Finally, my first indoor project (about bloody time too)

[ileso]

its official,

i have finaly taken THE step forward towards having a go at indoor pot growing, whooopiee!

so months (years) of thinking about it and dreaming.. all i needed to do was go out and by a 400W HPS lamp, balast, wiring, reflector and a timer...
yes i did it, i forked ot the 120€ i needed to buy the stuff, and that was it.
and can ANYONE guess what the best part of all this was?
hehehehe, my girlfriend found me an IKEA cab on the way home, brand new. just like that on the sidewalk... maybe it was fate...

i mean no shit. what are the odds of finally getting or my arse and bying the lights and then finding the cab as well? it was only my next big obstacle, i mean, god only knows how long the light would have to stay in the box till i got round to getting it a home...
fate or divine intervention? who cares, now i can grow, its a bit smaller than what i was after but like the proverb says never look a gift horse in the mouth.

tomorow or the day after ill put it together nad set everything up. im all excited... i love this fuzzy feeling i get inside, when the world finally falls into place...

but ill need help from toke, jangel and CO.

on a technical note heres the deal, the cab isnt very big, maybe just under what i needed for my big(?) 400 Watter and it will need venting, how much i havent a clue, and in fact i havent the money to spend on a fan, if i make a hole in the top that the hot air can escape will it be enough? its about 1m X .5m X 1.8m... i didnt buy a cool tube like i had planned cause of the expense but it has an adjust a wing reflector.

ill continue dirt growing for now, but i have the nutes i won from the last competition, im sure its alright for dirt growing as well. im already using them on the seedlings, and i have never seen such a developed root structure in such small plants, must be the root hormone thingy - ROOT66.

they are very healthy given the fact that they are under the sun in my personal hydro system i use for seedlings. dunno if anyone else does this, but it takes care of the dirt drying out under the sun. ive used this system for years now and stand by it.

ive 5 seedlings in the works some female church from greenhouse and afghan1 from sensi (that ill have to sex later on, if its male ill use the pollen for my breeding of the GP strain cause its a fast flowerer but thats another thread)

thats all for now im really excited, here are the pics. of what ive got.

[ileso]

finally with some pics too.. heheheh

for the more observative among you, yes, im missing a fan and an exhaust.. but well, i had to put everything else working first cause otherwise id never get round to it, like pressuring myself...
so now i HAVE to get them so i will.

hehehe

im missing a few other things too but hey... slow and easy wins the race right!

four of them are a bit yellow, any ideas, ive been feeding them regularly.. could it be overwatering, but one of them stands out amongst the rest, and sinse they all got the same treatment im a bit baffled...

anyone have any ideas?? actually i wouldnt just say they a going yellow, put almost whitish, like the clorofil ws fading away... could be not enough sunlight?

anyway ive got them on 18Hrs for the next fortnight so as they grow out juat a little bit more, then ill blast em with 12H till the flower and hopefully i wont get too much stretching for them, im not looking for tall plants

sorry for the bad photos but i had to take the pics with my laptop.
there are 4 'the church' from green house fem. seeds;
and the one front left is an afghan from sensi, the only one that needs sexing

funny enough the big green one at the back was from a seed that had to be coaxed into sprouting and was born with a weed root system, she had a very weak grasp on life in the beginning whereas the others were normal, strong seeds. and its the other ones that are sort of weak now... whatever... as long as they come along now

hey toke, how do you make yours lightproof?

[ileso]

im afraid im going to over pamper them....

[jangel]

This is kewl Ileso! Sure I will help you, any way I can my friend.
Looks like those babies are getting drowned. Ya gotta let them dry out between watering hon.

And have you started feeding them and what is the N-P-K of the nutes? What soil are they in ? water ph? what kind of water? How old?

....you know the drill babes, let me know and I will suggest what I can.

And just to be annoying, take a look at the link in my signature to see what I did when I started. My little grow. It could help ya babes.

I will be back when I see you have posted again.

