First time in cab, and only second time to grow!

[Olum!]

Hello! I'm so excited to be finally posting a grow diary on here! I finally (mostly) completed my cabinet and have 7 still-living seedings and one that doesn't appear to have made it (*tear*). I welcome any comments, questions, and suggestions along the way as this is my first "scientific" grow as I like to call it, sense the first time was just me throwing two seeds in a garbage can full of dirt, and this time I'm doing everything as right as I possibly can for maximum yield and quality. So, without further ado ... the facts of the grow.

Thank you people of IC Mag for giving me the knowledge to do this.

Also I do apologize for the current lack of photos. I'm still trying to work out how to safely upload and post photos from behind a proxy.

OLUM!'S B.O.G.'S BLUE MOON ROCKS FIRST MICROCAB ORGANIC SOILLESS GROW (FIRST REAL "SCIENTIFIC" GROW)

(I write my grow diary on paper and update the online version as I get the chance, so at times, like this time, I may have several days worth on one post.)

*DAY 0
Mostly filled eight, 16 oz styrofoam cups with bottoms punched out with LC #1 (five parts Coconut Coir, three parts perlite, two parts worm castings, and two tablespoons per gallon powdered dolomite lime (Thanks to BurnOne for his post "Organics for Beginners"). Soaked eight BOG BMR seeds in water for 16 hours after shaking seeds in small box with emery board. Planted seeds very shallowly in cups and placed in dark area at about 74 degrees fahrenheit.

*Day 1
Germination room reached 80 degrees fahrenheit during the night with heater on. Let area air out and it stayed between 72 and 74 degrees all day but humidity has risen from about 40% to to 55%. Lightly watered with tap water this morning as medium seemed a little dry but has retained a moderately damp level throughout the day.

*Day 2
Germination cab sat around 70 - 73 degrees today and I ran exhaust van bringing humidity down to 50% from 60%. Medium is evenly moist still. I hope I didn't overwater them the other day, but I suspect that this growing medium holds water better than the more familiar soil medium. I'm still not 100% sure about my decision to germ the seeds directly in the medium. I don't think I will have any way of knowing how well the little seed it doing for a few days when hopefully green breeches the surface. My research says it can be done this way.

*Day 3
Temps averaged 70 - 72 degrees fahrenheit today for first half of day then used heater and exhaust fan to bring temp to 77 degrees and humidity down to 41% by bedtime. Two plants have breeched the surface, one slightly and the other pushed the seed and a 1/4" of tap root above the medium, so I gently brushed a little more of it around the exposed area. Still haven't watered as medium seems evenly moist.

*Day 4
Early morning check reveals all but two have breeched surface. At lunh placed 600 watt equivalent of CFL below pot-level to add warmth and a little light for the two or three which are already turning green and spreading a little. One is even well on its way to growing it first true leaves. i wasn't expecting any to pop up and be green by day 4. Two still haven't sprouted, but one light brush over one of them showed a little white stem just below. I removed the three orangish lights (2700K I think) and left three bluish lights (5000k) partially to reduce unneeded light which I've been led ot believe may be damaging and partially to reduce heat which now stays around 77 degrees at 40% humidity.

 

[Olum!]

*Day 5
All but one has sprouted and is growing green leaves. The largest is already three inches or more tall. I took their light source at midnight (day 6 beginning) to put in my nearly completed cabinet and to see if I can help the last germinating seed to catch up. The stayed between 74 - 80 degrees fahrenheit and around 40% humidity +/-5 throughout the day. Two of them seem to be having trouble getting the seed to fall off of the leaf. If it's still like that tomorrow I will probably try to carefully remove the seed. The cabinet should also be done tomorrow as now it only requires doors, weather stripping, and locking mechanisms. Oh, and hooking up the lights.

*Day 6
I may have slightly cut one of the seedlings when I removed the seed casing from its leaves. it looks like it's dying. The cab is mostly done and the seedlings have been placed within about 6" of the lights which are separated from the grow chamber via glass and both light and grow chambers are separately ventilated by PC fans. Temps in the cab were high averaging around 80 degrees at 40% or less humidity. I opened a window and moved everything from in front of the cab including the doors not yet mounted. I also removed five lights. The temp was at 78 degrees when I went to bed. There is one straggler which I placed further from the lights that is just starting to peak through. I am only watering plants slightly when I notice the medium seems some what dry and am stilll using the 2% bleach solution.

Day 7
I dropped a cup yesterday and the entire tiny plantlet came out easily. Apparently this soilless medium is really loose stuff. Today that seedling and the other sickly looking one haven't improved. The late bloomer is showing signs of pushing up through the medium. The doorless cab has stayed around 76 - 79 degrees today with humidity from 32% - 45%. My new "soil master" PH/moisture/light tester says the cab is dark, the medium is highly alkaline and I lightly watered each seedling when it read low on moisture. I really question the accuracy of this cheap device. My strongest, tallest seedling fell over inside her cup when I tried testing the medium. I carefully packed additional medium around the stem to make it upright but it still seems wobbly. Some of the seedlings' stems have changed to a purplish-brown which I fear may be bad.

