There's a Black Dog in my Jardin: mc130p's horticultural adventure

Hi RIU Peoples,

Here's my new setup in a grow tent:



At first, I was so excited to ditch my old mini-fridge that I planned to just set up the tent in my bedroom, but it is just too big and I didn't like looking at it all the time, so I decided to set it up in my closet. The tent is supposed to be 3' x 3' x 6', but my closet is not three feet deep, so I got some shorter poles from Home Depot to make it 3'x2.3'x6'. I'm using a Dayton 60 CFM centrifugal fan to suck air through a 4"x12" carbon scrubber and exhausting out the top of the tent. I run good negative pressure, and have a passive intake. The light is a Black Dog BD-240U. I still can't believe I got this light instead of the Micro I actually ordered. If I need them, I still have my 100W Advanced light and the 100W Blackstar Flowering light for supplemental lighting. I'm not going to mess with CO2 until cooler temps come in the fall and it's not over 80 in my house, but I've got the tank and regulator all ready if I feel froggy

I have germinated one Dinafem Seeds Critical Jack Herer Auto, and I am germinating one more to put in the free Smart Pot I received with the light. My plan is to grow these out first, which will only take 9 weeks. In about 3 weeks, I'll start some photo-period seeds: THC Bomb and, when they come in the mail, Barney's Farm LSD. Thanks FranJan for that suggestion. Anyway, I plan to veg them for the 6 weeks on 20/4 lighting(for the autos) and put the girls into flower after the next harvest. Also, this should be just in time to meet the party cup deadline

I'm really looking forward to see what I can grow in my new setup!

Placed the seed in a wet paper towel Wednesday night, 12 hours later the seed cracked open, and now two days after that she's got her first set of true leaves starting to form:




The next one should be popping out of the ground tomorrow or Monday!

Subbed. You should hang the other lights vertically as side lighting What's another 200W on the power bill..?

Hello all,

Here's Tammy and Lonna:



Tammy is about a week old and doing well so far. I had a second seed that I germinated and planted, but it never grew. Oh well. I cracked another seed and it broke through the ground today: Lonna. Both are Critical Jack Herer Autos. Should be getting the LSD in the mail any day now

Highocaine said:

Subbed. You should hang the other lights vertically as side lighting What's another 200W on the power bill..?

Click to expand...

Haha, thanks Highocaine. We'll see if I need it, but yeah 200W @ 20 hours/day for 9.0 cents/kilowatt-hour is about 36 cents/day

Here's a mid-week update for Tammy:



She's really doing well so far. Lonna is growing nicely as well, but she's still just two leaves with a second set starting.



Seems like they really like the light so far.

Looking great MC. I'm subbed up for the trip man can't wait to see your progress.

Hi RIU peoples!

I gave Tammy her first set of instructions last night...she likes to be told what to do:


Lonna is doing well so far:



Both plants appear to be healthy so far. I'm still using water only, with no added nutrients.

Here's Lonna and Tammy. Both are still doing well After noticing what looks like slight deficiency, I've started giving 0.5 mL/L Cal-Mag+ to Tammy, nothing yet for Lonna.

In the back is the home for my next THC Bomb; I've put the seed in a wet paper towel today to germinate. She stayed really flexible throughout the whole grow in my minifridge, so I'm hoping for some more good LST with her this time. She will veg under 20/4 until September 2nd, when I switch to 12/12 for the party cup competition. The autos won't be done yet, but oh well. They're just for a quick and dirty 8-9 week harvest.

Tammy and Lonna are still doing well Two days ago I germinated a THC Bomb; I put it in soil yesterday, so she should be popping out of the dirt any day now. I haven't thought up a name for her though.

I started Tammy on some light nutrients and Lonna is now getting 0.5 mL/L of Cal-Mag+.

Here's this weekend's pic:

Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well

Tammy and Lonna are growing quickly! That's one thing I like about autos, they're kind of more exciting to watch grow...photoperiods are pretty boring in veg, imo...though, topping and training is a lot of fun too. Idk, I guess I like 'em all.
I decided to name the THC Bomb plant in the big pot "Amber." Also, I couldn't wait until the 2nd to start the Barney's Farm LSD plant....so I'm germinating one now I'm still going to do another one for the party cup competition though, so this new one will veg for a few weeks until 1 Sept.

Tammy has her first pistils!!

Here's an end-of-week update:

The girls are all doing well I had to remove a couple fan leaves from Tammy, as they were shading side branches and starting to cause uneven growth. Both the autos (Tammy and Lonna) are on 0.5 mL/L Cal-Mag+ and 1/2 strength 8-7-6. I mixed up for Tammy originally, but I forgot and gave some to Lonna too. It didn't hurt her, so I guess it's fine and I'll keep feeding it to the younger girl as well. Amber, the THC Bomb, is starting her second set of leaves-she'll be receiving only water for another week at least. I hope she's about ready for a topping though. I'm going to work for a short, wide bush, with many tops. Also, the LSD seed cracked open yesterday, after two days in a paper towel. She's been in the dirt since then, so hopefully we'll get to see her pop out of the ground any day now.



Also, Tammy doesn't know it yet, but she's going to grow in a circle around the perimeter of the pot... so is Lonna, though it might be more difficult with the smart pot and its soft sides...

Today we're welcoming Kelly (Barneys Farm LSD) into the world:



She's a slow grower, but hopefully good things will come

Hi everyone,

So, the girls are still here, though I almost wasn't. Usually I'm worried about the plants dying, not the other way around, lol. My appendix decided to give me big 'fuck you' and crap out on me Monday night. After a difficult drive to the ER, it was removed Tuesday morning. I'm getting better I think.

Tammy is doing well, but it turns out Lonna didn't like the nutes as much. She's a little unhappy right now, but since she hasn't started flowering yet it shouldn't really matter. Seems like the clock on an auto doesn't really start until it begins flowering anyway. Oh well. Amber and Kelly are both doing fine; Amber is working on her second set of real leaves, I'm going to top her as soon as she starts the third set, probably in a day or two if I can manage it. Kelly is still a little plant, but she is doing well too.

Sorry for the pic, it's tough to get down there right now, but you can see the nice flowers starting to develop on Tammy:

But the plants are ok yeah...? hehe

Nah i know that pain yo'sive.....Brutal stuff huh! Glad you are still here otherwise i wouldnt have anything to read....

Nice start...bit of a step up from the last grow huh?

Haha, yeah I was about to leave for the ER and I was like, oh shit I better water the plants and feed the cat...idk when I'll be back. But, we all survived Yeah, I feel better as more time goes on, but my guts really hurt still, so that sucks.

But thanks Chronikool, I'm liking the new setup so far. I've noticed that with a better quality light, my nutrient requirements seem to be a little less than last time. Ever experienced that? Either that, or the cheaper lights were inducing the appearance of a deficiency and I was wasting nutes...I'm not sure.

Nope....cos i've alwayz used shitty quality lights....

I actually thought they would cry out for more nutrients with a better quality LED...showz i still know nothing....

mc130p said:

Haha, thanks Highocaine. We'll see if I need it, but yeah 200W @ 20 hours/day for 9.0 cents/kilowatt-hour is about 36 cents/day

Click to expand...

9 cents for a kWh? You lucky bastards... I'm paying 38 cents per kWh! A full grow is a bit more expensive than yours

But nice setup! Keep the pics flowing

Thanks JMD. That's some expensive electricity there!

Yeah, Chronikool, I'm a little stumped. The growth rate is good and inter-node distance is pretty tight, so I think I've got light light close enough (probably 18-20 inches). Everything is the same though, I'm just using a bigger pot. Same soil, same nutes, same tap water....