msp
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Hello, I'm just lurking around since few months ago, not very active in other conversations because I'm not native in English and I don't have much experience with growing.
I asked for help or opinions about the concerns I've had 2 weeks ago in this thread:
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/buds-smell-bad-moldy.112712/ - (buds smell nicer now, smell is not strong but it's more like grapes.)
Good people on this forum helped me and I want to share my experience further and tell about my first grow properly from start.
There are pictures from 15 days ago in the topic above. I don't have any older pictures but I will be recording next grows.
I started my first grow in the end of march, before that I had a lot of time doing my researches while I waited for all the equipment to come.
I'm growing just for hobby and I want to smoke weed that I know is safe for sure.
For me it's fascinating to see the grow of this nice plant, research about different growing methods and put all the new tech in play to gather data, control environment and provide the best possible conditions. I don't grow for anyone but myself and I think I will need to grow for centuries before all the expenses will be covered, so I would be better off buying weed anyway.
Setup:
- Growing 1 plant in 80x80x160cm (31/31/62inch) tent. Mammoth lite 80.
- Using 100w dimmable led light (love the low energy consumption, but it's small and I would need more to cover my tent properly)
- One small and one bigger exhaust fan to provide air circulation, 3x 12v pc fans to move air around. Added carbon filter in early flower.
- I used mini floating humidifiers in early veg and just got mini dehumidifier few days ago.
- Raspberry pi 3B with sensors for temp/humidity (dht22), co2 sensor (ccs811), soil moisture sensor, usb camera, 8 channel relay. All this running simultaneously.
In my case computer collects data, stores it using SQL and uses timestamp to calculate averages, discards bad readings, if there were any and controls relays based on stored data. Running motion detection software, doing snapshots for time lapse and running 3 different terminals with live data from sensors.
- Fabric pot 19l - 5 gal.
Medium:
Plagron Promix 40%
Perlite 20%
Coco coir 30%
Worm castings + Plagron Supermix 10%
Mycotrex from BioTabs
Easy Roots - Mycorrhiza Mix from Royal Queen Seeds
Detail description:
Before I got my tent and all the gear I red a lot about different growing methods and mediums, lights,... I was mostly interested in soil growing..
I germinated some regular non feminised seeds and I had good success. I used small pots with regular composted soil to veg them for few days and never let them grow until I received everything I needed for decent start.
I got my first feminised seeds from local grow shop, went with 3x RQS Royal Dwarf Auto and I got an extra Dinafem Critical + 2.0 auto seed. I tried to germinate royal dwarf seeds, one by one and none germinated. I was using the same method as before with paper towel and aerated tap water, I soaked fist seed in water, put it in dark place and kept about 25-28Ā°C for 24h before putting the seed in soaked paper towel and into a non closed plastic bag for another few days, but Royal dwarfs never sprouted. It could be that local grow shop had old seeds or I was doing something wrong, maybe just bad luck. So wanting just one plant I was trying to germinate for few weeks, sad times. Then I ordered more seeds from RQS directly and tried to sprout that bonus dinafem critical seed. It sprouted in 2 days and I was good to go. I used some old dirt I had from before and some new promix soil I got from plagron, added mychor. I only mixed small amount first one plastic cup, put my spouted seed in, covered with thin layer of soil and after few days I had my first seedling.
Early veg was pretty easy, 18/6h light cycle, exhaust fan was running only 2h/day, I was keeping humidity up with the cheapest floating humidifiers from china. I had my light dimmed to 50% or less to save energy and it was lowered down to 20-30cm on top of the plant, I should have lowered it more because I got some stretching. Watered when cup was light with tap water I let water sit in another cup for a day at least for chlorine to evaporate and was adding liquid kelp 1ml/1l when the plant was getting bigger.
Then I prepared my 19l fabric pot, rinsed coco coir and dried it, mixed my medium, some clay pebbles on the bottom, I added very little mychor because it's kinda expensive and I was so stressed out when transplanting from cup that I forgot to add it on the roots. RQS sold me another pack of companion plants seeds that I planted in the big pot and there was growth before I transplanted from the cup. I had 3 sunflowers, I had no idea what I was doing they were so big that I had to remove them or my Critical + 2.0 would be under the shade. It was nice to look at but I didn't recognize companion seedlings and it was too much diversity for a beginner, also too many plants came out and all stretched too much.
