Indoor First Grow Attempt: 250w Dresser Stealth Soil Grow

[Joe Dirt]

Anyways, running the 250w HPS/127 watts of CFLs. One 23 watt soft white CFL and four 26 watt daylight CFLs. Using Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil and Blue Mountain Organics nutes (Grow it green & Flower Power). Heights an issue with a max of 15-22 inches depending on how much higher I can get the light

I keep my seedlings under 6500K cfl's until they show sex. They are going to stretch when you put them under 2700-3000K.

Should I try to keep the Afgan Ryder as a little mom plant? or Maybe run 12/12 in the dresser after a week or 2?

I would give her four weeks before I decided she's not going to auto. Two weeks is not enough time. If she turns out to be a photo, it's your call. It doesn't sound like you have a good set-up for working photo's but you may plan on expanding, I don't know that. But, if you decide to keep her, like I have done with my Mataro Blue, you will have to either cut everything back to 12/12 or segregate her to a dark place for 12 hrs a day (which is what I did). But, as I stated before, I have lst'd, super-cropped, and temporarily pulled the limbs down on a daily basis and she still is over 15" tall, not including the pot. This plant takes up as much space as four of my Auto Assassins.

 

[StealthGrown]

Thanks Joe! Alright, so under the 127 watts of CFLS it is. Is that enough wattage? In between 14-28 days I should expect to see their sex? I don't think I should veg the Afgan for a month, but maybe a few weeks. Majority of people have had to throw her under 12/12 to flower, I don't want to waste the time/space but maybe she will auto. Saw 1 video on youtube of the Afgan and it was actually autoflowering (I believe & hope).

The dresser was actually designed for photo strains by my brother and I. With a teqnique called elastic training, simple LST with rubber bands as soon as the plant has a few sets of true leaves, followed by a top or 3 and more training through flower. Its manageable to have full flowered plant 14 inches or less with as many as 10-13 tops. But I wanted to go the auto route despite what my brother wanted and stocked up on some auto beans (well I thought they were fully AUTO beans, : /)

The Mataro Blue and La Blanca are definitely photo strains as everyone is hating on em and Kannabia, so I guess I'll save em or throw em in the local forest. But the Afgan Ryder is now over the soil, don't think the Himalaya Blue Diesel is but I can barely see through the tupperware humidity dome.

Thanks man for sticking around.

 

[Joe Dirt]

I had 12 seedlings under 6) 23w 6500K cfls and they flourished. I can see how you could contain a photo in the cab with that much pruning. And, you can get away with that growing photo's.

As far as the Afgan is concerned, at 30 days, if I'm not seeing pistils, I drop to 12/12. That's what I did with the Mataro Blue and the Nirvana Northern Light (doesn't auto either) I'm growing atm.

 

[StealthGrown]

Thanks dude. Awesome help and reassurance. How do you feel when they dont auto? Pissed or not mad at all, more yield for ya?

 

[StealthGrown]

Pictures from yesterday, not too good of quality or close ups, but not bad for a cell phone. Took the humidity dome off of them both, is that alright? Afgan Ryder is growing a bit faster than the Blue Diesel. To be continued.


The soil was watered nicely early on 4th before planting seeds and nothing since, poked my finger down a few inches and feel almost no moisture, only little dry pieces of soil were on my finger. Time for a little watering until i see some runoff or wait some more and let roots try to find water?

 

[StealthGrown]

I watered em right after posting, I was worried it was too dry plus the fans blowing right on em as well. I barely watered em at all, filled a milk jugs cap up 1 and a half times and dribbled it around the seedlings, trying not to wet the actual seedling. Seemed like enough for now, but we'll see. Also, one of the Afgan ryders cotyledon leaves has a weird hole in it I think. Looks weird and maybe even like clear or an actual hole. Just noticed it this morning, but its not large, just weird and hope its nothing this early on in the grow. Will get some close ups soon.

Been reading a lot of journals with OF, seems people dont like it? pH run off gets messed up mid way through grows or something? People say add lime early on to be safe. The Fox Farms original distributor joint is in California, and to supplement their customers needs they opened a joint in South Carolina. Which every one says is why the soil now sucks if you're on the eastern half of the US. Out west they use some type of good aged tree wood, and out east in SC they don't have those kind of trees and use normal tree bark or something?

 

[StealthGrown]

Last 3 pics Afgan Ryder: Fighting to break out of the bean. Weird hole with clear layer with a tiny hole through it. Something black underneath that I grabbed with a tweezers but it slipped out and landed in the soil again. It seemed hard, hard enough that when i squeezed the tweezers away to examine it, it just slipped out. I realllllllly reallllllllllllly hope this is an easy fix if I already have insect problems.

First 2 pics: small Blue Diesel fighting to break out the bean and open up.. but also looks weird? Slow growth compared to the Afgan ryder.

So angry..

 

[Joe Dirt]

Okay, let's take a deep breath... relax... everything looks fine... nothing to be angry about.

You were right to take the dome off. I do that as soon as they sprout.

Just like baby humans, baby plants don't always look that great at the moment of birth. Be slow to act, especially at this stage, unless you kow what is wrong and what the remedy is. If you're not sure, be patient, you'll get all the help you need on the site here but it can take a day or so sometimes. Since you're in soil, most problems you would encounter will not be terminal if appropriate action is taken within a couple days. But, if you take the wrong kind of action, the simple act of doing the wrong thing can make the problem much worse.

A plant being completely left alone has a better chance than one that gets too much attention, IMHO. Kick back, enjoy the experience. When you feel like the pace is starting to get hectic, you may want to check and make sure you're not trying to help too much.

P.S. I use OF and Happy frog with good results.

 

[NC420]

There fine Stealth:thumbs:
The less you mess with them the better off...
So many people can't wait to get the grow going and thy try to help the seed off but break the sprout(I've done it)then have 1 less plant...

If you let them be, They will break out of the bean shell by them selves...
Good luck...
Peace, Bud & Karma...NC420

 

[StealthGrown]

Thanks Joe, I'll take a chill pill and wait for what people have to say. Just dont want insects the entire grow screwing me over.
NC420- I havent messed with the seed at all, letting it do its thing. Its the hole in the cotyledon leaf with some black thing underneath thats got me worried.

Thanks guys