Nirvana's Jock Horror and Bubblicious CFL grow

First the infos:

Strains:
1 x Nirvana's Jock Horror - feminized
1 x Nirvana's Bubblicious - feminized

Germination Rate:
Jock Horror - 1/1 germmed
Bubblicious - 3/3 germmed, had to abandon the first 2 iterations due to poor environment while moving to my new setup.

Planting Dates:
Jock Horror - Feb 16, 2011 - named "Jock Horror #1"
Bubblicious - Mar 5, 2011 - named "Bubblicious #1

Cabinets:
Veg: Black and Decker plastic utility cabinet
Flower: Closetmaid Base Cabinet - 34-3/4 in. high x 24 in. wide x 15-1/4 in. deep

Lights:
Veg: Up to 4x 26w 6500K CFLs per plant
Flower: 4x 26w 2700K CFLs; 2x42w 2700K CFLs; 1x68w 2700K CFL

Soil/Nutes:
Starting Soil: Jiffy soil-less seed starting mix
Growing Soil: Miracle Grow "feeds for 3 months" potting soil.
Nutes: Schultz 20-30-20 starting at 1/4 strength and working up

Temps:
Veg: 95-100F - I will be working to remedy this tonight with a new 6" circulation fan I just received.
Flower: 85F +/- 3F - Will also be adding a 6" circulation fan to this environment.

Now a little write up:
This is my first grow with anything that amounts to better-than-bagseed-genetics. I know many people have issues with Nirvana, and their genetics are claimed to be not-so-stable. Honestly, I am still learning - so I really don't care. I am growing for me and the wife only, so this grow and future grows are on the small/micro scale.

A little background on my grows so far. I have successfully grown two females from bagseed, with my first being the obligatory oldschool "plant in the attic under some lights". IT was a beast for what it was. 4' tall and bush as heck. I topped it quite a bit (including topping tops of tops of tops), so it had growth everywhere. I managed to burn 50% of it up with a space heater, and didn't have enough light for the rest of it. The bud sucked.

The second grow was in a cabinet, downstairs, in one of those potato salad canisters you get from the grocery's deli. I pulled 1/2 oz off of it, and it was better than the bud the seeds came from. I ended up with headaches from it though.

For this grow, JockHorror #1 started out as a bushy stick. It didn't grow horizontally much at all. Unfortunately, I have no pics of that. I topped her a few nights ago and am expecting to have about 5 "main branches" (I got a little too clumsy with the razor and chopped one branch below the top site - yup, I was high). It's hard to tell, because she is so bushy and the nodes are pretty tight right now. I am will be LSTing her, as you can see in the pics. She is currently growing in a 2.5 gallon container.

Bubblicious #1 is looking to be a little runty right now. She had a little yellowing on the first sets of leaves - Not quite sure what that is from. It started before I transplanted her into the MG soil - so it was while she was in the Jiffy soil-less starting mix.

My watering schedule is "as needed" using the lift-the-pot method to determine when to water. I am feeding on average every other watering. Though on Bubblicious #1 I am trying a variant of the 'Make It Rain' method. Essentially, flush with 1 gallon tap water (ph is around 6.5-7.0, it's well water) and then chase it will nutes. I just did this for the first time last night

I will be keeping an updated log below.

2/16 - Planted Jock Horror #1
2/17 - Jock Horror #1 sprouted and stretched a lot this day - it was in the closet with a single 2' tube flouro about 2 feet above it.
3/5 - Planted Bubblicious #1 into seed starting mix
3/21 - Topped Jock Horror #1, expecting ~5 main branches (due to my clumsiness)
3/22 - Fed Jock Horror #1 with 3/4 strength nutes
3/23 - Fed Bubblicious #1 with 1/3 strength nutes

3/25 - broke one of the shoots on JH#1 near the top while LSTing. I have GOT to be more careful! The thing just snapped!
3/26 - Dressed Jock Horror #1's soil with some slow-release blood meal, and watered with plain tap water (ph of which is currently sitting at ~6.5).

I am noticing a little yellowing on JH#1. pH of the soil seems to be sitting around 5.2-5.5, which is of course way low. I am going to be monitoring this over the next few days and that may be the cause of the yellowing.

The circulation fans actually increased the temps. No matter what position I placed them, or what speed (1 or 2), the temps were 10-20F higher with them on.

For the Veg cabinet, I left the fans on the inside, but moved the light traps to the exterior, after I cut a real hole for both the outtake and intake. Temps are holding steady at about 87-88F with all lights on - 7 now.

I removed one of the lights from the main veg cabinet, wired up a new socket with a single y-adapter, and now have two 26w 6500K CFLs hanging in there. This cabinet is the bottom shelf of the black and decker utility cab. I plan on making this the cloning area. Temps hold steady at 84F, with a single active outtake and a passive intake, however I still need to add a light trap to the intake and some more foil to the interior.

Hey Toke! Nice start man...someday I would like to try those strains. Id take care of that soil ph as quickly as possible. If the ph is not what it should be, or close, then you start getting nutrients being locked out from the plant. Use dolomite lime per instructions in your soil. This will stabilize your ph and buffer it from change or extreme swings. I have used it and it works as described.

Arch! Thanks for dropping in bro!

I have two types of lime. Some fast acting, that came in a small bag - and some "real limestone" that came in a big bag ~30 pounds or so from home depot.

I have used the "fast acting" on my bagseed grow and it hasn't really done much as of yet. If I mix in some of the normal limestone to the soil, and water it at the next watering, do you think that would be enough to bring it back to a 7?