After transplantation I could recognize some of the companion plants, there was a lot of clover very tall plants and too many of them so I was removing a lot during that time. My main plant was doing pretty good I think, I went outside my organic standards and used my first sensi cal+mag extra 2ml with 2l of water. I started using air pumps to help me with chlorine in tap water and sometimes I would use ph -. My tap water is at about 7,4 ph and 1 drop of P acid based ph - from plagron would down it to 6,8 in 1l water, but I don't think it did any good so I rarely use it anymore, I was thinking it would be good because of coco coir in my soil. Besides that I was only using small amount of liquid seaweed. As the plant got bigger I used low stress training to control the height and to fill out my tent. I brewed my first compost tea using worm castings and liquid kelp, everything was nice and small I had a lot of space in my tent and I was bored. So new seeds arrived and I germinated some more, 2/3 RQS Critical autos and 1/1 RQS Royal Medic sprouted and I put the Medic in the same pot as main plant, 2 RQS autos in separate 10l fabric pots without companion plants, and less coco coir. I forgot mychor again.
Then my main plant started to enter flowering stage and it stretched. In few weeks I knew I was gonna have too little space for 4 plants. I also removed most of the companion plants from the main pot and defoliated Critical + 2.0 a little. I left leaves on top of the soil and started using 1ml of Plagron Alga Bloom. I added another 2ml dose of calmag over time, I never mixed ferts but rather used them over time 1 by 1. Sometimes I would notice adult fungus gnats and I removed dead leaves on top of the soil, let the soil dry out between watering and I didn't see them anymore. Since RQS royal medic was photoperiod I could top it quick and then again all 3 tops, is still pretty small now compared to RQS Criticals, one of Criticals already entered flowering and is pretty healthy, the other one I had to LST alot and will be maybe 1 week slower to hit bloom, both have been in the shades and never seen real light because first plant is too big.I increased the light dimmer to 70%, brewed another bigger amount of compost tea and added 1 spoon of unsulphured raw molasses and some plagron supermix, wormcastings, liquid kelp... also another dose of calmag in week 1 of flower. Had to defoliate main plant a lot because it was so bushy and I'm also having height problems, I can't raise lights more so I'm tilting main colas away from the center, luckily it don't grow anymore. I added dehumidifier in week 3 of flower, does't do much maybe 2-5% less RH on sensors. And I've been writing diary for a month with detailed info about stuff, sensor data, feeding,... its too hard to keep up and remember everything, soon ill be adding pictures to the same diary. In week 2-3 in flower I also added some sticks to support the plant and used wire around them, had to improvise because no scrog net (it would be so good to do it before flower). I also top dressed with plagron super mix and bat guano mixed with fresh promix soil, just a thin layer worked in top of the soil.
It's probably 4-5 weeks in flower now.
Expecting to finish with first plant in 2-3 weeks and I'm still waiting on magnifying glass from china, can't check trichomes and I never seen them before under scope.... I started adding some plagrons green sensation since 1 week ago I fed 3 times total of 4ml. I'm afraid I noticed flowers too late and I should already be flushing and I plan on feeding sensation green for another week. Hopefully I have full 3 weeks to finish. After first harvest I plan on growing out the royal medic for a week or 2 and then switching 12/12, it shouldn't affect other 2 autos.
What I've learned from the grow, did wrong and will do differently in next grows:
- I thought I could do more than 1 plant but I was wrong, there was enough space for just 1 plant.
- Autoflowers are hard to control, next grows will only include photoperiod seeds so I can top them, know when I put them in flower, take clones,...
- Companion plants were planted too late, I will use less diversity and less seeds maybe only clover and plant it a month before germinating another seed so I see clover flowering.
- 2 plants in the same pot was a mistake, I'm feeding for bloom and my other plant is only in veg.
- Soil mix was too hot and I was feeding nutes on top of that, tips are burnt. Using same soil in next cycle only going to add some more fresh and bigger pot.
