Schwer's First Grow Evah! Planning, Prep and Grow

[early168]

Let me say I easily water properly in scrog and I do multiple tops as well and you have until pre flower before stems and branches harden to do scrog the whole achievement is upside down pyramid growth instead of traditional pyramid style of growing

 

[early168]

Looks like we're off to an okay start.

Temps and humidity have been pretty easy to manage so far, though I can already tell I'm going to need to pick up a dehumidifier for the room down the road. We've had a couple of days here where its hovered around 60%.

The window vent arrived and it looks great! Unfortunately I'm a jackass and ordered a 4" instead of a 6", so the 4" is being returned and the 6" is already on its way. For the time being I'll just continue venting back into the grow room. That's still not a big deal and won't be until I crank up the lights.

As for these little guys, I probably should have just started them out in the Solo cups as they're just about to outgrow their little dome anyway. Maybe I'll carefully move them into cups today or tomorrow.

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And I never do solo cups I use the peat pods keeps your ph balanced while your seedling is getting strength and it’s gonna blend in perfectly with your organic soil so all you have to do is drop the pod directly in your soil and water around the roots so they will reach out stretch and grow looking for moisture basically watering on the borders of the pot

 

[Schwer]

Let me say I easily water properly in scrog and I do multiple tops as well and you have until pre flower before stems and branches harden to do scrog the whole achievement is upside down pyramid growth instead of traditional pyramid style of growing

Fair enough, and thanks for the replies, man. I do have a scrog net in case I decide to give it a try as the grow progresses. I plan to do some LST, topping and whatever else I feel comfortable with along the way. I have a tendency to go too far so I'm trying to fight that urge and keep things extra simple until I get my sea legs. This grow is really just for me, so no need to go over the top anyway except for the fun of seeing those yields.

And I never do solo cups I use the peat pods keeps your ph balanced while your seedling is getting strength and it’s gonna blend in perfectly with your organic soil so all you have to do is drop the pod directly in your soil and water around the roots so they will reach out stretch and grow looking for moisture basically watering on the borders of the pot

So you skip the solo cups and just put the peat pods seedlings directly into their first/last pot? How long could I really let them go in those tiny peat pods before transferring? I ask because I figured the Stoneington's might be a bit much right now. I was just going to use a basic seed starting mix with a some EWC and extra vermiculite for the Solo cups.

Also, I already went to all the effort of cutting holes in both clear plastic and opaque solo cups so I could plastic out of the opaque and check root progression.

 

[Smithers]

I make a miniature scrog above some stakes for each pot, individual to each pot. I use a 2”x3” wire mesh I had a big roll of, rabbit fencing. I ziptied a 12”x16” rectangle flat to 4 stakes 18” long at the quadrants while in veg. It’s about to need another layer on 4’ stakes now that I’ve up-potted to 5 gallons. About to stretch this week.

I like rotating the plants and being able to take them out if needed as some people do, it’s getting to be a tight fit tho. I’m making it up, but my training is a combination of a few approaches.

 

[Smithers]

Fair enough, and thanks for the replies, man. I do have a scrog net in case I decide to give it a try as the grow progresses. I plan to do some LST, topping and whatever else I feel comfortable with along the way. I have a tendency to go too far so I'm trying to fight that urge and keep things extra simple until I get my sea legs. This grow is really just for me, so no need to go over the top anyway except for the fun of seeing those yields.



So you skip the solo cups and just put the peat pods seedlings directly into their first/last pot? How long could I really let them go in those tiny peat pods before transferring? I ask because I figured the Stoneington's might be a bit much right now. I was just going to use a basic seed starting mix with a some EWC and extra vermiculite for the Solo cups.

Also, I already went to all the effort of cutting holes in both clear plastic and opaque solo cups so I could plastic out of the opaque and check root progression.

I plant my seeds out of the paper towel bag into solo cups with the slits at the bottom. The shape is really good for seed roots to develop deep, and you can stamp an imprint of the cup into your bigger pot and fill around it before transplant to make it super easy to insert the seedling into the molded space without disturbing the root. Drops in the hole for a quick tamp down.

 

[Schwer]

I plant my seeds out of the paper towel bag into solo cups with the slits at the bottom. The shape is really good for seed roots to develop deep, and you can stamp an imprint of the cup into your bigger pot and fill around it before transplant to make it super easy to insert the seedling into the molded space without disturbing the root. Drops in the hole for a quick tamp down.

Yeah, that's what I was planning so I'll stop second guessing myself and just carefully replant those seedlings into the Solo cups.

Also, any idea what, if anything, constitutes a promising looking seedling? I need to play FMK with each of these trios shortly.

