Yet Another First Grow...

[greengringo]

Hello to all who are checking out this thread. A quick introduction, me llamo el Greengringo. I live in Colorado and I am a LEGAL medical patient who is growing his own medicine. I am proud to live in a state where I can play by the local and state laws and still medicate LEGALLY. As soon as they get around to doing this federally, I will be even prouder of my country.

This will mostly be a journal for me to track my progress and figure out the improvements I need to make to my setup. Any POLITE advice from the more experienced members out there is welcome!!

 

[ProfGerbik]

we are all waiting for it to be on a federal level, too bad the federal government does not think the same as the states that run within it. according to them cannabis is "Dangerous"..

anyway whole nother topic.. just a heads up its good to plan out threads so people get more interested, most people love to see photos regardless of how early the stage of setup is.

have fun and welcome to ICmag the greatest community for cannabis you will literally ever find. we look forward to seeing your grow. cheers.

 

[greengringo]

Thanks Prof! Sorry to jump the gun on posting such a short first post for my thread, I was trying to get my photo album organized. Here are the money shots.

This is what freedom looks like. Every day I wake up thankful to be in Colorado. Let's go down to the basement, shall we?

Okay, so you are probably immediately curious about this large wooden construction taking up a huge part of the basement. I was too when I first looked at the place, but apparently the landlord didn't mind the previous tenants building it, so I will use it to my advantage. I will spare you pics from the preparation/cleaning phase. By the way, the dimensions not including the shelves at the end are 6'x7'x4'.

This door is huge and heavy and a pain in the ass to get in and out, and I can't move the dryer so it's gotta go.

Lovely, got all my equipment in there and something to grow. 600 watt HPS, 4" fan connected to a carbon filter, one oscillating and one non-oscillating fan to blow the air around inside the room, a small air tank for letting out CO2 occasionally when I turn off the fans...thermometer... am I forgetting anything??

Air intake

Dial connected to a fan strapped to a carbon filter. At first a friend said to just leave the fan open, but in an effort to lower the temps in the room I connected it to the light hood, which then has a duct with a small fan inside of it pulling the air to be exhausted. That actually didn't seem to make as big of a difference as I thought it would but enough to get it where it needed to be. When it started up it was just over 90F and now the temps stay down around 83-85F. Humidity started around 40%.


So this is the plants just a couple days after receiving them as rooted clones from a friend. I put them in black plastic bags inside the buckets to protect the roots from light. I planted them in an organic soilless mix called Sunshine #4 and just gave them water for the first few days. The strains are island sweet skunk, G13 haze and blue diesel. Blue diesel is the one I can find the least info on, and it is pretty rare around here. I finally saw it at a dispensary which grows 100% of their own (organically even) and they were pretty sure theirs was a DJ Short blueberry crossed with NYC diesel. Sounds like pretty good genetics to me.

Fuck that door! This tarp is a lot faster and easier to work with.

Well now this is about a week later (9 days since repotting them) and they seem to be getting bigger at a good rate. All I have been feeding them is Sensi Grow nutrients with every other watering, which seems to be every other day. I also have some Super Thrive vitamins and hormones that says to feed with every watering. If I'm not sure if the plants want some water yet, I just stick my finger in the topsoil and see if I need to go deeper than a couple inches to feel moisture. If so, it's watering time. Sometimes when the leaves look dry but the soil is moist, I mist them with tap water. The humidity has climbed pretty steadily to over 60% consistently. Colorado is dry and they are still growing so I guess this is a good thing.

Another 9 days and the biggest one is over 2 feet tall! I've heard of plants tripling in height after switching light cycles for flowering so I went ahead and put the light on a timer for 12-12 a few days before this. My basement isn't too high so I don't have a lot of room to hoist the light higher and higher, so I really don't want my plants to grow tall and get burned by the light. Still feeding it the grow nutes for the two weeks after the light cycle change, then I will switch to Sensi bloom. Humidity approaching 70% but it has been raining almost daily here so it's probably nothing to worry about. I'll worry about it when buds start appearing.

 

[greengringo]

By the way, here's a little animation I made of my light turning on.

 

[High Country]

Is it just me, but I can't see the pics...something going on there.

 

[Raedwulf]

Hi greengringo, good luck with the grow dude.

