Hi guys,

I'm new to the site and wanted to post the log of my first ever grow attempt.

[Side note: Before a friend recommended rollitup, I had found a different site that seemed awesome and lurked for a while... until after 10 days of updates, I had not one response to my "introduce yourself" thread, or to my first newbie grow log. Argh.]

Everyone is welcome to comment- please share your thoughts, wisdom, sage advice, etc.

Here's the details:

Preliminary:
+ FoxFarms Ocean Forest soil (moisturized before entering the pot)
+ All water is filtered, measuring a 6.5 pH automagically
+ Lumatek shroud with 600w bulb
- 6" ducts w/ inline fan venting out of the grow room
+ 3 gallon pots with tray
+ 6 healthy looking Bubba Kush clones from Berkeley (nice white roots showing)
+ Basement space, roughly 12 ft x 25 ft
- Has been sterilized, scrubbed and dried after a hell of a lot of thorough work
+ Reflective sheeting surrounding 75% of the grow area from Day 2 onward
- With vent holes reducing temp by a degree or two
+ Two buckets of water to increase grow room humidity from day 2 onward
+ Two stationary fans circulating air
- With one fan trained on the plants at low intensity from 5-6 feet away
- Heard this helps with stalk size & overall health...
+ HEPA filter w/ exhaust cooling the ballast


9/11/09 DAY 1:
Water: Soil was pre moistened and got one moderated watering
Lighting: 18 hours solitary, uninterrupted lighting
Nutrients: None
Temperature: ~ 78-80 evening temp
Humidity: ~ 65%
Notes:
+ Plants 1-6 looking healthy, showing slight improvement, & little to no stress from transfer
+ Several spiders spotted in the room for the first time in days
- I know they can be good for plants, but I can't live with 'em
+ About 5.5-6 inches tall for plants 1-6

9/12/09 DAY 2:
Water: Watered each plant until a slight run off (recycled run off for watering)
Lighting: 18 hours
Nutrients: None
Temperature: 74 min 84 max, ~ 77.4 f / 62% h when undisturbed
Humidity: 52% min 67% max
Notes:
+ Noticeable growth in height, plants now measure ~ 6.5 avg
+ Reflective sheeting installed today
+ First humidity bucket installed
+ Irrigated the edges & middle of soil carefully
+ Plants seem slightly droopy toward the end of dark cycle



EDIT: Initial pics from Day 2:

http://img24.imageshack.us/i/img0069uc.jpg/

http://img89.imageshack.us/i/img0070qa.jpg/

http://img201.imageshack.us/i/img0071gc.jpg/

http://img529.imageshack.us/i/img0072a.jpg/

http://img89.imageshack.us/i/img0073uq.jpg/

http://img9.imageshack.us/i/img0074vp.jpg/
+ Standing tall in the light artificial wind (aside from slight droop)
+ Brighter green patches at the tops of plants
+ Small, slightly darker, purple-y patches on stalks
+ Cleaned, organized, swept and made the room 100% efficient & functional
+ Added some conversation co2 for about an hour

9/13/09 DAY 3:
Water: Soil was still very moist, only intermittent misting
Lighting: 18 hours
Nutrients: None
Temperature: 75 min 81 max
Humidity: 65 min 71 max
Notes:
+ Little to no visible growth today
+ Plants look slightly droopy toward the end dark cycle
+ Plants do noticeably perk during light hours
- Do look slightly better than yesterday, more "upright"
+ Second bucket increased the humidity noticeably

Some questions I have:
+ Had a friend suggest Potassium Silicate (IIRC) to help roots with temp variance.... thoughts?
+ Same friend says Botanica big/grow/bloom set is much better than the GH Flora set because of a difference in Sodium (IIRC)... thoughts?
- Silica blast?
+ When precisely to give first Nutes? (I've heard vague figures)
+ Does regular or intermittent breeze help strengthen plants, or am I asking for windburn?

