First grow attempt- 4 Runtz Photos

[Purfict]

It’s day 35, so definitely a bit late to start a diary, but I’ve been reading others grow diaries and learned alot from them.Hopefully some new growers can learn from this. Even if not, I can look back at what went wrong and learn from it. I’ll just post pictures each day, say if I did anything that day and then what I plan to do the next day. If anyone is reading and wants to give input, any is welcome.
Set up:
4.5x4.5x6.5 foot tent.
600W Metal Halide light (veg)
600W HPS (flower)
5 gallon plastic pots.
Fox Farm Happy Frog AND Ocean Forest.
General Hydroponics Flora Series (nutes) and General Hydroponics Cal-Mag
Seeds bought from ILGM-20 female photo runtz (berry).
All water purified by reverse osmosis.
Co2 supplement (bag)
6 inch inline fan
6 inch carbon filter
Honeywell humidifier
Honeywell turbo fan
6 inch Aluminum ducting

That’s all for the intro, on to notes for today. Didn’t do anything since I’ve been dealing with fungal gnats, but haven’t seen any in two days and have mosquito bits marinating in the water I’m feeding them either tomorrow or Sunday. 750mL each with Cal-Mag and their first dose of nutes. Some noticeable growth, but not much. Plan to top 2-3 days after their watering.

 

[Bilber]

Biggest mistake is over/under watering......

Get a feel for the weight of your plants.....

I'll stick my finger elsewhere thank you.....

The moisture meters? I bought one when I first started growing......used it maybe 3 times......get a feel for the weight of the plant........trust me.....

They look great.......keep doing what you're doing........

P.S. water sssllloooowwwwllllyyyy......that way, the media will get soaked......

 

[Purfict]

Biggest mistake is over/under watering......

Get a feel for the weight of your plants.....

I'll stick my finger elsewhere thank you.....

The moisture meters? I bought one when I first started growing......used it maybe 3 times......get a feel for the weight of the plant........trust me.....

They look great.......keep doing what you're doing........

P.S. water sssllloooowwwwllllyyyy......that way, the media will get soaked......

Couldn’t agree more, started a list of the mistakes I’ve made so far and overwatering is all that’s written down so far, the sole cause of the problems I’ve had so far. Had to let them dry out super long, today is day 12 since they’ve had water, just to fix the issues. And the moister meter I agree with too; it’s from 1-5 with 1 being bone dry and 5 being soaked, 12 days since watering and it’s saying it’s soaked. I just plan on waiting around a week between waterings and am gonna feel the weight instead.

 

[Bilber]

Do you have drainage holes in the containers?

That's an awfully long time for a dryback....

Maybe another fan would help with the dryback.......

Yeah....don't water till it's dry.....you'll start to see a droop in the leaves......try not to get it in full droop, but just at the moment it starts......or just before preferably.....

 

[climbit]

I know jack shit, but 12 days for the medium to dry is unsportsmanlike. That being said with all the equipment you have, it’s evident you’ve done some research so there’s no reason you should fail.

 

[Bilber]

If I remember correctly, my last run was with 5 gallon Lowes buckets with holes drilled out.....maybe 8, 1/2in holes on the bottom sides.....

They took something like 7ish days for them to need feed again.......

Those are rough numbers......but I believe close for the point of dryback.......

I love airflow.......and I don't have as much as I'd like......

 

[climbit]

If I remember correctly, my last run was with 5 gallon Lowes buckets with holes drilled out.....maybe 8, 1/2in holes on the bottom sides.....

They took something like 7ish days for them to need feed again.......

Those are rough numbers......but I believe close for the point of dryback.......

I love airflow.......and I don't have as much as I'd like......

That’s interesting would the dry back take longer in a more solid pot? Like plastic or clay or something. The longest I’ve went until next water was 4 days. But I’m in fabric. Very interesting.

 

[cannafarmer420]

That’s interesting would the dry back take longer in a more solid pot? Like plastic or clay or something. The longest I’ve went until next water was 4 days. But I’m in fabric. Very interesting.

Yes fabric pots evaporate out everywhere, clay pots or buckets hold the moisture in longer. Living soil fabric grow bags have plastic around the outside except the bottom part to help retain moisture for your microbes. On the other hand the air pruning by fabric pots multiplies the roots quickly it basically tops them.

