1ST GROW: Need pro advice please, + rep for helpful feedback - PICS

This is my first post so i hope i dont fudge it up. Below is info re: my first grow going on now. These pics are from 2 hours ago.

I've been reading tons on Rollitup and I love this site so i wanted to create a good detailed post for some help with my Grow. Thank you in advance.

I have 10 plants all from feminized seeds (3 strains) in my veg room which equate to GROW1 and GROW2. All Sativa. Grow1 includes 6 plants that are about 7-8 weeks old (2 of each strain, called #1,2&3). Grow2 plants are 22 days since going into soil. I started a log for each grow when i started the grow 2 and it's the best idea ever.

The room is roughly 8x7x7 feet. Room is light sealed but not air tight. Two intakes and one out through the light with the glass removed. Room temp is about 79 degrees 40% humidity. Plants under the MH are btw 14-26in away (biggest to smallest) bc of the different strains and probably growth stunt. Plants under the T5 are about 10-12in away (noticed serious hit stress when i put them close, see pics below). There is a MH400 and an 8bulb T5.



Im just gonna discuss my first grow.

6.5g pots, planted from seedlings over 7 weeks ago. I was squeezing all 6 pots under a MH400 until i got an 8 bulb T5 and moved #1a and #3a under the T5 unit with Grow2. Moved the two about 3 weeks ago and recognized heat stress after a couple days so raised the light to 10 in. (had the light around 2in.) I'm using manna mix 60% coco.

The 4 under the MH400 (#2a and 2b are directly under light,#1a and #3a next to them)


#2A is the biggest plant, 20in today. 11 days ago, it was 12in.
#2b is the same strain but is not as tall, is darker though and yellowing leaves at the bottom.
I suspect they are doing the best because they have always been directly under the MH400 and has assisted drying out the pots faster.

You can see i moved #1b and #3b under the T5 here.


When i first potted, i had no idea how to water properly. I saturated the entire big pots with just baby plants.

So i didnt realize that for the first couple weeks. Growth was still fine but around week 4 i had algae. I scraped it out and there were no bugs. (At this point i really started researching on rollitup. Props to ROB. ) I then had to poke holes and let the manna mix dry out.

I've been using a moisture level to test the soil wetness. It's took a while for it to dry out so i had to water every few days just near the stem with nutes.

My nutes are Age old products. PH is between 6.5-7 always. I use 1/2 suggested for AOG and AOK as recommended.
Last watering for the 4 under the MH400 was yesterday - 5.1ml of AOG per 1.5L of water for all 4 plants to share. I split it evenly from there and test ph before it goes in. Only using AOG every couple weeks so twice now.
However i switched from SensiGrowA+B to AOG when the yellow began.

Chances are i have root damage and these plants are not maturing into the pots. However, i cant grow monsters or repot because the roots could be sloppy down there. This is where i am looking for advice.

The yellowing and brown spots started about 2-3 weeks ago. I also have a few gnats however, i never see any on the plants. I cannot see any insects on the leaves. I inspect them thoroughly.

I am sure there is N defic in all of them a bit as i have had to minimally water them since saturating the huge buckets in the beginning. GOING FORWARD, I WILL BE VEGGING IN 1G and BLOOM IN 3G. Bloom will be under 1000W HPS Room is up and running.

However, spots look like Magn or Potass? I used a lil epsom in a watering 5-6 days ago and it may have slowed it down. But then again, i dont know how fast it would hurt em lol.

Here are some closer pics of issues on the MH400 plants. Above you can see that #2a is a lot more lime colored even though it's the tallest.


Here are is a closer pics of issues on the T5 ones. The WORST ONES. REMEMBER also had heat stress when the yellowing started.


[I AM LOOKING FOR ADVICE/B]
-When should i switch to bloom?
-Should i remove any of the damaged fan leaves?
-Sup with these gnats? seems to have gotten worse since i have gotten the yellowing and spots, but i can only see them 1 at a time, never multiple in the same area when i look for them.
-I'm sure there is stunted growth here, what should i expect from this?
-Should i prune anything?
-Any other tips?


I'm in this for the experience, this is only for ME so i am looking to get better at this over time. The pot size and watering was obviously a critical error regarding quality.

More pics below.

I'm actually going to be building my own room this month. I'm definitely going to keep a lookout for this and your success. Good luck!

Welcome CG. Nice girls you have. I don't know what to do about bugs. I've never seen them in Hydro setup. You only want to prune shade leaves that are growing out of one branch by themselves and no nodes on it. You don't want to prune your newest leaves at all. You could try LST, low stress training with strings, or you could try lollypopping your colas, which means to cut off 1/3 of all the underdeveloped bud sites at the base of the plant, including the leaves as well. Stunted growth just affects your time til harvest. You can remove *damaged* fan leaves. The plant will never recuperate a dmaged leaf, just don't over do it at any given moment when you decide to remove a few. Keep us updated on your plant and keep more pics coming mang everything else looks okay, PH is good, good nutes. da yellowist leave may be showing us a sign of Nitrogen deficiency

nice setup . dont worry about it your girls look ok . Hit them with some calmag here and there to be safe and flower when the nodes start to alternate
- thchead

- When should i switch to bloom?

