Phototropic's First Grow: Pure Power Plant In Soil Under CFL

[Phototropic]

Hey folks. Here's a quick breakdown of my setup. I'm finishing week 4 now so I'll just drop a bunch of info here and some pretty pictures to catch you all up.

Strain:
Pure Power Plant - feminized indica dominant hybrid from Nirvana Seeds

Soil:
Fox Farm - Happy Frog

Distilled water for first 2-3 weeks.

Nutrients:
"Dyna-Grow: Foliage-Pro 9-3-6"
Started at 1/8 strength (0.3 per 1/2 gallon water) during third week. I had planned for starting on the fourth week but now i know what a nitrogen deficiency looks like. I think if i had transplanted earlier then maybe the healthy soil would have carried me through but being in the tiny 4" pots, i think the ladies sucked the soil clean and needed nutes.

pH of water after nutes mixed in tested to be around 6.8-7.0
Using simple drops and color chart. Will invest in electronic tester for next grow but my water is pretty neutral out of the tap. Second mixing i did add a few drops of pH Down to get around 6.5 (yellow that is...)

I usually water twice a day. I have always had bad luck overwatering house plants so i am opting to water often rather than a lot.

Germination:
Scarified seeds in a match box with emery board glued in per the classic Growers Handbook by
Left overnight in water.
Used jiffy pods. Soaked to puff up, placed seed in 1/8" or so. Took one seeds 3 days the second about 4-5 to break the soil and stand up. Went into my box under one 6800k light at 16/8 right away. Green came in fast.

Temperature:
This has been my biggest fear and anxiety. I am in a warm space with low ventilation. The area outside the box is large but closed. Temperatures only get as low at 75 in the summer and can go as high as 115 on a hot day. Usually I'm around 88-95. The girls seem to be handling it well, i have a lot of air movement inside the box and across the leaves.

Lights:
CFLs - running (x4) 6800k and (x2) 2700k in 3 scoop lights with splitters. Built up to this; they shared 2 6800k for the beginning, then i added 2 more, then shortly after i added the 2 2700k to round out the spectrum a little. I keep them close, though doing this with comfort took some time. I was very worried about burning but they really don't get hot unless you're touching them.

Calling the seedling stage from cotyledons opening to last night when i topped.

Considering myself in the vegetative stage now. At this point I'm looking at 5-7 fingers, fresh undergrowth at the lowest leaves. Snipped away oldest leaves to open new low growth to light. Using nutes daily now. Plan to start LST once the new chutes come up from the topping. Ladies are sitting in 6" terra-cotta pots right now. Will transplant to 5gallon smart pots (felt bag pots) after a couple more weeks.


I check on my girls every morning before work, every evening after work before lights out and my wife usually peeks in for some pictures and to check the soil midday. I'll do a post on my box next, nothing too fancy but i put a lot of work into it so I'll definitely be sharing. Looking to upgrade to a larger "room" style space eventually.


I do run a wattage meter so i can post energy and costs later if there's any interest.

I hope people read/enjoy the journey. It's pretty exciting for someone who has enjoyed other peoples grow labors for half his life, to finally be taking it into his own hands.

Picture time!!
Feel free to ask timeline questions and details. I have many more pics, close-ups etc. The nutrient deficiency should be pretty obvious, especially in Ethel.


Lucy:

Ethel:

 

[hologram]

You seem to have really done your research my man. The grow looks fantastic, the plants are looking healthy. Don't worry too much about the N deficiency because the plants really bounce back once you correct the nutes. My plants got hammered with N deficiency for 2 months before i fed them nutes. This was before i knew the info i do now about growing. Anyways good luck with the grow

 

[hologram]

I was just thinking, maybe add 40% perlite and 10% vemiculite for better drainage because you water 2 times a day. A combination of these 2 and Root feed microbes is known to work extremely well with Happyfrog as a medium.

