First time grower, have some questions

elusiveshame · Dec 9, 2022

Not much to report. Still growing, still not seeing bananas, so hopefully I’m still good :)

Aside from the plants, I decided to finish up a room in my basement. The previous owners had started building what I assume was going to be another bathroom, but only got as far as putting up 3 walls (one of them had a door put in). There’s also an outlet in there.

So far I’ve put up the 4th wall, and I’m 90% done with ceiling. Tomorrow I need to pick up some dry wall tape and door weather stripping since light comes in through the outline of it.

My intent was to use it as a drying room / harvest room, but what am I going to do with it when I’m not drying or harvesting? I ordered another grow light for it for that purpose so I can do continuous grows.

I have a fan, an extra humidifier, and all I would need is an outlet controlled hygrometer at this point.

How important is a filter and an exhaust fan? The room is 5.5x5.5 and I don’t intend on there being a dark period in there, so I can always open the door for a few minutes to get some fresh air in.

elusiveshame · Dec 9, 2022

WoltFeinstein said:
Good question, I also want to know the answer

I just ended up ordering one off amazon for $80 for a 6" filter + fan kit. After googling it, the consensus is that it's not necessary, but it will prevent/reduce the smell from escaping the room, as well as help keep other pathogens and spores out of there.

RootsRuler · Dec 9, 2022

Moving air is essential to a good grow. Not critical but I would not do one without it.

sambapati · Dec 9, 2022

RootsRuler said:
Moving air is essential to a good grow. Not critical but I would not do one without it.

Agree with @RootsRuler -- particularly if you use the room for drying, gotta have ventilation good air in et al.

Buzzy12 · Dec 10, 2022

elusiveshame said:
How important is a filter and an exhaust fan? The room is 5.5x5.5 and I don’t intend on there being a dark period in there, so I can always open the door for a few minutes to get some fresh air in.

The filter and exhaust fan are not nearly as important as fans keeping consistent airflow. Having the air from inside the room pass through the carbon filter and exhausted out will help reduce the smell and possibly provide better environmental controls in the room if there are no vents at all. I typically leave a few vents open or closed on my tents to help regulate the environment depending on what is needed. It sounds like that room won't have any vents so it probably would be smart to set up an exhaust fan.

What do you mean by "you don't intend on there being a dark period in there"? Even if it's being used as a Veg room when you're not using it as a drying room there should be some dark period. Lights on all the time is just a waste of electricity/money. The plants need rest.

elusiveshame · Dec 10, 2022

Buzzy12 said:
The filter and exhaust fan are not nearly as important as fans keeping consistent airflow. Having the air from inside the room pass through the carbon filter and exhausted out will help reduce the smell and possibly provide better environmental controls in the room if there are no vents at all. I typically leave a few vents open or closed on my tents to help regulate the environment depending on what is needed. It sounds like that room won't have any vents so it probably would be smart to set up an exhaust fan.

What do you mean by "you don't intend on there being a dark period in there"? Even if it's being used as a Veg room when you're not using it as a drying room there should be some dark period. Lights on all the time is just a waste of electricity/money. The plants need rest.

I mean that I’m not planning on using that room for flowering, at least on photos, so if there is any light leaks, I’m not too worried about it.

But I found a bunch of Mylar sheets for cheap on Amazon, so I’m going to line the walls with it, which will block any leaks.

As the the light, I’m not going to run it 24/7, but will keep it on a 18/6 schedule.

RootsRuler · Dec 10, 2022

elusiveshame said:
But I found a bunch of Mylar sheets for cheap on Amazon, so I’m going to line the walls with it, which will block any leaks.

Panda Film is cheap and will block out light. A roll of Gorilla tape for light leak sealing.

elusiveshame · Dec 10, 2022

RootsRuler said:
Panda Film is cheap and will block out light. A roll of Gorilla tape for light leak sealing.

It was $8 for 6 Mylar sheets that are about 6.5’ x 4.25’, which should be enough to cover all of the walls.

There’s 1 light leak that I’ll need to use gorilla tape for (thanks for that suggestion as I have some laying around), otherwise it’s just the door that needs weather stripping. I think I’ll need the Mylar anyway as it’s a bunch of unpainted drywall, so the light won’t reflect that well.

RootsRuler · Dec 10, 2022

I would suggest you use the panda film mostly because you can seal it all up with a piece of continuous plastic eliminating the amount of seams that can leak. If reflectivity is what you're after then Mylar wins.

elusiveshame · Dec 12, 2022

My plants are now in week 7 of flowering:

Trichomes are about 80% cloudy and 20% clear. Some leaves are starting to fade. I think I’ll be either reducing the nutrients to half dosages this week then straight water next week, or just going straight water until the end.

