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Howdy yall. Welcome to my bedroom-growroom. I found a great bank, seeds came quick, and the kind folks sent me a freebie! G14 by FastBuds, that's what you will be seeing this grow. I'm choosing this strain because it looks seriously dank, has nothing but high marks in the resiliency category, yields well, and I'm all in. I will build a 2'x3'x4' cabinet to complete my plants life cycle and harvest. The original plan was a strait CFL grow, but I couldn't refuse a bargain on a dimmable/switchable 400W digital ballast/hood kit. Everyone says not to transplant the auto's, so I'll be running this lady in a big ol' 7 gallon sack, filled with coco (my own mix of 25% fine coco, 25% coco crouton, and 50% pearlite). Food will be General Hydroponic's Flora Trio with added calmag courtesy of GH's CaliMagic. Haven't had a chance to call and get a breakdown of my tap water, but it come out about PH7.3@250PPM. This will be fine for sowing in the starter tray, but once feeding begins, distilled water from the grocery will be my go to. My room is cold and dry, the opposite of ideal for seedlings. I run a ceramic heater in the opposite corner of my room, use a heat mat under the starter tray, run a misting humidifier, and keep wet rags hanging around neatly in the closet to dial in. Lights are four 26-watt CFLs, 3 daylight white/6500K and one soft white/3500K. A few days after sprout the HID came in. Once I saw roots poking out the rapid rooter I transplanted into the full size 7 gallon pot and used the opportunity to switch the lights over. Instantly, my heat and humidity problem was reversed. I would have to experiment to see if i could manage the light's heat before lowering it. This grow is off to an exciting start!
Here we go! Week 2. It seems like the lady is really enjoying her spacious pot; However, judging by the rate of nodal development it would seem there is more growth occurring below the coir surface than above. This is probably assisted by plain water feedings. I've heard that the plants can go weeks from seed on nothing but tap water, but I won't be pushing this. It id probably time time to start adapting the seedling to the water soluble nutrients. By the way, it would seem my seedling is beginning to shed her skin. Sort of like the Incredible Hulk tearing his shirt. Is this a normal part of profound stem growth, or am I looking at rot issues? I really believe the former, but maybe she's 1/2 dead already ? :'D
After seeing she took well to the new nutrients, I increased the strength. Watering is easy in the coco but you need to water a lot to leech the substrate. This currently involves a daily gallon of distilled water mixed up to her liking. I am going to assume she is going to be drinking a lot more in the future, but as long as the coco stays wet, one gallon will give me 1/8" in my 21" dia. drip tray of run off which I remove immediately with a turkey baster. Her stem began looking more stable, and with tasty side nodes shooting off, I decided it was time to bend her over to take her for what she's worth! She seems to love it and adjusting her back down is a daily battle.
Week 4 and her lateral branches are all evening up! Looking at other FastBuds diaries, I was expecting to see some flowering tips this week. However in 25 liters of coco so I'm thinking roots are still priority, and I aint mad at it. Nutrient levels are a bit deceiving. A pot this size will need gallons for a proper leech, and I just don't have the means to remove the runoff at this point. Therefore, nutrient levels in the substrate are higher than whats going in. A coco quirk. Also probably not ideal, as toxic imbalances may develop. I will soon straiten out irrigation; more on that to come. Oh and to give credit where it's due, these nutrient levels are coming strait from a fantastic grower, NebulaHaze, who has an awesome project online with free info on everything cannabis cultivation!
With tips everywhere, she's filling out and bolting up to make space for buds this week. To start off I wasn't giving my coco enough water to properly leech it. When I realized last week I may have buildup problems, I began feeding with weak nutrients and flushing the pot with lots of water. This knee jerk response left her lime green, droopy, and hungry. As a revamp to my watering regime, I got a drill pump and a 10gal 'under-bed' tote. I drilled some holes in the tote lid and put my veggies on top of it. This lets me store almost a week of runoff before pumping it out with a drill. For now, I will try feeding transition nutes at a slightly more aggressive rate, but water first with a gallon of PHd tap water. Lights are at 350W. The drill pumps too slow, and there isn't enough space to pour. So for now I am using a 4ft piece of garden hose to water my plants from 1gal jugs via siphon.
This G14 plant is diving into flower head first. It stretched about 6 inches into the light this week and without a solution, it's going to feel the heat up there. Continuing on transition nutrients.
@JUNGLE_B4RNS, I actually thought at this point I wasnt leeching enough while watering. My nutes were building up in the coir and despite using fairly low strength, I thought I was seeing nitrogen claws. Run off PPM was constantly higher than input. I cut it lower and lower, this would turn out to leave her pale and sad. Whatever the case, I give it to FastBuds DNA for her chugging along. I'll fix the irigation problem by adding a drain res. and grabbing a drill pump so I can push more water through this puppy without sitting for hours with a turky baster!
Loving the grow and its inspiring me to set my own up for the first time. I'm setting up my first 2x4 grow tent in the coming weeks. Im worried about temperature control in the tent how do you deal with that?. Also, do you mind sharing your tips for ventilation? Specifically where do you run you vent out to. Is it dangerous to vent the air from the tent into an apartment room? Does it need to go outside the apartment the be safe? Thanks again
MadAgronomist
