Bra1nstorms first grow - indoor AK48's - GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Education

Bra1nstorm · #1 (**permalink**) 09-09-2009, 08:53 PM

Hello everyone & cheers for looking in…..

This is my first proper grow so alot of this is all new to me. I've read lots of great posts, guides, tutorials etc and watched many vids over several months so felt ready to take on the practical bit of actually growing something.

I have just started (1 week today) 6 months Interferon & Ribavirin combination treatment for Hepatitis C, from a medical point of view the Hep C has been a big influence in my decision to start growing, although I’ve always been a stoner and would just love to be self sufficient so I can wave goodbye to the dodgy street weed/dealers. The build up to this treatment has been quite intense just trying to get on top of everything so I can have 6 months free with no commitments as the side-effects can be quite rough.
Anyway I've finally got there and have now got lots of free time on my hands

, I’ve been looking forward to spending more time on here as I haven’t posted much since being a member due to the hectic-ness? And although I might feel like crap at times I’m gonna focus on learning to grow my own MJ

. The next 6 months should be interesting on many levels.

Well I really wanted to document my first grow here on GP from the beginning but like I said life has been pretty hectic to say the least recently and I just haven’t found time to doing it properly without 101 other things to do so haven’t got round to it, till now....

I’m almost four weeks in and to be honest I made a massive **** up straight away by not planning & testing everything properly first

even though I read the importance of doing so, I’m usually pretty good with things like that to but partly down to my eagerness to get things going & I partly because I needed to be up & running before this treatment started. I hadn’t completely worked out some of the finer points like running temps of the cab and have been battling high temps since, trying to fix these things as you go is just unnecessary stress…

Here's some specs:
Indoor grow, two chamber cab, approx size flower chamber 2ft D, 2.5ft W & 4ft High (was 3ft high but did a modification to gain the extra height)
Veg chamber 2ft D, 1.5ft W & 3ft H.
J.Arthur Bowers multi purpose compost
125w Blue Enviro & 70w HPS
400w HPS Sunmaster
Two speed 100mm inline fan, carbon filter & passive intake
BioBizz nutes - grow, bloom & topmax
Umm...what else?... Ah yes the seeds are/were 5 feminised AK48's.

I worked out it’s 27 days today since these seeds were put into pots after germinating. Although I’ve been doing modifications to the set up and battling temps the girls themselves seem to be doing absolutely fine and aren’t bothered by my DIY & constant checking on them!

So here’s a quick run down of the last 27 days…..

12th August: Germed the seeds using paper towel method. 4 out the 5 were cracked and ready for pots within 36-48 hrs. The other one never did germinate.

Into small pots (day 1, 14th Aug) with JAB MP & perlite and into propagator where they stayed for a few days while they broke the surface and showed their first leaves.
They went under a 24hr not too close 125w 6500K Enviro to start with then moved it closer over following days. Also added a small 70w HPS to help out the fluro and went 18/6 with the lights. The combination seemed to work really well and 3 of them just took off, lots of growth with nice tight nodes and not much stretching. One of them just seemed to stop growing for a good week or so but looked perfectly healthy, above ground anyway, maybe it had a shock or something?

About day 8 or 9 all 4 were re-potted into black 4” pots as originally they were in clear plastic cups which I realised weren’t such a good idea once they were under the lights as the roots like the dark.

They were fine after the re-pot and even the straggler took off a bit. Things were just ticking over with no problems for the next week or so, not directly related to the plants anyway.

By day 18 the roots were visible through the holes in the pots so managed to slide one out the pot and it seemed ready for a bigger home so re-potted the 3 main plants into 25cm round pots, the straggler was still behind the others by a few days.

Day 20 all four were moved on to small table for “routine maintenance” to the cab when the little straggler got knocked over & came out the pot! I did what I could to rescue it deciding to move it to the bigger pot while I was about it, save stressing it out even more in a few days. It’s pulled through and is out of intensive care.

Day 21 I got hold of a 400w HPS which isn’t ideal as the temps were already on the high end of the scale but it was an offer I couldn’t refuse with the budget I’m on. The great british winter is just round the corner and my place is really cold so I’m hoping I can get away with the 400w with proper ventilation, we’ll have to see how that one goes.

Day 24, still hadn’t decided what method I was going to use to keep the height down when I came across “Jangels” post about LST which I decided to try as I wasn’t quite ready to start topping or super-cropping. I’m really impressed with the growth since and it’s only been 3 days. Also feel more confident to try super-cropping etc now ive got more of a feel for them. Probably try a SCroG now i've started this LST.

