New Grower BWM’s First Indoor Grow (FastBuds BlackBerry Auto)

[Banjacked]

@BWM

She's looking good, and you're in the perfect position next time round as you can grow one under your Meizi and one under "Frankenpanel" and see actual results.

But you're too late to top, wish I'd noticed this earlier, but you can still bend her as the top third of the stem, at least, is guaranteed to be flexible enough. So bend the mofo, if for no other reason than you can then lower your light for better coverage over the whole plant instead of being tied to the height of the "highest point". You've seen the beast Pandora has turned into under my $35 grow light, the bending made a huge difference to results, imo.

Humidity? Don't be too concerned. My room sits in the mid 40's, except when we get a freak heatwave like we got this year, and nothing I have grown has complained and I don't select seeds for specific climates.

You say you're on "bloom"? Turn both on, she'll love the extra light and, as you have seen with how I start seedlings, the extra "blue" will keep the vertical growth down, as in less stretch. I found that out the hard way thinking that 4:1 Red:Blue blurple strip would be good, bloody plant went vertical, a wand Harry Pothead would have done all sorts of magic with, and was my first lesson in how "colour" affects a plant. So I would have your light running full blast, your plant won't complain and, with the bending, you'll have more space for monster buds. If you do, I would also add an extra fan blowing at the light to help cooling, but if I had one of these things then the Dremel would come out and most of the sides wouldn't be there anyway (another of my foibles, cooling. You can't cool LED's enough.), but the extra fan will, when aimed properly, help prevent the buildup of dust in the heatsink which, like with a PC, is an obvious heating issue. So also remember to get some Sprayduster and blast the light out regularly, stripping down every 6 months minimum to clean things out properly. Doing so will likely extend the lifetime of the light considerably as I bet Didactylus wouldn't need all his fingers to count the number of people who actually do that basic routine maintenance.

Looking forward to seeing how she goes.

 

[Pro-T]

I do the presoak too, but mainly so the soil temperature is equalised with the water the germinating seed is in (I don't do paper towels, or even wait until the taproot is fully out so that can't be damaged, everyone has their own methods and if they work for you then do it, there is no "right" method), because for some reason I think of "temperature shock" which may or may not have an effect on the sprout.

Just one of my foibles

I have to confess to being a paper towel and plastic sandwich bag guy. I usually get to see a tap root within 24 hours doing it this way and like you say, there’s no right method. Purely preference and what you feel works best for you.

 

[Pro-T]

@BWM

She's looking good, and you're in the perfect position next time round as you can grow one under your Meizi and one under "Frankenpanel" and see actual results.

But you're too late to top, wish I'd noticed this earlier, but you can still bend her as the top third of the stem, at least, is guaranteed to be flexible enough. So bend the mofo, if for no other reason than you can then lower your light for better coverage over the whole plant instead of being tied to the height of the "highest point". You've seen the beast Pandora has turned into under my $35 grow light, the bending made a huge difference to results, imo.

Humidity? Don't be too concerned. My room sits in the mid 40's, except when we get a freak heatwave like we got this year, and nothing I have grown has complained and I don't select seeds for specific climates.

You say you're on "bloom"? Turn both on, she'll love the extra light and, as you have seen with how I start seedlings, the extra "blue" will keep the vertical growth down, as in less stretch. I found that out the hard way thinking that 4:1 Red:Blue blurple strip would be good, bloody plant went vertical, a wand Harry Pothead would have done all sorts of magic with, and was my first lesson in how "colour" affects a plant. So I would have your light running full blast, your plant won't complain and, with the bending, you'll have more space for monster buds. If you do, I would also add an extra fan blowing at the light to help cooling, but if I had one of these things then the Dremel would come out and most of the sides wouldn't be there anyway (another of my foibles, cooling. You can't cool LED's enough.), but the extra fan will, when aimed properly, help prevent the buildup of dust in the heatsink which, like with a PC, is an obvious heating issue. So also remember to get some Sprayduster and blast the light out regularly, stripping down every 6 months minimum to clean things out properly. Doing so will likely extend the lifetime of the light considerably as I bet Didactylus wouldn't need all his fingers to count the number of people who actually do that basic routine maintenance.

Looking forward to seeing how she goes.

I hear you on the bending/topping but I decided just to let her go so I can keep the light higher up and start another one vegging next to her. Besides,she has a bit of a poor stem at the very bottom and I’d be gutted if I snapped her by accident!!
As for the bloom switch. I started her on the veg switch for a few weeks then turned both switches on (I should’ve been clearer) but I won’t be repeating that. I’m going both switches from the start from now on as she had much stronger growth with both.
Frankenpanel is undergoing some changes. Frankie was two separate panels but I’m having difficulty getting them positioned in my tent (my 6” extraction is taking up a good amount of headspace but it’s worth it) I’m on the lookout for some more free metal so I can re-configure frankie. Also I’m not sure if the wires I used to join the strips together were quite suitable and I’m becoming paranoid about leaving it unattended. I used 12v automotive wire.
I have no idea. Just want it to be safe.