 

[Phototropic]

I was just thinking, maybe add 40% perlite and 10% vemiculite for better drainage because you water 2 times a day. A combination of these 2 and Root feed microbes is known to work extremely well with Happyfrog as a medium.

Thanks for the feedback. Definitely appreciate any advice thrown my way. I was preparing mentally for this for a few months but still have constant doubts and fears. I hate putting work into something and watching it fail.

Got feminized seeds because i didn't want to deal with finding males after 2 months of effort. Read a tragic journal recently of just that.

I was going to add perlite originally but i accidentally bought a bag of Miracle Grow perlite and couldn't figure out if there were additional chems in it so i opted to just use it on our house plants.

My watering is very light when i do so i haven't been worrying about it but i will definitely look into it again for the big potting.

Much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

 

[Jackalope]

To start you might want to check that Pure Power Plant. I do believe you will find its a sativa dom. cross of Durban Poison x Afghani then back crossed to the Durban again. That may change your grow plans a little.

 

[Phototropic]

Phototropic's first grow -- Pure Power Plant in soil under CFL

To start you might want to check that Pure Power Plant. I do believe you will find its a sativa dom. cross of Durban Poison x Afghani then back crossed to the Durban again. That may change your grow plans a little.

Thanks for the reply.

I read that recently, but this is from Nirvana seed bank where they do their own strains. They call it indica dominant. It looks like they take the original PPP and crossed it with some White Widow which is also a Sat/Ind hybrid. Perhaps that ends up making it indica dom.

I have a 5' tall box so hopefully it will allow me the space if the Sativa side shows through.

I'll be doing LST so will be trying to keep it low that way as well.

I should ask, what kind of change to my grow plans would i need to consider? Trying to keep it short regardless so i can't imagine what i could do if it starts growing out of control tall.

Thanks for the input and please keep it coming.

 

[Phototropic]

Grow box:

I built a 2'x4'x5' (deep, wide, high) plywood box. Simple hinges and handle to open and close.

Box is NOT light tight, but that's ok because it is in my attic where no light gets in anyways. Not too concerned about this for now.

Lined the entire inside with reflective Mylar.

Cutout (8) holes and installed, from the outside, computer fans i had salvaged from an old server. Luckily, i taught myself to solder a couple years ago so i was able to wire them all up to an AC adapter i got at the salvo for $2. Had to leave two off of the wiring for insufficient amps but that's ok. I have two running as intake air and four as exhaust. I also have a large server exhaust fan running from the ceiling of the box. This all moves the air pretty well but i put a small desk fan inside on the timer plugs to be on with the lights and off at night. This one is aimed directly as the plants to help build their stem strength.

My lights are Home Depot scoops with splitters and extensions (couldn't fit without the extensions) hanging from three 48" chains each. This allows me to angle them by shortening the chains as needed. Not the most stable setup and i will definitely revise this in the future but it has been working well for now.
I'm using (4) 6800k and (2) 2700k CFLs for the vegetative stage. I will switch that to (2) 6800k and (4) 2700k CFLs for the flowering period.
The lights are kept tight together for now, within 2-4 inches of the plants. Might have to add a scoop and another set of bulbs if the plants spread out too much.

I attached a timer integrated power strip to the outside of the box. One half is always on, the other is for the lights and one fan on the timer.

Everything goes back to a Belkin wattage meter which i program to $0.12/watt to give me an idea of expense over 30 days and over 365 days. It also tells me my wattage consumption. At my current setup, which i hope is my max, I'm looking at about $24/month (lights, fans) and about 420 watts give or take.

Because my attic is so hot i installed an in-window whole house exhaust fan. This definitely helps and keeps air circulating to avoid stagnation, but the heat is a constant concern. I have open windows and a small fan running in the adjacent space which also helps, but doesn't solve the problem. So far, everything is growing. Hopefully the yield differences will be negligible.

That's about the gist of it. See pictures below. Feel free to ask about any of it, i have been trying to document my grow in detail so can give a lot more information than i have so far.

