Hey everyone. Thanks for stopping by, I have been a member for a while, skimming through the journals and beginners forums and have finally decided it's time. I have a 4'x4'x6.5' tent with a cheaper 400W MH/HPS light/dimmable ballast/hood. 22" carbon filter with a 432cfm 6" fan for exhaust, I have a clip on circulation fan being delivered within a few days I hope. For medium I'm using FFOF and some pure worm castings for veg and then in flower I'll use nutes with water feedings. The water out of my tap is right at 6.6-6.8 so that's good, it's a bit hard but I'll deal with that if it becomes an issue. For the ladies I've got some clones from a local care giver. 2bubblegum 1 northern lights and 1 mystery bud (the owner forgot the strain.. Smh.. God damn stoners) I'm looking for any help and constructive criticism along the way. I'm eager for the grows to come already keep the negativity out. And toke on!
I'd get the ballast and the wiring off the floor in case of accidental water spillage.. Moving the ballast outside the tent will lower the heat the exhaust fan has to remove too.. I'm a fan of smaller pots and frequent transplants as it limits the overwatering I can do.. \t3x3x3 inch square cups are good to 12 inches tall\t\t \t\t\t\t\t [*] 5x5x7 pots = 24 inches tall[*]\t8x8x10 = 36-48 inches tall\t\t Then it's a 5, 20 gallon SIP or into the ground to flower.. Stuffed in the veg shed under 24-0 lighting T5 high outputs We all work out a system that suits our space, budget and personal temperament.. Some like the fuss and fidget of the pure hydro systems and some the water only of pure organic and some in the middle someplace.. No one right or wrong way of getting it done.. You seem to have done much of the reading well before hand and look to have a good start.. BNW
Unless you're growing autos, you can force more foliage growth by starting the clones out in Solo cups and restricting the root space. When you go into a huge container with a young small plant, it's going to take it a very long time to use up all the water in the container and it's also difficult to know just how much moisture is actually down in the pot. This often causes the new grower to think there is something wrong with their plants because they don't see anything happening above ground, and they will start to try and correct a problem that doesn't exist. Once transplanted, nothing much happens with foliage until the plant gets rooted in and stable which takes longer the larger pot or container you go into. Over watering is the biggest killer of plants by new growers. You have to maintain defined wet/dry cycles for optimum health. They will not do well sitting in constant moisture. They need to be allowed to become almost totally dry so their roots will spread inside the container and form a large healthy root ball. Also, keep in mind that your tap water pH WILL fluctuate. Had to learn that the hard way (LOL). Check it every time you go to use the water for your plants or to mix feed....which you will not need any of for a long time judging by the size container they're in. You're not supposed to start feeding them until they've had an opportunity to use up the natural nutrients in the soil. Giving them nutes before this will cause burn....an unnecessary stress on the plant which slows everything down as the plant takes time to recover. Starting them in something small and graduating the size of the container up as the plants need it (they are ready to repot when the plant is as tall and as wide as the container it is in...that's basically the standard) is the best way to go to get as much growth as you can as fast as you can. Allowing them to become slightly root bound is preferred before repot. Read a lot on the new grower forums. You're in veg and will be in veg for awhile so if it were me, I would concentrate right now about learning the veg process. If you've got them in good soil, understand how to water the correct way and don't over water and manage the pH of any liquids going into your plants and keep it in a range of 6.3 to 6.7...you'll have healthy plants. pH is vital to an indoor soil grow and prolonged use of water out of the proper range will lock up the roots of your plants and they won't be able to take in any nutrition, natural or artificial. There is no way to actually know what your pH really is with the "strip" kits and pH is too important to take a chance on, so don't waste your money on those. The cheap ones on Ebay and Amazon that are under $20 are worthless too. I tried to use one and realized about 2 months into it that the thing had been reading incorrectly since the beginning and my crop suffered for it. To get one you can count on, it'll probably cost you between $60 and $100...but money well spent as far as I'm concerned. Once I got a decent pH meter, my plants started to grow like they should and have been healthy overall with none of that mystery stuff happening as far as splotches on leaves, color variations, etc. Good luck. Read, read, read. If 50 people respond to a post on here, you're likely to get 45 different opinions at least. So dig for your own information and make sure you work off what is tried and true. Remember though, these are WEEDS and you have to work pretty hard or be pretty stupid to kill them. They'll try their best to grow under the worst of circumstances and you don't have to treat them like they are porcelain or anything. They're tough!! Hope you grow a bunch of killer buds!! TWW
Thanks for the hastey replies. All of the plants are probably around 12 days or so old. They were all root bound when transplanted. With each getting a half of cup of water.(i won't add more water until another day or 2. I only have around a max of 51 inches to grow before I'm touching the light from the pots. I'll keep everything in mind and keep this up to date.
