New Grower My 1st Grow, A journey...

wwwillie

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Hey now!
Wwwillie here, welcome to the "journal" of my journey! I started my 1st grow about two weeks ago and have been keeping a log. I will paste that below with some of my photos. I have been a bit obsessive as you can see, but am thoroughly enjoying myself. I welcome all comments and criticisms about any and all of it. I am looking forward to everyone's insights.




Late September... We discuss and decide that perhaps it would be OK if I grew some cannabis for myself. There is trepidation but we decide to move forward.

October 1st
I make an order for seeds from the Attitude seed bank in the UK. Ordered stealth with the wallet. I have waited until now because they have a huge sale and I get all kinds of free beans. Pretty cool, I ordered five seed and received sixteen. Still very expensive though

10/8
Seeds arrive! W00t

10/9
We discuss this some more. I have had the idea that perhaps I can qualify for a medical recommendation. We both think it is a good idea, if I can get it, it will protect us from legal issues and even my job!

10/18
I go to CannCare Docs. I tell them about my insomnia, anxiety, depression, and shoulder pain. I brought my med list for the last year. I am approved and now have my reccomendation! I am very excited to say the least!!!

10/20
We go to HTG. Pick up a bag of Happy Frog potting mix, a heat mat and a small 6 hole seed started with some extra rapid rooter pellets. Also PH test and PH up and down.

Try to put some 10-13 year old bag seed in to sprout. Don't think it will work but what the hell. Using PH 6.0 water,

10/21
Can't take it anymore... Put the DinaFem Critical Cheese in to germinate. To sprout I am using paper toweling, two sheets dampened in between two plates and placed on the heat mat. All this in an 18 gal. plastic tote.

10/22
My first seed popped!! Woohoo.

10/23
Maybe a 1/4 inch of tap root showing. Put it root down into a rapid rooter pellet. Put the lid on and put it on the mat. It is in the dark in the tote.

10/24
Looking good, exciting. Maybe it is looking stretched, Worrying about it.

10/25
CC day 0 I am counting from 1st appearance of cotyledons into light of day from rooter/soil as day zero and counting from there.
6:30AM
Added some lights, two CFL, better than nothing I am thinking. Looks ugly but hopefully it will work ok.

Go to Home depot, use gift card and get 8 24 watt, 5000k CFL 3 sockets and 3 Y adapters.

Holy crap my light is being delivered today, it was in Cincinatti OH last night!!
Leave early, stop at Kings in Leominster. Pretty cool, big place nothing really out to see. Guy was pretty cool too. Get a bag of perlite, 2 gal smartpot and saucer.

3:30 PM
Light is here woohoo, looks great, really bright!

5:00 PM
Transplant into 2 gallon smartpot 8 parts Happy Frog 1 part perlite. Put in tote on heat mat. Made a box out of tote with another tote on top. Should work.
Had to cover it for stealth.

10/26
CC day 1
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IMG_0521_zps74638711.jpg

Pretty damn hot in there. Don't have a thermometer. need to get one, worrying me. Gotta get a tent ASAP.

10/27
CC day 3
Go to HTG and get an Original Stacker tent, 39"x39"x59" looks nice. Got light hangers too. Pricey

Clean a place in the basement, tent just a bit too big for my spot but I get it put up and it looks great. I place a small white thick rug in there to insulate from the concrete floor. Put the heat mat on the rug and put smart pot with CC in it. Hang light at 22 inches.

HOLY SH*T!!!! Bob (my cat) ate the plant!! I went to get a small dish to put water in I come back to the tent and Bob runs out of it. There is my baby pulled out and lying there. I replanted it and time will tell. Watered it too. Crap, crap, crap.

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10/28
CC day 4
Added oil filled radiator style heater, thermometer - hygrometer combo. Added water bowl to mat for humidity. Still alive.

10/29
CC day 5
Damn I am watering too much. So here I am overwatered, cat chewed in a pot too damned big, Should just give up!! 8 Days in not doing to well for sure.


10/30
CC day 6

CC Still looks the same, maybe some brown spots.I really overwatered this plant, hopefully letting it dry out will help.

6:30 AM
This morning put the freebie HSO Bubba Kush (BK) into a glass of water.

6:00PM
Put BK into some towels in plates on the heat mat.

Picked up thermometer and put it into the tent.

10/31
CC day 7

BK Popped, put it into a rapid rooter pellet, put it on the plate and covered with humidity dome.

