Newb's first grow, tents, Tasty LED's, SIP's, Auto fem seeds, Reg seeds, etc....

Ok guys, after much deliberating and back and forth, I have been given the slight nudge I needed to start a grow journal. This is my first grow ever, started with some herbs and veggies that I have going outdoors in containers, and then decided it's time to take control of supplying my own medicine to myself for reasons that I would assume are obvious to all of us.

This started as a cheap (famous last words) CFL/Coco grow. I had zero issues with germinating any seeds at the beginning but I did have some stunted growth. After seeing how many extra CFL's I would need along the way, I decided to scrap the CFL part and get a Progro 260 LED from HH. Thought I was golden. Then I switched from the Coco to DWC in 5 gal root spa buckets. I had been researching the crap out of RDWC but it did not make sense to me for my space and such a low volume of plants. The root spa buckets as they come bubbles the water via an air tube that connects on the top of the "sight glass" tube. So it's kind of like a self contained recirculating setup, but I had to one up it of course and run a large cylindrical air stone in each bucket too. After some top feeding by hand a few times a day to strengthen my plants, I let them do their thing. They were in DWC for about 5 weeks or so and I was not happy with the progress and with my health all over the mixing, PH'ing, PPM'in, and carrying of water all over was getting old fast. It's just also seemed like such a waste with the R/O setup etc.

I do not have pictures of this entire fiasco. Where am I at now. I have a 20'X36" tent running a Tasty LED T2-2100 now after shit canning the Progro260, and I have a 2'x4' tent that just arrived and a couple of Tasty LED T4-1750's en route.

*** I am NOT sponsored by Tasty LED, nor affiliated. I am simply a customer starting a journal to log my first ever grow of any medicine for my own use. I had a lengthy conversation via PM with Tasty and despite having a lot of parts on hand for a DIY build, I decided it was better for me right now to not get involved in that kind of project. ***

Ok so now that we got that out of the way, not too long ago I stumbled across @hyroot thread and the SIP's he uses immediately got my attention. My outdoor garden is using good dirt (Roots Organic or FFOF) and everything is thriving well with just water from the hose, so I figured why not try a SIP. After a lot of help from @Humanrob and @Tim Fox I got going on my SIP. In the middle of one night I thought man the Root spa bucket with no air stone working as inteded as my res would be genius because I would be able to mark a fill line on the sight tube, and with a lot less water in the res than when in DWC the original function of the system should be more than enough to bubble up for the SIP, and so far I am very happy.

These two plants in the SIP's are what's left of my original six seeds. Two beans did not pop, one plant I screwed up trying to manifold it and shit canned it, another popped on me and then just stayed stagnant would grow or die as a seedling. The two left are a Nirvana fem Northern Lights, and a freebie from Nirvana that I have no clue what the strain is and was almost dead as well. I nursed it back to life and said screw it I will use this one as a tester for plant training since I almost tossed it anyways. And now it's my biggest plant, fastest grower, but I hope it's a girl when the time comes oh well. The NL I have was a runt too not sure what was up.

I tossed in the Incredible bulk auto that you will see and it's loving the Tasty LED, and yesterday I dropped a
Dark Devil auto in soil too.

So all feedback is welcomed good or bad, I am here to learn, and I really wasn't going to do a journal, because who the hell cares about some new guys first grow, but I figured this might get interesting with the combination of good lighting and the SIP's.

I also have not seen too much via grow journal's with Tasty LED's. I will say that the 315w CMH lights have peaked my interest as of late as well, and in a future run in the 2'x4' I would not mind giving one a run, but hey I need to survive this grow first.

The Sativa has been topped, last time I topped here in eight spots so we will see what happens. The NL plant has eight mains and a bunch of little off shoots that have grown up in the center after I spread her out I wanted to do this with one plant and not the other to compare the difference. I am debating whether or not to top all the new spots on the NL again or not?

The SIP's are running FFOF soil and it's been less than a week but going good so far.

Here's some pics in no particular order. Hope I can entertain someone with all this madness, and let's see if anything makes it to harvest lol

Roast away guys and gals

Looks like you've got a good set up. I wouldn't worry about topping them again, unless you have serious height restrictions? I didn't see a tent height noted. And if you do have height restrictions, I'd think about flipping to flower sooner than later.

Overall, let the plants be. One way to have them successfully finish in a healthy way, is to minimize the stress you put them under. They look great! Let them do their thing. Just my $.02

Hello Evil-Mobo,
Thank you for starting this journal. Your plants look great. You have the makings of a top shelf gardener. I look forward to following your progress as you grow along with your plants.

Cheers,
Will

Humanrob said:

Looks like you've got a good set up. I wouldn't worry about topping them again, unless you have serious height restrictions? I didn't see a tent height noted. And if you do have height restrictions, I'd think about flipping to flower sooner than later.

