sandmonkey's 1st grow: NLX and BubbleGum

[sandmonkey]

It's been a long time coming, folks. Should have started this YEARS ago. Better late than never thanks to RIU and a good friend for encouraging to get off my arse and just do it!

Anyways, I got myself a L-size Homebox along with a 400w HPS, external ballast, inline fan with carbon filter and thermostat, and a few other goodies.

I'll be growing clones of NLX and BubbleGum (5 of each) from a reputable grower 'round here. i just sampled a bud of a finished NLX and it was seriously good

Here's what I'll be using:

-Janeco Light Mix soil from B'cuzz
-Canna Terra Vega

Flowering:
-Canna Terra Flores
-Canna PK 13-14
-Pure black molasses

I just finished setting up the Homebox today and received the clones a couple of hours ago. I'll keep the light at that height for the first 18 hours then lower it.

Please feel free to make any comments/recommendations/criticism as this is my first grow, any input is good input

Thanks for looking and wish me luck

 

[jointluver]

WELCOME, and so far for STRANGER, you are doing a great job, i heard you been studying for about a month
Tip- Fox farm Nutrients = great results

Good Luck

 

[learing the ways]

hey welcome to riu, always good to have anew grower on board, good luck

 

[sandmonkey]

WELCOME, and so far for STRANGER, you are doing a great job, i heard you been studying for about a month
Tip- Fox farm Nutrients = great results

Good Luck

Thanks mate

I hate doing a half-a$$ job on anything in life, so I figured growing is one of those things where you either jump in with both feet or you just don't

Hope my time spent researching pays off in the end

about Fax Farm... unfortunately where i live (Switzerland) it's hard to come by a wide variety of international brands in anything really. I've read great things about 'em though.

However, CANNA seem to also be well-respected (around here anyway) so we'll see.

 

[sandmonkey]

watered them a little bit and switched the HPS on at dawn.

They seem to be adapting well to their new environment. I give em a lot of love

will continue to give them only water for the next 48 hours. Then I'll slowly start introducing the Veg nutes.

plz let me know what you think!

 

[learing the ways]

looking good so far mate, hope everythink works out for you and you get good results.

 

[Azjun Perzwayzion]

man your set-up looks great!

 

[sandmonkey]

thanks mate. Appreciate you stopping by:

Here they are on the 3rd day. Two of them were wilting last night, so i gave them an extra dose of H2O and they're looking better today.

I attached some pics that i JUST took.

 

[sandmonkey]

so far so good... kind of

I ended up cutting off some of the fan leaves that already had half the blades snipped off when they were just baby clones rooting. Figured no point wasting the plants' resources on leaves that will die anyways, so focus on new growth.

I also introduced a small fan to the Homebox to keep cool air circulating, and also toughen those stems.

They look good so far; especially the BubbleGums. The NLX (in case I never mentioned, this is a NL x WW) have also been steadily growing, but I discovered something freaky yesterday: most of the new fan leaves are looking mutant! some have only 3 blades, some 4, some have 2 big blades and one small one,etc. Really weird! I'll let them be, as long as the leaves do their job I really don't care how weird they look. Has anyone experienced this though?

The 1st pic attached is of the weird-lookin' leaves. The rest show the state of growth

 

[Flashman]

looking good mate,could be some form of mutation,i have had a few in my short time growin,wait and see what happens with that in a few more days

 

[sandmonkey]

thanks!

I just hope that this slight mutation doesn't stunt growth in the long run. It hasn't so far...

 

[sandmonkey]

Haven't updated this in a few days.

My girls have been growing nicely over the last few days to about 12" tall on average. I planning on letting them veg for a few more days before i switch to 12/12.

The "mutations" on the NLX turned out not to be so severe, with old growth trying to grow the smaller blades and new growth appearing normal.

I only added nutes yesterday at 10% of the recommend dose. The soil i'm using already contains sufficient NPK for the first few weeks but after several waterings, I'm slowly adding nutes in. Did this for the 1st time 3 days ago and the girls definitely like it! I'll slowly increase the amount of nutes each other feeding, but don't plan on ever using anywhere near the recommended amount.

