Hello everyone. I thought I'd introduce myself. This is my first grow I've ever done. I am new here at GC and also new to growing. Thank you in advance to anyone who wishes to comment, offer advice, criticize. All info is welcome. This is my very first grow. I need all the help that I can get. Thanks again for looking. I'm using 3.5gal Hempy pots in a 4'x4' tent. General Hydroponics nutes and a Hydroponics Hut ProGrow 400x LED. Here is a pic of my girls. 21 days Veg (#1, #2) 18 Days Veg (#3) 16 Days Veg (#4). All 4 are Cluster Bomb from Bomb seeds. So far I'm learning a lot with this first grow. I already have lots to do differently for next grow. Tastebud deserves a shout since his journal is what I'm using for reference. http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/827734-first-grow-leds-coco-hempy-pots.html
Update July 12th 2013: 24 Days Veg (#1, #2) 21 Days Veg (#3) 19 Days Veg (#4) Lighting is 24/0 ~12pm - Feeding: 3.2 gals between all 4 plants. Measurements per 3.2 gal. 12ml Gro, 13.5ml Micro, 4.5ml Bloom, 12ml CalMg. All 3.2 gal PH'd to 5.375. TDS 769 PPM. Runoff: #1 PH 6.7 610 PPM, #2 PH 6.8 621 PPM, #3 PH 6.8 572 PPM, #4 PH 6.6 581 PPM I'm still trying to lower the PH in the root zone. I believe the perlite I picked up had added nutes I don't want (plants 1-3, 4 has different perlite). I also made a dumb noobie mistake by not pre-flushing to get the PH correct. The Runoff seems to want to go back to 6.8. I had spotting brown leaves before dropping the PH down on the feedings. The plants seem to be responding well to the lower PH. Update July 13th: ~10am - Environment: C57% L45% H59% T77F - Humidity a little high, so turned on the central air conditioning. ~10:30 - Started some LST: #1 and #2 both received drilled holes and wire to separate and pull down a few branches. I'm looking to spread the plant out a bit, so fan leaves get good light distribution. Pics are Pre LST/Post LST and tent setup.
UPDATE: 31 Days Veg (#1, #2) 28 Days Veg (#3) 26 Days Veg (#4) ~8:45am - Environment: C51% L43% H55% T77F Height: #1 10.5", #2 10.25", #3 6.5", #4 8.25" ~10:30 am - Flushed with 4.2gal of water PH'd to 5.1. Plants were looking good for the most part until I had some problems appear on #1. Additional LST to all four. Still trying to spread these four out a bit for better light. Notes: From the logs it seems today was day 15 since the last flush (way too long!). I still believe plant #1 issues are due to the crappy perlite I used (biggest mistake so far) and root zone PH being too high. I'm flushing with a low PH to try and offset the root zone PH. Should know by evening/morning if the flush helped. Planning to flush every 10th day from now on. I turned on the ProGrow 400x to full spectrum a couple days ago. So far I was very impressed with the half or Vegetative spectrum on the LED. Of course this is my first grow, so what do I know really... LOL More than happy for comments, questions, tips, etc. I'm a complete newbie, but I want to learn. Overall I'm really enjoying taking care of these girls. I'm determined to be a ganja farmer. Questions for all of you out there in cyberland: - Anyone have some ideas as to when I should change the light to 12/12? I was thinking 4 or 5 more days of veg. -Anyone want to comment on the problems on plant #1 spotting brown leaf issues? -Anyone have thoughts on the LED height from the tops of the plants? Thanks for stopping by! -irq77 Took some pictures:
Brown spots could be nute burn. You mention not flushing for a while, that could be the cause. Some strains seem to burn easier than others. As far as distance from the LED, that is something I'm still experimenting with myself. In an effort to get as much out of my last THC Bomb clone, especially in light of the damage from the heat wave/drying out, I moved one of the 260's to ~ 6 inches above and have had that for nearly a week without a problem. Some plants can bleach, apparently, if they're too close. They also might be too compact and have so many overlapping leaves, that the lower ones don't get enough light. This is one of the reasons I want to move up to 5 watt LED's down the road once they've been on the market longer.
Thanks for the reply medsforme. I've been thinking about doing another flush between feedings or even just prior, but I can't decide. If it's nute burn would I experience just a portion of the plant showing symptoms? I really don't know what's going on. I've been using the pictures on the growweedeasy.com (http://www.growweedeasy.com/marijuana-symptoms-pictures) site for picture/symptom references. The leaves on my plants seem to have a combination of symptoms/problems. This is why I keep thinking the PH in the root zone is off. My thinking is that if the PH in the root zone is off that there would be several deficiencies since nothing would get absorbed by the plant. When I think about the nute burn I keep thinking I'd see brown edges to the leaves and tips curling downward, but I don't see that so much. Thanks for the thoughts on the LED as well. From what I can tell I don't think I'm seeing any problems due to light, so my plan is to keep doing what I'm doing. Right now the light is about 10" from the top of the plants.
