Hey guys, So I was trying to grow some Jack Herer with a Deep Water Culture system at my old apartment earlier this summer. There's a whole journal of my failing attempts to keep seedling after seedling alive. I eventually had to give up: because I realized it was just too hot in there, and because I was planning to move before my baby would have a chance to flower. You can check out the whole process of my fail if you want in my first grow journal, and other posts on the various forums here. Anyways, now that I'm in my new apartment, its cooler, and I've updated my grow closet (see this thread to check out the box/closet... ), I've decided to plant another little baby. Since I had such bad luck last time, and because I'm new at this, I decided to go with soil instead of hydro this time. I got a 3 gallon pot and some fox farm Happy Frog Soil. I'm still planning to fertilize with my General Hydroponics FloraSeries nutrients. I had to make sure temperature was okay first, but I have a venting scheme right now that keeps it at around 82-86 degrees in there. I know this is a little hot, but I'm planning on putting a better fan on top to pull more air thru and keep it cooler. I'll post more on that in my other thread, this is about the plant. I placed my seed in a wet paper towel three days ago to germinate. I pH balanced the water to around 5.8 first. Once it had broken out of the shell, (yesterday), I gently moved it into the soil. I've been watering it with more pH 5.8 water periodically, and misting it as well. I placed a clear plastic dome over it too. Check out my photos! I'm pumped the seedling looks like this already after only ~24 hours in soil! Both baby leaves survived, it perked straight up overnight, and two tiny adult leaves are coming in too; Hopefully it doesn't get burned like its ill fated predecessors... That's it for now, but stay tuned for more updates!

Thanks for the tips, Dust! I ended up flushing for about ten days, with florakleen in the mix for the first six, and then straight tap water with a few drops of lemon juice for the last four. Here's what she looked like right before I harvested: This was the 23rd. Here's what the bush looked like after I removed it from the ScroG and then after I trimmed it up and hung it to dry: About a week later, I had some choice delicious Jack Herer Buds! I was able to get nearly three ounces from the one plant, with a 150W HPS light. With this my first grow under my belt, I am super pumped. It was a watershed moment smoking my own home grown for the first time. I want to expand now. I anticipate first building a CFL powered veg room in the bottom of my existing closet for mother plants and clones. Then I want to build a 400W HPS light closet with twice as much real estate. I'll probably post another time when I start building all of this. In the mean time, I just want to thank all of the forumgoers who have been helping me along the way and giving me advice and feedback. As a first time grower, I couldn't have done it without you all! Thanks! Happy new years everyone! Happy Growing!

@Bam- Thanks bro! The filter/fan works alright, but I want to replace the fan long term with an inline one. it still smells a little tiny bit outside, but only if you stick your nose close to the air holes. I might try a Rhino type filter for my next build (coming up!). I'm thinking of doing pretty much like you say: a 10 day flush, followed by a week of curing. With luck I can have some smoke for new years! @'Sapean- I've asked around, both on forums and amongst the expert growers I know in real life, they all seem to recommend a two week flush! The box for my nutrients says one week, but I want to at least give it a few more days because I used nutrients and very rich soil; I don't want any nutrient flavors- just yummy Jack Herer ones. As far as adding UV lights goes, I think its a little too late in the game for this grow. With about a week left before I harvest, I don't know how much good they'd do. Perhaps after I finish this grow, and after I build a clone/veg chamber into the bottom of my closet (my next endeavor before I plant again), I can put a few extra light fixtures in my box for porn lights/uv lights. The key would be making them adjustable, like the grow light is. This sounds like a design challenge! Anyways, I snapped a few photos the other day, check them out:

Thanks Dust! 'Sapean, Things have been well for the past few weeks for the most part. she started to experience a calcium deficiency a few weeks back, with rust spots on some of the leaves furthest out from the stem. I believe I have halted it as much as possible by switching the nute formula for the final weeks to a higher micro mix, and then to the Lucas Method formula. Today I begin my Flush. I was going to mix FloraSeries "FloraKleen" into the water to help get the nutrient residue out of the plant, but my container of it seems to be contaminated. I was planning to flush for about 10 days, regardless, does this sound adequate? She is sleeping now, but I'll post some pictures first chance I get.

