First Grow in MA, Blue Dream

Hi Guys,

I’m a newbie starting my first grow. 5 seeds of Blue Dream, from ILGM.

I set up a 2x4 feet grow tent, with two 450w LED light fixtures (claimed to replace 450w of HID light, but only draws 190w each. One of them states the actual lumen output at 12500 lumen which is not bad I think).

Succeed in germinating all 5 seeds in soil, surprisingly because one of the seeds looked pale white and awful when I received it. Used espoma seed stater soil. I currently have them under one of the LED lights and will soon transplant each one into 5 gallon fabric pots.

I’m reading temp and humidity in the 72-78 and 30-50 range. Humidity is low here now but spray them with some water mist twice a day. I also have a small ducted fan blowing into the tent for circulation.

I also have free access to dry ice (I’m a scientist and work in a research lab) so will later on experiment with some dry ice to supplement CO2. I could place a small stereofoam container next to the ducted fan so it blows CO2 into the tent constantly (tent has exhaust on top). Uncovered stereofoam box so it slowly sublimates into the air (no CO2 bomb here). If you think this is a retarded idea let me know. I can also calculate how many grams of CO2 I will need to increase the CO2 in the entire apartment to 1000-1500 ppm (which should not be toxic at all, we exhale at least 5 times that much CO2). There’s also a digital CO2 monitor on amazon for about 55 bucks which is tempting to have.

I can probably only fit 4 plants in the tent, so will keep one in the living room for decoration =), under a 50w LED light I have that works great for house plants. Maybe I can keep this one vegetating forever and use it to cut clones later on.

How do you guys pH the water you use for watering ? I was thinking I can easily prepare a concentrated buffer stock pH 6.3 I can dilute into the water (I work in a research lab).

For soil I will be using Fox Farms ocean something, and for nutrients Dyna-Gro Growth and Dyna-Gro Bloom.

I also have a fish powder organiz fertilizer I used last summer to grow tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, raspberries, you name it, outdoors, and worked wonders. I wonder if I should add some of that to my soil.

Thanks for any comments !

Here is a pic of the babies. (wet paper towel is to boot humidity in the tent)

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Oh boy, a real live scientist! Yeah, that excites me because I’m expecting a good scientific style grow journal from you. LOL!

Congratulations on your state going legal!!! :grinning: :fireworks: :tada: :fireworks:

One thing… I used Espoma seed starting soil once and it did not turn out well. I hope you have better luck with it. Just remember that it’s devoid of any nutrients, so you’ll have to start adding them sooner.

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Congrats! Can’t wait to see how it goes. I am germinating some blue dream as well.

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God luck with it your Grow
Keep us posted with pics :+1:

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Hey fromanoc,
Glad to see your posting this grow. I’m waiting on an order of the same , so i have a particular interest in your experiences. To answer the question about adjusting the ph of your water. There are articles in the grow guides of course but i have a ph meter and my well water is a constant 7.0 so i add PH DOWN to my water prior to feeding. A teaspoon or two per gallon will bring the ph down to 6.0 where i like it. Also available is PH UP if that is what you need.Adjust as you need. I use the ph down and if i over do it just dilute the mix with water.
This is a product available at grow stores and on the web.
The other question about your soil additions. I only have two grows under my belt but i’ve used Fox Farms Ocean Grow both times and i’ve put a layer of worm castings about 6-8" from the bottom of the container. This , in addition to light feedings , and i’ve had great luck . Keep us posted , my grow will be a month behind yours so i’m particularly interested in how much stretch they have when you switch your light schedule. A bunch of great info on this site and a lot of very knowledgable people weighing in all the time. It has helped me that all this is shared so freely. Good Luck!

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Hello Fromanoc, welcome-- I have done 2grows now with FoxFarmOcean Forest, in my limited grow experience I used nutes both times in veg and discovered both times I did not need them until flower. I did use silica, seemed to strengthen the plant and make it more playable for bending.
Good luck

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Thanks to everyone for taking a look and leaving a comment ! also for the useful replies !

