1st Grow, 1st Grow thread-Doing it in the snow

[Nartak]

Haha!!And the magic begins!!! This is gonna give you the thrill you'e been looking for syncro,im sure!!Goodr luck buddy!!

[syncro92]

Thank you Sir, I am eager to see those little babies pop up I have a little bit of work to set up the watering system, one 5 G Home Depot bucket for PH treated water another for Nutrient prepped water and the third for plain water. This job keeps me as busy in my "off time" as my regular paid job does during the week

[syncro92]

My seeds have been in the dark so far, should my grow lights be on now?

[Nartak]

I had the lights on 24/7 exactly!! 24hours for seven days(They popped the 2nd-3rd) then switched to 18/6 after they had their 2nd node fully grown!

[syncro92]

So, here we are at day 2. I sneaked a peek and saw growth in one of the rooters that I did not close properly, or it might have opened a bit. Therefore I presume that they are all doing well and I will leaf them alone.
I did mix up my growing medium, 7 cups Coco and 3 cups Perlite. I got the first batch wet as perNebulas instructions on GWE, but then decided, because my tap water is at 6.7 on the PH scale, to fill the Smart Pots with the grow medium and before planting the Rapid Rooters, I will get everything nice and wet with some PH prepared water just before I plop the RR into their respective smart pots.(2 X 5 gal and 2 X 7 gal). I think this will work well for me. I enclosed some pictures of my smart pots with ID sitting on the prep tray, which is the same size as the grow tray. Everything fits, Yeah

[syncro92]

End of Day 3 and one little blackjack is poking out a bit, the germination does not go very well. I placed a desk lamp with an incandescent bulb to shine on them and also wetted the RR down a bit. I wasnt expecting miracles but 1 out of 4 after 3 days is teaching me patience!

[Nartak]

Place them under you light man,24/7 for a week!!You will see

[syncro92]

Day 4
Thank you Nartak, I placed them under a small 60W desk light this morning and when I checked on them at 6PM, I found that they took off ! I took some more pics but in Macro I need to set up my tripod. Will do that soon. Once the 4th seed has sprouted, I will get the 600W MH bulb up and running until I see the root pop out of the bottom and then transplant them into their permanent home We are both very excited!

[Nartak]

Sounds great man,im using a 600w mh for sprout/seedling/veg and 600w hps for flower!!Always kept the closest at 16" even at rooter stage before sprouts come out (humidity dome) and still at 16" ;ast week of veg!!I might change the hps height depending on how they take it,it's a bit hotter than the mh lol!! Just remember,as long as you keep 12/12 for flower and your temps below 80 you can leave the light on 24/7 for the whole veg cycle....Not pushing anything...just planting seeds

[syncro92]

Day 5
I have 3 out of 4 seedlings that have their taproots out so I transplanted them into solo cups. My 3rd seedling is visible in the hole but has not popped out yet, I'm a bit worried. Under the desk lamp for just a day, my first 3 have grown about 2 1/2 inches tall, the bulb was about 4 inches from them. Now transplanted, I have my 600W MH lamp about 16 inches from the top of the plants and I'm hoping for a second set of leaves! These little buggers grow FAST! I'm planning on an 18/6 cycle for Veg but I am listening to you and reading everything you say Nartak! When is it about right to start nutrients? Pics to come

[intergalactic_harvester]

I think you're doing great there sync! Bad aas set up!

[syncro92]

Day 5 continued...
Set up my tripod and took a few pics of the triplets..(so far- still hoping for 4). Enjoy

[Nartak]

Beautiful pics syncro!!I take it you have a decent piece and good lens,will be happy to travel though your stems and foliage later on Gotta love M/SM mode!

Now all being great and wonderful for you,you have missed a lesson laying infront of you!

My plants will teach me 101 :
Tall,lanky,leggy stems in seedling stage are the best way for your plants to tell you the need more LIGHT!Not more office lamps or ceiling hanging CFL's!!Actual growth light that you have there with you!! I would support lanky stems with a toothpic+medium mixture at the bottom of it and hit it with 18" distance of 600w MH !

