New Grower First grow - Big Buddha Critical Mass Auto/Fem

[ChuckUFarley]

Basic Setup:

30"x30" retired shower stall in an unused bathroom. Scrubbed to mythic OCD-proportions.

Komee SunGod Mini Lotus CFL - 1 per plant from a utility light / reflector

3 gallon pots - drilled out for better drainage

Sunshine Advanced Formula #4 Soil

ExHale co2 bag, hung above in line of the heater and fan.

White Color Film Paper (for Fiery printers) around pots, on door, keep the light in.

A bug zapper. Space heater with thermostat. Humidity holding steady at 55%.

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The Girls:

Big Buddha Critical Mass Auto/Fem x 2


The Voyage (Day 1-3)

Germinated 3 seeds in peat cubes. Taproots emerged to 3/4" in about a day. Transplanted directly to medium and kept lower wattage CFL's (23w x 2 for each plant at approx 1 1/2" distance). No picture of egg carton or peat cube attached because, well - you can use your imagination.

Seedlings (Day 4-7)

Kept all three in soil to see which two showed the most early vigor. One really had a hard time shaking its husk, which I removed with tweezers to reveal a pretty gimped out cotyledon. It still put on its first set of leaves - just much slower. Since has been taken outdoors to enjoy a life of midwest sunshine.

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Days 8-10

Lots of nailbiting, arguable overwatering, paranoia and self-doubt. Classic nube-ness that I've tried to keep in check. Second set of leaves (3 blades) slowly coming on. Switched from the dual 23w CFL's to the Sun God Mini Lotus (1 per plant). Doing best to keep medium semi-moist - but it's a huge pot for such a little - uh - pot. Drilled bigger hole into bottom of pot to check and drainage seems pretty good.

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Days 11-13 (today)

Since switching from the little Lowe's lights (2 x 23w (1450lum each) per plant to the Mini Lotus, things are going quicker. Second set of leaves in full, third internodes sprouting quickly and very close on stem to previous set. Only concern is some odd waxiness on a few older leaves. Keeping an eye on it. So were a lot of bugs who found their way in.... and then into the blue light of redemption I installed. (Adios, fuxors)

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Soil PH is holding steady at slightly acidic and the girls seem pretty happy - putting on growth very fast at this point.

Most importantly, this is fun as hell. Even my "is this legal" partner is sort of getting into it. Sort of. Mostly she thinks I'm nuts because I check on them as much as possible. More to come hopefully! Any concerns or "Hey Shithead, you're doing it wrong" advice is totally welcome.

CUF

 

[The Bedroom Gardener UK]

Very nice mate, I've got a couple of these to grow out myself. Welcome on board.

 

[ChuckUFarley]

Day 15 and the girls are really putting on more and more.

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Backed the lights off about an inch - to about 4" away two days ago and the leaves don't seem as stressed.

Third set of true leaves are growing their 4th and 5th fingers rapidly, seeing some additional nodes popping up below too.

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I had read that burying up to the cotyledon would keep the canopy lower and wider and so far that seems to be no joke - it's going wide but barely up. The plants probably stand no more than 2.5" tall! Given that I'm trying to go all CFL here, that's probably for the best.

Can't wait to see what's in store for the next week

 

[ChuckUFarley]

Very nice mate, I've got a couple of these to grow out myself. Welcome on board.

Cheers @niceneasy - let me know how they're looking.

 

[The Bedroom Gardener UK]

They're looking good mate, and you're right about the burying part. That'll all become root system now, and give you a bigger plant. Once they kick into flower they zip up a little, so no worries about that.

 

[Muddy]

Welcome to the New Growers forum. Looks like you're off to a fine start. What are those Mini Lotus lights, don't believe I've seen those before?

 

[ChuckUFarley]

They're made in the states by a small company in Ohio

http://sungodlights.com/

The Lotus CFL's are serious biz - they claim 15k lum from a single bulb. The Mini Lotus (which are like $30 each) claim 9.5k lum from a single bulb. I haven't tried a light meter - but I can safely say that the difference between the dual 23w cfl's on each was like walking out of a theater on a sunny day. Flipping blinding.

I'm sure their claims of output are debatable and the shape doesn't exactly give you an ideal placement - but compared to Home Depot's finest, they blast. I might try doing both over a box-of-four for next time.

 

[Muddy]

Very interesting, I'll be curious to see how they do for you.

 

[ChuckUFarley]

Day 16-19

I leave for a few days on business and they've nearly doubled in size and tripled the amount of leaves.

Before: (Day 16)

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After: (Day 19)

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At this point I'm concerned they're going to grow tendrils that eat my pets by week 4. Oh, and some Ona Gel is on order because even now just vegging that room is starting to smell oddly like the lunchbox I keep in the bottom drawer at work. Can't quite place it though.

Unfortunately I've only got enough space to hang a supplemental light between the two and rotate the plants 180º twice a day. The extra canopy light seems to help get the flouro down there a little more.

Doing first flush and 1/4 strength fertilizer on day 21. Watch this space.

 

[Muddy]

Your plants are looking great. I'm just curious why you are flushing them, especially this early in the grow. Flushing really isn't necessary unless there has been an over feeding situation or salts are building up in the soil. As long as you have about 10% run off when you feed, salt buildup shouldn't become an issue. I just emptied out the pots from my last grow yesterday. I always check the inside of the pots for salt buildup, which will be a white crust on the inside of the pots. Zero buildup in those pots and they were not flushed once the whole grow.