New Grower Second Grow: Dark Devil, Critical Jack & Think Different

[MrZigzag]

My first grow is about 4-5 weeks in and you can read about it here. I've learned so much from it already and so I'm starting in on round 2. A lot of the basics are the same: Growing indoors in soil, then I will have to move outdoors. Using a mix of 60% Happy Frog, 20% OF and 20% Perlite. Lighting for the first 30 days or so is a 24W T5 bulb. The main difference is I'm using 3 gallon Air Pots instead of standard plastic pots. Also, this time I put the layer of OF on the bottom instead of mixing it in with the Happy Frog. The idea here is that the by the time the roots hit the more nutrient-rich OF, it will be ready for it.

The plants

1. Dinafem Critical Jack - (Yellow tag in photos)
2. Sweet Seeds Dark Devil - (Blue tag in photos)
3. Dutch Passion Think Different (Gray tag in photos)

There's not much to see right now! They look wicked funny in the huge pots though. I germinated these using a Bio-Dome and seed starters, I've used this system before and I really like it, it's almost impossible to screw up and let your seeds dry out, plus you can add a little bit of Root Grow right off the bat and get them going fast, it also makes transplanting a breeze with very little trauma to the seedling. I also have a warming mat to help keep them at a good temp.

All 3 popped up in about 48 hours and then I planted them into 3 gallon Air Pots that I had soaked in 6.5ph water. All three are just barely coming up with their first true leaves, the Critical Jack got off to a fast start and is looking to be the leader of the pack. We'll see if the other ones can catch up!

That's it for now. Wish me luck!

 

[woody]

Best of luck mr zigzag nice selection of strains

 

[Eekman]

Luck and Karma

 

[MrZigzag]

Update #2

The plants

1. Dinafem Critical Jack #1 - (Yellow tag in photos)
2. Sweet Seeds Dark Devil - (Blue tag in photos)
3. Dutch Passion Think Different (Gray tag in photos)
4. Critical Jack #2 - (Untagged and in standard pot)

So in the week since my first post things have been going . . . Ok but not amazing. A couple of my babies have been stretching because I waited too long to put the seed starter plugs into my airpots. The first consequence is my Dark Devil couldn't stand up to a heavy breeze and got knocked over. I put in a stake and used some plant-ties to give her some help. I think she made it, but no doubt I set her back.

Any tips on how I can make sure she pulls through?

The other thing I'm a little nervous about is both the Critical Jack #1 and the Think Different have leaves a bit more yellow than I'd like. Not sure what is going on here but it may be related to a PH issue, for some reason my Soil ph meter is reading in the 5.6 - 6.0 range. The only thing I can think of is that my ratio of OF to HF is too strong. Even though I kept it very low (20% OF, 60% HF and the rest Perlite) there were lots of warnings to avoid using OF at all and now I see why. Never again.
I'm just going to ride it out and not try to over-correct unless someone says otherwise!

Finally, I didn't post it in week 1, but I actually planted another Critical Jack in a regular pot last week. It was the last one to germinate and so I'll keep her going as a backup. She's tiny but looking healthy so far (although stretching more than I'd like)!

So you might think these girls are outside, but not really. I let them get some warmth and sun outside for a few hours and then bring them back inside.

Indoor Temp and Humidity
So I have another problem and that is my indoor temperature is too low. It averages 62 degrees F (Relative Humidity is around 51%). This has everything to do with the fact that my grow box is in the basement and I'm only using a T5 24w bulb which does not put out a lot of heat. I'm afraid the low temps are slowing the growth down considerably. I'm planning on getting a small space heater to boost the temps. Any ideas?

 

[Need4Weed]

Subbed up Mr Zig Zag, you could put a couple cfl's in there as that would increase your temps ... Peace!

 

[MrZigzag]

Thanks Teetee for that idea, never would have occurred to me! I've got lots of random items kicking around my toolshed, something should fit the bill.

As far as the temps go, I'm looking to add a CFL or two, should be a double whammy of added heat and light.

 

[MrZigzag]

Update #3

The plants

1. Dinafem Critical Jack #1 - (Yellow tag in photos)
2. Sweet Seeds Dark Devil - (Blue tag in photos)
3. Dutch Passion Think Different (Gray tag in photos)
4. Critical Jack #2 - (Untagged and in standard pot)

All of these are now about 14 days old. Even though these photos are outdoors, these ladies have been spending all of their time inside. I bring them out for a few hours on the weekend, just like everyone else they like to party in the sun!

