Hey everyone! So I finally got everything together for my grow op, after about 3 months of buying, and planning. I made a few mistakes right off the bat, and drowned 1 of my seedlings by watering it before it really even sprouted. My Mistake. So i got on here, and did hours and hours of more reading. At the moment, I am 4 days into germination, with 2 beautiful sprouts of Super Lemon Haze. I germinated in soil and a solo cup, keeping it in a dark place, and it is doing great. My Current Setup is a 20 gallon resivoir for my water and nutes, with a 4x2 ft planting tray holding my babies. The tray is really for once my plants get big, but now im thinking of just putting them in pots and growing in it instead of rockwool cubes, and ebb and flow system. My grow setup is identical to the one on the youtube videos "how to grow marijuana indoors". (By Dr. Green). Anyways, on to my questions. Im planning on using humbolt big up nutes (thanks oldskool for the rec) at about 3-4 weeks at half strength. I have a 400 watt HPS with 430 blue spectrum bulb, as well as 6 100watt cfl lights. I really dont know which light setup would be better for my plants. Should I use the cfl's until flowering, then switch to hps? Also, my soil is like a 3 dollar bag from home depot, and although its working very well so far, i keep hearing people talking about adding perlite, vermiculite, and worm castings to their soil. I dont know what any of these things are, or their purpose, or where I can get them. Can someone shed some light on that for me please? Also, i have noticed a few gnats around my babies, and I am not sure what the best method of insect control is for a apartment closet. What can i use to kill insects, but not hurt my plants? I know alot of this info is listed around the site, but my internet capabilities are limited to about 20 minutes a day. Thanks everyone for your help. Oldskool, your one of the most knowledgable people I have talked to, and I would really respect and appreciate your advice. I'd love to talk to you via cell phone to get some info, so if your cool with that, please pm me, and Ill message you my cell number. Thanks again everyone! Sorry for the horrible layout of this post, I only had like 7 minutes to type it. haha...
Hi Soloist! Wow that's an intimidating looking wall of text!Only joking I know you were on a rush. I'm a new grower myself, so I'll only attempt to answer the questions that I'm sure of. First of all perlite and vermiculite are soil additives (there's a better term but I can't think of it right now) and what they are used for is better aeration of the soil, better drainage and better water retention. I know that might seem like a contradiction, but it works that way because perlite (and vermiculite I think) is a volcanic rock which has been superheated until it "puffs up" like the inside of a sponge, so that it allows excess water to drain through while holding onto some by capillary action. They are highly recommended, but not strictly necessary. I think you should put your lights up ASAP, having a germinated seedling in the dark will cause it to stretch for light which can make the stem weak. Most growers on here (or at least the majority of experienced ones) will say use MH for veg and HPS for flowering, but you can of course use CFLs for vegging if you want, just make sure to use enough ( never mind, I just re-read and saw that you have 6 100w CFLs, if this is the true wattage rather than the equivalent then you're golden). That's all the advice I can offer for now, good luck with everything!
Hey man, thanks for your response! Very helpful. Yeah, i have them under the cfls right now. They are true 100 watts, not equivilent. I got 1 of them on each plant right now. That should be enough shouldnt it? How much perlite and that other stuff do i mix in with my soil? And when should I change out the new mix with what its in now? Should I do it when I transplant into a larger pot? and should I wrap it around the pot in a spiral like some of the stickies suggest?
You're very welcome! One 100w cfl per plant is perfect, spot on. Different growers have different preferences when it comes to soil/soilless mixes, at the moment I'm using 50% peatmoss/50% perlite as that's all I can afford (and it's working very well for me), but something like 40% Organic soil, 25% perlite, 25% vermiculite and 10% bone meal, worm castings etc., would be optimal. Unless you experience problems I would suggest simply preparing the new soil mix in the new pots and transplanting in when you need to, like you said. I've never heard about wrapping soil in a spiral, but if it's in a sticky it's generally sound advice. I can't see how it would make a difference, but I still have a lot to learn! Hope this cleared a few things up for ya, and BTW I'm always happy to get +rep!
ok, so im officially a dumbass. My cfls were only 24watts, 100 watt equivelent. My babies stretched a little bit, so i put them under the 400 watt hps. how high above my plants should i put the 400 watt light? And should i use it or use like 3 24 watt cfl's instead?
HPS is typically used for flowering. Do you have a digital ballast capable of running MH bulbs (better for veg)? Or you could use the HPS alongside the CFLs.
go to this thread and look at the bottom, i put some charts up earlier i found and the hps chart is way at the bottom, as for hps in veg, they work but since you have a cooler 430 spec bulb i would veg with that, gl on your grow man http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/399902-light-distance-400watt-mh.html
Yeah it's still possible to veg under HPS, though maybe not optimal. It's sure to be better than 24w CFLs though, right? Hope it goes well for ya!
Fungus Gnat control: The gnats themselves do no harm, but the larvae eat the roots. Put thin slices of potato over the top of the soil; the larvae love to eat them and will gravitate to it. At the same time, over those, put strips of sticky no pest strips to catch the adults as they go to lay their eggs in the soil. Remove the potato slices and discard them after a few days. Repeat as needed. Aside from that, insecticidal soap and pyrethrin are your friends with regards to most pests. As for soil mixes, you can get perlite at any garden store. It's basically an inert gravel and will help with soil drainage. Sorry if I missed something but honestly, paragraphs are your friend. That wall of text wasn't exactly easy reading
Hey everyone....Thanks for the help! OldSkool, thanks again for your advice. I know it was a crazy ass paragraph to have to follow. lol. And I realized last night that they werent gnats, they were flee's from the neighbors dog that came over!!!! How harmful are flees to plants, and should I use the same meathod for getting rid of them as i would gnats?
sweet....i didnt think they would, just better to ask and make sure. Thanks again man, you really are very helpful. Im so excited. like 3 days into my op, and showing great signs already. Even though my babies stretched alittle bit from the low powered cfl's, once i added the hps to the cfl's, they loved it. So, Im gonna pick up some true 100 watt cfl's, give my hps a break, and see what happens. Its ok to swap lights like that isnt it. My babies wont care will they? haha
Just make sure you get the right spectrums. A lot of people just buy regular CFL's. If they are not 6500k for veg or 2700k for flowering (or close to the latter two) you'll get more stretching. HPS can be used start to finish. Plants will stretch slightly but it's fine.
awesome man. I really thought i had the right cfls. I looked on the box and they were def 6500k, but only 100 watt equivelants. Any idea what super lemon haze plants yeild per plant on average? Ebb and flow, indoor, humbolt big up nutes, 6.8 ph? 18/6 for now?
There is no way to tell what yield you'll get. It could be a half ounce or 4 ounces. Too many variables. I use Humboldt nutes too btw.
Hey Oldskool. I think I've hit a snag. My plants have been growing for about 7 days, their stalks are about 4-5 inches. The problem is that the 2 leaves on top have not grown at all....they are still about an inch long. there are 2 other underdeveloped leaves that havent picked up and started going either. Im watering my plants with a tablespoon like once a day so i dont drown them. No nutes, no nothing. I know ventilation was a major problem, so i threw 2 ocillating fans in there to help out. Im sorry I havent been able to get any pics up, but Ill try soon. Also, my leaves go up at like 45 degrees from the stalk, instead of laying out nice and flat. Any ideas anyone? All advice and help would be greatly appreciated!
Snap a few pics and put it up in the sick plants section, you won't get much response in here because this thread is old, so nobody realises you have a new question. Off the top of my head: could be lights too far, temps too low (with the new fans), but as I said I'm far from experienced, so I might be way off.