Newbie Grow Questions

Good luck with your grow. You won't find too many fans of miracle grow potting soil on here. However, I am just finishing up a grow that I used MG soil for and it has gone very well. Could be beginners luck, I won't know until I have a couple more grows under my belt. I can only tell you what I did and you can see if it makes sense for you and apply whatever you like. I germinated my seeds in a napkin like most and put the germinated seeds directly into my the miracle grow potting soil. I have dual 400W MH/HPS lights and I kept them about 2 feet from the seedlings for the first week or so. I ran the lights during that time approximately 12/12 like a flowering schedule. Once they popped out of the soil and got a couple sets of leaves I started giving them light 24/7. In hind site, I probably could have gone 24/7 from day one, but I thought because of the fairly intense lights I have that I would not overpower them too soon. Anyway, I got a water dampness meter and only watered about every three days or whenever the meter said the soil was dry. I DID NOT add any fertilizer to the soil during my entire vegging perios (about 2.5 months). Once the plants were about 18" tall I started the 12/12 flowering cycle. At that time I purchsed "Schultz's" flower fertilizer. When I water them now I add the recommended dosage to my water and water/fertilize my plants. I checked the PH of the soil a few times during my grow and it has stayed consistently 6.5 which I understand is good if not best for growing weed. I am a few weeks into flowering now and they are looking great. I am guessing they should be ripe for harvest in a few more weeks. Well, that is my story. I hope it is of some help to you. Good luck with your grow.

 

Sorry, I just reralized I did not address your other questions. As far as pruning goes... If I had a sickly looking leaf I would cut it off. Other than that I did nothing to the plant until just before I started the flowering. My plants were/are so bushy that I wanted to get rid of some of the fan leaves to allow the light to penetrate deep into the plant. I gave them a pretty good haircut, but did not go too crazy.

As far as sexing goes, you will not know if you have males or femlaes until a week or two into the flowering stage. Once you get to that stage you can find all kinds of pictures on here depicting the difference betwen males and females. It's really pretty obvious and not that hard to tell when the time is right. As soon as you can positively ID a plant as male, get rid of it. If you don't, it will pollinate your females and you will end up with seed, potentially reduced potency and a smaller overall yield. I can't tell you what you will yield from your plants. No one can without seeing how big the plant is and knowing what strain you have. Even then it's a guess until you harvest. However, I don't think it's unreasonalbe to get an ounce or more of an average healthy 3 footer or so. Consider all this info just one first timer to another. It has worked for me, but I have not had a chance to replicate the process yet so take it for what it's worth.

 

I'm not sure of the MG soil, but I have to flush my soil once a month. My plants will begin to look sickly and then I flush about 1 gallon of water through the soil letting it drain in the sink. If you begin to have problems and no good way to figure it out, try flushing the soil. It's the fist thing I do but I haven't used the MG soil.

You should never cut off a fan leaf, they are the plant's main solar panel used for converting unuseful chemicals into useful ones. I have cut them before but I only cut the ones that I believe have lost more than 60% of processing power. Read all you can about gowing indoors and never believe anything you read (wha???). There is a lot of unfounded advice out there (no offense to anyone). And above all else... Experiment. Good luck!

 

i've used MG soil in the past and been fairly successful with it but it sure isn't ideal. i mixed it about 50/50 with some soil that had no ferts in it then added a good dose of perlite. use the search function and do some research into LST or Low Stress Training. it is so easy and can make a big difference. i mainly use LST but will prune on occasion if a fan leaf is blocking bud sites. you don't have to remove the whole leaf, you can alos just cut the offending part if only a portion of the fan leaf is blocking the light. you shouldn't use any fertilizers for several weeks. you want to water the soil completely and then let it dry out until you can't feel any moisture an inch or two under the soil with your finger. sounds like you have a pretty big pot for a seedling so you should only have to water every few days. letting the soil dry out quite a bit will promote the roots growing as they search for water and will prevent root rot.