Changes since last update:

• In addition to my 24W T5 bulb lighting source I added two CFLs in my growbox, I believe they are 100w bulbs, but I'm just going by memory. In addition to the obvious benefits of the extra light, I also used them to increase the temperature, which has increased from approximate 61F to 69F which I feel is a benefit.
• I also added a small fan and put it on a timer, the main reason for this is not for controlling the temps, but to strengthen the stems. 3 out of the 4 plants are lot more leggy than I would like, so I need to get them beefed up!
• I've been watering them very conservatively, they were planted in soil that was given a full watering about 10 days ago and so I'm letting the soil dry out. I did do a small watering last night with a little bit of Hydroponic's Armor Si added in, that's a silica-based solution designed to help strengthen the stems and generally improve plant structure.

Here are the three ladies all in a row, the leaves are looking a little crinkly and it is likely that the two CFLs I put in are too close, so I think I will have to back them off a bit.

This is the Think Different, I mentioned before that I'm done with using OF at all for anything. Even though I kept it down to a 20% mix, I still feel like it's too hot and this may account for the yellowing of the leaves. I'm not super worried about it, since the same thing happened in my first grow and they eventually came back to green.

Here is Critical Jack #1, same deal as above, a little more yellow than I would want and there is a hint of leaf curl perhaps? That makes me think maybe it's getting heat stressed by the new CFLs, so I will definitely be backing those new lights off a little.

Here is the Dark Devil, you can see she is needing some help. Thanks to TeeTee's advice above I used some extra tubing I found lying around and created a support that should be easy to remove as she thickens up. I still a little concerned that this stem is too fragile, but her leaves have the best color out of all of them, so right now she seems fine.

Here is Critical Jack #2, who is the odd woman out on account of not being in an Air Pot, I took the picture from this angle to show how leggy she is, which I'm really not happy about. I don't really have a lot more room to add soil though and I want to avoid transplanting because that's not a good idea for Autos. I'm just planning on letting her ride it out, in addition to the artificial breeze and the Armor SI, I don't really know what else to do, maybe someone has some ideas?

 

[Need4Weed]

Cool use of the tubing bro. This last time I just let one of mine fall almost all the way over. Once she got stronger, there was just a little lean in her stem. I couldn't add more soil either and the thing is, it never would have happened if I hadn't weighed it down with water spray while the fan was blowing on her ...

 

[MrZigzag]

Thanks again TeeTee for the straw idea. In term of silicone, I should have been more clear but I'm using it already, that was the "Armor Si" I mentioned, it sounds a lot like the H&G Amino you are using, here are the specifications. I used it on my first grow and it seemed to help.

 

[MrZigzag]

Update #4

The plants

1. Dinafem Critical Jack #1 - (Yellow tag in photos)
2. Sweet Seeds Dark Devil - (Blue tag in photos)
3. Dutch Passion Think Different (Gray tag in photos)
4. Critical Jack #2 - (Untagged and in standard pot)

So just a quick update- these 4 ladies are all around 21 days old and doing ok, a few more learning lessons I will share at the end, but first, the photos:

Group shot

Not a whole lot to see here, even though the three plants in the airpots are all different strains, they’r about equal in size. The 4th plant in the standard pot is noticeably smaller and is a Critical Jack (the same as the yellow tagged airpot.) This is all the evidence I need that airpots are worth it, it’s all I will ever use from now on.

Critical Jack #2 & Think Different

These two ladies are doing just fine although the TD has a little more yellowing in the center than I would like to see, if you’ve been following my journal you know I’ve been blaming that on the hot nute level of the OF which I have sworn off using again!

Supporting spindly stems

So now we come to my Critical Jack #1 and my Dark Devil which continue to need some help recovering from being too leggy as seedlings.

Here's the Critical Jack #1, which had a tube on it for about 4-5 days, but now I'm relying on a stake + plant tie.

The good news is I’m pretty sure both will be fine, but I’ll be holding my breath until I’m sure their “legginess’ is no longer an issue. My solutions have worked for the most part: I added a fan in the grow box which definitely helped strengthen them, I also added some Armor Si (silicon supplement for increasing strength of stems) and then added a tube as additional support (scroll up a few posts to see that tubing in action).

So I think the tubing idea *might* work with some modifications, but the method I used I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Although it did a great job of keeping the stems up, the problem is that the area that was covered ended up being thinner than the section above it! In general that’s not a good thing since the base of the stem should be nice and solid in order to support the plant.

So I removed the tubing about 24 hours before I took these photos and in the “Before” picture of the Dark Devil on the left, it is clear that the base is far thinner than it should be. In the “After” photo you can see my final solution: the stem still needs some support so I went to the traditional method of just staking it with special plant ties that are easy to remove.

If I had to use tubing I would only use clear tubes and make sure it was very easy to remove. Part of the problem is that these plants can grow quickly and if you’re not paying close attention, they will thicken up to the point of making the tube difficult to remove and you risk damaging your plant while taking it off. If I had waited another day to remove it, that probably would have happened to me.

Truthfully, in the future I will probably avoid the tubing altogether and stick to the “old school” staking, although the best solution is to avoid staking them at all by avoiding leggy seedlings to begin with!


Oh well, live and learn!