Whats up guys, first time grower here thought I'd give it a shot after reading so many journals and seeing other peoples success. There's so much info on here it just hooks you and makes you want to grow. So hopefully I won't have too many problems and make out with some bud in the end. Getting started on this journal a little late so I'll try and catch you up to speed. This is a closet grow with two plants from bag seeds. Lighting- 4 15w 6500k 4 26w 5500k 2 26w 6500k I have both exhaust and intake fans, also fans blowing on the plants all day. Using FFOF soil with perlite, and have both plants in 3.5 gallon containers now (can't really go any bigger due to size restrictions). I am doing LST to both plants as you can see in the pictures, and it seems to be going great. First pictures are of the plants right after being watered and the following are after I did some touch up work on the LST job. Oh plants are on day 22 since sprouting, and I'm on a 18/6 light schedule. Plan on switching to flowering next Friday hopefully, and then just praying that both are pretty ladies!!! Don't have any nutes for the veg cycle yet, any suggestions? Don't want to go too expensive and are they absolutely necessary? Have been giving the plants 1tbsp molases per gal of water when they get watered. Well that's what I have so far and any suggestions would be appreciated, and welcome to my grow!
Thought I'd get on here and post a quick update. Since last night plants have really thrived after doing some more lst work. Will take pics tom night and post them. Any one have any suggestions on veg nutes? Also another beginner question, when I switch to flowering will 10 Soft White 13w 2700k be enough for 2 plants, and if not do they sell 2700k lights in bigger wattage's then 13?
Yes they do! I just purchased 3 65-watt 2700k cfl's from home depot. They're big, but use the same fixture. I've read repeatedly that you want at least 100 actual watts for the first plant, and 50 additional watts for each additional plant. If I were you, I'd go out and replace your 13-watters with at least the 23-watt 2700k's, 42 watts would be better, and add a couple of those 65-watt 2700k's. (the more light, the better.) I believe that 65-watts are the biggest 2700k cfl's sold at home depot, around $17.00 a piece.
As for veg nutes, I'm using the fox farms line, Grow Big, Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom. (Grow Big and Big Bloom are used in Veg.) I had heard nothing but good things about Fox Farms, and have not been disappointed. This is my first grow, bagseed, all Cfls and lst, like yourself, and I just started flower 4 days ago. I'm vegging 2 plants under 3 65-watt 2700k cfl's, and 6 23-watt 2700k cfl's, and 2 26-watt 5500k cfls to mix it up a bit. My noobish opinion is to go with Fox Farms nutes, get some big bloom and grow big first, if money is an issue, and pick-up the tiger bloom when you start flowering. (Do a fax farms search for more info. I use the solubles as well.) Use 1/2 strength at first, every other watering, building up to full strength after a couple of feedings. I've only heard great things about Fox Farms, soil/nutes/solubles, and they seem to be working for my first grow beatifully. It was a blast to check in on the plants the morning after giving them their first feeding, the growth really explodes! Be careful not to overfeed, though. I've learned that Grow Big can be a bit strong. I had to back down to a feeding of 1 tsp. per gallon every other feeding, but the Big Bloom is fairly weak, little chance of nute burn, and was able to use 3 TBLSP per gallon. They loved it. Check-out the Fox Farms website for a feeding schedule. Good Luck!
Thanks Ignatz for all the advice. I'm gonna take back the 13w I have and replace them with something stronger. As for the nutes I'm gonna hit up the hydro shop on Tuesday and pick somethin nice out for my girls (fingers croseed). Day 24 since sprounting Well as promised pictures from 2 days after Watering, seem to have grown a bunch in my opinion. Pictures include plants before and after I did some more lst work. Was wondering on the close up pic if those are signs of preflowers or is it just another spot where a branch is going to stem off of. Thanks for lookin, and opinions, comments, and advice are always welcome.
You should get 23 actual watt CFL's for flowering (100w). They don't cost much more and you will get twice the output per bulb. What I did to control heat because I have 20 bulbs is put an 8" fan blowing across all the lights to keep them cool. Go easy on the fox farm nutes. I would start using them at 1/4 strength. I never exceeded 1/2 strength for the entire grow. Your better off using less and see how the plant reacts because once your add to much and burn your plants it's a done deal.
Liken your set-up man, looks like your off to a good start and you have a couple experienced CFL users in here with ya. I will definetly be keeping up with your progress. Good luck and keep us posted man! TheBigGlad
Plants look good! I'm interested in your grow since it so closely resembles my own. I started mine 3-weeks or so before you did. I flowered for 6 weeks, and just finished my first week of flower, and can just barely begin to see pre-flowers. I don't think those things on your plant are pre-flowers yet, but I'm a noob as well and could be easily mistaken. I spent a lot of time examining every little wispy growth that I thought might be signs of sex, (Turns out it was just more branching) but now that they have started, It's getting pretty easy to see. I don't know how long you plan on vegging, I did 6 weeks, and the plants really do get alot bigger the first week of flower, so keep that in mind. For myself, I suspect I have 1 male and 1 female, but I'll need a bit longer to make sure. I was kinda bummed at first, but I've been told that it might actually be a good thing, since I can use all of my lights on that 1 plant, and I can practice making hash from the male. Your lst looks pretty good-don't be afraid to really try to get a horizontal profile, (I was a bit hesitant at first, but you can really man-handle these plants. bend it where you want it and hold it down.) Keep tucking those big fan leaves under, and if a growing tip seems to be raising above the rest, hold it down with something. I have to adjust the growing tips every time before I water, just to stay on top of it. I think I read on this forum somewhere that the plant releases a hormone or something that focuses growth on the highest growing tip-(Don't quote me on this, some other, more experienced grower might be able to clarify this. I just know the gist was to try to keep everything as evenly horizontal as possible.) I use pieces of wire stuck into the soil, and wire hooks with weights on them to hold down the growth that has spilled out past the edges of the pot. Here's a couple pics of my set-up, moving the lights is a hassle, but just to show you how much these things spread out, especially if you lst. They are in a 52-gallon rubbermaid, 2 plants in 3-gallon pots, 6 week veg, and 1 week into flowering. They completely fill the space. Keep posting, and good luck!
