Help a Noob be successfull with his first grow!!

[BubbaKushKrushr]

Alright this my first grow and i am paired up with a buddy from this site "PurpleOnion". We have built a small cabinet 2.5' x 2' x 3.5' tall. We have two bag seeds, two afgoo, and two kush that are at about 10 days. Here are some pics at my setup. I have an exhaust fan, 2 - 70 watt HPS lights and possibly one more on the 15th.

I'm looking for any tips on lighting, watering, nutrients, soil, venting and odor control, and anything else no matter how small that you guys think i should do or stop doing.

I water about every 3-4 days and they are on 18 hours of light a day right now. I have the temp at about 80F and 35% humidity. And thats it....well here are the pics...

This is the Cabinitet



Here is how i wired the lights, they were just 70 watt HPS security lights found at Lowes and Home Depot. Thanks to PipeDream for his detailed instructions on how to do this. Here's the link http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=36344



Lastly here are my babies, they are a lil bigger now, i will post update later. This pic is at about 1 week from sprouting from seed. From front to back: 1st Row: Mystery Bag Seeds 2nd Row: Afgoo 3rd row: Kush (Mega?)



More Pics to come. Thanks for any help or comments you can offer....

 

[PurpleOnion]

The one on the third row is Ghani Kush, it was a good smoke. So was the afgoo. I'm really excited about having my own supply. By the way...great job on fixing up those lights

 

[rebo]

The plants look healthy to me.. what kind of soil is that? I think I might have used a bit more perlite, but that's just me.. lookin good tho.. good luck on the grow.. I'll be watchin' it, so keep the pics comin

 

[GMT]

If you could drop the temps by about 10 degrees that may be a benefit.

 

[BubbaKushKrushr]

Okay i have dropped the temp to about 74 and that's as low as I can get it. Also the humidity sets at 45% now. Thanks for the tips guys! I will post week 2 pics Friday, they have really jumped up, so keep coming back.

Also me and Purple are getting some nutes tomorrow. Any suggestions?

 

[sparkjumper]

The next time you may want to start you seedlings/cuts in smaller 4 inch nursery pots and transplant up a size after 2-3 weeks.You want to utilize all the available soil wisely finite container grows are very different than planting in the ground.When you start in a larger container the roots tend to grow along the sides and swirl near the bottom leaving a "big empty" in the middle of the container which should be filled with roots.Starting in a smaller container and letting the rootball fill that container before moving up utilizes all the available media,and thats a good thing.Yield is only commensurate with container size if all of the available media is being used.I hear people say all the time your bud size is going to depend directly on finishing container size but this isnt true if you plant directly into a large container

 

[PurpleOnion]

thanks for the advice on that sparkjumper...have to keep that in mind a few months from now

 

[peytonmanning]

i agree with rebo that you could use more perlite. dont want root rot or anything. so i would water and let them soak up every bit of water before you water again thats just me. maybe when you transplant again you could add more perlite, i find it helps with the feeding schedule. as far as nutes every person will probably tell you differently but i use BC nutes. they have a starter kit that is pretty cheap and works well for one run. also if you dont have a CO2 system, a spray bottle with carbonated water works well and helps. just dont do it during flower, dont want mold on your buds. everything looks great tho, nice and green, keep up the good work.

 

[PurpleOnion]

so we ended up going with some FFOF to replant the kids in, and also picked up some liquid karma and some Pro Bloom for flowering. pH is running a little on the low side around 5.5, any tips for balancing that out without having to do too much more that might shock the plants?

More pictures to come very soon.

 

[Moterreal]

5.5 isn't terrible, as long as it doesn't swing any lower you should fine.

 

[Kriegs]

so we ended up going with some FFOF to replant the kids in, and also picked up some liquid karma and some Pro Bloom for flowering. pH is running a little on the low side around 5.5, any tips for balancing that out without having to do too much more that might shock the plants?

More pictures to come very soon.

I'm surprised to see your pH that low already, esp with FFOF that contains dolomite to keep pH in balance. How did you measure this?