 

[Olum!]

*Day 8
First true leaves of each seedling are curling severely, almost touching the stem. The tall one keeps falling over despite my efforts to stand her back up using the medium. The two sickly ones still look bad, but the one I dropped might be doing slightly better and the one nicked still looks awful. There is still one acting like its going to sprout but hasn't yet. I also discovered the bottled water I've been using was mineral enhanced with magnesium sulfate, potassium bicarbonate, and potassium chloride I think the minerals, especially potassium, combined with possible overwatering and over-lighting is causing the problems. Temps ranged from 72 - 77 degrees fahrenheit and 32% - 49% humidity. There is now a humidifier. Shut lights off for a night period.

*Day 9
Lights remained off for a period of 8 hours and the leaves aren't curling as much. i left only three Ecosmart 5000k 27 watt 1750 lumens each for a total of 5250 lumens directly above seedlings. I will check again at lunch.

Plants looking somewhat better, progress slower. Temps 70 - 72 degrees at 40% - 50% humidity.

*Day 10
Temps:
High 72.9
Low 70.4

Humidity:
High 53%
Low 43%

Seedling I thought I cut looks dead. Other sickly one is still small but appears to be recovering. The leaves are all only mildly curled is at all now on the rest and are growing faster again with a better shade of green color. The one still hasn't sprouted but it looks like it will. I'm not watering yet and leaves are under only three bluish CFLs 24 hours.

 

[qscftffboy]

Front row!

Front row!

Sounds great will be watchin! Cant wait to see how it turns out. I also plan on doing something like yours, looking for ideas as i just got a new aquarium that's 4ft wide by 1.5 ft deep and plan on building a stealth stand. but anyways good luck and ill be lurking!

 

[Olum!]

*Day 11
Very lightly watered three plants with dry mediums. Conditions similar to yesterday. Most are looking healthier and aren't bent at all though the leaves look somewhat deformed and blistered. I believe this may have been the result of too much light at first. I've turned it off for the night to allow it time to recover without light.

*Day 12
Conditions stable, new growth looks somewhat better.

*Day13


Using my soil tester I determined that only one plant needed a little water. The never growth looks healthier than the old. The humidity was around 42% so I put the humidifier on high and placed it near the intake. Over the last several days the grow cab has stayed between 69.3 and 74 degrees and 40% to 52% humidity. I've added a timer to the lights and fans to give the seedlings a 15 hour day, which in conjunction with lower temps and higher humidities may increase the probability that my plants will be female (according to Jorge Cerbantes' "Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible"). Of course supposedly the accidental stress of handling (and dropping) and adding of potassium to the medium via mineral water increases the chances that they will become male.



On a side note, I mixed about 1/14 gallons of the LC mix #1 with nutes (blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal) and then left the ingredients unmixed but in the same pile with the mixed part and sealed the bucket with a very tight lid. I opened it yesterday or the day before and discovered that some kind of grayish fuzz was growing all over everything! I went back to the place that sold me the stuff and the guy there explained it was cultures of helpful bacteria and that I should mix it in. I don't plan to use the mix with nutes yet, but I will make sure to keep mixing it with water and a little Liquid Karma.

 

[autojuice]

Off to a great start dude

 

[Olum!]

*Day 14
At the end of week two and hopeful despite previous set backs. This morning saw humidity down to 35% so I started the humidifier (off from last night) again. I've been trying to determine the optimal amount of light and found a happy accident. My main grow area is 420 square inches. I've added three more 27w 5000k CFLs for a total of 6 CFLs at 162 actual watts, supposedly equivalent to 600 incandescent watts. I'm having trouble finding clear info on how much light to use but a I believe it's been established that the full power of the cab is too much right now, I will very slowly, over the course of days, up the number of lights and watch for any adverse reactions.

I removed two of the lights several hours later as I thought I saw slight droopage occuring and I watered several seedlings that the moisture meter said were dry. Temps were around 74 - 75 degrees fahrenheit with the extra lights on and humidity dropped as low as 32%. Leaves are still deformed.

 

[Olum!]

*Day 15
This morning the leaves were slightly curled at the edges. I'm now wondering if this is an overwatering deal as well (or instead?). Humidity is back in the 40s and temp around 71 - 72 degrees. The seedlings are on their third set of true leaves which are currently too small to see if they are also deformed.

This afternoon it is clear that the seedlings growth is fast but the new leaves are also deformed. I'm not sure what's going on. 72.2 degrees and 51% humidity at last check.