9/13/09 DAY 3:
Water: Soil was still very moist, only intermittent misting
Lighting: 18 hours
Nutrients: None
Temperature: 75 min 81 max
Humidity: 65 min 71 max
Notes:
+ Little to no visible growth today
+ Plants look slightly droopy toward the end dark cycle
+ Plants do noticeably perk during light hours
- Do look slightly better than yesterday, more "upright"
+ Second bucket increased the humidity noticeably

Some questions I have:
+ Had a friend suggest Potassium Silicate (IIRC) to help roots with temp variance.... thoughts?
+ Same friend says Botanica big/grow/bloom set is much better than the GH Flora set because of a difference in Sodium (IIRC)... thoughts?
- Silica blast?
+ When precisely to give first Nutes? (I've heard vague figures)
+ Does regular or intermittent breeze help strengthen plants, or am I asking for windburn?

PIC UPDATE!

9/14/09 DAY 4:
Water: Have not watered yet, light misting
Lighting: 18 hours
Nutrients: None
Temperature: 75 min 85 max during light hours (and hottest time of day)
Humidity: 55 min 72 max during light hours
Notes:
+ Relatively Same height
+ Lower leaves starting to come out nicely, seem to look healthy
+ Any sign of yellow/light green in the tops are gone
+ Still purple-y parts of stalk

Sorry if pics are too big, I don't know how to make cuts or spoiler tags on this board:

III

Is that coloration normal for Bubba Kush, or is the plant trying to tell me something?

End of day 4 pictures:

Tops:

I
Imageshack - img0127c


II
Imageshack - img0128zm


III
Imageshack - img0129rf


IV
Imageshack - img0130c


V
Imageshack - img0131l


VI
Imageshack - img0132j


Yellowing at the tips?
Imageshack - img0133s


Profile shot, end of Day 4 dark cycle:
Imageshack - img0134l

Notes:
+ Undisturbed dark temperature stabilizes around 74 f
+ Undisturbed light temperature stabilizes around 78.5 f
+ Humidity is staying consistently between 65% - 72% depending on fan circulation

Off to look up what the yellow coloration is all about...

Roommate is supposed to have pics of the Day 1/2/3 stuff and the grow room setup, I'll try to get those up soon.

The only thing I'm a little worried about is the air temperature levels; they're varying a bit more than I'd like. I'm thinking I can insulate one of the doors to the grow room (leads to outside, has decent sized cracks that air gets through) to bring the max temp down and the min temp up to a tighter overall range. Thoughts?

Advice anyone? What can I be doing better?

9/15/09 DAY 5:
Water: Light misting only
Lighting: 18 hours
Nutrients: None
Temperature: 82.4 f
Humidity: 62%
Notes:
+ Same height, looking more full
+ Noticeable new growth coming from underneath
+ Plant 3 has a leaf that is continuing to yellow out and look unhealthy. Most advice we are getting suggests that we may prune it if it gets worse, as the plant doesn't need to devote energy to a lost cause.
__________________

use there forum code to post the pics, so they show on the page... lookin god tho

__________________
PARTY CUP GROW

9/16/09 DAY 6:
Light cycle - 1:50pm
Height measures as follows:
I - 7.5 inches tall
II - 7.5 inches tall
III - 8 inches tall
IV - 7 inches tall
V - 7.5 inches tall
VI - 6 inches tall

Water: 8oz to the base of each plant, + light misting
Lighting: 18 hours
Nutrients: misted with Liquid Karma trace elements
Temperature: 71.5 f - 85.9 f; 83.9 f with three humans in the room (we usually add 1.5 - 2 degrees)
Humidity: 58-72%, 61% during inspection

Notes:
+ Sprayed a Liquid Karma solution on the underside of all leaves. Less than one ml of liquid karma was mixed into our spray bottle (half a liter or so) and we sprayed the underside of the plants. Liquid Karma is a seaweed/kelp extract that contains many trace elements, and has been highly, highly recommended to us. The plants perked up within a few minutes of application, and we're hoping they will react well to the solution.
+ II & III look very full and healthy
+ I & V look like they are about to become much more full in foliage
+ IV is looking healthy and promising, though I'd like to see more branches underneath
+ VI is visually looking great- healthy green, great looking leaves, very full... but significantly smaller than the others. Plant VI has been rotated to the most reflective corner of the tray. Looks full and ready to go, lets hope the extra light is what it wants, as I think it's mostly stayed in the front rotation where it gets a bit less.
+ Plants were lightly misted with h2o
+ Artificial wind will be turned off during dark cycle