Peace

[ileso]

thanks hon,
im using a coco based worm casting and perlite soil mix.
the whole process has been very muddled. but well, ive been (under?)feeding them with the nutes i won in the other contest, using the nutes acording to the veg feeding table on the box.
they were outdoor until today and we are now slightly under 12h sun per day, so they could be suffering from that, plus the weather has been very close to zero so that would be enough to stunt them.

as for age well... around a month, give or take. the problem is they are yellow to almost white on the bottom leaves. its either over watering or under feeding, or maybe a bit of everything ive been mentioning...

tomorow ill take better pics for you to see. makes it a bit easier to discuss... i Do have to go out and at least open a vent hole in the darned thing or ill cook em, i had to keep the door slightly ajar today...and today...

[ileso]

dry out more.. ok.. so whats the soil got to be like before i water again?
i noticed the soil mix gets all compact on watering, so i poke it around a bit to loosen the top 2 cm at least... the bottom half of the pots has an organic soil full of woodchips and whathaveyou, same soil as in my outdoor pots. ill be using the nutes from technaflora and GHE bio essential micro nutrients to mix. i was thinking of not feeding them for the next week so as they use up the nutes in the soils.. is this a good idea?

[jangel]

The very best way to judge this is to fill up a pot the same size with your soil mix. Keep it dry. Let the plants get dry enough that the pots wiegh the same as the dry pot. This way you can judge better how wet they truely are. It will not take you long once you do this to notice the difference and in time you will know automatically when looking at them.

Another way to test for wetness is by sticking your finger in the dirt, down about an inch or so, then quickly take the finger to your cheek. If it is a bit cool there is still water in the soil. Neat aiy?

Cocoa tends to be acidic when breaking down. You also do not say what the ph of your water is. Here is

Videoman's soil recipe

I know there, it is most likely difficult to get everything. I do not think those wood chips should be in the bottom of the pots either. One thing any outside gardener knows when using mulches on soil: As wood breaks down it tends to use all the nitrogen in the soil (Like a nute lock out) to aid this process. This is why mulch is only put on top and a barrier quite often used to keep it seperate from the soil. In time it breaks down, but it takes a long time, longer than leaves, grass etc. as it is so dense. I would not put wood chips in the pots inside, Ileso, due to this. Soil only in the whole pot, right to the bottom. It is much different inside than outside.

Also, with cocoa you need to buffer the mix with Dolimite lime. This reduces the acidic nature of the coca and other things, like your water. And please tell me what water you are using. Rain water is good, also water from a dehumidifier. Or RO water, distilled water, possibly spring water. The ph should be 6.8 for a soil grow. To test the ph of your soil, you water well, then save the very last bit of runnoff to test. If you do not have a ph meter, see if you can find ph strips for hot tubs or pools, they will give you a rough idea what you are dealing with. This part is improtant, Ileso.

Let me know what you think.

Peace

[ileso]

thanks jangel,

the water is tap water. cant aford everything i need just yet (have no ph meter or thermometer etc.... dont even have a fan yet!) ill get ph strips as they are cheaper. so i guess i fkd up as to the soil, but well, ill keep all that in mind for next time. they have already taken to the soil and repotting so im not going to stress them by taking them out (or should i?). i should be able to counteract acidity and N deficiencies as they arise without too much difficulty, no?

at least i know to look out for N deficiencies because of the soils breaking down... i had read videos post last week, but half those ingedients are hard to come by like the seaweeds and bone meal... but im working up the slow way or itll get all confusing, if i learn each step well one at a time ill get along better than trying to control a whole lot of new information at once. but i should have read up more on the soils... its just that if i didnt go out on impulse and buy and do things ill take forever to get round to it. alot of what i do is impulse based, as well as in the breeding, i dont have a fully structured plan but rather feel my way on instict. in breeding for example i really cant plan further than the next generation because there are to many variables. especially with unknown genetic strains, one has no idea how crosses will come out till thay are grown. at least thats my way of aproaching the subject ...

hehehe, just the way i am. in everything i do actually,.. makes alot of people very nervous.. hehehehe, especially at work...

dont you just love the edge?

well im going to fire up miss 'x's seed bracts as they are dry now.
see how she fares up in smoke...

by the way what size pots do you use and how often do you water?

[jangel]

I start my seeds in 4 inch square pots, then let them stretch a bit, and replant once the water leaves fall off. I put them in DEEP rather than wide pots, and bury up to the water leaves when I repot, to encourage roots to develope alont the stem, below the water leaves. This way the roots are deeper and stronger than they would be normally.

Ileso, read this: My Little Grow ~ HGS Blueberry

Ileso, also, when it is raining, save the water if you can at all, and use that for your plants. I know (The rain in Spain falls mainly on the Plain!) LOL!

