the veg beginning I'm using 2x40watt 6500K and 2x20watt 4000K
- For my cab size this works out to be about 60watt per Sqft over 2 sqft right now
- (upgrading the 20s to 40s or maybe even 85s when they get bigger)
(My previous grow I didn't have enough light during most of my grow, this time I know a little better)

- I have a separate (but attached) flower cab which is currently house to my first grow (7 week in flower)
- Air cooled with PC fans on 12V
- I'm constantly trying to optimize my grow cabinet, that's why I also have a build journal as I learn how to bettee my setup over time.

K.I.S.S


So just a quick recap
5 bagseeds, probably Sativa
2 sqft grow space
CFL spiral lights 6500K and 4000K
Soil based medium
1 day old sprouts


Thanks for coming, hope you'll join me for this adventure I'll leave you with my current flowering LST babies and a shot of my full melamine cab (different bagseed, lots of mistakes and a whole lot of learning)

Instead of moving my lights, I actually adjust the size of my cabinet using the adjustable racks (dont worry, light prooffed the flower box, no light coming in there)

 

[JGibs420]

Here they are now at about 30 hours old

 

[JGibs420]

Day 3, temperature is around 20'C, not much noticable or significant growth so I didn't bother with a photo.

Can't decide to keep lights on 24 vs 16/8 any opinions?

See you in the morning

 

[JGibs420]

I've decided to turn the lights off while I'm at work, I work roughly 7-8 hours, different shifts each day though so it wouldn't be a steady 16/8, would that cause problems? It would always be 8 hours darkness, but the lights on would vary from around 12-20 depending on which shifts I work.

I could probably get another timer for this veg cab, but is it really necessary?

They're about an inch tall now, first single leafs are getting bigger and the first 3 leave should pop out within the next day or two if I recall correctly on my previous grow.

 

[JGibs420]

Day 4

Kept the lights on today.. I'm unsure if during veg a constant light schedule is important or not?

Haven't watered them today, jiffy pot soil was still pretty moist. Don't want to start them off with over watering.

Temperature is at around 22C (72F)

First leaves have now grown bigger than the suckers and new growth forming.

At least they're looking healthy, let's keep it that way.

 

[JGibs420]

Halfway into day 5 of veg

Just watered the little ones, Gator is still ahead of the bunch; first one to really show signs of new leaves as well as taproot coming out the bottom of the Jiffy Pot.

Should I consider transplant now? Or is it still a bit too early? I'm planning on going directly to a 3 or 4 gallon pot?

 

[JGibs420]

So tomorrow I'll buy my potting soil and perlite.

I will probably mix it 70/30 soil/perlite.

On my previous grow I didn't have any perlite in my soil and used regular ground from outside.. needless to say I had some drainage issues.

Will also get some new pots seeing as my others I used in my current flowering were a bit on the smaller side and.. well currently in use..

 

[JGibs420]

I've transplanted the sprouts to bigger , and probably my final containers (they're almost twice the size as my last grow's pots, not optimal, but fits perfectly inside with some space for movement)

You might notice there's only 4 plants... No, I didn't step on one... Like last time...

One of my friends completed his grow cab recently, so I decided to give him Scarface (#5 in order to keep 1-4 a sequence). He'll be taking care of it from now on, will post updates as I get them.

So here they are in new pots.

Mixed Soil/Perlite at a 3/1 ratio (so 25% Perlite)

Decided to plant them more towards the side instead of dead center, that way if I do LST them, I have a direction to go without going out of pot diameters too much (as with previous grow).

You'll also notice that the light seems brighter bottom left than bottom right on this next photo.

I have 2x40watt 6500K bulbs over Gator (bottom left) and Middle Child (top right)

Then I have 2x23watt 4000K bulbs over Darkside (bottom right) and Song Sparrow (top left).

(Once again, the names are purely for my own entertainment and in no way indicate the strain of marijuana)

I'm trying to see the direct influence of wattage and Kelvin on these plants during the early stages.