Thanks guys! It has a minty smell that gets really pungent like coffee when you get close. Lol. I hope the next few Weeks go well like the past few have... More updates to come...

Okay: your seed is germinating, but it is still stuck in its outer shell. You might not be able to save this one, but your best bet is to get a pair of tweezers, clean them/disinfect them, and then GENTLY, DELICATELY remove this shell from the top of the seed. Once it pops off you should see some baby leaves in there. Good luck dude!

So yeah- here's a real update since I haven't posted one in a while. I've gone ahead and installed a charcoal filter for my setup. I decided to splurge on the Phat Filter with Pre-Cambrian carbon, because the carbon in the fifty dollar one was pelletized- meaning it has binders and glues in it as well. I built a manifold to affix this filter on the inside of my unit out of some shiny reflective foam insulation board and a 4 inch vent flange from the hydroponics store. I then affixed the filter to this with a length of 4" duct. This was sealed with hose clamps, and the filter itself was held in place with a strap tie down and some loop eyelet screws. here are some photos: Otherwise, as far as the plant goes (or grows), things are great! I have done minimal pruning, pulling dead leaves out from underneath and trimming occasional fan leaves in the upper canopy that are blocking light from bud sites. It looks like this now: What do you guys think? I'm thinking I'll give it like four more weeks.

'sapean To answer your your questions- I did accidentally break the top off of the plant when teaching myself to train it with a screen of green, so none of these is the one top. The dominant branch is the one that snapped a little, and its going strong! huge bud on it. I'll try to do an experiment to see how the wound has healed, and how the yield changes. Otherwise, I'm about to post some photos n stuff in another post, regarding my recent filter install, growth developments, etc. stay tuned!

Thanks for all your advice, cannabissapean. I'm thinking I'll order one of these: http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-Pure-Flow-4-Jr.-Carbon-Filter or spring for a 12" Phat filter here: http://www.naturalrootshydroponics.com/index.php/our-product-selection/gardening-supplies/air-purification-odor-control Do you think I should drop an extra thirty bucks on a filter with "Pre-cambrian carbon", or just get the $50 dealie? Otherwise, I want to put some porn lights up for my plant, but its sort of on the low end of my priorities. I think the plant is getting enough nutrients, however, as I'm feeding it the recommended proportion and concentration of Floraseries hydro food from General Hydroponics. I have it planted in some Fox Farm happyfrog soil, too. I don't think a nute deficiency is a problem. I'm going to get a filter at earliest convenience, though. Looking forward to hearing some feedback on which model I should invest in.

Hey all, I just moved to a different apartment. Now that its cooler and I have a better space I'm going to try and start growing again. I've revamped my closet design to work in this setting and updated it a few ways. Some of you might remember, this is what I started with: I used to have it lined with three layers of space blankets, with a space blanket curtain over one side to provide access. This was flimsy and tacky, and even with three layers some light still made it thru. With this in mind, I replaced the space blankets with mylar reflective bubble wrap ("Reflectix" Brand). It looks like this now: You can see the fan exhaust system in this picture. In my initial setup I had a box fan sitting on top of the closet sucking air up and out. I've augmented this with a manifold I made out of the left over Reflectix I had from the sides of the closet. I made a four inch diameter hole in this manifold, which I've connected to a dryer vent tube. This leads into a structure I built in the window frame which vents it outside. I could have opted for an inline fan, but this works about as well and was much cheaper. I plan to add a carbon filter to the tube when odor becomes more of an issue. In the mean time I have a jar of Ona Gel to cover the smell. Here's a closeup of the manifold. For a duct tape creation, it works remarkably well! I also built a door for the closet. This was framed in 1 by 2s and then lined with Reflectix. It has a latch for a lock, and velcro to hold it shut. The bottom of the box is lined with half inch hardware cloth to let air in but keep cats out :-P. Check it out: Inside is my cloth pot, a tray, a thermometer/humidity meter, my 150 watt HPS light, and a small fan for circulation. Note the lack of a plant :-/... A little baby is getting planted tomorrow, in Fox Farm Happy Frog soil. My only concern is that when I put my thermometer right under the light, it gets to upwards of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, fast. I think this is because my thermometer is black and gets hotter than its surroundings on its own, but I'm still concerned. The top of the soil I put in the pot got sort of dried out really fast when I turned my light on. I could put my light further up, but that would be bad for the plant, wouldn't it? What do you guys think? I'm kind of proud of my handiwork, but I'm worried about the heat, and there might also be some flaws I am not seeing.

