1st time indoor soil CFL grow

New pics are now in album.

Flower day 30

Flower day 30

So here we are again with an update. Have loaded new pics into album (link under sig).

Smashing bud development on the Blue Widow buds. Can't resist showing a pic here.

The critical + auto is slowly going along. Beefing up its buds.

The NL auto looks tired and listless but is still developing buds slowly.
Hope some white spots I saw on some leaves were not bugs. Have not seen anything but you never know.

The TD is going along slowly. Takes its time to drink up. Think it might be a slower flowerer.

Pics are all of Critical + auto and BW this week. Focus on them as I had them out of the cab for watering!

End of week 5 flower report

End of week 5 flower report

Got the cab open so will do some updating. Camera is recharging so will make use of the time to make some observations.

Water is getting to be a pain. I use RO water and as the plants grow they are needing more and more = more and more trips to the RO machine.

With only 4 plants obviously it is not too bad but with 4 plants drinking 2-3 gallons every few days it does get to be a pain.

Now of course there are several solutions to the above problem. The most obvious of which is to buy a bigger bottle!

However a habit that has characterized my 1st grow has been to look for a temporary solution. The same reason I used tape to secure my CFL's. Same as why I use a home made Co2 yeast/sugar bottle. Same reason my plants have heat spots. The same reason I don't have a jewellers loop or other magnifier. The same reason I don't have a PPM/EC measurement device.

All laziness and possibly burnout on my part. I guess I realised in my current situation that certain aspects of my grow would be problematic. I might not be able to solve every problem. I made a decision to manage problems rather than solve them. I hope it does not mean any part of the grow is compromised.

We will see.....

The BW and TD don't look great because of LST'ing but they may yield well. Starting to see frosting on the BW now which is very exciting.

The critical has now gone onto a water/molasses only diet for the reminder of it's life. It is budding up well and I'm starting to see amber on the buds. Surely a good sign that flushing with molasses only from here on in is the right choice.

Smell is becoming a minor issue. The plants really smell after watering in particular. My space is quite secure but had a scare the other day. Just a false alarm but it felt real enough at the time. Left me with the feeling that next time I might want to do this using a tighter more stealth orientated method. Next time I also want to try SCROG. With any luck doing SCROG in a cab type setting will work nicely.

It is my laziness and to a certain extent that has produced these results but more than that it is the fear that doing something different or radical could harm my plants more than simply doing what I'm already doing.

Now for some pics. More will be uploaded into my album soon.

Mid week 6 report.

Mid week 6 report.

A few thoughts...

Got a big bottle for water. So easy now.

My TD looked overwatered (to me) so I left it an extra day whilst feeding all the others. Fed the TD today and put some extra 25-5-5 nutes in there as it was looking a bit N def. Purpling stems.

I'm a bit nervous about trying new things when I think a def. is present but I think it is necessary in this case.

It takes a minute or two to gain access to my cab. I'm leaning towards buying a tent next time I'm in the UK/EU.

However the real problem with my grow is something I always knew to be true. The grow room gets too hot. Especially with the lights on.

I've been solving it by leaving the door open to improve airflow which has managed the problem. However the smell is gaining strength so it is only a matter of time before something needs doing on that score.

Today after feeding the TD thanked me with the most wonderful smell. It smells even better than the critical + auto which has a great aroma.

Pics middle of next week. Want to be able to compare the changes so less pictorial updates now.

Day 41 flower pics plus update.

Day 41 flower pics plus update.

Was in the cab today giving plants a mixture of molasses and water.

3/4 needed watering and I left the critical alone today as it still felt heavy.

The critical has started to have many fans leaves yellow and die as the buds have developed. The triochromes are still clear white so maybe I was a little premature in cutting off the feeding as I think it might be another 2 weeks before it is ready to harvest.

At 30cm tall it will be a small yield but it smells great and will surely be the first to harvest so it holds a special place as the first bud I'll ever smoke that I grew myself.

Day 41 flower update part 2

Day 41 flower update part 2

Next we have the Blue Widow. The first thing to say it that it is a real stinker. Very strong smell especially compared to the other three which are quite subtle in comparason.

Making good progress it seems quite healthy. There are fan leaves dying and falling off and I'm taking care of that as well as doing the basics of watering and feeding as well as making sure the lights are well positioned.

