This is the first hydroponic plant I have grown its about 3/4 weeks old I'm doing LST due to to my grow box size I have a water pump and stone and 2 lights that are only 17 watts (I know not nearly enough) jus need some good Ideas to make my plant grow better? also even tho it is already 3/4 weeks I'm gna let it veg for 8 weeks... Could that be bad? Oh I topped it as well...
Wow. I suddenly feel like a pro grower lol. Okay lets try to help this poor guy out. I only use coco so not sure how to start seeds for straight hydro. Start by going to home depot and get some true 100watt cfls with a daylight/blue spectrum. Use a pencil or toothpick as a stake to straighten them up using a LIGHTLY tied piece of string. Hopefully some others will chim in to help you as I have never done straight hydro just with coco. But do realize your doing things VERY WRONG. thats why everyone is responding the way they are. Take a night or two and study some beginner grow guides. If you dont get things corrected they will either die or hermi.
in this way it will take maybe a year to grow this babies which i am doing for my cat cause she is addicted to fresh leaves. start with earth if u dont know anythind
Im really more experimenting with the hydro when it comes to hydro I'm very blind so really any advise will help... (Really don't need the shit talking we've all been noobs at some point)
I wouldnt be so sure of that. May I ask how long it took you to get the plant to that size in the picture? I use a 400 watt mh for my veg tent and I can get a plant to that size from seed within 30 days or less... I'll let others help since my only piece of advise has already been disputed. Why do people start threads asking for help then get so defensive when you give them help...... good luck.
Wow in only 30 days where's the best place to get 400 watt lights that are are less then 24 inches long?
If you dont want to spend $100+ just get a proper cfl set up with 3 or 4 100 watt clfs for less then $40. Heres a link for how to do a proper cfl set up. http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/122824-kamels-cfl-guide.html/page-117#entry20776281 If your really interested in a hid set up make sure you have proper air exchange because they put off alot of heat that you'll have to manage. You could even go with a 250watt hid which might not put off as much heat. My veg tent is a 3x3 and my 400 heats the whole tent to 80 and its the heart of winter where im at so summer I'll need to install a proper exhaust system which ive gotten away with for now in the winter.
The rule of thumb is 100watts per plant but that may not be the case with hid as the lumens output is so high. For example a stand cfl can have a lumen output of 1000-3000. A 250 hps hid will put out 30,000 lumens. Also recommend a dual ballast so you can use a blue spectrum mh for veg then a red spectrum hps for flower. My 400 veg light puts out 50,000 lumens and my 2 1000 watt hps flower lights put out over 140,000 lumens each. Light is something not to skimp out on but environment control plays just as an important factor as well. Read the stickies at the top of the absolute beginner page as they really helped me in the begining.
Do you have a ph and ppm meter? If not and your not adjusting ph I highly recommend going back to soil. Ph and ppm are everything in hydro and must be monitored daily. My meter cost me $200 but it was worth every dollar. Happy green ladies. Before I was using a knock off budget meter and kept getting deficiencies. Soil is pretty easy. I just now stepped up to hydro/coco after 3 grows after the past year.
There are two things you need to change, everything above the waterline, and also everything below the waterline. You need to decide on what hydro system you want to have and buy the equipment to make it. A polystyrene cup with some stones is just not cutting it. The plant looks like a sick 3 day old plant in all honesty. I recommend DWC because its so simple. You will need a lightproof container with a lid. A net pot. A proper air pump with air stones and air lines. Proper hydro nutrients, ph up, ph down, a ph meter and an EC or ppm meter CFLs are ok if that's all you can use but get some bigger ones and more of them. Look to have at the very least 50w per square foot of area. Right now your two bulbs if kept close enough will be enough but once you sort out a proper set up it will out grow them in a week
here is what my plants looked like when they were 2 weeks old. This is what you need to shoot for. Lights are everything. I recommend 1,000w to get a real grow on. View attachment 1671989 View attachment 1671988 View attachment 1671988 View attachment 1668435
This is a 3 week old plant grown under a single 20 watt bulb, but it has a proper set up with the correct concentration of nutrients and ph