I Need A Teacher

Hello Grasscity! I am a first time grower in a legal medical mj state. I have built a 4x4 grow room equipped with a 600watt hps light non air cooled. Installed a 400 cfm active air inline fan, with a charcoal filter. This room currently has 4 c-bomb plants growing in 5 gallon buckets. Started this room with 6 plants soon realized that it was going to be to crowded. My parents happened to have plants flowering so two of them have gone on to flower paradise.
After my realization that I had nowhere near enough space for my plants I purchased a 300 watt apollo cob led light. A 3x3 veg room was born. My 3x3 room is vented with a ventech 192 cfm inline fan with charcoal filter. Currently I have 5 clones that rooted and are started in this room in smart pots. Cloning was done in my homemade aeroponics station. I am attempting my second round of clones started 18 clones, 4 days later I am down to 16 clones.
I am using age old organics line of nutes in sunshine advanced mix #4 in my flower room. My local hydro store owner had recommended this soiless soil to me. For my cloned plants I have switched to Foxfarm original planting mix. I added 25 percent perlite to the soil for better drainage. The dreaded fungus gnats had plagued my first grow room, not sure if it was over watering at the root of my problems or just that time of year in my area. In either case I am looking to avoid the issues in the future.
I will update this journal in the future posting my troubles and triumphs. Hoping to just document this for mmyself more than anything but any fellow growers that have any questions or comments would totally be welcomed.

 

Just a couple pics of my four ladies. Today I am switching lights going 24hrs off than 12/12. 6pm til 6am on. Power is cheaper at night in my area and could use the boost of heat at night. As I live in apt building my grow rooms are vented into living space. Thank God for charcoal filters right?
I would love to hear from the GC crowd how they think my plants look. First time grower or pro alike, let me know how you think I am doing. Any and all suggestions are welcomed, I have noticed at least 180people have viewed this. If you have bothered to look you can bother to tell me what you think right?

 

It is now like 14hrs since I shut the door on my plants in the flower room and I am worried about the girls. First time I have gone this long without at least a quick peak at how they are doing in 8 weeks. I am sure they are just fine in there as I waited until they all needed to be watered just to make sure nothing funny went down while we were apart.
My led veg cabinet is now feeling the wrath of my over excitement to help my plants along. Hello super crop, let, and lollipop. Goodbye Xmas tree shaped natural grow. I am only running c bomb as of this grow cycle, would love to hear what people think is a great indoor grower and yielder. Also anybody out there ever grown the c bomb indica heavy pheno strain?

 

The leaves do look droopy in this picture but don't most plants when it's lights out? Picture was taken under normal household light when they had been in dark 30mins or something. My plants have always seemed droopy when hps is off. Is this an issue? Forgive my ignorance I haven't seen much information on the subject.

 

I was switching to flowering mode. I was aware that I shouldn't interrupt dark cycles but I had to do an overhaul on grow cabinet to fit the 6in charcoal filter in room. Couldn't find a better time to do this. I had just watered them that morning so now I am a little worried about the droop. Guess I will see how they look at 6pm when lights come back on. Over watering could also cause wilt?
I don't believe that my lighting is the cause of this. If light band was not correct I would see huge stretch correct? Again my ignorance showing through but I wasn't aware that hid grow lights could have wrong spectrum. Always thought this was more of a fluorescent lighting deal.

 

I will post pics as soon as my light kicks back in 5hrs from now. As I mentioned I miss the girls already. My led veg room is still in its infancy. Just learning how to clone and praying that the first five clones I have got rooted and in pots are ready when my first grow finishes flowering. The led light makes it hard to see my ghetto led veg area plants. Also three of the new plants are tiny I cut the clones earlier than I should have I think.

 

I agree that lighting is important to the plant I do have them under a 600watt hps bulb in a 4x4 area. In future grows would love to expand my lighting, get better fixtures air cooled next time. I have spent like $1200-$1300 so far in all, so my budget is a little tapped in light area. I do understand there's a different between my apollo 600watt hps/mh setup and expensive $1000 hid setups.
This grow is mostly me trying to find my green thumb. Learning about ph, ppm of nutes. I invested in both digital testers for these. Seeing how the Plants react to feeding, feeling it all out. In time I would love to invest in better hid lighting. However I thought it was more about the light penetration, longevity of the lighting system and energy efficiency with the more expensive setups.
Looking at your page your lighting is certainly different. It is fluorescent? Don't those have troubles with depth of light penetration? Also I don't think my plants small wilt is due to lights, of course I could be wrong... I also would love to add co2 to my room but in my small setup I can't justify these costs. My house is heated with propane wall heater that helps some?
Anybody else want to chime in about lighting what do you all think of the Apollo 600watt hps light?

 

It's 81 with lights on. It's a cold outside climate where I live right now. I have 592 cfm of fan in there, a 4in exhaust setup an 6in. I really didn't know what I was buying into the day I ordered it. However at least for now the temp issues have gone away. Have to run the fans 24/7 though. No big deal, in fact right now because I have it vented right into my tiny apt. It's 81 and the heater didn't kick on last night. Outside 32-33f at night.

 

I am right on the coast struggling with humidity now. I can basically see the ocean here. I super cropped and a little bit of tie down to get them flat. I also fim'd to get them bushier. I bet I spent an hour or two a day with them almost every day. As I got closer to flipping to flower. This is day two of 12/12 maybe day 3. The slight droop might have something to do with the low ph issues I am struggling with right this minute... I am confident I will get them straight though. They are monster plants now like 26in tall from base of plant to top. That's with all my super cropping bending and topping. I only have a 6ft cabinet so a little worried about height. They are an indica so hopefully they won't stretch 2x like some people say.
My led is a apollo 300watt cob. Think I paid 200 for it, so far so good really. Short node length on my new begging clones. I mostly bought the led to combat heat rises from my hps setup. Can't vent outside as we are renting in middle of city. Legal grow but I don't want to put a neon sign on my door.

With my first cabinet I used it for veg and had the same thought I don't need a carbon filter for Vegging plants. However every day when I came home from work it definitely smelled like my in the apartment. So as part of my combating neighbors noticing I have a two room grow going on here I am not taking chances. The cabinet is only 3x3x6 so even with the 25percent that my filter cuts down on the 192cfm it should be enough air exchange? I am using a passive intake system on both grow rooms, making sure I cut enough vents to avoid excess negative pressure build.

 

Also I agree on the light jolly k. I thought the sign of low light was stretching plants, weak stalks, and slow growth. I could be wrong maybe it causes plants sag, I am pretty sure like I mentioned my struggle right now is ph related.