All right, Steemit! It's time for an update.
I'm on Week 2 of my first grow, and my Pure Africa seedling seems to be doing well. This picture was taken a couple of days ago, at the very beginning of Week 2.
I've got some bad news, though. The Cheese seeds that I mentioned in my first post are a no-go. I'm disappointed, because out of the few femimized seeds I ordered from Original Sensible Seeds, only one proved to be seedling material! Not cool!
The silver lining on this dark cloud is that Pure Africa is a strain I'm really looking forward to smoking. She's all alone in a 4x2x5 (lxwxh) grow box, though, and that's simply not cool. I'm disappointed.
So, how am I treating her? Well, let's start with the nutes I'm using. I'm currently living in a country where...well, let's just say this. I'm not able to order just any nutrients I want. I can't go online and order Fox Farms or anything like that. I wish I could, but I can't.
After looking around for some time, I was able to purchase the General Hydroponics Flora trio together with Calimagic and the GH pH test kit and pH up/down bottles. And I had to pay a lot more for it than I would have had to in the U.S. or on Amazon!
Growing Medium
It ain't dirt, but you probably already guessed as much. 😉
I'm using a 70/30 (give or take) mixture of coco coir and perlite. Initially, I was going to attempt a 100% perlite grow since I had come across a few 100% perlite grow reports online. I wanted to attempt one on my own, but I decided to use coco coir mixed with perlite instead. It was probably a good move.
Lights
Are there any LED haters reading this? Yes? No? Well, call me a n00b (and I am), but I'm really liking this 300W (true 100W) Chinese LED light I'm using.
It's not too close to the seedling right now, but I'll be moving it closer, and as the plant grows, I'll be putting another one of these into the box for a total of two LED lights.
Fan and Filter
Earlier, I said that I'm not able to order nutrients from Amazon, given my location. I can order other things, however. I just have to use a third party service for the shipping so that my order doesn't rot in customs once it gets here.
And that's exactly what I did for the fan and filter I'm using--both from Vivosun. The fan is a 203 CFM 4" duct fan with a variable speed controller, and it works! I don't even have to use another fan for the intake. A passive intake is working out well.
The filter is a 4" filter from Vivosun, and even though I don't have to worry about smell just yet, I'm sure it'll do its job when the time comes.
Recap
In conclusion, I've got one seedling in coco coir and perlite with an LED over it, and I'll be using two LEDs when the plant grows. The Vivosun exhaust fan and filter were a good buy, and I'm fortunate enough to have come across GH nutes where I'm living. The 4x2 grow box I built is too roomy for just one plant (especially a seedling), but hey...these are the cards I've been dealt. Let's hope for the best, right? 😊
Stay tuned for more updates! For now, I'll be searching the internet and reading everything I can find about cloning. Muahahaaaa...