Please someone help

tonyboy77

New Member
Ok first off i was wondering if the energy star insulate u use for a portable air conditioner on ur window to reflect the sun off of is any good for a reflective material its like sheet rock maybe styrofoam yet lighter with a shiny coating on other side ? Is this good or no? And also how many plants can u grow with a 150 w hps ? And last but not least ive herd people say that with every gallon of a pot u get 12 inches of growth is this true because then ive herd other people say that they have grown a foot tall plant in a 4 oz dixie cup and others say they have grown a 3 foot plant in a one gallon pot now i no these plants like there space im not a new grower but im a bit of a beginner but not first time i just want to get these things straight b4 i get any farther i have plants in 2 gallon pots what size can i expect as well as yield. I live in a big house with central air as well and i have like 10 ft tall closet ceilings in my walk in closet and i wanted to get the most n best growth possible. But also what comes into play is the fact im working with only 1 150w hps so what is the tallest i should grow it since the light need to penetrate the bottom half of my plant for flowering please help me?
 

psilocybindude

Well-Known Member
The best reflective material you can use is Mylar, i've heard you can purchase emergency Mylar blankets from walmart for $2 a piece or you can get a 10 pack off amazon for $6.50 http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Mylar-Thermal-Blankets-Pack/dp/B000GCRWCG, the amount of plants is up to you its really all about achieving the best canopy, as far as the 1 gallon of space for 1 foot of height goes it is just a general rule of thumb to keep plants from becoming root bound and unhealthy of course you can have taller plants or shorter plants in any container but again this is just a rule of thumb to keep your plants healthy, as far as the 150 watt hps goes you will want to keep them short and most likely set up a scrog, here is an example of someone pro with a 250 watt hps i would try your best to imitate him and if your lucky you might come out with a yield worth harvesting... https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/630714-stoneslackers-new-250w-micro-hempy.html
 

psilocybindude

Well-Known Member
Clones or seeds? Seeds have to mature before they can be flowered, i really dont know though earlier than stone flowers prolly, i dont have experiance with small lights...
 

Green Troll

Active Member
With a 150w HPS and since you are obviously new to growing, i would start with 1-2 plants. You are not going to get a massive light coverage with that and you don't want to try and cram a load of plants in there and let them all suffer.
Also don't use anything other than Mylar for reflective material. Something that is not designed for light reflection (what you have is designed for heat/IR reflection which is very different) as this will cause hot spots. If you cannot afford or cannot find Mylar sheeting, just use white paint. For the scale you want to start with, it wont matter too much. You just want to get the basics of growing first. You don't learn to drive in a Lambo so you don't need a super setup for your first grow.

Don't use dixie cups, use actual plant pots with the drainage holes already in them, they are super cheap. The growth height is not dictated by the pot size per se, it is mostly the strain and conditions the plant is growing in. I have had plants veg way too long and when i put them into flower, they turned into monsters that took over my tent. Second grow, i flowered much earlier and they are 2/3 the size and will probably yield more as i have learned what to do, and most importantly, what NOT to do.

You can read the entire internet on growing, but until you get that first plant from seed to smoke, you really don't know anything. You need to learn from experience. Don't over complicate it, grow in soil if you can, or grow in coco if you are going hydro, DO NOT use aeroponics, clay pebbles, DWC or any sort of feed direct to the roots system. These systems, while awesome, are for advanced growers and allow very very little room for error. Soil and coco acts as a nice buffer between when you fuck up and when that fuckup will kill your plants.

I would suggest getting 5 feminized seeds from a seed bank, don't do all this paper towel crap you read about, it is pointless, you just end up handling a sensitive seed and root in it's most delicate stages. Just pop the thing in a peat pellet and cover with about 5mm (twice the length of the seed itself) of soil. Don't leave it too shallow or it will push itself out but definitely don't bury it too deep as it will never make it out of the ground. Keep it moist, but not wet. A good tip is to very gently squeeze the peat pellet. If water pours out, it is too wet. If you see water form at the bottom of the pellet but it doesn't fall, you are good. Practice with a pellet without the seed first so this makes sense to you.

