First Timer with some comments and questions

shearpleasure · Jul 29, 2007

First I would like to say thank you to all of you who have posted incrediblly helpful information about growing. I dont think i could have done it without you.
I have been sitting back and reading in here for three weeks all the while growing 5 plants. The First three i started are white widow from nirvana. The plants are about 6 inches tall and are very busy and have many leaves.

The question i have is that i am using a 4ft cfl with (4) 54w t5HO bulbs, (2) 3500k and (2) 6500k bulbs. I bought a digital thermometer/hygrometer and i put the sensor right on top of the soil. It reads around 90 degrees or so with no fan. The grow closet is about 5 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Where do i need to take the temperature? On the top on the pots? Or in the room in general? The plants look healthy and continue to grow new leaves. With a box fan i am keeping the closet at about 84 degress. The light is mounted about 4 inches above the pots. Please add any helpful comments to this post. THanks and i will be back with pictures soon.
Shear

clever_intuition · Jul 29, 2007

Welcome friend.

You should only need to find out the temp of the room, Fluorescents do not emit alot of heat.

Good luck with your grow!

THE BROTHER'S GRUNT · Jul 30, 2007

I would stick it right on top of your plants and take the temp from there.

shearpleasure · Jul 31, 2007

Thank you for your replies. My plants are not really getting all that tall, but they are filling out and getting really bushy. Ive noticed some lighter green specks on one of the plants fan leaves, doesnt look too bad, maybe i need to get them on a better watering regimen. One of my plays is really strange. It is darker and doesnt have serrated edges.. The edges are curled upward a little bit and the plan itself smells 10x stronger than the other ones. Its stalk is as thick as a pencil and its only about 6 inches tall. It has looked the same since it sprouted. I know its not sick because it continues to grow at about the same pace as my other babies. I am getting closer to 4 weeks of veg and i am curious how tall i should let them get b4 i flower. I was thinking about 14 to 16 inches but please give me your opinions. At 6 inches tall my plant already has like 6 to 7 nodes and a lot of new undergrowth. I am averaging about a new node every 2 to 3 days. Assuming i know what a node is, being the pair of two leaves that alternate. I am hoping to yield about 4 to 6 ounces per baby.. What do you guys think? Am i dreaming or is this a feesible goal. THank in advance for your input. SHEAR

booradley · Jul 31, 2007

Without photos, it's hard to say really. With MJ less water is usually better. Probably the most common newbie mistake is overwatering!

You can flower them any time you want, but many people prefer to wait until the branches are alternating.

CFLgrower · Jul 31, 2007

less water is usually better , some people wait till there plants droop a before watering...

12/12 can be done from seed... it still has to veg before it flowers... Any height you want can be used to determine when to flower.. it will at least double in height so if space is an issue flower sooner.. if you have a fairly large area to grow in let them go a little longer it's all up to you...

shearpleasure · Aug 4, 2007

you are seeing my walk in closet, with a plastic shelf like thing on plastic saw horses. I got the plastic shelf thing behind krogers, they use them for the plants they have in the front entrance of their store. Moving on here are some of the pictures i took this morning. They all look like they are doing good to me except for my mutant which has looked exactly the way it does the whole time it has been growing. It keeps vegatating and growing at the same pace as the other 2 big ones. The smaller two were planted on the same day and given the same treatment about 1.5 weeks ago. THe bigger ones are about 3.5 weeks to 4 weeks old.. Like i said to me they seem short and bushy. Maybe they are normal. The pic of the door is my digital thermometer that tells me the humidity and temp of the closet.. The light is the 4 (54w) t5 high output fluorescents. 20000 lumens from 2 6500k and 2 3500k bulbs.