I've added a few make-shift CO2 releasers (sugar-water + yeast) from empty water bottles.

I've also recently purchased an electronic pH tester and it's so much better than the paper tests! quicker, more accurate results. Well worth the $

Oh and they're already starting to smell a lil'

 

[potenza]

mate you are lucky beacuse you can find somethings.there is nothing about gardening and growing in my country,there is not even fucking cooltube and digital ballast....
also none of them is avaible here

-Janeco Light Mix soil from B'cuzz
-Canna Terra Vega

Flowering:
-Canna Terra Flores
-Canna PK 13-14
-Pure black molasses

i will only use '' compo sana'' soil


Anyway,

1)is your ballast digital?

2)what is your duct fan capacity ?(cfm or m3)
3)is your duct fan 10 cm (4'') or 6'' (15cm) ?

4 )and when vegging stage,why do you put your light so high ?is max 50 cm distance between reflector and plants better for vegging and flowering ?

thanks

 

[sandmonkey]

No worries. Where do you live? Germany? In Switzerland we have a lot of grow shops, etc. But like I said on your thread, forget about the cooltube. With a 400w and a Homebox L/XL you really don't need and are better off with a good aluminum reflector.

1)I actually have an analog digital and had to do the wiring myself.
2)0.47 m3/sec
3)10 cm
4) I actually only placed the lights really high on the first day i received the clones since their fan leaves were cut and the priority was rooting.

The light now sits about 45cm above the canopy. I raise it a cm or two every other day.

Good luck with setting up your growroom, and do stop by

 

[potenza]

2)0.47 m3/sec

and 1 hour ? m3/ hour ? 1700 m3 ?
your fan is loud ? what is its brand ? vortex ?

i forget cooltube.
i will buy air cooled hood.what is your reflecor's brand ?supernova ?
i will buy Jet Stream,is it good ?

 

[sandmonkey]

Well, i've been away for a couple of days.

I watered the plants on Friday right before I left, where I trusted nothing would go wrong and the electronic timer would keep doing it's job.

To my horror I returned on Monday to find that the electricity in my grow room was off, and the circuit breaker confirmed this. However, I was pretty sure that when I got back home I could hear the exhaust fan of the Homebox running. So far all i know, the power might have been off for as long as 3 days or as short as 2 minutes!

I also noticed that most of the fan leaves' tips curled down in a claw shape. No nute burn though... could very well be a lack of nutes, as I've only been giving the plants 10% of the recommended amount since the soil already had fair amounts of NPK.

In any case, I decided a few more hours of dark wouldn't hurt as I really needed to make the switch to 12/12, which I did last night. After a couple of hours under the light I fed 'em and they looked kinda down.

The average plant is about 17 inches tall now, with the BubbleGum lookin' slightly more indica (shorter and bushier). The NLX are overall a bit taller and look a bit stretched. Or maybe I'm just being too anal...

 

[sandmonkey]

Well it's been about 10 days since i switched to 12/12, and already I think i'm seeing some budding!

I'm happy that the Bubblegum and NLX are developing at roughly the same rate, but it's obvious that the NLX are a bit taller.

enough text... pics

 

[sandmonkey]

pistils have been growing nicely, and plants see to be loving the newly switched nutes.

I added just a few drops (like 10% of recommended dose) of the Veg nutes and gave them quarter strength of the flowering nutes (CANNA Terra flores and CANNA Boost. will add PK 13/14 to the mix later).

I noticed that the NLX plants appear to be having a bit of a Magnesium deficiency, so i'll add a touch of molasses to their water. Note that I only use molasses when needed for its mineral conent (like Mg) and not for adding sugars to the soil which CANNOT work in a non-organic grow like mine.

a pair of pics for your enjoyment

 

[jrgongs]

Lol are those bottles yeast filled ?? I like this grow box. How much it run ya??

 

[sandmonkey]

Lol are those bottles yeast filled ?? I like this grow box. How much it run ya??

yup they are sugar-water + yeast for the extra CO2.

hmmm let me see... Homebox, 400w HPS with ballast and reflector, carbon filter, extractor fan, digital thermometer/hygrometer, electronic timer, small fan, electronic pH tester... about 1'000 bucks.