Beginner’s Indoor Grow Journal

[MIMedGrower]

I turned down the A/C.....thinking about moving in there for the summer. Do you use the same temp range of 75-77 for both veg and flower?

I keep plants at all stages perpetually so i keep both veg room and flower room 45-60% humdity and similar temps. A little lower in veg only because i use flourescents and they dont heat the room up as much.

I use a ling room. I air condition and heat the flower toom with an intake fan blowing the air conditioned air in from the room next to it. Thats also my workroom and veg tent.

You need to make a light baffle for the a/c for flowering. No light can get in or you risk revegging. Also stress could cause nanners. Or just poor flowering.

As far as topping i top clones and plants that get too tall in their time in the veg tent. You can top and re top them into a bush.

When i bend in flower i wait untill the plant has grown through the first week or two. They grow (stretch) like crazy during that time. I like to bend them before or at initial flowers showing. The branches are still growing then.

Some squat indicas respond much better to topping than lst. No real branching on little main bud type plants so some experience and a learning curve is neccessary.

Hope this helps.

 

[Minitiger]

I’m gonna second (third? fourth?) everybody here and say that’s a helluva fucking setup for a first timer. Gawd, I wish I had some carpentry skills. Nice work!

First of all, you’ve got to seal up where your AC is, that’s waaaayyyyyy too much light coming in during lights off. You’re still in veg, so it’s not THAT big of a deal, but once you flip to flower..... I don’t even know if you’re plants would start flowering with that much light coming in. That’s bright. And if they do start flowering, best believe you’re gonna end up with hermies galore, especially since you’re using feminized seeds.

As far as training, I always top my plants about two weeks before I start flowering, just to give them a chance to recover. Then just kinda look at the plant and see how the budsites develop. There’s no One Way To Grow Weed. Feel your plants out and tie down as you see appropriate. Or don’t even bother. I tied down some plants this run, just because I thought of it a few days ago haha. But I don’t necessarily do that every grow. I usually always top, but tying down and training and shit? Not usually.

Good lookin’ grow, though. Nice job.

 

[jumpincactus]

Awesome build man. Nice indeed. Will follow along on this one.

 

[Kushy Tushy]

You need blackness.
As in - the absence of all discernable light.

A T5 bulb can pretty much touch a leaf with only advantigous results. Look at Phylex (sp?) journals, his lights are always mashed into the canopy-and they all look like movie stars.

You can flip to flower anytime now. The longer you wait - the heavier the harvest.

With divided space , you could flip some to flower soon and pratice your topiary skills on the others during an extended veg. Cannabis will veg indefinitely.
Clone them, top them, try everything, have your way with them. During veg, it is only a bad haircut, it will grow back.
Your noodle dream will manifest itself.
Have fun.

Light - I can put up more styrofoam insulation directly above the A/C to stop the light from the crack, but don’t know about the vent area. Any recommendations? The A/C is on 24/7 now and I just lowered temp to 75.

Dividing the room - was thinking about using the very thick black plastic to divide the room between veg and flower, but I would need to use the same A/C and some light would show thru there into the flower side.

Flipping - I would like to wait and keep girls in veg longer. My bf wants to flip. I wanna grow roots. Bf wanna grow plants. Lol! I think your advice is awesome.....keep some in veg and flip some......Thanks!!!!

 

[Minitiger]

I forgot the most important thing: mulch. Mulch your plants, even if you’re using BS bottled notes and all that, you gotta mulch.

 

[Minitiger]

Light - I can put up more styrofoam insulation directly above the A/C to stop the light from the crack, but don’t know about the vent area. Any recommendations? The A/C is on 24/7 now and I just lowered temp to 75.

Dividing the room - was thinking about using the very thick black plastic to divide the room between veg and flower, but I would need to use the same A/C and some light would show thru there into the flower side.

Flipping - I would like to wait and keep girls in veg longer. My bf wants to flip. I wanna grow roots. Bf wanna grow plants. Lol! I think your advice is awesome.....keep some in veg and flip some......Thanks!!!!

Gorilla tape or whatever the fuck it’s called all around every crack on the outside and the inside. That heavy black tape. I use it all over the place and it works well. Sometimes I might have to use two or three layers, but it blocks out all light. Eventually. If it’s a matter of the AC vents letting light in, I’d just hang a dark (ideally black) sheet or curtain over the AC, that way air can still get in but it’ll dim the light some. Maybe a sheet on both the inside and outside? I dunno. But you definitely wanna deal with that. You’re just asking for trouble otherwise.

As far as vegging, I always go sixty days before flip.