No High Country, not just you:

Is it just me, but I can't see the pics...

I can't see 'em either.

Really interested in seeing your pics, man.

 

[greengringo]

Sorry about that guys, I could see 'em, so I figured it was all good.. had the albums set to private. Now they should be visible!

 

[High Country]

Now I can see them...nice....stay frosty

 

[HighDesertJoe]

Looking GOOD man.
Best of Luck to you

 

[smokestack23]

What's that little thing above the door? Make sure you don't have any devices that have lights on them (like motion detectors, powerbars with LEDs...).
The fan above the washer or dryer...light escapes from it..that mean light will get in through it too.

You HAVE to make SURE that when you start flowering you have no light leaks or devices with "pilot" lights on them.
I also wouldn't completely trust those green CFLs. The ones I have don't seem all THAT green..and..there are some pretty light spots in the green coating.

Just be REAL careful about light leaks man. Otherwise..looking good. Great way to start out. Nice and simple and learn as you go.
Air looks great. You're doin it right man. NICE.

PEACE

 

[Raedwulf]

Cool

Cool

Nice work there greengringo; a nice clean setup, and your plants look great. Good luck with the grow, dude. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

 

[Hammerhead]

first time I have seen the Co state MMJ card. Nice compared to Oregon or cali.

 

[Zealious]

Hey man.

Everything is looking superb!

So you have two inline fans connected to your reflector?

 

[ColoradoOG]

first time I have seen the Co state MMJ card. Nice compared to Oregon or cali.

I hate our cards for the fact we have to have them on us and they are paper. Would have prefered a card like a drivers license esp for the money we pay :S


Good luck on the grow btw

 

[Hammerhead]

here in Cali its a piece of paper not official looking at all. If you get the state card it looks good but I dont like having my name on any lists that say I grow. The recommendation we get from the pot docs are good enough as long as the doc is willing to back you up in court.

Oregons was even worse the paper was so flimsy mine did not last the one grow season.

Are yo guys allowed to make a copy or do you need to have the original on you??

 

[greengringo]

What's that little thing above the door?

It's a wireless temp & humidity sensor. I thought it didn't have any lights but then someone pointed out to me that it has a small dimly blinking LED to show when the batteries are dead. I couldn't see it when I turned the lights off though so I'm not worried about it affecting the plants.

The fan above the washer or dryer...light escapes from it..that mean light will get in through it too...Just be REAL careful about light leaks man.

I was surprised how much this was glowing, but it is hooked up to the bulb after all. There's a bend in the ducting between that exhaust vent and the hood so there's no light entering through it from the outside, I made sure to check that when I got inside and turned the lights off to look for leaks. Believe me, I had been worrying about that since before the plants were in there, but obviously much more after I knew I'd switch to 12-12 in a few days. Part of the reason I had to put up the tarp was because that door let in way too much light with no way to seal it off easily. Now with that tarp, there is no light to be seen from outside when you are inside with the light off.

And just to be paranoid, I try not to turn on the lights in the basement when it's dark-time. A friend told me those white zippers can let in enough light to affect the plants, but I guess it depends how much light and how long it's shining on it. But like the white plastic buckets alone not protecting the roots, he said he's seen it have detrimental effects. Is this anyone else's experience? Should I put something over the zipper in case lights are to be turned on for a while?

By the way, THANKS to everyone for all the encouraging replies! The people on this forum are awesome!

 

[greengringo]

So you have two inline fans connected to your reflector?

Yeah, I have the one 4" conical-shaped fan that's duct-taped to that big carbon filter and ducted to one side of the hood. The other side of the hood has ducting going to that exhaust port but the ducting has a small fan (like a CPU-sized fan) inside. I think this fan is probably unnecessary if I have that larger fan, shouldn't that one be pushing more air? Though I usually leave that small fan plugged in always, in case I turn the louder fan down or off (i.e. when I let out CO2, it shouldn't be drawing too much CO2 out yet still cooling the bulb).

 

[greengringo]

Are yo guys allowed to make a copy or do you need to have the original on you??