 

[Phototropic]

A couple quick evening pics. My 2 little ladies are my current obsession so I'm staring at their pics constantly.

Tried bending down two of Lucy's upper leaves so they don't block the new chutes' growth but kind of broke one leaf. Thought of snipping them all together but want those 7-fingers to spread out.

Currently at 25days
Any opinion on growth rate is appreciated. Always afraid they're growing slow compared to others i see.

Lucy

Ethel

 

[Phototropic]

Thinking about my girls at work

Ethel this morning looking pretty.

 

[Dinsdale]

Any opinion on growth rate is appreciated. Always afraid they're growing slow compared to others i see.

Hi Phototropic!
Your plants are not the fastest I've seen, but they're not the slowest either. They look good to me!
And it's an interesting strain you've got there! Subbed!

 

[Phototropic]

Hi Phototropic!
Your plants are not the fastest I've seen, but they're not the slowest either. They look good to me!
And it's an interesting strain you've got there! Subbed!

Thanks for the sub and reply.

I'm afraid the heat is slowing things down on me. Not sure what else it could be. I'm regularly in the 90-100 deg Fahrenheit range which is far from ideal.

Also, i think i should have gotten them out of the 4" terra-cottas sooner. That's where the nitrogen deficiency began.

 

[Jackalope]

Re: Phototropic's first grow -- Pure Power Plant in soil under CFL

Thanks for the reply.

I read that recently, but this is from Nirvana seed bank where they do their own strains. They call it indica dominant. It looks like they take the original PPP and crossed it with some White Widow which is also a Sat/Ind hybrid. Perhaps that ends up making it indica dom.

I have a 5' tall box so hopefully it will allow me the space if the Sativa side shows through.

I'll be doing LST so will be trying to keep it low that way as well.

I should ask, what kind of change to my grow plans would i need to consider? Trying to keep it short regardless so i can't imagine what i could do if it starts growing out of control tall.

Thanks for the input and please keep it coming.

Funny shit. I have the same Nirvana Seeds PPP and I never noticed the White Widow cross. Never checked the genetics. Just thought it was the same because they do such good copies... Cool now I want to grow it more. Going with Spliff's Power Plant this next run. Its different from the original too not sure how though. They say it has a lime smell and that's different then any other Power Plant I have seen. Maybe they used one of the other South African sativa's. Always had good luck with Spliff seeds so I figured to give them a try.

 

[Phototropic]

Re: Phototropic's first grow -- Pure Power Plant in soil under CFL

Funny shit. I have the same Nirvana Seeds PPP and I never noticed the White Widow cross. Never checked the genetics. Just thought it was the same because they do such good copies... Cool now I want to grow it more. Going with Spliff's Power Plant this next run. Its different from the original too not sure how though. They say it has a lime smell and that's different then any other Power Plant I have seen. Maybe they used one of the other South African sativa's. Always had good luck with Spliff seeds so I figured to give them a try.

Good luck. I'll keep an eye out for your posts on it.

Nirvana updates their pages often i think because i had a screenshot from when i purchased and it didn't have the "predominantly indica" wording on it.

I like Nirvana because they were faster than expected, super stealthy and accepted bitcoin.

 

[Phototropic]

Two days down since i topped and i have my two new chutes coming in. Very excited. Lots of new lower foliage growing as well.

The leaf on Lucy that i broke a little didn't keep up growth with the other of the pair so i snipped it tonight. Super shrimpy, see pictures. Opens up the chutes to light so i don't consider it a bad thing. She just looks a little asymmetrical now.

Ethel is doing well. Nice and steady. She was the second to sprout and kept the shortest. But she has been a solid little girl.

You can see in my early pictures how Lucy got long fast, she surprised me with her sprouting and i allowed her to sit in the dark for a day too long searching for light. Also in the first batch of pics, you can see her straighten out; that took a few days working on positioning her under the lights to help her stand and stop moving around so much.


