O.K. Well, I've had some problems so far with every single grow I do. I'm not really a newbie with everything but obviously I'm doing something wrong, On one attempt I never could even get the damn thing to flower. I believe that was due to light leaks. The other time I tried I had ordered the seeds and grew them indoor and transplanted outdoor and they were getting huge, but then guess what? Something ate them. F#@$#C.k!! * Heres what counts * I'm going to do another indoor attempt. This time I'm wanting to try a different soil mixture, I believe problems I had before was a lot to do with the plain soil I was using, it was organic soil but it had like bark and shit in it, I think this was the cause of such slow growth. Anyways, I'm going to try and use a mixture like 2/3 Organic potting soil, 1/3 perlite OR vermiculite, and 1 teaspoon of bone meal and 1 teaspoon of blood meal. Soon as the seeds pop (After germination) I'm going to put them in the I believe 16oz red dixie cups. After around a week I'm going to transplant to probably 3 gallon pots. Questions: How much Light should I use? I have the floro tubes, I've got 4 of the ballast things that holds 2 a piece. So thats 8 in all and their all I believe 40 watts, in a blue spectrum, or close. Is this mixture of soil good even from seedling to put in the dixie cups? Could your recommend a good way to set up these lights, such as a fridge box or something? I'm dealing with a closet thats 10'x2'x8'. So it pretty narrow. How long should I veg the plants before switching? I'm not trying to do a long drew out grow to get a large ammount of bud, or a short grow just to get some bud. I'm wanting a successful grow that will give me some good dank bud. When I switch the lights to 12/12, is it a MUST to get red spectrum tubes or will the blues work fine? Their not that expensive so if it will honestly make the bud thicker, better quality, and grow , then I'll do it. Thanks everyone. I love the city
Anyone? .. Just wanted to say I just went to home depot and not a soul knew what mylar was, I tried two different stores, then I found some reflective window film but it was like 70 some odd bucks for a roll, they was all out of vermiculite so I got perlite, so now I have seeds, lights, perlite, blood meal, Scotts premium potting soil, just pretty much good black dirt, it says it has some peat moss. Now, I just need them questions above and I'm set.
When you say seedling, do you mean plant a seed and let it sprout, or do you mean to transplant a seedling into this soil? The reason I ask is because I like to use a very fine soil to start seeds. The Scotts soil will probably work though, it just sounds a little heavy. Maybe you could like sieve it or something? I forgot what the other questions were.
I mean when the seed pops put it in the soil, it could be heavy, I'm not sure. This is something new to me, I've always just used strictly organic soil, but I was reading that blood meal and bone meal with the potting soil and perlite would be perfect and cause strong and fast root development. So what you are saying though is I should plant the seed in regular plain soil and then transplant it to the blood meal, perlite, and bone meal?(Its permanent place)when its a few days older or so right? Also, still need to know where I can get some mylar and about the red spectrum bulbs and how much light, lol, thanks.
When you say seedling, do you mean plant a seed and let it sprout, or do you mean to transplant a seedling into this soil? The reason I ask is because I like to use a very fine soil to start seeds. The Scotts soil will probably work though, it just sounds a little heavy. Maybe you could like sieve it or something? I forgot what the other questions were. Not sure what tubes you are using but these look pretty good. If the lamps are 48" long (again, not sure what you have) I'd set them up two deep and two across. That would give you about 7 X 2 feet of light coverage. Either hang the lamps from chains (from Home Depot) from the hanger bar, or maybe build a rough 2 X 4 frame and hang the lights from that. If you have a closet, then I wouldn't mess with another box inside it unless you can't light-proof the closet. The shortest time I have vegetated a clone was 3 weeks and she is producing a lovely bunch of buds. Note that I only have a very small grow box, so I veg in there and set outside to flower so far. I just set out another clone that had vegetated for 5 wks. I can hardly wait to see what she will do. For a seedling, I would grow it for 5-6 weeks or until it looks big and happy before I forced it to flower. Gardening helps develop patience ;-) You need to find out what wavelengths of light the particular tubes you're using put out. Or, you could score a couple of small HPS security lights at the depot and supplement your tubes with them during the flowering cycle. Even in my grow box, I have a 70 watt HPS light to use when/if I take a plant to flower in there.
Blood meal is a Strong source of Nitrogen. It can (maybe) burn the tender roots. I wouldn't add anything to the soil until after the seedling has developed its second set of leaves. Use gentle light until it is well established. Don't be overly concerned with the seedling stretching a little. After there is nice li'l mass of roots, transplant to a big pot or even bucket and mix the blood and bone meal into that. Try the insulation dept @ the depot. I found some stuff called R-Max it is foil on foam 1/2" sheet insulation. 4 X 8 sheets can be cut easier than sheet rock. That and foil duct insulation tape (self-adhesive paper backed stuff) you can reflect all kinds of light. The sheets have a silver and a white side. The white side would be good, but that's where all the printing is.
Alright, got ya, I just got to looking at this perlite bag and it is effin miracle grow, it says it has added shit, I got to looking at the back and it has 0.04% Nitrogen and has 0.01% available phosphate and 0.06 soluble potash. Still after the plant reaches its 2nd set of leaves it should be fine to put in with that and blood meal and bone meal right? ..
Absolutely. You could probably be okay using it to sprout your seedling. That really isn't a whole lot of added fertilizer four hundredths of a percent of nitrogen ain't squat. Phosphorus does promote root development as well as blooms. If I had a bag of that, and some seeds, I'd start them in that.
Well, the blood meal is 12-0-0 and the bone meal is 1-11-0, So I just just start them till that second set of leaves then transplant to that. Okay got that covered. Now, as seedlings should I just keep 2 of the flouro tubes over them or 4 or 6? .. Eventually when they start getting taller I'm having a problem that I cant raise all them flouro balast as it grows, so would it be okay to just stand 4 of them up verticle around the plants (3-4 3 gallon pots) and then have maybe one 42 watt 2700 lumne cfl above them? The closets 10x2x8 so this is pretty hard to work, I have 4 48" flouro each holds 2 so I have 8 tubes complete. So thats 280 watts and 24,400 lumnes for 3-4 plants, but is it okay to have the lights just standing verticle around them? sorry if this is hard to understand,.
It sounds like it should work, but I'd search around here in the City. Check out the indoor grow forums. Do you have a photo of the lights w/ ballasts? aren't they all built in to a unit that holds the tubes and ballast together? if that's the case, you should be able to attach chain to the lamp holder and then raise and lower the lights on them. Like maybe use the hanger bar as a pulley and hook the chain on a nail or something.