# Prepare for Liftoff - Apollo 11 Grow



## THCPezDispenser (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi Everyone,

Time for a grow.  Been working on building a new setup, I have scrapped the old 18" x 18" x 4' grow box in favor of two new nooks I have allocated in the basement.  The veg area will be seperate, and I am building it under a set of stairs.  This area will be 18" x 18" x 4' (at it's highest) as it is directly under the staircase spanning two steps.  I am building an enclosed box and will be using 8 CFL's, 1650 lumens each for a total of 13200 lumens.  Should be plenty for my 3 sqft veg area, and plans are to only have 1 mother live there.

Flowering is going to be in a 18" x 18" x 6' flowering area.  Not much bigger than the old box, but an additional 2' to grow upwards.  I have a 150W HPS for flowering, definitely want to move up to a 250W but that's an upgrade for later.  150W in 3 sqft is low for 2 plants, but my yield requirement is low as well so I will see how it goes.

Based on what I smoke (about 1/2 ounce every 2 months) my plans are to start with 1 mother and 2 clones vegging, and 2 clones in flower.  Now I will cut this back to one clone veg / one clone flowering perpetually depending on the yield I end up getting, I don't want to have a whack of weed sitting around and I really don't want to be giving it away and end up becoming someone's "source".  Not my thing, want to keep on the down low.  

The rooms are still in progress, and I have been lazy about it.  So I put in two seeds tonight to give me a kick in the rear as those ladies will need some lodgings  

Hoping at least 1 of the two seeds will be female, I will be taking a clone fairly early off both candidates to do a quick flower to sex them.  If not, another 2 will go in.  A bit of a slow approach if I start getting males, but I really don't want to have a lot of plants going so I'm comfortable with my decision.

Soooo, girls are Apollo 11 F2's from Joey Weed, got them at hempdepot.ca:



> Indoor / Outdoor
> 
> These are F2 seeds made from the best females and males of Apollo 11. The Brothers Grimm are the originators of this strain and it has gotten a lot of good reviews over the years. It has a better yield than C99 with a more mellow giggly type of high. Here is what is said about Apollo 11. This indoor hybrid has a high calyx/leaf ratio & finishes flowering in 7 weeks or less. Our big-yielding, lemon-scented female clone named "Genius" because of her CLEAR, energetic, thought-provoking high was crossed with a robust Cinderella 99 male to create Apollo Eleven. Expect some variation among individuals. The best females are short, heavily branched plants with multitudes of dense, resinous bud sites - perfect for SCROG. The smoke has a sweet citrus flavour. The high is UP & HAPPY. The picture up top is a few buds on one of the females. It does have a very mild tropical fruit smell. It smokes smooth and has a great high. I think you will be very happy with this one.
> 
> Indoor flowering: 7weeks.


 
Wish me luck on a quick female!  Pic attached of the two potientials.  They are in a wetted paper towel which I folded over and tucked in a ziplock bag (not zipped) and laid on a heating vent.


----------



## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Oct 27, 2008)

*Everything sounds great. Here's some GREEN MOJO to get them babies going.  *


----------



## FourTwenty (Oct 27, 2008)

sounds good keep us posted


----------



## Wiseguy_Chef (Oct 27, 2008)

Good luck buddy, will be checking in to see how they go.


----------



## The Hemp Goddess (Oct 27, 2008)

I do love Joey's Apollo 11.  I'll be checking on ya, too  :hubba: .


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Oct 27, 2008)

Question Goddess.  You said Apollos were easy to clone, ever try them with just water?  I was thinking of just putting my sexers in a glass and putting them straight into 12/12, anyone ever try that?  Not going to do it as an ongoing process or anything, just want to find out if I have ladies ASAP.


----------



## DomsChron (Oct 28, 2008)

*I heard something about cutting off a leaf and sticking it in water and putting in in 12/12 and it showing sex than saying but never tried it. Might be a myth, anyone here to myth bust this?*


----------



## The Hemp Goddess (Oct 28, 2008)

THCPezDispenser said:
			
		

> Question Goddess.  You said Apollos were easy to clone, ever try them with just water?  I was thinking of just putting my sexers in a glass and putting them straight into 12/12, anyone ever try that?  Not going to do it as an ongoing process or anything, just want to find out if I have ladies ASAP.



I have never cloned in straight water--I think algae could be a problem if you just stuck them in a glass of water and into 12/12.  I also think that you would want some kind of root growth before you stuck them nto 12/12.  You have to use a growing tip to clone--you cannot clone a leaf.  Check out Hick's cloning method


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Oct 30, 2008)

So I just checked on the babies and both have cracked    I have transferred them to 3" pots, next photo update will be when they break ground.


