My first grow

So not too much to report this morning. Fed a couple girls this morning some big bloom, tiger bloom, a drop of superthrive and for the first time some molasses. I've been wanting to use it, but haven't had the opportunity yet. I simply poured ~2 tablespoons into my 1L feeding bottle and administered with the rest of their nutes. It may be a little early and unnecessary to add molasses, but I've got to start somewhere. I want them to get used to the extra carbohydrates now so not to shock them later.

Still waiting on sex from 2 or 3. At least one more male has been confirmed, and he resides in a round pot with what I think is a female.

After starting a new thread yesterday, I got some great info regarding how to deal with this situation. I'm going to slice the main stem about 3/4 of the way down, removing everything above that point. I will leave one or two sets of fan leaves to keep the bottom 1/4 of the stem alive, thereby preventing any risk of root rot! Genius!

DIY AC Update...
While moving my shelf down, I had to remove the ac unit I built. Upon removal I noticed the bottom started to develop some pink looking mold/mildew. Immediately it was removed and has not yet been replaced. I've been waiting to see if its necessary to get a new one (or just clean the old one I guess, but they're styrofoam, so it's only $5 to replace). The temp has started to climb in the last couple days however, likely because the outside temperature is also starting to climb. I may need to bring back the a/c unit, but I don't want to unless I get a high CFM fan that will move some serious cold air. The ones I've taken from various cpu's all pull too little air for it to make a difference, so I need to get a 100cfm+ one online and really blast some cold air! In the meantime, I've got a couple fans set up that hold the temp around 84-85.

I'm also thinking about adding some more co2 mixtures (yeast+sugar+water) now that I have more room (and less plants...)

All my best growing plants to this point have been male. All of them were very highly developed with many new bud sites, but grew balls instead of flowers. While this is somewhat depressing, it is nice to know I am capable of growing some quality plants with the setup I have. While I fear my results from this attempt will be 2-4 females max, I'm going to do this again, and I'm going to get some feminized seeds! And, I'm planning on taking clones, so this is only the beginning for me...

Anyway, here are a couple pics...

Here's the mangled one, finally starting to show new signs of growth


Here's the skinny girl. Just got watered this morning, so recovering from her too dry droopage


Here's the bigger girl. I tried to show the side with the most damage from the light. I use this space to hang the 65w cfl right next to the plant and get some light to the newly exposed undergrowth.


And one of the two girls together.


That's it for now. More later...

Jerry Garcia said:

So not too much to report this morning. Fed a couple girls this morning some big bloom, tiger bloom, a drop of superthrive and for the first time some molasses. I've been wanting to use it, but haven't had the opportunity yet. I simply poured ~2 tablespoons into my 1L feeding bottle and administered with the rest of their nutes. It may be a little early and unnecessary to add molasses, but I've got to start somewhere. I want them to get used to the extra carbohydrates now so not to shock them later.

Still waiting on sex from 2 or 3. At least one more male has been confirmed, and he resides in a round pot with what I think is a female.

After starting a new thread yesterday, I got some great info regarding how to deal with this situation. I'm going to slice the main stem about 3/4 of the way down, removing everything above that point. I will leave one or two sets of fan leaves to keep the bottom 1/4 of the stem alive, thereby preventing any risk of root rot! Genius!

DIY AC Update...
While moving my shelf down, I had to remove the ac unit I built. Upon removal I noticed the bottom started to develop some pink looking mold/mildew. Immediately it was removed and has not yet been replaced. I've been waiting to see if its necessary to get a new one (or just clean the old one I guess, but they're styrofoam, so it's only $5 to replace). The temp has started to climb in the last couple days however, likely because the outside temperature is also starting to climb. I may need to bring back the a/c unit, but I don't want to unless I get a high CFM fan that will move some serious cold air. The ones I've taken from various cpu's all pull too little air for it to make a difference, so I need to get a 100cfm+ one online and really blast some cold air! In the meantime, I've got a couple fans set up that hold the temp around 84-85.

I'm also thinking about adding some more co2 mixtures (yeast+sugar+water) now that I have more room (and less plants...)