 

[Kushy Tushy]

As far as topping i top clones and plants that get too tall in their time in the veg tent. You can top and re top them into a bush.

So do you top them because of space requirements in your tent, or does topping encourage root growth? Or does topping provide desirable shape of plant? Just wondering about reasons why people are topping.....

 

[Kushy Tushy]

I’m gonna second (third? fourth?) everybody here and say that’s a helluva fucking setup for a first timer. Gawd, I wish I had some carpentry skills. Nice work!

First of all, you’ve got to seal up where your AC is, that’s waaaayyyyyy too much light coming in during lights off. You’re still in veg, so it’s not THAT big of a deal, but once you flip to flower..... I don’t even know if you’re plants would start flowering with that much light coming in. That’s bright. And if they do start flowering, best believe you’re gonna end up with hermies galore, especially since you’re using feminized seeds.

As far as training, I always top my plants about two weeks before I start flowering, just to give them a chance to recover. Then just kinda look at the plant and see how the budsites develop. There’s no One Way To Grow Weed. Feel your plants out and tie down as you see appropriate. Or don’t even bother. I tied down some plants this run, just because I thought of it a few days ago haha. But I don’t necessarily do that every grow. I usually always top, but tying down and training and shit? Not usually.

Good lookin’ grow, though. Nice job.

Thanks for the kind words! Gonna work on the light issue with the A/C.......and it’s cool to hear how everyone does training differently. I guess it’s just doing it the first time that’s the hardest. Don’t wanna mess it up!

 

[Kushy Tushy]

Awesome build man. Nice indeed. Will follow along on this one.

Thanks! Your advice is always appreciated!

 

[Kushy Tushy]

I forgot the most important thing: mulch. Mulch your plants, even if you’re using BS bottled notes and all that, you gotta mulch.

What do you mulch with? And why, don’t you want the plants to dry out in between waterings? I just started feeding today. 1 tablespoon botanicare pro grow into 1 gallon water per plant.

 

[Kushy Tushy]

Gorilla tape or whatever the fuck it’s called all around every crack on the outside and the inside. That heavy black tape. I use it all over the place and it works well. Sometimes I might have to use two or three layers, but it blocks out all light. Eventually. If it’s a matter of the AC vents letting light in, I’d just hang a dark (ideally black) sheet or curtain over the AC, that way air can still get in but it’ll dim the light some. Maybe a sheet on both the inside and outside? I dunno. But you definitely wanna deal with that. You’re just asking for trouble otherwise.

As far as vegging, I always go sixty days before flip.

Ok....gorilla tape. Got it.

 

[MIMedGrower]

So do you top them because of space requirements in your tent, or does topping encourage root growth? Or does topping provide desirable shape of plant? Just wondering about reasons why people are topping.....

Yes i top to make them fit. My flower room has a low ceiling also.

But topping is to help the plant stay shorter and bush out more. Best to let the plant grow back some before flowering. Even better keep topping the tallest branches as they grow for a few weeks until it is a bush with many tops to flower.

I dont have room so i started bending as needed and found that i could do it earlier and it increased yield and quality by keeping all the buds in the proper range for full light.

 

[MIMedGrower]

What do you mulch with? And why, don’t you want the plants to dry out in between waterings? I just started feeding today. 1 tablespoon botanicare pro grow into 1 gallon water per plant.

I forgot about the amount question. I start week 2 or 3 in flower as I use ocean forest or the like and water only through veg and the final transplant leaves ne a week or two of nutrients in the soil.

Then I start at 5ml and slowly work up each watering to 7.5 or 10 and up as needed averaging 15 or 17.5 a couple times at peak flowering. Then taper back down when the buds start ripening or i see they have had enough. And give only as needed. I mix a gallon for each plant that needs it every day. Much easier with plants at the same stage or better known clones.

You may see build up as you are feeding in veg. If you see stress you can leach the pots with fresh water and then simply feed a step less and move on.

And you may find you have enough nitrogen about half way through flower and need to cut way back on grow nutes. Then a bloom formula can come in handy.

I try to only fertilize what they need and err on underfeeding. Easier to correct than over feeding.

 

[Kushy Tushy]

I forgot about the amount question. I start week 2 or 3 in flower as I use ocean forest or the like and water only through veg and the final transplant leaves ne a week or two of nutrients in the soil.

Then I start at 5ml and slowly work up each watering to 7.5 or 10 and up as needed averaging 15 or 17.5 a couple times at peak flowering. Then taper back down when the buds start ripening or i see they have had enough. And give only as needed. I mix a gallon for each plant that needs it every day. Much easier with plants at the same stage or better known clones.