Pics:
I asked for help or opinions about the concerns I've had 2 weeks ago in this thread:
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/buds-smell-bad-moldy.112712/ - (buds smell nicer now, smell is not strong but it's more like grapes.)
Good people on this forum helped me and I want to share my experience further and tell about my first grow properly from start.
There are pictures from 15 days ago in the topic above. I don't have any older pictures but I will be recording next grows.
I started my first grow in the end of march, before that I had a lot of time doing my researches while I waited for all the equipment to come.
I'm growing just for hobby and I want to smoke weed that I know is safe for sure.
For me it's fascinating to see the grow of this nice plant, research about different growing methods and put all the new tech in play to gather data, control environment and provide the best possible conditions. I don't grow for anyone but myself and I think I will need to grow for centuries before all the expenses will be covered, so I would be better off buying weed anyway.
Setup:
- Growing 1 plant in 80x80x160cm (31/31/62inch) tent. Mammoth lite 80.
- Using 100w dimmable led light (love the low energy consumption, but it's small and I would need more to cover my tent properly)
- One small and one bigger exhaust fan to provide air circulation, 3x 12v pc fans to move air around. Added carbon filter in early flower.
- I used mini floating humidifiers in early veg and just got mini dehumidifier few days ago.
- Raspberry pi 3B with sensors for temp/humidity (dht22), co2 sensor (ccs811), soil moisture sensor, usb camera, 8 channel relay. All this running simultaneously.
In my case computer collects data, stores it using SQL and uses timestamp to calculate averages, discards bad readings, if there were any and controls relays based on stored data. Running motion detection software, doing snapshots for time lapse and running 3 different terminals with live data from sensors.
- Fabric pot 19l - 5 gal.
Medium:
Plagron Promix 40%
Perlite 20%
Coco coir 30%
Worm castings + Plagron Supermix 10%
Mycotrex from BioTabs
Easy Roots - Mycorrhiza Mix from Royal Queen Seeds
Detail description:
Before I got my tent and all the gear I red a lot about different growing methods and mediums, lights,... I was mostly interested in soil growing..
I germinated some regular non feminised seeds and I had good success. I used small pots with regular composted soil to veg them for few days and never let them grow until I received everything I needed for decent start.
I got my first feminised seeds from local grow shop, went with 3x RQS Royal Dwarf Auto and I got an extra Dinafem Critical + 2.0 auto seed. I tried to germinate royal dwarf seeds, one by one and none germinated. I was using the same method as before with paper towel and aerated tap water, I soaked fist seed in water, put it in dark place and kept about 25-28Ā°C for 24h before putting the seed in soaked paper towel and into a non closed plastic bag for another few days, but Royal dwarfs never sprouted. It could be that local grow shop had old seeds or I was doing something wrong, maybe just bad luck. So wanting just one plant I was trying to germinate for few weeks, sad times. Then I ordered more seeds from RQS directly and tried to sprout that bonus dinafem critical seed. It sprouted in 2 days and I was good to go. I used some old dirt I had from before and some new promix soil I got from plagron, added mychor. I only mixed small amount first one plastic cup, put my spouted seed in, covered with thin layer of soil and after few days I had my first seedling.
Early veg was pretty easy, 18/6h light cycle, exhaust fan was running only 2h/day, I was keeping humidity up with the cheapest floating humidifiers from china. I had my light dimmed to 50% or less to save energy and it was lowered down to 20-30cm on top of the plant, I should have lowered it more because I got some stretching. Watered when cup was light with tap water I let water sit in another cup for a day at least for chlorine to evaporate and was adding liquid kelp 1ml/1l when the plant was getting bigger.
Then I prepared my 19l fabric pot, rinsed coco coir and dried it, mixed my medium, some clay pebbles on the bottom, I added very little mychor because it's kinda expensive and I was so stressed out when transplanting from cup that I forgot to add it on the roots. RQS sold me another pack of companion plants seeds that I planted in the big pot and there was growth before I transplanted from the cup. I had 3 sunflowers, I had no idea what I was doing they were so big that I had to remove them or my Critical + 2.0 would be under the shade. It was nice to look at but I didn't recognize companion seedlings and it was too much diversity for a beginner, also too many plants came out and all stretched too much.