Pretty sure you need the original, and as of recently, you need to show picture ID and red card EVERY TIME in order to enter the dispensaries. I've seen plastic card holders on a lanyard for sale at one local dispensary, so if you use it a lot, I guess that could save you some wear and tear but I agree with OG, for the money we have to pay yearly ($90 plus doctor's visit) they could surely laminate it for us. Also, having the card on your person only has the benefit of being able to enter dispensaries. You aren't allowed to medicate in public, the cops still have the right to search and arrest you as usual and while it may be a defense, it might not always work when it's you and the man in blue. How does he know it's not a forgery, and that you're not some low-down dope-addicted trouble-maker and that he shouldn't haul you in for questioning if you've got any more than a burned roach on you. Of course, the personalities and attitudes of law enforcement vary much more from individual to individual and town to town than from state to state or country to country. That being said, any cities where you can smoke a joint on your front doorstep and wave to the neighbors without fear is a place I'd like to move to. Any suggestions anyone?

 

[greengringo]

Well, here's an update! Sorry it's been a while, haven't had the time to sit down in front of the computer and arrange everything. Pics!

These guys are getting big! Really running out of room in here quickly, it's hard to get in and out and the shelves in the rear are a really stupid idea. Glad I didn't build it!

I've been rotating them every couple days with feedings so they get fully aired out and hopefully the stalks and branches will grow evenly strong with even rotation facing the fan. So far it looks good to me, stalks are rigid to the touch, branches spring back with slight pressure. I'm kinda worried about their height though, especially when the buds start getting larger and weighing down the plant.

I went and bought some bamboo poles for these guys, just haven't gotten around to tying them up yet.

Beautiful little flowers forming! Tiny hairy pistils and buds EVERYWHERE.

I love how the bud sites stand out bright with the HDR in the green light, but even with my own eyes, they are much easier to spot under the green light than the yellow. And that pic is a little bit old so they are even more numerous now. It's like looking up at the Colorado night sky, you can see so many stars standing out because of the altitude and the clear sky. Something I will miss if/when I live at a lower altitude again.

Hello, what is this? Island Sweet Skunk?? As this plant gets bigger, it's more and more obvious that it must have been mislabeled. It can't be a clone from the same plant that its partner in the bucket was from, they'd be genetically identical, looking and growing almost the same except for slight variances. This plant is shorter, bushier, has wider leaves, and its flowers already smell distinctly different than the one next to it. I'm guessing that even if they were cuttings from different mother plants of different phenotypes (one more sativa-dominant, one more indica-dom) that they still wouldn't vary this much between appearance and growth. But this is my first grow so I have no clue what the hell I'm talking about. The other two pairs are literally almost identical except for height, and they are much closer to each other than the two ISS plants.

What do you guys think? Could they be seed cousins? Or is that guy a mislabeled Herojuana or Sensi Star or Master Kush or something?

Oh, and one last little thing to mention. My first real troubleshooting while growing! I kept noticing scorch marks on the tips and edges of some leaves, and it wasn't restricted to any one plant. Sometimes there were tan-colored dry spots in the center of the leaves. I had no clue what was wrong, if the slightly high temperatures were roasting my plants or if it was a nutrient thing or what. Finally I was in there smoking a bowl and pondering deeply. Then a drip fell on my head.

That pipe was the cold water pipe and I had just put in a load of dark-colored laundry, it was dripping with condensation in that warm room! I visualized the water drops landing on random leaves all throughout the room, the drops running to the tips of the leaves and acting as miniature magnifying glasses, scorching the leaves under the bright, direct light. I had read not to mist plants heavily when the light was on, as you are not supposed to water plants during the hottest part of the day (well, it wastes water as it all evaporates as well) and now I think I have seen why. So I fixed this pretty quickly with some pipe insulation I happened to have lying around and while the leaves with the spots are still there, no new spots seem to be forming.

It feels good to know that ICMag community is a great resource if I need some help, but it feels even better when I can figure something out for myself and not need anyone else's help!

 

[Zealious]

WOW!

Looking good mr green! Those ladies are growing retard fast. Looks like you are feeding them just right.

Keep it up!

I dont know too much about the island sweet sknunk but yea its entirely possible they are the same strain just dif phenos.

You are correct they are def not clones from the same plant.

It will be interesting to see what she turns into... maybe they got clones mixed up. I guess its hard to say when you dont know how many hands they have gone through. maybe ask the person you got them from?

awesome detective work my friend.. at this rate you wont need any help from the comunity you look to be doing superb on your own!