The first six photos are of each seedling individually and the last two are of two different seedlings up close. I've also posted these photos in a thread I had previously started here https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=230245 in the infirmary if anyone wants to let me know why (or if?) my seedlings are deformed and what I might be able to do about it. Thank you!

 

[Olum!]

*Day 16
No notes taken

*Day 17
The temps in the cab have risen today with the temps in the house. It's been around 75 - 76 degrees and between 50% and 55% humidity. I noticed that a tiny amount of the fuzzy bacteria culture I saw in my organic mix is forming in tiny spots around a couple of the plants. I believe this is a sign that the humidity is a bit too high. I don't want to kill the bacteria as it is what is feeding my plants, but at the same time I don't want it to overgrow like this so I need to find a way to keep the humidity down better. I've had a couple of people tell me that the deformity I'm seeing in my seedlings is something that Blueberry (and it's crosses like BMR) do. I've asked BOG about this and will hopefully be able to verify if this is true or not later. I added one more bulb today for a total of four and will probably add another tomorrow as the additional light seems to have no ill effects. In fact, despite the apparent deformities, the seedlings seem to be growing rather quickly. I hope it's no big deal.

 

[kippax]

things are looking good my friend..not sure why some of them are deformed?..maybe its the strain?..i have a few of BOGs blue kush about the same age as yours which is crossed with bmr and one of them looks just like yours a bit deformed..anyway nice setup..the way things are going I'm sure you'll end up with some DANK buds....peace.

 

[Paul_Revere]

Where's your ph at? I only ask because they look a little yellow. Other than that there looking good. For me the seedling stage of growth is always the hardest, once you figure out what they need they'll take right off.

 

[Olum!]

@Kippax
I'm hoping that's all it is. Do you have photos of your Blue Kush seedlings? I would love to see them.

@Paul Revere
It does look like two of the seedlings have a very faint yellowing near the edges, and some of them also have a short single yellowish line segment. I don't really trust the combined pH, water, light soil meter I have, but it reads the soil as 7.5. I have used the same tester on the water I was using and discovered it to be 7.5 so I've started using a different water source which the tester reads as 7.0.

 

[Brother Bear]

A very exciting grow ! Looks good to me Consider me tagged up for the ride :friends:

A question, do you use the Coconut Coir for just seedlings, or do you use it the entire way through instead of peat/promix ? I keep thinking about using the stuff.

Next, and it might vary depending on your answer to the last question there. But i use peat for my LC's, and there is a tricky watering concept to it. If it's too wet it sucks, if it's to dry it sucks.
When i first started using it, and even for longer than i would care to admit, i let the buckets dry out very dry between watering. Part cause i thought it best to let them dry out pretty good, mostly from being lazy though. But once i started keeping them moist throughout, but not completely saturated, and not really dry.

Mebbe try some mulch too, helps keep the soil from drying out the top inch or so, and lets the roots grow up there. I have been seeing good results this grow with it LINK You read it yet ?

 

[Olum!]

I'm planning to use the coconut coir all the way through.

I've noticed that it does seem kind of difficult to get the watering just right. So far my method is to daily (or twice a day sometimes) check each plant with my moisture soil meter just below the surface on opposite sides of the plant. If it is a little dry I push it a little further down to see if its dry down there too. I think this is helping me to more evenly water the medium, but it seems almost inevitable that one part is more moist than the other. The mulch sounds like a good idea. I'm going to look more into that.

I've also noticed that I've gotten a few fuzzy culture spots on the medium. I know that the bacteria is good, but I'm a little concerned about it growing up too much. I think that was part of a humidity problem that I was having for a couple of days.

I will post some new photos and updated diary entries tomorrow.

 

[Olum!]

*Day 18
I added a fifth light bulb this morning and by this afternoon I saw no adverse effects so I added a sixth and as of tonight when the lights went out the seedlings all looked ok. The temps on my doorless cab were getting higher with the additional bulbs at 76-78 degrees and as high as 57% humidity so I turned on the air conditioner and brought temp in cab down to 71 degrees and humidity to 37%, though I expect that to rise quickly through the night, though not as high as earlier. The seedlings growth seems strong overall. I think they will be strong enough for transplant into their larger, LC mix #1 Recipe 1-filled pots in a few days. I may have to wait a little for runt, which is still on it first set of true leaves.

Another seedling fell over into the medium and much like before I haven't been able to get it to stand back upright again. I think that might be a sign of an as-yet immature root system. THis coco-based medium is really light and airy. I imagine the roots must have to be long and plentiful to more securely fasten themselves to the medium. In any case I'm not very concerned about it as the one that fell down before has continued to be a stronger one even though it still lightly touches the edges of the cup.

The high temps in my as-yet doorless cab even without all of the lights on might suggest a slight design flaw that needs adjusting so that the cab doesn't have to rely on my central air to cool down. I will discuss this more in my microgrow thread later.

