First Grow Imminent! Any tips appreciated, will update as Log. Auto, 400w, 5 plant.

Hi Roll It Up. This will be my first grow and my first post here - It seems like a cool place, so thanks for having me!

I thought I'd start with a pre-grow post to introduce my set up and then update this thread as a Grow Log once things are under-way. If anyone cares to review my proposed set-up I'd appreciate any input.

So I've gone for autoflowers for speed and ease. Specifically I've opted for 3 x Easyryder (Joint Doctor) and 2 x Sweet Dwarf (Advanced Seeds).

Here's the kit I've got so far:

Tent - 110 x 65 x 160 cm (approx. 3.5' x 2' 5') ≈ 1 m[SUP]3[/SUP] (40 cubic feet), Mylar lined. (0.7 m[SUP]2[/SUP] / 7.5 ft[SUP]2[/SUP] floor area)

Light - 400w dual spectrum HPS, with timer. Planning 20/4 schedule.
Pots - 10l (2.6 US gal), plastic.

Fan - 4'' TT fan 187 m[SUP]3[/SUP]/hour (I make that 110 cfm) so about 3 tents worth a minute if my maths is right...
Soil: Levington Multi-Purpose Compost with water-lock system. Perlite to mix.
From my calculations everything seems to fit quite nicely. The plants are low so my 1.6m of head room should be just about enough, once the pots and lamp gap have been accounted for. And the pots all sit nicely in the tent with a little room around them.

Thought I'd germinate the seeds in the soil to save them any stress.

That's about as far as I've got so far. There's an awful lot to read about - it's been a steep learning curve!

Hello Rapidon!!! You seem to be my brother across the pond, as you and I have very similar setups and strains. Best of luck on your grow, I'm definitely subbed and perhaps we can share what we learn along the way... Again best of luck, I'm about a week ahead of you in the process and so far the setup is perfect. Even the experienced people I've talked to say there's no need to change anything, so get it growing!!!

Ah nice one skyhigh. I'll check out your posts

So to update - germination occurred yesterday afternoon. I decided to add a 6th seed to the set-up because there seemed to be ample space. It was a free one, also called Easy Ryder, but it didn't say Joint Doctor on the packet. I can't remember what it did say; do any other brands have a version of Easy Ryder? I seem to remember it saying "Easy Ryder - Lowryder seeds" maybe, would that just be Joint Doctor? And it said feminised. It's in a roughly 6l clay pot.

Anyway, I have a friend who germinated a/some free seeds. She said that, despite being labelled 'fem' at least one turned out to be male and ruined her crop! So I'm a little cautious about this extra and will be watching it closely for signs of gender. I did a little reading online and found that some vendors do occasionally give un-feminised free seeds, labelled as fems! It seems to be a mind-bogglingly stupid move by these vendors to do such a thing - not only are they loosing your trust but also giving you tons of seeds in your crop so you definitely won't be using them again! Anyway, I got mine from Altitude Seeds, anyone have a bad experience with them? Am I likely to be screwed over by this freebee?

As far as i've found, Joint Doc is the only proprietor of Lowryder varieties although different banks may carry them--most likely it's still a JD bean.... And as far as your freebie, the term "feminized" IS a little misleading, as there is no true way to guarantee a fem plant from seed. Basically fem seeds come from plants which are manipulated to become hermaphrodites and self-pollenate, greatly increasing the chance of the offspring being fem (up to 98% according to some claims), but there is that slight unfortunate chance a "fem" seed can produce a male plant because the mother carried both genetic traits, so it's still important to sex them once buds start showing. I wouldnt necessarily blame the bank, they really have little control over the genetics, they are merely a vendor. A male plant isn't necessarily a bad thing either as far as Auto strains go, since you can collect the pollen and produce your own seeds later on. Just seperate it from your precious females, collect, and kill it off. It's really impractical to try to clone Autos, so harvesting your own seeds can keep you supplied with your fav auto strains for years...

I'd also like to hear a review on Attitude; I have ordered from them but haven't recieved yet, but did recieve a very polite and fast response when I emailed my concerns (actullay just this morning). Many herbalists swear by them so they must be doing something right, I'll let you know how my transaction went once the parcel hits my doorstep...

Congrats on the newborns bro, can't wait for the baby pics lol!

Yeah, I was thinking about trying to get some seeds if I do get a male

My transaction with Altitude seeds went completely smoothly and with tons of freebees, so I wouldn't worry.

Will keep you posted on the babies!

I've since seen a picture from someone who bought a single feminised Easy Ryder seed from Altitude Seeds and it came in exactly the same packet as my free one so I'm sure that's what it is.