Tent temps a bit high during the day, 82-85 opened a port to let out some heat. Hope it helps. Temps at night look good about 72 when I open up in the AM

11/1
CC day 8

Looking a bit better day three no water. Still a bit warm tho, opened another port for more ventilation.
Added small clamp on fan to blow on CC.

Spent some time at HTG, purchased a duct fan, duct and flanges along with the fan mentioned above.

11/2 7:00PM
Temp 75 RH 59
CC day 9

Watered CC today added 1 cup of water around the stem. The 3rd set of leaves or is it the second? are starting to show. One of them looks burnt/brown, one is a bit jagged like a leaf. Damn I hope this thing continues to grow!

BK has sprouted further, I can see the spout in the hole of the rapid rooter. I will let it into the light tomorrow. This time it is going into a red cup!! Need to be able to keep better control of the water situation.

Added a 6" flange, duct fan and 8' of 6" duct to the rear port. It cools the tent to much. Waiting on temp controller.

Bought distilled water, PH is 6.0 Market Basket spring water too, PH 5.0, added 10 drops PH up to one gal. and PH looks to be 6.0. Will use these to water plants.

Ordered 6" x 300mm carbon filter from Gotham. $60.00
Need to tally up the cost, this is getting pricey.

11/3 6:00 AM
Temp 73 RH 52
CC day 10, BK day 0

DSC_0539_zps8cf449a6.jpg


Turned on blower to see how it affects temps etc. Too much, it cools things down too far.

BK is up in the air! The cotyledons are showing now. Took light cover off, left humid dome on.

8:30
Temp 68 RH 42

Blower on all the time not good, need timer or thermostat for some control.

BK did not like light cover off or too damp, read that seedlings don't need humidity dome. So humid dome off light cover back on. (BTW light cover is blue plastic bowl)

10:30
Temp 79 RH 48

Moved CC off to the side, off of the heat mat and a bit out from directly under the light. Light still at 22" CC looking ok except for the spots, could be getting closer to better conditions now (I soooo hope) Trying to learn to read the plants. Need to be patient, patient, patient. Things take time to happen, try not to overthink, try to do just a few things, better just ONE thing at a time. Keep logging everything.

5:30
Temp 75 RH 66

CC looks about the same... Need to be patient. I think the new location off the mat is good. There is a steady light breeze on it now. Let's see how it goes.
BK looks good the cotyledons are full and the first set of leaves have appeared. Took the light block off, added some water to the dish and some of the empty rapid rooter cubes. I put the dome back on too. I am concerned that it will dry out being such a small bit of stuff, prolly added too much... Time will tell.

Need to stay away until the morning!! Yow.

11/4
Temp 75 RH 51
CC day 11, BK day 1

DSC_0545_zps6c23a6dc.jpg


CC looks good, a bit dry. I will bite my nails and not water this AM. The first leaves are getting bigger and look straight although striated with yellow. Hope that is from stress water, cat chewing, and heat.

BK cotyledons are the same, a bit curled down. First leaves have about doubled tho. Medium is a bit soggy, I can see the tiny white hair of the main root coming out of the bottom of the rooter cube. Transplanted int a 16oz red cup with good drainage. Used FF happy frog/ perlite 8/1 watred until it came out the bottom. So BK is out in the light on the mat in a SMALLER container. No cat, let see how she does.

4:30 PM Couldn't help myself, downsized CC into a red cup. I did see some nice roots tho and pray I did not hurt it anymore than I already have. BK looks OK although still a bit wet. WTF I need to get over the over water itis!! Oh damn need to ease up a bit here dude!

11/5
Temp 73 RH 49
CC day 12, BK day 2

DSC_0551_zpseb5b5440.jpg


Girls both look OK cups still a bit soaked. Damn I have a heavy hand with the water. Think the red cups are the way to go for seedlings. Makes it easier to gauge water.
I added water to a small dish placed on the mat for humidity. Looks like the temps and RH is pretty good and holding nicely. The fan is keeping air movement going. Now I just have to relax a bit and watch them grow!

5:45
Temp 79 RH 53

Kinda hot in there! Adjusted heater, need that thermostatic relay so I can connect the fan and keep the temps constant. That will help. Moving to the red cup was a good thing for

CC I think. Pics look good definitely see some growth. Hold off on water until at least tomorrow evening. BK looks OK too, still damp though, will look better when it drys out some more I am sure. I need to hold off maybe for a few days even. This not watering is hard.

