Royal Dwarf grow diary (journal) week2 by JuicyFruit

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Jwjohcommentedweek 35 years ago

Re: "tap water", it depends on what you mean. Are you in the city, with chlorine in the water? If so, then you should at least be letting the chlorine evaporate. Are you in a rural area with a well, like me? If so, is your water soft or hard? If it's hard, are you using a softener? If you are using a softener like me, then you are adding bad salts for plants into the tap water. Sometimes I add 15ml of well water into a gallon jug of distilled water to kick in some random nutrients, but if I base my entire watering schedule off it, my plants will die. I'm about to build a still to distill my own water, as I've been paying $1.88 per gallon jug, needing 5 jugs a week. The final piece, a teapot, is literally coming on the slowboat from China... as soon as it gets here I'm going to finish the still and post a pic in one of my diaries. Total cost is about $40... and yeah it adds something else manual to the process, but doesn't take much to boil water in a 1/2 gallon teapot... Re: lighting, I just use full spectrum at all times. The plant will use whatever light it needs and ignore the rest from my experience. 30 years ago I even grew and flowered a plant using nothing but a 2-foot long fluorescent tube. There may be some who argue you can get advantages by using certain light at certain times, but it's definitely not necessary, it's something you can experiment with later on after you grow some plants successfully. Just blast full spectrum on them! If you think about it, the sun is the same colour in the sky in autumn as it is in summer... maybe there's some slight shifts due to the changing angle of sunlight cutting through the atmosphere, but it's still the same star emitting the same stuff. Remember the K.I.S.S. principle in life, which stands for "Keep It Simple, Stupid!" ... the more complicated you try to get, the more variables you have, the more problems you open yourself up to especially without the experience to back it up and fix if things go wrong. In all things, not just farming! :)

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JuicyFruitcommented5 years ago

@Jwjoh, yeah its cool man, any advice is appreciated! and besides i was starting to get worried with no one commenting for this long lol. im going to barcelona in less than a week and il be leaving someone on watering duty until im back! gonna get properly medicated out there and visit an RQS seed store for a laugh hahah. il probs get an RO water system and calmag when i get back from my holiday. Ive got my light hanging at 41 inches and had both switches on for a total of 600w. optimal hang heights have been bothering me as this light is intense, 2500 umols at 18inch directly under... i dont think i can put it below 36 inch tbh lol. Fast eddy definitely likes it and so do the other 2 but even though im running an 8inch can isomax fan at 900m3/hr the passive intake is struggling, temps are reaching 29c max in the tent. (usually 25c max with only LED or COB switched on) on the plus side it heats the house up nicely! i think i need the 6inch 600m3/hr isomax for intake or at least an oscillating fan for inside the tent to deal with hotspots. and yeah now that you mentioned it i think i will grow a photoperiod next time as i was taking a look at sweet zkittlez from RQS, anything with grape and im hooked! 🍇

Jwjohcommented5 years ago

@JuicyFruit, also starting with 3 autoflowering strains is probably not a great idea in all honesty! I picked photoperiod strains because you can take the time to care for them and figure it out. With autoflowering strains, you have (more or less) a set period of time. If you cause your plants any kind of stress, even just transplanting them or trimming a couple fan leaves -- you can stunt their growth and severely reduce or even completely ruin your yield. I'm growing 8 Ball Kush feminized right now as my first grow in decades, which I picked not only because it's my favourite to smoke, but also because it's super easy to grow. It bounces back from everything and is pest resistant, mildew/mold resistant, and other awesome genetics. Going to try Girl Scout Cookies (GSC) feminized next, GSC is apparently extremely easy to grow too. Then your plant flowers when you want it to, instead of racing for the finish line! Also, growing 3 autoflowering strains together, they will likely start and finish flowering at different times. So be ready for that. If your current ones fail, buy a pack of 8 Ball Kush Feminized and grow a couple of those. It's like ultra easy mode (as long as you're paying attention and trying).