All my best growing plants to this point have been male. All of them were very highly developed with many new bud sites, but grew balls instead of flowers. While this is somewhat depressing, it is nice to know I am capable of growing some quality plants with the setup I have. While I fear my results from this attempt will be 2-4 females max, I'm going to do this again, and I'm going to get some feminized seeds! And, I'm planning on taking clones, so this is only the beginning for me...

Anyway, here are a couple pics...

Here's the mangled one, finally starting to show new signs of growth


Here's the skinny girl. Just got watered this morning, so recovering from her too dry droopage


Here's the bigger girl. I tried to show the side with the most damage from the light. I use this space to hang the 65w cfl right next to the plant and get some light to the newly exposed undergrowth.


And one of the two girls together.


That's it for now. More later...

Click to expand...

Lookin' Good. Just saw this grow. Peace.

Howdy Jerry!

Awesome job. Those Fluors sometimes are a bloody pain in the ass, don't u think? I'm thinking about purchasing a MH and also a HPS for later.....cant wait...

Have a nice day mate,

nasd90 said:

Lookin' Good. Just saw this grow. Peace.

Click to expand...

Thanks for stopping by nasd. Feel free to share your thoughts on here anytime!

Latin Weed Grower! said:

Howdy Jerry!

Awesome job. Those Fluors sometimes are a bloody pain in the ass, don't u think? I'm thinking about purchasing a MH and also a HPS for later.....cant wait...

Have a nice day mate,

Click to expand...

The fluoros are actually quite nice to work with, provided you don't drop them on your plants like I did. Less heat, energy, space, etc etc etc. But...

If you've got the space and funds, definitely get yourself as high a wattage hps you can! While a metal halide is all beneficial for vegging, enough well-positioned fluoros can produce high quality vegetative growth. For flower, high pressure sodium lights emit more/better light than fluoros, and will ensure dense, sparkley nugs! But use some 2700k cfls and t5's too!

So IMO, get an hps system and then if you want get a metal halide conversion bulb that works in your hps system.

Having said that, my fluoros and 150w hps should do me just fine...

After returning from class I decided it was *high* time I dealt with the next suspected male. This character was a little different than the rest, in that he only sprouted balls on half of the stem (i.e. 2 initial balls per node vs. 4) and only at one node. The balls were well developed, and appeared very similar to the males I threw out already. I initially though this was possibly a hermaphrodite, but decided I wasn't going to keep it even if it was. I don't need any pollen in my space. So out the door he went.

Here's a pic of the situation now. I haven't confirmed the other plant in the pot is a female, but her leaf structure is similar to one of the other known girls. She may have been getting a little resource starved as the male started to get bigger, but that shouldn't be a problem now!


Here's a shot of the skinny female who was a little droopy this morning. After a couple hours she has perked up some and still straightening out. I am now watering both girls every other day, and even that might not be enough as they get pretty droopy by the night before their scheduled feeding.


So, things have stabilized for the moment. The temp is climbing away, so I may have to take more action, starting with cranking up the fans...

Its looks so empty in there now. I'm starting to question if I even need all the cfls going right now because the numbers are dwindling...I'm at 5 males and 6 females right now, with one more suspected to be male. That would make the ratio ~55% male 45% female, which is what I realistically expected going in (but was holding out hope for more girls...)

So a few males here, a setback there, and things are coming along just fine. I'm still positive about the whole thing, and I'm still learning a TON of useful information. But, most importantly, I'm having fun doing it!

Heya Jerry,

About your temps.. you said they are getting to 84-85. My take would be to see how the plants react to the temperatures, some of these plants in the wild thrive under pretty high temps.


Also about needing less CFL... your plant population went down due to the males, so you could turn some off now, but the thing is that your grow is bagseed, just like 2 of my plants, so we dont really know how much our plants are going to stretch. My last plant has gone from 9 inches when i put her in flower to 32, so ive added bulbs around it and it is still growing. So... wait and see what happens, and like you said.. you have the clones in case you have extra space.

