New Grower Aksteel First ever Grow

[AKsteel]

Hey everyone. As promised, I am going to attempt my first Grow journal. So here we go.
Seeds: 3 moonstone and 1 Yoda's Dragons Breath from Autoflower portal
Tent: Apollo 4x2x5
Lights: 4x23w 6500k cfl. 4x13w 2700k cfl. (Have a Mars-Hydro 96x3 reflective series on order. Hope it gets here soon). Lights cycle 24/0
Water: Tap water left out 24+ hours then ph'd to 6.5 and aerated 24/7 till use.
Temps/RH: 72F, RH 35-40%
Fans: Small clip fan x1 for now. It keeps the air moving anyways.
Pot: 1 gallon smartpot x 2, 2 gallon smartpot x 1
Soil: Promix HD
Germination plan: Ronin's Root Riot plan. (Thanks Ronin!!!!! 100% germination rate.) Thanks Briman for the link to Ronin's thread. https://www.autoflower.org/f74/germination-ronin-way-33891.html
Nutrient Plan: TaNgs New and Improved Advanced Nutrient schedule. (Again, Thanks Briman for the Link, and TaNg for the plan.). :thank:https://www.autoflower.org/f26/tangs-new-improved-feeding-schedule-34408.html

2-25-15 Report:
Seven days ago I started my first ever grow, and I truly mean my first. I have never grown any plant before. So after doing research and lots of help from the AFN family I dropped my first 3 beans. All 3 are moonstone regulars from Stone at AFP. I hope to get at least 1 female, but if not I will save one male and practice my growing outside the tent and harvest some pollen.
I used Ronins root riot germination instructions which worked flawlessly, and after three days I had 3 little sprouts. I let them stay in the germination container for 2 more days before putting them in there final pots.
I presoaked the smartpots before transplanting the Root Riot plugs with regular tap water left out for 24+ hrs ph'd to 6.5. Watered till run off.
It is now Day 3 and I watered again as the soil on top was a bit dry. I used approximately 1lt for each plant and got a little run off. Is this bad? I want to make sure the roots have water as they move down into the soil, but I don't want to over water either. Any advice on watering would be most appreciated.
Here are some pics that I took after watering.



Thanks for any advice, and thanks to all of you that have helped me get this far. If I could REP slap each one of you I would. Briman, TaNg, Ronin, Faded187, Elsam, JT, Pop22, and several others have been instrumental in just getting this far. You folks are AWSOME!!!!!! :kusht:

 

[Ronin]

Congratulations on your first attempt at growing.:Sharing One:
As well congrats on 3 healthy sprouts.:thumbs:
Sending some girlie and grow :karma Cloud:karma your way.
I'm subbing up and will be following your progress.

 

[woody]

Good luck mate hope you get a lady or two

 

[HD Grower]

From this newbee looks like your off to a good start..I started my journal today also but my grow has been started a few weeks..Sounds like to did a bit more learning than I..Best of Luck and hope to fallow your grow

HD

 

[AKsteel]

Thanks for the Girl Karma Ronin. I didn't want to leave it to chance and I had room for 1 more plant so I dropped a Feminised Yoda's Dragons Breath. She is in the Root Riot house right now. So if all goes well I will have at least one girl and she will be a DragonragonSmoke:

 

[briman]

Look at you go AKsteel! You are off and running! Man O Man, between TaNg, Ronin pop22,Elsam, JT, faded and myself, you should be growing trees before you know it! Glad to see you did some homework and by the list of goodies, you made some great purchases, to help you get there! Best of luck and For sure, some girlie karma your way! Just subb'd your thread and will be keeping a close eye on your journey!:kusht:if you need any help, let someone know!

 

[AKsteel]

Thanks a lot Brim, you have been my #1 source and have a little . Without your input I wouldn't have found TaNg or Ronin's threads. Also the local friend that you pointed me to has been super helpful. This is a great community!!!!
Off topic...I like your new Avatar pic. I love those colors and spots. I am still searching for my 30"+ rainbow. Or I could be wrong and this weather just has me seeing rainbow trout in everything.

 

[AKsteel]

Day 5 update:
Well the plants seem to be looking good to me, but what do I know
I lowered the lights a bit yesterday to 9" above the plants. Still waiting on my mars-hydro LED, but it should be here soon.
Have not watered in two days. The last water I had some run off and I want to let them dry out a bit. I was also a bit concerned about the root riot cubes holding more water longer that the soil. I don't know if this happens or not. Or I may just be having first timer paranoia.
Here are some new pics taken today. I don't know if the pictures show it but the first little leaves have a little purple tint to them. I will be curious to see if this may mean a dark leaf phenotype.

Any advice or comments are always appreciated

 

[Dazed]

They look absolutely spot on bro!

 

[oldster]

Hi AK, plants are looking great. I use ProMix as well. One of the things I have learned is that its pH tends to drop after about 4 weeks. If you have not already invested in a soil pH probe like the Accurate 8 you will find it an excellent investment. Not sure how much minerals you already have in your water (I use well water that is pretty hard) and found that starting to add cal/mag to my water early on helped as well.

Happy growing