I've had nute burn that totally killed two leaves in a little over twenty four hours, but the rest of the plant was fine. Your leaves with the spots look just like my Red Cherry Berry after I fertilized her the first time in my first grow. I switched to regular water for the next watering, then cut the nutes I was giving by half in the next watering. No more burn. I'm looking at getting that Fox Farm trio with the the Microbrew, Kanga Roots, and Sledgehammer to help out when I switch from veg to flower. I've been playing the light game by ear , Right now the tops of my flowering plants are only a few inches below the the lights and seem to love it. Once the stretch is over with, then I'll adjust the light a bit more.
Thanks again for the comments. I really appreciate the input. Thanks for following along. I decided to flush again today prior to feeding. I then cut the nutes by 25%. Here's the update for 7/22/2013: 33 Days Veg (#1, #2) 30 Days Veg (#3) 28 Days Veg (#4) ~10am - Flushed with ~4gal of water PH'd to 5.5. Water/Feeding 3.5 Gal between all 4 PH'd to 5.5. TDS 630 PPM. Gro = 10.8 Micro = 10.8 Bloom = 5.4 CalMg+ = 10.8 Runoff: #1 PH 6.8 TDS 421 PPM, #2 6.9 TDS 385, #3 PH 6.8 TDS 496, #4 PH 6.7 TDS 501. Height: #1 13", #2 11.75", #3 8.75", #4 10.5" Notes: With all the vertical growth I did additional LST. I also started pulling the main stem over on to it's side (#1/#2 only) hoping this will encourage outward growth. I think it's almost time to throw into 12/12 lighting. What do you all think?
My rule of thumb is 30 days or longer in veg before switching to 12/12 if at all possible. I top my plants and use the tops as clones about a week before I switch to 12/12. This is assuming that they're either feminized, or are old enough to show their sex.
Thanks again for the info. medsforme. I didn't do any topping or FIMing on these four ladies. I was originally planning to FIM, but had Bomb Seeds suggest that I do NOT. From what I can tell I should be starting the 12/12 light schedule really soon. I'm really waiting on plants #3 and #4 to mature just a little more in my inexperienced opinion. Here is the update for today 7/23/2013: 34 Days Veg (#1, #2) 31 Days Veg (#3) 29 Days Veg (#4) I started by continuing some more LST on all four plants. I'm continuing to pull down and out all secondary branches and pull the main stem over on it's side. When moving around the plants I noticed a considerable difference in the bucket weight from #1/#2 and plants #3/#4. It seems the two older plants are drinking more. Because of this I decided to water with PH'd water only on plants #1/#2. I think I'm getting really close to having to water everyday. Comments from any Hempy experts? I also have been trying to assess if the problems that seem to have been nute burn are moving in the right direction. From what I can tell plants #1/#2 are improving, but time will let me know. I'll continue to keep a close eye on them. Presently I'm keeping the LED ~10" off the tops of the plants. I'm guessing the 10" gives me coverage on the plants while also keeping the intensity up. Runoff: #1 PH 6.8 TDS 351 PPM, #2 PH 6.8 TDS 365 PPM. Picture1: All four from above trying to show the nute burn on plants #1/#2. Picture2: Plant #2 LST.
What's up Grasscity? Thanks for the nice words CosmoQueen! I'm a total newbie that has made a lot of newbie mistakes, but I'm most definitely learning a lot. I like this ganja farming stuff! I keep thinking I get to smoke my harvest and get all excited. I already starting planning a harvest party. Here is an update (today 7/28/2013): I've been a busy beaver... 1. I think I have the nute burn issue headed in a more positive direction, but if you look at the picture you can see there are a couple gnarly leaves. 2. I'm now watering everyday. I found my two bigger plants (#1 and #2) were getting really light on the every other day schedule, so decided it's time. This realization of every day watering was the catalyst building the new watering system with the water rings. The new watering is so much easier. I just attach tube to the feed ring and dump the nute mix in a bucket and about two mins later it is watered nice and even. Water/Feeding 4 Gal between all 4. PH'd to 5.7. TDS 470 PPM. Gro = 8 Micro = 8 Bloom = 8 CalMg+ = 4 Runoff: #1 PH 6.5 TDS 376 PPM, #2 6.5 TDS 323, #3 PH 6.7 TDS 361, #4 PH 6.6 TDS 375. 3. I switched to 12/12 lighting on 7/26 which was 36 days Veg for #1/ #2, 33 days of veg for #3, and 31 days Veg for #4. 4. The grow environment started getting too humid. When I checked first thing in the morning I saw humidity had risen above 70% overnight. I started worrying about mold immediately. I came to accept that I must vent the tent outside the house which is what I'd originally planned, but it meant I needed to do some additional camouflage. I didn't want the boarded up window with a vent to draw suspicion from the neighbours, so I also had to build some window well covers. I also have a dehumidifier ordered and should arrive early this next week. Thanks for everyone that is following along! Please feel free to question, comment, etc. I love being a ganja farmer!!!!!
