My third grow, Afghan weed

Well here it is, my grow journal for my current grow.. I am currently growing afghan weed, I currently have 4 plants in their 6th week of veg. I also have one seedling I just planted 2 days ago.

My setup goes like this: I have 2 4' shoplights, each holds two fluorescent tubes Hanging over the plants(3 daylight, and one cool white). I have 4 32 watt daylight CFL's, 1 40 watt cool white CFL, and one 26 watt warm white CFL, for top and side growth, giving them light from all of the spectrum (red to blue). These 10 lights put off 18500 Lumens (aprox). I have a 600 watt HPS lamp currently on order for the flowering stage.

I lined the walls of my grow room with aluminium foil(matt side out), and have a homemade CO2 system(yeast, water, and sugar method).

I also have a cool mist humidifier, and a fan to keep the temp in the room down, and the humidity up. I have no door in my closet(where i'm doing the grow), so I have an emergancy blanket covering the whole opening(keeps heat, and humidity in).

My plants have reached 9 inches, quite small, yet they were stunted badly early in the grow, and almost died(thank god for the super tough afghani strain). They have bounced back, stronger then ever.

I have them growing in 8 inch pots, filled with MG soil. I water them aprox 2 litres of water every week, and if I do add nutes, it is very little, due to already having ferts in the MG soil.

The temp ranges from 25(early morning) to 31 peak temp during the day. At night I do not know the temp, as I leave them in the dark cycle with no light entering as to prevent hermies. Humidity ranges from 30%-55% throughout the day. My cycle is currently set to 20/4, to give a rest from the heat, and promote root growth and save a few bucks.

I am sorry I can not post any pics of my grow setup, as my digital cam's battery is dead, and i can only take pictures when it's hooked up to my computer. I can post pics of the plants though. So heres pics of the 2 largest afghan plants, destined to yield a good harvest:

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Well my internet was shut off, so I was unable to post for a week or so.. but i'm back, and with new photos.. I watered these suckers yesterday, and switched around how I have the CFL's set up, for a more productive effect. i have the cfls directly over the plants, and two of the four fluorescent tubes for side lighting.. they have grown quite a bit in a week and a half, i'm impressed.. They are now at 7 weeks, and the seedling at one week. now that I have internet back, I will try to post every few days with the stats and height and new pics for you guys.

From this:



To this:






in almost 2 weeks! Thank the lord for Miracle Grow!

Well this is almost a week after the lastpost, plants looking bigger and bigger each day. I just watered the suckers(with MG ferts), and replanted the fattest mother into a bigger pot(12"). I will have to put my lights up higher, as the plants are just about reaching them now. Here is the pics of the 2 biggest plants.



The Fattest:





these are 2 months old now... looking very thick, I can't even find the stem on the fatter mother. it's like a journey through the jungle to get to it but the stem is reaalll thick. I can't get a picture of the stem though, the plant is way to bushy.

I will begin the flowering process in about 4 weeks, after I order my HPS kit, and have it shipped to me. That will make my plants 3 months old at the time of flowering. I think I will use the best grower to make seeds.. pollinate the lower branches on the thickest mother. My plan is to use the seedling I have now, to grow through this grow, and keep her growing as my next grow. I will just grow this one plant, and make her reaalll tall and thick, looking to get 2-3 ounces off just this one plant. I will use a MH light over the plant, and 4 fluorescent tubes for side lighting. I think my nest grow will be a real success..

lookin good man, gotta love afghani

thanks dude, I decided to try a pure indica strain this time.. supposed to put you on your ass, or so I here.. I don't think i've tried a 100% indica strain so far. This strain is also supposed to be full of resin and crystals(good for hashing), so I will try to make me some hash.

That's weird.. I don't know why my pictures show up sometimes, and sometimes they don't.. :S

im having trouble just uploading a new pic for my avatar :/

Well i decided to post some new pics today, and let you guys in on the progress i'm making..

Temp: 27 C
Humidity: 40%
Watered today with miracle grow 12-4-8
Reppoted seedling yesterday.

Well, my plants have obviously grown from the last post with pics, so here they are:

This one is 11.5 inches tall (in a 10" self watering planter)





Notice, it is getting quite bushy(due to use of side lighting) And it is starting to branch out quite a bit on the bottom( you cant really see weli in these pics.. stupid shitty camera). I have not yet flowered yet, but it is looking like my 4 plants are females.. one might be a male, but i wont be able to tell until I do actually start flowering.

this is the fattest momma at 11 inches(in a 12" self watering planter):







This was the fastest growing plant since the start.. it only got recently beat out by the first plant(first pics I posted in this post) it is beat by a mere .5 inches. It was always the fattest and tallest until now(which is now only the fattest). I reppoted her aprox 3 days ago, the roots were wrapped all around the inside of the bottom of the pot.. she needed the extra space.