The important thing is that you hit it on the nail, now you know that you can get beautiful plants with your setup... and I´m sure that they are going to get nicer as the buds start to develop

Tatan said:

Heya Jerry,

About your temps.. you said they are getting to 84-85. My take would be to see how the plants react to the temperatures, some of these plants in the wild thrive under pretty high temps.


Also about needing less CFL... your plant population went down due to the males, so you could turn some off now, but the thing is that your grow is bagseed, just like 2 of my plants, so we dont really know how much our plants are going to stretch. My last plant has gone from 9 inches when i put her in flower to 32, so ive added bulbs around it and it is still growing. So... wait and see what happens, and like you said.. you have the clones in case you have extra space.

The important thing is that you hit it on the nail, now you know that you can get beautiful plants with your setup... and I´m sure that they are going to get nicer as the buds start to develop

Click to expand...

Good point about the temp--I'm also using CO2 (albeit not that much at the moment) which can allow for continued growth at higher temps. I'm OK with 85, but it crept up to 89 at one point while I was away...I just need the ac back up and running in some capacity and I think it will make a big difference. The weather will not be helping anytime soon either (which is ok, i'm sick of winter anyway!)

I only say that about removing some cfls because a couple appear to be hanging over nothing. While they are adding to the overall amount of light in the space, the benefit they provide is less than the cost (heat, electricity, wear/tear on the bulb). The problem with removing one is it throws the balance of my fixture off, forcing me to re-position, which is a pain. I guess I could unscrew them until they go off leave them in the fixture...I just wish I had more plants!

Otherwise, they look mighty healthy this evening. Can't wait for my little buds to start forming!

Oh, and on the seed front--I've got a friend from cali who has friends in mendiceno (sp?) that she thinks can send out some quality seeds! This would be freaking fantastic, and maybe even free b/c they like her! Should know more by the end of the weekend.

Now for a Friday night on the town...

Plants are alive. It's still getting hot in there, so I'm gonna have to fix that situation sometime today. I'm too hungover to post pics right now. I'll do it later.

Ouch, my head...

Now that I've recovered I can post a better update. First and foremost, the temperature is getting out of control. It got to 92 today! My immediate solution was to add a second large fan, which did nothing to help the temperature. Bummer.

Then I decided the only real solution was to turn off either some cfls or the hps (and the hps sure as hell isn't going off). I unplugged the cfls, and within a few minutes the temp had dropped to 84! While this is encouraging, all the cfls were off, so I'm losing a large percentage of my lumens. Didn't have the strength or patience earlier today to make a new AC unit, and the lights will be off soon, so I'll leave that task for tomorrow.

I've been thinking about switching my light/dark times...lights would go on at 6pm and turn off at 6am. Problem: the space is in my bathroom, which I use frequently. It is also not totally light proof--the only light coming in would be through the door, which I leave slightly ajar for my cat so he can come in and use his litterbox (its his bathroom too). I have a piece of shiny metal coated bubble wrap insulation acting as a make-shift door to the grow space, which could be closed during the day to further limit the light that could get in...so it seems like this is a plausible situation.

While it won't solve the temperature problem, it will certainly help a few degrees, which is really all I need anyway.

If I did elect to switch the light cycle, I would have to leave the lights off for 24 hours, from 6pm to 6pm, and then resume 12/12.

Something for me to consider over the next few WARM days we conintue to have...

Regarding sex...another male lost his life today. Again, very hearty and healthy looking. Sucks I have to keep chopping them down! That's 5 females remaing out of 11 total, right on with my estimate (and the laws of probability...). The male killed today was growing in the other round pot...so now each one contained a male. I cut him down the same way I did the other one--leaving the stem alive enough to prevent root rot.

Any day now I'm going to transplant the remaining girls into the much larger pots. I think I will really start to see some growth then.

Here's the short one--doing a good job of reviving itself from its near-death experience.


Here are the two round pots, each with one plant now.


Here's the fat girl--a little droopy, but just watered, so she should be picking up by the end of today.


And finally, the other big girl.