----------



## Thorn (Nov 2, 2008)

mind if I pull up a chair?  Good luck


----------



## Iron Lotus (Nov 2, 2008)

Goodluck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## GMCORP (Nov 3, 2008)

GOOD LUCK :joint4:


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 4, 2008)

So paranoia has got the best of me.  The last seeds I started were too close to the floros and I fried the tops.  This time I had them too far away to prevent that and they stretched  Anyway, I have moved them closer, so I am not too worried.  I have a fan on them and they should bush up.  The tops have started growing more than the stems today so things are turning around.  Hopefully they will forgive me (I had their best interests in mind, ya know?  )


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 4, 2008)

As you may have noticed, the plants are now numbered as well.  #1 went to the most vigourous plant, she was the first with her tap root out and first to break soil.  She also seems to be a healthier color green.  I'll refer to them as such going forward.  Oh and the veg room is nearly complete, I am having trouble tracking down mylar so I am going to start with flat white and upgrade when I can find it at a half decent price.


----------



## DomsChron (Nov 4, 2008)

*Don't worry about it man, you'll be alright. You corrected the problem, now sit back and relax. I suggest you read my wet/dry cycle thread in my sig, some people have added useful information to it.*


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 4, 2008)

Thanks Doms, great thread you have.


----------



## Wiseguy_Chef (Nov 4, 2008)

well looking good, congrats they look to be helty looking sprouts. as they get bigger u can drop the cfl's way closers. thats been my exprince up to this point, all thow i keep my 3 85 watt cfl's at 5klums each about 6 in's from the girls. now.


----------



## tesla (Nov 4, 2008)

{Quote:Wish me luck on a quick female) For some reason time seems to slow down waiting. Good luck with the grow.


----------



## Thorn (Nov 4, 2008)

yea they look pretty small on top for 8 days - but that is probably becuase they been using all their energy to get more light. But hopefully as you say that will turn around. I use cfls in my grows at the moment and I keep them between 1 and 2 inches away from the top of the plants and just check them every day to check if I need to more the lights. At this stage they can suddenly grow a lot, especially when they are stretching, so just keep an eye on them and let them tell you what they want


----------



## papabeach1 (Nov 5, 2008)

1 inch away from the light is cool..

water spray and have fan going though nice and easy to improve the stem cells strength  JIMO


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 5, 2008)

Thorn said:
			
		

> yea they look pretty small on top for 8 days


 
Well 5 of the days I am counting were paper towel and breaking the surface, so don't know if that normally counts   They have been 3 days above ground in this picture.  The leaves seem to be fatting up now that I have them closer to the lights, I will provide a picture update when things either swing visibly better or worse...


----------



## Wiseguy_Chef (Nov 5, 2008)

that makes more sence. i don't consider it alive till it breaks the dirt.


----------



## DomsChron (Nov 5, 2008)

*Same. But normally in 24 hours I have a 1mm taproot and I plant it, and then 24 hours after, it's usually a seedling! Maybe too much or too little water? Did you plant it in hot soil like fox farms?

Watering a newborn can singe off the microscopic root fibers and cause it to stunt and regrow.


Not sayin this happened, just sayin be careful.*


----------



## Thorn (Nov 5, 2008)

oh in that case they looking fine then apart from the stretching  and well when you transplant them you can bury some of that stem  Look forward to seeing updates


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 7, 2008)

My last grow I used my tap water, just letting it sit overnight to evap the chlorine and it was fine.  So this time I decide to get all fancy and use spring water from a bottle, and that is what I have been using since I started.  I have an electronic pH meter on the way, but I remembered that I had a bottle of test solution somewhere, so I dug it out.  Well the solution is only rated to a pH of 8, and I got that color full on.  Who knows how high it actually is, sheesh.

I pH corrected the water and gave the seedlings a good drink since they were dry anyway, waiting to see if it makes a difference (growth is slow but moving along).  LOL, might need a mulligan on these two, two messups already and I don't even have a second set of leaves yet, we'll see in the next couple of days.


----------



## Iron Lotus (Nov 10, 2008)

I do similar to what you did with tap water, I used a couple gallon milk jugs cleaned out. I fill those up and put them in the same room as teh plants over night so they get to the same temps, and have some time to self purify.


----------



## DomsChron (Nov 10, 2008)

*Make sure that you don't have any lights on in there!*


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 12, 2008)

So here is an update for Day 10 (I've adjusted days to breaking ground ).  In my opinion these are small for 10 days, but if you compare the first photos they are slowly growing. I think my pH issue has caused the problems with growth rate.  Even though it is corrected now, they seem slow to respond. The third photo shows some problems on #1 as well, that set of leaves seems to be on it's way out, possibly due to the pH fluctuation? 

