New Grower First Grow - ILGM Blueberry - Indoor

[Bruce Campbell]

My decision process for planning out the basic set-up was as follows:

1) Home-grow is legal in my region, but limited to 4 plants.
2) I have a spare bedroom / office. A 2'x4' tent fits nice and snug in the corner, anything bigger would be awkward in the room (e.g., block windows, be in view of webcam for work calls, etc). After sizing out pots, etc, looks like it will be a bit cramped. Lesson learned for next time.
3) I settled on the Phlizon after reading a review on a grow-light website. Main point was "COB is awesome, Phlizon is worth considering based on its price." Went with 400W actual based on the 50W/sq-ft rule of thumb.
4) Could add a window / clothes dryer vent kit to a window for outside exhaust, but I live in a condo complex and neighbors may not like that. Have a bathroom exhaust fan I could use, or add a dehumidifier to lung room.
5) Will include carbon filter in tent. Settled on cheaper brand / lower-flow fan because it had a lower listed noise level. Without significant ducting, should be able to reach the 3 turnovers/minute rule of thumb.
6) I'll build out the specific control and additional equipment as I go.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Next item to consider was nutrient plan / feed schedule:

1) Settled on Fox Farms Ocean Forest at the start without knowing too much, so I'll be working around that.
2) I'll be using tap water. My goal is to be able to use spent aquarium water for later grows, so learning how to adjust / work around tap water should help me learn.
3) I'll be using Fox Farms' Cultivation Nation 3-part Grow-Micro-Bloom line. Or, more accurately, its feed schedule. That gives me some kind of baseline for how they expect their soil to perform.
4) I'll be adding myco with the goal of increasing P bio-availability (See below).
5) I'll be adding a silica booster with the goal of improving overall uptake. There seems to be limited downside (i.e., no toxicity issues), except for it possibly not being needed.

Here's an outline of how I adjusted their feed schedule:

My local water has decent N and K, but a bit low in P. It can vary a bit month-to-month, and can be reasonably hard. The calcium / hardness may be an issue but we'll see how the final feed EC and pH work out:

	ppm = mL/L
	N	P	K	Ca	Mg
Tap Water (Nom)	1.57	0.4	2.8	30	7
Ranges:	0.86 - 2.72	0.37 - 0.43	1.8 - 2.8	27 - 32	7.0 - 7.7
TDS:	130 - 220	ppm
EC:	0.27 - 0.39	mS/cm

Here's the soil and nutrient ratios:

	Wt %
	N	P	K	Ca	Mg
Grow	2	1	6
Micro	5	0	1
Bloom	0	5	4
OF	0.3	0.45	0.05	1

I worked through the math to convert their feed schedule to an "NPK per week" basis:

	Equivalent ppm N-P-K of Fox Farms Grow-Micro-Bloom Feed Schedule
	Week
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
N	2.6	11.7	11.7	11.7	11.7	9.1	9.1	9.1	6.5	6.5	0.0	0.0
P	1.3	2.6	2.6	9.1	9.1	7.8	14.3	14.3	13.0	13.0	13.0	13.0
K	7.8	17.0	17.0	22.2	22.2	14.3	19.6	19.6	11.7	11.7	10.4	10.4

For comparison, here's what percentage of that NPK will be provided by my tap water itself:

	% of N-P-K Feed provided by tap water
	Week
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
N	60%	13%	13%	13%	13%	17%	17%	17%	24%	24%	-	-
P	31%	15%	15%	4%	4%	5%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%
K	36%	17%	17%	13%	13%	20%	14%	14%	24%	24%	27%	27%

Now, I subtract the tap water NPK values from the NPK feed schedule, and then comes the difficult part. I need to back-guess at mixture ratios that will provide what I actually need. But, I can only get it in the ballpark based on their individual product ratios. Also, I'll aim overall for only providing 50% of their total schedule for now, based on the rule of thumb that autos need less than photos.

Lesson: If I'm going to fine-tune a feed schedule like this in the future, would probably be best to use a 3-part product line that provides N, P, and K individually.