Nice you have a good setup. Nice ammount of lighting for just two plants, looks like it's responding really well. I'm debating even getting more light after seeing how well yours are responding.....and looks like you did a good job with LST'ing. Lookin real good, subscribed.
Hey guys so I haven't been on in a few days so here's what's been going on. Watered the plants last night with molasses and water. Took some pics that I'll get posted. Did some more lst work and really tied them down. Switched to flowering this morning, gonna do 9am-9pm lights off so hottest part of the day the lights are off. I have 10 26w 2700k lights set up for when the lights come back on. Going to probably pick up the FF trio for flowering nutes tomorrow from the hydro shop. Any suggestions on any other flowerin nutes besides FF? Also now that I switched to flowering do I still keep tying everything down like I was during veg with my LST?
[FONT="]Killa -I went out and switched those 13w bulbs for 26 watts like you said. I saw the 65 and as much as I wanted them they were just gonna be way to big for my grow. But thanks for all the input really appreciate it. Specially seeing as how nice your so called "runt" turned out haha. TheBigglad- thanks for stoppin by man really appreciate it and hope you stick around. Ignatz -I'm scribed to your journal as well. It's nice to have someone whose close to my grow for comparisons. Those babies look very bushy! I took your advice and really tied down the branches, they seem to have really perked up this morning when I checked. Flowersermon- from what I've read the more light the better so def get more if you have space + money. Wish I could add more w/o having to worry about temps skyrocketing and so forth.[/FONT]
Cool setup. I am going to do something similar but I'm trying to keep my plants short (all within one huge rubbermaid container). I hope it can be done with decent results. I'm following you and excited to see how these turn out. I'm using 5-6 26W CFL's but only growing 2 plants so I think it should be ok. How hard was it to LST them? I notice people usually start LST but only go in one direction then start to flower. Are you using some kind of soft twine or rope? I was thinking of using hemp rope to be funny. Good luck Bentham
Looks great! Yes, you keep tying down branches so everything gets the same amount of light, even during flowering. You don't have to be neat about it, I just use whatever I have laying around, usually scraps of wire, and make little hooks to pull the branch down and anchor it to the soil, but I have some string in there also, to pull the main stem over and tie it to the edge of the pot, as well as wire hooks weighted with chunks of clay or scrap rubber to hold down branches that have spilled over the edge of the pot. (kinda makes the plants look like a squashed Christmas tree decorated with garbage).
Hey Bntham thanks for lookin, let me know when you got your setup and stuff all done I'd like to see how it turns out. Also, it wasn't hard at all to LST them, it just took me awhile because I was afraid I was going to hurt them. But in the end everything was fine and they seem to love it. I am actually using some thin hemp to tie down everything haha, and it seems to be working great. Good luck to you as well, and I hope you stick around till the end! Thanks Ignatz for the info wasn't sure what to do haha. Plus so happy to see your plant pulled through , that was def a scare she gave us! I also like your refrence to the x-mas tree with garbage, made me laugh!
Day 2 Flowering (28 since Sprout) Alright so quick update, I stopped by the hydro shop today and talked with the guy. Since I didn't use any nutes besides molasses and water during the veg cycle he steered me in the direction of Botanicare PureBlend Pro Grow and Pure blend Pro Bloom. View attachment 279045 Has anyone used these nutes? If so have you had any success or do you have any advice to give me with these? Going to start these nutes tomorrow night during the next water at 1/2 to 1/4 strength. Probably 1/4 strength so that I don't overdo it, and hopefully soon will be able to tell the sex of the plants. Fingers crossed there both girls, I have a feeling though I have 1 of each, but we'll see. Any advice or comments are always welcome!
Day 4 flowering (30 since sprout) So I'm kinda freaking out, my dog last night while we were sleeping somehow pulled the powerstrip chord out from the wall and turned off all the intake/exhaust fans and the fans blowing on the plants. When I opened the doors the temps was 110!!!! So my question to you guys is, is this one time of I'd say no more than 3 hours at this temp going to cause my plants to hermi. Still no sign of sex, but it has me really worried. Hopefully someone can help me out. Thanks guys. P.S. soil was still a little damp last night so going to water them today since those outrageous temps seemed to dry the soil right up. Only good news out of everything is the plants were not burned to a crisp.
That wet soil may have saved her. I would think wet heat has to be better for a plant than dry heat. It has the water in the pot to evaporate before it started evaporating from the leaves (water in pot being the ore abundant source) which made it a humid 110 instead o a dry 110. Good luck!
Thanks for the input man, hopefully they'll be ok. I wont be able to check them again until 9pm cuz that's when the lights come on. But they'll be getting watered today and some nutes so hopefully that will perk them up. I'll post updates as soon as I know!
I'm sure they'll be fine. If your temps were consistently out of whack, stressing-out the plants, that might cause it to hermi, but a few hours of high temps shouldn't make a difference. Good luck!