They will be amazing syncro,you seem like the tech,plan before you plant kinda guy so you will work around most problems i believe!Keep them feeding brother!!And by feeding we must make this clear,food=Light,not nutes!Plants will grow without nutes,in whatever speed or size pattern,they will grow - however when stripped from the light-rays that provide warmth and essential metabolism triggers.plants will curl,grow out of control in terms of shape and die quite fast!

[bobsakamoto]

could not agree more with^^^^ nartak! and your setup is truly BOSS. so envious....lol but seriously, SO boss!!

[syncro92]

Day 6
After seeing the stems yesterday, I dropped my 600W MH down to 16" from the top of the plants and lit them up. I have it on a 18/6 schedule and the difference today was remarkable. The leaves have started to fill out, they are about 3 times the size they were yesterday! I haven't taken pics today but will tomorrow. I am listening to you Nartac, (you are a great mentor ) My second BlackJack seems to have been stillborn but I still have 3 seeds so I will set up a Rapid Rooter for Saturday AM, (we are expecting snow Friday AM so I may have to get up an hour earlier to snow blow the driveway so I can get to work.) We are keeping close watch on the plants to help them transition from RR to solo cups. My temp in the tent is hovering at 80F, which means that the fans are set to the correct speeds, Yeah! and the humidity stays at around 32%, not optimal but better then at the 20% I expected.

[intergalactic_harvester]

sounds great! humidity is a pain here too. taken 4 days to get from 10% to 40%. waiting on more humidifiers, lol.

[Nartak]

Day 6
After seeing the stems yesterday, I dropped my 600W MH down to 16" from the top of the plants and lit them up. I have it on a 18/6 schedule and the difference today was remarkable. The leaves have started to fill out, they are about 3 times the size they were yesterday! I haven't taken pics today but will tomorrow. I am listening to you Nartac, (you are a great mentor ) My second BlackJack seems to have been stillborn but I still have 3 seeds so I will set up a Rapid Rooter for Saturday AM, (we are expecting snow Friday AM so I may have to get up an hour earlier to snow blow the driveway so I can get to work.) We are keeping close watch on the plants to help them transition from RR to solo cups. My temp in the tent is hovering at 80F, which means that the fans are set to the correct speeds, Yeah! and the humidity stays at around 32%, not optimal but better then at the 20% I expected.

Glad to hear it worked for you also Syncro!!You can even let them 24/0 for a whole week if you wish,you will see the difference after each lights off cycle ends,they feed in the light and grow in the dark,therefore gathering light for 24/7 a total of 7 days will kickass in growth when the first dark period ends

By all means i am no mentor,i am on my first grow,merely started my flowering period yesterday and counting a long list of terrible mistakes

I know they adore light and grow in dark!Also you will notice the smell will be intense the last hours of darkness each day and will eradicate when the lights turn on!This is all information open to everyone obsessed enough to go looking for it lol!

Have you thought about moving the RR to the pots right away to avoid mid-veg stress? They will go faster,deep,stronger,taller,denser if you give them an easier time as kids,they don't like moving around all that much,they get attached Keep solo cups for experiments,rooting,clones and toy seeds

Temps are beautiful for seedlings/veg plants,75-78 would be DREAMland depending on your RH always!!Don't go settling with 30-35% in 80F you will dry your plants out easier,not harm them,just dry out easier~ same thing the other way,don't settle with 50%+ RH when you have 72F they will want to get rid of all that water and curl/cup on you! there is a panel that i found searching google for rh temp cannabis in images section has a couple in there that help!!Still,i would not STRESS over rh and humidity so much unless plants start nagging about it,my curly leaves have done nothing bad besides unsexy my plants looks!!

Note that 16" is the far end of 600w HID bubls and you MIGHT have issues after 2-3 nodes form!!You don't want THAT much tightness in the node spacing,i am having trouble with a 3node seedling 2,5" tall :S can't do anything with it!!just spread the nodes by putting a collar around each node and squeezing so the branches open a cross form...Check daily the light distance from your highest tops and keep it 16" you will do great!!

