first grow kinda

[dontknowmuch]

Hi There,
This is my first grow except for one plant I tried before and streched it out, but it is flowering.

Anyhow these 4 plants are my first attempt with a little more knowledge thanks to all you here at the board.

first I germinated 4 seeds between moist paper towels ( bag seed I don't have a clue to tell strain) and all 4 sprouted, Planted seedlings in small styrofome cup with holes in bottoms.

after one week transplanted in I would guess roughly 1 gallon planters. I am using black gold soil and have fox farm grow big, big bloom and tiger bloom for nutes. Have a fan blowing on them. I am using 1 30w cfl 5000k and 1 13w 3000k cfl for veg and I will be using 4 23w cfl 2700k for flowering, Maybe in the future I will go HPS once I get used to growing. I haven't fed them any nutes because I have read here not to feed till 3 weeks or so, I also read that vegging should only take 4 weeks, so I am a little confused there.Also height is an issue for me probably would like to stay under 3 feet.

I will be doing the lighting in my kitchen and stick them in pantry for dark times, right now I am 18/6.

I will be experimenting with one plant and try to LST. I also will need to figure out if I want to clone, then flower the clone to check sex, or just flower them all.

Wish me luck and thanks for any info

 

[laylow6988]

If your going to use those lights, I might recommend for flowering you just use all of them. I think anyway. I have no experience with those. But I think you should use all you can get. Maybe just add those 23W from the side. See if you can arrange them in a manner to get the most light on those babies and it will help a lot. You have to look at the fact that one 400wHID is putting out like 50,000 Lumens. Your missin out using floros, but they do work. Just letting you know from things that I have read, so I could be wrong.

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Hi There,
This is my first grow except for one plant I tried before and streched it out, but it is flowering.

Anyhow these 4 plants are my first attempt with a little more knowledge thanks to all you here at the board.

first I germinated 4 seeds between moist paper towels ( bag seed I don't have a clue to tell strain) and all 4 sprouted, Planted seedlings in small styrofome cup with holes in bottoms.

after one week transplanted in I would guess roughly 1 gallon planters. I am using black gold soil and have fox farm grow big, big bloom and tiger bloom for nutes. Have a fan blowing on them. I am using 1 30w cfl 5000k and 1 13w 3000k cfl for veg and I will be using 4 23w cfl 2700k for flowering, Maybe in the future I will go HPS once I get used to growing. I haven't fed them any nutes because I have read here not to feed till 3 weeks or so, I also read that vegging should only take 4 weeks, so I am a little confused there.Also height is an issue for me probably would like to stay under 3 feet.

I will be doing the lighting in my kitchen and stick them in pantry for dark times, right now I am 18/6.

I will be experimenting with one plant and try to LST. I also will need to figure out if I want to clone, then flower the clone to check sex, or just flower them all.

Wish me luck and thanks for any info

Whats up dontknowmuch. First off let me say your babies are looking great. What you need is atleast 3,000 lumens per square foot of grow space but 5,000 would be better. Most people veg their plants until they see pre flowers or alternating nodes both are signs that the plant is mature and ready for flower. This usually takes between 6 and 8 weeks. Good luck on your grow my friend.

 

[Elephant Man]

If your going to use those lights, I might recommend for flowering you just use all of them. I think anyway. I have no experience with those. But I think you should use all you can get. Maybe just add those 23W from the side. See if you can arrange them in a manner to get the most light on those babies and it will help a lot. You have to look at the fact that one 400wHID is putting out like 50,000 Lumens. Your missin out using floros, but they do work. Just letting you know from things that I have read, so I could be wrong.

This is all correct info and good advice, but you have to remember heat goes hand in hand with lumens. With max cooling (4" vortex and sealed hood) and 400w MH, I have been able to get pretty close to plant tops, maybe within 4-6 inches. With flouros, you can literally allow the girls to grow into the lights every night . 1-2" is no problem, and distance diminishes lumens exponentially. I forget the calculation, but I think it is nearly 33% per inch (from looking at the charts). Unfortunately, I have not completed my first grow yet, but I think I am off to a good start. Flouros are really handy to clone, and to slow banzai mothers down, so no loss in trying them. I have been using HID for a couple of weeks now, and to tell you the truth, it has made me an even bigger fan of flouros . Please understand I mean no disrespect and your post needs no correction, just felt I needed to add another opinion .

 

[dontknowmuch]

sorry what is HID ? and Grunt, I was never that good at math. Can I clone when they preflower?

Thanks,
It's all new to me

 

[Elephant Man]

HID = High Intensity Discharge = High Pressure Sodium, Metal Halide and a few others that are useless for growing. Those bulbs you are using are okay for first couple of weeks (seedlings) but things are probably gonna slow way down or stop without more lumens. As they get bigger, move those lights as close as you can get them without stressing them. It is good you are familiar with the spectrum of your bulbs, which is important, but you should look at the lumen rating also. I'm guessing they are under 1000 lumens each. As TBG said, 3000 lumens per square foot MINIMUM. So you see where you are falling short. I seem to be saying this alot lately, but for a cheap easy fix, go and get yourself 2 (2 bulb) 4 foot shoplight fixtures from wal-mart, home depot etc. for $20. 4 t12 bulbs will cost another $15. Look for the labels on the bulbs, easiest to find are daylights (cool, 6500k), and they are just over 3000 lumens each. With 4 of these bulbs in 2 fixtures, you will get your 3k lumens per square foot in a 1' x 4' area, perfect for your 4 plants and probably a small cloner too. Of course, 2' fixtures will work also, but they are more expensive and you will need more of them. These will get you through vegetative stage and give you time to come up with a plan for flowering. I don't know if you really want to put an HID in your kitchen, it is going to light up every window in your whole house, I would think, imagine a welder going in there.

