Hello, I am beginner and as the thread title says, this is my first grow. I'm looking for advice and help with this grow. This is a small grow to get the basics down. Here is my setup: Lights - 2 cfls, 3 x 4 inch T5 Soil - Roots organic Pots - 2 x 3 gallons Seeds - Uk Cheese and White Widow x Big Bud CO2 Grow Chamber is 4x4 I started out with those seeds because I read those are good for beginners. I'm using my grow chamber for veg and flower. I don't have another place to separate it. Also, Im thinking to flower with the same lights I have for veg just because I'm operating on limited budget for this and plus this is just a trial run. So, here is what I've done so far: july 23 - planted seeds in jiffy pod july 27th - sprouted july 28th - put in window sill for nature light August 1st - place jiffy pod into small container with roots organic soil and watered ph is good from bottle just enough August 4th - grow chamber... transferred to finishing pot and started 18/6 close to light and watered just enough August 9th - took pics and placed on the floor of growth chamber and watered til runoff August 12th - LST the plants by taping one of the fan leaf and move them around as usual August 13th - Watered until run off. Checked ph and the run off ph was too low (next water may up ph to balance the run off ph if plant shows yellowing) August 14th - Added CO2 bottle to chamber. shake twice a day -- day 12 of veg 18/6 August 18th - Added water the runoff ph is still too low. Im going to go with it because the leaves are still green. No signs of yellow or plants looking like they need me to change the ph. Also, I cleaned the chamber with alcohol rags and paper towel. in the process the uk cheese, one or two leaf edges broke off. I'm going to keep watch on that. I also set the fan to oscillate more to build strength with branches. Lets see how that goes. Took the tape off and let it grow on its own. No LST at this time. The plants didn't look too happy after all that. I think I stressed them out with all that work but i will have to watch them and see if they settle down. day 16 of veg 18/6.
Recent pics are looking good. You can flower w/ the same lights but your buds will be fluffy and small compared to what they would be w/ an HPS. You really shouldn't be using tape to train your plants, you should swap the tape for some pliable wire. Taping leaves will only result in bad things. Use the wire to wrap around and tie down the branches when they get long enough, not the fan leaves. Next time, wait another week or 2 before transplanting into your final pot size. Looks like you transplanted a bit too early which is OK but it just slows down the veg time. Also, don't over water. If anything, under water. Especially in the first few weeks of veg. This will stimulate the roots since they will try and find water. If you give it to them all the time, you run the risk of root rot as well. The best way to determine when to feed/water is by picking up your pots and seeing if they are heavy or light. Just because the top of the soil is dry doesn't mean the rest of the soil is dry. By the looks of it, you can probably go about 5 days between watering/feeding while your plants are this small. Good luck mate-
Thanks for the input indic4. Much appreciated! How much longer do you think I should go with vegging? I have about 2 ft in height in the grow tent. I was intending to not grow too large. Just a small grow for practice and give enough buds. I havent used any nutes as yet. When should I start using nutes?
If all you are working with is 2 ft, then start flowering tomorrow. You can also start using nutes now. Since this is your first grow, use 1/2 strength for the first 2 feeding and see where your at. If the plants are not burning go ahead and hit em full strength. My best advise is to simply be observant. Always be checking out your plants. This is hard work but they will give you what they receive in spades. And always check your PH (& adjust according) for every feeding!!!!
They are at 7 inches high now. In the next few days I will put them into flower. They are looking good, so im going to let them bush out a just a bit more. I took a look at your grow and liked how you are training your girls. Im going to do the same and get those stakes and tie parts of my grow down too. As for nutes, im a little hesitant because water is doing well so far.I have my nutes ready GH-Floraseries but I havent opened them yet. Im thinking just using molasses and thats it. What do you think? I think the soil have maybe a week or so worth of nutes in it.
The GH Flora I think is just a 3 part nute product which should work fine. Unless you have amended your soil with tons of additional organic nutrients that will last the life of the grow, just molasses will not cut it. Most ppl use molasses at the end of their grow and swear by it. I used it once and saw no difference. Use your nutes just go easy at first.
Ok, I will scrap the molasses idea. I've read the roots organic has a month worth of nutes in it. That is the reason I havent fed it any nutes at this point. I'm going to go a few more days and maybe the next watering start with a little amount of nutes, a half tsp of each 3 part GH flora series.
Watered with a gallon distilled water and added ph up 3 drops and added a tsp of GH flora series 3 parts. Checked run off and it still was low.
On your next feed, just give them more Nitrogen (N) and the yellowing should clear up. Plants want more N in the early stages of bloom.
Thanks indic4. That cleared it up. I added more N into their diet. I am starting to see some white hairs on the G13 Labs Cheese. The ww x bb is not showing its sex as yet. Its now 9 days into flowering. here are some pics of today.
Its now day 13 of flowering. The two girls are approaching the t5 lights. They are 3 inches away from touching the lights. I need to do something to prevent them from touching the lights. Any suggestions?
I let my plants get right up almost touching the T5's in veg. They wont burn your plants if you keep them close like an HPS of MH will. Closer the better for T5's.
They are coming along nicely. Here are a few pics. They are growing very fast. They are at the top of my grow box. Day 41 from seed and 16 days in flower
Im running into a problem when I ph the water and aerated it but it is still low on the runoff. I am not getting anything above 5.0. Please help!!! I even ph up it to 7.0, before watering the plants. Also, the white widow x big bud started to hermed today, so i pulled off all sacks to prevent seeds. I have tons of white hairs on it but those sacks were starting to develop. I really dont want to kill it because i only have 2 plants. I checked the other one and it is fine. 46 days from seeds and 21 days into flower.