First Time Home Grower, with questions?

[skunkushybrid]

get a fan, blowing a gentle breeze between light and plant

....also, you're doing fine

 

[Dr High]

Holy crap their praying, I moved my plants closer to the lights and now they are reaching for glory, is this normal or not should I move them lower?

That's Too Wicked!

move them about half an inche away soonish. good work!

 

[Humboldt]

Thanks skunkish, I have a small fan, however It's one speed and doesn't osculate, I'm thinking it may be to strong for how small my plants are because the plant that was closest to the fan is now leaning (see attached images below) the second image is the plant that was furthest away.

I rearranged a bit got the fan a little further from the plants also shielding them with one of my sprouts, I'm hoping that by moving the fan away will help and the leaning plant will straighten in time, in case the fan is still to close do you think it would be ok to Mickey Mouse the fan above the plants facing downward toward them?

Dr High I moved the plants down a bit, what do you think is it about right?, please see attached images.

Thanks Guys!

 

[skunkushybrid]

Buy an oscilating fan. Plants do not like a constant breeze as this stops them gathering co2, as it gets blown away before the leaves can capture it. Essentially your plant is fighting to breathe while at the same time trying to grow.

Buy a cheap fan.

 

[Humboldt]

Thanks for the info but I don't have the funds at the moment for any oscillating fans but what I'm doing now is when it cools down in the evening I turn off the fans, open all the windows and closet doors until early the next morning before the hot morning sun beats in, it usually stays around 70 - 75 until about noon the next day, then it starts climbing back to 80 - 90, since I'm running my lights 24/7 I'm hoping this will be good enough cool down period.

For the leaning plant I just turned it to the opposite side and when the fan is on I hope that it will blow it back, if not I'm thinking of a tooth pic and string to get it growing straight again, looks like it's slowly getting straight but time will only tell, overall my plants appear to be doing ok and since they are so young and fragile I'm constantly checking on them, I can't wait until they get older and durable.

Check it out I did a little experiment with one of my plants that was looking like it was dying, this plant was very sick and was like half the size as the other two, I wish I would of taken pictures of it now but what I did was used some miracle grow diluted it about half the recommended dosage with one gallon of water and drenched the plant damn near drowning it, then I put it back under the shop lights and left it for a few days.

I went to check on it tonight and I got a big surprise, check out the attachments, believe it or not a few days ago that plant was just about dead, the bottom leaves are still damaged looking but the rest of it looks great, so that leads me to believe miracle grow could be a good asset for the vegetation stage, especially if you don't have much money.

Oh one last thing, as I'm running my lights 24/7 would it be ok to turn the lights off for like half day to a day, or will that interrupt them, we have to have the lights out most the day.

Please Advise, as I don't want to do anything to harm them or stunt their growth and I can not move them outside anywhere.

 

[skunkushybrid]

I have experimented with cheap nutes. Particularly miracle grow. I used the soluble powder. It worked fine at first, even veg'ed a plant in DWC using it. Then came the overnute (in the coco medium)... i flushed and flushed, then waited almost a week for my plants to get better, they did and I fed them a weak strength feed of MG again, next day they were over-nuted again. I took cuttings off the best plant (la conf') then just killed them all. After that I vowed to stick with the best.

The best in my opinion are Advanced Nutrients.

 

[Humboldt]

The only reason I gave it miracle grow at this stage is be because it was about dead and all I have is cheap miracle grow on hand, I do not plan on feeding them that throughout the grow, I actually brought it back to life by doing so and now it's doing just as good as my other ones.

I need more lights desperately, I have like $75.00 to spend right now on lights, I was thinking about getting a couple of those CFL 65 watt flood lights, however I found some HPS 50 watters (see link below) they are only a buck more than the CFL's I was planning to buy, wouldn't it be better to get a couple HPS 50 watters apposed to two CFL 65 watts? does anybody know how many plants one could grow under two HPS 50 watts = 100?
Search Results for high pressure sodium lights

I already had to rearrange my lights to fit another bucket, with the plant I revived via miracle grow (see attached images) right now I have three plants under three 26 watt CFL's I was hoping to get at least four under two CFL 65 watts, and five 26 watts I believe that's 260 total, is that adequate for at least four plants? also I'm thinking about experimenting with two different light set ups to see for my self how different they are, I'm hoping to put four underneath the CFL's 260 watts and two underneath the HPS 100 watts, would that be possible?