[syncro92]

Day 8
I've been rather busy lately and have not been updating as much since Wednesday but there has not been much happening anyways. I have another BlackJack in a Rapid Rooter, (did that Friday afternoon) and she is sitting with her 3 big sisters, just waiting to enter the growth race! I am quite the lazy person so I brought water to the Grow/Prep station, one 5Gal pail is just PH prepped water and the other one is for nutrients. Seeing as I am growing in Coco Coir I will be feeding them alternately with H2O and other food! More to come...

[Jibblerjoe]

They are coming along, enjoy the ride.

[syncro92]

Day 15
It has been a very long week and now that I am about all caught up, here comes Monday. I planted another blackJack last Saturday, which seems to be doing fine and I just noticed a weird looking part on one of the AK48's. I don't think that they are as tall as they should be, but I will wait and see! Tell me what you think about the growth on my AK. Thanks all

[Nartak]

If your light is 16" away they will stay short and buff!! My plants are 8" from medium's surface after i topped and manifolded them!Also give them time,15 days from seed or sprout? I have forgotten,too many threads lol!! If they are from seed 15 days start counting Veg cycle from now...Thats how i got around it.when they got 12 days old and all looked about the same as yours,i started counting 4 weeks for the veg cycle to finish (6 weeks from seed in total seedling+veg)

[bobsakamoto]

Nartak, i just have to see you are A FONT of information, my brother....A FONT I TELL YOU!!

seriously i have learned more about germination from your thoughts and reasons WHY you do what you do (for real so many people don't explain WHY they X, how's a newbie like myself sposta learn if you ain't tell me why, yo? ) than i have from some books i've purchased. no joke. THANK YOU!!!! (if i had cool emojis they would be here)

[Nartak]

I am humbled bob,i am merely a reading pothead surfing the online library About the explaining part i will agree,i did a terrible mistake i believe many will benefit from if they read my posts and are on the first grow doing defoliation and method we really shouldn't whilst knowing f all about the plant in it's being!

I was wondering,ok buds...What the feck does a bud consist of..You know i was expecting something to point my lil lanky finger towards a part of the plants and say "There,that will be the root of your bud on this stem/branch and if u touch it you are FKD" but good ol mother Life provided a lesson instead of a guidance,lesson accepted and deeply carved into my...plants ofc!!!

I removed the new growthtips along with fan leaves in a previous defol i did,what a ...mistake! I have lost a good deal of bud now my plants don't seem to be stretching 10 days into flower i lost the initial part of it and i will have to care extra and treat them as queens from now on!!

Never,ever ever,snip off more than you know is ok!Better loose a couple hours of light on a top/main rather than an inch of smokable bud from every stem on your very first crop!

[syncro92]

Is short and buff what I want? Are my babies normal? This is just like I remember parenting being! Did you guys check out the weird growth? And yes, the triplets started germinating on the 24th of Jan. The single BlackJack a week later, (but she's as tall as here sis)

[Nartak]

Ofc they are looking normal :P What did u expect (at least my version of normal lol) !!And yes short and buffy is good!!Less stretch to worry about (double the height is double of what u have kept it at - short n buffy),more room to flatten and even out canopy!!And i believe though they are not my own,raising kids is less of a stress than growing cannabis,i can sit and watch either of the girls(actual kids) fall over and laugh and say it will be ok,let me see u do that if ur plant hits it's head on the floor!!

[bobsakamoto]

i propose adding "buff" to the growing communities' vernacular as a technical term....

[Nartak]

Oh but it is!!I have picked up along the way!

[syncro92]

Some thing going very wrong here! I'm at day 22 and my plants are short and sick. I had been giving them half doses of nutrients as per Nebulas chart and the last week I have been using Ph'd water to flush them out. I have seen weeds grow but my tallest (AK48 #1) is only about 3 inches tall. Is this nutrient burn or magnesium deficiency? Any Help is appreciated. Thanks

[bobsakamoto]

is your light still the same distance as the last time you reported it, 16 inches?

[syncro92]

Yes it is right about 16, I thought about light burn as well but I'm really not sure. When looking at the AK48's, its like they haven't developed and after 3 weeks they are only about 3 inches tall, no way I can do any topping yet either!

[bobsakamoto]

ok, just wanted to check for rule-out purposes.... hopefully someone who knows a lot about nute usage at this stage will see this and help...

[syncro92]

I appreciate your help