Help-a-newb! CFL/Rubbermaid/Soil [First Grow Ever]

[clay]

Hey folks,

So awhile back, I followed a link from another page that took me to Mr.Micro's PC Case Grow on this site. I thought it was pretty cool, because I work in computers, I even had an extra case around, but I wasn't entirely sold on the payoff. I eventually came back and looked around and found Lifeless's Setup thread, which is the one that sold me. So I read the whole thing, then I read Red_Greenery DIY thread, then all of the Dr.Bud threads, and some others in between..then I re-read them all. I had a bunch of extra Rubbermaid bins around, so I decided to go for it.

I haven't taken pics of my completed box yet, might try to do that later today. It is two rubbermaid bins, but instead of being stacked top-to-top like most people do (probably for a good reason as I'm sure I'll learn), I cut the bottom out of one, and a matching piece out of the lid of the other, and stacked them the way they would normally look. I was going for a stealth look, but as I worked on it, and realized it had a huge hole with a computer fan in it, and two huge holes in the bottom for intake, with wires coming out of it.... plus it glows like its holding the Holy Grail for 18 hrs a day...stealth wasn't exactly achieved. It MIGHT appear normal if someone saw it while it was off. However, it doesn't really matter I guess, because it is in a closet off my townhome that is made of concrete, with a steel door, which will be locked.

The hardcore stats on my box are:
- two 18gal Rubbermaid bins
- 3socket vanity
- random old PC fan at top for exhaust
- 2 holes at bottom, each the same size as exhaust for passive intake
- intake holes are filtered with a/c box filter cut to size (see Quazi's Filter-Your-Intakes thread)
- both boxes lined with "mylar" (aka Emergency Blanket from walmrt's camping section)
- 23watt 6100k "Daylight" CFL bulbs (installed now during veg)
- 42watt 2700k "Warmwhite" CFL bulbs (waiting for flower)

I'm growing in soil because it just makes more sense to me. Also because I've taken up some minor gardening while preparing for this grow. Partly as a hobby, but also partly as a cover story. Now no one is curiuos if they hear I was busy with gardening materials. Another reason is that since my g/f decided we would be "green" she buys only organic foods as much as possible, plus we started a worm-farm a couple months ago that has built up some lovely worm-castings which are just waiting to make some things grow.
I plan to try to stick to organic growing as much as possible. I still need to go out and pick up some bonemeal, bloodmeal, and dolomite lime. Also, I have some Schultz 10-15-10 if I need it.

My initial mix was some MiracleGrow Organic Gardening Soil (which I'm sure a lot of people hate, but its what I had), and I mixed in some Perlite, a little vermiculite, until it felt not too clumpy.

I think that covers most of the intro stuff, so I'll get to the "help" part of the thread (with pictures!)

I germed a seed of some Damn-That-Was-Good-Stuff that I have been saving from a good bag I got ( I have several more of these, including one I was given that I was told is Medi-bud strain).

I popped that in some soil, and here it was after 1 day under light:




And here it is about 2wks later:



Here's where it gets shady. Allow me to mention that so far I've only been giving straight water (mostly rain water that I collect for this purpose...I live in south FL so we get a fair amount of rain although now we're going into the dry season). It has begun to develop yellowing leaves at the bottom. See picture:



From my reading on here, I'm guessing this is nitrogen deficiency. So my question is, do I rush out to get my organic nute mixes, and get this thing repotted? Do I start feeding with some Schultz? I did give one watering with half-strength Schultz but it did not make any major difference within a day or two.

That last pic was from about 5 days ago. I'm going to get some more pics today (I germed some more seeds, so now this lady will have some neighbors) and I'll get some of my whole setup too.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[zappa66]

why don't you paint the tubs? 2 coats black + 2 flat white, should cure your glow problems.

 

[clay]

Zappa,
When I click on the image in my gallery to add to post, after I click submit it says "Please remove any links in your post" or some such thing. I think it's cause I have a low post count.. or something. Thats why I put those spaces between the words in the "links" above. Just add icmag.com to the beginning, and remove the spaces, and that is my little plant.

Regarding the tubs, the mylar was cheaper, plus like I said this is in a cement closet that will be locked, so the light proofing really doesnt matter. I forgot to mention that the intake/exhaust holes are not light-proofed either.

