2x600 Watt B.C. Blueberry, Northern lights, and Mango. Comments Welcome

Hey guys, I've grown before...and learned from a few mistakes along the way, but I'm still no pro.

I thought I'd make a journal to get feedback from more experienced growers as well as help out some of the noobs with any questions.

I got these seeds from bcseedking.com, and ordered more than I could handle (expecting that some wouldn't germinate, and some wouldn't make it...and of course to make sure I end up with enough females). To my surprise, out of 47 seeds, 100% germinated and are all healthy and growing after 9 days.

I currently have 1x600 watt mh/hps switchable ballast, but plan on getting another. The plan is 9 plants per light per 1 square metre of space.

Growing in soil.

I used the paper towel method to germinate. Used boiled tap water. Kept the seeds between paper towel in sealed deli cups. At approximately 80 degrees farenheight, 100% of the seeds germed. The Blueberry, and Mango germed within 36 hours and the Northern Lights took 48.

Anyways, here's the beginning. I am using Miracle Grow "seedling" potting mix to start.

I am running 3 x 23watt compact flourescents on a timer with 18 hrs daylight, 6 hrs off in my closet. I have an entire bedroom for the remainder of the grow.

Pics are from day 1 to day 10 (today).

I plan on switching to 6" pots in approximately 1 week, and firing up the 600 watt MH.

Still unsure on what soil and nutes I plan on using, and at the moment entertaining the idea of building a "tent". but more on that later. Still haven't decided on odour control yet.

Any feedback is much appreciated.

haha the files all uploaded randomly, and not in proper sequence...but im sure you can all figure out where it starts and where it ends.

twisting leaves???

i noticed on one of the seedlings, the leaves have "twisted". several of the other plant's leaves are beginning to twist a little bit.

i've read this could be a ph issue. is there anything else that can cause leaf twisting?

one thing i have skipped is testing ph. im pretty sure our city's water is neutral (7) so i've been overlooking this.

comments?

Hey found it and subscribed... I dont know about twisting problems... Everything looks good to me... Label everthing early on... With that many seeds your sure to find a bunch of good keepers...

Above photos are from today. Exactly 14 days from germination.

All 47 plants still alive, some growing faster than others.

The plan for the next couple days is to move them to 6" pots, and put them under 600 watts MH.

Wondering about when to start nutrients, and what nutrients to use.

Any suggestions?

Yeah... I use promix bx for my seedlings in 6" square pots... It has that mycorrazae so you will get good root development...then into 2 gallon pots with as much fox farm ocean forest as can get in there...

Now... No nutrients at all until about two weeks in the 2 gallon pots...

Then start fertilizing at half strength... I have used a three part solution from gh for years with great sucess...
But now im switching to fox farms thre part nutes...

Just be careful what you get sold on man... Nutrient companies can afford alot marketing...

Went to the hydro store and picked up some nutrients...

B.C. Grow, and B.C. Bloom from Technaflora Plant Productions.

Also picked up a ph test kit and ph down solution since i've found out our local water is closer to 8ph.

Decided to go with Pro Mix (although there are different ones, i picked up the one that was mainly peat moss, and perlite)

Will be waiting till middle of the night to bring the pro mix and all my pots, etc from the car, then tomorrow setting it up, and flipping the switch on the 600 watt MH.

My main question now is, should I be adding any nutrients at this point? Considering this pro mix stuff has nothing added?

Will upload pics tomorrow once its all set up. Feels like this is getting serious now.

A smooth operater... Operating correctly...

No nutes for awhile... Just plain phed water...

You can almost wait until sexxing before first fertilization...

If you do fertilize before that make sure you start with 1/4 strength and work your way up...

People ussually start having problems with over fert. Not under fert...

Day 17 after germination

Got the 600 fired up, running the MH. Can't believe the heat coming off this thing. Going to re-think running 2x600 watts, unless I change hoods, and run an inline fan.

As far as "twisting leaves"...it seemed to be isolated to just 3 of the plants, so I'm not too concerned about it. Plus now I'm testing the water and adjusting the ph.

Too many plants!!!!!!

hey... thats my setup from back in the day...

heat... always an issue... with that many plants your gonna need that other light... do you have an ac in the window?... if you dont you might need to get one... a super efficient model can be found anywhere

are those plants going to be coming out of that closet? i have a great idea for you if there not but it would be so much easier to use the bedroom for bloom and that closet for veg with maybe just a 400mh in it...