Jwjohcommented5 years ago

@JuicyFruit, for one thing, I'm new (again) myself. I grew a few plants decades ago but once I reached the age where I'd get in serious trouble, I decided to stop :P I can give my opinion but just keep in mind I'm no master grower at this point. Just a patient older guy who has grown lots of random stuff over my lifetime. I'm not 100% sure about your water. I think 140ppm would be an acceptable starting point in a typical scenario, HOWEVER because of the chlorine, I'd definitely use bottled Distilled Water (I've read about how chlorine stunts growth, but I have no personal experience with chlorine in water). RO water can contain up to 50ppm. Fresh mountain spring water and carbon filtration are around 50 to 140ppm. Distilled water is close to 0ppm if done right, sometimes there might be a tiny amount of trace elements in it from the equipment it condenses through. Not really sure of the factory process for distilling water. I like it because you start with a blank slate and know EXACTLY what your plants get! Plus there's no bacteria or mold spores etc in it (it's all been boiled and condensed!). One thing to note... For a growing seedling, you might want to keep the light up a little higher -- but if you look up your LED grow lights, you can probably get a PAR chart. You want to place established plants somewhere near that PAR sweet spot. My PAR sweet spot on my 300W LEDs is about 24 inches. Once the plants got really mature they didn't much care any more. I think you have your lighting a bit too far away but of course only you can know that for sure. One more thing about your lighting. I heard that roots grow faster in the dark. I experimented with this with my first and only clones. When left on 24 hours a day they struggled to root and get going. But when I dropped back to 18 they rooted faster. Even now I experiment with the clones as I'm growing them under a desk lamp for now (LOL). If I trim off some leaves or transplant them and leave the light on, they struggle to recover. But if I do the 18/6 schedule I do with my main plants, they tend to bounce back quicker. I actually want them to grow slower on purpose while the moms are flowering, which has also made for some nice experiments :) I don't know what your other nutrients have in them, but it can't hurt to give them a recommended dose of calmag. Do what you do, and remember I'm pretty much a noob too... But if I were you, I'd primarily focus on getting the light in the PAR sweet spot or maybe a few inches above it... Give it 6 hours of uninterrupted darkness every day to sleep/recover/grow roots... And use distilled water to ditch the chlorine until you find a cheaper solution. (pun intended haha) The "Quick One" grow looks more on target for where you should be at the end of week 1! Fast Eddy looks to be struggling. Every strain is different in grow difficulty. It could even be that "Quick One" is unphased by chlorine. Maybe "Fast Eddy" absolutely hates chlorine. Could be too far away from the light. Not only is every strain different, but each individual plant has its own quirks and personality. Don't be afraid to change up some variables, just do it one at a time. They will react quickly. At this point there's no harm in trying, it's not like you have a massive crop to lose right now. You can always start over with the lessons you learned if need be!! And remember, as Adam Savage of the Mythbusters once said: The only difference between screwing around and science, is writing it down.

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Experimentgreencommentedweek 15 years ago

Hey there congratulations on your first grow! That's always exciting. Do you have any interest in joining newbie of the month? It can be a fun way to build up your seed arsenal etc. I hope you don't mind I give you one small tip.. photos are so important in the diaries, and if you're able to give the plants some white type light vs the red/purple when you take your photos it makes your diary all the more enjoyable and valuable. I noticed when I use my flash in the red light it usually can pick up a bit of the green of the plant. But lately I've tried to take my plants out or turn off the purple light when i take pics. ✌️ good luck with the grow.

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JuicyFruitcommented5 years ago

@Experimentgreen, hey dude, could you take another look at my dwarf to see if its looking okay :) i also started a Quick One and a Fast Eddy it would be so cool if you could take a look at those. thanks again appreciate it!

JuicyFruitcommented5 years ago

@Experimentgreen, yeah Im interested in taking part man :) sign me up haha. would be nice to have something showcased after putting the effort into it, thanks for the help also! I transplanted to the dwarf to the 5gallon and started another seed just incase... the top half of the conntainer during transplanting seemed to have roots well developed. The bottom half was still wet and roots we're hanging out of the bottom of the container once the wet coco broke away. Should have let it dry out more before transplanting but I'm happy to learn new things even if it's through a mistake :). Again thanks for your help man it's much appreciated!

Experimentgreencommented5 years ago

@JuicyFruit, every month grow diaries does a variety of competitions...like right now they're doing a logo design comp. And newbie/diary of the month are basically the top ten best diaries for each month. There's usually always seeds in the booty but sometimes it's gear or nutrients etc.. but really it's just fun little games for everyone to show off their stuff that their proud of.😊

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Doktorhollandcommentedweek 95 years ago

very small of this stadium should ha e 60cm minimum

JuicyFruitcommented5 years ago

@Doktorholland, I made a few newbie mistakes but im happy ive gotten this far, im going to put what i learned this time into my newest diary :) im constantly trying to make conditions more optimal too so through time i hope to get better at growing :) thanks for your advice tho, il try for a bigger height next time

DankGardenercommentedweek 65 years ago

Yes you get more wider fuller spectrum your plant can absorbed when you use both LEDs and cobs. As for the height I recommend starting at there height 40 inches for seedlings 36 for veg and 30 for flower. But if you have a strain that just loves ton of light you can probably drop another 2 to 4 inches.

JuicyFruitcommented5 years ago

@DankGardener, I started at 40 inches so il just let the plants grow up into the light a bit more. thanks for your advice! hoping to get a few nice buds off this plant :)

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moshcanncommentedweek 45 years ago

Really nice to follow your diary :) Keep it up :)

JuicyFruitcommented5 years ago

@moshcann, thanks man it means alot! i put all my effort into it :)

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ExterminatorXcommentedweek 10a year ago

Great gloss on those branches, the color of the plant itself is outstanding. Nice 1st time.

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