Just started growing indoor marijuana, I just finished high school (irreverent) living in my mum house. Growing has started under the house, its 1.16 meters high. A room built by me was made to house the crop/s I intend on growing. The first and only plant so far appeared above dirt on the 22/05/14, it was put in the pot 4 days before that on the 19th from seed after it had already sprouted. Its been above dirt 5 days now (26/05/14). Dirt is basic backyard dirt, Ive seen grass and sprouts shooting up all over the dirt (Ive been killing them, cleaning as much as possible without harming the crop). I managed to achieve this whole thing with only buying one thing, and that was expanding foam for some gaps for the room. So if I have to buy new bulb I will but that would only be if my plant was dying or someone told me I would only get about a gram for each top. Now that youre up to date on the timeline heres the real information. Photos of the plant each day, after the text. Original I had two halogen lights @ 70w each about 40-50 cm away, and two CFL @ 11w each about 15 cm away(2700k and 700 lumens). On day 3 I swapped the two halogens out for another two of the CFL bulbs and moved them closer, as seen in the setup photos. Light switch for 15 and a half hours daily to 24 hours daily and the point when I changed to four CFLs. probably change back to 15 when vegging is reached. Did a little reading halogen are to hot, but CFL arent going to do much once the plant gets bigger I recon, so can someone tell me when i should swap back over to all 4 halogen bulbs if i should and how far away they should be. (Yes I have 4 halogen bulbs) I can tell you now I am watering way to much. some instruction on how much to water at each stage would be great. I've started LST (obviously) and fan has been on it, wondering if having it on all the time is better or.... I might have snapped one of the round leafs, I have ripped it off now. How big of a problem is that going to be, will it stun the grow and/or lower the yield of the plant? Probably the **** most important question ****. With my lighting, should I trim my leafs to get more forced light or should I let my plant grow out to collect more light, or should it be a combination of both. Cutting foliage that wont get any or next to no light. And what about loolipoping and cutting the main stem to get two tops, will any of these be not be recommended for low wattage. Day 1 above ground: Day 2: Day 3: Day 4: Day 4 LST Photo: Day 5: Setup Photos Old: New:
1. Don't use halogen. They are extremely hot, will cause excessive stretching, and won't produce a very good harvest. You definitely don't want 4 of them running right next to each other under your house all day. If a fire broke out you wouldn't know until your entire house was on fire. Stick with CFL, they aren't as good as metal halide, high-pressure sodium, or LED but with enough of them you can get a decent harvest. You are going to want to get some stronger bulbs though; Four 11W bulbs aren't going to cut it once the plant really gets going. 2. To determine when to water stick your finger into the soil down to your first knuckle. If it's dry that far down, water. 3. The fan always being on is fine but try not to have it blowing directly into the plant. Let the wind bounce off a wall or something into the plant. The wind will help prevent pests and strengthen the stalks. 4. Losing one of the round leaves isn't a big deal. You'll probably slow it down for a day but it will bounce back just fine. Won't effect yield at all. 5. When it comes to cutting leaves and lollypopping: Avoid cutting anything unless you absolutely have to. If you can bend a leaf out of the way, do that instead. If you just want extra light penetration, try only cutting half of the leaf to still allow light intake from that leaf. However, if you have a lot of canopy blockage go ahead and trim some leaves. Be warned, it will stress the plant and set you back a couple days. I don't usually lollypop anything, I just give it light penetration and it does what it does. Some are for it; some are against it. 6. Feel free to trim the tops to promote a bushier plant. It would actually be the best thing to do with your set up. A combination of LST and FIMing would give you a nice flat canopy that will be easier for you to bathe in light. However, FIMing does slightly stress the plant and will set you back a couple days, I think it's worth the wait though. My advice would be to invest in some stronger CFLs (or fluorescent tubes) and some nutrients. Even Miracle-Gro will work for nutrients but be EXTREMELY careful with it or you'll nuke your plant.
thanks alot jsan, you mentioned light penetration a couple of time, is that some method or is that just the plant taking in light or something? and about the CFLs, I found a 150w incandescent light in my backward yesterday just after i posted this thread, not sure if there is a question there. so now its 4 CFLs and 1 incandescent, anything I should know about incandescent. I mean this one seems to get hot, not sure which is hotter though, the halogen or the incandescent.
The incandescent bulb is going to be similar to the halogen bulb: incorrect light spectrum and excessive heat. It will produces a lot of light but that light is basically useless to the plant. Sure the plant might grow but do you really want to invest all that time and energy for a pitiful (probably borderline nonexistent) harvest? The only lights that I know of that will produce a good harvest is: CFL, florescent, HID (metal halide/high-pressure sodium), and LED. Your really going to have to get some stronger lights of the correct type. If you can't do that I'd suggest finding a secluded place (on your property) to do a guerrilla grow and use the suns light. Light penetration refers to light being able to reach the lower sections of the plant. A plant with a lit up canopy and dark lower areas has poor light penetration and as a result the lower areas will have extremely slow growth. If you have this problem fixing it is as easy as either bending/trimming leaves or adding another light on the side.
thanks again jsan but now I have more question, its May here (obviously) in australia melbourne, so it autumn about to go into winter. So with guerilla growing should I do something because Ive been told that you should start in september at the start of spring. so should i take it out of the under the house room during the day and put it back there durning night or..??? but then i'd have to get up somewhere around dawn to get better lighting hours. and you said that I wouldnt want to have 11w when it really starts growing, does that mean I can keep it under the house until it reaches that stage or would it be best to take it out side still. and when would you consider that stage. the start of vegging or..??
I'd wait until it gets into full vegetative before I transplanted it. However, if it's nearly winter there you are going to have to make some decisions. You could: - Keep it under the CFLs until September. Not a very good idea though since it's still months off. You'd probably have to do some heavy height management to keep it contained. - Go ahead and put it outside and let it go into flowering immediately. I've done this before indoors and while that plant was the runt of the litter it still produced a decent harvest.This is also depending on how cold it gets during winter there. Although with it being Melbourne I wouldn't imagine that it gets very cold. - Keep it under the CFLs throughout the entire life cycle. It will take a couple months to harvest and by then you may come across some stronger bulbs. The 11Ws will carry it for awhile although not with optimal growth. Yes, you could put it outside during the day and under the house at night if you are willing to do that. You don't want to do that during flowering though, the 11Ws won't cut it for flowering. If it was me I'd keep it under the CFLs until I could get my hands on stronger bulbs. You'll have a couple of weeks to get some stronger bulbs. Putting it outside in the open brings on a whole new set of problems like law enforcement, pests, and animals. I've done one guerrilla grow in my life and all of the plants were eaten by animals. Some people have really good luck with growing it outdoors like that, I wasn't one of them though.