Note: I'm afraid to lower the lights anymore as the plants start to pray, reach toward the light and the leaves seem to start to dry, also could be of poor ventilation, witch I think I'm correcting.

I have good news concerning ventilation, I pulled up the carpeting and found a door for a crawl space, so what I did was removed the door and tacked down some screening to help avoid bugs coming in, took a small book shelf and drilled lots of decent size holes in the back, laid it down to set the plants on and voila the temperature is staying around 70 - 75 I have a constant supply of fresh air, although come winter I may have an issue where it gets to cold, I'm hoping maybe a heat lamp with do the trick.

In from the ground, out to the sky!

My other closet is still between 80 - 90, so I'm going to have to put all my plants in one little closet, it's actually the same size as the other but it's got a hot water heater in it, since my closets are side by side, I thought about cutting a small round hole to put a duct and small intake fan transferring fresh air over, but I don't think my landlord will appreciate that to much, I have a better chance on removing the hot water heater without the landlord knowing, at least for awhile, if I did that I could transfer everything over to one closet, Would two different lighting systems work side by side in same closet? CFL - HPS

PS: I had to turn of my lights from 7am to 2pm, I hope that didn't interfere to much!

 

[skunkushybrid]

In veg', and under flouro's you should really keep the lights on 24/7. The more light they get at this stage the quicker they will grow. I use MH for veg', and still use 24/7 light. 24/7 is THE BEST way to veg' your plants. Although it is true that the plant's roots grow better when the plant is in darkness (I have witnessed this for my own eyes in my dwc set ups) this has no overall effect on the yield you get in the end.

What 24 hour light gives you is faster upward and outward growth. Particularly vital when you are growing with cfl's.

 

[Humboldt]

Thanks for the info, I finely transplanted all 11 of my sprouts into bigger containers, I'm glad I did because the roots where so bounded it was pitiful, the roots where surrounding the container, hopefully they will be ok, I also added a a plant and a 75w CFL to my other closet I now have four healthy plants under CFL and 13 plants under shop light tubes, all seems to be doing well, Now it's the waiting game, I will be posting updated images soon.

 

[skunkushybrid]

In this root bind, were the roots growing any thicker than usual?

 

[Humboldt]

Nah, the roots where actually thin and stringy kind of like hair, they didn't look to healthy, some when taken out the roots would dangle almost the length of the container others would be bundled at the bottom, that's why I hope they will be ok, I've been checking on them frequently to see if I notice any change for better or for worse and some are starting to look better as others do not.

Will just have to wait and see, so far I haven't lost a plant and I'd like to keep it that way until I'm able to sex them, after that there will be enough killing going on.

See attchments for before pictures, I will post updates.

 

[valuablevariable]

you mentioned a while ago about trying to keep your temps at 80 or lower. My last grow was constantly at 90F and it didnt hurt it at all, didnt ever really get burnt and did fine, only problem was it turned out to be a male. Theoretically it could have something to do with the temp but i wouldnt go so far as to blame it on that right away. Its a 50/50 chance anyway. Point is, it grew really well in 90F so dont worry if that is sometimes your max.
Oh and i hate everybody who can get 26 watt CFLs for 2-3$. Here 23 watts costs 9$ each. I have 6 of them and with sockets its cost me like 90$.

 

[Dr High]

whao.... costly man. and i thought my 40 watt cfls costed alot for 10 bucks.

 

[Humboldt]

only problem was it turned out to be a male. Theoretically it could have something to do with the temp

I recently seen on tv (Animal Planet) that alligators determine the sex of there offspring's by the temp, the hotter the temp = boy and vise versa, so I can see some logic to this, however taking precautions could be risky not really knowing what determines the sex of marijuana, say you try to keep your temp cooler thinking they will turn female and it turns out that it's quite opposite and you end up with a bunch of boys.

