Received these from a friend and kind of threw together a setup on a last minutes notice. 4 plants under 4 T8 32w 2800lumens 6500k bulbs currently on a 24 hour light cycle. We have decided to stay with fluorescent for now, at least until the flowering stage when I believe we will switch to HPS. Should the bulbs be replaced with T5s? Higher wattage? Very new to this so not sure what's best for the plants. I've also read that two different types of bulbs with different color temps may better simulate sunlight? There is also a regular old oscillating fan in there that is turned on for a few hours a day. My roomate decided to stick them in this: Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil - Scotts Miracle-Gro I'm wondering if maybe it should be supplemented with some additional nutrients? These are pics I took today, it seems some of the plants may be a little malnourished... Or could this be on account of the MG soil? Possibly a nitrogen or potassium deficiency? What do you guys think? And can anybody give me a link to info on what and how to administer the nutrients to the plant? Plant 2/4 Plant 4/4
Honestly I would get them out of that stuff, Miracle grow is garbage, anything you see on tv for vegetables and grass is garbage. Go with foxfarm or black gold. Second go with the t5's they are a little smaller and will prolly need a new ballast but the output is a lot better. 2nd, if they arent budding yet I would tie them down, or top them and stake em out. You want your plant to be short and bushy indoors. Since outside the sun rises and sets on diff sides the plant bushes out itself and gets light from all angles. However indoors you only get light from above so you want to tie it down or top it to keep it short and get as many tops as you can. Each of those tops will be a cola. Stake them out so that the light can get all the way down to the bottom of the plants, and you might want to think about using those t8s you have as supplemental lighting for budding.
Your soil is fine. The organic stuff is good stuff. If you can afford a T5 system then great, but you cannot just plug the bulbs in there (as far as I know). The malnutrition you see is a result of the cloning process. The new growth looks alright so nothing to worry yourself about. If you get nutrients, I'd lean towards a specific product for you. BioCanna BioVega is all you're going to need to run in this system, beginning whenever you start flowering (or maybe a few feedings before hand). There are other things you can use, but if you stick with organics you're going to wind up with at least organic buds, and that's better than nothing.
Thanks for the feedback guys... I was going to try this training method How To LST (Low Stress Training), but it looks like my stems are too thick to begin this process? They've been growing for three weeks now, what are my options as far as tying down or training?
if they're that mature i wouldnt mess with them about it, usually Late LST is for plants that wont stop Stretching during Flowering. but you can always SCROG them.
lol you can LST anywhere before flowering the whole point to try not to LST during flowering is it stresses the plant. only very little. as far as that soil it seems like your ph is out of wack or something. i had a similar problem early in my grow. plants have all the nutrients they need for the first 3 weeks. based on that it could either be ph or nutrients i don't think its a lack of light even though you have stretch.goodluck dont listen to 2lsc. i mean that soil doesn't even have perlite in it. i definitely think your plants are liking the soil
most people dont LST late unless it's absolutly necessary because the plant is all happy, then its all like *BEND* and it flips a bitch. atleast that's what i've been told by several growers around here.
have you heard of lsting a 4 way scrog? you should do some more research someone would lst if they have vertical issues or wanted to increase yield. low stress training and theres high stress training like supercropping and topping/fimming
First off your using soil to grow in. I keep hearing that Hydro is so hard. I find that to be a fucking miscomception. I am growing hydro and don't have the problems that I see on this network. The plants grow faster and healthier. If you follow the feeding schedule you will do fine. I ddi learn that if you cut the dose in hafl the plant will lack in some nuits. Regardless of what you hear stick to the feeding schedule.
Started the LST about a week ago, did a little more today... A few of them seem to be responding pretty well to it. Hopefully picking up a 250w HPS pretty soon to help them along as it doesn't look like the t8s are really doing the job... how do they look? The last one, #2, got distorted by the wide angle a bit, it's not THAT small but is a bit smaller than the rest...
Well, things are starting to look not so good. My only guess is the roots have started to grow outside of the rockwool and the Miracle Grow is killing them? What do you guys think? Should I re-pot in better soil? What do you recommend?