That's all for today. We'll see what fun adventures tomorrow has in store for the girls..

Hey Jerry, sorry the video card in my laptop literally melted so I had to buy a whole new computer. Gateway sucks. For your lighting situation I would make a simple flap door out of panda plastic. That's the brand name for the light proof plastic that is white on one side and black on the other. You should be able to find it at any dro store. But yea I would just attach one side to the door frame and use little snap fasteners or velcro along the other side and top to secure to the door frame. So then you could just snap or velcro it closed during the lights off time.

mared juwan said:

Hey Jerry, sorry the video card in my laptop literally melted so I had to buy a whole new computer. Gateway sucks. For your lighting situation I would make a simple flap door out of panda plastic. That's the brand name for the light proof plastic that is white on one side and black on the other. You should be able to find it at any dro store. But yea I would just attach one side to the door frame and use little snap fasteners or velcro along the other side and top to secure to the door frame. So then you could just snap or velcro it closed during the lights off time.

Click to expand...

Sorry about your cpu--yikes!

Panda plastic eh? I'll look into it...I've def seen it around in other people's grows. Sounds like that stuff and some velcro is exactly what I need!

Update: Plants are sleeping. I broke my favorite little jar . It's raining...

So the temp got all the way to 92 THIS MORNING--It's in the 60's outside...

I unplugged them about 1/2 hour ago, and the temp is down to 83. Nine whole degrees from cfls? Who says they don't produce heat!

I'm going to clean out the foam cooler and try it all again. I found a website selling something similar to the DIY AC--you remove the lid of your existing standard plastic cooler, and place this tray thing on top that has a fan built in. 39.95...ha

Update/pics coming later

Ouch thats a lot of heat buildup...

Jerry, how exactly are your fans setup again? I would try using every fan you have at the top of the grow space to blow hot air out. Just leave an open space for intake air. It can be drawn in passively without a fan. Just work on removing all hot air. If you can exchange enough air with a cooler area those temps will come down nicely.

mared juwan said:

Jerry, how exactly are your fans setup again? I would try using every fan you have at the top of the grow space to blow hot air out. Just leave an open space for intake air. It can be drawn in passively without a fan. Just work on removing all hot air. If you can exchange enough air with a cooler area those temps will come down nicely.

Click to expand...

Well, here's situation. I have one fan 12" oscillating fan (not oscillating though) sitting on my toilet and blowing INTO the space. Another 12" fan, taller, is positioned at the door to the bathroom, drawing the cooler air from the rest of the house into the bathroom. I just got a new $3 styrofoam cooler to reconstruct my ac unit, which has two 3" ducts leading from beneath the space into the grow room: one duct has only one 80mm 39cfm cpu fan acting as an inline, and the other has a 3" personal fan as intake with a 80mm cpu fan inline to help move the air. While I could feel some cooler air coming out, the fans I'm using are shitty. I need a couple high cfms to really blast the cold air in.

So, my biggest deficiency in this situation is the lack of any true exhaust. It was all doing fine until it started to get so damn hot outside (75 today).

I would have taken a couple photos to help explain, but the lights have already gone off for the day. I'll do it tomorrow morning.

Despite the high temps, the plants appear no worse for the wear. The skinny one grew ~1inch today, while the stout one is filling out nicely. I definitely need to move all the lights up before they come on again tomorrow or I will have some singed tops for sure (you can see how close the skinny one came in the following pics).

On an unrelated note, I purchased a brita faucet filter today for $20 (with $10 mail in rebate, so really one $10) because buying distilled water all the time sucks, especially when they are $1 each. The filter will process 100 gallons before replacement is needed. I kept 8 1-gallon jugs and filled them all today. Now I've got tons of water at my fingertips!

So that's a lot of words...lets see some pictures! (I took these a few miinutes ago, just before the lights went off for the evening.

Here's the skinny girl and a smaller one back in the corner. I thought you could see the lights a little better in the picture, but take my word when I say she was getting very close...


Here's the one in the back. Sex is still undetermined, though the male that shared the pot has since been eliminated. I'm planning on topping using uncle ben's guidelines to try and get 4 cola's out of this one if she turns out to be a she.