At least my new veg space is ready, so that is some good news anyway  Still some cleanup to do (and I bought some mylar today so that needs to go in), but it is fully functional :clap:They have only been in the new space a couple of days and they seem a little better in there and growth has picked up a bit with all the new lumens (they were under a flouresent before and was much less light than they have now).

Opinions?  I don't want to go messing with hermies because of pH fluctuation, you think I have caught it early enough that it will not bother them?  I am expecting to see them start earnestly into the vegatative stage in the next week, or else I may pluck and start over with two new seeds.

I'm a little mad at myself for the pH thing, I am trying to get a mother up and running ASAP and this shouldn't of happened   Oh well...


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 12, 2008)

Oh and humidity is about 55%, temp holding steady at 82 deg.  Not sure if I mentioned it before, but soil is generic, no nutes, with some perlite added.  I have corrected the pH of the water to around 6.0-6.5, hard to tell with the coloured solution stuff.  Electronic meter should be here any day at all now.


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 12, 2008)

:bump:


----------



## Thorn (Nov 13, 2008)

not too sure bout that burn thing but they defo still stretching. that pic with the lights - is that the lights your using now? If so you may need to move them closer still to them. my 2 2week old babies are like an inch under the lights. if you don't get enough light close to them (if your still using cfls) then they will continue to put all their energy into stretching toward that light and not into doing some actual growing. if the ph is still a problem then as they are so young it may do them well to repot them with some soil that you know is good and not got any nutes in it and take away any 'old' soil from the roots as you can - being careful not to harm the roots and see how they go. you should see some nice growth starting soon I should think. Oh also if you repot them you can tuck that stretched stem in the dirt a little 

Good luck


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 13, 2008)

Thorn said:
			
		

> not too sure bout that burn thing but they defo still stretching. that pic with the lights - is that the lights your using now? If so you may need to move them closer still to them. my 2 2week old babies are like an inch under the lights. if you don't get enough light close to them (if your still using cfls) then they will continue to put all their energy into stretching toward that light and not into doing some actual growing. if the ph is still a problem then as they are so young it may do them well to repot them with some soil that you know is good and not got any nutes in it and take away any 'old' soil from the roots as you can - being careful not to harm the roots and see how they go. you should see some nice growth starting soon I should think. Oh also if you repot them you can tuck that stretched stem in the dirt a little
> 
> Good luck


 
I think the stretch has stopped, I had them under flourescents and too far away when I started them but moved them up.  That picture is the new veg room, 21200 lumens for 3 sqft.  But I will move them up a bit closer to the lights, they seem at bit hot though (42W bulbs) so I will do the hand test to see how much more I can get them up.  1 inch burned up the first true leaves on my last plant, so I am a bit paranoid 

The pH of the water I am using is ok now, but still not sure about the soil itself.  Maybe you're right, I should just repot them at the very least to know I am starting fresh and get those stems buried...

How can I measure the pH of the soil with liquid testing solution, measure the runoff?


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 13, 2008)

Great new avatar by the way


----------



## Thorn (Nov 14, 2008)

hehe thanks bro..

Er right just did a little calculating for you and for a 3 square foot area your gonna have 9 cubed feet in total which brings you to 2356 lumens per foot which is a little low...then i just thought maybe i did it wrong. is your space 3x3 feet? or is it 1.5x1.5 feet to make it 3feet? i'm confusing myself now lol!

Anyway let me know on that one. Do you have an oscillating fan? I work in a 15inch cubed space for my grow - its tiny, but i have 2 30watt cfls and without the fan on the box gets up to 100+ degrees which is just too much really. In that space I don't have room for an oscilating fan so just have a clip on one that just about hand inside the box. This keeps the temps at around a steady 80 deg during their 'day time'. You do need to make sure air from outside the grow space can get in though.

In my tiny space i have to keep the lights as close to the plants as possible and with the fan running this ables me to keep them 1 inch above the plants even when they are just seedlings 

ph i'm not to sure, but yea i think that'd work. I hope this helps


----------



## 4u2sm0ke (Nov 14, 2008)

hey *THC*...*Thorn* gave great info..I only wanted to say  that if you can get those closer to light  itwill help...as for your soil..stay with it..if it doesnt have added nutes..then ..IMO..you are in great shape..I mix my own with organic potting soil..perlite..and Lime..works 4me..and when you transplant burry those suckers to the first set of leaves..not sure about the spring water..have you tested it?  some bottle water has salts added to them  and would be cations my self..I use Distilled water  from food store..its neutral PH..soil ph  I dont bother with..I just check my run off if i think theres a problem..Hope this helps  and KEEP M GREEN