.... You can wait a month or two more. When you induce flowering it's going to double in size.

- Should i remove any of the damaged fan leaves?

... Only the really bad ones.

- Sup with these gnats? seems to have gotten worse since i have gotten the yellowing and spots, but i can only see them 1 at a

... I hang yellow fly paper next to my plants, I dust the leaves and soil with DE, then once a week I spray my plants with my home made pest killer solution (ice cold water + 1-2 drops of dawn dish soap).

-I'm sure there is stunted growth here, what should i expect from this?

... Just a little more time in veg stage. That's all

-Should i prune anything?

... Nope. [Edit]. Ahhh, you know what. I just took a second look at your other photos. I'm now thinking yeah prune the really yellow ones. Leave anything that's still green alone, but the bleached out yellow can go.

-Any other tips?

... Your doing good. Fix the nitrogen problem and keep going. You're looking fine. Might lose a few leaves, but that's okay. More will keep growing as long as you keep it in veg. Don't rush to flower. Flower when it's healthy. Oh and watch that one plant that's a little lanky. It might be going male on you (I couldn't tell from the pics).

Have you topped these?

No these are not topped. These started from femenized seeds. The smaller plants in the bottom pics are grow2 after 22 days. I plan to do my second grow in 1g pots for veg.

I plan to wait until i see alternating nodes on the secondary stems. However, these girls will likely be huge in the end so probably going to have to bend them. When should i start bending?

Ok i will remove the really bad yellow leaves???? I read that dead leaves attract the insects.

Thanks for the advice thus far.

My lights are on during the day like a dumb dumb so i am never awake to spray my 3in1 for insects. However, i will be doing so an hour after lights go off during the first few weeks of flower as recommended.

Really? Ice Cold water and some dish soap? How fine is the spray?

Re Gnats? Don't worry about them unless theyre swarming.... I had a few pesty type things in my setup because I was forced to use some garden soil as a top-up....Killed a few by hand and anyways they were gone in a few days.

Re Roots: You could easily tip the pots upside down, using your outspread hand to hold the plant/soil and pull the pot away gently. Ive done it many times. You would at least get an idea of the roots youre worried about.

Most insects breath through tiny pores on their sides. The soap clogs the pores and makes the plant taste yucky to them. Some people even add garlic and peppers. I don't bother doing that because if its not strained well it can clog the spray bottle's nozzle.

The spray pattern is to your preference. I usually like it to be strong enough to knock the bugs off, but wide enough to cover an entire leaf with one spray. As long as it creates soap suds your good. I use Dawn dish soap, since it's what we have around the house, but it's not organic. If that's important to you, then just go to your local Wal-Mart and pick up an organic dish soap.

Vindicated said:

Most insects breath through tiny pores on their sides. The soap clogs the pores and makes the plant taste yucky to them. Some people even add garlic and peppers. I don't bother doing that because if its not strained well it can clog the spray bottle's nozzle.

The spray pattern is to your preference. I usually like it to be strong enough to knock the bugs off, but wide enough to cover an entire leaf with one spray. As long as it creates soap suds your good. I use Dawn dish soap, since it's what we have around the house, but it's not organic. If that's important to you, then just go to your local Wal-Mart and pick up an organic dish soap.

Click to expand...

ahhh just give them a whack with a rolled up copy of high times. Its organic too.

a few days ago i put a glass of capri sun in there (wild cherry to be specific, i drank all the pacific cooler already), there are 4-5 gnats in there and i've maybe seen one today.

in fact u can see the galss on the top of my avatar pic lol

here are some current pics..... the bigger ones on the floor are from the first grow, the others are the second...

Plants look great! Tip: make sure you get all of that cardboard out of there before you start flower...paper/cardboard can harbor mold and mildew.

Good Luck
YO

ok here is another update....the pics that are all jacked up are from the bloom room, lost one as it was a male

and yea i let one of those ladies dry out a bit, wow less than 48 hours and she drank it all up

Re; Grow 1, i ended up training them a bit, its turning out nice as i got some good colas and strong stems.... supercropped with some ghetto LST

coming along ok i think...

i got the Ph down good now, and think i got my veg nutes in better shape, they are much darker than the Grow1

I held two plants from Grow 1 in veg, i supercropped a bunch of the 2nd tier nodes and am letting the other grow up

Re; Grow 2, i topped a couple