Here's the other big female, the stout one. Not a great pic because she was behind the other one and I didn't want to move them just for the pic. The top is looking nice...just wish I didn't drop a fucking light on her.


Here's the one I overwatered 3 weeks ago. New growth is coming on strong now...I'm expecting big things for this one once she gets back on track. Still not certain of the sex, however, but no balls yet!


That's it. Temp is again the issue of the day. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Thought I would update on the temperature briefly before I get down to business...the low last night was prob 44 outside, so that helped out tremendously. Has been steady at 75 all morning with all lights on. I think the problem the last few days was the low temperature for the day was in the upper 50s/low 60s so it never really got a chance to cool down. I monitor the temp as many times a day as I can now, so even if does start to creep back up I can take appropriate measure (cutting off lights...).

As for today, I'm going to transplant into the larger pots. I should be able to remove the girls easily and painlessly from their current pots given all my practice removing the males.

The skinny girl is so freaking tall its unbelievable. ~16.5" and going up as we speak...

It's comforting to know this is a normal stretch, because I can't get this chick any closer to the lights!

Better update w/ pics on the way...for now its time to work.

Lots to report from the last few hours, so lets get started.

The bad news first. The two remaining plants in the round pots are BOTH males. I hadn't really checked in a few days, and one turned out to be farther along than I thought...whoops. Not far enough to release any pollen or anything.

Here they are...fucking bastards




Balls!


That leaves me with 3 females out of 11
plants. Not the ratio I was hoping for, but it allowed me to make some changes to the space. I decided to remove an entire fixture of 4 cfls. They no longer had anyone beneath them to illuminate, so I'll save their electricity and HEAT. I also partially unscrewed another 2 bulbs that were facing too far away from the action. That leaves me with only 4 of the 23w cfls in use. Additionally, I am running the 150w hps, 1 65w cfl and 2 2' 24w t5ho. That's 355 total watts producing 31,500 lumens. A far cry from what it once was, but sufficient for so few plants (or so I think).

The remaining three were finally transplanted into their large 7" square pots. I hoped to have more at this stage, but I'll take what I can get. I took some pics of the transplanting process to help explain my methodology.

I did a dry transfer today. I've read you can do it wet or dry, but dry seemed easiest to me. I misted the top of the soil before removing to keep it together a little better near the surface. To remove the plant, I bend each side of the smaller pot away from the soil, one side at a time. Then I grasped at the base of the stem and lightly pull until it slides. Once it starts to slide it comes out very easily.

Before I start removing the plant from the pot, I set up the larger pot into which the plant is going. I start by placing a layer of 50% perlite/50% ocean forest on the bottom of the pot. Then I place an empty pot (that is the same size as the one from which the plant is coming) on top of the soil, and fill around the edges. This is why I needed pictures...

The black pot in the center is the size of the old pot...once it gets to this stage, I give it a little tap against the ground to help the soil settle around the central pot, making sure to fill to the brim after settling.


I then remove the central pot, leaving the perfect size cavity into which the plant is placed.


Here's the roots of the wider girl before going in the bigger pot.


Then more soil is added to fill the cracks and top off the pot.


I then water the pot thoroughly using only filtered tap water and 1/4 teaspoon (1ml) of superthrive.

So two plants and a lot fewer lights later, here's how the room looks...




Here are the two tops...starting to do weird stuff...good weird stuff...




That's it. The temp is holding now at 76 with one fan positioned on the other side of the room.

I think I'm going to crack some other bag seeds I've got and grow them 12/12 all the way through. I've heard you can harvest ~1oz per plant in 9-11 weeks...

lean something new everyday. i will deff use that idea when transplanting.

hey Jerry. is it ok ot go from dixie dup to the 3gal containers we both have.. or should i go a bit smaller?

Im sorry to hear about all those males ... 3 out of 11 i females is tough.

But there are some news... those 3 plants are looking really nice, you could see how healthy they are from the root mass, and they are going to grow a lot in the next few weeks.