First Grow! Sealed/Closed Room, 2400 watts, CO2, Mini-Split AC, SmartPots, Dehum!

good call on the humidifier. its always 55%-65% here so sometimes i forget.

for mine i stuck it in a 30 gal grow bag to start simply because seeds have taproots and the lower they go before getting constricted the better for growth. for clones i usually let them air prune and will gradually step them up. and yes, a 30gal grow bag is probably overkill but it never hurts to give them a little extra root space

October 30, 2010 (Day 7 of Veg)...

Everything looking good! The babies are really starting to expand those leaves and fold them out reaching for the light. Looks like good light green growth all around on them. I think they are taking hold and doing great!

The humidifier had been running all night and the humidity was in the low 50's. I think this will help a lot.

Gave them a couple squirts each from my spray bottle with the plain water (with Silica and Cal-Mag+ added). The tops of the soil looked damp still, and I think the humidifier had lightly coated the tops of the soil with a damp, watery coat. So I didn't water too much, just a couple squirts each.

Here's the group shot of my seedlings on day 7 of veg:
Seedlings Day 7.jpg

Light measurements from the top of the solo cups (12" below the flouro panel)..this time I measured in Foot Candles and Lux. My meter does both. FC is first, lux is second. The seedlings are getting about 2700 Foot Candles/29,000 Lux (29.00 KilaLux) FYI! You can see "FC" for Foot Candles or "KLux" for KilaLux indicated in the bottom right corner of the meter's LCD Screen:
Light FC.jpgLight KilaLux.jpg


Also, I wanted to highlight my odor control mechanisms (this is crucial where I live). I have a 3-pronged attack.. Stage 1 - Carbon Filter with inline fan, Stage 2 - Sharper Image Negative Ionizer, Stage 3- Cap Ozone Jr. Stage 2 and 3 are located outside the grow room in the nearby room. They prevent odor from drifting where it isn't welcome if it escapes the grow room. I also have 2 cans of Ona Block Gel. I need to hang one on the grill of my oscillating wall fan.

Stage 1 (Carbon Filter):
Carbon Filter.JPG

Stage 2 (Negative Ionizer):
Ionizer.JPG
Stage 3 (Ozone Jr.):
Ozone Jr.JPG


Additionally, here are some random pics of my BlueLab Guardian setup by the sink area with some nutes and my EZ-CLONE machine...I got a bit camera happy today!
BlueLab Guardian.jpgNutes.jpgEZ Clone.jpg

Comments Welcome!

Looking good. Your floru's should be right on top of the plants at this point..or put them under your main bulbs in a day or two. They should be fine. Humidity should be a little higher if you can swing it. You can try hanging a wet towel in front of a fan. If its a nice thick towel, you can hang one end in a bucket of water and it will stay wet till the bucket dries.

How well does your ionizer work? I have been thinking about getting one to cut the smell of nutes and bud. I don't really want to install my carbon filter yet as I am currently keeping my humidity levels in the upper 70's which can really cut down the effectiveness and longevity of the filter.

Originally Posted by legallyflying

Looking good. Your floru's should be right on top of the plants at this point..or put them under your main bulbs in a day or two. They should be fine. Humidity should be a little higher if you can swing it. You can try hanging a wet towel in front of a fan. If its a nice thick towel, you can hang one end in a bucket of water and it will stay wet till the bucket dries.

How well does your ionizer work? I have been thinking about getting one to cut the smell of nutes and bud. I don't really want to install my carbon filter yet as I am currently keeping my humidity levels in the upper 70's which can really cut down the effectiveness and longevity of the filter.

Thanks for the tips bro! I wondered if they needed to be moved a tad closer to the lights today also...but I thought the leaves looked a shade light green and I didn't want to stress them too much so I left it at 12". I'll get something to stick under the box tomorrow or so and see if I can't raise it up a few more inches. I think I will try to gradually move it up to about 6" from the panel. Maybe 2 inches per day over 3 days or so. What do you think? I don't want to put them under the mH just yet. I want to wait about another week. Then move em under it. Is that being overly cautious? I just don't want to light stress them or burn em from too much too soon. Seems like 2700 FC of light should be plenty for 1 week old seedlings right? By the way, at what point do I stop calling them seedlings and say they are in "vegetative growth" now? 2 weeks or so?

As for humidity its hard to get it up higher right now. I cranked up the humidifier to 65% (it was set at 55%). I will see if I can't get the humidity higher.

The towel tip seems very intriguing. I might just try that...doesn't it create a big ass mess tho dripping all over the floor from being wet?

The negative ionizer works well. You have to clean it with warm water and what not, but its pretty maintenance free. My 3-stage odor control plan eliminates anything smelly in my opinion... I don't smell anything except clean air.

Thanks bro,

X

most people put there plants about 3" from CFL's. 29k lux is fine but 40k luz is approaching optimal. Yellow leaves doesn't generally indicate heat stress, cupped leaves and whitish discoloration is light stress. I would your plant in the seedling category for sure. I'm not a soil guy so seek other advice, but I would start giving them some macro nutrients. A little nitrogen should take out the yellow pretty quickly. Perhaps just foliar feed them once a day before the lights come off. That way if they don't like it, you won't have the nutes in the soil mixture.

It would also be wise to inoculate the soil at this time to fight off bad microbes, increase nutrient uptake and nutrient fixation rates.

About the towel, it would be hanging over the bucket so no drips or mess.

did you see my pics? Those are 3 week old clones...

Originally Posted by legallyflying

most people put there plants about 3" from CFL's. 29k lux is fine but 40k luz is approaching optimal. Yellow leaves doesn't generally indicate heat stress, cupped leaves and whitish discoloration is light stress. I would your plant in the seedling category for sure. I'm not a soil guy so seek other advice, but I would start giving them some macro nutrients. A little nitrogen should take out the yellow pretty quickly. Perhaps just foliar feed them once a day before the lights come off. That way if they don't like it, you won't have the nutes in the soil mixture.

It would also be wise to inoculate the soil at this time to fight off bad microbes, increase nutrient uptake and nutrient fixation rates.

About the towel, it would be hanging over the bucket so no drips or mess.

did you see my pics? Those are 3 week old clones...

Yeah, I saw your pics! Badass growth, super dense! Nice work.

OK, per your advice I moved them up some today...I raised em up to about 6" away from the lamps (to the top of the solo cup rim)..so the taller ones may very well be 3-4" away from the flouro lamps now. My meter measured it around 32,000 Lux. I also upped the humidity dial on the humidifier and added a fan to help disperse it amongst the seedlings. Plus, the fan should help with stem growth from a gentle breeze. I'll check on the humidity levels tomorrow (min/max) and think about the towel!

What do you recommend I innoculate the soil with? Light Warrior already has humic acid and myco, and when I transplant them in another week or two they will go into my soil mixture which has extra humic acid, dolomite lime, azomite, and tons of extra soluble Mycorrhyzae.

I'm all ears!!

Comments welcome!

X

I'm not familiar with the soil nute lines, but if it has myco in it your good to go.

Hey man, I looked closely at your pictures.... make sure you always calibrate that yellow milwaukie ph meter. aka.. the raging piece of shit. Well, that is what I used to call mine till I finally got so fed up I smashed it with my mini sledge hammer.

Again, not a huge deal as your in soil. But just make sure to calibrate every time.