Skipping a bunch of the numbers, here's my final planned feed schedule (with tap water) vs. the vendor feed schedule, and the final strength compared to their schedule:

	Fox Farms Feed Schedule: Tsp (5 mL) per 1 Gal (4 L) Water
	Week
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Grow	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Micro	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0
Bloom	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2

	Actual Product Usage (tsp/gal)
	Week
Grow	0	0.76	0.76	0.76	0.76	0.30	0.30	0.30	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Micro	0	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.30	0.30	0.00	0.00
Bloom	0	0.00	0.00	0.46	0.46	0.46	0.91	0.91	0.76	0.76	0.76	0.76

	Strength (%) (- = Underfeeding; + = Overfeeding)
	Week
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
N	-40%	-44%	-44%	-44%	-44%	-42%	-42%	-42%	-45%	-45%	-	-
P	-69%	-47%	-47%	-52%	-52%	-52%	-53%	-53%	-59%	-59%	-59%	-59%
K	-64%	-45%	-45%	-47%	-47%	-43%	-46%	-46%	-39%	-39%	-35%	-35%

Note: I'll be using a 3 mL pipette with 0.5 mL graduations to mix each batch, which is why the actual schedule isn't in nice even teaspoons.

It's a lot of math, but it turns out to not be a straight "divide everything by X" adjustment. It should keep me within 40-60% of their overall feed schedule with my tap water and leave some margin for month-to-month variations in my supply. Not sure how the Ca and hardness will impact the grow, but we'll see. Overall, an interesting learning exercise...

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Planted seeds today.

Prepared soil and pots a few days ago to give them some time to absorb water. Air pots can be a hassle when the soil's completely dry since the water will just run out the sides. Used coco starting plugs, but then put those directly into the final pot.

Light's running, but just as a heater for now with the Inkbird controller set at 80F. May add solo cups tomorrow to keep in the humidity. I ordered a Sonoff / Zigbee-based bridge and temp/RH sensor, so I'll probably switch over to a smart home setup in the future.

Still setting up ventilation, but sealed / taped up all the unused ducts on the tent. Gonna order some extra ratcheting hangers for the carbon filter. Vivosun just gives you nylon straps, but I never got my knot-tying merit badge, so don't trust myself using those to hang a 20-lb filter above my plants.

Also, ordered a second light in case I need it. I don't quite trust the PPFD map I could find for it - it only gives values in a 2' x 2' area when they say the light coverage is 4'x4', and the values fall off pretty quick. Tried some smart phone apps, but didn't seem to give great readings. Phlizon lights are so cheap, though, figured I'd just order one in case I need it.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Three have sprouted so far - one after 56 hrs, two more after 68 hrs (although just barely breaking soil). Still waiting on the last one.

Here's the earliest one:

Switched the lights to their half-power blurple-only mode, 12/12, ~24 inches. Ventilation set at 80F. RH is low around 45-50%, so should probably add some domes.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Seedlings are 4 days old.

Three are doing decent, but have a bit of stretch (~3-inches tall):

Plus, the ones on the sides of the tent are leaning a bit to get more light. Turned on the main COB elements, but that raised temps in the humidity domes a bit. Should probably check actual PPFD levels - MIGRO has some good articles evaluating accuracy of phone apps and lux meters for measuring PAR levels.

One of the seedlings is struggling a bit - it's about half height and has some tip burn. Not sure what would be causing this since the other three are doing fine. Maybe using a coco starter plug with a peat-based soil is creating some issues. Not sure what I can do - I'll probably just wait it out and see if it powers through:

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Pics:



They're hanging in there, but I feel like overall they're straggling compared to other journals. I blame the coco starter plugs - I think they're keeping the seedlings from getting the soil nutes early on, and I'm seeing a number of potential nutrient issues:

- #1, #2, #3 haven't stretched anymore (staying at ~3.5-in tall), but I feel like their stems are a bit spindly (N). Two of them started to fall over with some leaf droop (high temp / low humid / overwatering), but have picked back up for now.
- #2 has some white-ish / dry-ish leaves and curled new leaves (K / micro)
- #3 just started with some minor intervein spotting / maybe necrosis (K / Mg / micro)
- #4 remains shorter (~2-in) with darker green and curled new leaves (P / K / micro)

I gave them their first feeding today, and they seem to be taking it well so far. I did a full veg/bloom/micro mix, since they seem to be missing a bit of everything, but at very weak strength (~10% recommended, ~100 ppm strength). I'll use that same "full" mix and slowly increase strength until they look to be getting past the coco plugs, then start following the vendor schedule.