Overall, let the plants be. One way to have them successfully finish in a healthy way, is to minimize the stress you put them under. They look great! Let them do their thing. Just my $.02

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Thanks brother the smaller tent is only five feet tall. The 2x4 that just arrived is 78" tall. I am considering moving these plants to the taller and wider tent for flowering. Just waiting on the larger light and the carbon filter and fan setup to get it going.

Will Thayer said:

Hello Evil-Mobo,
Thank you for starting this journal. Your plants look great. You have the makings of a top shelf gardener. I look forward to following your progress as you grow along with your plants.

Cheers,
Will

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Thanks for the kind words much appreciated. Exciting hobby for sure.

Evil-Mobo said:

Thanks for the kind words much appreciated. Exciting hobby for sure.

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My pleasure Friend,
Our symbiosis with plants be it cannabis or cauliflower is hard wired to our souls. It is nice to meet you at the beginning of your journey. Based on the evidence you have presented thus far I see a bountiful return on your investment of time and attention.

Cheers,
Will

Thanks @Will Thayer in case anyone is interested here's some of the stuff going on outdoors:



Almost all my peppers started to flower, and I have since pruned the big tomato big time and will be getting a cage for it in the next day or so.

Until this In have never grown anything except the banana trees in my back yard which basically grow themselves lol.

Some outside pics from this morning:

And an inside pic from a moment ago:

following

its a gorgeous light and i would be happy to own one..the company owner is awesome

and so is that light

OLD MOTHER SATIVA said:

its a gorgeous light and i would be happy to own one..the company owner is awesome

and so is that light

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If I had not seen the new growth first hand within about 45 minutes I would not have believed it. Blows away the Progro 260 from HH. Especially the Sativa it took off to the point I thought I had a calmag issue but then after a few days the green color came back catching up to the growth rate lol.......,

Nice setup @Evil-Mobo pretty sure you'll like those Tasty LED's, running the first round with them myself and they're looking more than up to the task. I think you'll find they'll blow that Progro light out of the water once they get into flowering. Cheers.

GroErr said:

Nice setup @Evil-Mobo pretty sure you'll like those Tasty LED's, running the first round with them myself and they're looking more than up to the task. I think you'll find they'll blow that Progro light out of the water once they get into flowering. Cheers.

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It's already blowing out of the water. Thanks for the kind words. I'm watching your grow too and it's looking fantastic.

Cheers!

Update from today. The last pic in my first post was from yesterday morning. Comparing that to this pic from a moment ago and the new growth is just crazy. Especially the growth of the incredible bulk auto seedling. Looks like double the size in a day?

Looks like both SIP's are doing well. And the sativa is blowing up.

YUP

That growth is impressive. I have been following the SIPs thread and have started to collect the materials to make a few with Fabric pots. Your enthusiasm for your grow is brilliant and contagious. Rahz is a very nice bloke and helped me out loads with my first DIY COB build. It is good to see someone rocking one of his fixtures.

Cheers,
Will

Will Thayer said:

That growth is impressive. I have been following the SIPs thread and have started to collect the materials to make a few with Fabric pots. Your enthusiasm for your grow is brilliant and contagious. Rahz is a very nice bloke and helped me out loads with my first DIY COB build. It is good to see someone rocking one of his fixtures.

Cheers,
Will

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Rahz is wonderful to deal with and honest with his opinions. I am very much enjoying this light and can't wait for the larger light to arrive to set up the 2x4 and get these babies moved over there. The sativa has been topped and FIM'd and the last top had 9 or ten mains before topping. The NL was topped last just to leave eight mains plus some under growth I left after spreading her out. The autos will prob just get minor lst. I was concerned before about the plants bouncing back now I fear running out of space lol. If this Sative sexes out to be a fem plant I will be a very happy camper and will be working on my cloning skills Iol.

I will keep an eye out for your SIP's and I appreciate the encouragement it really helps keep my motivation as I am new to all.of this and have made many mistakes along the way.

Mistakes, man have I made plenty. In my teenage years I started growing in the backwoods of Virginia from the seeds that came in literally every bag we bought back then. My first attempt to grow indoors was with a 100w spot lamp. (when you are done laughing, please note it was the 1980s and there was no interweb)

I moved to Holland in my 20's(1990's) and learned from a few Dutchmen about Son T HPS, rockwool slabs and drippers, oh and a butt load of chemical ferts, 7 day dry with no cure and straight to the coffee shops.

2016 and my gardens are smaller and organic. COBs and Scrog is my thing now because it makes sense to me. SIPs is just another feather in my cap to try and see how things get on. New techniques keep things fun and interesting.

Seeing people get into the hobby and document their progress makes me happy and I still learn a thing or two.

Cheers,
Will