Calypso

This grow started uniquely. I grow using topfed DWC in a 10 gallon tub and a LED light (rated 450w, actual ~210w draw on flower setting, ~150 on veg). I have two air stones. I tend to have 6 gallons of water to my reservoir. I grow one plant at a time from seed in my smallish tent in a closet. I don't have AC and I struggle with temperature and ventilation with my current set up. I make it work, but I wish I had better control of my environment as I know how important it is to overall size and quality of your harvest. I had received these genes as part of a recent seed purchase. They are a tough sativa leaning hybrid with a shortish flowering cycle. I was excited to try them. I live in Northern California and our summers have warm days that make it difficult to keep a tent cool if you're running lights during the heat of the day without AC. Nights get down to 50-60F though so running lights 12 hours per day during the nights should work, even during summer when it can be 95F during the day. Summer was coming and I wanted to have a plant already on 12 hours of light rather than a seedling on 18 hours of light when the heat arrived. I was 60 days into an 90 day autoflowering grow when I started the seed in the same tent as the autoflowering plant in full bloom. It also feels like a waste of time to have my whole setup dedicated to tiny seedling for the first 4 weeks of its life when it is only inches tall. I germinated the seed using the paper towel method. Started to crack in about 24 hours and placed her in Rapid Root plugs with the top feeding pump running nutrient rich, oxygenated water onto it after 48 hours. There are some challenges to having two plants in dramatically different stages of their lives in the same tent though. Specifically, ideal number of hours of light, color of light, and strength of light are all different for seedlings and plants in flower. Ideal nutrient mixture and quantities are also different. If I were growing a photoperiod plant and it was in bloom, this wouldn't have worked as the photoperiod plant would have been on 12 hours of light which is not enough for a seedling or a plant in veg. As I was growing an autoflowering plant though, and lights were on for 20 hours per day, this plan stood a chance. Seedlings and plants in veg prefer for a bluish spectrum of light while flowering plants prefer more red. A seedling will still grow fine under the redish spectrum though. Worst case, I just have to veg this girl a little longer until it gets to be the size I want it to be. So the only challenges I had to overcome were different nutrient needs of a seedling and plant in bloom and not frying the seedling with my full strength light on bloom. I used a 2 gallon bucket inside my main reservoir to give this plant its own reservoir with the appropriate level of nutrients for a seedling. The smaller bucket just barely fit under the lid of my main reservoir but it worked. I cut a chunk of its brim out so the air stone line and top feeding pump cord had a way out of the bucket. The bucket was just lined up with the hole in the top of the reservoir where her seed was placed. I also put one of my two air stones in the bucket and left the other air stone in the main reservoir under the plant in bloom. I also needed to mute the light with a glass bowl as I thought my LED light would be too much for a seedling. I used a heavy glass bowl to protect the seedling. Even clear glass blocks some of the light and UV rays. I wasn't sure how heavy of a piece of glass to use so I started with a heavy bowl. After 9 days from seed, everything was working. The seedling was surviving and looked fine. I noticed the smallest amount of stretch so I switched from a heavy bowl to a lighter, clear glass plate. It worked though!