I’ve been keeping a local grow journal since I started at the beginning of the month. I thought I’d share and get some input from the knowledge community here. I don’t announce my hobby to anyone so I don’t get a chance to talk about it or get input from outside sources, I’m looking forward to learning!
Room: 3x4 closet
Light: 600w viparspectra LED
Soil: Happy Frog
pH: 6.8 (usually)
extras: General Hydroponics Nutrients, Advanced Nutrients CalMag
I started 3 seeds in peat pellets. I was worried about handling the seeds after starting them on a towel, so I tried this slightly more expensive method to make myself more comfortable. They popped the surface in about three days. Once they were up I counted that as day 1.
Good start watch for stretching of the sprouts
How high is the light at the moment
Maintain ph levels and you’ll do fine
What are you using to check your ph ?
Also the first week or two will be sprout or seedling stage veg won’t until the second week
My first battles were with heat and humidity. It was colder when I started so I was using warming blankets to warm the room up and a warm humidifier. They temp and humidity seemed to swing wildly during the days mostly dependent on me venting the room.
Day 2 they looked really stretchy to me and I was anxious to get them into a new jiffy pot to try to correct the stems. Learning points! 1. I didn’t like the jiffy pots, when I transferred them again I felt like the roots were sticking to the sides a bit. I think I’m going plastic next time. 2. I still didn’t bury the stems enough! 3. I feel like I transferred too early. I rushed it, they could have waited a day or two probably.
I’m not a fan of jiffy pot and the idea with them is to to put the whole pot into soil and bury it so your roots where prob growing into the jiffy pot
I’ve found maintaining the temp and humidity in room your closet is in and using intake and exhaust fans to be the best way to maintain your grow room environment
The infinity fans available on amazon are a good choice due to having automatic controls
I can place a link if you’d like
I had a busy stretch of time here between Days 3-14. I noticed some curling of the edges. I posted my first post to ILGM and the consensus was that I’m a worrier! There were some recommendations about the light distance so I made sure that was at 24".
I also added a vent to the ceiling. I started with a 4" and immediately knew I’d made a mistake. It wouldn’t even hold a receipt to the ceiling. So I bought a 6" and added that. Much better! Temps are stable now in the 75deg range I am worried about the temps warming up now that Spring is here. I bought a cool-mist humidifier and unfortunately my humidity can still bounce around. As low as 25 and up into the 60s if I’m not careful. I do my best.
I’ve been checking my pH and get my well water to about 6.8. I didn’t get a PPM meter. Because, to be honest, I wasn’t sure how to correct any issues I found with that. I continued feeding every couple of days. Learning point! I don’t think I was watering properly. I have been so scared of over watering I kind of just dribbled some water around the plant but never added too much.
The stems still bothered me, so I jumped the gun again and moved them to larger pots. During my research, I just didn’t throw a wide enough net so I thought after dixie/jiffy pots you went to 5 gallon…
They look so tiny. It made it much easier to see how i should be watering them. But, Learning Point! 1. I want 1 or 3 gallon pots. I don’t know if three transfers is normal or not but I feel like I jumped too much, too soon. 2. Wait until they’re out of the seedling stage to move to the final pot.
I started them properly on 1/4 of the recommended amounts of CalMag and FloraMicro + FloraGro. I added that to a gallon of water and split that among the three of them. Is that enough water? I saw runoff, I had a hard time guessing if it was 20% or not though. And I didn’t test the runoff either for it’s pH. I think I’ll do that next watering.
They liked the nutrients! After visibly seeing them drink, they seemed to really bush out the next day.
I read something about burying the entire pot after the fact. Yeah I just don’t like all of that, I think I’ll switch to the dixie cups next grow.
Wooo boy are you right about fans! That was my first eye opener; I hadn’t considered ventilation enough and how much it would affect, not only fresh air, but the temp and humidity.
Yeah I tried the pots early on found I didn’t like them I use the paper towel method myself and put the germinated beans into starter cups I have a 98% success rate that way as well
Those fans I mentioned are also very efficient and quite so in the future check them out if you find the need to ad or replace your existing fans
Any questions feel free to tag me
And welcome to the forum @auroraborealis202
@GreenCoat
Try this
Place beans in water for 24-48 hour until they split open then place in moist paper towel for up to 36 hour you should have a tap root coming from the seed husk about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long
Place moist paper towel in a baggie not sealed to help hold in moisture
Welcome @auroraborealis202 looking good il be following along. I’m on my first grow and I’m already starting new seeds before harvest. Il be following along
Good luck on your grow. I have 2 led lights and both say 24 inches from plants. I found that for my strain. 16 to 18 inches works best for me. Now at that distance the light coverage isn’t that spread out. But that is why I have the second one in place. 1 was doing fine during the veg stage at 21 inches. But when I went into flowering I added the 2nd one in. My babies are growing real good. Humidity for me isn’t a problem. I can control that when lights on and when lights off. Found using a second exhaust fan for night controls it to around 50%RH. I have 2 dc fans that stay on 24/7 to keep air flow going. Problem is heat now. With 1 led. I was able to maintain at 76°f no problem. Adding in the 2nd light. 78 - 80°f is where I’m at. All vents are open except for the 2 big ones the tent has. If I use them they light up the room and I don’t want that. To cope with it I just bought a better exhaust system. Will be putting in place in the next few days.
Find what works best for your plants. They might respond better later on to the light being closer to them. Trial and error. Its the company suggestion for light height. Your plants will show you what they like. Trust in that. Again. Good growing and hope you end up with great big buds.
Can’t blame just one thing. But I would start with the heat. Aim for no higher than 80°f. Humidity levels? Fertilizer?
Pictures if possible might help.
Light too close? Could be that. Hold your hand under it for a few.
If your hand gets too warm. Think of the plant sitting under for 18hrs.
A nutrient deficiency going on? Them are hard to exactly say which one when dealing with certain ones. I too am still learning them.
Good luck there.
for you
I’ve been calling that day 1 but then realizing they’d be seedlings for two weeks.