After transplantation I could recognize some of the companion plants, there was a lot of clover very tall plants and too many of them so I was removing a lot during that time. My main plant was doing pretty good I think, I went outside my organic standards and used my first sensi cal+mag extra 2ml with 2l of water. I started using air pumps to help me with chlorine in tap water and sometimes I would use ph -. My tap water is at about 7,4 ph and 1 drop of P acid based ph - from plagron would down it to 6,8 in 1l water, but I don't think it did any good so I rarely use it anymore, I was thinking it would be good because of coco coir in my soil. Besides that I was only using small amount of liquid seaweed. As the plant got bigger I used low stress training to control the height and to fill out my tent. I brewed my first compost tea using worm castings and liquid kelp, everything was nice and small I had a lot of space in my tent and I was bored. So new seeds arrived and I germinated some more, 2/3 RQS Critical autos and 1/1 RQS Royal Medic sprouted and I put the Medic in the same pot as main plant, 2 RQS autos in separate 10l fabric pots without companion plants, and less coco coir. I forgot mychor again.
Then my main plant started to enter flowering stage and it stretched. In few weeks I knew I was gonna have too little space for 4 plants. I also removed most of the companion plants from the main pot and defoliated Critical + 2.0 a little. I left leaves on top of the soil and started using 1ml of Plagron Alga Bloom. I added another 2ml dose of calmag over time, I never mixed ferts but rather used them over time 1 by 1. Sometimes I would notice adult fungus gnats and I removed dead leaves on top of the soil, let the soil dry out between watering and I didn't see them anymore. Since RQS royal medic was photoperiod I could top it quick and then again all 3 tops, is still pretty small now compared to RQS Criticals, one of Criticals already entered flowering and is pretty healthy, the other one I had to LST alot and will be maybe 1 week slower to hit bloom, both have been in the shades and never seen real light because first plant is too big.I increased the light dimmer to 70%, brewed another bigger amount of compost tea and added 1 spoon of unsulphured raw molasses and some plagron supermix, wormcastings, liquid kelp... also another dose of calmag in week 1 of flower. Had to defoliate main plant a lot because it was so bushy and I'm also having height problems, I can't raise lights more so I'm tilting main colas away from the center, luckily it don't grow anymore. I added dehumidifier in week 3 of flower, does't do much maybe 2-5% less RH on sensors. And I've been writing diary for a month with detailed info about stuff, sensor data, feeding,... its too hard to keep up and remember everything, soon ill be adding pictures to the same diary. In week 2-3 in flower I also added some sticks to support the plant and used wire around them, had to improvise because no scrog net (it would be so good to do it before flower). I also top dressed with plagron super mix and bat guano mixed with fresh promix soil, just a thin layer worked in top of the soil.
It's probably 4-5 weeks in flower now.
Expecting to finish with first plant in 2-3 weeks and I'm still waiting on magnifying glass from china, can't check trichomes and I never seen them before under scope.... I started adding some plagrons green sensation since 1 week ago I fed 3 times total of 4ml. I'm afraid I noticed flowers too late and I should already be flushing and I plan on feeding sensation green for another week. Hopefully I have full 3 weeks to finish. After first harvest I plan on growing out the royal medic for a week or 2 and then switching 12/12, it shouldn't affect other 2 autos.
What I've learned from the grow, did wrong and will do differently in next grows:
- I thought I could do more than 1 plant but I was wrong, there was enough space for just 1 plant.
- Autoflowers are hard to control, next grows will only include photoperiod seeds so I can top them, know when I put them in flower, take clones,...
- Companion plants were planted too late, I will use less diversity and less seeds maybe only clover and plant it a month before germinating another seed so I see clover flowering.
- 2 plants in the same pot was a mistake, I'm feeding for bloom and my other plant is only in veg.
- Soil mix was too hot and I was feeding nutes on top of that, tips are burnt. Using same soil in next cycle only going to add some more fresh and bigger pot.
Pics:
