First Grow and quickly feeling like I’m Da JAck Of All Trades… (Google and Forums like this are a huge help)
I’m shooting from the hip with this (post) as I’ve been on the fence wondering if I should do this or not. Cause who wants to see a trainwreck in slo mo anyways… (get it?)
I’m gonna post where I’m at right now then hopefully share my journey on how I got here from the beginning. Sort of like my personnel journal. My first big lesson with this Sativa dominant strain is that it does not like to be fed that much. Especially if you have some really good soil.
Base of core humic ingredients: (worm castings). and fundamental organic materials mix with kelp and mycorrhizae. Other ingredients include feather meal, blood meal, bone meal and bat guano. Sphagnum Peat Moss, low salt coco coir.
I’m super stoked to see my first flowering of this initial trip into Ganja growing. (Can we call it Ganja still?) Or Sinsemilla more accurate? I’m in what I believe to be is in the Pre Flowering stage. I might be in a uniquely position on this grow or maybe not so unique as I’m watering my plants outdoors with a 2-3 hour sun bathe before bringing them inside under my LED light set up… no tent. I live in the desert and we’re right in the middle of the above 100 degress is normal kind of days… make that above 105 is normal kind of days with peaks of 120 degrees. So yeah, this schedule is still current. I’m quickly looking into just keeping them indoors as these are getting heavier to lug around! Yeah, grab a tent already, I can hear it.
Congratulations on your start, good luck on your grow, and I wish you well! Will be looking forward to seeing how a grow works in a desert environment.
I thought I was gonna be able to grow these outdoors just in the cloth pots and thats it, not the case. I initially ordered some seeds just on a beer binge nights dare, we were talking about weed and I thought out loud…hey…lets grow some weed! And my brother in law said…LETS DO IT. I didn’t even hesitate and placed the order off the classic movie Pineapple Express, not knowing anything about Sativa or Indica strains. Pineapple Express…The Movie
Little did I know the purchase would be shipping from Bulgaria! So three months later…yeah, it took three months. o.O
Meanwhile in my lack of patience I found this site and ordered some from here…who knew!? California the Mecca of seed banks! Just my luck the day the Californai shipment arrived…yup…Bulgaria lands too…I didn’t want to waste any seeds so I planted them all. (I had no clue at the time I could’ve refrigerated them for later use)
The method I chose for germination was the overnight dip in a glass of tap water shoved under darkness in a cabinet. It might have been 48 hours or so but I kept them there until I noticed a tail. (I was later able to successfully germinate seeds for my brother n law using the paper towel method).
The seeds were then placed under one of my fish tanks under a (90watt) LED light (purchased from Home Depot) and these babies popped within 3-5 days.
Tried to edit my post, my title post is spelled wrong… should be Pineapple Express instead of Pine Apple… o.O (such a dork) can we fix that Admin? I’d do it but not seeing tools to edit at the moment here.
(Edit to my seeding post) The July and mid summers here in the desert usually bring a lot of humidity and this year it showed up big time… my seeds germinated at 50% humidity (possibly the fish tanks created a buffer in my fish room at that humidity). As July ended some dry weeks have come in dropping the humidity to 18% some days. My home is air conditioned via central unit at constant 78 degrees. According to some charts at 78 degrees my humidity should be near 60% and above.
50% seems to be working out. At about 4 branches I transferred the seedlings to the final resting place of fabric 7 gallon jugs. Before the temps hit the 110’s I was able to get by sun bathing the ladies half day in the backyard with daily watering’s. Speaking of water, Getting ahead of myself here, for the seedling stage I used spring bottled water in a spray bottle and gently sprayed the top of the soil enough to keep it wet, twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. When the transfer happened (Veg stage) I watered daily with same water bottles (they really didn’t need that much water but because of the heat outside it was done every morning. The growth was ok until I decided to upgrade the lighting. And we’ll talk about that soon…
Everything looking good. Be mindful of the heat black pots/bags absorb from the sun. It radiates 3-4 inches into the soil and can cook roots. Wrapping with burlap, cardboard, or a light colored fabric would help! Set to watch.