But thanks

 

[zappa66]

oh, sorry I think you need 2 posts to ad links/pics but you should be ok now?

anyway your young plants look healthy. And yes many people don't like MG soil but I have seen quite a few grows turn out fine with it. The trick is not to ad ferts because the soil slow feeds for like 6 weeks. Looks like your well on your way!

oh one last thing, have you thought about the smell?

Good luck!

 

[clay]

I've thought about the smell, I just havent come up with a plan of attack for it yet. Worst case I quickly throw together one of those DIY carbon filters shown here and tape a dryer hose to my exhaust hole.


If the MG soil is slow feeding the plant, any ideas on the yellowing leaves?

 

[clay]

Thought I'd stick in a couple days worth of updates.


Four days since last pic shown. Now with neighbors!:




And a day later, the current star of the show:




I've given a couple of waterings with Schultz, but still have the yellowish bottom leaves.

 

[clay]

And here is where they are hiding:

...cement walls, steel door, deadbolt lock...secure much?



The bins at work (front bins hold junk, back bins grow the girls):





The top lid:




Lights/fan mounted:

 

[clay]

I realize now that I gave an unfortunate title to my thread. Some people head-for-zee-hills when they see "newb advice" I suppose. I did a lot of reading before I posted though, so I'm hoping my questions aren't too 'newb' ...but oh well.

 

[clay]

First I'll put some picture updates:
10/25



10/26

 

[clay]

So I got all anxious yesterday and made a trip to the "hardware store"

I got some Blood Meal (Vigoro brand) Bone Meal (vigoro) and some dolomite lime, but they only had pelletized, not powder. So i'm wondering if I should crush it, or just try to use it pelletized?

Also, when I replant, do I just add equal parts bone/blood meal?

What confuses me is, will the bone meal still have enough "juice" in it by the time I get to flower? Watering does not rinse away the nutrients?

Also, I read on wikipedia that blood meal can be added to water to create a liquid fert. Does this sound right? Can the same be done with bone meal?


Since i was unsure about these answers, and I'm not sure if this thing is ready for repotting just yet, I decided to feed it with a mix of :
- 4-5 drops per qt (about 75% strength) of Schultz 10-15-10
- a half-teaspoon or so of molasses
- two-ish tablespoons of worm-castings which I wrapped in a coffee filter and tied
- about a quart to quart-and-a-half of fresh rain water

which I then mixed vigorously. Then I smoked a bowl, and then mixed vigorously again, then waited an hour and mixed again, and waited another hour then mixed again and applied.

 

[clay]

Also, while at the store, I got some Y connectors for my light fixtures which led me to my next question concerning lighting/spectrum.

Is it best to mix spectrum? Or stick with the 6100k 'blues' for veg, and 2700k 'reds' for flower theory?

Basically, what I have available are:

(1) 3-socket vanity fixture

(2) Y connectors ( can get another if necessary..they were $2)

(3) 26w 6100K CFLs

(3) 42w 2700k CFLs


Previously, as shown, there was simply one bulb (currently the 6100k for veg) in each socket. Then I saw some suggestions to use a Y connector to expose the side of the bulb for more light usage. So should I mix spectrum? Or just buy more bulbs of each?

 

[justanotherbozo]

censorship sucks!

 

[clay]

as to the lights, you want to mix it up a bit. in veg you want about 3 or 4
to 1 ratio, blue to red.

when you flip, you want about a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio, red to blue.

the thing is, canabis plants need both red and blue throughout the
life cycle so running straight blue during veg and straight red during
flower will deprive them of needed light throughout.

good luck and have fun

thanks JAB,
I was kinda starting to have that feeling, so yesterday I put in the Y connectors and so now I have the three "blues" (6100k) lit up as well as one "red" (2700k). I was thinking I would 'slowly' (like every week or every other) adding another red until I had all 3 reds in and then start removing a blue once a week or so, and then flipping to 12/12.

 

[Tony Aroma]

And yes many people don't like MG soil but I have seen quite a few grows turn out fine with it. The trick is not to ad ferts because the soil slow feeds for like 6 weeks.

