My First Grow

So back in February, I bought a tent and started to grow. Wasnt going to start a journal but now im having problems and hopefully a vet will swing by and help. I was running a 400w MH/HPS in a 5x2.5 tent. Running a 170cfm 4in fan from the hood & a desk top tower osco fan for cooling along with a humidifier during vegging. Upgraded since.

Started with 30 mixed bag seeds in germination using the paper towel method. Got 20 to crack, and put them in party cups. As time when on with the little trial and error, Got 12 transplanted in 3 gallon buckets out the healthy 15 i still had. After rolling over to 12/12 i ended up with 6 ladies total. They stretched quite a bit, so I used some super cropping and had great results. Two of the three left in the party cups got transplanted at this point. One took off but now is struggling to produce bud. Other ones in limbo. No noticeable growth what so ever. These are of the new seedlings in the now veg tent. Theyre all from the same bag seed collection. Replys, questions, comments, tell me im a retard, all welcome.

Last week, I got some unexpected funds and when ahead and got a 5x5 Flower tent. 600w lumatek with 474fcm in a cool tube with reflector. a 170cfm exhaust with 4in carbon filter. Not a moment too soon because it was starting to stink up the joint (no pun intended). Have a small desk fan to keep circulation.

Since then, Ive ran into a problem which brought me here. Posted over in problems but no response? Calcium deficiency is what Ive come up with. All symptoms point to this. Brown spots on new top growth and they eventually yellow, curl and die. Used some week old foxfarm solution without pH'ing it again (FF OF and trio pack is my regiment). The two that got some out of this batch have been hit with it really bad. Picked up some dolomite lime to see if i could knock this out. Tried using some during my regular feed (Sunday feed with 2L of 3/2-BB/TB, Wednesday 2L of evaporated water.) Added 500ml of 1tsp/gallon mix and still it is showing signs of continued death (not mixed with the FF) . Repeated again today with water, but now Im starting to really worry since those two were prominent. Any help would be great.

Just though I would post what I have written personally just for a good read.

2-14-2012 (DAY 1)
Started germination of 30 seeds.

2-15-2012 (DAY2)
Starting with a 400w MH lamp inside of a 2.5x5 Grow Tent. 1 exhaust fan measuring 160cfm and one small desktop intake fan at bottom screen. Running tests the first day to get an idea of conditions inside the tent. With the light turned off. the under light temp stays around 72° and the top of the tent is around 75° with a relative humidity of 29%. With the light turned on and exhaust fan running at 50-70% for 1 hour, the under light temperature runs around 76° and the top ran at about 78° with 25% humidity. With the light on and no exhaust for 1 hour, the temp shot up to 88° under the lamp and 86° at the top with 25% humidity. Running the exhaust fan at 80-90% for 2 hours after the test, the temperature only got down to 82° under and 84° top, so adding a light exhaust fan seems necessary. I will definitely have to add a humidifier to get up to 50-60% for optimum growth.

2-18-2012 (DAY 5)
Took 23 germinated seeds and started them in party cups with organic soil. 7 have already pushed above the soil and are responding well to the lighting. Temperatures got up to 86° under the lamp and 82° at the top. Ran duct from the fan to the hood and seemed to get temps around 82° under the lamp and 80° at the top with 35% humidity the humidifier I had laying around. Opened more intake holes to see if I can get the temperature lower.

2-19-2012 (DAY 6)
Going with a 18/6 light period starting at 6am to 12am, I closed the door to the room the tent was in to try and control the noise the exhaust fan is putting off. Temperatures rose to 86° under the lamp and 82° at the top with 33% humidity. Once the door was open, the temperatures dropped to 81° under the lamp and 78° at the top with 34% humidity. If humidity doesnt start to raise with vegging, then I'll have to buy a bigger humidifier. 9 plants are now showing above the soil and seem to be doing fine. Hooking the fan to the hood with more intake seems to be very effective at controlling the temperature. Checked later on in the day after turning the house thermostat down to 70°, and the temperature has dropped slightly more down to 80° under the lamp and 77° at the top with 33% humidity.

2-21-2012 (DAY 8 )
16 Plants have pushed up above soil so far, but one looks like its not going to make it.Lowered the light to about 18" above the tops. Temperature is holding true at 80° under the lamp and 78° at the top. Humidity is around 30% with the filter already indicating that it needs to be replaced, so I will need to buy a better humidifier. Ive been watering every other day since transplant into soil so I'm beginning to think the others aren't going to sprout. I'll Give it a couple more days before pulling them out and rearranging the current plants to a tighter arrangement.

2-23-2012 (DAY 10)
17 Plants have pushed through so far, but the one that was weak looking died, so I just pulled it out. Any left with no progress will be pulled and examined for the reason they didn't make it. One has sprouted late and hasnt shown any signs of true leaves even being over 2" tall. Has some yellow spotting on the water leaves. Need to troubleshoot it. Other plants are doing great. Some have already opened there 2nd set of true leaves. Temperature is stable around 78° at the top and 80° under the lamp with 40% Humidity. The temperature outside is really high for this time of year so the A/C has been running during the day.

3-02-2012 (DAY 18 ) VEGGING BEGINS
I have labeled the plants in the order they sit in the tent. Started the feed schedule on 2-29-2012. Going to use the fox farm soil schedule and tweak it depending on the individual plant. Temperature and humidity are stable with an average of 77° and 35% humidity. Temperature shot up to 83° because I didn't turn the A/C on and the outside temperature was in the high 70's. Due to bad judgment, 2 plants were killed. #15 is still in a state of non growth. Only water leaves are present and they are getting yellow spotting. I'll have to decide weather or not to pull it soon. #6 had it's second set of leaves grow, but it only had one leaf on each as the first set. The third set is growing in and they have 3 leaves so it seems normal. #13 had a forth leaf pot up on one of its second set of leaves. Hopefully this strain may have alot of mutation properties. #12 is the best plant out of the bunch with a very tight internode structure and short fat leaves. Seems to be an indica dominant type. #14 is showing signs of either over fertilization or pH imbalance. Will skip the next feeding and watering to see if that helps. Need to pick up pH testing kit.

