MM Noob Grow #01 (Can I Outlive the Plants?)

Soil.
The four 91 Chemdog Male x Deathstar Female are from regular seeds. Hopefully there's a female in the lot.
The Dutch Passion and Poison Berry are feminized.
I'll list soils and nutes after lights come on today. I'll update bulbs/ballasts too.



Nute burn before any nutes where added? Calcium? Magnesium?



Heat stress? Lack of water? Both?

If I had it to do over I'd simply top them this time around. I've got some epic FIM fails resulting in mutant looking tops now. Should have cut lower. Lesson learned.



Another FIM



What strange graphics card is this? Switched to 1000 watt HPS 12/12 on that most horrible of days. Six days ago.

My favorite leaf. Sadly in a couple days it will be riddled with necrosis brown spots.



Tent is 6.5' x 6.5' x 6.5'. If I could rewind time I'd go with a 5' x 10' or something like that. The center support beam is not a solid peace, rather it joins in the middle. That's fine for a lightweight open reflector but for a heavy air-cooled hood I had to build supports. Maximize strength while limiting the footprint. Aesthetics sacrificed for functionality and affordability. This is my design





Carbon filter was an inexpensive filter / inline fan package deal. It is proving effective so far. I was going to go with the Phresh Filter but rolled the dice with this one. So far so good. I'm considering rotating it so it is parallel with the reflector.

How to 400 watt MH fail:
Step 1 - Unplug ballast
Step 2 - Immediately plug ballast back in while bulb is still hot
Step 3 - Watch the lights all go out in the basement
Step 4 - Stumble to flashlight
Step 5 - Flip circuit breaker thingy in big metal box
Step 6 - Panic as ballast won't turn back on
Step 7 - Press little blinking button on the little electrical outlet
Step 8 - Place palm on forehead as bulb lights back up. Breath man breath.

When I switched to the HPS setup I noticed the MH appears to have melted a bit. I don't like the way it looks and am thinking I will not be using it again. Fortunately I purchased two last Xmas for around $25 a piece. Lesson learned.

I got the fan extension cord up off the floor and zip tied to the wall along with the fan controller. It's about 5.8' up. Eye level. The fan is resting on top of the tent blowing air directly up. I'd like to get a mesh protector so nothing falls into it's exhaust cylinder from the rafters. At this point even $12 for that is a hard pill to swallow.



Transplanted to 5 gallon bags.



RH is 56% but will drop to 16% or so this winter. I'm enjoying not having to run a humidifier now. Temp stays at 73 degrees Fahrenheit... at least it does in that location. Drops to 66 degrees Fahrenheit at night already. I'll be battling that this winter too. Opening a heat register in the basement will zap all moisture out of the air. Plus I'll have to try to close it everyday when the light turns on. But I don't want it dropping to below 60 degrees Fahrenheit at lights out. I'll cross that bridge when I have too.

It's hard to see the ones we love ill. What's the matter love? At first I thought it was burn because I had just tried a GH powder bloom nute. So I flushed with PH 6.0. I don't have a digital PH meter so it's all by color chart and eye for now. It got worse.



Other plants starting to yellow.

what nutrient line? soil? feeding schedule?

You lights were too close in the first pictures... I'd go 2' above them, with the new vented hood you can probably go 18" but I try not to go closer than that (sometimes stretch is too much and bending don't fit the situation though).

Oh baby you're so sick. I know how much that sucks. I'm so sorry for flushing you. I'm going to go pick up some CalMag and folliar spray you tonight at lights out, then tomorrow I'll water you with it. Unless someone with more experience would like to chime in with advice this will be my course of action. Could the yellowing also be a nitrogen deficiency? Am I getting nute lock out or am I merely not using enough? I believe our water here is hard. When I use a certain type of humidifier it leaves a white residue all over the room. I can't afford a TDS meter right now and a reverse osmosis system might as well be a new Ferrari. I'm really hoping the CalMag helps.



In about an hour it's lights on. I'm exited to see if spraying the foliage with CalMag mixed water helped. Perhaps it will take longer to see results. We shall see.

Grojak said:

what nutrient line? soil? feeding schedule?

You lights were too close in the first pictures... I'd go 2' above them, with the new vented hood you can probably go 18" but I try not to go closer than that (sometimes stretch is too much and bending don't fit the situation though).

Click to expand...

I'll update the nutes after lights on in about an hour. Yes the light was too close to the plants. After raising it the issue was resolved. When they were just little sprouts I killed them. All of them. I let them get too dry and I had the light too far away. I came down to check on them and the were all completely wilted over. One or two didn't survive. The rest rebounded. But then I began keeping the light too close after witnessing that sudden drastic stretch.

With a time machine I'd be going back to top them earlier and I'd use t5's instead of MH. They did grow fast with that MH though. With the tent height being 6.5' I need to be careful of stretch. LST is something I will consider doing next time. If there is a next time.

When I switched to the 1000 HPS it was so cool under the hood I did have it too low for a few hours and they got a little light burnt. I think I'm covering all the mistakes. If I've left any out don't worry. I'm sure I'll cover them all eventually.