FYI - the term for an organisms movement in response to light is PHOTOTROPISM. Bending toward the light is Positive Phototropism (or popularly just Phototropic), away from the light ... you guessed it, Negative Phototropism (or Skototropic). However, although the plant itself seems to be performing Positive Phototropism, it's actually the Auxin in the stem (which encourage upward growth within the stem) that congregate away from the light source, skototropic like, making the stem grow more on the side opposing the sun, hence bending toward the light source, phototropic like.


Anyways, picture time!!

Lucy:

Ethel:

 

[Phototropic]

Can't get enough of posting pictures of these pretty ladies. Lucy is definitely the faster growing of the two. Ethel is staying strong as well though. I bent her two upper leaves a little to expose the new chutes. Both girls
Are now positioned as close as possible to the bulbs to get light on the new growth, without getting too much heat. It's hot enough in there at 99deg F, according to my thermometer.

Lucy

Ethel:

 

[Phototropic]

Here's some tasty brunch time pics for your enjoyment (whoever may be out there).

Both girls are sprouting nicely. Maybe not fast, but steadily. I can handle an extra couple weeks in vegetative if necessary, so long as they spread those leaves, enjoy their light, drink in that nute flavored water and give me some pretty flowers to pick.

Still drinking the nutrients at 1/8 strength. They seem to be enjoying it so i hesitate to step it up, but i may just do it and see for the record how they like 1/4 strength. Maybe I'll double each week until i get to full strength?? (As in 1/8 last week, 1/4 this upcoming week, 1/2 the following week, full the week after. So three weeks before reaching full strength from first feeding) Any thoughts?? What do you folks use as indicators for raising the nutrient concentration?

I'll be increasing the LST over the next week i think. Started bending a few leaves here and there, not many to play with yet but trying to get that fresh light on the new growth, especially at my topped locations. Bought a reel of twist-tie material but have to find it around the house, so I'm using some plant wire my wife had laying around. I don't really like it because it requires a little bit more direct force than something lighter and more flexible (i think) but it will do to stake a couple leaves as you can see below.


Going away for a couple days next weekend so I'm nervous about my watering situation. Can't really ask my neighbor to pop in and water my plants so I'm considering either over-watering a little the day i leave and hope it doesn't dry out, or maybe transplanting into the 5-gallon smart pots i have as their final containers. It will be a little shy of two weeks since their last transplant, if i do it three days before i leave (i would want a couple days to monitor them after the transplant). I would prefer not to do two transplants in half a months time, but the larger containers should retain water longer and so not require over saturating the roots or worrying about dryness.
Thoughts? How long have you all left your plants to wait for their next watering? I think they can handle a day or two dry but would love to hear people's experiences with water neglect.

That's enough typing, let me provide you now with something worth a few thousand words.

Lucy:

Ethel:

 

[Phototropic]

Day 28 (since germination)

Decided that my next feeding with be at 1/4 strength nutes. By the end of one month veg i will be at full strength.

Afternoon pics!

Lucy

Ethel

 

[Phototropic]

Nothing much to report. Just a couple morning pics about the same as yesterday's.

Found my twist-tie reel so Lucy got spread out a little. Pulling the three larger fan leaves away, i had to tie the stem gently also because I'm missing that symmetry, so i needed to avoid the three points pulling her over.

Thinking I'll do a perspective photo later to give an idea of size. Sometimes they look big and beautiful, other time they look tiny. I did notice the stems thickening up nicely.

Moved them both very close to the lights to allow that lower growth to get some healthy light. Lamp heat hasn't been an issue yet. Just adds a little to the overall box heat issue. The CFLs are actually surprisingly cool considering their size.

Lucy

Ethel

 

[Phototropic]

End of day 29 since germ.
6 days since topping

Some dream a little dream of me pics.

Lucy

Ethel

 

[Phototropic]

Just a little growth perspective. This is the change that the girls have had in only 48 hours.

Lucy

Ethel