I'm guessing another 3 weeks before ready to harvest although I've no idea. Getting good triochrome coverage as it develops too. I think this one could really surprise me and be a great yielder.

Day 41 flower update part 3

Day 41 flower update part 3

Next we have the Tangerine Dream. Looking a bit droopy still it is definitely flowering much more slowly than the others.

Have improved airflow in cab this week with a much bigger fan that swings. With any luck this will cheer the TD up and get it going again as it does not seem to have done much this past week.

In order to protect roots that were exposed I put a layer of coco chips on top of the soil the other day too.

pics...

Day 41 flower update part 4

Day 41 flower update part 4

Finally we come to the Northern Lights auto.

Had another problem of my own making with this plant today.

Tried to LST it for the first time to get some light between the topped main stalks.

It was a bit too rough and one of the main stalks snapped and fell down. I quickly tied it back firmly together but am very worried this will not be enough.

Obviously time will tell but I have not done it any favors as it was not exactly the healthiest looking plant before this trauma.


pics...

So I'm in the cab today taking down some mylar that I'd incorrectly installed. In fact I now know why I got heat spots. Because of all the crinkles in the mylar sheets I stuck up.

Didn't take take em all down but took a good few and during the process I knocked a clip on lamp onto my little critical + auto. It broke a couple of small branches off so I used the opportunity to test out trimming buds with my new trimming scissors. Result - new pair of scissors required. Not sharp enough.

Now have them drying so soon will get the chance to test out the curing process. Have to buy some mason jars now that the time approaches that I'll have something to put in them!

pretty cool!

you can get glass jars at IKEA if there's one close.

thanks for posting the pics and sharing

Day 45 flower update

Day 45 flower update

woolybear said:

pretty cool!

you can get glass jars at IKEA if there's one close.

thanks for posting the pics and sharing

Click to expand...

Yes, will have to go to my local IKEA (or its equivilant) and get say 4 jars soon!

So another mistake. Watered my plants yesterday using molasses and water as usual. Oops it was meant to be nute/water.

Never mind it won't kill them I hope. Will nute 3/4 of them next time with water in about 5 days.

More recent pic of the critical.

New pics are up in my album.

So now most of the Mylar has been removed from the cab it is cooler and a bit less light in the cab. Replacing the silver with white was always going to have that effect.

Currently praying my TD will come out of its funk soon.

Leaving the door open could be best growing tip I've had yet.

Could be a longer flowering time than I thought all round. Hopefully the reduction in temps will speed things along again.

End of week seven flower report

End of week seven flower report

Back in the cab today. The sad old Northern Lights needed feeding so it was a full dose of nutes with water on the side!

The rest can wait a day or two.

Trimmed the plants quite aggressively today. The idea here is to get rid of any damaged or dying leaves especially in places where they are blocking the light to the buds.

There were a lot of burnt leaves on the TD that needed trimming and now the light and heat are down a bit the TD looks like it could stage a comeback. It has not started growing again but has at least started to cheer up a little.

The Blue Widow (stinker) is developing triochromes nicely too.

Pic shows BW in the foreground then TD behind it with NL auto in the background mostly obscured. Off camera front left foregound is Critical + auto which is close to being finished I'd say. No more than 1 week.

Also this week I was messing around with the NL auto string. Trying to get it off a branch I'd tied back initially. Unfortunately the string caught a bit and the branch with quite a few buds on it came right off at the stalk. So it was back to tying it up like I did with the the earlier mishap. Also put some masking tape over the main stem break to hopefully aid healing.

I'm a bit worried about how the NL looks. Trimmed it right back as much as I dared today getting rid of a lot of the effected leaves.
On a side note I think this NL auto was a bit of a mutant. It has wierd deformed leaves all over it but a few normal in places.
Sorry only one pic today accidentally erased the rest!

doing fine

doing fine

your doing well for a first time grow so give yourself a pat on the back

my first grow was with cfl's and despite nearly killing them a few times i got a crop of what i thought was the best weed ever. which it was because i grew it myself.

obviously temp is your major prob and unless you buy an air/con unit for your space your going to have to stick with cfl's.

you can have them just a few inches from the plants, the closer the better really. as long as the grow area is ventilated and there is a small fan bowing across the grow the cfl's dont produce any real additional heat.

i rigged up a couple of boards with 24watt cfl's so the light was more evenly spread.

im now growing hydro (DWC) and for me its way easier than soil and gives a bigger crop. but given your restrictions your doing a good job.

