back in the game

Hello all,
I had a very successful first grow a couple of years ago using a 400w hps light. I've since moved and have started again with a smaller setup(I hope to pull the hps out of retirement within a few months).

I started a little under a month ago. I've got two small 3 foot high cabinets with a 125w CFL in each. My plants got off to a slow start, but overall seem to be doing ok.
Last week, I took 2 of the healthier looking ones and moved them to the cabinet where the light is at 12/12. After 9 days, no signs of sex whatsoever. All I've noticed is that they've grown much slower than the ones that are still in my vege cab. The answer seems to always be "a week or 2", so I'm trying to be patient, or should I be concerned?

I've got a few seeds given to me by and experienced grower(I forget what he called them, but his stuff is all top shelf). I've got a few more that came out of a decent bag. I started out using some nutes called Dyna-Gro. The grow is 7-9-5, the bloom is 3-12-6. A couple of weeks ago, some of the plants started getting some brown spots/yellowing on the lower leaves. Thinking that the 7-9-5 might be too low in nitrogen, I picked up some Fox Farms 6-4-4. After a feeding, they all seem to have perked up a bit. However, a few days later, some of them(moreso the ones from the bag seed), got very yellowish brown crispy lower leaves. I've only given them water since, the new growth seems healthy, although 1 is droopy(I think maybe overwatered.) If a plant is overwatered, is there a good way to get the soil dry? A couple of the pots seem heavy with water, and they're not getting any lighter. The others are fine.
Is anyone familiar with this Dyna-Gro stuff? Is it ok or should I go buy some Tiger bloom or something? I've also got a bag of Sunleaves jamaican bat guano(1-10-.2).

btw, I'm using water from a local mountain spring, the ph is good and there's obviously nothing added(I get it from a pipe sticking out of the side of a hill). I started these in small pots in miracle gro soil(I know...), then transfered them into slightly larger ones in regular Scott's potting soil. I've since bought Fox Farm potting soil and have been transfering them into larger pots with that before flowering. The temp in both boxes tends to stick around the mid-high 70s and are ventilated well. I'll try to post some pics soon.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

What spectrum are the cfl's

If you want it to dry out dont water again until the pot is practically dry

nongreenthumb said:

What spectrum are the cfl's

If you want it to dry out dont water again until the pot is practically dry

Click to expand...

they're full spectrum CFLs meant for growing, here's a link(I've got this reflector and the other one is made by Hydrofarm).

http://basementshaman.com/sucocoflfi.html

you may have given them too much nutes, also, your plants may be confused. sounds like your plants are less than 4 weeks old and you want to bloom them already, when they may not be ready. by putting a plant under 12/12 lighting it will want to bloom. not that i know much, but i would put them under 18/6 lighting, flush with water and no nutes, and wait another 4 weeks (of course watering when needed).

le1337need said:

you may have given them too much nutes, also, your plants may be confused. sounds like your plants are less than 4 weeks old and you want to bloom them already, when they may not be ready. by putting a plant under 12/12 lighting it will want to bloom. not that i know much, but i would put them under 18/6 lighting, flush with water and no nutes, and wait another 4 weeks (of course watering when needed).

Click to expand...

That was kind of the idea, to keep them small. I've only got 3 feet of height total in the box, with the lights and the pots I'll have 2 feet max to deal with. I've been reading that if a plant has roots, it's possible to flower. These were starting to get their first little branches when I put them in there. Well, the lights came on for day 10 a few hours ago, and still no sign of sex. I just put 2 more plants in the flowering cabinet, they're giant compared to the ones that were already there. I've got room for maybe another plant or 2 at most in there. Then I've either got to get my HPS back and set something up, or maybe start turning my other light down to 12/12 also and just start over when my first batch is done.

I should add that I just looked at some pics from very early on in my "very successful first grow", and these plants I have now actually look a bit healthier at this point, which gives me a lot of hope(those turned out NICE). I seem to recall them all showing some sign of flowering much quicker than 10 days though.

There is a difference between keeping something low and flowering too early. If you want or need to keep them low why not try bending.

Is this too early?(sorry if the image is huge) This is one I was going to try to start.

I knew I was starting the other ones early, I just wanted to see what would happen, after 10 days nothing but slower growth.

A week and a half, not conclusive enough to slaughter it yet but I believe one has testicles.
Oh well, that's why I grew more than I can fit in the cab.