Veg: 400 watt SunPulse Pulse Start MH LLT/SP400 6.4K
Bloom: Solis Tek 1000 watt HPS
All plants originally potted/veg in Humbolt Natural & Organic soil. Purchased Pro Mix at time of 5 gallon bag transplant. Only 1 plant kept in all Humbolt the rest transplanted in Pro Mix. All topped with Pro Mix.



This is what I was able to do today. Took me 4.5 hours. General Hydroponics MaxiBloom will be referred to as "MaxiBloom." Sunleaves Jamaican Bat Guano 0-10-0 (just realized today it says it has no nitrogen but I used very little only a couple times in veg) will be referred to as "guano." General Hydroponics CaMg+ will be referred to as "CalMag."
Water PH between 6 - 6.5

• 91 Chemdog Male x Deathstar Female reg 1d - Humbolt Soil - MaxiBloom 2 tsp/gallon
• Dutch Passion fem 1b - Pro Mix - guano topped + CalMag mixed in water (2 tsp per gallon) *sickest strain
  
• Poison Berry fem 1b - Pro Mix - MaxiBloom 2 tsp/gallon
  
• Dutch Passion fem 1a - Humbolt Soil - CalMag 2 tsp/gallon *sickest strain
  
• Poison Berry fem 1a - Pro Mix - MaxiBloom 2 tsp/gallon
• 91 Chemdog Male x Deathstar Female reg 1a - Pro Mix - MaxiBloom 2 tsp/gallon + CalMag
• 91 Chemdog Male x Deathstar Female reg 1c - CalMag - Pro Mix
  
• 91 Chemdog Male x Deathstar Female reg 1b - Pro Mix - MaxiBloom 2 tsp/gallon

I did variations of treatments on different plants to see the different results. The two Dutch Passion's are the one that appear to be the most ill. Hopefully the CalMag will put an end to the brown spots. They could likely use some nitrogen though. I wish I'd not purchased the phosphorus 0-10-0 guano. I had only used the GH Maxibloom once prior at a weaker 1 tsp/gallon mix. Then when I flushed them I suspect it exacerbated the deficiency. If the other plants react well to the MaxiBloom I will use just that on the two Dutch Passions... perhaps next watering, or if they can make it the watering after that. On the MaxiBloom label it says, "Soil: add nutrient once or twice weekly. Use plain water between applications." If it takes three days for the soil to dry then perhaps I should water with nutes every other time. Wuddyathink? Should I go every time for a while to see how they react? My problem certainly wasn't nute burn but rather lack of nutes. I don't want to over compensate now.
thenug.com/galleries/diagnose-your-sick-marijuana-plants

I taped the hood yesterday and noticed it had been off a hinge in the rear. When I came downstairs this morning I noticed the smell. Right away I knew what happened. By sealing the hood I increased airflow through the carbon filter. Now I can decrease the speed of the fan and get the same results. Sure enough, a short while after slowing the fan speed down the smell vanished and I'm still at 73 degrees Fahrenheit.



I want a Phresh intake filter setup eventually so I can seal up the tent properly and not worry about light entering. In the meantime I thought I'd go a little MacGuyver on it's ass. Inspired by the fly tape concept. Sticky side out. Will it do anything? Doubtful. Does it make me feel like I'm doing something proactive to combat bugs? Yup. Bugs are not sexy. I want nothing to do with them. Ever. No sexy no enter.



I wanted so bad to photograph each plant individually and tag it with what nutes where used so I could do a before and after comparison pic. I'd have to lift each one in and out of the tent. I'm not physically able to do that today. This photo was all I was able to get before I had to lay down. I tried taking down the yellow from the HPS spectrum and boosting up the green. I'm not sure I did any better than Photoshop's "auto tone." But it was worth a shot. That Chemdog x Deathstar in the front really drooped after being watered. They were all looking perkier today prior to watering. Enough time has passed now since the hectic night they got no rest because I was switching the tent over to bloom. Then stressed again by the 5 gallon bag transplant. They just might survive after all. Well, until I fry them with nutes.



And now we wait.

I think I've put a stop to the brown spots with the CalMag but the yellowing continues on all plants except one 91 Chemdog x Deathstar. I need to get nitrogen to them. I'm considering the Sunleaves Mexican Bat Guano or Jacks. If I get Jacks I can spray the foliage with it tonight just before lights out, then mix it in with the water next watering. I don't know how long it would take for the plants to gain access to the guano and guano dissolves best in warm water (something I don't have). I'd wait until next watering with the guano. I would just top dress and water in.

If someone brings me Jacks today that's what I'll use. If not I'll see if I'm well enough to make the short trip to one of my local kick ass grow stores.

An angel brought me 1.5 lbs of Jacks 20-20-20. I sprayed the foliage at lights out and they're looking much better now.

But I think I have a male. The Chemdog x Deathstar mix are from regular seeds. One of them has what I believe to be little sacks of pollen growing on it. Is it a male?