18/6 is okay, but it must be a pain to move them around all the time. You can go 24 hour light, but I would do it slowly.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

You are right about the nutes, that is excellent soil and would probably get you to bloom stage without adding anything. Much easier to fix a deficiency than a nute burn. Let's see how they look in 2 weeks.

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

sorry what is HID ? and Grunt, I was never that good at math. Can I clone when they preflower?

Thanks,
It's all new to me

OK when you wait for pre flowers you are waiting for the plant to show sex (male or female). This way you can toss out the males and keep the females and not waist grow space. Yes you can clone when they show pre flowers this is what we do. Once your clones have rooted you can toss them right into flower. We did this last grow with 3 AK-48 clones. At harvest time the clones were only 20+ inches tall with nice big cola's.

How big is your grow area?

 

[dontknowmuch]

How big is your grow area?

Well I Live in a small one bedroom apt and I just grow on top of a small bookshelf. 13inch x 30 inch and almost 6 feet high to the ceiling. I have been flowering antoher plant in my kitchen on the stove for light and in the pantry for dark.

I don't know if you really want to put an HID in your kitchen, it is going to light up every window in your whole house, I would think, imagine a welder going in there.

Not a problem with no windows in my kitchen.

You are right about the nutes, that is excellent soil and would probably get you to bloom stage without adding anything. Much easier to fix a deficiency than a nute burn. Let's see how they look in 2 weeks.

wow you mean I wasted 12 bucks on the grow big? I have been spraying them with carbonated water once a day is that ok?

Most people veg their plants until they see pre flowers or alternating nodes both are signs that the plant is mature and ready for flower. This usually takes between 6 and 8 weeks. Good luck on your grow my friend.

I see, well I am on day 18 and it is looking like I need to transplant in a bigger pot. I just hate having to waste all that soil on any male plants if I don't have to. sigh.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I am very open minded to all

 

[dontknowmuch]

Day 18,
we have yet to name them

 

[dontknowmuch]

and here it is, My professional grow space !



Look Ma , No hands !

 

[dontknowmuch]

still day 18 and I went ahead and tied one down for a trial LST.
Not sure if I should of waited untill I transplanted . Can anyone shed a little light on low stress training.

Thanks

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Everything is coming right along and your babies are looking great. IMO you should have transplanted before starting your LST but you can always untie them and tie them back up. What is it you wanna know about LST?

 

[dontknowmuch]

well I guess I just wanted to know if there is more to it then just tying down the tops

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

well I guess I just wanted to know if there is more to it then just tying down the tops

Once you tie down the top the side branches will begin to grow faster. As they get big you can start tying them down as well. That's about it.

 

[dontknowmuch]

Thank you TBG . Ok now is day 22 and I am going to get bigger pots tomorrow, My question now is. am I going to add any of my ff big bloom now or since I am going to be adding more black gold soil to my transplant should I hold off on nutes?

Thanks and Happy Holidays. last pic is the LST

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Thank you TBG . Ok now is day 22 and I am going to get bigger pots tomorrow, My question now is. am I going to add any of my ff big bloom now or since I am going to be adding more black gold soil to my transplant should I hold off on nutes?

Thanks and Happy Holidays. last pic is the LST

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Man your young girls are looking great. From what my bottle of Fox Farm Big Bloom says it's for flower not veg.

 

[dontknowmuch]

oops I meant grow big

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

oops I meant grow big

Yes you can start feeding them nutes. Whats it say 2 TSP. per gallon of water every other watering right? I would go with 1/2 TSP. per gallon of water the first time around and see how they react. Then you can up the dose to 1 TSP. per gallon and so on.

 

[dontknowmuch]

The bottle says .....

Every watering / / 1 teaspoon per gallon
Heavy Feeding / / 2 to 3 teaspoons per gallon every 2 weeks . Foliar feeding / / 1/2 to 1 teaspoon per gallon spray in mornings.

I will just do it the way you said . And see how it goes.

Thanks.

 

[sgtsmoke]

hi everybody.
hi dontknowmuch i use the fox farm grow big and tiger bloom.
stuff works great, i love it when i give them there first shot of nutes.huge growth spurt.just be carefull not to over do it that stuff is potent.just a 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gallon of water.then work your way up.i give then 1/2 teaspoon.then nothing second watering.then another 1/2 teaspoon 3rd wateing.then no nutes.then 1 teaspoon.then 1/2.then full.by then plants are rdy for 1 1/2 teaspoon.there is a pattern that i like to follow.i fried my first 2 grows.took long time fom my girls to recover.