Day 50 flower report

Day 50 flower report

taslicker said:

your doing well for a first time grow so give yourself a pat on the back

my first grow was with cfl's and despite nearly killing them a few times i got a crop of what i thought was the best weed ever. which it was because i grew it myself.

obviously temp is your major prob and unless you buy an air/con unit for your space your going to have to stick with cfl's.

you can have them just a few inches from the plants, the closer the better really. as long as the grow area is ventilated and there is a small fan bowing across the grow the cfl's dont produce any real additional heat.

i rigged up a couple of boards with 24watt cfl's so the light was more evenly spread.
[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=35991&pictureid=853428&thumb=1"]View Image[/URL]
im now growing hydro (DWC) and for me its way easier than soil and gives a bigger crop. but given your restrictions your doing a good job.

Click to expand...

Many thanks for the helpful and encouraging reply.

You are right about the temp being the main enemy. A nice A/C unit would solve almost all of my growing problems overnight. However I'm not in the right situation to install one right now and anyway it would also double my spend on this grow overnight!

So I guess for now I'm stuck with CFL's although one day when I get a better space for growing.....


So I was in my cab today flushing the Critical + auto and feeding the TSD and BW. The TD is making a nice comeback, the BW is really growing again and the NL auto is still sick looking.

Please follow the link under my sig to see newly posted pics of the grow.

Day 56 Flower report - Critical + auto

Day 56 Flower report - Critical + auto

So I went away for a few days. It took a little planning to make sure everything was set up properly. I didn't want to come back to smell the weed 50 meters away from the front door so I set up a basic solid air freshener in front of a fan. Find the absolute cheapest one you can get. The type you put behind the toilet. They actually resemble the type you put IN the toilet. Unwrap, make sure it is directly in the breeze and away you go!

On the downside it only lasts 2-4 days depending on how hard the fan blows on them.

So when I came back my place stank like cheap air freshener.

Success!

Another benefit is that it has enabled me to keep my grow room door open without any worry about the scent escaping.



The Critical + auto gets prettier and prettier. Now turning a crimson color in places. I have been checking the Tric's daily and fully expected it to be ready to chop when I came back.

In prep I flushed 20+ liters of water through it before I left but....

WRONG!

Day 56 and still only clear and cloudy Trics with the very occasional amber(ish) one.

It has been a long long time since I fed this baby as well and it just keeps on trucking! Might chop a large bud branch tonight which has fallen down due to being to heavy for it's spindly branch but still alive to practise trimming, drying and curing before one of the bigger plants is ready.

going to put a few pics here as well as in my album.

As usual click the link under my sig to have a look. they are all clearly captioned.

Day 56 flower report - Northern Lights auto

Day 56 flower report - Northern Lights auto

The first thing to say is that it still looks sick but not dying.

Since it is my first grow and the plant may not live or be any good anyway at this point I decided there is no risk to try something new (to me).

Knowing that the plant is in a much more coco orientated environment than the others and thinking that may be the problem I tried putting in a 14/28/14 solid plant food tablet into the pot and watered in.

Also discovered a very minor light leak which I plugged.

So we will see...

Day 56 grow report - Blue Widow

Day 56 grow report - Blue Widow

No doubt about it the Blue Widow is growing again. I don't know whether it is the CO2 or the lowered heat but it is back off to the races again. I really hope this was not caused by me forgetting to close up a minor part of the cab last night. Really hope it does not hermie.

Apart from that I changed it's position and realised it does not have enough light close enough to its buds because they are all over the place.

Next time this will be an ideal SCRoG candidate.

The other decision I have to make is when to stop feeding this one. To my eye it is no where near ready yet but according to the growers blurb it should have been chopped 50-55 days.

My guess is another 2 weeks to go minimum.

what do you think?

Day 56 flower - Tangerine Dream

Day 56 flower - Tangerine Dream

The TD continues to look better and better and it still grows! Could be a long time before this one is ready. I'm finding out that it seems these hot temps I'm growing under are slowing down the process a little bit.

However not much else to do here except realise I can safely carry on using nutrients as it might be another month before she is ready.