*Day 19
It's humid here and during the day with A/C on temps were around 71 and 37% humidity. With lights and A/C off at night with rising humidity temps are 70 degrees but humidity is 62%! Right now the air conditioner is my best dehumidifier even if i have to lower the temps a couple of degrees lower than I would like I'm concerned about the effects of high humidity keeping the conditions perfect for these things is challenging but I don't think it's really necessary either - it's just a good goal to aim for so you do well when you miss a little.

 

[Olum!]

*Day 20
Temps stayed from 70 - 73 degrees and around 40-45% humidity today. Plant growth seems decent. The deformities and increasing discoloration make me uncomfortable even though I know it happens with this strain. How am I supposed to know if something is wrong when the plants look crazy even when they're healthy?

*Day 21
Last night I was working on my cab doors for a little while. I accidentally interfered with the photo period by resetting the timer to daylight savings and the lights were off for abut 15 min before I realized and fixed the problem. I don't think that would cause much stress but then I keep the light on manually while working on the cab for an hour (probably less). This morning i woke up late and the light hadn't turned on taking about five hours from the daylight for today. I need to to be more careful about that as changing the photo period too much can cause undue stress. I will keep the photo period at 15 hours now as it supposedly increases the probability of the plants begin female. When they get big enough for transplant into the dry nute-added medium I will probably give them 18 hours whether or not they are showing sex and leave it there until flower.

I think some of the seedlings are almost ready for transport. I've heard of different people using a similar setup talk about transplanting at either abut week three or when the plants are 5" tall. The nodes are so close now, I'm hoping as these plants get larger they will stay this squat. It's really a treat for me to see how very different these are in appearance from the critical + I finished a few weeks ago. These are short and tight and very green. The leaves give me a hankering for a nice salad! With lights temps stayed around 73 degrees today and off around 70. Humidity was 37-39%.

 

[Brother Bear]

You got a fan pointed on them ? Gotta prop up the fallen ones, my favorite trick is cutting a straw into inch or so sizes. Then ya cut up the side and wrap it around the seedling and push it slightly into the soil.

Just mix them fuzzy spots right back in if they bother ya looking at them.

 

[Olum!]

*Day 22
No Notes

*Day 23
Temps and humidity are staying pretty steady day to day with highs around 73 degrees and and lows around 70 at 35-39% humidity. These plants are ridiculously squat! The largest is 5 1/2" wide but only 2" tall. The four most mature have just begun their fourth set and are showing the earliest sign of side branching through all of the nodes are very close together.

BOG got back with me on my question about the deformities in my plants and he said the believes that I'm having some PH issues based on the photos he saw. Now bog states n his sub forum that he knows most about hydroponics and a lot of people growing organic say that pH isn't an issue with organics but I'm thinking that he has probably seen more BMR seedling than anyone and unless there is another reason it would look different in hydro vs. organics, I'm inclined to believe that at the very least this is unusual. Aside from the apparent deformities the plants' tight nodes and growth rate seem healthy, though not ideal, so I believe the safest thing to do now is just continue ads I am 0 transplant in a few day and just watch.

I have thought about using a pump from a small indoor fountain that we never use anymore to bubble tap water so that I can safely use it - sans chlorine - in the organic medium m without killing the bacteria. I've been using bottled spring water which my shitty cheap tester says is at 7.5 while my tap water is supposedly 7.0. Perhaps pre-bubbled tap water will help a potential pH issue. At worst it just won't cost me as much to water my plants when they get big anyway. At the moment I don't have a decent pH tester so it makes dealing with a pH issue difficult.

*Day 24
Temps and humidity look good. New growth looks like deformities may be gone. I tried to post photos but the gallery is down for maintenance. Largest plant is 3" tall by 5 1/2" wide today. Growing fast! Will try to post today's pics tomorrow if all is well with the site then.

 

[kippax]

isn't 7.5ph too high in soil??..i keep my ph at about 6 to 6.5 range...looking forward to more pics mate.....peace!

 

[Olum!]

@ Kippax, I believe 7.5 is supposed to be too high for just about any grow medium. I am not in soil though, my organic medium is totally soilless and much, much lighter and more airy than soil. There are a lot of people on these forums that are of the opinion that pH is something you don't worry about when doing organics like this though. I honestly have no idea, but until I can get my hands on a real pH tester I don't want to fly off the handle.

@Brother Bear, the straw thing is ingenious! Doing that today! At the moment there is no fan on the seedlings and I think they are not getting as much air flow as I would like to strengthen those little stems. I need to get on finishing the doors to the cab as I believe that my dual 5" exhaust fans will provide enough air flow for such a purpose. Alas, I find myself getting high and playing disc golf instead of finishing the doors!

Gallery is still down so pics are a no go. Will try again later.