Out of these 5 seeds, you should get at least 2 pop. They may pop in 2 days, they may not pop for 2 weeks, it just depends. Don't panic, just check how moist the pellet is each day, don't let it dry out, and you will see them pop soon enough. If after 21 days you see nothing, it isn't going to happen, so break the pellet open and see what went wrong. You will learn either you did something wrong like bury it too deep, or maybe the seed was just a dud. Either way, you learn.

Once you see a tap root come out of the pellet, it is time to pot them up. use a 4" pot with whatever medium you are going to use. If the seedling is stretched out, bury the pellet deep into the pot so the stem is about an inch from the soil to the pre-leaves. Sometimes seedlings go mental when they pop and get too tall for their own good. This is how you correct that.

Remember, seedlings need humidity. It MUST be over 75%, so get a heated propagator if you can, if not, just a standard one, and a mist bottle. Don't mist the plants themselves, just the inside of the lid of the propagator. A dry seedling is a dead seedling.

Once you have them growing in a pot, wait until they are about 2-3 inches tall and have 6 leaves. Then pick the two largest and healthiest and looking plants and trash the rest. Brutal, i know, but focus on the best of the bunch and you will be just fine.

I won't go into details of what to do after this, because it is a lot to remember. Just get your seedlings strong and then you will start to get the idea of what growing is all about. Getting strong seedlings i think is hardest part. Once you have this down, come back to the forums and see what to do next.
 

tonyboy77

New Member
Ok well hers the thing i have one plant under my 150w hps right now n she is 6 inches tall 28 days in ive herd that flowering can bring the height up to triple so im just curious as to when i should start to flower with a 150 w hps how big since they say as the light gets higher it loses its lumens and the canopy is about 5 6 inches from the bulb itself but its healthy
 

althor

Well-Known Member
I always recommend FLAT white interior paint. 86% reflectability compared to 92% from mylar and white paint doesn't wrinkle or tear. You can also refresh the paint between grows.

I also am a firm believer in germinating in napkins. I like to see which seeds pop and which do not. You drop it in soil it might be a week or two before something breaks surface, if it doesn't then you don't know if it were the seed or the soil or anything else that killed the seedling.

I would be very upset if I only germ'd 2 out of 5 seeds and I would never use that breeder again.
 

Green Troll

Active Member
Green Troll, I like your Icon...
Thanks. I keep meaning to photoshop a joint in his fingers but i haven't gotten round to it yet.

I always recommend FLAT white interior paint. 86% reflectability compared to 92% from mylar and white paint doesn't wrinkle or tear. You can also refresh the paint between grows.

I also am a firm believer in germinating in napkins. I like to see which seeds pop and which do not. You drop it in soil it might be a week or two before something breaks surface, if it doesn't then you don't know if it were the seed or the soil or anything else that killed the seedling.

I would be very upset if I only germ'd 2 out of 5 seeds and I would never use that breeder again.
The problem i find with napkins if you have to handle the seed when its cracked. It is just opening up another chance for infection or damage. Also you still find out whether they have popped or not, normally by whether there is anything green sprouting from your peat pellet :) There is nothing to stop you popping open the pellet after a couple of weeks to find out why it hasn't popped if nothing happens, so i don't see the difference really. Moist napkin, moist dirt. I just dont have to fuss with tweezers getting the cracked seed in a pellet root down afterwards. I find popping seeds the natural way happens within 5 days on average. couple of days difference means absolutely nothing to me. There is no rush.

Not every seed is perfect, and i always aim for 3 out of 5, not to just pop, but to be healthy strong, fast growers. Sometimes you hit 5/5, sometimes you only get 2/5. It's nature, man :)
 
Top