That's about it so far, I've tried to keep this a condensed version but inevitably its gone on a bit! If you've read your way through this lot I thank you for your patience and welcome any comments.

Oh yea they've only had water so far as I guess the compost they went into 7-8 days ago will keep them going for a while...

Anyway heres some pics taken over the last 27 days.....
I'll be keeping this updated from now coz that was a pain having to do a month in one go.....

Hatch · #2 (**permalink**) 09-10-2009, 05:32 AM

Sounds Like You Have Done Your Home Work & Have Learned Very Well,,Your Plants Are Looking Great, You Say The Winter Is Coming On, & Also You Said You Were On A Budget, One Investment That Would Really Help You Is A CoolTube , Some Ducting And A Few Axial Fans Or Inline Fans. You Can Duct The CoolTube Separate From Your Other Ventilation Set-Up, Pull The Cool Air From Outside The Grow Area, Then Exhaust It Outside The Grow Area. If You Had This Set-Up Now, You Could Be Using The 400w. With-Out A Heat Problem..

Well, Like I Said, You Are Doing A Great Job, & I Wish You The Best Of Luck & Karma On Your Growing & Health Problems..

Check Ya Later..Cheers`;`Hatch`;`

Zigzagman · #3 (**permalink**) 09-10-2009, 08:36 AM

Looking good Brain. Hatch's suggestion are spot on friend, good luck.

Bra1nstorm · #4 (**permalink**) 09-11-2009, 04:29 PM

Thanks for your kind words, a cooltube is on the shopping list for sure, just need to save some pennies first. Still need to get digital PH pen amongst other things.

I did some changes to the cab trying to get on top of the temps. I brought a small 100mm inline fan to use for intake which now draws air from outside. It's not as powerful as the exhaust fan so should keep a negative pressure inside the cab, I hope?
Both fans (intake & exhaust) come on for 15 mins out of every hour during lights out and run all the time the lights are on, oscillating fans are 24/7. The lights have just come on after the dark period so I'm gonnna wait a while then check the temps...
tick...tock...tick...tock.....

well the temps are still top end of the scale but that's with the doors shut, seems to have levelled out about 84-85. I've got two oscillating fans in there, a small one (6") fixed on the light and a bigger (10") one on the plants, so there's lots of air movement and I can easily keep the back of my hand between the light and the plants, what ya reckon? too hot still? Hopefully I can manage things for a week or two till I can invest in a cooltube.

Anyone got a good guide for using Molasses? how much, how often etc.
I read somewhere that some use during flowering only but also read to use throughout veg & flower.

Cheers Bs

Zigzagman · #5 (**permalink**) 09-12-2009, 10:47 AM

Morning friend, personally, I don't recommend molasses during veg stage. I wouldn't start feeding them sweetener till they are in the 3rd week of flowering. Then it would be 1 tablespoon per gall. of feed , for dirt.

DaZ · #6 (**permalink**) 09-12-2009, 10:56 AM

Nice plants !

;)

chuckd420 · #7 (**permalink**) 09-12-2009, 03:28 PM

Those are some nice lookin' plants!

Bra1nstorm · #8 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 12:00 PM

Thanks Zigzagman for the molasses advice,
and cheers Daz, Chuckd420 for commenting on the plants, I'm pretty impressed myself with how they're coming along.

Since doing some LST on them the side shoots have caught up with the canopy with plenty of bud sites...

really need to start them flowering soon but going to try and find a suitable screen and scrog them first.

I8ntLucky_UR · #9 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 12:43 PM

Very nice looking plants they look happy and healthy. Best of luck to you on your grow. Please keep us updated with lots of pics too!

Bra1nstorm · #10 (**permalink**) 09-14-2009, 06:34 PM

Cheers Lucky, I'll defiantly post lots of pics.

Just got outbid in the last few seconds on a bake-a-round tube

as I need a cooltube asap and was going to build one. The bake-a-round tubes don't show up very often in the UK. Oh well, It's pay day tomorrow so I'll order a purpose built cooltube and be done with it.

Took a few clones this morning, first time doing that so we'll see what happens. I took 5 in total and used Clonex rooting gel, into propagator under 125W enviro. The temp was 85 & humidity 90% when I last looked, fingers crossed

OMINOUS_ICABOD · #11 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 12:14 AM

Yea bro plants look great dispite the heat,,
keep us posted,, i started a thread for my cab but it got deleted in the switch over,, ima restart it cuz ive dun improvements and plan to start germ this week.. Very excited!!