Ambient Temp. | Temp. High | Temp. Low | Humid High | Humid Low
70° 83° 71° 45% 31%
Plant # | Height | Sets of Leaves | pH |
1 | 3.5" | 3 | ? |
2 | 2.75" | 3 | ? |
3 | 3" | 3 | ? |
4 | 2.5" | 3 | ? |
5 | 3.5" | 3 | ? |
6 | 2" | 3 | ? |
7 | 2.75" | 2 | ? |
8 | 2.5" | 3 | ? |
9 | 2.5" | 3 | ? |
10 | 2" | 2 | ? |
11 | 1.75" | 2 | ? |
12 | 2.75" | 3 | ? |
13 | 2.75" | 3 | ? |
14 | 3.5" | 2 | ? |
15 | 1.75 | 0 | ? |

3-03-2012 (DAY 19)
Not much has changed since yesterday. #15 is looking even worst. Big patches of brown spots on the leaves, Picked up pH kit so I will start pH'ing the water and nutrients givens. Other plants look fine. #7, 10 & 11 have a slow growth rate but are healthy.

3-06-2012 (DAY 22)
#15 has surprisingly managed to put off new leaf growth however, it's really slow and frail looking.

3-09-2012 (DAY 25)
Seems pH'ing the water/solution has helped #14 recover. Transplanted them into 3 gallon containers. #7, 10, 11 & 15 were left in their cups to see if its going to pick up any extra growth before transplant. The others are going great though. A bit droopy after transplant but, in the morning they perked up so its seems transplanting didn't shock them that much.

Ambient Temp. | Temp. High | Temp. Low | Humid High | Humid Low
70° 83° 71° 45% 31%
Plant # | Height | Sets of Leaves | pH |
1 | 3.5" | 3 | ? |
2 | 2.75" | 3 | ? |
3 | 3" | 3 | ? |
4 | 2.5" | 3 | ? |
5 | 3.5" | 3 | ? |
6 | 2" | 3 | ? |
7 | 2.75" | 2 | ? |
8 | 2.5" | 3 | ? |
9 | 2.5" | 3 | ? |
10 | 2" | 2 | ? |
11 | 1.75" | 2 | ? |
12 | 2.75" | 3 | ? |
13 | 2.75" | 3 | ? |
14 | 3.5" | 2 | ? |
15 | 1.75 | 0 | ? |

3-25-2012 (DAY 41) FLOWERING (DAY 1)
Switched over to 12/12. Plant Heights vary from 6"-22". Arrange them in a high to low configuration with the smallest being in the center. Switched nutrients to 3 Big Bloom & 2 Tiger Bloom. Topped #11 to experiment. Cut all lower leaves off of all the plants. Replaced humidifier with better unit. It seems to hold in the 50-55% area now. I think it is keeping the plants watered, so I must pH the water.

Ambient Temp. | Temp. High | Temp. Low | Humid High | Humid Low
73° 82° 64° 79% 34%
Plant # | Height |
1 | 22" |
2 | 17" |
3 | 12" |
4 | 9" |
5 | 18" |
6 | 14" |
7 | 5" | (Still in Party Cup)
8 | 10" |
9 | 19" |
11 | 6" |
12 | 15" |
13 | 13" |
14 | 17" |

3-31-2012 (DAY 47) FLOWERING (DAY 6)
Started getting signs of gender today. Lots of males. Ended up with 6 left overs and 3 are definitely female. Transplanted #7 into a 3 gallon container. Due to height, I have super cropped #2, 6 & 14 to help even thing out a bit.
Ambient Temp. | Temp. High | Temp. Low | Humid High | Humid Low
72° 80° 65° 79% 44%
Plant # | Height |
2 | ?" | Female Super cropped
4 | ?" | Female
6 | ?" | Female Super cropped
7 | ?" | Transplanted
11 | ?" | Female Topped
13 | ?" | Female
14 | ?" | Female Super cropped

4-12-2012 (DAY 59) FLOWERING (DAY 18 )
Well, I now have 6 females leftover from the entire crop of 30 original seeds germinated and 14 that were transplanted. #7 with its height and the light cycle, I dont think it will grow anymore. #2, 6, 13 & 14 have all been super cropped to even out the canopy. #2 , 6 & 14 have been cropped twice already. Each plant is showing great result in growth after getting cropped. Since the start of flowering, I have been fertilizing with 2L - 3/2 ratio of Big bloom & Tiger bloom to a gallon of water every Sunday with 2L of water every Wednesday.

Ambient Temp. | Temp. High | Temp. Low | Humid High | Humid Low
71° 78° 63° 68% 43%
Plant # | Height |
2 | 29" | Female Supercropped
4 | 28" | Female
6 | 32" | Female Supercropped
7 | 11" |
11 | 32" | Female Topped
13 | 29" | Female Supercropped
14 | 32" | Female Supercropped

4-18-2012 (DAY 65) FLOWERING (DAY 24)
Got a bigger tent for flowering now so I'm on a perpetual harvest now! Moved the 6 taller ones to the new tent. Now equpped with 600w HPS in a cool tube to keep the temperature down. Those are spaced pretty good for the light so rotating wont be necessary now. Carbon filter is going its job. The odor was starting to get bad but now its faded away. The smaller one I left in the veg tent and moved the light down to help get its growth rate up. Started to germinate 30 more bagseeds. Pretty good batch these came from so I cant wait to see what potential they have.