Heya all! How's everybody doin? It's been a heck of a weekend. I just had a birthday. Did WaterWorld with the family Friday. Kid Rock concert on Saturday. And did a 5:30am spin class this morning... Overall the ladies are doing pretty good in my inexperienced opinion. There are still some gnarly leaves, but the rest of the plant looks good. The venting exhaust outside has helped the keep the humidity down a bit. The girls are filling out the tent so that the only way left to grow is up. I think the ProGrow 400X LED has done a good job so far. I have no complaints whatsoever over the LED, but also since this is my first grow I have nothing else to compare to. After making the decision that I needed to water everyday I found the girls immediately stop drinking so much immediately after the 12/12 light change. I'm now checking weight regularly and seems every other day is enough now. I made yet another newbie mistake and was over aggressive with plant #3. I pulled the main stem too hard and half the stem split in two. I taped the broken portion back together with some masking tape (all I had in front of me at the time). Since the break in the stem I've been watching the plant closely and so far there is no signs of problems at all. Does anyone have advice about what to do in this type of situation? I could use some plant medical advice for sure. Any guesses as to when I'll start to see some flowering? Thanks so much for following along. Peace! -irq77 Here are a couple pics of the girls as of ~noon today (Day 11 of 12/12 light):
Post about your stem break in the sick plants section. Someone will get back to you quickly I'm sure. Each strain responds differently. The first time I flowered Red Cherry Berry, it took about 3 weeks to show. This time I gave it the Open Sesame a few days into flower and it started quicker. THC bomb flowered really quickly, in under a week I had lots of pistols without any OS. That 400X seems to be perfect for your grow. You're going to get a good harvest if you keep at it like you're doing.
Hiya medsforme! Thanks for the suggestion to post in the sick plants section. What is Open Sesame? I've not heard of that... The 400X does seem quite good for the 4'x4' tent grow space. I like the vegetative and full spectrum switches as it helps keep the power usage down a bit when the plants don't require full spectrum. Additionally, the light stays a lot cooler than HPS lights from what I've read. I've been doing my best to upgrade or change several items in my house to better electrical efficiency. Mid June I had a 4.9kW solar array installed and prior to that I've swapped out most appliances and lighting with CFL's and Energy Star higher efficiency models in the last year and a half. I was just taking another look at my electrical usage as compared to last year and it is down slightly. Hard to beat that. I hope you're right about my yield being good. Any guesses? One of the reasons I chose the Cluster Bomb strain was the yield listed as being so high. I'd like to be able to produce more than I consume over the time of the grow. I'm sure I could probably smoke less, but what's the fun in that? LOL! I've been training for a Marathon relay in September and with most of my training events I usually stop smoking the last few weeks of training just give my lungs a little break. :|
Open Sesame is part of a trio of flowering nutes that you give along with the regular nutes in flower. OS helps the plants flower faster, Beastie Bloomz increases bud size, and Cha Ching gives more resin. My first Red Cherry Berry never got anything other than one or two waterings of Cha Ching late in flower, so I'm excited to see the change. I remember THC Bomb yielding quite a lot, even before I had upgraded to LED for the veg tent (125w CFL). After upgrading to LED in the veg tent, starting on the Fox Farm Trio Nutes, trimming, training, and topping, my yield got up to right under three zips. The heat ruined by last two THC Bomb yields, since I barely got two zips and a lot more lowers because of the drying out due to my rookie mistake. Kudos on the solar array. That's the direction I'm going as well, but I had to get my LEDs first. There's a few more little things to get, then I'm going to save for solar. I'm hoping prices drop further in the meantime.
Okay... Been a little while since I wrote a decent update. I've been distracted a bit since making my first trip to the Scarlet Ranch last Sunday. Anyone from Colorado ever been there? My head is still spinning from the experience. Awesome!!! I love growing weed. I'm hooked. I can't wait to smoke this shit. I've been considering a second vegetative tent and making some modifications to my present solution for my second grow. No decisions made yet, but I'm thinking a move to 2 x 5gal hempys in my 4x4 tent would be a good size grow. I'm also thinking of raising my tent ~8" off the floor and then creating some under tent drainage so that I never have to move the plants in an out of the tent and don't have to feed as much as these 3.5 gal hempys. Anyway, the girls are doing great. My biggest problem right now is that I did a crappy job of low stress training on plant #4 after I broke the main stem on #3 I scared my self into stopping LST. Well, without the LST #4 is growing tall and the other 3 are growing out like I want. #3 acts like the main stem breakage never happened. Next time I won't act like a girl and will finish my LST. Oh well. I have a long list of "next time" changes. Pictures are from yesterday. #4 is the back left plant taller than the others... August 17th 2013. 23rd day of 12/12 lighting 11th day of flower