2nd Grow! 2013 here we go!

So my first grow was going well up until we took Christmas holidays in 2011. We had no one to care for the plants and when I got back only 2 were salvageable. Luckily they were both female. Unfortunately only 1 survived but didn't thrive. All in all I ended up with 6 grams cut and dry.

I'm in a new location now, armed with more knowledge and a slightly better set up, I think.

I started germination process on Feb 2. I decided to try a different method then my last attempt (wet paper towel method). So this time I used a shot glass filled with water and a half cap of Hydrogen Peroxide. By Feb 4 I had 9/12 seeds showing tap root so I planted them in a peat moss pellet garden. This morning 2 more (11/12) seeds popped so I got them in the soil. The remaining seed didn't look like it was close to popping to so I scuffed the outer shell carefully and planted it anyway.

This time around my documentation and labelling has started at germ so in that aspect I am already doing better! Last grow I didn't even label my plants until 3-4 weeks in.

Another mistake I made last grow was using Nutrient sticks right away on the seedlings. This time I wont be adding nutrients (water soluble) until later.

Heat was a major factor in my last closet, I foolishly used a 1000W MH with inadequate cooling/ air movement so my temps were peaking at 40C and night time of 16C. YIKES! This go around I'm using a 250W MH with 2 in-line exhaust fans. Test run on the light shows a high temp of 36C, but since the fans are only jerry rigged and not in an air tight space they are not moving air out of there with at capacity.

I'm going today to get a piece of plywood that has the same dimensions of the swing door on there so I can cut some 4 inch holes for intake/exhaust and some smaller ones for the cables without fear of wrecking the cabinet door.

I lined the interior walls with Mylar (emergency blanket) and am going to construct a reflector once everything is in it's final position. I snapped some photos for you all to take a peek! Criticism and advice is definitely wanted!!

So last night I went and bought a piece of drywall to replace my cupboard door. I cut it to size and sawed out a 4" hole at the bottom for an intake and a 6" hole up top for exhaust. Holy shit is it hard to find a desktop/small fan in Canada right now, apparently they are seasonal. The good thing is that the intake fan will be good enough to get some air movement directly on the girls.

Also #1 is starting to sprout!

thats a sick closet setup u got

cannabislove said:

thats a sick closet setup u got

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Thanks man, once I installed the fans properly I effectively reduced my daytime temps to around 31C. My night temps are still dropping to around 17C though and I feel like that's to much fluctuation, so I'm going to leave my intake fan on tonight and hopefully that will keep the closet at 22C!

Also I made a "hood" with cardboard and mylar, seems to be doing the trick, wont be wasting as much light now!

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So today I have 10/12 seedlings sprouted! I don't think number 12 is going to sprout but we will see, it didn't germinate but I planted it anyway.

I put some duct tape over the edges of the cabinet door to help seal light in but more importantly keep the light out during night time.

I was talking to a friend who was telling me about how some people grow a schedule of 8/4 + 8/4 so you can get 2 days out of one. Haven't heard much about it, what about you guys?

Snapped a few shots of the little seedlings! I'm super excited now.

So I've had some technical difficulties with my light, I had some overnight power issues. Basically the plug was loose and it was getting power intermittently during lights out period, in turn causing my timer to become unsynchronized. Last night when I went to check on the midnight lights out, they were still on. In my Friday night stupor I failed to check the timer, I just unplugged it, assuring myself I would arise at 6 to power up. Alas the bottle got the best of me and my lights did not come back on until around 9.

If all this wasn't bad enough, the timer was still unsynchronized (god I'm stupid sometimes) and I failed to realize this until about 8pm when the light turned off! The light was off for approximately 30-45 minutes. I don't have to ask if this is bad because I know it is. I'm just glad this little "hiccup" is out of the way early before any serious damage was done.

My intake fan has also failed, it was a blessing in disguise though because when I removed it and decided to try opening a window my temps dropped better then when I had the fan on. So now I'm sticking with the 6" exhaust and 4" passive intake, she's really moving air. I just need to be diligent about closing the window before lights out and turning up the heat for the house.

One thing I learned from my last grow was "lifting the pot" water measurement. I love this method, so today the garden felt light and I poured 1 cup distilled ph tested water into the tray and onto to pellets, soaked it all up. I would say it was a perfect watering!