Thanks… and yes, these babies wilt quick in this intense heat. I believe when I had them sitting outside the temps were near 90-100 degrees (max) and they sat under a shaded cover (50% to 80% light reduction but plenty bright enough) so never directly under the sun at those temps. I’ve found out later anything above 90 degrees and these ladies go in survival mode, no nutrient uptake just water, same I believe at extreme low humidity levels hence the importance of maintaining optimum levels, or close to optimum. Lucky for me I choose a warm environment friendly strain, Sativa. I want to talk about in depth later on about what sparked a huge growth with these guys but currently (supposed to be working ) I will say that I’m lucky my sliding door faces the sun as it rises and I now water every three days with an occasional 2 cups of water per pot in-between…(this routine started 3-4 weeks ago) and still brainstorming on what to do about runoff indoors that doesn’t create a mess…the wifey has put enough with me taking over half the living room with this and don’t want to push it any more .
The sun peaks in for a good 3 to 4 hours everyday, I then rely solely on the LED lights, more in them later.
So here’s where I’m wishing I had these babies in a tent or it’s own grow room (shed, garage, basement, etc) and it’s the complete darkness I’m now wanting. Really hard to get complete darkness when the tv is on or the nearby hallway light. I just started the 12 hour on / off cycle this pass weekend and cringe when lights are left on somewhere. Doing the 7am to 7pm on at the moment. (Quick note here, have you guys read Hellraisers Journals here…my God this dude knows his stuff! An excellent read) I have a feeling that these are naturally following the suns cycle now. My buddys grow 20 minutes away from me(he started indoor and is now outdoor) is preflowering carbon copy the same as mine, super bright green center with the white hairs forming. He’s got the White Willows and Gorilla Glow going. So we’ll see how these guys compare. I had to flush the my ladies last weekend the same. I suspected a Nitrogen spike going and yup…2400 ppm run off… not good. My last watering was… um… thinking here, lol… Yesterday! The run offs ppm was 790ppm… seems to be perfect for where I’m at right now. I goofed two weeks ago and used two fertilizers high in nitrogen. So this is one of my lessons…check your fertilizers for their NPK content!
Nitrogen (N) – Nitrogen is largely responsible for the growth of leaves on the plant.
Phosphorus (P) – Phosphorus is largely responsible for root growth and flower and fruit development.
Potassium (K) – Potassium is a nutrient that helps the overall functions of the plant perform correctly.
Getting ready for the flower stage is exciting here, have another MarsHydro coming in to supplement the lighting I have now, might be a little over kill but too much light is probBLY BETTER THAN NOT ENOUGH LIGHT… especially during Flowering is what I’m thinking. Made a stronger light stand out of 2x4, pvc pipe was not idea. Planning on upgrading the hooks from zip ties to chrome hangers soon. And keeping it simple with the nutrients, with just worm castings for top dress and what’s pic below.
And the Mars Hydro tsw 2000 just got here!! Have it sitting between the ts1000’s …what you guys think, overkill?
My neighbor dropped off the lights just now, we had just left for our Big Bear weekend trip when they arrived this past Friday. He held them for me until our return today. My ladies grew 3inches! I reluctantly topped 5 of them. They seem to be promising buds but the ones just below them…out numbered the ones I topped off. I feel like I’m threading the needle here on the topping but really don’t want all the light just focusing on one area dead center of each pot. I left a couple pots untouched just to learn from this. And dropped 4 cups of enriched water in each pot (no run off), these ladies are getting thirsty every day now it seems like.
WOW! Looking good man especially to have begun with a bar bet!
just think of where they’d be with some reflective walls around them helping them absorb all that good light energy but I cannot fault what you got going at all!!
You want to get those dry leaves out of the bags and trash them. That’s a breeding ground for enemies of the indoor garden.