Your grow has the potential to have a amazing harvest.

Im subbing.

One thing i noticed is, do you have any kind of active ventilation? This could mean the difference between a heavy harvest vs a light to medium harvest. Get some active ventilation and some cooling then you are well on your way. It also looks kinda cramped in there. When your plants get bigger you are going to want to lolipop them so you can have easier access to water and this also helps with air flow, not to mention it forces the plants to focus their energy into producing fat dense buds. GOOD LUCK! and ill keep checkin in on this.

Peace and postitive energy to you.

yeah man def get some good ventilation going, you wanna get some dank buds right?!

thanks for the suggestions...

marlowe, i can use the bedroom as well. and im thinking like you. closet for veg, and bedroom for flowering. i just stuck them in that little closet because it was easy at the time.

nailz92002, thanks for coming along i'll go check out your journal.

now when you are saying venilation, what do you mean exactly. i've been keeping the bedroom door open to the rest of the apartment so it doesn't get too hot in there, and the fan is moving air around. i'm kind of stuck now since money is tight, and not sure if i could afford an air conditioner, AND another light. i might just have to go with this for now, and invest in that stuff later.

my thoughts on ventilation at this point is the possibility of cutting a hole in the bedroom door, attaching a vent with some sort of carbon filter onto it, and some type of fan. obviously gotta look into that a little more. that way once it starts smelling strong it won't fill my entire apartment. can't imagine having the door to the bedroom open forever. lol

as far as heat, it can't get much worse than it is now. we've had a couple record breaking heatwaves in the past week, so at least with the one light, i think i'll be ok.

anyways, just taking it day by day for now. if i keep just the one 600 watt light running, then i might just switch to flower real early, and do a sea of green. these plants are not feminized, so if half are female, im looking at a couple dozen plants. waaaay too much for one light lol. better too many than too few though right?

take it easy guys, and thanks again for checking out my grow.

If you can set that up right in the middle of the room you can stack items under the plants on the outside ring to create a little bit of a bowl shaped S.O.G. ...
with central a/c and being in an apt. you prolly want create negative pressure so smells dont leak...

I did this in a room just like that by putting a vortex 4" fan on top of a carbon filter and pushing in out the window through one of those plastic window inserts for portable a/c units... i know money is an issue but im gonna throw ideas at ya anyways cause i think if you can picture it maybe you could find a way to engineer something on the cheap...

I only grow with regular seeds also and you can bet there will be more females than males... you gotta good idea about forcing those early... space may be an issue if you dont...

i don't have any central ac...no air at all here. so im not concerned about smell transfer that way.

also luckily, my apartment front door goes straight outside. no hallway. so that's a plus.

im interested in your sog bowl method. what advantages do you see with the bowl shape? just more chance for light to penetrate?

Just imagine a football stadium with a light in the middle... the bulb is rounded... so the seats even way up on the high sides still can see that light...

what will probably happen is you will have a little growth variety and taller plants will go on the outside

seems like a good idea. thanks

i'm a little concerned about my plants. before i put them under the MH, a few of the plant's leaves (lower) were turning yellow.

now, at least half of them are yellowing on the lower leaves. from reading up on this subject, it looks like it could be too high a ph, not allowing any nutrients for the entire plant, thus only the upper, newest leaves getting all the good stuff....well, my first real watering under the MH i've adjusted PH to 6.5, so really hoping that solves that.

i think i'll give it another couple days, see if the problem continues. im really thinking i should start adding nutrients, at 1/4 strength like you said Marlowe.

I'll post some close up pics later today or tomorrow.

see what i mean? overall i think things are going well, but this concerns me

3 weeks from germination.

I removed 9 of the weakest looking plants (since i just have too many)....most of those were mango, a couple were northern lights. and just one blueberry. so i'm at 38 plants.

I lowered the light from 36" to 24" from the top of the closest plant (thinking i may be able to go a little lower)

I'm watering them more often than usual, not letting them stay dry for so long, and since my last post, its all tap water at a ph of approx. 6.5

Looks like the yellowing on the lower leaves problem is fixing itself....although i'm still a little concerned.

Wondering if I should be adding nutrients yet. Been almost a week now in the Pro Mix, so no nutrients that way.

Overall really happy so far! Losing half of the mango plants isn't a big deal either since that's what i grew last time and I'm way more interested in northern lights and blueberry.

Got 8 seeds of "purps" as well from the same place "bcseedking" so im excited to use them next grow with whatever else I decide to order.