PFC Stone · #12 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 02:27 AM

Yes indeed bro - those girls look good! Thanks for all the detail in your journal! Can't wait to watch them progress!

Bra1nstorm · #13 (**permalink**) 09-16-2009, 08:56 AM

Hey Ominous, PFC Stone, cheers for looking in & sharing your comments, its great being able to have more expert eyes over see my grow and comment accordingly. So pleased I found GP...

Quick grow update...Day 34 still vegging...
Brought some plastic garden fencing yesterday for a screen to try and turn my grow into a scrog of some sort. I want to make 2 rectangle frames so I have 2 screens, two plants under each screen and the two pots on a rectangle board which can be pulled out from the cab like a draw for easier watering, pruning etc. Sounds like a plan?
I need to go out for more supplies so I can get on with it but I really can't be bothered today, had 3rd lot of injections last evening which seem to wipe me out for a few days. Where I live the local shops don't carry much that's any use for growing so its defo a bus journey to the next town, then it usually means searching lots of shops to actually find anything useful.

The clones I took the other day seem ok, well I haven't got a clue actually but they're still alive (I think) and haven't completely wilted yet! Just have to wait and see I guess, I'll be happy if 1 or 2 survive. Is there to much leaf left on them? anyone know?

Some pics of...
The new green netting
The clones
& the girls this morning.....not sure if these pics are going to show properly as I can't get them to show with preview post!! if not I'll try again later...

moto4u · #14 (**permalink**) 09-16-2009, 10:48 AM

Looks like you have done something right in 27 days! Those plants look awesome!money.gif

Bra1nstorm · #15 (**permalink**) 09-16-2009, 10:51 PM

Hi folks...

Thanks Moto4u, hopefully things will continue going as well as they are.

Didn't really achieve much today, I tried but just felt absolutely crap all day and still do....

.I did make the two screens using the plastic netting but had to improvise on my original design and use what ever materials were at hand, enter the bamboo canes!! I weaved the canes through the netting to create a more rigid frame and secured them with plastic covered garden wire. It's a bit hap hazard so try not to laugh

, not to much anyway. They're a bit wavy, not to bad but I might redo them without weaving the canes through to hopefully keep them flatter.

Forgot to add last time that the last two watering's have had a quarter strength biobizz grow & top-max nutes added, they seemed to respond well. Also the outside temps have dropped over the past few days and my intake is pulled in from a window so heat is less of a problem

. Still plan on a cooltube though.

Think its about time for a

: then

Bra1nstorm · #16 (**permalink**) 09-19-2009, 04:23 PM

Day 37 Veg

Had a rethink on the construction of the screens and did them slightly different which keeps a flatter surface. The screens aren't that big and it may end up more plants with a screen shoved in rather than SCroG, we'll see!!

Clones seem ok, apart from the fact my less than 1 month old 125W Enviro just went pop this morning, I was in the room at the time & nothing I can think of would of made it blow. It is covered for 12 months for component failure so fingers crossed I'll get a replacement easy enough.

Few more pics.....

OMINOUS_ICABOD · #17 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bra1nstorm

Day 37 Veg

Had a rethink on the construction of the screens and did them slightly different which keeps a flatter surface. The screens aren't that big and it may end up more plants with a screen shoved in rather than SCroG, we'll see!!

Clones seem ok, apart from the fact my less than 1 month old 125W Enviro just went pop this morning, I was in the room at the time & nothing I can think of would of made it blow. It is covered for 12 months for component failure so fingers crossed I'll get a replacement easy enough.

Few more pics.....

looks great bro,,keep up the good work..!!!

Hatch · #18 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 03:35 PM

Looking Good, You Have Some Great Looking Plants, They Will Fill Your Screens Nicely, Best Of Wishes, Luck & Karma On Your Grow...

wahupta · #19 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 04:19 PM

Pretty impressive for your 1st grow! Looks great!

Just a thought on nutes/molasses. I use the biobizz line right now and there is no need for molasses. Both the fish mix and biobloom contain molasses and the biogrows only ingredient is molasses(tweaked to get the proper NPK). I now use the fish mix in veg and the biogrow in flower w/ better results than using biogrow all the way through. Mollases provides the sugars that benny bac/fungus needs to do their job - all the way through a plants life. While sugars encourage flowers to bloom, organic growers r not trying to 'sweeten' their buds w/ molasses, they r trying to boost soil microbial activity and soil fertility - resulting in healthier/tastier plants.

I8ntLucky_UR · #20 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009, 04:45 PM

Those are some gr8t looking plants you have there. It sure looks like you are on the right track. Keep it up.