 

[early168]

Fair enough, and thanks for the replies, man. I do have a scrog net in case I decide to give it a try as the grow progresses. I plan to do some LST, topping and whatever else I feel comfortable with along the way. I have a tendency to go too far so I'm trying to fight that urge and keep things extra simple until I get my sea legs. This grow is really just for me, so no need to go over the top anyway except for the fun of seeing those yields.



So you skip the solo cups and just put the peat pods seedlings directly into their first/last pot? How long could I really let them go in those tiny peat pods before transferring? I ask because I figured the Stoneington's might be a bit much right now. I was just going to use a basic seed starting mix with a some EWC and extra vermiculite for the Solo cups.

Also, I already went to all the effort of cutting holes in both clear plastic and opaque solo cups so I could plastic out of the opaque and check root progression.

Yeah but not in the final pots unless they’re autos and When the roots start pushing pushing out is usually when I transfer

 

[Smithers]

I do cracked seed to solo cup. When they are about 8” or so tall I put them into 1 gallon fabric pots by forming a solo cup mold in the soil like I said above. Saw that on the farm here, but can’t remember what thread it was.

After 2-4 weeks in the 1 gallon pots, I cut the fabric pot all the way off with scissors and transplant the undisturbed rootball into a 3 gallon, sometimes over again same later to a 5 gallon. If you don’t wait long enough, the rootball falls apart when you try to move it, from my experience. And if you pot up to a hug pot with a tiny plant, it’s much harder to control moisture in the soil in a stable way.

IMO, I cannot easily transplant out of fabric pots without opening them up with scissors, so I sacrifice them. I think they make Velcro ones for that.

As for the fmk, I think you got a month+ before they are big enough to know about gender. Are they regs or fem seeds?

 

[Schwer]

I do cracked seed to solo cup. When they are about 8” or so tall I put them into 1 gallon fabric pots by forming a solo cup mold in the soil like I said above. Saw that on the farm here, but can’t remember what thread it was.

After 2-4 weeks in the 1 gallon pots, I cut the fabric pot all the way off with scissors and transplant the undisturbed rootball into a 3 gallon, sometimes over again same later to a 5 gallon. If you don’t wait long enough, the rootball falls apart when you try to move it, from my experience. And if you pot up to a hug pot with a tiny plant, it’s much harder to control moisture in the soil in a stable way.

IMO, I cannot easily transplant out of fabric pots without opening them up with scissors, so I sacrifice them. I think they make Velcro ones for that.

As for the fmk, I think you got a month+ before they are big enough to know about gender. Are they regs or fem seeds?

They are fem seeds, and the plan that you laid out is pretty much what I was originally going to go with with the exception of the 3gal step. I'm going to try going right from 1 gal to the 5 gal after this stage. Good stuff! Oh, and I did get the velcro setup on my 1 gal pots so there is that.

As for my seedlings, I put them in their Solo homes last night.

 

[Schwer]

Hey guys,

That window vent I ordered arrived today (in the correct size this time) so I went ahead and installed it in the room. Its just a hooded vent hole with a spring-loaded flap, so I'm glad to see they included a wire mesh you can stick in there to keep out the critters. The damn birds are always trying to get in my dryer vent and I don't need them here too. I also added a layer of insulating foam around the edges and I might insulate the back-plating if I end up making this more of a permanent solution. It will be interesting to see how venting outside impacts my ability to maintain humidity around 70%. Here are the promised pics...

Here's a pic of my spare-bed-room-turned-grow-room. Sorry for the quality; It was dark and I was trying panoramic mode and this is the vomit my camera gave me in return. Still, you get the idea. I have my two little fold-out tables that happen to look huge, A/C in one window, exhaust vent in the other, intake vent near the floor with one of those shroom filters and then odds and ends all over the place.

And here's a pic of the wee ones today at about a week since germination. Don't mind that poor wonky bastard on the back left. First I sheered off its tap root when trying to remove the peat pod wrapping, and then I dropped its cup on the floor the night before last because I'm an idiot. I'd say its doing rather well all things considered.

I raised my lights a bit to compensate for the weeks growth while keeping PPFD around 200 at the leaves. The seedlings are getting a tiny indirect breeze thanks to the two fans in my tent, but one of those fans decided to stop oscillating so now its my new stationary fan. Any replacement fan recommendations? I'm willing to settle for 75% reliability, lol.

I suppose everything else is going fine! I will report back throughout the week or at the next catastrophe.

 

[Schwer]

I was able to spend some quality time with the kids today.