I don't believe that's true for MG organic soil. It's what I use (the potting soil, not the outdoor gardening stuff) because it's the only organic soil I can get where I live. And as far as I can tell it does not have the MG slow-release ferts in it.

And it sounds like you're doing pretty much what I do -- add to the MG organic soil blood and bone meal, dolomite lime, worm castings, perlite (non-MG), and some epsom salts. During veg I add no additional ferts until a few weeks in, and then only organic ferts never more than half strength and usually every other watering.

 

[clay]

I don't believe that's true for MG organic soil. It's what I use (the potting soil, not the outdoor gardening stuff) because it's the only organic soil I can get where I live. And as far as I can tell it does not have the MG slow-release ferts in it.

And it sounds like you're doing pretty much what I do -- add to the MG organic soil blood and bone meal, dolomite lime, worm castings, perlite (non-MG), and some epsom salts. During veg I add no additional ferts until a few weeks in, and then only organic ferts never more than half strength and usually every other watering.

thanks tony
What 'organic ferts' do you add ?
Also, is it possible/suggested to do any "top-feeding" with wormcastings? Or just mix into a tea?

 

[Tony Aroma]

thanks tony
What 'organic ferts' do you add ?
Also, is it possible/suggested to do any "top-feeding" with wormcastings? Or just mix into a tea?

In addition to the soil amendments I mentioned, I use Metanaturals (different solutions for veg and flower) added to my water along with molasses. Also, during veg I use my used aquarium water along with the gunk I clean out of my aquarium filters (the secret to getting females). During flower I just use plain filtered water.

I don't know about other uses of worm castings. I've only ever used them as a soil amendment prior to planting.

BTW, there are two kinds of MG perlite -- one is just plain perlite and the other has MG ferts added. Be sure to read the bag if you don't want MG ferts in your soil (I made that mistake).

 

[clay]

So as i mentioned, I fired up one of the 42watts in addition to the three 23watts that are already running. It seemed substantially warmer, but that might just be my imagination.

However, on morning inspection, I noticed today that some of the leaves on a couple of the plants are turning upward. It just happened as of this morning, and it happened to more than one of them, and they are from different bags, so it must be environment-related.

Is it too hot? Is that why the leaves on the older plant are so thin?

It's still about 85-90deg inside the box when lights are on, because its about 80deg outside still right now here in FL, but hopefully the winter is coming so it will get down to the 70s. That or Ive been considering moving the whole thing inside, but I don't know if my g/f will let that happen.


*you can see the curling on the larger, front right plant, but it seems to be clearest in this pic on the back right plant.

 

[Rudedewd]

One thing I don't think that you've mentioned is your ph. Growing in soil you want a ph of about 6.0 - 6.5. If your ph is off you will get signs of deficiency even if you are fertilizing as the nites lock up.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

Don't worry about the leaves twisting slightly, they're looking really good.

 

[clay]

One thing I don't think that you've mentioned is your ph. Growing in soil you want a ph of about 6.0 - 6.5. If your ph is off you will get signs of deficiency even if you are fertilizing as the nites lock up.

well I guess I HAVENT put much thought into pH..but for a couple reasons.

1. Im watering with rain-water most of the time (which I have not checked the pH on...but i dont live in a polluted area), but occasionally I have used tap-water which I HAVE pH tested and it was maybe around 6.5. (yes, I know to let the tapwater sit out for 24 hrs to allow the chlorine to evaporate)

2. Doesn't "lock up" take some time..and nutes.. to cause the lock-up? These babies are only about 2-3 wks old on average, and I've only added a few drops of Schultz to the water, like maybe two times.... could I already be experiencing nute-lockup. I would think no, but thats why I'm here to ask questions

I'm leaning towards heat issues for the curls...I have these things EXTREMELY close to the lights..just enough to not touch in the 12 hr period when I'm at work

I think I need some more intake. As I know the rule goes, intake should be twice the size of exhaust..so i have 2 equal sized holes at the bottom..but I filtered them with a Filtrete A/C filter, so it killed the ACTUAL amount of air coming in....the fan seems to run loud, and then when I lift the lid the fan quiets down some, like it just got a big breath of air it had been waiting on...reminds of surfacing and gasping for air after you have swam to the bottom of the pool and realized it was further back up than you thought