So anyway, here I am, a little wiser and with a couple shots of the little ones!

So here I was doing some late night reading about other peoples experience with jiffy pellets because I started getting curious about whether to leave the netting around the pellet during transplant or to remove it. Survey says, most people leave the netting on for fear of damaging the roots that are already sticking out of it. Some people feel that the netting makes it harder to grow through.

Got me thinking about my little guys, I went and lifted my biggest one up (number 1) and sure enough there were a few roots sticking out of the bottom! Transplant time!

So I just got finished transplanting them into the bigger pots. It was very nice and simple, minimal stress/shock because I simply had to finger out a hole and drop em in!

Snapped a photo of the new set up! Nice to see some growth, even if it's the set up not the plants! I'm expecting increased growth now to that the roots have so much room!

Also I left the netting on

I left mine on the first time I grew and by the time of harvesting the root system was still mostly stuck in the ball , so yeah. If you leave it on the roots can't break through properly.

scroglodyte said:

roots work their way into concrete........i think they can manage the netting on a jiffy pellet

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auldone said:

I have never removed the netting. The roots will grow just fine if you leave it. That's all I have ever used until my current grow. I got some sponge pots for free with a seed order from Sannies and gave them a go. If you have used the jiffy pellets for other plants with no issues with the netting, you will not have any issues with growing Mary Jane in them!!!! Happy Growing.

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tip top toker said:

I have and have not taken the net off. It made absolutely no difference. My roots will rip a net pot to pieces, they grow through the netting like a hot knife through butter. I plant seeds in either pellets or straight into the medium, again, no difference at all. The only reason i opt for pellets is that it means i can plant more seeds in a smaller space and then move the more viable looking seedlings into the larger pots and discard the others should they not look upto scratch.

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I think I'll be alright.

The seedlings have taken to the pots nicely. After one full cycle I can really see growth already. I've got my temps dialed in finally now all I need is a oscillating fan, which is a bitch to find this time of year here. I'm going to order one off ebay or amazon.

250w mh, 18/6, 10" over 11 mystery bagseeds, generic potting soil in 3x3.5x5.5 mylar lined cuboard. 6" inline exhaust up top 4" passive intake. Solid temps 20C-30C night/day.



​Day 6

Being a new grower I still get excited every day so here's a few snaps from today. Plant number 1 (I named her Katie after my girlfriend) is growing quick! She's in picture 4 from last post and that's her in picture 1! . These little fucks are just A GROWIN! hahahaha



Edit: Watered each pot just under 1 cup distilled each

Watered today : Just under a cup of distilled water each. I decided to go ahead and try some nutes at 1/2 strength. They are Plant Prod General Purpose 20 20 20. It said to mix 6ml for 5l water. I did 1.5ml for 2.5l water. I guess we will see how they react to it!

Well they fucking loved the nutes! Lil bitches made noticeable increase! Here's some pictures from yesterday (Day 14)


They have gained a little more even since these pictures.

nice grow! Do you think your 250watt is enough for your space? i have a 3'x3'x9' and im ganna get a 150 or 250. Think i should get the 250?

also when do you plan on switching to flower? i see you only have 5.5' of height. minus at least 1.5' for light right?

zbrenner said:

nice grow! Do you think your 250 watt is enough for your space? i have a 3'x3'x9' and im ganna get a 150 or 250. Think i should get the 250?

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I think the 250 is a good fit in there for my situation. It's just a cupboard, I don't have a cool tube/hood set up and I'm not sure It would fit in there if I did! So I can't go any high wattage without having heat issues. Not much point in having 1000's of watts if you can't control your temperatures.

I am looking into getting a 4' x 4' x 9' with a 600 watt cool reflector set up myself. A 250 would work in your tent but, if you get a decent ventilation set up go for the 600! This is just my speculation, don't have any first hand experience with a tent or a 600 watt.

zbrenner said:

also when do you plan on switching to flower? i see you only have 5.5' of height. minus at least 1.5' for light right?

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I'm not to sure yet really, these bitches are going to get out of control ahah, just going to play along. Planning on LSTing them for sure, do some topping.