My plants are close in age to yours. This journal is shorter as well,(LOL!) and could give you a few tips. I can grow along with Ileso if you like!

[ileso]

rock on mama
ill be glad

udate:

no need to sex MISS afghanistan, i see two pistils on her. thanks to the time she spent outdoors shes sexed already. reckon i could twist ter top sho she starts branching out?

[jangel]

ileso, here is a good post on rain collection. You can down scale it for your balconey hon, so it could work for you.

Pappy's water collection

Peace

[saturnlily]

im subscribed:D i hope ur grow goes well :D

[ileso]

hi, today i fkd up real bad.
the thing is i have been looking into LST(?)'ing so as i can get a bushy plant and maintain the central cola. well, two of my ladies were still a bit weak, and by the looks of things brittle, so as i bent and squeezed the stem (maybe i did it too high?) it snapped, stupid thing is i went on to the next one and did the very same thing... dunno what got into me.
i hd seen some guys youtube video on this and it looked simple enough, mabe they just werent up to it.. oh well, they were just beginning to put on some colour and the growth on them was visible already... hmmm i did the same thing to the afghan after those two and no braks.. oh well, practce makes perfect.

SOLUTION: as the breakage didnt go right through, i taped them up with masking tape before the wound dried up... i hope it will heal.
if it does i will have learnt two things, dont bend soft tissue soo far or it will break and STOP PAMPERING THE PLANTS SO MUCH; LEAVE EM ALONE!!!

[jangel]

Originally Posted by ileso

hi, today i fkd up real bad.
the thing is i have been looking into LST(?)'ing so as i can get a bushy plant and maintain the central cola.

SOLUTION: as the breakage didnt go right through, i taped them up with masking tape before the wound dried up... i hope it will heal.
if it does i will have learnt two things, dont bend soft tissue soo far or it will break and STOP PAMPERING THE PLANTS SO MUCH; LEAVE EM ALONE!!!

I LST most of my plants. Read the link in my signature on LST'ing with hardware. Lots of pointers in there to help you from many people. I have done that so many times when LST'ing, Ileso. The masking tape will work fine, but make sure you remove it as the branch keeps growing and the tape does not. Above the tape the plant will get thicker and more buds, below it will stay the same. Not bad for destroying a plant aiy? I use black electrical tape. It stretches and lets go easily when you take it off. I have found sativa's very brittle, Indicas woodier, and more bendable. Also, sativas can be hollow, and more likely to break because of this.

peace

[ileso]

thanks jangel

i didnt have any electric tape so yallow masking tape will have to do...

here are some pics, after an inicial wiltin they perked up again after a couple of hours, so if i dont touch them they should be fine.
jangel you say they thicken out above the break? why is this? have i seriously reduced yield because of this?

[jangel]

No you have increased it Ileso. What happens is all the energy goes to repairing the damage and keeps going there. This adds energy to the area above the damage and they get thicker and add to the buds this way, this is why people do it. Here are some pics to show you one I was sure I had killed. It did really well in the end, considering what a bad year here it was. See how much thicker it has gotten where it healed? and it was really bad, I was amazed how well it did.

Peace

[ileso]

they sure can take the damage we dish out

so i will get the results i wanted only above where i wanted it.. ok, fair enough. i had thought it had the same effect as cropping.
what would happen theoretially if you LST in 4 or 5 places at once?. like all up along the stem and tied her up so she wouldnt fall over?

[jangel]

ileso, look over the thread, babes. It has pics and everything. It shows all my plants and how they look before and after supercropping and LST'ing. The link is in the signature. It will help you out.

Also, you can supercrop below where the repair is, and to each branch as well. Take a look.

Peace

[saturnlily]

ooo thats interesting... maybe i could give it a try .... depending if i feel i can buy the time its needed

[jangel]

Does not take any more time than just normal care the way I show to do it, Saturn. It can also just stay in place during flowering as well. I LST them from early veg to late flower. It is a great way to open up the plant and let the smaller buds in the center get more light and fill in more while flowering. And once you get to know your plants the breakage level goes way down. You get so you can sense how much wieght and pull to put on the branches to achieve what you want, without damage or stress to the plant. That is why it is called LOW STRESS TRAINING.