First Grow Journal- Log

[Chemichael]

My setup: 32x32x60 Main Tent. 300W LED with DIY carbon exhaust and dual window fan working with one fan now.
Inside we have 4 Autos in 3 gallon pots with enough space to fill the floor with 9 3 gallon buckets total technically.

Second tent is 24x24x48 (space constraints- and decided after getting first tent that a secondary veg / mother / clone tent would become useful for my perpetual grow plans) With 4 x 2foot T5 HO system with a single small oscillating clip on and thats it! Inside we have 6 white widow fems and 1 GSC 1 golden tiger and 1 critical + fem. All seedlings.

Condition in tent 1: Humidity ~60 Temp ~70 Condition in tent 2: Humidity ~75 Temp ~80 - after running for the first night.

I didnt zipper the door shut today to get some more air in there- I also moved fan from low to high. I wont get to see the tent until this evening to get a new reading... and I will make a small DIY exhaust system for that tent as I understand I wont really need odor control if im vegging cloning most of the time.


This setup should be good for my first grow. I can never go small- its always go big or go home. While the tents are not big, I will max my space.

My grow plan is 3 x Blueberry Autos and 1 x C47 Auto in main tent for the next 8-10 weeks. They will have finished out by then. During this time, I have one 3 gallon DIY PVC bucket scrog combo kit for white widow victim #1. Leaving me with technically 4 x 3 gallons worth of empty space. I plan in adding the GSC and C+ in that tent- and leaving the golden tiger and a widow mother in the veg tent with cuttings off of GSC and C+ (clones)

At the end of the 8-10 weeks- my main tent will be open so I plan on moving the clones or plants from the veg tent to the main tent. If my timing works out- I should be able to start a 12/12 in 10ish weeks and grow out a pretty nice confined space. I am hoping at worst case I have 4-6 (not 9!) 3 gallon growing plants in the main tent at all times. To keep it interesting, during the end of the 10 weeks for the autos, as I set up my regular grow to finish out the girls- I plan on doing a 9 x 3 gallon auto SOG setup- northern lights or something like that. And of course during that time the veg tent is doing her thing getting the next group ready.


So that is the plan!

Here are my challenges!

1) Lets say east coast- lets say decent winters of some snow- cold weather- etc. And lets say this setup is in a detached small shed/garage non insulated. It gets cold enough in there - during the core of the winter to freeze water. However, its not cold enough to freeze beer being lagerred in a swamp cooler- OK nevermind- --- I have dome some work to tidy up the place- and would consider partial insulation of some of the north or south facing walls. I do suspect that healthy growing life inside a temperature controlled tent per se- could work because while I wont be hitting 80 degrees.... I assume under the tents conditions, It should be warmer- so im shooting for 68-70. Even if the outside cold is getting in- the semi insulated lighted growing plants should survive. If not I can get a space heater- but will be more worried about not supervising. Anyone have similar issues with cold outdoor enclosed setups?

The shed is also above the ground- so nothing is touching the frozen dirt or ground- or wont be ever.

2) Biting off more than I can chew. Wow did I just say 4 autos 6 white widows and 3 other strains that im starting. //shakes head Maybe cull the weak widows- maybe experiment also- I have materials. My problem is if I have success with a small grow- I wont be happy knowing I could have doubled that with proper planning.. So am I biting off more than I can chew //laughs

3) Could one run a duct from veg tent with passive hot air venting to the flower tent to keep that warmer air collected and used during the colder months that I face coming soon? I think I can push passive air with a simple larger PC fan- that would help with air flow in that veg tent also. Is that a crazy idea or possible at all?

4) I havent started any nutes or supps. I have foxfarm and I also have superthrive. I plan on making one dose of superthrive and feeding everyone over this weekend. Then holding off to once a month on that- just to see if it helps- im sure it does. I plan on going small here- low strength - not going for any nute problems- I also plan on starting the first nute delivery of fox farms after week 2 is over. Any recommendations on feeding all of these kids? Should I direct the nute mix to the plant directly- and water the outside around the plants with regular water? The autos are in big buckets and the outside of their root ball will always be pretty dry- the outside of the buckets- should I be watering the larger soil mass and making sure that doesnt dry out? im afraid that because of how large the 3 gallon is compared to the size of the plant that I will have dry holes on the soil potentially causing problems..... thoughts?



More coming I am certain. I am taking notes and logging all details. I have one really strong auto blueberry that took off faster than everything. Shes the largest of all right now. All other seedlings are showing signs of strong growth with no stretching.

I found a few nats- which I caused by over watering for the first week- but it looks like I know how to control that- dont water so much stupid- got it. All dirt now is getting dry before I water.


OK I think I am done for round 1.

[Mañ'O'Green]

If you can freeze water in there you are going to have problems. Maybe you can try wrapping space blankets around the outside of your tents to help retain the heat but I don't think that will be enough.

[Chemichael]

My thought is that I can seal up the entry better than last year- which was not being used for this purpose. I can seal off the window so nothing can get in- and insulate most of the room- which should really make it warmer overall. I can space heat on a timer of course - but I really want to try and avoid that.

[Mañ'O'Green]

Unless you add CO2 a totally sealed room will run out and your plants will stop growing. most of the low cost options for adding CO2 will not live and function at that low temp. As a homebrewer think active fermentation temperatures.

[Royal Nugs]

Wow! Ok you like to post big or go home too, I see. Welcome aboard.

Right off the bat, I can see you're going to have height issues. 5' in a flower tent is rough. You're limited to indica and indica dominant hybrids that don't stretch much if you want a decent yield. You could do some crazy LST'ing but it'd be challenging to say the least. You can try a sea of green type method I suppose. Keep em short, keep em flat....