It is 10 days now from the time I planted the seeds and they are going strong, under 450w LED, placed 2-3 feet above the plants.

So, I calculated how much dry ice you need to leave/place/evaporate in any given room to raise the ppm to 1500ppm.

The short answer is you need to dump in the room 1.844 grams of CO2 per cubic meter. (message me if you want to know the calculation details). This is assuming sea level atmospheric pressure and 75 F temperature.

This also assumes there’s already 500 ppm of CO2 in the air (usually there is), so the added dry ice will raise the CO2 by an extra 1000ppm.

So in theory, you could dump that much dry ice into your grow room or whatever space doesn’t exchange air with the outside (in my case my entire apartment), then shut the door and leave for the day and you are all set. (also you’ll need to mix the air with a fan constantly).

To calculate your room volume in cubic meters, multiply the width and height in meters (1 meter 3.28 feet). Then take that number and multiply it by the room height to get cubic meters.

For example, my apartment room is 5 meters x 5 meters = 25 square meters. And the ceiling is about 2.5 meters high. So 25 x 2.5 = 62.5 cubic meters.

To raise the CO2 ppm to 1500 I need to dump into that room (1.844 x 62.5) 115.25 grams of Dry Ice (solid CO2). Then shut the door =).

This could be a nice experiment =) =) I’ll give this a shot since I have access to free dry ice.

Of course having a CO2 monitor (therels one for cheap in amazon I’m considering, about $55), will help keep track and see what happens over the days to re-adjust the CO2. But the calculation gives you a ballpark number to have an idea of how much dry ice you need to dump into the room.

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Thanks for that very important comment about the espoma soil. I will start adding nutrients as soon as I get a pH meter. I noticed the pH of my tap water drops to 5.0 or less after adding the nutrients (measured with pH paper). I used that for watering once, then realized the pH was low, then watered again a few time with plain water. Plants are doing good.

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Thannks for the Comment !! I have no idea what Silica does, will need to do some more reading =)

While not required by the plant in some reading it appears there is evidence that it increases cell wall structure in the plant as well can possibly contribute to more thc production. I sound like a commercial. LOL good luck

Man you sold me on the Silicate supplement. I read this

Then bought this:

https://www.amazon.com/Dyna-Gro-Pro-TeKt-Nutritional-Supplement-Plants/dp/B000E1VZHC

That stuff is Potassium Silicate, same thing as they use in the above article.

I’m using the same nuts for grow and bloom from the same company, so that seems like a good add on.

Looks like silicate gets into the plant and then gets deposited in the cell wall making it stronger somehow. Silicate is charged hence is water soluble and can be taken by the plant. I guess that’s what you are using as well. Silica is like a rock and doesn’t dissolve in water, wouldn’t do anything to a plant.

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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EJZAWA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Light potassium so I fed from 2 weeks old. I felt like there was a difference between 1st and second grow in plant strength.

Awesome, thanks for pointing out the Silicate supplement. I hadn’t read that anywhere before.

Looks like yours is about the same as the one I got. Yours is a mix of Potassium Silicate and Sodium Silicate, while the one I got is mostly Potassium Silicate. Should work about the same.

Thanks !

I wonder if it has any effects when you smoke it ? …does anybody know?

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LOL, You read my mind! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Hahaha, that’s a good point. Who knows. The plant already has Silicate in it without adding it, it just gets boosted about 80% in the flowers (from the article above).

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I often enjoy a little light reading before bed :v: :laughing: j/k

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I was really enjoying all that nerd talk, but I couldn’t stop thinking how nerdy it was! LOL!

Just teasing, guys, please continue your nerd-out.

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I know the chemists put their own spin on naturally occurring elements @Paranorman your right. What I read though is if I had my plant in outdoor soil it would find this naturally occurring. I think most of the nutes are kind of twisted in a way. Thanks for raising the ?. I dig this stuff. Thanks

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