Finally, my first grow

What's going on peoples? This is my first grow and I'm just documenting this so hopefully I won't make some of the noob mistakes I've already made.

My setup is as basic as it gets. I have a stealth grow cabinent that is 24in tall, 18in wide, and 18in deep. It has one intake and exaughst fans. I am using cfl bulbs for lighting, and already messed that up. I have a container that holds a little over a gallon and a top with six cut outs for my planting nets. Again, keeping it basic and stealthy were the main concerns before starting.

Anyway, I bought a couple different strains of seeds specificly for my grow environment. Plants that are great for hydro, and not too smelly for the house. But since it's my first grow I am using the free seeds they sent with the others I purchased.

I started germinating 5 seeds 11 days ago, and 3 of the 5 started to sprout. I used the trusty paper towel method to do this and had no issues. The 3 seeds sprouted quick, like within 24 hours. Now is where I think I made the first mistake. Instead of tranplanting them right away I waited a couple more days to see if the other 2 would crack. So yeah, these seedlings were already huge and one had already pushed the shell all the way off.

So now here comes mistake number 2. I went ahead and transplanted them without soaking the rock wool before hand. Yep, that's right, I'm a tool. I get them transplanted, add regular purified water from the store with a ph around 5.5, get the bubbler going, and turn the lights on.

I started them on a 24 hour light cycle. After a couple days they seemed to be doing great. 2 of them had already started to sprout some leaves and the 3rd one had grown in size but still not lost the shell all the way. 3 more days go by and no changes look to be going on. I start wondering what's up. I lift the lid on the res and am pretty happy though to see that 2 of the 3 already have the root busting through the netting and into the water. NICE!!!

Damn, I am such a tool. I just realized I was using the wrong bulbs for vegging. These past 9 days I have been using the 2700k specrum lights. I immediately switched them out to the 6500k lights and lowered the lights to about 6 inches off the plants, and went to the 18-6 light cycle. Not everything is entirely bad though. The roots on these babies are looking outstanding. It has been 2 since since the light change and the babies are looking stronger and I can see a 2nd set of leaves starting to form.

It's been 11 days total since the germination. Things are looking to be going okay. I am gonna post some pics as soon as my girl gets home with the camera.

My only real question is about when to add the nutes. I kept it simple here too. Just went out and got Pure Blend Pro Grow, and the Pro Bloom for the 12-12 .

I appreciate any feedback I get from you vets to the growing world. I'll get some pics up. Thanks!

Happy Growing!!!!

My 3rd seedling is starting to bust through the shell, and I am happy with how the roots are starting to look stronger. Changing over to the 6500's has done wonders in just the 36 hours the plants have been in them. Here are some pics. Not the best, but shows what I have.

Damn, I think I have to resize some of these pics. Get some up soon.

here are some pics.

Just remember to keep the bulbs close an it will keep em from stretchen, I would also top em at the 2nd to 3rd node to keepem short , prolly LSt em later on. Im a sucker for pettite ladys!

Good luck with the grow......

Things are still looking good. I know I've been slacking on the pics, but I've been out having some fun. So yeah, now my issue is getting my humidity up. Temp is at a solid 76.3 f, but the humidity is only 40%. I'm growing with a stealth hydroponic cabinet and have no clue how to raise the humidity in my environment. I am using the cfls. Do I try to tack some damp paper towels safely above the lights? Please give me some advice. Thanks and I'll work on the pics later today.

Finally got the all the pics converted, so here you go. Shows my nutes, excited to see how those are gonna work, and the progress that is being made in my box. Oh yeah, I have since add a digital thermometer/hygrometer, and a 3 watt aerater to get a little more bubble. Thanks for reading, and any tips or advice would be great.

If the moisture it so high u can get mold, 40% isnt to bad I live in one dry area an never had a problem with mold. But i just leave 5 in pot full of moist soil in the box that i keep realy miost. It statys about 50-70 % humidity

Okay, so I took a small bowl and add water and paper towels and set it in the grow cabinet. Seems to be working out okay. The humidty has been around 50% for most of the morning. What had me confused was how the humidty went up when the lights were out. Either way, 50% is better than 40%. Have fun and smoke good.

These babies are still growing, but I don't know if they are as big as some of the other users at this stage. They are 14 days old since I put the seeds in the paper towel. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but so goes it with a first time grow. I am having to manage the heat and humidity by turning the fans on and off through out the day. This seems to be working out okay. For the most part of the day the humidity is above 50%. I am satisfied about the 10% jump. So take a look at the pics and tell me what you think. The third one is tiny and has crazy leaves. Thanks

Oh yeah, I have no idea what strains these are. They are the free ones from the seed bank. I did however purchase some northern lights, white widow, and big bud. Just don't want to jack those up now.

nute when the plant starts to branch off for now just use water, dont nute too early u'll fry ur plants xP

It has been 4 days since my last post and boy what a 180. So after my last post I decided to go with full strength nutes after talking with the local hydro shop and man I'm glad I did. I also attribute this growth to my girlfriend talking to them every day. She has even named them all. The biggests ones name is sally, the middles is meg, and the jacked up ones name is fran. I'm still having issues with humidity, but having been tracking the highs and low of the humidity it seems to be around the 60% mark durring their 6 hours of dark. To say the least I am damn pleased with whats going on in my cabinet. Check out the pics and tell me what you think. I appreciate all the help.

Some more pics here show the progress. Growing like weeds is exlactly what is going on, and the only thing I can do is sit back and smile right now. Fran, the jacked up one, is gonna get topped within the next 5 days or so. This is just gonna be personal smoke, so I'm going for potency rather than yield. And if any of ya'll can tell me what is up with fran that would be bad ass. she is crazy looking.