1st grow =) with pictures, would love any advice!

[Sterdaddy]

Hello yall!! This is my first grow! I ordered 5 White Widow seeds and on 3/26/2012 I germinated two of the seeds and then another 24 hours later germinated the remaining 3. I have them under 1 T5 bulb and plan on buying a 400W H.I.D. MH/HPS tomorrow. I'm just worried the 1 T5 isn't enough lumens. I have planted the seedlings in Fox Farm Ocean Forest blend and watered the first day, since then been only using a spray bottle to water, and tonight I watered them down fully for second time. I'll post pictures of all 5 seedlings, two are bigger then the rest b/c i started them a whole day earlier than the other three. Temperature is at a constant 75 degrees, and I have a heating pad underneath the cups (and yes they have holes in them for drainage ). I was wanting to transfer them to bigger pots soon but im not sure if they are still too fragile. Any advice would be truly appreciated!! Much love to all of yall!

 

[montanachadly]

The t5 will be ok for now just keep it close like within a few inches you wont see any explosive growth untill you get a bigger light and they get a nice little root system. I use cfls and t5s for vegging lighter on the power bill

 

[Sterdaddy]

excellent thank you for your advice!!

 

[dabumps]

I transplanted When mine had 2 sets of true leaves and I think you should wait until you have 2 least 8. When I did it the roots were so small (I have experience transplanting other plants) that when I put pressure on the top and turned them hoes over the soil (I also use FFOF) just dumped out and I was just able to hold the roots with a bit or dirt on them. It was terrible I was afraid of damaging the roots... I didn't do the slow upgrade thing. I say as soon as they are big enough to leave the solo cups just put em in the pot that they will be in forever! I would start feeding them about 2 weeks in and start @ 1/4 strength and then up it over time.

 

[dabumps]

I'm subbed so keep us updated!

 

[Sterdaddy]

thank you for the reply dabumps!! Do you use Fox Farm ferts for feeding??

 

[dabumps]

No I use general organics. I hear that FF nutes work best with the soil though...

 

[greengrowthexpert]

Just use the spray bottle to water for now.. a good misting every morning

 

[dabumps]

Just use the spray bottle to water for now.. a good misting every morning

this is what I do! JUST ME.. and that guy.

 

[roofwayne]

thank you for the reply dabumps!! Do you use Fox Farm ferts for feeding??

I used FF on my first three grows, now I'm using GO starter box. FF is good stuff, I was thinking everything was tasting similar. I don't transplant till they have a couple sets of leaves,I then put them in 1gal pot, after they get over a foot tall and put them in 3gal pots. I am trying to keep my plant smalller, you may have a different plan. Stick to your plan...rw

 

[Sterdaddy]

thank yall for the replies!!! I will definitely keep yall updated!! =)

 

[Sterdaddy]

hey yall! Well I just wanted to give yall a quick update with some photos. I did upgrade to a 400W H.I.D. and I hope my babies are loving the new light! I have a MH bulb in there right now and I'll purchase a HPS when the time is right and I have more cash ha. I'll post some pictures of my set up, I'm on a pretty tight budget which I'm sure most of yall can understand hah. I did purchase FF Big Grow but I wont use it until later. One thing I'm kind of concerned about is the cups the plants are in, will they have enough room for the roots to grow adequately? This will be day 8 in the cups for plant 1 & 2. Day 7 for plants 3,4,& 5. But the stems still seem very fragile. Any questions feel free to ask, thanks so much for any advice!!! Much love!!!

 

[Twisted694]

Yeah the red SOLO cups will be good for now. I didn't take mine out of my 16oz cups until they had 2 sets of TRUE leaves and they still had a little room for their roots to grow.. I mean, the more roots they had, the easier it was to transplant them. The roots held all the the soil together. I just cut the top/side of the cups a little and it all slid out as one piece..

 

[roofwayne]

Well we all seems a little strapped for cash. Probably should move that light up to at least 21", looks a little close could burn them. The cup should be fine for long enough. I transplant after they get their second set of real leaves. Hold off on the FF grow big till the plant are over three weeks, because the soil has nutes. Have fun....rw

 

[Sterdaddy]

thanks for the quick replies!! I moved the light up! and thanks for the tips on the red cups that makes me feel much better! =)

 

[nedguy]

reping up you since you already acquired the experience for the germination part

you can transplant them with no worries, we have similar cases, but by seedlings were germinated 3 days after yours did, i just transplanted them yesterday (5 days old!!) most replies told me my seedlings were fucked, but they transplanted successfully ! they weren't even stunned coz some of them even grew since the transplant 21 hours ago in fact mine looks a hell lot like yours! have a look here ! go ahead and repot them to encourage you even more know that4/5 got completely de-rootballed and another two got their main root cut and still managed to hang on

you can take a look at mine after the transplant here : https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/517882-new-grower-seeking-advice-photos.html
and let keep an open channel between us given that both our babies are pretty much in the same age !

 

[Sterdaddy]

thanks so much ned!! I definitely will follow your grow!! They are looking great so far!! +rep for ya! =)

 

[Sterdaddy]

Just throwing another set of pictures up, I'm thinking of transplanting them within the next few days into 3 gallon pots??(Or am I getting too anxious??) I made a rookie move and left my FF Ocean Forest soil outside and we have had some rain and when I opened it there was some white looking mold on the top so I just dumped the rest of the bag in the backyard, I assume two new bags of FFOF will fill five 3 gallon buckets whenever I decide to transplant.

 

[iNDoorGrowBro]

Just throwing another set of pictures up, I'm thinking of transplanting them within the next few days into 3 gallon pots??(Or am I getting too anxious??) I made a rookie move and left my FF Ocean Forest soil outside and we have had some rain and when I opened it there was some white looking mold on the top so I just dumped the rest of the bag in the backyard, I assume two new bags of FFOF will fill five 3 gallon buckets whenever I decide to transplant.

Hiya Sterdaddy! Best of luck with your grow! I also started my grow around the same time as you... Germinated 1o seeds on March 23.. planted 6 on Mar 25, planted 3 on March 26, and last one on March 27.. I'm also getting kinda anxious about transplanting my babies.. I don't wanna do it too soon though.

 

[dabumps]

I would wait a little bit. They have LOTS of room in there! I would wait till the root system gets a little better. I did mine @ about that exact same stage and it was a mess. The roots are tiny and they didn't hold the soil together very well. If you don't know much about transplanting it's easy to fuck up..