New Grower My 1st Grow, A journey...

[steelrat]

Hi willie

You certainly are a person for detail ;+}

Nice temps/humidity.

As for the possibility of light-bleaching on the leaves, the LED growlight i've just ordered is 120W and they recommend a distance of 40CM (1' 4").

I am new to LED so unsure of these things but maybe since yours is twice the power it should be twice the distance (32") ?

Then again, light falls of at inverse square so maybe 22" is enough.

At the seedling stage the light shouldn't be too close to them anyway so i would try 32" and see how the colour goes, seedlings don't need a strong light and my manufacturers recommendation is the MINIMUM distance so perhaps yours is too close at this stage.

Everything else looks bang on.

I'm in the UK so know nothing about the compost you buy in the US, is yours organic with extra good stuff in it ?

What nutes will you be using ?

I've just started my seventh auto grow so feel free to ask for help


steely

 

[wwwillie]

11/8
6:00 PM
Temp 81 RH 54

Got a bit bigger tonight, still do not need water. Proud of myself for not watering; I so want to and so need to get over it!!
Tonight I put together a CFL setup. It was what I was planning on using before I got the LED. I think I might swap it out, or perhaps raise the LED up to the top and put the CFLs done by the seedlings. When I look at other folks grows their plants look so much further along than mine and they seem to be using CFL... Or maybe I am making too much out of it. I figure can't hurt and may help.

@steelrat Thanks!
I am using FoxFarms Happy Frog organic potting soil it has some nice bits in it. I like the look and feel of it and it gets pretty good reviews. I plan to use FoxFarm nutes when the time comes. Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger bloom are the name. Right now because I am using distilled I use a small amount of cal-mag, 1/8 tsp per gallon.

 

[wwwillie]

11/9
7:30 AM
CC day 16 BK day 6
Temp 71 RH 43

Nothing new, looks ok if a tad cool and dry.

Good Morning Gardeners!!!
Good news this morning, my package from Herbies as passed through customs and is on it's way here, should arrive Mon. or Tues. hopefully no green tape!! It is a package of three Advanced Seeds Biodiesel Mass feminized autos. Being inspired by all the greatness here at AFN I really want to see these guys go! I plan to start out mid week next week and add them to my grow with the experience I have already gained and the help of folks here. I am looking forward to it and looking forward to comparing the growth. I am planning on planting two of the new beans so I will have three autos and one photo going in my tent. WooHoo!!

 

[ojdiddoit]

UM getting attatched to your plants ,lol..no cal-mag and leave them alone,get them out of those cups and into there final pot asap,water all of the cup,less is better,no nutes of any kind for first three weeks especially in that soil

 

[OGbaby]

subb'd Thx for the tip btw, I'll see if I can throw a couple of my cents your way "Munch"

 

[wwwillie]

Put together the CFL light looks pretty good. 4 sockets 4 "Y" adapters for 8 lamps on a board, with 4 eyes and a bit of cord for hanging. Using 23watt 5500k it is very bright. The cost was reasonable sockets, "Y" adapters, hardware $20.00, 8 bulbs $20.00 so $40.00 total, not bad. I will hook it up this afternoon when I connect up the carbon filter and clean everything up. Temps may be an issue, the temp controller should be here Tuesday.

6:00PM
Temp 75 RH 43

BK is looking perky! CC looks OK too, but the new leaves are showing the same color as the other leaves. Is this just what this girl is going to do? They are both growing that ca be seen, just not what I would hope for at this stage. Is this plant envy? When I look at someone else's grow and see what the plant looks like at the same stage...

CC at day 16 (my poor baby)

BK at day 6

Well the filter and CFL stuff is not going to happen tonight....

@ojdiddoit Thanks I know I am an obsessive... I have shown real improvement since I moved CC into the cup and I think that I have a better handle on it water wise, I am planning on moving it to it's permanent home by next week. The BK is a photo and I don't think it's ready to move yet. No nutes for sure, that will wait until I see some better progress and like you said the soil has plenty right now. The Cal-Mag is at about 1/20 strength using distilled and all thought it was a good idea. I could be completely wrong about all this, this is my 1st grow in 30+ years!!! We'll see, eh?

@Ogbaby Thanks for the kind words and for following along, hope I don't drive y'all crazy with my obsessing!! Glad I had something to contribute too. Man ain't this stuff a hoot!!

 

[wwwillie]

11/10 6:00 AM
CC day 17 BK day 7
Temp 81 RH 40

Watered both with 4 Tbs each. Not bad, it's been 4 days for CC and 1st time since I moved BK into the cup. Just hope I am not swinging to over dry!! How ironic. But they look pretty good and the weight of the cups felt right too.
2nd or 3rd dry hot morning. I hope to get the fan, filter, and CFLs up today with a bit of tidying up. Hope that temp controller get's here soon. I am also going to mist a bit to bring up rh if it doesn't come up a bit soon.

 

[SAVAGE]

Looking good sending some good vibes your way

 

[wwwillie]

@SAVAGE, Thanks man!! Appreciated!

11/10 6:15 PM
Temp 74 RH 43

Added the CFL rig tonight. Need to check on the temps in a bit, I am sure they will be getting to high. Temp controller will help. Nutes, PH and TDS meters should be here tomorrow. Will compare PH readings to the drop/chart I have now and start recording TDS.
The girls seem and and they are growing... slowly. Hope the CFLs make a difference.

BK

CC

 

[wwwillie]

11/11 7:30 AM
CC day 18 BK day 8
Temps 74 RH 43

Temp and RH holding steady and withing a few points. When I put the CFLs on the temps hit 82 afte about an hour. I put the exhaust fan on this morning when I fired up the CFLs, I'll wait an hour and see.
Girls looking healthy. CC still has the pale green streaks going on and doesn't really stretch much. BK is doin fine tho, reaching for the light nicely.

Edit:
Update:
12:30PM
Temp 81 RH 37
So it's warmer and dryer. I opened a port a wee bit to let in some air, we'll see how the temps react. Girls seem happy, BK looks to be growing but what the hey it's only been a few

hours and I'm just checking on the temps!
The pH meter arrived, one of those yellow jobs, I checked distilled and it came to 5.9-6.0, here's the not so good part I checked the water I have been using, distilled with 1/8 tsp of cal n' mag/ gal, and the PH was at 5.6, The drop/color chart read about 6 to 6- to me so it's probably correct!! Drat!! I will add some pH up and get it to 6.2-6.4.

Well, here is something I did not know!!
From vernier.com:

Why doesn‘t my pH Sensor read pH 7 in distilled or deionized water?
Created Apr 30, 2004
Updated Dec 28, 2012
Article #1286
pH electrodes will NOT give accurate pH values in distilled or deionized water. This is because distilled and deionized water do not have enough ions present for the electrode to function properly. The readings will drift and be essentially meaningless. pH buffers are the best solutions in which to test your pH electrodes. Tap water usually has enough ions present to allow a pH electrode to function properly. Because of this, tap water is a good short term (~24 hours) solution for storage.

Also, keep in mind that water (distilled, deionized, or tap) is NOT "pure" (i.e., pH equal to 7). The moment it comes in contact with air, CO2 gas begins dissolving into it, forming carbonic acid. The actual pH, therefore, will often be slightly less than 7.

Hmmm... Where does this take me??