Think it should be interesting to see.

Last notes: when the plants are a little bigger, will be DIYing a reflector to focus light instead of spreading out.

 

[JGibs420]

Day 7 Vegetation

Decided to rather DIY a reflector instead of doing the above, previously mentioned, "experiment".

So more focused light from the top on my vegging babies.

After the transplant, I think I might have given too much water in the pot, they seem overwatered and because of the size of the pot the soil stays very wet..

Might not need to water for the next week or so...

New leaves growing on top now, hopefully soon the growth will speed up.

 

[JGibs420]

Photo from yesterday, day 12

They're all coming along nicely, haven't watered again since transplant, Gator is still slightly drooped.. seems like I'm going to have a droopy plant in every grow at this stage haha.

Had some issues with heat the last few days in both my cabinets, sort of fixed for now, was a slight problem with my Lights getting hot and extraction not working as it should.

Might start giving nutes (after some research and looking at what I can find locally) when they're a little bigger. Want to get a better yield from this grow.

 

[JGibs420]

I watered the whole pot after transplant, as this is what I read (water after transplant being very important?) But I realize now that I gave way too much for such little sprouts.. I've only watered once (very little amount around root area) since the transplant.

Would it be a good idea to remove them from the pots, let the soil dry out and then replant them and only give a little water around the sprouts roots? My plants look pretty sick though so maybe disturbing them with that kind of shock is out of the question....?


They're not doing so well...
I did notice that my Lights may be a little too close... Leaf of plant was only about 1.5 inches from my CFLs... Moved them away another inch..

The leaves also feel dry and crisp... Especially on Gator.


Darkside, has little to almost no spacing between new growth.. too much light too close maybe?

Gator, leaves very dry and crisp, but drooping..

Middle Child, she just looks really weird, leaves not as dry as Gator but don't feel like I remember my previous grow's sprouts feeling. And she has some weird dark spots appearing.

Song Sparrow, warped AF, sucker leaves are turning yellow...

And today, day 22

In the meantime I've added some (minimal amount) ground up slow release fertilizer mixed with water. Applied once around the root area.

Also I've topped up the soil a bit.

They're growing a bit better, more quickly and healthier than previously.

Side note: my roots seem to be growing good! Sprout about 4 inches tall had a root coming out an 8 inch pot! (3 days ago already!)

 

[JGibs420]

Day 25

Recently added some fertilizer granules to Darkside to see the impact it would have, had some yellow around leaf edges which is practically gone now.

These photos were taken this morning. Growing speed increased slightly, no more droop, looking good!

Darkside catching up!

Gator looking snazzy as ever

Middle Child still looks different than the others? Or is it just me? Same seeds...

Song Sparrow straightened up, growing like a champ!

 

[JGibs420]

Updates

Day 29 (got myself a day counter app to help me remember what day it is haha)

Over all the grow is going much better.

Gave them each different amounts of water two days ago to test for over/under watering.

Darkside: 40 sprays
Song Sparrow: 50 sprays
Gator: 65 sprays
Middle Child: 85 sprays

So a big gap between Darkside and MC, all of them still looking healthy, no signs of over watering on MC... Needless to say it's soil took a bit longer to dry out on top.

I'm considering giving more water... With that 240 sprays I didn't even empty this small spray bottle. Meaning between all 4 of them they only received half the capacity.

Seems (after spraying out the rest of water) I get roughly 650 sprays out of the bottle. Between 4 plants that would be rounded to 160 sprays. The bottle is equal to 2 cups (475ml or 0.125 gallon or 1 pint)

Is 0.25 pint or half a cup water enough for these plants? Too much?


Darkside: really caught up to the pack, if it surpasses the rest, I will add slow fert granules to the rest of them in moderation.

Gator

Middle Child: Still the odd one out in my eyes.. looking different from the rest.. do giving names have an impact? Haha I don't know.

Song Sparrow: almost identical to Gator in many ways now.

 

[JGibs420]

Seems like it might have been a little too much. Slight drooping on them, but not too bad, will cut down on next watering session.

 

[bebecillo]

Looking good. Keep light schedule regular otherwise plants might stress

 

[JGibs420]

Just starting with Day 33

I've had lights on 24h for approximately 4-5 days now. Will be switching to 18/6 soon... Maybe...

DS, G and MC doing very well. SS looking a bit sad in the top left corner there..

Darkside (bottom left, previous runt of the group) has surpassed the rest, in both appearance and growth. Leaves are nice green and sticking straight out. This was the plant I gave slow release fert to.

I've now added approximately the same amount of fert to the rest of the plants and watered slightly, hopefully that will sort out Song Sparrow... For some reason it's just not feeling the need to grow straight: thin scraggly, warped leaves, curling leaves that are droopy. Some sort of discoloration appearing.. New growth is extremely thin as well..

 

[JGibs420]

Day 34 let the training begin!

I've decided to give a few different grow techniques a go with this grow in order to see which ones I prefer and exactly what the difference in total time from seed to harvest difference and yields will be.

Decided on:
Darkside: Topped
Gator: FIM'ed
Middle Child: No cutting whatsoever, just tie down
Song Sparrow: Main Lining / Fluxing (between the four of them, this to me was the only one right now I was willing to risk losing due to inexperience training)

I'm hoping I didn't start the LST too early, they weren't necessarily tall plants, but they were above 5th node already, working on the 6th. Internode spacing on all of them less than an inch.

Here's Darkside before the topping

And after topping, think I did a nice clean cut, shouldn't cause any problems.

Come over to the Darkside, we've got bondage!

I was able to bend her into this position immediately, more flexible than she looks!

Moving on..

Here's Gator pre-FIM

Aaaaand post-FIM (hoping I did it correctly, would love the 4 colas instead of 2) get ready to see some weird growth on this one as it gets older.

And Tied (tied one of the fan leave as well: it was over the new shoots)

Middle Child still looking stout, very tight nodes on this one, still looks different from the rest, broader leaves and not growing as spread as the rest. Same bagseeds (as I've said every time I mention her) so still no idea why she's looking different.

She got tied as well.

Last but not least Song Sparrow.. she's had some difficulties the last few days, but was brave enough to step forward and volunteer as tribute for Main Lining.

Topped and Stripped her down to the third node, and removed bottom growth as tutorials have shown.

(kept the 3 leaved fan leaf since she's still a bit small on the grow sites. No bondage for her yet. Also, she had red sap coming from the top above the 3rd... any explanation?

The edges of the twisty ties seem a bit on the sharp side though... I'm afraid they might cut into the stems... anyone see anything wrong with what I've done here? Any comments, critique or advice is welcomed.

Watered them again slightly after the procedures were finished; then popped them back in the cab.

 

[JGibs420]

Here they are a few hours later, taking the training like champions.

Song Sparrow in the top right, new shoots really taking off

A few of them (Gator especially -FIMed) have really tight nodes, I'm guessing this is a good thing but it makes it so much more difficult to access the little shoots and open them up to light.

Considering giving more water, I haven't watered them enough to get them running out the drain holes and after watering last night with the training, too soil is dry and only slightly moist 2 inches down.

 

[bebecillo]

This week you should see a growth sprout. Search for info about biodynamics or moon cycle (gardening by the moon and lunarium are great resources).

This week they will be thirsty too, just remember not to overwater and wait for soil to be dry if you put your finger inside it.

 

[JGibs420]

This week you should see a growth sprout. Search for info about biodynamics or moon cycle (gardening by the moon and lunarium are great resources).

This week they will be thirsty too, just remember not to overwater and wait for soil to be dry if you put your finger inside it.

I was thinking the same thing, probably wake up one morning and have them tickling the bulbs haha

I'll give them a few more hours before I water. Will keep track of how much exactly I give to record outcome