----------



## Thorn (Nov 14, 2008)

thanks 4u, you added all the bits i forgot  but yea i agree with that on the water - i use rain water now and never tap water or bottled. when i didn't have access to rain water though i used tap water that I boiled like 2 or 3 times and then left in a clear container to cool down to room temp before giving to my ladies


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 14, 2008)

Thanks guys.  So I think my whole pH situation is not clear, so let me try again.  I did find that the pH of the water I was using was too high.  I have since corrected it and the pH of the water I use is now low 6-ish (I am using a solution tester, hard to nail the exact reading).  So I think the water is fine now, I was more concerned as to the damage I may have did when I was giving it water at like pH 8 (which happened for nearly 10 days...)

So last night I took Thorn's advice and repotted them.  Hopefully they will pull through.  I used a new kind of soil, it is called CIL seedling starter mix, and I couldn't find on the bag that they did or did not have nutes added, however the instructions on the bag state to start fertilizing when the second set of leaves appear, leading me to believe that there are no nutes in the soil itself, so that should be good.  The root development was excellent, so that was a good sign, just hope I haven't shocked them too much...

I did move them a bit closer again to the CFL's, so I will give them a couple of days to see if they make it past the transplant shock, hopefully I will see a growth spurt early next week


----------



## Thorn (Nov 14, 2008)

good to hear thc  and very good news on those roots - if they weren't strong plants they would have had very limited root growth so thats a good sign. have some green mojo


----------



## 4u2sm0ke (Nov 14, 2008)

hey THC..good luck with that new soil..did you add some perlite to the mix?  and please throw up some pics so us new ones can learn what you see..thanks..and yes  GREEN MOJO  your way


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 14, 2008)

No, I never added some there was some in there.  Oh and forgot to address the lights thing with Thorn.  It is 1.5' x 1.5', for a total of 3 sq.ft.  The 5000 lumens is per sqft, not cubic ft


----------



## Thorn (Nov 14, 2008)

cool thanks for clearing that up...hey not much bigger than my space lol but mine has no height hehe good luck


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 14, 2008)

Thorn said:
			
		

> cool thanks for clearing that up...hey not much bigger than my space lol but mine has no height hehe good luck


 
Yeah, mine is not the highest either, but should be fine for what I want.  I am only planning on keeping 1 mother and having 1 clone rooting, not a large scale grow.  Still working on the flowering room...


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 20, 2008)

Me too.  I haven't updated in a bit because the seedlings have stalled.  Definitely a pH problem with the water, finally got my meter and calibrated it so I am good to go.  However the seedlings aren't doing well.  I am giving these until the end of the month to see if they recover, if not I am starting 2 more seeds the first of December.  There is really nothing to see now with new pics as they have totally stalled.


----------



## JBonez (Nov 20, 2008)

Well, dont give up! ive got some clones that im vegging and they look pathetic, but im gonna give em plenty of time to do their thing, hopefully they will be fine!


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 20, 2008)

Oh I won't be giving up   I've had successful grows before, just had a pH bomb this time and I don't have a sense of urgency to get things going again.  I will wait for Dec. 1st for the next update, it will be either recovered seedlings or new seeds going in


----------



## Wiseguy_Chef (Nov 20, 2008)

like the ol` saying go's.......$hit happends.


----------



## Thorn (Nov 20, 2008)

indeed it does... did you transplant them or anything? what you giving them at the moment? Good luck if you decide to start any new beans


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 20, 2008)

I set up a thread in the Problems section:

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34364

I need to get this fixed before I start anything else.  I think these seedlings are going to be a write off, I just can't seem to fix this.


----------



## Elven (Nov 21, 2008)

Good luck. . .


----------



## Iron Lotus (Nov 22, 2008)

Hope you got it sorted out?


----------



## THCPezDispenser (Nov 25, 2008)

So the seedlings are finally showing improvement with the corrections.  Things have started moving again over the last couple of days.  Here are some pics, the centers are finally growing again!  Hopefully they will keep it up, 1/4 nutes in a couple of days to make sure they are fully recovered.


----------



## 4u2sm0ke (Nov 25, 2008)

nice  THC..they look to be doing better..I had a bad case with seedling this fall as well..I blame myself tho..GREEN MOJO  for the litte ones


----------



## legalize_freedom (Oct 25, 2009)

is this thread still going on? the date says 2008???....I hope it is cause I want to watch these genetics, as I run something similar.  If your still growing good luck!  If this is old, then what the heck happened why did you stop at seedlings?


----------