JerzeyMike · Dec 12, 2022

Looking good man! You're right around the corner now. Christmas crops!

elusiveshame · Dec 12, 2022

JerzeyMike said:
Looking good man! You're right around the corner now. Christmas crops!

Hell yeah. Might be a New Years celebration haha

sambapati · Dec 12, 2022

elusiveshame said:
My plants are now in week 7 of flowering:

View attachment 1310610 View attachment 1310608
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Trichomes are about 80% cloudy and 20% clear. Some leaves are starting to fade. I think I’ll be either reducing the nutrients to half dosages this week then straight water next week, or just going straight water until the end.

Straight water sounds right at this point...steady as she goes

elusiveshame · Dec 13, 2022

The leaves are starting to fade (you can see them starting in the right side of the canopy).

Just watered the lower plant with regular tap water + orca/mychorizzae.

The pics:

I spotted a single amber trichome on one of the lower plants buds near the front of the tent.

Getting so excited

elusiveshame · Dec 14, 2022

Today’s pics:

These tomatoes smell funny, but a really good funny.

RootsRuler · Dec 14, 2022

elusiveshame said:
Today’s pics:
View attachment 1311119
View attachment 1311120
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These tomatoes smell funny, but a really good funny.

"Green" Tomatos!!!

elusiveshame · Dec 15, 2022

Today’s pics:

A handful of amber trichomes have appeared on the bottom plant, and no leaf discoloration. Lots of cloudy on the top plant, and leaves are discoloring. Could be nutrient related, could be her sucking the nutrients out of the leaves, or could be something else.

I’m not too concerned at this point since I’m about a week or 2 away from harvest anyway, so if I have to chop a little early it won’t be the end of the world.

elusiveshame · Dec 16, 2022

Just got done watering the indica dominant plant with regular water. Here’s today’s pics:

Amber trichomes are popping up more and more on the sativa hybrid - I’d say about 3-5% at the moment. Ignore the cat hair.

Amber trichs started showing up on the other plant, so maybe around 0.5-1%. The pistils are mainly amber/brown on it now, so that’s a good sign.

I’m heading into week 8 of flower, so the timing seems right to chop next weekend, maybe a few days after.

I’m not seeing any seeds anywhere (though I do see a few nanners that popped up in the last day or 2, but I’m not worrying about them at this point since I doubt they’ll cause any issues in the last week or so), so my pollination attempt doesn’t appear to be successful, but it also seems like the previous nanners that shows up didn’t cause pollination issues (at least from what I can tell).

Getting so close now! I might go lick a sugar leaf.

Madbud · Dec 16, 2022

Really nice looking first grow, well done. I don’t know why more growers don’t use hepa filters for air flow and eliminating mold spores. They won’t help much with odor because the carbon prefilters are too small but very effective for airborn contaminates.
A tip on your first dry and cure, weigh it to know when its dry enough to jar. I put a nice branch in a solo cup, bend it in half if necessary. Weigh it every day, the first day will lose nearly 30%, in a week or thereabouts the weight loss is negligible and its safe to jar, cures around 62% everytime.

elusiveshame · Dec 16, 2022

Madbud said:
Really nice looking first grow, well done. I don’t know why more growers don’t use hepa filters for air flow and eliminating mold spores. They won’t help much with odor because the carbon prefilters are too small but very effective for airborn contaminates.
A tip on your first dry and cure, weigh it to know when its dry enough to jar. I put a nice branch in a solo cup, bend it in half if necessary. Weigh it every day, the first day will lose nearly 30%, in a week or thereabouts the weight loss is negligible and its safe to jar, cures around 62% everytime.

Thanks! I was planning on chopping the base and hanging the entire plant and doing the bend/snap method to see when it's ready. Are you saying to cut one branch, and use that as a guide, and then hang it with the rest?

Also, should I cut all remaining fan leafs off when I chop?

I have grove bags that I'm going to use, and then after a month or so, I'll move them into mason jars.

First time grower, have some questions

First time grower, have some questions

elusiveshame

elusiveshame

RootsRuler

sambapati

Buzzy12

elusiveshame

RootsRuler

elusiveshame

RootsRuler

elusiveshame

JerzeyMike

elusiveshame

sambapati

elusiveshame

elusiveshame

RootsRuler

elusiveshame

elusiveshame

Madbud

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