Grow #2: 4 strains by FastBuds | 4x 240W 3500k | Organic

[ocgreen]

My first grow is hopefully less than two weeks from harvest and my second grow is underway. Here's a breakdown of my setup:

Genetics:
Started germinating a medley of FastBuds strains on May 12:

• BlackBerry (2)
• Blue Dream'matic (2)
• Cream Cookies (2)
• Grapefruit (2)

Grow Space:
Mars Hydro 8x4x7 1680D grow tent

Lighting:
4x 240W QB288 V2 LM301B 3500K w/ triple heat sink and Hlg-240h-c2100a

Medium:
SS-W Super Soil by @stepwell_soil

Containers:
5 gallon fabric pots

Ventilation:
VIVOSUN 6 Inch 440 CFM Inline Duct Ventilation Fan
6 inch carbon filter
16-inch oscillating fan
10-inch clip-on fan

This will be my first time growing in soil -- my first grow was hydro. Still going to grow in hydro but don't want noise of pumps in this particular tent.

Probably forgetting some odds and ends. Let me know if you have specific questions or see any gaps in my knowledge or setup.

Hope you decide to tag along for the ride.

 

[ocgreen]

8/8 seeds germinated in rapid rooters. I put the rapid rooters in a humidity dome on top of a heating mat underneath 240w LED about 36" away (until lux meter said they were getting 7000-10k lumens).

They poked their heads above surface within 24 hours and moved to 5 gallon fabric pots filled with organic super soil on May 13.

Here's a photo of how they look today:

Grapefruit and Blue Dream'matic seem to be the most robust and resilient so far. Both BlackBerry had difficulty shedding their helmet and cotyledon leaves had to separated using tweezers.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Looking good from my view. Grow big little gals.

 

[ocgreen]

Day 10 from seed

Both grapefruit have some spots on them. Apparently I can feed only distilled water with this soil and plants will thrive, but I feel like maybe I should start adding a bit of calmag. Here's a better pic of most beat up plant:

Thoughts?

 

[Canuck147]

Looking real good ocgreen - looks like spots on a bunch of leaves. Can't change what you already have - but - you can influence what happens to your new leaves.

I've never used distilled water and I think it can be tricky to use. This is what Ed Rosenthal says about distilled water - "The pH of pure distilled water is very unstable and has no buffering ability. The addition of a tiny amount of an acid makes it very acidic and a small amount of a base makes it alkaline."

Good luck growing.

 

[ocgreen]

That is a very helpful tip Canuck147 . Thank you. I was worried about chlorine in the tap water so the plan was to go distilled until they're bigger. Guess it makes more sense to figure out how long I have to let it sit out for and/or find an inexpensive way to filter put the chlorine.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Love the strains you chosen. Should not harm much what you've done with using distilled as long as you correct it with PH water from now on. I agree with Canuck.

 

[ocgreen]

Day 13 from seed:

Growth has been accelerating over past few days and newer leaves don't have any spots.

Started boiling tap water and leaving to cool overnight instead of using distilled water.

Adjusted lighting so each plant receives between 26-31k lumens.

 

[Canuck147]

To make distilled water - all you have to do is boil it.

 

[ocgreen]

I officially hate soil.

Can someone help me understand what's wrong with my plants?

I think this one was overwatered:

And I dont know what's going on with these sad looking guys:

I know they had ph problems early on. Thought i fixed it but they still look like crap.

Plants are being fed 6.0-6.4 ph tap water which has been left out for 24 hours so chlorine dissipates.

 

[ocgreen]

Hey Canuck147 thanks for clarifying. Missed this comment until now somehow. Clearly I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 😅