11/6
6:30
CC day 13 BK day 3
Temp 74 RH 63

DSC_0554_zps9c1d8af0.jpg


Looking good in there. CC looks OK making progress will see with Pics tonight, cup feels a bit light, water tonight? BK looks OK too, cup is heavy still so no water for her, tomorrow maybe.

6:45
Temp 74 RH 57

Temps look great. Think I have it dialed in for the time being.
Since I am using distilled water, PH 6.0, I added 1/8 tsp. (0.62ml) of Cal 'n MAg by Earth Juice to one gallon of distilled water.

Watered CC used 4tbsp water


Well that's my log so far. A description of my light, it is a Chinese 240watt LED. Thanks for reading!!
 
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Wow man! Great journal so far and look forward to seeing it progress. Welcome to AFN which is pretty much the home of all things autoflower. There's a lot of great growers here that have an abundance of knowledge that can help along the way with any questions you may have.

Not sure what's going on with the leaves, if it was light bleaching it'd be on both plants, not just one. It wouldn't hurt to bring the light up to 24-26" for the first 10 days though. I also have a 240W Chinese LED.. Bysen. :thumbs:

Keep up the amazing documenting and just keep on keeping on. Perfect using minimal amounts of water when you feel they're thirsty.

:slap:
 
Hands down the most through journal I've ever seen. :Holy Moly::Cushty: Max rep for sure.
 
Dude, that is probably the most detailed journal for any new grower I have ever seen. Actually one of the most detailed I have EVER seen. Real nice job and let me say, welcome to AFN. I will follow along with you on your journey bro, hard not to after that.
 
WWWillie.....:D: that was awesome Good-Vibes.jpg here's some Good Vibes for you my friend......:five:
 
I'm a new grower as well, and I can personally say that over watering is the most tempting & probably most problematic issue right out the gate for us. We just don't want to watch them die before we even start but I've learned (from the bad ass individuals on this site) that under watering is less harmful then over watering them. After seeing my completely dried out and starving plant (she was literally dried stiff and laying flat across the soil) spring back to life in 20-30mins, upright right and all, after giving her a full watering I truly understood and gained a new perspective when time came to water them...and that they react fast as hell!

We naturally love what we see and discard or rarely pay attention to what we can't..but the roots (besides the buds of course :smokeit:) are the one of the most important pieces to the puzzle, if not the most important part of the plant and plant life cycle. Underfeed and the roots will starve for it - until your quick enough to supply, but overwater and the roots will rot in it - it won't wait this time it'll die.

This is great stuff, make sure to take alot of pictures throughout tho - I also learned the people on here are really keen to picking out little issues with the plant or even the setup itself (that me, you, and new growers alike) would most likely skim over or miss entirely!
 
Thanks so much for the kind words! Of course y'all know you're just encouraging me!! I hope to keep up the dialog and log, I have not done this for anything before and enjoy it, also find it useful and a bit re-assuring, It hels me to keep a focus and not go doing all sorts of stuff to try and fix things like I normally do. Thanks again!

1/7
6:00AM
CC day 14 BK day 4
Temp 79 RH 53

Overnite temp higher than I would like, thermostatic diggle should be here soon.
Girls look pretty good this morning. BK is finally starting to feel a little lighter and look dryer. CC feels and looks about right water wise. NOW can I keep it up? I am pretty sure I can.
Turned off heat mat, set bowl of water I use for humidification on the radiator.

6:00PM
Temp 75 RH 54

Girls look OK. I wish CC leaves would look up a bit I would feel better. The new growth looks ok. BK is moving along, think it could look bigger tho. No water tonight. Have not watered BK since I put her in the red cup. Not making any changes tonight.

Here is some info on my light:
I purchased it on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/151143007265?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 The delivery was via DHL express and it arrived in a week! I purchased it based on a grow from another site, the plants under this light looked great, so that was good enough for me. I hope it was a good decision.

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Sorry bout the double post...

I am obsessing again! I've been staring at the pics...Am I seeing some yellow spots like on BK (the new plant)?? Is it light? My LED is 22in away and they are definitely not stretching. I thought it was stress, cat munching, and overwatering that was causing it, but thinking I see it on my 2nd plant as well has me wondering.
 
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11/8
6:10 AM
CC day 15 BK day 5
Temp 73 RH 55

Nothing much to report today. Both look OK and like they grew a wee bit. Worrying about the lighter spots, could it be light bleaching. The pics tonight should show something I think. I asked on the forum last nite too. The daily pics help spot trends and allow me see progress albeit slow!!
 
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