You may see build up as you are feeding in veg. If you see stress you can leach the pots with fresh water and then simply feed a step less and move on.

And you may find you have enough nitrogen about half way through flower and need to cut way back on grow nutes. Then a bloom formula can come in handy.

I try to only fertilize what they need and err on underfeeding. Easier to correct than over feeding.

Ok, I will back off on the feeding in veg for now, since they were just transplanted into the 5-gallon pots. I’d like to keep at least 3 of the 6 in veg for awhile. How many weeks can I go before they would need feeding? Or none at all? I would rather not feed and also err on the side of underfeeding. My bf wanted me to feed because of some yellow/brown on the lower leaves. I won’t feed anymore....

 

[Kushy Tushy]

Also, the temperature is getting lower in here.....but not 75 yet.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Ok, I will back off on the feeding in veg for now, since they were just transplanted into the 5-gallon pots. I’d like to keep at least 3 of the 6 in veg for awhile. How many weeks can I go before they would need feeding? Or none at all? I would rather not feed and also err on the side of underfeeding. My bf wanted me to feed because of some yellow/brown on the lower leaves. I won’t feed anymore....View attachment 877242View attachment 877243View attachment 877244

What soil did you transplant into? If like pro mix and has no nutrients you need to keep fertilizing. If like ocean forest it could feed them 2-3 weeks easy in that pot. Not sure what caused the lower leaf burn. But looks otherwise healthy.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Also, the temperature is getting lower in here.....but not 75 yet.View attachment 877245

77 is fine even a little more but only if no heat stress is showing.

 

[Minitiger]

Thanks for the kind words! Gonna work on the light issue with the A/C.......and it’s cool to hear how everyone does training differently. I guess it’s just doing it the first time that’s the hardest. Don’t wanna mess it up!

Dude, for real, it’s pretty friggin’ hard to “mess it up.” It is a weed, after all. I subscribe to the “less is more” style of growing and it’s never done me wrong. My last grow was the only one where, against my better judgment, I went,”Okay, I’m gonna go with buildasoil’s recommendations,” and it just turned my grow gnarly and disappointing. Never again. Usually, I just go with my instincts and it works out well. Just remember, if you think you need to add something, don’t haha.

As far as mulch, I usually use barley mulch, but this run I’m using a mix of some old barley I had sitting around and some bark mulch. This is the last time I’ll be using barley at all. Shit’s annoying, it’s not very heavy, my fans blow it around and I end up with a bunch of mulch scattered around my tent. I’m super-OCD when it comes to my grows, so having mulch blowing around my tent drives me fucking crazy. But you can use whatever. You could even use the perlite your mixing into your soil right on top of the dirt, like about two inches worth.

The reason you don’t want your dirt to dry out is the same as the reason you don’t want YOU to dry out. What would you rather do? Drink a shitload of water and then wait a few days to drink some more water? Or stay consistently hydrated? I water every other day and that’s fine. I’m not too too sure how you’re growing, but the way I grow, totally organic, the last thing you want is for your soil to be drying out. It’s best to keep everything consistent.

Regarding “feeding”: I don’t know what Botanicare pro grow is. I grow completely organic and don’t really “feed” at all. Maybe just a sprouted seed tea and some fulvic acid here and there. But remember, all of these “weed growin’” companies are just trying to sell you more shit, so if nothing else, I’d maybe cut the application rates of what you’re using in half of the recommended. Even with the stuff I add to my water, I always go with about half of what the manufacturer recommends and my grows always turn out fucking stellar haha!

 

[Minitiger]

So do you top them because of space requirements in your tent, or does topping encourage root growth? Or does topping provide desirable shape of plant? Just wondering about reasons why people are topping.....

Typically, people top because it increases the yields. Instead of one big-ass cola, you get two. But it really depends on the genetics of whatever you’re growing. I ALWAYS top, without fail, but this run I’m growing a couple Apollo 11’s that I didn’t top. And that’s because the last time I grew them, a few years ago, I did top them and it was obvious that they wanted to grow as a single-cola-type plant. It really is just a genetics thing. Some plants wanna get topped, some don’t. You’re growing a couple GSC’s, right? I don’t have any experience with GSC, but if I had to guess, I’d say top away. From what I’ve read, it’s a pretty low-yielding strain, so you probably wanna do your best to maximize yields. Top, bend, tie down etc etc.....

 

[Kushy Tushy]

What soil did you transplant into? If like pro mix and has no nutrients you need to keep fertilizing. If like ocean forest it could feed them 2-3 weeks easy in that pot. Not sure what caused the lower leaf burn. But looks otherwise healthy.

Happy Frog with added perlite