This is my seedling, which will grow into my next grow (aprox 12 days):



Just a little recap for you guys.. I am growing in miracle grow all purpose soil, watering every 2-3 days, and using weak solution of Miracle Grow ferts every water (12-4-8 ). I have 2 fluorescent tubes for side lighting(daylight and warm white for outwrad growth), two hovering over the plants(cool white and daylight), and each plant has it's own daylight CFL bulb (over top the plants for height). I have the plants in 8", 10" and 12" pots. I spray the leaves in the morning, with a weak solution of shultz 10-15-10, as soon as I get up and the lights turn on. I also have 2 homemade CO2 (yeast, sugar, water) systems (Two 2 litre pop bottles with holes in the tops, and tubing running out of them hovering over the plants).

what's up with the pictures blanking outt?? grr..

i noticed you said you used miracle grow. is it ok to use that? i read somewhere that it burns the roots?

I heard about that also, that miracle grow isn't good for the plants... I have been using it for about a month now, and not a single problem with it. I think the roots get burned when people also water with fertilizer.. as MG already contains ferts in the soil. it's best to water with plain water for at least the two first weeks of using MG. The ferts in the soil last up to a month(or so it says on the bag). I personally trust and will always use MG, i've had nothing but good results whilst using this soil.

cool,sounds good. good luck with d grow

thanks paddy, hope your lucky aswell.

Well here I am, with another post. My plants are growing quite well, and I believe are in their prime right now. The tallest one would happen to be 16 inches, and the second tallest is also somewhere in this vicinity.
I have recently been having trouble with the heat. I have added a new light in my room(dayight cfl), the light fixture has a metal hood, so it really pumps out the heat. I have a fan and a cool moisture humidfier to reduce the heat, yet the heat still manages to get up to 36 celcius sometimes. I have to keep the door on my closet slightly open, and the window of my room open to let in cool air. This helps keep the temps under 30 celcius.

I am starting to notice tiny female preflowers on some of the plants, little tiny white pistils coming out. This has happened all by itself, I have not changed my light schedule(20/4), nor have I given a bloom formula. I am slightly confused about this, I am guessing they are getting ready for the upcoming flowering stage.

This is my bushiest momma right here:



And the second biggest:



These are the three other mommas:



This is the three week old baby:



Also, I have been having some type of pproblem with one of my plants.. Some of the inner leaves are curling under, and inward. They kinda look like banana leaves.. :



Any help would be greatly appreciated. I believe it may be too much Nitrogen, as I cannot measure my fert solution out. I will water with very little solution from now on.

lookin good. when are ye guna put them into flowering?

Hey man looking good. Personally i have had my best 2 grows in MG soil with MG ferts. This organic stuff is killing me lol . I just kinda guess and add stuff at random :/

Thanks for dropping in and keeping my journal alive Will definitely keep an eye on yours to see how it comes out .

I will flower these suckers as soon as I recieve my HPS light through ups shipping. They are alredy starting to preflower by themselves.

Thanks mindless.. I will deff keep tabs on your grow also. I believe MG is the most amazing thing man ever invented!

Today, april 8th. New pics to post.

Temp today when arrived from work: 29.8
Humidity:35%

I arrived home to find 3 of my plants looking very sickly.. I guessed it was due to lack of water. I watered them asap, and they bounced back, healthy as ever! That's a relief!

I believe the plants have outgrown their pots, but they are in the largest size I can currently give em. They are in 8' and 10' pots. This is the largest size I can fit into my grow room. Wish I had more room though..

Anyway, on to the pics!!


This is tyhe 3 week old, now 3 and a half weeks old( a few days after repotting with mg soil):



This is Big Bertha at 17 inches:



In the jungle, the mighty jungle!






This is one of the random seeds that was sent to me that I planted:




Top view of her:




The second largest plant(notice the second cola branching out):




Top view, you can see one of the side colas:




And last but not least:



These plants have been grown for 10.75 weeks so far. Friday will be the eleventh week. I am just waiting for my HPS light to come in to really thicken these babies up with resiny indica afghani buds. I will keep you guys posted during the flowering stage for sure. I am most likely gonna get 4+ ounces of these babies.

They were growing at quite a slow rate for awhile, then I watered with plain water for a week, and they started to grow again. I'm guessing they had nute lock-up, from nutes being in the soil, and me adding some with the water.. I will give them one more fair dose of 20-20-20 before flowering(which contains all their micronutrients), and then start to change to their bloom formula (5-30-5).

I will lower the light cycle 1 hour everyday, until I reach the 12/12. Which will take 8 days since I am on 20/4 at the moment. I will most likely start this in a week or so.

Thanks for checking in guys, any and all comments appreciated.

p.s. the "banana leaves" are starting to uncurl, I am most certain it was due to too much nitrgen in the plant. They have better shaped since watering with plain, dechlorinated water.