Flying High w . Hawk - 2024 Grow Journal

[Hawk518]

Monday, 3/16/24


And so it begins…
Season 2 of Hawk’s Outdoor Adventures.
Please follow along. Any / all help is greatly appreciated!

I’m a newbie living in N. VA. This year I’m going to grow 4 plants. Two Photo Fems and two Auto Fems. One photo will be planted into the ground. The other 3 will be planted in fabric grow pots. The Photo will get a 20 gallon and the two Autos will get either 7 or 10 gallon fabric grow pots.

Hawk's Outdoor Grow Journal – 2024​

Strains:
4 Kingdoms – Feminized – Photo - Sativa
Short Nepali – Feminized – Auto - Hybrid
Blueberry Glue – Feminized – Auto - Hybrid
CBD Critical Mass – Feminized – Photo - Indica leaning Hybrid

Indoor / Outdoor:
Will start indoors and then move them Outdoors. Three will be planted in soil in fabric grow pots and one will be planted in the ground.

Current Stage:
Started germination on 3/18/24. Placed two in cups of water and the other two on wet paper towels. Planning on putting them into rockwool cubes once they have tap roots.


All seeds were won from The Vault.
Thank you!!

 

[Hawk518]

3/19/24 - FINALLY pulled the trigger and bought a Vivosun 48″ x 48″ x 80″ Grow Tent and a Vivosun VS4000 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light Board 400W. Probably way more than I need, but I figure at some point in the near future, I'm going to want to grow four plants during the winter season.

As soon as the seeds become seedlings, I'll place them in the tent.

 

[TopShelfTender]

Sounds like you've got a solid plan, @Hawk518 ! Can't wait to see how those strains turn out. Have you thought about any specific nutrients or soil amendments for your grow?

 

[Hawk518]

3/20/24
Placed the two seeds in cups onto wet paper towels. The Short Nepali and 4Kingdom seeds have tiny tap roots visible.


3/21/24
Placed the two seeds without tap roots on a heating mat. Hopefully, this will help them pop.

 

[Hawk518]

Have you thought about any specific nutrients or soil amendments for your grow?

I used the GeoFlora Veg and Bloom last year. Will use them again this season. Also, have a couple other items that can be used: CalMag, Sea Kelp Extract, MegaCrop, Sweet Candy.

Still unsure about when to use the Sea Kelp Extract. Will have to do some research. Think I got it thru some kind of promotion last year.

 

[Hawk518]

3/22/24
The Short Nepali and 4Kingdom seeds have tap roots big enough to plant in the rockwool cubes. The other two are still on the heating mat at 72 degrees. The CBD Critical Mass is just starting to crack open. Still nothing from the Blueberry Glue auto. Will plant at least the SN and 4K in the cubes tomorrow morning.

Q: Once the autos have established roots in the rockwool cubes, should they get planted in a 7 or 10 gallon fabric grow pot? They’ll start out in a tent before being moved outside.

The 3rd picture is the CBD Critical Mass seed.

 

[Hawk518]

3/23/24
Broke off 4 rockwool cubes and soaked them in distilled water. Three of the seeds have decent sized taproots. The Blueberry Glue auto still hasn’t cracked open. Planted the 4 seeds in the rockwool cubes and placed them in a humidity dome tray. Added more distilled water to the tray. Placed the seedling tray on a heating mat set to 78 degrees. Is 78 a good temp or should I be making it warmer? Misted the humidity dome top and covered the seeds. Put my temporary LED lights just above the seeds and set it to an 18/6 light cycle. Will transfer the heating mat and humidity dome into a 4x4 tent w. a real LED light on Tuesday when my new equipment arrives.

Have I forgotten anything else that I need to do? At what point do I give up on the seed that hasn’t popped and start up a new one? Luckily, I have a couple more seeds of the Blueberry Glue auto strain that I could try...

 

[Hawk518]

3/24/24
Seeds planted in rockwool cubes for less than 24 hours and already two of the seedlings have broken thru the surface. Wow – didn’t expect it so quickly! I’m beginning to think that I’m going to have to start germinating another Blueberry Glue seed. If this doesn’t pop, it will be the first time I’ve had a dud seed. I’m still hoping, but it isn’t looking promising…

 

[Hawk518]

3/26/24
Nothing new to report. Still have two seedlings that haven’t broken the surface yet. If the Blueberry Glue doesn’t show something by tomorrow, I’m starting up another seed.

The Vivosun 4x4 grow tent and the 400W Vivosun LED light arrived today.

 

[Hawk518]

3/27/24
The 4Kingdoms seedling has broken the surface. Still nothing from the Blueberry Glue, so dropped another seed into a shot glass of water.

 

[Hawk518]

3/28/24
Watered the rockwool cubes. Still nothing from the Blueberry Glue seed.

Placed Blueberry Glue seed #2 on a wet paper towel. Really hope this one pops!

 

[Hawk518]

3/30/24
Blueberry Glue seed #2 has finally popped and has a small taproot. Will keep it in the damp paper towels til taproot is longer and then plant it in one of the rockwool cubes.

Had hoped to set up the tent / light today, but tweaked my back. If I still can't move tomorrow, I'm going to ask my wife to set it up for me.

 

[Hawk518]

3/31/24
Blueberry Glue seed #2 has a taproot long enough to plant in the rockwool cube.

