I created this setup using nothing more than a wardrobe, 1 seed I found on a friends table from his bud (waiting to detect if it's female), 2 x photography lamps, and an old fan in my attic.. I started the plant off in my window, this is the first day under light I will be doing a 16hrs on and 8hrs off cycle, I'm going to get some nutrients next week. I don't have much cash so I'll probably a tomato nutrient or something. Day 1 (Vegging/Sexing): Update: Day 1 into vegging/sexing.. Vinewhips advised me running all those lights was unnecessary at this point so I removed one lamp and am only using 4 bulbs until the plant has the need for all 8.
Are there any in particular, I have no clue about plant nutrients. I just grow peppers and shit in my window in 2L pots with normal compost and tap water..
Just get a general purpose fertilizer nothing overboard. If your lights aren’t close to your plant like 4 to 6 inches one light will not be enough. It will start to stretch and they are a bitch to deal with. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Yeah I thought that might be an issue trying to keep it balanced and close so it grows straight and outwards rather than straight up, worth grabbing a pH up/down too to control the pH of the water/feed?
I use tap water but do lower my PH even when misting. I'm using a Silica addictive which raises my PH a lot, so I have to lower it every feeding. It's all about what you feel comfortable doing at this point.
Update: 8 days into vegging/sexing.. I have transferred the plant into a 25cm 5L pot with 25/30% Perlite and 75/70% nutrient packed compost - drainage seems to be going really well I'm watering until 20% run off appears and allowing it to drain out in the sink before returning the plant to the wardrobe and re-watering when the soil a around 2 inches in depth is dry. I also buried the stalk by around 2-3 inches when transferring as I was advised to do this, leaving around an inch gap between the very first leaves and the soil. I am currently using 4 CFLs on the plant on a 16 hour on 8 hour off cycle (to save some money on electric or I'd run them 20 - 24 hours a day). I have miracle-grow as a fertilizer, I hear a lot of mixed feelings about it, some saying that it's totally whack, others saying it's fine. The deal is it's my first grow, I'm not trying to grow everything to perfection, I'm just having a crack so I'm going to use it for now as I can't afford some of the well known nutrients. Images taken 7 days into vegging/sexing..
Wow! Really nice plants dude! Dont worry about fertilazing it's easy. But you dont really want to give nutrients to your plants until they show a sign of defficency. firs buy some nutrients. -look at the NPK ration -secondary nutrients -hydro or soil(You need soil) -(optimal) brand.
Update: 11 days into vegging/sexing.. I’ve topped my plant, just waiting on it to sprout two stems or do something haha not sure if it’s already doing it with the leave so input would be cool, it’s been around 2 days since I topped it.
Don't worry she is doing fine. When you top your plant she may stun in growth sometimes. Just wait and it will grow. Nice plants
Update: 13 days into vegging/sexing.. The plant has exploaded into growth on the top end after topping, as you can see below in the images the top leaves are much bigger and the plant is bushing out from nodes. I’ve also raised the lights by a couple of inches as they were very close to the plant.
Update: 20 days into vegging/sexing.. No deficiencies showing the plant appears to be really healthy, the miracle-grow doesn't seem to be detrimental to the plants health yet on a 100% MG once a week schedule with 1 water in between when soil becomes try more than an inch below the surface. After topping my plant it has since exploded into growth and I now have 4 tops, the plant is incredibly bushy I haven't actually seen many plants as bushy as mine in other posts/videos everyone else's seem to be taller and much more stretched out, perhaps because this is an indica heavy strain? it might be myth but I heard thicker leaves usually indicate an indica dominant strain while thin leaves indicate sativa? The 4 tops, and the tiny baby leaf I accidentally cut when I topped the plant to give you an idea of the growth speed, and some other pictures of the growth density and stems/stalks/nodes. I'm also still only using 4 x CFL on it at the moment, trying to figure out a decent way to hang the second light in there.
Update: 23 days into vegging/sexing.. Just wanted to drop a photo of how the plant is doing, and wanted to drop the specs of my wardrobe.. Depth: 16in / 40.5 cm / 1.33ft Height: 66in / 167.5 cm / 5.5ft Width: 31in / 78.7 cm / 2.5ft
Update: 24 days into vegging/sexing.. I noticed rooting had hit the bottom of my other plant pot so I decided to upgrade the plant to a 15L pot..
Update: 24 days into vegging/sexing.. Don't let your CFLs get too close to your plant, I've just learned the hard way, I didn't think they were much capable of burning but believe me they are, luckily the damage is minimal and the plant should recover fine. Also here's a shot of the setup after the lights were raised..
Update: 25 days into vegging/sexing.. I’m now misting the plant just as it’s night cycle kicks in, and I’ve also added 4 more CFLs into the mix to encourage faster growth (4 x 85w 5200k)..
Looking good bud!!! Those cfls are cheap and they veg very well. I have a little cabinet that I do all my vegging in too. 12 tube T5 h.o. on top, and six 100 watt equiv. Cfls with vertical 2 tube fluorescent on the walls. What light are you going to flower with?
What is the color spectrum of your CFL or T5 lighting ? If you take a CD disc and hold it under your light you can see the color spectrum ………. If you don't believe my take several picture of your plants with the cfl on and have your camera set for out door daylight white balance . I say several pictures because CFL flickers.. From my understanding CFL isn't worth a shit for budding ? Because CFL lighting casts a blue color spectrum....