 

[MartyMcFly42oh]

It’s day 35, so definitely a bit late to start a diary, but I’ve been reading others grow diaries and learned alot from them.Hopefully some new growers can learn from this. Even if not, I can look back at what went wrong and learn from it. I’ll just post pictures each day, say if I did anything that day and then what I plan to do the next day. If anyone is reading and wants to give input, any is welcome.
Set up:
4.5x4.5x6.5 foot tent.
600W Metal Halide light (veg)
600W HPS (flower)
5 gallon plastic pots.
Fox Farm Happy Frog AND Ocean Forest.
General Hydroponics Flora Series (nutes) and General Hydroponics Cal-Mag
Seeds bought from ILGM-20 female photo runtz (berry).
All water purified by reverse osmosis.
Co2 supplement (bag)
6 inch inline fan
6 inch carbon filter
Honeywell humidifier
Honeywell turbo fan
6 inch Aluminum ducting

That’s all for the intro, on to notes for today. Didn’t do anything since I’ve been dealing with fungal gnats, but haven’t seen any in two days and have mosquito bits marinating in the water I’m feeding them either tomorrow or Sunday. 750mL each with Cal-Mag and their first dose of nutes. Some noticeable growth, but not much. Plan to top 2-3 days after their watering.

Did you use diatomaceous earth as a deterrent for your fungus gnats? It looks like you have something similar to that on your soil surfaces, if so that’s good, I’d also recommend watering from the bottom and letting them soak up, this will further complicate things for the gnats.

 

[Purfict]

Do you have drainage holes in the containers?

That's an awfully long time for a dryback....

Maybe another fan would help with the dryback.......

Yeah....don't water till it's dry.....you'll start to see a droop in the leaves......try not to get it in full droop, but just at the moment it starts......or just before preferably.....

There is solid drainage, but I think the problem is my pots. They’re like rock solid, and have 4 huge drainage holes on the outsides and then 4 small ones on the underside. I just over saturated the pot and then watered with dr zymes as a soil wash so they got a LOT of water. It also didn’t help that my oscillating fan broke, which is what helped the gnats get there.

 

[Purfict]

Did you use diatomaceous earth as a deterrent for your fungus gnats? It looks like you have something similar to that on your soil surfaces, if so that’s good, I’d also recommend watering from the bottom and letting them soak up, this will further complicate things for the gnats.

I did, but I have had mosquito bits in their water to fully eliminate the problem.

 

[Purfict]

Day 36:
Watered all with 1400mL of water, gave their first nutes. Before watering, I cleaned out the DE since I believe the mosquito bits should be enough to kill anything that hasn’t been noticed in 3 days. Watered until runoff, cleaned up their plates and then the tent floor.

 

[Bilber]

Definitely get a fan, even 2 going in there.....that will help immensely!

Keep us posted......

 

[Purfict]

Definitely get a fan, even 2 going in there.....that will help immensely!

Keep us posted......

I got a small 4 inch oscillating fan I got blowing on the tops of the plants and a 7 inch standing fan blowing fresh air into the bottom of the tent.

 

[Purfict]

Here’s them 3 hours after their first water in close to two weeks. I think they’re looking good, was thinking I would top all of them except the mutated one (I want to see it through unless anyone would strongly discourage it) in a day or two aslong as they all look good. What do you guys think?

 

[Bilber]

Here’s them 3 hours after their first water in close to two weeks. I think they’re looking good, was thinking I would top all of them except the mutated one (I want to see it through unless anyone would strongly discourage it) in a day or two aslong as they all look good. What do you guys think?

They look good......they will look even better after.....

Great job.....

 

[Purfict]

Day 37:
Will probably wait another day or two to top them, some leaves are still drooping a bit so I’ll see if they look better before topping. What do you guys think?

 

[MartyMcFly42oh]

Day 37:
Will probably wait another day or two to top them, some leaves are still drooping a bit so I’ll see if they look better before topping. What do you guys think?

Looking good

 

[Purfict]

Day 38:
Still drooping pretty good, was wondering if I should cut these leaves off that are touching the new growth? The leaves are pretty sickly anyways from problems I had earlier in the grow, but not sure what they’re drooping from. What do you guys think?

 

[MartyMcFly42oh]

Day 38:
Still drooping pretty good, was wondering if I should cut these leaves off that are touching the new growth? The leaves are pretty sickly anyways from problems I had earlier in the grow, but not sure what they’re drooping from. What do you guys think?

Give them a few days, they already are looking better than they were after the fungus gnat issue, if a leaf is touching the soil and it’s sick looking cut it off, otherwise see if they bounce back. Those lower leaves will eventually die off as the plants get bigger. Just keep an eye on the top layer of soil and water when the soil gets dry and the pots and physically getting light.