New Grower MCPD_Refugee loses his virginity to White Widow and Blueberry

[mcpd_refugee]

Once upon a time, I lived in Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. While there, I managed to grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that had no business growing in the desert. However, I've never grown cannabis and have only seen it growing once (25 years ago). Now I'm living in the cooler climes of the American Northeast. I've got a small eighth floor apartment with no good light or balcony. I'm living in a legal growing state but I have a lease that prohibits growing, so I've built a semi-stealth growing space. Here's the run down:

Cabinet: Ikea Galant Storage Cabinet 80 cm x 45 cm x 120 cm

Light: Horticultural Grow Lights 135 watt Quantum Board DIY Kit. I've got them dialed back from max power because at max power, they heat my cabinet to 90-92 F.

Fan/Filter: Active Air 4" Fan with a 4 x 8 Phresh Filter

Environment: 77-81 F. 58-60% RH. That's the best I can do in the space I've got with the setup I have.

Nutrients: Advanced Nutrients - Tang's Easy Auto Feeding Schedule

Pots: 6.4 L Superoots Air Pots

Soil: Fox Farm Ocean Forest

Strains: ILGM White Widow Auto and ILGM Blueberry (I purchased these before I found AFN which recommended better places to procure good genetics. I'm a noob. Forgive me.)

OK. So I soaked my seeds for about 18 hours overnight beginning on Friday, June 2, 2017. I put them into paper towels on Saturday, June 3, 2017. By Sunday morning on June 4, 2017, they had both popped tails, so I planted them about an inch under the soil and gave them a light water (about 40 mL). Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. I was just so excited to get going, that I didn't even consider taking pictures. If they break ground, I will take a couple of photos and post them up here. Until then, I guess it's just a waiting game.

Since I'm a complete noob, I'm sure I'll do my best to kill these plants. I'll probably freak out and beg for help or think that I've got something covered and not ask for help at all until it's too late. I'll overwater or underwater. I'll overfertilize or underfertilize. My lights will be too far away or too close. Oh...and I'll probably let them grow out of control until it's too late to be able to do anything about it or cut something off that I should have left on. I think that's covered all of the first-timer mistakes I'll make...unless you can think of more. Please please be patient with me and hopefully together we can get these plants through two and a half months of life.

Refugee

 

[mcpd_refugee]

One thing I forgot to mention...the water here is absolutely trash. There's an ongoing concern about lead and copper leaching into the drinking water, so the local water authority keeps the pH at 9.1 to prevent it. They also treat the water with chlorine and chloramine to decontaminate it. Well...I can't put an RO system into my apartment, so I've decided to go with bottled water that 5.8 pH. If I've calculated correctly, I'll use less than 24 gallons over the course of these two plants lives and I'm only paying $0.88 per gallon, so my costs won't be too high. Would've been cheaper with straight tap water, but I think bottled water will be cheaper than trying to adjust and filter what comes out of my tap.

 

[Frankthetank]

Welcome! Sounds like you're off to a good start. If you have any questions or concerns just tag me, and I'll do my best to help you out, or at least point you in the right direction.

 

[mcpd_refugee]

Thanks, Frank. I appreciate the welcome and the offer of help. I'm sure I'll need all the help I can get.

By the way...you've got a f***ing dart in your neck, man.

 

[Frankthetank]

I'm sure I'll need all the help I can get.

You'll do ok....the basics are easier than they seem. The plant wants to be alive and produce buds (as long as she is a lady)....your job is to just gently guide her along throughout her life cycle. Try to stay away from the panic, and the knee jerk reactions and you'll do well, bro!

 

[mcpd_refugee]

I promised photos, so here's what the cabinet looks like inside and out.

I know that the filter and fan are taking up valuable floor space, but I don't have the vertical clearance to be able to place it anywhere else. Since the space has to be somewhat stealthy, I can't put the fan outside the cabinet. If you have any questions about it, I'm more than happy to answer them.


So, as you can see, I managed not to kill the seedlings yet. This morning, they popped their heads above ground. Today is Day 1. There's some funky curling of the leaves on the white widow, but I'm not going to look too much into it at this point.

Since the soil was still moist around the seedlings, I decided not to water them.


One thing I'm confused about, and maybe someone can help me out, is the size of my air pots. They have the yellow bottoms. I've seen their capacity listed as 9.2 liters and 8.4 liters and 6.5 liters on various online sites. Anyone have a clue how big they actually are?


Also, I'm going to be topping both plants due to vertical height limitations. I know I should do this between days 14 and 21, but I'm not sure about where on the plants to make the cuts. Should I cut between the 3rd and 4th nodes or between the 4th and 5th nodes? Anyone feel free to chime in.

 

[mcpd_refugee]

Never mind my questions from above. I have found my answers, folks.

 

[mcpd_refugee]

Day 4

So...as I've been going along here, I've had a couple of observations.

One is that the soil in my air pots seems to be drying out fairly quickly. My RH is hovering between 55 and 60, so that's not it. I do have a couple of fans going at ground level. So maybe that's what is causing it. Whatever the cause, I'm finding myself constantly adding small amounts of water. Luckily, I'm in a position to check them regularly. I am also checking to make sure that I'm not overwatering them. I've been adding about 100mL once a day.

Another observation is that waiting is horrendous. Do one small thing and then wait. Do another small thing then wait. Wait wait wait. I know I know I know. It'll all be worth it in the end. And I know that the whole process is relatively short in comparison to other things like say stalagmite formation or getting one's wife to admit that she's wrong. But damn it...I am not a patient person! Remnants of my prior professional life. Hopefully, when all of this is over, I can chill the f@#% out.

Right now I am hoping I can keep them alive and maybe get an ounce or two out of this endeavor.

So, anyway, here are my babies on Day 4:

White Widow

Blueberry

See you next Saturday with another update.


Refugee

 

[Frankthetank]

But damn it...I am not a patient person! Remnants of my prior professional life. Hopefully, when all of this is over, I can chill the f@#% out.

One of the things growing has taught me is patients... No matter how excited you are for the end result...your little plants will keep chugging along at their own pace. The airpots do dry out rather quickly. The plants seem to like it, but it does make for a tedious grow. A good alternative is the fabric grow pots. They still give plenty of air to the roots, they seem to retain moisture a little longer. I'm in the north east....I usually have to feed every 3rd day or so in flower....although for some plants its every other day.

 

[CTb1]

One thing I forgot to mention...the water here is absolutely trash. There's an ongoing concern about lead and copper leaching into the drinking water, so the local water authority keeps the pH at 9.1 to prevent it. They also treat the water with chlorine and chloramine to decontaminate it. Well...I can't put an RO system into my apartment, so I've decided to go with bottled water that 5.8 pH. If I've calculated correctly, I'll use less than 24 gallons over the course of these two plants lives and I'm only paying $0.88 per gallon, so my costs won't be too high. Would've been cheaper with straight tap water, but I think bottled water will be cheaper than trying to adjust and filter what comes out of my tap.

that's some harsh tap water mine runs at 7 pH and 120 ppm

The best time to top is when the third set of leaves develop I just did it with a photoperiod chocolate mint og then I do it again after the third get again and one more time I end up with 32-40 huge tops