Follow what the instructions say. Mine had a break down of how much to add to a certain amount of soil. If what you have amount wise isnt exact, guestimate. I just spread it on the soil and watered as usual. After a few days I could see the ph rising and stabilizing. I tend to stay away from any fast acting stuff unless its a dire emergency. That kind of stuff has little room for error usually.

3/27 - topped Bubblicious #1. Attempted to save the cutting and clone it, it is currently in a Jiffy dome inside a Jiffy peat pellet. Outside the dome, temps are ~82-84F-ish. I left a little water in the tray to help add humidity, and need to pick up a sprayer bottle so I can mist inside the dome. Sitting under 2x26w 6500k CFLs

New pics tonight

3/28 - watered Jock Horror #1 with straight tap water. Fast acting lime has taken effect, soil pH is reading right at 6.8-7.0. I also reworked the LST slightly. Need to get a few more tie offs in there.

Pics!

Pic 1: Jock Horror #1 from the top before watering
Pic 2: Jock Horror #1 from the top, after LST modifications, after watering
Pic 3: Bubblicious #1 from the top after topping
Pic 4: Bubblicious #1 from the side after topping
Pic 5: Bubblicious #1's top, attempting to clone it. It's hard to see, I need to clean off the Jiffy dome lid.

liking the grow bro i have 3 blackberry plants from nirvana they are doing very nice....just started LST for my oldest ill post some pics up if you want

PUFFIN $TRONG said:

liking the grow bro i have 3 blackberry plants from nirvana they are doing very nice....just started LST for my oldest ill post some pics up if you want

Click to expand...

Thanks for dropping in! Sure, post pics if you like.

no problem man ill be interested in your grow...how much watts you running ?

Looking good Puffin! You got a grow journal?
Total watts? Check the first post for my light configuration Right now I have 7 of the 26w CFLs in the veg chamber and 2x26w CFLs in the clone/seedling chamber

3/31/2011 - Watered JH#1 and Bubblicious #1. I did NOT "Make It Rain" for Bubblicious #1. Sprayed the dome and plant for BC#1 (That's what I'm calling the top of Bubblicious #1 that I am attempting to clone). So far the clone has stayed a perfect shade of ganja green with no yellowing or spotting at all. I don't know if it has rooted or not however. The peat pellet has been wet the entire time, so I am hoping root-rot (or mold or whatever) doesn't take hold.

4/3/2011 - Took two cuttings from JH#1 and placed in peat pellets inside the Jiffy dome. Used powder rooting hormone. She started showing preflowers this weekend, so figured it was prime time to take my first cuttings.

Adding another strain into the mix - Barney's Farm LSD. I germmed one seed and she sprouted a few days ago.

4/6/2011 - Watered Jock Horror #1 and Bubbilicious #1 and sprayed each with a nutrient solution to try and combat the yellowing. Transplanted the Bubbilicious clone into soil.

4/8 - watered both with nutes
4/11 - watered Jock Horror #1 with a spectracide bath

Temps have gotten slightly better in the veg chamber with some panda film. Don't know why that is running cooler than the reflective mylar (less direct reflection, more diffuse?) but it is. Had to close the attic access as wasps were finding their way in, so the closet these boxes are in is not venting much. Leaving at least one of the doors open results in a 2-3 degree temp drop.

Bubblelicious clone is still doing well. Hardening it off in the veg chamber now.

4/12 watered Bubblicious #1 with a spectracide bath. Bubblicious Clone looks to be exhibiting signs of growth! Yay looks to be my first successful clone. Need to read up on when to start the nutes on her. JH clones look "ok". One is all green and the other has yellowed some. No visible root growth yet.
4/13 JH#1 is showing new growth, finally. Bubblicious #1 is stunted at this point. Haven't seen much new growth in the last couple weeks. I am hoping the spectracide will do it's work and she will bounce back soon.

Also, the damn fans and light traps kept coming off the back of the veg chamber. Duct tape sucks for plastic, apparently. The "industrial" 3M velcro strips have trouble with plastic as well it seems. They stick, but eventually fall off. So what did I do? Used more velcro! lol I have tried hot glue already, that didn't work. I am going to crazy glue those fuckers on next time.

4/14/2011
Jock Horror #1
Watered her this morning with tap water.

Bubblicious #1
Still stunted. Pulled the rootball today and noticed some browning roots, did notice one bright white root coming out.

BC#1
She is looking right nice! Definite growth. Probably going to toss her into flower by this weekend.

JHC#1 and #2
I tugged ever so slightly on both, and both held. Roots must be forming!

Can't take pics since my sd card in my phone is fried. New one arrives tomorrow so hopefully I can get some shots in.

how the plants lookin man?? still tying em down i assume?

Well Bubblicious#1 grew ever so slightly after I topped her (like 3 fricken weeks ago!) and hasn't grown at all since. it looks like she may have a little root rot, but I wouldn't be surprised if the root aphids caused the stunting. I probably need to double dose both, and Bubblicious#1 probably needs more nutes. She should be ready for watering tonight.

JH#1 though, has started growing again after the spectracide treatment. I just retied last night, the inner shoots really took off the last few days and are now "taller" than the tied off sides. Once I get the sides (main branches) tied out more, I will work on the middle. I am still debating whether I should keep her as a mother, or just pull many clones, and then flower her and cycle one of her clones as the temporary mother.

I will hopefully have some pics tonight - and I am chopping the plants from my bagseed grow tonight as well! I will get some pics of them in for your viewing pleasure

good for you man, congrats..post some pics of your harvest if you have a chance