Setup: 4 ft dual fluoros. T8 tubes. 32 watts. 5400 lumens. 6500k. Temp: 73-75 farenheight. Ventelation: fan blowing indirectly. Just moves the plants. Seed: Mid-grade bag seed. Soil: Sphagnum & Peat moss. 1/3 part Perlite. Nutrients: Monty's Liquid Plant Grow 8-16-8 @ 1/4 dose beginning this last money. Days Old: 19 days old. PH: 6.5 (Tested myself) Light Cycle: 18/6. Set 2" from top of plants. Humidity: It's winter in Wisconsin and it's dry in my home. Don't know the specifics. My issue: Maybe it's a non-issue, but I've read that a lot of folks have plants that are experiencing much higher growth rates then I am having. Currently, my plants stand about 3" in. tall. I water only about once a week as the soil 2" down instructs me too. I understand that I should have better lighting, but that will have to come later. Are my small plants normal under these conditions?
No. Just that it was some mid grade bag seed. I should also note that after germination they underwent an emergency transplant into their 6"in. pots after dog got in their room and knocked em out of their jiffy pots and exposed and broke some roots. Though, they should have recovered and are showing good signs of growth which seems to indicate that they've adjusted to the soil and repaired themselves.
Looks good to me! I use T8's myself and as long as you keep them a few inches away from the plant they're great for veg. I have 10 T8 tubes cool blue, I think they're 4200k for veg. Then I'd flower with 10 T8 bulbs in a warmer color temperature. I used the T8's for the first 6 weeks of flower and the buds grew great, nice and tight. The plants never stretched too much as long as I kept the light close. Then towards the end I got a 1000w HPS and I used it to try and fatten up the buds. But I'm saying, the buds looked great even when all I used was T8's
Admittedly, I am a bit nervous about flowering with the T8's. I have my eye on some nice T5 setups, but I am a family man with wife and kids and expenses. Takes a lot of convincing for my wife to agree to make these purchases. As funds become available, I'll continue to enhance the "setup". Your input is much appreciated and puts me a bit more at ease for when flowering time rolls about. At this rate, it seems it'll be awhile
I should also mention the T8's I used were bought at a local wally world and I didn't spend more than 65 bucks for the fixtures. They are like 9 bucks a piece there. Basically less than $100 for my fixtures and light tubes. Built a hydro system out of bato buckets and a pond pump, irrigation piping, pvc and a roughneck tote. I know that I spent less than $300 bucks on EVERYTHING to have a decent enough harvest.
That's awesome that you're doing Hydro. I highly considered it, but have to admit that old school soil and organic techniques were much more appealing for my own tastes. You mentioned that you use 4200k t8's for veg. Why was this spectrum your preference for veg? Curious
I just thought the 4200k would emulate a early spring light better. Then I have 6500k for the flowering period because it's suppose to be more like late summer light. I decided to do hydro because my mom always made me do yard work when I was younger and I HATED it and I dreaded when my mom's bare root fruit trees would come in the mail. Hated digging holes, and lived in an area where the soil was pretty much devoid of nutrients and rock hard about 5 inches down. LOL I thought hydro would be so cool and I love it. Once my plants started growing in it, I started experimenting with soil. My mother plants are actually in soil.
To tell you the truth I think I just picked the lowest k temperature T8 bulb I could find at Home Depot at the time. It might not be conventional but I personally have had decent results.
Your end results are always your best indication whether your doing it well or not. As far as spectrums go, blue spectrums (higher kelvin numbers) are the spectrums that occur through cool spring air and up to mid summer when the sun is directly above us in the atmosphere. Warmer or red spectrums are what occur when the sun rises and sets lower in our horizons as fall approaches. The angle of the sun through atmospheric gases reflect low kelvin numbers in fall. I love and respect that you are being diligent in recreating nature in your grow room. Much love to you fellow grower!
I feel like such an ass for saying this but I totally got my spectrums ass backwards. I went back to the room and looked at the boxes the tubes came in. I had 6500k for the veg and 3000k for the flower period. So you were actually totally right... please disregard my other message. That's what I get from trying to go from memory. I've been wanting to start a grow journal but I dread having to write down all that information and the stuff about how I built the hydro system, the lights ect. Built a cloner myself so just collecting the information on what I did seems like a monumental task. I've just started trimming a harvest so I think the only thing on my mind is "holy crap, i've never seen so much bud before." I'm so lazy at this point after all that work is "Whatever I did worked.... but hell if I can remember it while I'm blazed!"
LoL. No worries. Wasn't the first time I've seen others get it backwards by accident. There is an awful lot of information for us to know to grow this beautiful plant that we all love. There is almost too much information for us to consume. The thing I loved the most about all my research is that there is so many different methods that we all find useful. We all have our own preferences.
Sooo.... Rookie mistake. I fed my girls nutes for a second time. Instead of skipping and just using water, I fed them the full recommended amount. Now one of my girls are drooping and the other beginning to curl on leave edges. OMG> What did I do?! I gave them a gentle flush. Hoping for the best.
So after their mild flush last night, they are already improving greatly. Also tested the water here and found that it is extremely alkaline. The soil the plants are in jumped from 6.5 to 7.0 in a week and a half. I bought some sulfur to bring PH down if it goes any higher. Got to keep them roots happy and healthy you know . Worried about using the sulphur though. Never had to do it, and I don't want to crash the system, if you know what I mean. Anybody have experience with this?
Actually if you want to you can stop by the journal link in my sig.. A lot of good growers hanging out there Especially made for those that don't have time to update very much.. To the op.. Your girls are looking good, but I've noticed this is the 2nd time you've overdosed them.. Remember when your feeding to work up slowly.. I'm experimenting with starting early for my girls and so far with my mekong it has been going well.. For that schedule I started feeding at around 13 days.. I make a batch of the regular dose for a gallon of water.. Then when it is time to water the girls I'll take a solo cup and fill it to the bottom ring.. Then I'll take my plain water and fill the cup.. water the youngest.. Then do the same thing except increase the dosage for those older and ready for a little more.. I've found out that this is a great way to stagger water your girls especially when different strains like different nutes..