5.5 is on the low margin of acceptability. If you're confident in your measurement, I'd suggest working in 2 tablespoons of dolomite per gallon of soil into your top inch. As you water, it will work its way down thru the pot and pull your pH up gradually. Even if you're not confident, this won't hurt anything for complex reasons I won't go into on a keyboard.

You would do well to acquire some "pH up" solution for mixing your nutes. I haven't used liquid karma, but most nutes are very, very acidic out of the bottle (they have to be this way to keep the micronutes in solution, otherwise they'd all settle out as solids). To me, this is the number two "grow killer" right after overwatering -- adding non-pH'ed highly acidic nutes to potting soils, which have very poor inherent buffering capacity (dolomite is really a band-aid compared to natural soil buffering).

 

[BubbaKushKrushr]

Week 2 Photos

Week 2 Photos

Here are the photos from left to right: bag seeds, bag seed, afgoo, and afgoo. i will post the kush plants in a couple of hours. Please tell us what you think. this is the post transplant PurpleOnion posted about.

 

[Pipedream]

Congrats on the new grow. Things are looking pretty good there. Looks to me like the plants are starting to stretch a bit. How far away are you lamps? You might want to get them a bit closer to the tops as long as the temps don't get too high. Use the back of the hand test to be sure. Also, I'd consider keeping the light on 24/7, no need to give them a dark period. As a result, they'll grow faster, bushier, and it will help limit early stretching.

Just my $.02 but they are things that have worked for me in the past.

 

[BubbaKushKrushr]

Kush Plants at week 2

Kush Plants at week 2



These are the kush plants. oblivously the one on the left is way behind for some reason.

Does anyone have a problem with what my man pipedream said? Because i think im gonna do it...this is the third time someone has told me to do this.




This is the stuff my local hydro store recomended as a cure all for what ever...i used it when transplanting to prevent stress and shock. Seems to have worked.


Thanks to all who keep with this thread and comment.

HAPPY 4-20 2009 EVERYONE.

 

[rebo]

You can pretty much follow any advice pipedream gives about growing.. He def knows what he's talking about. I've learned a ton from reading his posts.

 

[BubbaKushKrushr]

Does anyone know where i can get this carbonated water rebo was talking about. Also once i have this i understand i should only do it during the veg stage. How often should i do it doing the veg stage? I'm guessing you just mist the plants real well when you do it?

 

[peytonmanning]

walmart. and yeah just give em a good soaking. every time you water them just spray them down. only in veg.

 

[Pipedream]

Carbonated Water is just plain Seltzer. Misting with it is just giving your girls a gentle shower like they might get in nature. However, any CO2 that's released from suspension will quickly dissapate and really have virtually no effect. For CO2 to be available and beneficial to the plants, it needs to be released on a steady basis during the lights-on period and within a closed environment. Such as during the entire time your cabinet/grow room doors are closed.

That being said, a gentle misting once in a while certianly won't hurt the ladies, just don't buy club soda as it has sodium in it.

If you really want to add CO2 to a small set-up, check out this link.....

http://www.petsolutions.com/Plant-Gro-CO2-System+I15517690+C13.aspx

If you 're handy, you can also build your own for just a couple of bucks.

 

[BubbaKushKrushr]

Pipedream: I don't understand how that thing works in an indoor soil cabinet. maybe im missing something, in fact i am sure im missing something. I'll go back and read more into. As always thanks for the help.... i wanna be like you when i grow up. HAHA seriously tho.

 

[Pipedream]

The canister contains a combination of Yeast and bacteria food. As the yeast consume the food they change the sugars to alcohol. In the process, they release C02 as a by-product. This is the exact same process used in the production of beer, wine, and even pizza dough.

While the CO2 kit contains tubes and a diffuser to use it under water, you can just dump these items. All you need is the canister to contain the fermentation process and slowly release it. As the container becomes pressurized from the build up of CO2 it will slowly start to escape from the small nozzle at the top, and will continue to do so for an entire month. Afterwards, it must be cleaned out and another set of packets added.

Remember, CO2 is heavier than air so it will try to settle at the bottom of the growbox. However, if your ventilation is set up to exhaust at the top and draw in at the bottom, it should provide enough air movement to distribute the CO2.

Hope this helped.