1st Grow -- Advice/Comments plz

[zoopnfunk]

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting my first grow diary. I have been a lurker in these forums for a while, and now I finally have something to contribute. I am hoping the good folks here at grasscity will help me to identify and troubleshoot problems with my grow.

Below i've included some basic background information about my setup along with links to my current photo galleries. If I have left anything out please let me know about it.

Please feel free to drop in any time with questions, comments, advice or criticisms. All feedback of any type is appreciated.

Background:

Strain: Bag seed’s

Space: Hydro-hut mini 39" deep x 39" wide x 6.5' tall

Containers: 3gallon square pots with good drainage

Water: Distilled h20

Lighting: 400 w convertible MH (vegetative) & 400 w HPS (flowering) approx. 12 in. from cannopy. [edit: 24 in. from canopy]

Soil: Pro-mix (tested to 6.8-7.0 ph)

Nutes: EcoGrow 20-6-12 / EcoBloom 3-35-10

Fans: 4" vortex w/carbon filter and one circulating fan - passive air intakes

Light Cycle: 9:30am – 3:30pm Dark / 3:30pm – 9:30am Light

Average Temp: Dark: 65F – 70F Dark / 76F – 83F Light

Average Humidity: 48% - 56% (after watering)

Timeline:

Planted: August 6th

Sprouts: Sprouts August 13th

Transplant: August 26th

First Pictures: August 27th

August 28th: Thanks to WF.com posters, indentified a MG deficiency.

August 29th: purchased Epsom salts and mixed 2 teaspoons ES with 1 gallon of water. I started by heating a small amount of distilled water, added the Epsom Salt, and brought to a boil. I then transferred the solution into the gallon of distilled water.

August 30th: A.M. spray with Epsom Salt solution (2 teaspoons dissolved in 1 gallon distilled water)

August 31st: A.M. spray with Epsom Salt solution

September 1st: A.M. spray with Epsom Salt solution

September 2nd: no action taken

September 3rd: 4 weeks old today (3 weeks out-of-ground - 21days) - Picture Update



August 27th photos

September 3rd photos

My Album

Thanks,

zoopnfunk

[chimera]

looking good, be real careful on the nutes, your going to be better off going light on it. A real good person to ask on a general schedule for your nutes is spanishfly as he uses soil. Oh, as to the light, start it out at 2" but after your plants become accostume to it, which they look like they have you can get it as close as 16" without the heat being to much for them.

[zoopnfunk]

Originally Posted by chimera

be real careful on the nutes, your going to be better off going light on it.

Thanks Chimera. I do intend on dilluting the nutrient solution when I begin using it. (I bought the nutes with the rest of my setup and am wishing I would have waited and gone with a less intense solution) I am operating under the assumption that less can be more.

I'll keep in mind your advice re:lighting. I'll probably allow my plants to grow towards the light until it becomes too warm for them and then I will begin to raise it a bit.

Thus far i've been using the fantastic lighting chart from this here site.

Happy growing!

zoopnfunk

[KamelRedLight]

Lookin good, except why are you in a 12/12 light cycle already? For vegitating you want 18on/6off until you are ready for her to flower, then she goes into 12/12. She's awful small to be flowering.
Also a mistake I made was using bottled water instead of the tap, and my nutes had no micronutrients, and I wound up with a deficiency or two. Make sure your nutes have these micronutrients (things like calcium, iron, manganese, etc.) and if not, I'd use tap water because a calcium deficiency can screw up your plant, as seen in my first grow.
If you can get your lights closer than 24" comfortably, I recommend doing so. The chart is like the picture on a box of cereal: a serving suggestion. If it's not too hot for your hand, it's not too hot for your plant.
Hope I helped, she looks healthy as can be, keep it up!

[zoopnfunk]

Thanks for the feedback kamel.

except why are you in a 12/12 light cycle already?

I am doing 6hrs of dark and 18 hrs of light, I am not sure where you got the 12/12 from? I've been on this cycle since the beggining. I have tentative plans to start the dark (flowering) cycle when my plants reach roughly 2-3 ft in height -- but I am open to suggestions.

If you can get your lights closer than 24" comfortably, I recommend doing so.

I wasn't sure about how close I could hang my lights, but now that a few people have said it's okay to move them closer I will probably go ahead and do that. I started out with the lights 12" from the seedlings and moved them to 24" because I got nervous about 'overdoing' it. Even at 12" and a little closer I don't have any temp problems though.

Make sure your nutes have these micronutrients (things like calcium, iron, manganese, etc.) and if not, I'd use tap water because a calcium deficiency can screw up your plant

Thanks for the pointer, I will keep an eye out for any signs of deficiencies. I already had a small Magnesium def. issue that was corrected by using a foliar spray.

My veg nutes contain 5.4% Ca, .10% Mn, and .20% Fe but I haven't started adding any nutes as of yet. Currently I am using either 'Distilled' water purchased from the local drug store or my tap water that has been left out 24hrs to adjust temp and to remove any extra chlorine.

From here on out i'll probably stick with water from my tap. I mostly purchased the distilled because I didn't save enough milk jugs to get started.

Thanks again for the input.

Zoop

[KamelRedLight]

Originally Posted by zoopnfunk

Light Cycle: 9:30am – 3:30pm Dark / 3:30pm – 9:30am Light

Ya know, I guess I just need to go back to school. I did it like 10 times in my head and somehow kept thinking it was 12/12. Sorry man, I smoke weed.