New Grower Armanidog-my Purple Express is back on track

[armanidog]

First indoor grow.

Equipment:
Apollo grow tent 4 feet x 4 feet x 6 feet 6 inches ( 1.2 x 1.2 x 1.98 meters)
Galaxy Hydro 400 watt COB LED grow light (390 watts +/- 3% actual draw per mfg). I also have a GalxyHydro 300 watt LED grow light (190 watts actual draw per mfg) I will use later to supplement the COB light.
Oakton Ecotestr pH2 tester.
Woods digital timers x2.
5 gallon (18.9 liters) Smart Pots.
The soil is organic potting soil purchased at Lowes mixed with compost, some yard soil (for the bacteria) and Perlite. It was mixed and sat under plastic for a month. Runoff method pH is 5.5-5.7.
The water is from the tap and sits for a week in open buckets. It's pH runs 6.4 to 6.9.
One cat named Tippy and two dogs named Sasha and Armani.

3/29- Planted 3 Little Kushy Auto by Freedom of Seeds. One sprouted after 6 days.
4/2- Started soaking 3 Purple Express and planted them the next day. 2 sprouted.
4/6-4/13- Soaked one Sugar Black Rose and one Delicious Cheese Candy seed and planted them. They never came up.
4/13-4/17- Started 2 more Purple Express seeds by soaking them until they cracked and put them in Burpees Organic Seed Starter mix in jiffy pots. Kept them on top of the refrigerator at the back where the warm air rises. Both sprouted. Live and learn.
4/16- Transplanted the 2 Purple Express and 1 Little Kushy Auto into the Smart Pots.
So far I have 5 plants, 3 are in big pots and 2 are in jiffy pots.

As I progressed the fungus gnats did as well. I put up some yellow sticky traps which have caught a lot of adults. I also watered in some BT ( Bacillius thuringiensis).
Should I start half strenth nutes tomorrow on the plants in the big pots? They are in their second week.
I'm using Dynagrow Foliage now and then Dynagrow Bloom when they stop the vertical growth.
In the photos the Little Kushy is the malformed seedling. I don;t think it will turn out well but time will tell.

 

[F.N.]

The makings of a stellar grow my man. I hope u get those nasty little buggers under control. I would go to the staff afn live help thread before I would proceed sorry I cannot be of much more help than that.

 

[akreso]

Looking good! Great set up. It is good you've got Tippy and the dogs helping out! I waited two weeks from sprout before starting nutes, but I'm also noob. My guess is that there are some nutes in that potting soil to give them a good start..

 

[woody]

Looking good mate hope you get the gnats sorted soon.

 

[armanidog]

7 days since the last pics

18 days since the Purple Express first sprouted. 20 days since the only Little Kushy sprouted. 8 days since the second two Purple Express sprouted.
My collection of fungus gnats have decreased quite a bit since I used the BT in the water. The nice thing is I can store water outside in 5 gallon buckets since I've been using the Mosquito Bits to treat each new bucket. No mosquito larvae in the last week. I used to keep the buckets sealed up to keep the mosquitoes from laying eggs. Now I let them lay all the eggs they want and have not seen any larvae in the buckets. Let them waste eggs!
Fed the bigger plants last Sunday half strength Dynagrow Foliage Pro (9-3-9).
I also let the soil dry out for the last week until today. The top inch was nice and dry (which also helps control the fungus gnats). Further down it was moist.
Gave all the plants a half strength feeding today. pH of the water with the Dynagrow in it was 5.9.
Added a column oscillating fan since the tent interior has gotten up to 81F /27C. It also helps to dry the soil.

 

[armanidog]

May 23 update.
Getting crowded. Should have stopped at three plants, but no, I got greedy. A big difference between the plants I did LST on and the ones I let just let grow.
I am crossing my fingers these will be ready for harvest by July 1. Going to St. Kitts in the Caribbean for two weeks in July.
I've been feeding Big Bloom the last few weeks with half strength 5-1-1 fert, half strength Dynabloom (3-12-6) , and full strength CaliMagic added in. Next week I am leaving out the 5-1-1.
Watering is now about once every 4 days. The soil is drying a lot faster these days.

Above plant is 18 inches/45cm tall.

Above is the Little Kushy Auto, 17 inches/43 cm tall at day 48.

I have three other plants which I did not do LST on and they are 36 inches tall. Tall and skinny. I pulled their tops over and tied them down. See if they will get bushier. They are at day 38 so it may be too late. We'll see.

 

[Dr Fluff]

Hi armanidog

Nice looking start to your journal, I'm liking the way you are documenting it and adding all the detail so we can see how you grow and the equipment used.

I also am liking your pics, keep em coming we love nice pics!

Look forward to seeing future installments, good work there bro.

 

[dsMAV]

Admiring your skills bro! & the slight OCD info details im all over!

How early did you start with the LST.. i wasnt sure when was best to begin.. i guess its just when youre brave enough huh? haha

 

[armanidog]

I started on two plants when they were 18 days old. Just bent the main stem over at a 90 degree angle. The side stalks really took off. It kept them bushy.
The three tallest ones I have I pulled all the tall stems over 2 days ago. The tall stems have turned upright again and the side buds have started growing upwards as well.

 

[armanidog]

My oldest plant is now at day 52. Two of the plants at day 50 seem to need more nitrogen, the big leaves are all turning light green Two other plants get the same light and are still darker green. Should I give some extra nitrogen this late?