 

[Pro-T]

MC is simple very simple be sure to keep some Cal Mag on hand those BB love it

I haven’t read all of your Grow yet but I like it a lot. The one thing I don’t have is cal mag, guess I’ll be spending some more coin. My Mrs is going to murder me in my sleep if I spend any more money! Lol

 

[Dabber]

I haven’t read all of your Grow yet but I like it a lot. The one thing I don’t have is cal mag, guess I’ll be spending some more coin. My Mrs is going to murder me in my sleep if I spend any more money! Lol

Epsom salt will do fine

 

[Pro-T]

@Banjacked, ok, I caved in and give her a bend. I’m hoping this is how it’s done? I’ve actually crumpled the stem but not snapped it as it was still quite pliable. The crumple is being gently held together by the first white peg on the left. Christ, I hope she’s ok and recovers.

 

[Pro-T]

Epsom salt will do fine

^^^^^ If she makes it Dabber, I should’ve left well alone but I’m sure she’ll be fine.

 

[Need4Weed]

Good luck with your grow!

 

[Pro-T]

Good luck with your grow!

Thanks, appreciate it! Thanks for looking.

 

[Banjacked]

I hear you on the bending/topping but I decided just to let her go so I can keep the light higher up and start another one vegging next to her. Besides,she has a bit of a poor stem at the very bottom and I’d be gutted if I snapped her by accident!!
As for the bloom switch. I started her on the veg switch for a few weeks then turned both switches on (I should’ve been clearer) but I won’t be repeating that. I’m going both switches from the start from now on as she had much stronger growth with both.
Frankenpanel is undergoing some changes. Frankie was two separate panels but I’m having difficulty getting them positioned in my tent (my 6” extraction is taking up a good amount of headspace but it’s worth it) I’m on the lookout for some more free metal so I can re-configure frankie. Also I’m not sure if the wires I used to join the strips together were quite suitable and I’m becoming paranoid about leaving it unattended. I used 12v automotive wire.
I have no idea. Just want it to be safe.

As far as the panel goes, you're running her at 12v so your cable is rated for that. Unless the actual copper bit is the thickness of a hair then you should be fine provided your auto wire is rated at 6A as the max rating of the strip is around 72w per roll, so 72/12 (watts/volts) tells you that you're looking at 6A in total, 3A per output, on the DC side so you would be shocked at what is capable of handling the power. Easy way to check is fire it up and see if the cables get rather warm/hot. If they do, then upgrade your cables, otherwise leave them as they'll be fine.

Bending, I mentioned the top third of the stem for a reason. Even this ham-fisted idiot can feel where the stem is thick and hard and where it's "softer" so you get the "feel" for where it's safe to bend. I was scared of such things before, it's natural, and after snapping off a few bits found the "sweet zone" in regard to where to do it and how much pressure to apply. Let's face it, you don't make an omelette without breaking eggs, you never learn how to bend without breaking stems, the important thing is NOT making the same mistake twice and now I happily bend and and pinch stems without a care, even throwing S-bends in if I think things are too stretchy.

And to start another? A bit of mains cable, 0.75mm² is enough, think of an old cable to power a radio or such like with the socket chopped off and replaced with a lampholder, with a lampholder and a 14.5w or higher 6500K led replacement bulb which you have hanging around a foot above the new sprout. It'll take all that light and won't stretch to your grow light (which it will if my mental picture of your setup is right), and get it right and you can have a beast a foot wide in 2 weeks, but so squat you have no idea where to find the grow tip for topping and a stem that's so thick and solid you'll think there's viagra in the plant food.


Oh, just followed through the rest of the posts and see you took the plunge. I reckon it'll work fine, and now you can drop the light a bit, increase intensity and therefore growth, mainly because I had the vision of things being too far apart and a whole lotta stretching going on. Be aware more support MAY be needed as time goes on as she grows "top heavy".

But I reckon you'll do fine now, as new growth comes out the sides you might have to do some tucking and bending to keep everything at the same sort of level. Practice makes perfect, you WILL make mistakes so be prepared to and hopefully you won't lose as many plants as I have through sheer stupidity. And now the bug has bitten, all bets are off regarding arguments on spending money but remember you don't need to buy expensive branded stuff, as lemon juice is perfect to drop pH, additives for regular plants such as potassium are cheap as hell should you see a deficiency, epsom salts has been mentioned, bone meal is cheap as hell by the box for calcium, and when you buy the boxes of stuff from your garden/diy centre then the price you pay compared to some branded stuff "specifically designed for cannabis" drops considerably. Then you get her into the growing bug of tomatoes, etc, on the windowsill and suddenly these costs don't matter because she'll use the same stuff too (as I know to my cost).