I love mid size grows. Im only drawing 168 watts at the wall... but im starting northern lights (3 days old) ... so I look forward to comparing your plant to mine. So far you're setting a high standard and I agree with the previous replies... most especially about getting anything electrical off the floor my 300 watt LED grow: https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1393482-My-"Everything-Wrong"-grow...-probably-no-harvest-:-/
Since my internal clock won't let me sleep.. (3rd shifter) and the girls are in their 6hr rest period, I got everything off the floor and moved outside . And doing more reading. Here's a question. Since I transplanted as soon as I got them home on the 13th and have a larger vessel. Should I consider watering them tomorrow morning? And here's the next.. How much should I give them. I understand the use of smaller containers during the veg now.
I dont think I can hold up against you ... you've got more that twice my wattage. But I love to see the plants progress. How much smoke do you expect in the end ? my cheap LED grow. 168 watts at the wall: https://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1393482-My-"Everything-Wrong"-grow...-probably-no-harvest-:-/
I'm hoping on average 2z per plant. But I'm not sure if it's realistic or not . But I know for sure that my next grow with be with a 600w probably in the same tent. I might even add some filler lights for flower once I get there in the current grow.
So I got home from work today and it's day 3 since the girls got transplanted.. I decided to water them all because 2 looked thirsty, soil crumbly. Pretty dry on the inside. While watering I've come to realize a couple things.. 1. The plant I labeled as mystery I'm pretty sure is another NL. And 2. I want to start LST on them both. Should I start now? Is it too soon? The close up pic up top is one of the ones I'm considering for lst. Any help is appreciated
So I came home from work today and decided to do a FIM on one of each of the strains.. I think I did it correct. Here are some pics of right afterwards. I'm doing all of this as a test on the yield difference under the same conditions with LST and FIM and without. After the wounds heal and we've got new growth I plant to LST these girls lightly and go around the pot then flower when they meet themselves. ( and hopefully the natural ones won't be too tall by then) Any comments or concerns are welcome. I figure since this is my first grow I should get all the mess ups done now right? Lol
Do them all or do none is my advice.. You'll want as even a field of tops as you can get for flower.. While your LSTing this one the unmolested plant will put on 6 inches in height.. The inverse rule of lighting is twice the distance is a quarter the power.. It doesn't take much difference in height when working with HIDs to have one top to tall getting good light while the lower field isn't doing squat.. A tall branch can be folded without snapping if you apply some strain relief first.. Crushing the stem for several inches while slowly pulling the top down will bend without snapping a to tall branch.. BNW
Thanks Brass. This morning I started LST on them all. It makes sense what your talking about with the height difference. So should I FIM the remaining 2 once they start to reach up again? About roughly how long should the other two take to resprout? I'd take a few more pics but they just hit their rest period. I'll check back in a few hours.
So a couple of updates. The girls are loving the LST already. After the first stretch I started another.. I'll continue to lightly manipulate them. The front runner is quite a bit larger than the other by a few inches. I'm stoked to see what happens in he next couple of weeks because I'm already seeing some great growth. I had to put a bowl with a wet rag in there.my RH was at 19% (I'm in Michigan and it's a whopping 8°F outside so the heater is blaring in the house) It helped right away. Shot right up to 45-50% in a few hours. These are from yesterday.. A These are from this morning. Getting ready to start doing some more LST. Also!! The plants that I FIMed are starting to make their new growths! It's nothing impressive yet but a start. Any idea why I've got some slight yellowing on the bottom leaves of the NL? Thanks for stopping by y'all :toke on: :wake&bake:
The plants work to hard for every scrap of new growth so I really don't like to cut in any way shape or form.. Bend them over and tie them down like the bad girls they are .. LOL I gave up long ago trying to change my RH in the veg boxes or the shed and we get some super low humidity here.. Only fucks with my drying and curing as the plants don't seem to care even in single numbers.. As long as the new growth is nice and green and the plant is growing normally I don't worry the lowest oldest sun leafs.. If your in a bagged soil they might need a touch of something to green them up if your looking to push them but they look OK from way over here.. BNW
thanks again brass! I'm leaving them be for a little while, seems like I stunted them a little from the cut. Their taking some time to rejuvenate. Curious to see the difference in yield between the FIM and non FIM plants. Off to bed.. Take care blades I'll update pics in a few days.
So came home to the northern girls stretching pretty good so I started to LST some more, and I noticed that the fan leaves are blocking a large majority of the smaller colas under them.. Do I trim them back or take them off? Haven't read much about defoliating.. About to start searching now. bubblegum (3-4 weeks old. 1 week from transplant. The northern light berry mix.. Same ageish as the BG... I'll be sure to start from seeds next time so I know the exact age of them. Slight yellowing at some of the tips on lower areas.. Not too worried yet. Contemplating on nutes for flowering.. Not trying to run anything hardcore. If anything.. Any suggestions? Don't be shy y'all.. I'm epically noob. I'll take all the help I can get