Cannabissapean- Thanks for the tips! I still need the carbon filter, desparately. Its smelling more and more minty back there all the time. Otherwise, the 2 by 4s holding up the fan are doing fine- the fan shroud is metal, with plastic cages on the front and back, so metal is bearing the weight. I honestly plan to remove the fan beneath, however, because I've installed a lens and a cooling fan on my light reflector. These, combined with the fact that its now November in the Northern Hemisphere have alleviated most of my cooling concerns. Now I just need to enlist one of my trustworthy friends to lift up the box while I pull the fan out- probably a task that can wait. Beyond the cooling concerns, I've put up some tall curtains to divide that part of the room off from the rest. This is keeping the smell out of the rest of the room, and keeping vistors' prying eyes from seeing the shiny phone booth in my office. A bookcase would be even better, though. I have put progress on my grow over on this post: http://forums.strainhunters.com/topic/7543-green-house-seed-co-jack-herer-grow-journal-take-2/ . Check it out if you're interested. I appreciate your input along with anyone else's! Thanks again!

Thanks for the tips, Dust! I have tucked my girl's fan leaves down into the screen and re-tied the branches down so that as many bud sites as possible are getting light. I also trimmed out the leaves beneath the canopy level. Right now she has a bunch of little baby bud sites that are starting to grow hairs and everything! In addition, I built a vent fan assembly for my light fixture. I used a flange and a glass lens from the manufacturer, with a computer fan adapted to plug into the wall. This is keeping the hot air off the plant and sucking it up and out. All in all she's looking great right now. I'm only posting one picture this week, because all the other ones are too big and I don't feel like resizing them right now. Here is one of the nicest looking pre buds: More to come when I have more progress/smaller photo sizes!

Hey all- Its been about a month, and I've been sort of busy. But my little closet project has been going great! I've been taking photos right along the way. Here she is after four weeks: As you can see, right around four weeks in I built and installed a screen of green. This consists of a 1 by 2 frame, with little eyelet screws at 2 inch intervals. These screws are strung with synthetic string to create a lattice. I used two tension curtain rods to hold it up so that its height can be adjusted. That was a few weeks ago, here is the growth up to now at the beginning of week 7 (it has been six weeks since planting): I've been tying down the ten or so big main branches to spread and stretch them out sideways. One was tied down and grew up to the point that it snapped itself a little bit... it has stayed alive, however, and I splinted it with a little piece of bbq skewer and some string so it will hopefully stay alive and yield something. It seems to be going well all in all. I'm concerned about the fan leaves, however. I want to prune them so the bud sites along the branches can produce more. I'm not sure how much of this is too much, however. Any thoughts? Also- should I cut my losses on the damaged branch or keep it around? Ponder my questions as you gaze upon this last picture and its magesty:

Thanks guys! I'm doing what I can to keep temps down. I have a number of fans going in there... Check out my setup on this post: I went into more detail on the construction side of things over there. You're right tho, it gets too hot in there. I need put some glass on my reflector to keep the heat in. ​ Thanks for the input, guys, I'll keep you posted!