OMG BEES EVERYWHERE! Duck and hide! Run for cover!
Bees in the Basement.
Well at least this infestation won't affect my plants. Makes for a rather hostile work environment though.

I killed the male 91 Chemdog x Deathstar last night. And then there were se7en.

Still killing bees. We can't find where they are entering the basement. It will be freezing soon and they will no longer be a problem.

I'm concerned about this plant grown from a feminized seed. It has what appears to be little balls there. I'm not sure if this is a male, hermaphrodite, or female. I could use help identifying it.


That Jacks 20-20-20 fertilizer is wonderful. Simply spraying the foliage greened all the plants right up. I watered 3 plants with it today at the root zone and am looking forward to seeing how they react to it.

All remaining 7 plants are girls. I watered 3 today with 1 tsp per gallon CalMag and topped with a touch of high phosphorous guano to keep encouraging bud development / growth. They all did fairly well with the Jacks 20-20-20 last watering. One or two showing some signs of what I believe is nute burn which is why I did not use Jacks this watering.

I think this might be a successful FIM. I had one or two successful ones. Dense growth here noticeable even after removing many fan leaves. This Poison Berry is doing well albeit not a very tall girl. Sturdy, healthy plant though. A pleasure to grow. Hesitant to bud. I have her raised up on a couple saucers to help level the canopy.
Same plant from above and below.



I flipped the light, inline-fan, & carbon filter around because I need access to the rear of the tent for watering etc. now. I was x-crossing to reach outlets. They weren't happy about the commotion but bounced back by the morning. You can see I've pruned away a great deal of large fan leaves that were blocking bud sites.



I'll grab just about anything I can find around the basement to aid in LST.



I watched an HST vs LST video and the results favored LST. One grow and two sample plants a scientific fact does not make, but it did resonate with me and I decided to not HST my plants... until I realized my reflector had been raised as high as it was going to go. My fear of HST was trampled by the fear of my plants growing right up against the reflector's glass and being burned. I promptly began doing both HST and LST on some of the taller plants.



Identifying potential bud sites. Like a kid excited about Christmas presents.



A little too rough here for my liking. It will likely be okay but I'll try to have a lighter touch in the future just in case.



HST + LST combo. It's nice how it creates that hook.



This was the tallest plant. It quickly became the shortest thanks to LST. However I pulled the largest branch too far and it ripped. That would have been a real nice bud. I suspect the nicest on the plant. It also balanced the plant out. Seeing that thick branch with multiple bud sites laying limp at the base of the plant frightened and frustrated me. I began to HST after that.



This branch was High Stress Trained with no subsequent Low Stress Training. It does not buy me a lot of horizontal growth. I will still have to LST it due to my height restrictions (6.5 ft tent) but it bought me some time.



Another HST site. This photo taken shortly after the bending. Tomorrow it will be pointing up towards the light again. So cool.

Those recent pics above were taken 9/29/14, eighteen days into 12/12. If I had it to do over again I would have gave them 24 hours of dark before switching to 12/12. I also would have switched to 12/12 while still using the 400 watt MH bulb to conserve energy for a few days.

As I cannot *yet grow outdoors I became interested in solar energy the second I plugged that first ballast into the outlet. Vox has an interesting article on solar energy vs old energy.

vox.com/2014/9/29/6849723/solar-power-net-metering-utilities-fight-states

Do you have a dehumidifier? Your going to want one in that area once your in full bloom or you risk mold / PM . Good luck !

Yodaweed said:

Do you have a dehumidifier? Your going to want one in that area once your in full bloom or you risk mold / PM . Good luck !

Click to expand...

I have a dehumidifier with a hose running to the drainage hole in the basement. I don't like the heat the dehumidifier puts off, nor do I like the electricity it uses. I only turn it on when I see the RH in the tent get above 63% at this time. With it turning cold the fire breathing furnace will be removing virtually all moisture from the air, even in the basement. If you were to self immolate in the middle of the desert you'd still have more moisture in your skin then what I'll have this winter.

The help is currently draining the water from the indoor pool and replacing it with a mixture of Vaseline and lotion. An annual fall tradition. You haven't lived until you've done a belly-dive into a pool of Vaseline.
That reminds me,
I need to find my sequin embroidered banana hammock. I wouldn't be caught dead lube-swimming without it.

Thanks!

Jabberwoky said:

I have a dehumidifier with a hose running to the drainage hole in the basement. I don't like the heat the dehumidifier puts off, nor do I like the electricity it uses. I only turn it on when I see the RH in the tent get above 63% at this time. With it turning cold the fire breathing furnace will be removing virtually all moisture from the air, even in the basement. If you were to self immolate in the middle of the desert you'd still have more moisture in your skin then what I'll have this winter.

The help is currently draining the water from the indoor pool and replacing it with a mixture of Vaseline and lotion. An annual fall tradition. You haven't lived until you've done a belly-dive into a pool of Vaseline.
That reminds me,
I need to find my sequin embroidered banana hammock. I wouldn't be caught dead lube-swimming without it.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Sounds like quite a time.