Tell me she is healthy and pretty? Chemdawg from seed, she is two weeks old on fourth of july. i'm scared i will hurt or kill her after investing all this time and effort. Here is my setup. Bathroom, in the shower so if water drains it drains right into the drain foxfarm potting soil kind soil hot soil on the bottom viparspectra 300w led tap water at 7.1 ph, sits for 24 hours before watering to bleed off chlorine. vivosun 390 cfm 6 inch with 6 inch carbon filter 18/6 light cycle. small fan blowing door isnt closed, curtain blocking door so maximum fresh air flow while blocking light. Sorry if im kind of scatter brained this is my first ever grow.
7.1 ph is a little too high. 7.0 is top range and that is not ideal. Nutrient absorption is partially controlled by ph. If you're in the wrong or bad ph range it will limit absorption of some nutrients and effect plant health. 6.5ph is a more ideal target feeding ph when growing in soil. You should throw in a few drops of lemon juice to knock it down a peg before feeding if you lack ph down.
I very much appreciate the advice. Is lemon juice the only thing? what kind of other things would you recommend, i got a digital ph tester.
I c you have a better setup than before. Bravo buddy. Lemon juice will work. Why it works is because the water you are feeding is considered more alkaline. By adding a cpl drops of lemon juice which is acidic will drop your ph level down to the range you want to be. Make sure to not ph your water below 6.0. Different nutrients are absorbed with different ph ranges. So change it up a bit between 6.0 and 6.8 and you shouldn't have a problem. I believe that fox farms ocean forest is a balanced ph soil think it ranges between 6.2 and 6.6
A bottle of ph down is best if you have a plant grow store locally. I've used distilled white vinegar but lemon juice is less toxic to plants. Both are capable of getting you in 6.5 ph range. You'll have superior nutrient absorption at that level compared to 7.1. Lemon juice isn't very strong it may take 1/2 tsp to get you down to 6.5 depending on if you're dropping a gallon or 1/2 gallon at a time for feeding. Anything below 7 is pretty good as long as you're above 6. 6-7 is ph range for soil feeding. 6.5 is the sweet spot where you have some buffer each way if things get off in the soil.
Ill get some ph down, i was reading about its benefits. Is my temp and humidity ok? I mean she looks healthy to me, is she ok on her size for her age? thats a 5 gallon bucket, i drilled several holes in the bottom and around 10-12 randomly around the rest of it to help the roots exposure to oxygen. Any advice at all?
Just to be clear, my water i use is 7.1, will that over time damage the ph of the soil? or will the soil be able to maintain that ph even with a higher ph water?
It will or should be able to if it's a well built soil but you are always better off correcting it if you're out of range. It's up to you. Many organic no till soil growers don't touch ph but many of them are feeding with water in range. Your hardness has a factor on how much it takes to correct it too and how much of an impact the off ph has. The harder the water the more the off ph will tend to effect the plant/soil. A well built soil does have built in ph buffers but they only do so much and if you work them hard you burn off their effectiveness. Always better to feed in range for optimal health.
I like to keep everything around to be "same same" wont hurt much if u already did it but from now on itd be good to make sure you ph your water to about 6.5 like tbone implied. No need to feel scared my friend. As the time progress and you grow like a boss itll be like 2nd nature and you wont feel the need to be scared . If you r scared now just wait til you top your plant
Yea, topping, i dont know if i have it in me to do it to this first plant, i planned on low stress training with gardening wire. I will take your guys advice and get some ph down and keep the ph in range so i dont add unnecessary strain on my plant. Should i just adjust to like 6.5 or should i lower it slowly, like 7.0, then 6.9, then 6.8?
Need to get your pH down to between 6.3 and 6.7 for soil. Having your pH out of whack will lock up the roots of your plant and it can't take in nutrition. Post pics under natural light...not LEDs or HPS, because it screws up the color of the plant. If you started your plant in a larger container, be prepared to be patient and wait for real growth. The more soil it's forced to build a root system into, the longer that takes. While it's rooting in, it uses very little water and needs more heat than light, actually. But once it's root system is in place, you'll start to see new growth put on at a faster pace. Then throw the light to it....24/0....the more the better. Get your light as close to the plant as possible without burning the plant (LEDs burn hotter to plants than some other forms of light so bring it down slowly). The key to getting the most out of your plant is getting the most out of your light. If you hang it too high, you rob the plant of valuable wattage it needs to force it to produce. Never EVER water your plant until you can lift the container and feel NO weight. They need defined wet/dry cycles to stay healthy and if you feel weight on picking it up, there is still moisture in the soil. It should always be light a a feather before you water or feed. No very young plant needs nutes unless you want to burn it up good. Give it time to use up some of the nutrients in the soil before pouring more in. Nutes are nothing but plant food. Light is the thing that grows the plant and produces nice fat buds. Best of luck to you. Read up on tending the plant and getting the most out of it. The more you know about the plant and how it grows and what it needs during the cycles of it's life, the better plant you will grow....assuming you have light enough to force the growth you're shooting for. But the 300 watt LED should be plenty to get the job done. Don't be afraid of them. They can take a whole lot more than most people thing. Heck, they're weeds. Best of luck! TWW
Lol. Sound a lil like the old me. In all honesty i wish i topped my first batch. They grew to 42" 2 months from sprout by the time the 3rd week of flower came i bent the stems b4 it was too late to do anything. The one i have flowering now is at its 5th week of flowering and is only about 18" tall with a nice semi even canopy. Always growers choice my friend
thank you man, that was really helpful and kind. I've done a shit ton of research prior to even starting this, seems like no one can agree on anything really, so I decided to try to mimic outside as much as possible with a long day cycle and ideal conditions. I personally feel the 24/0 cycle deviates from the environment im trying to produce. I also got a hydrometer plugged into one of the holes in the bottom of the bucket, i wish i knew about the lift method prior to buying it lol.
when would you recommend i start to train this girl? I understand the basic concept of light to as many colas as possible while keeping them evenly growing, but is there a specific period in which she is "ideally" ready?
There are really no right or wrong answers to your question but if it were my plant. Id let it keep growing the way it is for about another 7 days let it get use to the soil and root out some. Then i would top the top node and tie back the 2 branches on top. Make sure to use ph water. In about a week or 2 id look at getting some cal/mag as fox farm ocean forest lacks them nutes