Opened the slots a little on the humidity dome. Not sure when to remove the humidity dome.

Tried to help my wife set up the grow tent – but who am I kidding, she did 90% of the work. Added a bit of growth hormone to the rockwool cube and planted BBG#2. Examined BBG#1 – still not popped. Tried making a tiny cut to the seed to crack the shell so that the tap root might start up. May have killed it, but nothing was happening otherwise. Noticed that the seed shell was stuck on the CBD Critical Mass, so removed it. Placed the heating matt and the humidity dome in the tent. Set the light at 24” above the dome and at 50%. The light is on an 18/6 hour schedule. No air filtration in the tent at the moment. No need since seedlings are in the dome.

Debating trying to sell my new Spider Farmer 6” fan / carbon filter and buying the same thing from Vivosun. That way I can put the entire system on a smart controller which would then run the light, fan, filter and whatever else I might buy. Crazy??

 

[Hawk518]

Some newbie questions since this is the first time I’m using a tent and a real LED light. I’ve got seedlings in a humidity dome. Started germinating on 3/18. My 400w LED light is 24 inches above and dimmed to 50%. What temp / humidity is best for seedlings? When I checked online, I’ve seen quite a range. Also, at what point do you take the humidity dome off?

 

[Hawk518]

4/1/24
Was extremely surprised to find that the inside of the humidity dome was WAY too hot (about 90 degrees), even though the heating mat was set at 78. Removed the heating mat and will check again to see if the temp has dropped to a proper temp.

Checked a couple hours later – Temp at 87 and RH at 77%. Dimmed the light a bit more.

 

[Hawk518]

4/2/24
Added some water to the propagation tray. Temp and RH seemed to be ok. Turned the light from 25% back to 50%. Looks like the BBG#2 seed has broken the surface.

Still nothing from BBG#1…

 

[Hawk518]

4/4/24
Still trying to get temperature / humidity set. Right now it's all over the place!

Turned LED back from 25% to 50%. Took off the humidity dome. Watered the rockwool cubes.

When checked it again a few hours later, the humidity had dropped quite a bit and the temp had risen quite a bit! Will have to set up the humidifier in the tent. And a fan.

 

[ChuckFinnl3y]

Some newbie questions since this is the first time I’m using a tent and a real LED light. I’ve got seedlings in a humidity dome. Started germinating on 3/18. My 400w LED light is 24 inches above and dimmed to 50%. What temp / humidity is best for seedlings? When I checked online, I’ve seen quite a range. Also, at what point do you take the humidity dome off?

For short, after sprouting better to remove the dome early on than to leave it on for too long.

What it boils down to is, the longer you leave the Dome on the less root developelemt you'll have and the more water will be retained in the Medium as plants drink from the leaves/air rather than using its roots to suck up water. Which in return can slow down its growing process if the Roots are not well established.
Ive just tested this, though with Chillis, and exposed 3 trays to gruadually more Humidity which just eguals to leaving on the dome for longer/not opening the top holes. And the ones that "done best" are the ones where i opend the Top holes right after Sprouting and removed the Dome a few days later. The other two that where exposed to more humidity where noticable shorter and the one with the dome on the longest had next to no extra roots developed. Can get into more detail how long they where under the domes/had the holes closed if you want. But long story short the (very) high humidity is just there to help the germination process and make the seedlings sprout after that its better to provide the needed Water through its Medium to promote root growth.

Sorry bout the long text, and if your already aware of it as you seem to be here for some time and prob. more experienced than me but i always need to know why X needs Y or behaves the way it does and try to answer questions the way i would undestand it best.

 

[ChuckFinnl3y]

4/4/24
Still trying to get temperature / humidity set. Right now it's all over the place!

Turned LED back from 25% to 50%. Took off the humidity dome. Watered the rockwool cubes.

When checked it again a few hours later, the humidity had dropped quite a bit and the temp had risen quite a bit! Will have to set up the humidifier in the tent. And a fan.

View attachment 2147317View attachment 2147318

I noticed your Thermostat seem to have a probe thats under the Tray at the moment right?

Might have to check if it holds true for Rockwool but i put my probe into an empty spot, filled it with my Medium and put the probe inside.
Was worried about grilling my Seeds as that seem to be an beginner error and it went pretty well this way and just fluactuated about 3 degress.
If your doing this for longer, might have to replace the Rockwool if you have the feeling its noticeable more moist than the ones with Seed/lings in there.

As a side note, i would also remove the water from the Feeding tray once the Cubes are soaked enough if you hadnt planned that already.

 

[Hawk518]

Sorry bout the long text, and if your already aware of it as you seem to be here for some time and prob. more experienced than me but i always need to know why X needs Y or behaves the way it does and try to answer questions the way i would undestand it best.

No apologies needed. Love the input! Thanks!!
I'm a newbie - started my first grow season late last April.

I noticed your Thermostat seem to have a probe thats under the Tray at the moment right?

Thanks! First time using a heating mat and just kept the thermostat on the mat itself til my wife asked what the hell I was doing and fixed it!

As a side note, i would also remove the water from the Feeding tray once the Cubes are soaked enough if you hadnt planned that already.

Great advice! Done!


Thanks for your comments.
Really appreciate any / all advice!!