Also, are you moving the air around getting fresh air in and stale air out? You don’t want a hurricane wind but a breeze encourages strength in the plant and you’re gonna want that strength later in the grow when you need to support those big buds!
thanks… appreciate the input. I had a Nitrogen build up couple weeks ago and one of the cures was a top dressing of fall leaves. So now that I’ve gotten some control of that thinking I should take them leaves out now. My next grow will involve a tent or a shed. and fresh air! what do I do for fresh air! I do open the sliding door often. And for circulation I use a 24 Hour cycle of one of them tall revolving fans. To filtrate the air I ordered a 8 inch carbon filter. those things are huge.
I’m using an app I downloaded for my Android phone to use as a LUX meter, my understanding is anything above 75,000 LUX is overkill and wasted light.
I’m currently maxing at 55,000 at 75% with the 2000 at about 18-24 inches.
My daughter had a Convo with me as to why I needed so many lights? I explained that outdoor lighting and indoor lighting are totally different animals. Outdoor lighting is from all angles and constant…indoor just from the top and 24 inches from the top, anything below that is dead leaves unfortunately. She then asked why don’t I buy lights for the side? … So yes a tent would help big time here. I’m tempted to grab some of them leaves out about now …
did a tap water (ph’d & charcoal filtered) this morning and did the (runoff) ppm readings for each pot first time today … first reading was 2300 and Alrqm bells go off again … decided to test the rest to get to the bottom of this. next 3 tested 1400 avg and the rest 750-800 avg. o O So yeah … need to chart each pot now…
So I’m seriously thinking of grabbing a grow tent now as there 8s no way I’m gonna get the 12 hours darkness. How many 7 gallon pots can I grow to maturity in a 4x8 tent?
Well… I was not expecting that tent to be that huge. I measured …honest! It does not fit how I intially intended it too fit… So, I improvised a bit. didn’t knock any walls down, but we have her settled in. So now comes the fun part of taking care of the little things, circulation, first and front most! Then making sure it’s leak proof from external lighting, and … keeping a watchful eye on the internal temps, I had no idea how warm these lights really get. The ladies are tucked away inside, probably just as exhausted as I am. I nearly canceled the project but persevered to the end. Built this solo, it was not easy. but I did it.
Have her almost settled in, still having a little battle with the soil gnats … those guys are hard to get rid off. This stuff sprayed on the top soil is supposed to help with that, read it kills the eggs.
That’s coming in soon, and Home Depot doesn’t have 8 inch ventilation hose! SOB . So that’s on order as well, so close …so far.
My first impressions are …how do people grow in tents that keep the heat in it, and the humidity…it shot up by 20-30%!
So holding off on judgement till I get the ventilation hose installed.
To control fungus/soil gnats, I use about two inches of packed sand on the bottom of the pots and top of the soil. I picked up that hint from a grower who discovered it online. The idea is a packed sandy layer makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for the insect to burrow through. When I water I am very careful to replace any displaced sand. I am on my very first grow so I am not sure about much, but I do know I haven’t seen any fungus/soil gnats near my plants and they have been in pots since the first week of June. Good luck, along for the ride on this grow.
) I will say that I’m lucky my sliding door faces the sun as it rises and I now water every three days with an occasional 2 cups of water per pot in-between…(this routine started 3-4 weeks ago) and still brainstorming on what to do about runoff indoors that doesn’t create a mess…the wifey has put enough with me taking over half the living room with this and don’t want to push it any more . 
They seem to be promising buds but the ones just below them…out numbered the ones I topped off. I feel like I’m threading the needle here on the topping but really don’t want all the light just focusing on one area dead center of each pot. I left a couple pots untouched just to learn from this. And dropped 4 cups of enriched water in each pot (no run off), these ladies are getting thirsty every day now it seems like.
I measured …honest! It does not fit how I intially intended it too fit… So, I improvised a bit. didn’t knock any walls down, but we have her settled in. So now comes the fun part of taking care of the little things, circulation, first and front most! Then making sure it’s leak proof from external lighting, and … keeping a watchful eye on the internal temps, I had no idea how warm these lights really get. The ladies are tucked away inside, probably just as exhausted as I am. I nearly canceled the project but persevered to the end. Built this solo, it was not easy. but I did it. 