So as for an update. Four out of six seeds have shown themselves. First was the three paid for Easy Ryders and the latest to show it's face was one of the Sweet Dwarfs. That means I'm still waiting for one Sweet Dwarf and the freebee Easy Ryder after more than a week. I'm beginning to worry that they won't come up at all. Maybe I knocked the seed out of place with some careless watering or I don't know what...

Maybe they'll make a late appearance. Either way, I don't think I'll germinate in soil again. Joint Doctor recommended it and I read a few people saying it is the most natural, stress-free way to germinate your seeds, but you just don't have a clue what's going on with them until they sprout. Where as using the paper towel method or similar you at least know when the tap root has appeared.

I'll try and get some picture of the seedlings up soon, but in the mean time here's a snap of my grow space before they popped up. The white PVC ducting has been removed and will shortly be replaced by a metallic one to avoid fumes poisoning the plants. I don't know if that's a logical fear or not.

Ok here it is - baby pics... Excuse the poor photo quality:






First 3 are paid-for Easy Ryder. Last is paid-for Sweet Dwarf. Still no sign of other Sweet Dwarf or freebee Easy Ryder Don't know what to do about that...

I did a little reading about seed shells getting stuck on seedlings and heard that it can kill them! I hope this hasn't already happened to mine as it hasn't changed for a few days. Going to try and tweezer it off tonight, wish me luck!

It's been a while so I've got a couple of posts to catch up with. Not that this thread seems to be getting much attention anyway! Things have changed a bit since then and I've been sloppy with recording things.

After my last post I tried to de-shell the seedling with the shell stuck on it's head and managed to snap the top off, so that one's dead! Then with still nothing happening in the other two pots I attempted to dig up the seeds which hadn't sprouted to see what the fuck was going on with them. One I couldn't find (freebie Easy Ryder), and the other seemed to have a faint crack in it with nothing coming out (Sweet Dwarf).

** Based on this experience I would NOT recommend germination in soil **

Maybe I fucked it up, but who knows. When germinating in soil you have no idea what's going on with your seed and that's what I don't like about it.

Anyway I decided to sandwich it between two paper towels to see if it would sprout. In this seed-sandwich I also included my last freebie-auto seed, a Diesel Auto from G13 Labs.

The next day I visited a head shop and noticed they had some Easy Ryder seeds for a good price (Cheaper than online!) so I snapped them up and shoved one in to germinate with the others. The Diesel auto soon began to sprout, the Last Sweet dwarf did nothing so I replaced it with another new Easy Ryder. All of the remaining seeds sprouted so to cut a long story short this is what I'm left with:

Flush 1 (Soil germination from original stock):
3 x Joint Doctors Easy Ryder from Altitude Seeds, germination began on the 25th November (26 days ago).

Flush 2 (Paper towel germination, failed plant replacement):
1 x G13 Lab's Diesel Auto from Altitude Seeds (freebie), I don't know when germination began to be honest... Probably should have recorded that!
2 x Joint Doctors Easy Ryder from a Head Shop, one with germination approximately + 1 day of Diesel Auto, one + 1 or 2 more days (in smaller 6.5l clay pot).

I know it's a bit of a mess, but that's where I'm at. Anyway all plants have sprouted so I'm fairly happy. Next post coming in a min will include pics.

Im watching Is there a reason your doing 20/4 with autos? Ive never grown an auto but I thought 24 hours was a given.. Either way good luck and im subbed..

I reserved this slot earlier from some older photos I hadn't uploaded to keep them in chronological order. I believe they were taken on the 13th of December. At this point the last seed of the new batch of Easy Ryder seeds hadn't shown up yet so there are only 5 plants...

Flush 1 (original seeds) - Easy Ryder - 18 days from beginning germination in soil. (At this stage I'm not sure which plant corresponds to the numbering I've used later on in the thread so they're all together):








Flush 2 (New seeds):

Plant 4 - Diesel Auto, maybe 3 days from beginning germination in paper towel:



Plant 5 - Easy Ryder, maybe 4 days from beginning germination in paper towel:


Now you will undoubtedly notice something strange in the above picture. There are two clearly different plants coming up! One cannabis, one clearly not. At first the only one that came up was the not. My initial reaction was that of fear, worrying that the head shop had ripped me off - it was the first of their seeds to come up!

I left it a couple more days to see what the fuck it was, but thankfully a healthy little cannabis seedling soon appeared next to it so I promptly ripped that thing out. Turns out itt had a lot of rooting, must have been growing for a while!



I think I managed to remove it all with out disturbing my intended crop too much and since then it has progressed well and appears unaffected. And no more signs of that invader - Phew!

I guess it must have been something in the compost. Anyone else have anything funny grow in their pots before? I read one page about funny things found in a bag of compost like carrots and tin cans. I would have posted this if it wasn't a dead thread.