Pretty explosive growth, no?

Thanks for the tip Dust- Its been a week, and I've basically just been feeding her exclusively the 298 ppm feed solution. I'm planning to double the concentration this week. She's looking like this: More to come!

Thanks, Dust! The plant sure does seem happy so far... It's been a week since I took my popped seed out of the wet paper towel and put it in the soil. this girl is looking much better than her ill fated hydro predecessors did after a week. I'm glad things have gone so well thus far... I've tried hard to keep temps around 84~86 degrees F. I also kept the plant in a dome until it got too big, and I am sure to mist it regularly. In addition today is the day I decided to begin a feeding regimen of flora series hydro food. I mixed up a batch according to the side of the box but on the low end.. About 298 ppm, with water from the tap (initially ~78 ppm). I tried to pH balance the water down to around 5.8 with lemon juice first, but I should have done this after I added the nutes, which brought it down a little bit further. Hopefully A 5.5 pH isn't too low. Here's a closeup of the plant so far. I'm really happy with my results so far! More leaves, and bigger leaves! I think its looking good, what do you guys think? How often do you think I should water her with the nutrient water?

Looks awesome! Especially for a first grow! I'm where you were a few months ago- a Little seedling right now. Yours looks so good. You'll enjoy that kush!

P.S. hook it up with that GDP!

I hear you man. For fertilizer, he recommended I use something in a bottle, but that's because its hydro food I already had from my earlier growing attempt. He said it would work fine since I already had it. That seems like the best money saver of all. Maybe I'm being too trusting, but the owner of the local small hydroponics/organic gardening shop that includes all kinds of odor control stuff in addition to gardening supplies probably isn't in the business of throwing his customers under the bus with the Law. Plus the store is across a state line. Unless federal agents are out to catch legal medical marijuana patients growing personal use amounts with equipment bought in a different state, I think I'll be okay as no state level enforcement would follow me home. *Knocks on Wood* As for boarding up the whole window, I live in an apartment so that isn't really an option. I have the glass blocked off so no one can see in, however.

Nice dude! I might just order one. I'm just wary to get grow related stuff shipped right to the grow site. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'd rather pay cash at the store. The guy at my local hydroponics store has good deals on supplies, never seems to attempt to sell me shit I don't need/rip me off, and is very knowledgable. I never told him what I was growing, but I think its tacitly understood that we both are growing the same thing. As for the fan base supports, I went out and got some 2 by 4s cut to be long enough to carry the weight of the closet over the fan. Looks like this: I have some blocks to put in between the beams above and beneath the fan so it doesn't have to carry all of the weight, but I didn't think they were necessary- the metal frame of the fan seems pretty sturdy.

wow those look like a great idea! It doesn't look like I can get them around here, I'm going to see if my local hydro store will special order them. Otherwise, my next project is to make a more stable base to hold the fan!

Update: I went out and bought a 70 cf/m bath fan. I removed the rigged manifold and fan from the top of the unit, and used the reflectix from the manifold to cover the top. Then I placed this bath fan on the corner of the top of the box- wouldn't you know it, three out of four sides of the fan case were resting on studs. I then simply cut a vent hole in the reflectix, taped around the edges to keep the draft in, and ran an extension cord down the inside of the box to power the fan. check it out: I have this attached to my same duct, but this time with hose clamps. This setup worked much better to suck air up and out of the box; it pulled noticeably more air, pushed it thru into the duct better, and brought temperatures down a few degrees. I still wasn't getting the lower temperatures I was after, however, so I then decided to set this up: as you can see, now the box fan from the top of the closet is beneath the closet! I put some 2 by 4s underneath to leave a space for air to get in, and put more 2 by 4s on top to hold the weight of the box. I realize some of this will look sort of half assed, especially to an experienced craftsman. I think my work is pretty clean, however *knocks on wood*. I do want to build something better to house the fan beneath the closet, but this will do for now. What do you guys think?