Everything seems to be okay. Some of the them are looking a little yellow but that could be my lights or my imagination. I did raise the LED's again this morning in an effort to keep the PPM at leaf height right around 200. Other than that I'm just watering with RO about once every other day, though I did switch from my spray bottle to an actual watering container since they're starting to establish deeper roots.

We've had quite the heat wave (along with the rest of the country) and I'm pleased to say it didn't stress the setup thanks to that window AC I tossed in the room. Temps have been hovering between 70 and 75F (~21-24C) and humidity in the tent has ranged between 60 and 75. Its been a little more difficult maintaining humidity in the room now that I'm exhausting directly outdoors but its still manageable.

Unless anyone sees anything I should address I just plan to keep watering and monitoring until those roots look like they're ready to transfer.

 

[Schwer]

2 Weeks since putting seed to soil. I guess I'll give them a few more days in the solo cups based on the look of the roots.

So pretty!

 

[Frankster]

They are fem seeds, and the plan that you laid out is pretty much what I was originally going to go with with the exception of the 3gal step. I'm going to try going right from 1 gal to the 5 gal after this stage. Good stuff! Oh, and I did get the velcro setup on my 1 gal pots so there is that.

As for my seedlings, I put them in their Solo homes last night.

View attachment 1139755

I think that's a pretty fair plan. I go from shot glasses into solo's, then from solo's into gallons, from gallons into whatever. But I wouldn't go over say 5-7 gallons between the next step. The more you pot up, the overall denser your root base should be, all things considered.

Personally. I didn't read all though the thread here, but if your doing this inside, I think 3 gallon pots are more than sufficient for almost any indoor organic grow.

 

[FourPlants]

Saying hello and keeping and eye on your grow. Fellow Virginian and first time grower

 

[Schwer]

I think that's a pretty fair plan. I go from shot glasses into solo's, then from solo's into gallons, from gallons into whatever. But I wouldn't go over say 5-7 gallons between the next step. The more you pot up, the overall denser your root base should be, all things considered.

Personally. I didn't read all though the thread here, but if your doing this inside, I think 3 gallon pots are more than sufficient for almost any indoor organic grow.

Thanks! Yes, this is an indoor grow in a 4x4 tent. This time around I plan to pot up to the 1gal fabric pots and then some 5 gals to finish as that's already what I've purchased. You're probably right about the 3 gallon pots though. Maybe I can try that on my second grow. Thanks!

Saying hello and keeping and eye on your grow. Fellow Virginian and first time grower

Awesome! I'm so happy for VA. Its still hard to believe I'm growing my own marijuana in the house and its totally legal. I know I've said it on here before, but I always thought VA would be among the last handful of states to legalize and here we are the first in the South!

I look forward to watching your grow as well.

 

[Schwer]

Okay friends, its time to make some tough decisions. I'm pretty certain that 4 plants in 5 gal pots is more than enough for my 4x4 so two of these ladies will probably have to go. To make this decision that much harder I've gone ahead and named them after some of my favorite cartoon moms and wives.

To my untrained eye they're all looking pretty good. Left 3 are Blackberry Kush, right 3 are Grand Daddy Purple.

Peggy is definitely the runt of the litter and she was the only one with any significant differences in appearance (smaller but deeper ridges in the leaves). She's kind of interesting.

Wilma is the 2nd smallest but that's likely because she's the one that lost her tap root and then fell to the floor. Sorry, Wilma.

Marge, Jane, Beth and Lois and all looking about the same, so they're probably my favorites for the final four.

Now with that being said, I do have 5 of the one-gal pots so I could always eliminate one for now and let the other five party in the tent a little longer.

Any thoughts on who should stay or who should get the axe?

 

[FourPlants]

It looks like you are culling one of each strain, correct? I think you have made good choices with which ones to keep. You may want to consider pushing the two you plan to cull to use as practice for any training or pruning techniques and even some cloning practice.

 

[Schwer]

So what I'm hearing you say is "Why kill those two right now when you can torture them indefinitely?"

You make some good points. There's plenty of room in the tent for the time being so maybe I'll just take all of the girls to the next step and see how it goes. I like the practice idea and I may need them if I keep dropping plants.

Tomorrow morning I'll go ahead and pot-up to the 1 gallons, adjusts, lights and fans, etc.

 

[lvstealth]

put them all in 3 gallon pots and you can have them all in your tent.

i put one in a 7 gallon pot just to see, took over half the tent!

 

[Schwer]

put them all in 3 gallon pots and you can have them all in your tent.

i put one in a 7 gallon pot just to see, took over half the tent!

Well damn, maybe I'll cover all my bases and order some 3 gal pots along with the extra 1 gal I'm picking up. Doing my part to help the economy. heh