Blunt Blowin's 1st Grow-CFL+MG organic

What's up RIU!

Well, after a couple of months of research, some conversation w/ some wonderful people on here, and tons of anticipation and excitement, I have finally begun my first grow ever .

Ok, so 1st things 1st; I am growing a Nirvana NL auto. I ordered from attitude and I must say they were great to work with. I even got a sweet shirt and a couple of freebies.

Anyways, here is my set-up:

6 CFL's (23 watts each/138 total)- 4 6500k + 2 2700k for veg and vice versa once flowering comes along. I screwed the CFL's into Y-splitters that are screwed into outlet adapters. The outlet adapters are plugged into a power strip. The power strip is mounted to a homemade reflector hood that's made out of an aluminum baking dish found at Wal-Mart

MG organic + MG perlite (I know, I know already; MG isn't the best stuff to use, but I have read several instances where people have had success and its what I have access to, plus its good for a budget grow. Don't try to convince me to switch to something else, just give feedback that helps my situation )- about a 3-2 ratio of soil to perlite.

Emergency Blankets- Used emergency blankets to cover walls and floor in grow closet

RO water- water is SUPER hard here, and i think it will help w/ ph, hopefully.

Ok, so I started germination 2.5 days ago (Tuesday night). I used the typical paper towel method, RO water, and placed it into a tupperware container. I then put the tupperware container on my stove. I have an old school oven/stove so whenever the oven is on high enough (like 250 or above) the stove top heats up as well. I placed a dishtowel on the stove and then put my tupperware container on the dishtowel. This kept the container a lil warm and FINALLY my seed popped this morning. I checked it like twice a day to make sure the paper towel was moist enough.

So, I then filled up my solo cup full of soil/perlite and watered it well w/ RO water until I had good drainage (drilled some holes in bottom of cup, about 5-6 small ones), then let it set for about 10-15 minutes. Using a pen, I poked about a 3/4" hole in the soil, dropped the seed in, covered it back up w/ soil, then covered the cup w/ plastic wrap.

So, this is where I am at this point. I hope to get some followers, some advice/suggestions, and I hope you all want to come along for the ride. If you can't tell already, this is def a budget grow, but I want to get the best possible product I can.

whats the update bro, so far ? im startin my 1st grow this weekend and already will be following some the same exact steps u stated above.

Nothing yet...just planted the seed not even 12 hours ago...i'm pretty stoked to finally get a grow going. What strain you trying to grow Forrest?

nothing good yet. jus some bagseed for the 1st grow attempts then i'll move on to the good bud. Goin to get supplies this very morning .... Can't Wait *Bart Scott voice*...Question for you; why the security blankets ? and what is that reflective material lining the room?

Forrest 1ndica said:

nothing good yet. jus some bagseed for the 1st grow attempts then i'll move on to the good bud. Goin to get supplies this very morning .... Can't Wait *Bart Scott voice*...Question for you; why the security blankets ? and what is that reflective material lining the room?

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The emergency blankets are lining the room, they are cheap and can be found at Wal Mart, and they are made of mylar which is good for reflection....

UPDATE:
After planting my baby Friday morning, I checked on it yesterday and found a little sprout coming up...I replaced the plastic wrap w/ a plastic bag and this seems to work much better at holding in moisture....anyways, i am counting today as day 1 of its life.

a couple of pics (notice the little sprout in the soil, next to the seemingly giant perlite; i zoomed in real close to make sure it could be seen):

Oh yeah, 1 more thing. I have the CFL's about 6 inches away from the solo cup right now on 24/7....is this ok to put the lights that close and on that much? What is the opinion on lighting for seedlings that just sprouted?

well, for those who care or have been reading...I fucked up...I think I freaked out the little girl by giving it too much light, too soon. I checked on it this morning and it was looking all brown, so I inspected a lil further and apparently the lil sprout wasn't even attached to the roots anymore and was all crispy and shit

Oh well, I instantly started germing another seed, and I will chill out on the lighting once it sprouts again. Everything else will be the same and I will update once I get to the sprouting stage again....

Sooo, I finally have another sprout going. I germed another seed, planted it, and it has sprouted from the soil. It is about a day and a half old right now.
Check it out, and as always advice/suggestions are highly recommended. How does it look?

I've got a question for you experienced people out there...When would it be ok to start adding superthrive to the soil? My plant has been sprouted for almost 2 days and I'm not planning on adding any right away, but when would it be ok to start adding something extra to the plant?

Whats up, whats up....a quick update...the seedling is 3 days old now and starting to form leaves . I started the seedling under 2 cfl's about 6" away and I've slowly increased the amount of lighting (kept distance the same) and today I have all 6 cfls going, still at 6"...so here's what the baby girl looks like right now. How does she look people? And is the amount of lighting I have on it now ok?

Blunt Blowin said:

I've got a question for you experienced people out there...When would it be ok to start adding superthrive to the soil? My plant has been sprouted for almost 2 days and I'm not planning on adding any right away, but when would it be ok to start adding something extra to the plant?

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wait until about 4 weeks after sprout

Blunt Blowin said:

Whats up, whats up....a quick update...the seedling is 3 days old now and starting to form leaves . I started the seedling under 2 cfl's about 6" away and I've slowly increased the amount of lighting (kept distance the same) and today I have all 6 cfls going, still at 6"...so here's what the baby girl looks like right now. How does she look people? And is the amount of lighting I have on it now ok?

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keep 2 lights really close to the top....u may have to adjust daily. Bout 2-3".

thanks for the advice calicatt....what do you think about keeping all 6 cfls on it about 5-6" away and slowly adjusted (shortened) the distance.


Also, is it ok to take off the plastic baggie now? I read somewhere that once the seedling pushes out its first set of real leaves then its ok to take off the baggie....is this cool?

Blunt Blowin said:

thanks for the advice calicatt....what do you think about keeping all 6 cfls on it about 5-6" away and slowly adjusted (shortened) the distance.


Also, is it ok to take off the plastic baggie now? I read somewhere that once the seedling pushes out its first set of real leaves then its ok to take off the baggie....is this cool?

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yeah it's def ok to take off the baggie if your at 5-6" way your losing lumens from your cfl's. With it being so little you don't really need all those bulbs yet. You don't want them to stretch out too much on ya and they will if you have the light too far. Just keep an eye on your stem and if she starts stretchin up too much, pull the lights in.

Anytime my fellow grower.....ANYTIME here is some information you can read up on, it can help make the most informative decision! And GOOD LUCK on your grow
https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/41024-cfl-proximity-foliage.html

So here's my baby girl 1 week old. The leaves are pointing up and one leaf has a dark spot on the tip....any idea what this is from? Are the leaves pointing up b/c of insufficient lighting? I have a couple of 23watt CFL's about 2" away right now.
What is the cause of the dark spot?

Hmmmm....I haven't really seen that happen to any of my little sprouts so I'm not really sure, sorry Your lights should be OK at 2" away. Your not feeding them anything right?

Not feeding anything, haven't watered in about a week (only sprayed until soil was moist)....i think it is looking better now anyways, its not looking dead or anything just a little darker on the tip than the rest of the leaves...anyways I see some new growth coming in, its just seems like its going through a slow phase right now probably b/c most of the growth is going on in the roots. I can't wait until this baby speeds up lol. Anyways, will post pictures in a couple days when there are some noticeable differences.

Alright peeps, this is day 14 of my baby girl's life....starting tonight, I increased the light from 2 26watt cfls to 3 26watters...still about 5-6" away....how does she look? The dark spots on some of the leaves are from a little bit of light burn I do believe; i had too much light on it about a week ago, but the new leaves appear to be healthy. Also, i watered it yesterday morning, i believe; this was the first real watering since being planted besides misting the top layer of soil once or twice...again, how does she look? And, at what rate should I start increasing the lighting?

What's up RIU, just a quick update on my girl. She is doing fine and growing a little every day!! Yes!! Anyways, I noticed this morning that there are some tiny roots coming out of the drainage holes in the bottom of my solo cup...so, i'm probably going to transplant in the next day or two to its final pot before it gets root bound.

Also, my baby girl is about 16 days old now and I put the timer on the lights now. I have been giving it 24 hours of light, but I am going to switch it to a 20/4 light/dark schedule for the remainder of its life.

Well, that's it for now, and as always input and advice are strongly welcomed and encouraged.

Heya there Blunt HORRAY for your baby!!! I'm not familiar with the light schedule you are using I just do 18/12 then 12/12 for flowering. Good idea to transplant soon if your seein roots...she will LOVE her new home and start growing soooo fast No definite answer for your light question earlier huh?. I had 14 26watt cfl's on my 3 babies when they were small like yours if that helps?? I used encyclopedias to raise and lower my pots as needed (which was a few times a week). Other than that I keep them about 2" away the whole time (sometimes even closer) Excited to see her grow