By continuing to use the website or clicking Accept you consent to our cookies and personal data policy and confirm that you are at least 18 year old. For details please see Privacy Policy and Terms
Large edit 11/22/21
First ever tent grow using the Spider Farmer SF2000 4'x2'x6' Grow Tent Kit (plus extras). For my medium I will be using Coast of Maine Stonington Blend Grower's Mix in 5 gallon fabric pots. Comments and recommendations are welcome - I want to document my mistakes and keep improving at this!
Germination Method: Soaked my 3 seeds in a jar of distilled water for 20 hours until gentle tap caused them to drop to the bottom. I then transferred the 3 seeds to damp paper towel and left in a dark closet at 72 degrees. 12 hours later all 3 seeds sprouted and later planted with taproots at 3/4"
Planting Method: Presoaked soil and planted all 3 germinated seeds at 1" deep. Light set to 40% power at 30" above pots. Tried to keep temperature in mid 70's and 70%+ humidity.
Mistake #1: Realized I planted my germinated seeds wayyy to deep, cleared a bit of soil off the top of planting site. Fortunately all 3 seeds sprouted out of the soil after 2-3 days
Helmet head: Middle plant had a helmet head (stuck seed casing). This was stressful, I kept the misting the seedling to soften the seed casing but wasn't confident enough to tweezer the casing off. Found a post about spitting on the seedling since enzymes in saliva can further soften the seed casing. This worked surprisingly well, I was able to easily remove the seed casing with tweezers.
I didn't take many pictures at this stage. All three seedlings are developing well and generating new leaves. Increased light to 50% power at 30" and still running 24 hour light schedule. Plan to switch to 20 hours on 4 hours off soon. Kept the soil around seedlings moist by using a mister and kept humidity in the high range 65%. Added hygrometers just above soil level to get a better sense of actual temperature and humidity the plant is experiencing. It has been taking a lot of small tweaks to keep temperature and humidity consistent but I am slowly learning!
Seedlings are continuing to stack and replicate at this stage, albeit a bit slowly it seems for almost 3 weeks from germination. I'm thinking I was a bit too conservative with the power level on my light but wanted to take a it slowly as figured out how the plants would react to different power levels.
Switched to a 20 on 4 off light schedule and increased power to 70%. Lowering humidity at this stage to about 55%
The left plant appears a bit lighter in the pictures but it is not as dramatic in person.
Started to water a bit more aggressively this week with a full soak from a PH'd watering can every other day. Fortunately fabric pots with a raised tray are very forgiving to over-watering but I'm thinking I need to let the soil dry out more between watering. Learning how to use the "lifting method" to get a sense for how heavy a dry pot is vs a pot still full of moisture.
Applied neem oil as a preventive measure at this stage. Lightly misted all leaves (top and bottom) and the top soil using the directions on my bottle.
Larger update this week:
Reconfigured my tent in several ways, really starting to wish I went with a 4'x4' tent as space is getting pretty tight!
- Lowered light to 24" above canopy and increased power to 80% (picture above taken just before lowering light)
- Added an old android phone and mount as a webcam to monitor tent conditions remotely
- Added a second fan for more air circulation - all 3 plants are gently swaying now
- Opened up side vents and increased intake fan speed to pull more air through the tent. Increasing light intensity has started to increase temperature a bit (78F)
- Testing a blumat watering system for an upcoming Thanksgiving trip - I will be away for approximately 5 days so hoping this can provide enough water while I'm gone. Will resume manual watering after returning from trip
Plant updates
- Nodes seem to be stacking quite well and overall the plants staying short and bushy - curious how much they will stretch in the remaining weeks of veg.
- All 3 plants have popped pistils, hoping I am in the clear for any danger of males!
- Noting a bit of yellowing between the veins of leaves, this has been present since week 1 but starting to notice it more
- Small amount of smell is already present in the tent, hopefully a sign of what's to come!
- Starting to think about utilizing a SCROG net or traditional LST with clips/wires - leaning towards traditional LST as a first time grower.
All three of my plants have light green/yellow streaks in between the veins on the leaves that have been present since about week one (week 3 currently). Could this be a magnesium nutrient deficiency, PH issue, or perhaps just overwatering?
It is a magnesium deficiency. Can also be set on by ph being out of range. But usually there is multiple issues with that. Just never hurts to monitor it. Little cal mag and you will stop the issue. Good luck and happy growing 🌱
11/23: Pre vacation Notes
-Fed calmag dose to all 3 plants to treat mg deficiency
11/28 Post vacation update:
-Not seeing much of a difference of leaf coloration after calmag dose but mg deficiency doesn't seem to be progressing
-Blumats worked perfectly, the 3 plants drank almost 1.5 gallons from the reservoir in 4 days (6.2ph)
-Fed 1/4 cup of Coast of Maine Stonington Blend Plant Food - scratched into soil surface and watered lightly
-Treated plants with last neem oil dose
-Swapped humidifier for dehumidifier, plants are large enough to expel more water from their leaves
-Preflowers are showing on outer 2 plants, middle plant is close. Surprised to see them this early but might have had stress from mg deficiency
-Upped light to 100% power (200 watts)
12/7/21 Update:
-Can't seem to get mag/cal deficiency under control despite calmag feedings (one to soil and one foliar)
-Recalibrated PH tester and found water runoff was out of range (5.8) on outer 2 plants
-Thinking I PH'd my water lower than I thought which was resulting in plant not absorbing mag/cal effectively at the roots
-Right plant has some dark green leaves that are sharply pointed down, possibly nitrogen toxicity?
-Flushed soil with water PH 7 to get soil back into range
-Top dressed 1/4 cup of fish bone meal per plant now that we are into flower
-Middle plant seems happiest with vigorous leaf growth
-Will see if outside plants recover next week
12/13/21 Update:
-Plants showing signs of recovery, new growth looks to be a healthier green color
-Defoliating a bit near the bottoms of the plant, trying to do this gradually since the plants have had a lot of stress already
-Trichomes are starting to form on sugar leaves of outside 2 plants
-Middle plant will definitely fall behind the other 2 but might end up yielding more, tons of viable bud sites
-Right plant still looks likes a freak show
-Fed 1/4 cup of worm castings per plant
12/18/21 Update:
-Didn't record much data this week
-Outer plants are starting to pack on trichomes on upper bud sites
-Rotated outer 2 plants to start getting light to other bud sites
-Middle plant is still filling out like crazy, no trichs yet
-Testing blumats again with raised reservoir, hoping to be away a week for Christmas
-More minor defoliation and leaf-tucking - again trying to minimize stress
12/28/21 Update
-Buds on the outer 2 plants are really starting to fatten up
-Smell is getting very strong when opening the tent
-Added 1/4 cup of bone meal and worm castings top dress
-Still dealing with repercussions of PH and nutrient issues, plants are pretty stunted and don't seem to stretching anymore. But I'll be happy with whatever I get out of these girls
1/4/22 Update:
-Added some calmag to my usual watering
-Raised light a bit to 23"
-Got some quality trichome pictures using macro mode on my iphone
-More defoliation on lower branches and some main stalk fan leaves
1/12/22
-Decided to chop outer 2 plants and convert tent to drying space 60F 55% humidity
-Trichs were mostly cloudy with 10-20% amber
-Middle plant needs more time, moved outside of tent with light to finish out
1/19/22 Update
-Drying is going well, stems are still bendy, no snaps
-Middle plant is bulking up, keeping an eye on trichomes and may experiment with more amber on this one
-Getting ready for curing and excited for the next grow using coco for the first time!
zerotwofive