To answer your questions:

1) The cold is going to be a huge problem. Unless you insulate your space, you're going to be battling temp issues I think. I considered making some modular insulated wall panels, but it looked like way too much work. Thankfully the old battleaxe gave me a space in the utility room.

3) You can certainly duct one light's exhaust to another tent. You shouldn't even need an intake fan assuming you have a decent duct fan.

4) Which fox farms soil do you have? If you're using Ocean Forest, you won't need to feed them for some time, it's heavily supplemented. Some people say OF is too hot and your seedlings may burn. I popped 3 freebie nirvana seeds in it and they did fine. YMMV.

You should never apply liquid nutrients directly to the plant. You have to first dilute it. If you're using a peat based medium (which fox farms is) you usually alternate feedings with plain PH'ed water.

I'm not sure what you're saying about the root ball getting dry.

[Chemichael]

I made my own soil - organic mix with perlite. Drains very well- I think its a good combo. And what I mean was manually cup feed the trunk area- to soak the roots with nuted water- followed by a fuller bath of regular water to hit the outer bucket areas that I dont need to get soaked with nute water... I also plan on working mostly on around 3- 3 1/2 foot plants for the most part. I dont want run into height issues - gotta work with what we have. I do plan on training- and I have done extensive research over the course of the year on scrog, lst. and to a smaller scale sog. This project for the most part is for me to keep my mind working for the next 6 months to a year. If all goes well and perpetual grow happens- longer The WW should stay around 3ft. The autos should also be small. I see see running into problems with the GSC and C+- thats where I will have to get crafty- ill make a bud manifold- and try and LST it as small as I can. Oh Boy. Cold wise- im working on it... dont quite know what im up against till it comes- ill be more prepared though


Here is insulation board I can easily mold to seal these tents in- think its viable? http://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Cor...21UM/100320301

[Chemichael]

Figure I would throw up some pics. I cant believe what 11 days looks like- looking at my blueberry 'big girl' now...

[Chemichael]

Update Time.

My issue with the outside temperature effecting inside 'man-cave/mini shed~garage Grow Area' has been resolved for now. I took some 1 x 3 and created a box frame after insulating the shed. I wanted to box off a wall- and behind the wall- I have my two tents. I purchased reflectix and walled inside and outside with this material. Over the next couple of days, the outside temps were hitting 50, while inside this makeshift room, I was still in the 75 degree area. Without this room, the temp inside the tent would drop to as low as 60 with the lights on during the night- meaning the lower the air outside, the lower the air inside as its all going to be relative to environment. I consider this resolved for now.

So here is my issue..... I stand in this makeshift room - with two tents... and im thinking WTF .,,, get this out of tents and hang the lights, and just keep em in this makeshift room of mine its freaking insulated. But I digress, sounds good now on paper- but when the dead of winter is pounding my man cave, will the room suffice.... or having the added tents further keep in the heat ... I mean obviously- but can I get away with the heat generated from two to three lights- veg. bloom. etc.. and keep the heat during the night and coldest of times to counter mr winter attempting to spoil my plunder.

I guess I could temporarily take down one tent and leave that open air (inside insulated room) - and see what that looks like. If any recommendations feel free to let me know.

P.S. I pulled the top down and secured some wire to hold her in place to give some lower growth some action. While shes an auto, I can lst a little without breaking the cycle since shes really showing signs of health and lots of daily growth.

I also got mosquito dunks for the soil. I am going to dose that tonight. Crumble it up- spread it on top, and give the girls a water tonight. I am underwatering right now cuz of flies and cuz its the right thing to do. If plants are growing and showing no other signs- why would I water? The top two inches are dry... and I have a burbee plant moisture meter - and under the 3-4inch mark im at 5 out of 10 on the scale of moisture- so my soil has plenty of water and nutes- if you really think about it. Watering now would almost be overkill but I want to get some new nutes going- get the dunks wet etc. My last watering was a small dose of FF big bloom and instead of going with a straight water in between, im going to feed nutes again since she responded so well and everybody else seems to be too - plus small doses only! No need to overdo right!

[Chemichael]

6 days later and tons of happenings. Took out my 2x2 tent and just let the girls live under the T5's. The room I created within the room is in effect a tent. I still have one tent within this structure which will keep housing the 12/12 when applicable or just the autos. Im even considering putting up another makeshift panel wall and wall the veg area and block off a flower area- I have so much more room- not sure yet. I believe my end environment will be fine tuned by the time I am on the second grow. I no longer worry about cold air- im bringing it in via PC fan through one wall. The colder the winter, free AC for the girls. I am hovering in the 72-84 range with 2 co2 cans.

All photo girls are actually on the upswing. In fact by next week ill be training the ones I will keep. They are getting their 3rd sets now... most at least and expect huge growth soon.

Here is my big girl under training- and growing insanely fast. I am looking at 6 + cola stations with this current LSTing

[Chemichael]

Gosh time for an update- and a pic for reference. I decided to go home today and pull the stunted 2 autos that are not growing like the other two. If they are autos- which I did purchase, and they are 1/20th the size of the other two whats the point? Waste of time and space right now im thinking. I also decided to just keep the flowering stuff in the main tent- and pull the rest into the open area and set up additional CFL's as the veg sets are running the t5ho lights. I also will probably start a few northern autos since in a month ill have auto space again. The problem that I see now- wide and clear- is that I absolutely love doing this. Patience- and No Water!

Learning also as I go- most importantly- plants will show signs of needing water. I am reminding myself here again to CHILL OUT WITH THE WATER. Dont give it unless she needs it.

You can see smaller auto next to gigantic monster auto- why keep that little thing right?

[Pankace]

I don't think I could bring myself to throw out a plant no matter how small she is but yeah she is a big girl for sure!