This is my earliest set of pictures including the second flush of plants. I believe they were taken on 15th December.

I will number the plants and attempt to stick to them from now on, in the order they came up...

Flush 1:

Plant 1 - Easy Ryder - 20 days from beginning germination in soil:


Plant 2 - As above:


Plant 3 - As above:


Flush 2:

Plant 4 - Diesel Auto, unknown days from germination in paper towel:


Plant 5 - Easy Ryder, germination began approximately 1 day after Diesel Auto:


Plant 6 - Easy Ryder, germination began approximately 2/3 days after Diesel Auto:

Ok now we're at today, 21st December. Plants are looking quite good but I've just noticed some damage to the oldest (bottom) leaves of particularly one plant. I'll get to that, but first general snaps...


Flush 1:


Plant 1 - Easy Ryder - 26 days from beginning germination in soil:


Plant 2 - As above:


Plant 3 - As above:



Flush 2:


Plant 4 - Diesel Auto, unknown days from germination in paper towel:



Plant 5 - Easy Ryder, germination began approximately 1 day after Diesel Auto:



Plant 6 - Easy Ryder, germination began approximately 2/3 days after Diesel Auto:

Sorry that my camera sucks so much under this HPS lighting. I should try to shoot with flash during lights off.

Speaking of which, to answer your question Mechanical, from what I've read it is quite common to grow Autos with a 20/4 schedule. Or even 18/6! Some say that having them on 24/0 burns the plants out a bit and exhausts them whilst others swear by it to get the full potential from your plants. Joint Doctor (who produces the seeds) recommends a 20/4 schedule so this along with the recommendations of many other growers online lead to my decision. In fact I was under the impression that 20/4 was more common than 24/0!

Thanks for reading dude, it's good to have you on board. So next up here's some plant porn, in the form of my first flush's pubic hairs, dedicated to Mechanical and skyhighblu for taking the time to comment on my thread! This would seem to confirm that my girls are just that and indicate that they have begun to enter the flowering stage! Not sure which's bits belong to which plant, so here they are in no particular order - Enjoy:

And now onto something not so sexy. The malody I mentioned earlier which seems to be affecting the lower, older leaves, particularly of Plant 2, and to a lesser extent, Plant 1. I was hoping someone could tell me if there is cause for concern and if so what I am doing wrong and what can be done to remedy the situation.

To describe it in words, a couple of the lower leaves seem to have lost that intense green colouration and have begun to crack and develop patches of a brownish colour. These patches look a bit as if some impure water had been spilt on them and then dried to leave a residue on the leaf. I am not actually concerned about the purity of my water but I suspected that maybe a bit of water had been spilt on the leaves during watering and damaged them somehow? Is there any sense to this? Did I miss some rule about keeping the water off your leaves?

Or maybe that's just what happens to old leaves? I've heard it's good to trim the bottom third of your plant so maybe it's time to do that? Or any other suggestions you'd have I'd really appreciate. Here's the problem in pictures:

Plant 2 - 26 days from beginning germination in soil:





I think I'll post this somewhere else too that's maybe more relevent. Thanks for your in put.

Noob here. I read somewhere that you don't want your lower leaves touching the soil, as this could make them susceptible to disease. I'm a newbie, though.

If it is nutrients it will burn your leaves and that could definitely be the problem if it splashed up on the lower ones. 20/4 it is then.. I've always been interested in autos..

Leaves don't appear to be touching the soil and I'm not using any nutes yet, but thanks for the suggestions guys.

In other news a fan upgrade is on the way. Think I may have over done it with a 250mm (10 inch) RVK, but hey it was cheap. I reckon I'll need to work out a way to slow it down when it comes...

And I filled that reserved slot on the previous page of this thread if anyone wants to check out something funky growing in my pot, haha!

post your fan setup when you get it. I'm still looking for one myself. Consider a cheap speed controller for your fan, like this one maybe: http://www.amazon.com/SE-Electronic-Stepless-Speed-Controller/dp/B000HQAVNI/ref=pd_sim_lg_3

Trouble with that type of fan controller (cheap ones are thyristor based) is that I've read they can produce a buzzing noise and potentially reduce the life span of the fan. The 'proper way' is to use a variable transformer or variac, but they're more expensive than a fan!

I did see on the Systemair website however (makers of the true RVK range) that they do produce their own thyristor type speed controller which they say can be used in conjunction with their RVK fans so maybe it is ok. I can't imagine they'd associate the two if there was a danger of reducing the fan's life. I think ultimately I will try one to see if it produces the buzzing noise. But for now I'm still waiting for the damned fan. Lousy ebayer

Hmm, I didn't realize that about the fan. I just bought one the other day. . .