Right now I have four plants in a closet that the temp stays anywhere from 70 - 80 (very seldom gets above 80, usually 71- 75) and the remainder in another closet that stays between 80 - 90 (very seldom gets below 80) so I will be curious to see if there will be a noticeable differences in the sex, would be freaky to see the ones I keep in the cooler closet turn girl, and the ones I keep in the hotter closet turn boy or vise versa.

Oh and I hate everybody who can get 26 watt CFLs for 2-3$. Here 23 watts costs 9$ each. I have 6 of them and with sockets its cost me like 90$.

I got a 75w the other day for $3.00 (please don't hate me) I recommend frequently visiting all the thrift stores that you can , some thrift stores carry new and in packaged items for cheap, such as Salvation Army, Goodwill's even some locally owned thrift stores, thrift stores are great for finding light fixtures, sockets, buckets, wiring etc you can find just about anything at a thrift store, just got to be there at the right time, I've even seen low 11w CFL's at the dollar store, good for cloning I believe.

So far I spent around $80.00 for everything, if I would of gone with all cheap potting soil it would of been a bit cheaper, although I plan on spending much more than that come flowering, I jumped into this to quick, without thinking really, as soon as I learned that it was possible to grow using flo's I was like all over it and now that I've been reading up learning tons of stuff (due to this great forum) I know now that I need better lighting come flowering to produce bigger tighter buds.

I saw a complete 400w HPS system at Home and Garden for only $119.00 bucks may cost me around $150.00 after shipping and shit but it should be worth it, I'm saving my money to get that bitch and I'll veg my plants as long as I have to until I can get it, or I may test the waters and try both CFL and HPS for flowering to actually see the difference for myself.

Give it a few days and I'll write up a DIY HPS cooltube, combine that with a DIY HPS BALLAST and a DIY batwing reflector you can have one pimp setup for very little $.

Shouldn't say things you don't mean, be honest, true to yourself and others!

 

[Spittn4cash]

plants that turn sex bcuz of temps? thats crazy, its in genetics...however plants that are Indica X Sativa crosses will display Sativa traits if the temps are higher and Indica traits if the temps are lower, Im not sure how the bud will turn out(either couch lock or cerebral) and I wont find out until my grow finishes, but as far as sex goes thats mainly genetics.

 

[valuablevariable]

I got a 75w the other day for $3.00 (please don't hate me) say things you don't mean, be honest, true to yourself and others!

Its possible i dont live in the same country as you so salvation army wont work. But hey maybe i do live there!, .... but maybe also not. So ill stick to my 8$ CFLs with pride and live with the thought that at least here the growing laws are not so tight and i can go to a shop down the street and pick up all the seeds and grow equip i need. I bought a 125 watt enviro for lil over 40$ today, it might all be pricyer but its still all affordable and will pay off after one grow (not by selling but rather by not having to buy oc).

 

[JMS]

Yes, I would plant individually asap...

 

[Humboldt]

I forgot to attach my final transplant so you can look at the roots skunkish , these roots look good compared to the rest, these roots were actually the thickest and healthiest of them all.

Also I got six of my best plants and two in smaller pots (8 plants total) in one closet, I went out and got four more 26w CFL's and mickey moused the lighting for the two newest plants and two extra bulbs for underneath the stove hood.

I have 8 bulbs total 7 26w and one 75w, there is 6 26w and one 75w under the makeshift hood and two 26w one for each addition plant, so far everything is looking good for what I have to work with, also I plan to build one big light fixture when plants are sexed.

Does anybody know if I have enough lighting for vegetation stage for 8 plants? the two in smaller pots will be smaller of course.

Yes, I would plant individually asap...

WTF! are you talking about JMS? are we that high?

 

[Ribbet29]

How are they doin? got any updated pic's?

 

[Dr High]

They were ready to transplant=) good job. i almost killed my plants not transplanting them... why was i s stupid to think the roots would poke through the jiffy? grr. in consequence. they grew slower.