Other notes:
- Humidity domes are great until you drop one on a new seedling, then panic, overwater it, make it worse due to low humidity / high VPD, and almost drown it. Humidifier's now up and running, so no more domes.
- Improved temperature / humidity in tent by lowering temp in main room. Hadn't been using that room much, so I had closed the AC vent. Room stays a lot cooler now that it's open again...
- Got a dehumidifier in, so I can now make my own demin water for feeding. My condensate is actually pretty acidic (~5.5pH) for some reason, but I can mix it with tap water if needed.
- FYI: Was off on my math when looking at feed schedule (Post #3) - the actual vendor ppms are ~10x higher than I originally calculated. As a result, effect of N and K in tap water on feed amounts is almost negligible - using it is more an issue of considering pH, Ca, Mg, and other micro levels.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Well, I got tired of calling them by number, so I named them:

• #1 - Ashley
• #2 - Sam
• #3 - Briscoe
• #4 - Bubba

Ashley and Briscoe are chugging away. May be time to top / train next week, so need to read up on that. Humidifier's helping, but a bit small. Temp is set at 83°F and RH at 60%, although it's usually at ~45-50% most of the time with the fan running. I may try to dial that in a bit better this week.

Bubba and Sam look like they're slowly getting past whatever Cal/B/pH issues I had. Bubba's still a slow grower, but the new growth looks pretty decent. Sam has a good bit of new growth - still a bit twisted, but looks like he's slowly getting over it. I had been considering just starting over with new seedlings for those two...but, now that I named them...

Each got a 50% feeding of the actual schedule today, except Sam. Sam got a 1x flush with demin (didn't want to stress too much) topped with 8 oz of feed. If he responds well to that, Bubba may get that next.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

- Sam is still ugly AF. I think I heard him ask for a Baby Ruth when I opened the tent this morning. Hard to tell if leaves are indicating specific symptoms, or just general pH fugliness. Did a slurry test, and pH pen said 7.0. Strips that came with the test kit said "you can't read a color chart". EC seemed on the lower end. Was still pretty wet, but gave a bit of nutes to try to lower pH again. Worried about overwatering at this point. May just leave him as-is as a warning to the others.


- Bubba has gotten past the initial pH issues. Still pretty short, although at ~4 nodes and new growth is doing great. ("It's our time! It's our time down here!")


- Ashley and Briscoe are flying. I started LST a few days ago, and re-tied them in their second position today.

Fed again today with same 50% strength as last time, except with some vit c to lower pH to 5.6. They're starting to smell nice, but I think I'll still leave the carbon filter off for a bit longer. In general, need to re-route / tweak some of the ducting and overall exhaust from the lung room.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

- Untied Ashley and Briscoe and let them straighten for a day before re-tying to the other side. They're lookin' a bit messy from the bottom branches trying to cross back up each time I switch tie-down position, so probly need to stop alternating positions and start on final training directions in a few days.


- Bubba's going strong, but still a bit squat. May top him late if needed instead of LST, but will likely just leave him be.


- Sam looks to be a lost cause. He's got new growth coming in, but still skinny under-developed leaves. Don't use coco starter plugs with OF, and keep your pH straight. Think it's time to just kill him with fire before he herms.

- Watered today, no feed to give them a break. They look to be getting a bit dark green (high N). Bubba's new growth is looking a bit pale and wrinkled - could be low K, K lock-out due to high N, or just because they were tucked down in the last training position.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

- Still doing well. They lightened up a bit, so I decided to try to kill (i.e., feed) them again. Some minor leaf issues, but still think that's mainly due to training (shown above just after re-tying to a different position) and/or getting feed on some leaves...nothing to start worrying about.

- My training has just been "tie the main stalk straight down to one side, wait 2-3 days, tie straight down again ~90 deg to the other side" to give the side branches some stretch - haven't been doing anything too coordinated. Hard to tell if it's really helping, or just making a mess. Always been horrible at cable / wire routing (you should see the back of my tv / inside of my pc builds...)

Instead of alternating, I may switch to tying Ashley's main stalk in a circle around the edge of the pot, then let Briscoe go back to straight up and start tying down all the side branches until they grow out to the sides of the pot. Bubba I may just keep with no training or topping for comparison.

- Sam looks to finally be getting better, but still not worth keeping. He's hardly sucking up any water since his leaves are all fubar, so can't really keep him on the same watering / nute schedule as the others, which makes things harder. I may just kill him and pop a new seed to try out some things...but, so hard to let him go!

-Pretty sure I got preflowers!!!



- With the air pots, going 3 days between watering is becoming a stretch. Started cutting in some bloom nutes to increase Mg since I'm using distilled water. Could just order some calmag or epsom salts, but already bought too much from amazon for this grow

- Feed so far: