Indoor First time grow - Pakistan Ryder and DinaFem Fruit Auto

[Rebel]

uh... have you actually seen one of my grows...

you're bad JD! Thanks AB! I appreciate the kind words. I have a long way to go myself but, it's so fun and I enjoy learning about it. Becomes more interesting daily! You got some skill there in building stealth cabinets! You should custom make them and sell 'em! There's a market out there! Or publish a D.I.Y. eBook and sell it on eBay or something. You'd be amazed how many people would buy something like that and you could put that money back into your grow! Just my . Lol I've been wanting to use that two cents thing lol There I just did!

 

[AndyBotwin]

Thanks, WVR. Once I finish my current grow I'll probably put together a DIY article explaining my cabinet in a little more detail. For a lot of people, it would be be easier to just go with a tent, but I wanted a setup that was self-contained and easily moved if necessary. I'm in an unfinished basement area, and it's possible that I might need to let a repairman, pest control guy, etc. in on short notice. With this plastic cabinet, I can have it all broken down and moved to a safe area in a matter of minutes. But the true stealth guys who run cabinets inside furniture right there in the house go way beyond what I do, that's for sure.

The other advantage to my cab is that I was completely up and running for around $120 including lights. Or course seeds, nutes, and all that stuff is extra. And I've since put more money into it with the new fan and carbon filter, but I knew that was coming eventually. I'm already planning for a new grow area with 2-3 times the space, but even then my cabinet will still come in handy as a place for drying/curing and sprouting seeds. We all know that this hobby is addictive, but I'm at least trying to make sure that everything I buy will have a purpose both now and in the future.

 

[L]

lookin' good andy everythings nice and green. your setup is very well built can't wait to see your grow.

 

[Rebel]

That sounds awesome man! Can't wait to see that kick off! Also anxious to see how your current strains grow out! It is very addicting and I love see what other people are doing as well. Almost like a graduating class lol We all started pretty much around the same time so we'll finish round the same time too. That's really cool too! Yeah sounds like you got that all figured out over there! Those stealth cabs. That's the one thing I hated about living in an apartment. You never know when the maintenance guy will have to come in, etc... I had considered using one there but never did. Decided to wait until we moved here cuz it was too risky. Awesome man! Just awesome!

 

[AndyBotwin]

Back again for another update, & unfortunately this week I've run into some problems. Long story short, I had a faulty soil meter that was stuck around 7 leading me to believe I needed to lower the pH in my medium. It turns out this was incorrect, and over the last few weeks I've been pushing my soil to ridiculously low pH levels. I started seeing signs of a mag deficiency (correct me if I'm wrong), and by the time I could flush and test the runoff, it was down around 5. Of course this coincided with family coming into town and lots of other things keeping me from spending time with my plants, so it took a few days before I could flush the soil.

Tuesday I ran a few gallons of clean water through and got the runoff to just under 6. So hopefully tomorrow the soil will be dry and I can get things back into range where the girls can start eating again. But it's early yet, so I'm not freaking out or panicking over this. A few of the fan leaves on the Fruit are in bad shape, but most of the plant is fine. The PakRyder is smaller and growing slower, and it's just now showing some minor spotting. Bottom line is that sh!t happens sometimes, and I look at it as a learning experience. Plus my previous grows have been outdoors where I usually wasn't watching every detail of every leaf daily, so you get used to seeing the plants correcting problems on their own. It's easy to get tunnel vision with an indoor grow and obsess about every little thing, but I'm trying to avoid that. :smoke:

The good news is that the Fruit has tons of pistils popping out, and the runty PR is now preflowering also. They're about 8 and 6 inches tall, and I'm hoping they continue to stay short and bushy since I don't have a lot of height in my box. I went ahead and switched out my bulbs to 2700k this week, along with a 6500k for some side lighting and mixed spectrum. On to the pics:



DinaFem Fruit - Day 23









Pakistan Ryder - Day 25

 

[Joe Dirt]

Long story short, I had a faulty soil meter that was stuck around 7 leading me to believe I needed to lower the pH in my medium.

This is not an uncommon occurrence. If you ever look at reviews for the inexpensive soil pH meters, you will see the "stuck at 7.0pH" issue over and over. My County Agent told me that if you spend less than $300-$400 for a soil pH tester, you're wasting your money. Fairly reliable water pH testers, can be gotten for under $30.

Sorry you ran into this, Andy. But, you've got a handle on things, it would appear. Nice work figuring out the meter was the problem. :thumbs:

 

[Stone]

Hey Andy, I had the same PH issue with my first grow of Paki ryders. At the third week they were a bit stunned with deformed leaves but after good flushing they started growing like crazy - for 1 week they grown over 10 inches and the final size was about 20-25 inches with heavy resin production. Gosh, what a smell and a killer smoke.
So keep in mind Paki is going to grow more and if you don't have space you better think of LST. I LST-ed one of mine and she gave me the best yield. Unfortunately I have only this pic of her but I'm waiting to get 3 PR seeds tomorrow and will grow it again. Excellent meds for my nerve pain and insomnia.

Good luck mate. Your girls will be fine.

View attachment 23769

 

[Jackal]

I got caught up on your grow Andy and it was like reliving my first grow, same cab, cfl's, same shitty pH meter that stuck at 7. I had lots of pH trouble with that thing. But looks like your on top of things now. Good job on your set up to. I'm now using my cab to hold all my nutes etc. If your looking for a decent pH meter check out Kelway and Control Wizard accurate 8. I have the Kelway and it seems to be accurate, but the probe is short and fat, makes big holes in the soil. The other one is long and skinny.

 

[Joe Dirt]

The Kelway is one of the few I have seen mostly good reviews on, but I could never get my head around trying to use something that big for a "probe". It reminds me of the tops we used to spin with a chord. Yes, I have actually done that in person... I've done a yo-yo too.

 

[dirtybongwater]

ill stick with the old fluid ph tester kits with the color chart you can test what you put in and test the water that comes drains into the pan. 1 GH kit lasts a long time i still have a few drops left after 5 grows of 8 plants each. and if you get the big kit with the ph up and ph down well those two bottles look like ive barely ever used them. lol dusty. think the lil kit with out the ph up and down is like 12 dollars and the kit with the up and down is like 24. but thats just what i use. easy and simple and hard to mess up.