Feedback/Constructive Criticism Please..

Hi! Was just checking through your post. Looking good so far. Just thought I'd let you know if you wanted to get more light out of your CFL's I'd find a way to mount them sideways. The side gives more light then the tip of the bulbs.

Happy Growing!

get some mex bat guano the stuff will turn them right around use 1/4 what it tells you to on bag.how big are ur pots root development is very important at this stage.And when u go into flower u can use the fox farm tiger bloom.good luck bro!

sebbay said:

so whats meant to happen? does the yellow just fade to green? no change yet..

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Not sure if the yellow turns back, I always assumed not. I'm having a nute deficiency problem myself and I've been clipping the yellow. I clean through my plants every 3 days. It also helps you see if there's any new damage because you're not left wondering if the damage was from before you fed when you see it.

this site is so helpful!
i changed the lights round.. thanks for that.. im gunner get a 150w soon i think.. 20w just isnt enough i guess lol
and the 'feeding' seems to have done the trick, so far all looks a lot better.. i think?!
thanks for all the help

If you're going to upgrade the lights, and you're going to stick with CFLs, the I suggest this 300w two tone http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280453832330 There's a guy growing with one of these, two plants with 3 smaller CFLs under the folliage and two single bulb 4' fluror tubes for side lighting.

He's gonna switch over to a 600w HPS when he flowers, but theoredically you can just turn the bulb over when you flower to the 2700k side. You'll need to add a second one by the time you flower, and if the plants are really big you might want to get a third. Plus side lighting with smaller CFLs & Fluoro tubes always helps.

With one bulb & two plants he's been keeping pace with me though. His are aproaching 30" and he just got his second 300w bulb this week.

You should make a reflector for it. All it takes is some wire, cardboard, mylar, & either staples or tape. Keep the optimum side pointed out (2700k for flower, 6500k for veg) and the reflector will provide a smaller ammount of the second spectrum which never hurts.

Hope that helps.

just purchased http://www.basementlighting.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?page=1/PROD/elc125 off ebay!.. ill post photos when its set up

i might have said this before but what do you think of the idea of vegging the plants with the lights till spring and then when it gets warm enough stick them on my roof till the end of summer?
would the change in light cycle stress them out? what would happen if you started to flower but then went back to veg cycle before the had had a chance to finnish?

Just taken a (really) close look at the soil.. there are these tiny jumpy mite things everywere and i saw a tiny crab looking thing and also an earthworm chilling out. any of these harmful?? cheers

Okay, this is what ive got.. -those crabby things. spider mites?.. took a while to get the photo! and those jumping things but they are very slightly smaller, thin and very hard to photograph! lol

sebbay said:

i might have said this before but what do you think of the idea of vegging the plants with the lights till spring and then when it gets warm enough stick them on my roof till the end of summer?
would the change in light cycle stress them out? what would happen if you started to flower but then went back to veg cycle before the had had a chance to finnish?

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sebbay said:

Okay, this is what ive got.. -those crabby things. spider mites?.. took a while to get the photo! and those jumping things but they are very slightly smaller, thin and very hard to photograph! lol

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Flowering out doors isn't a bad idea, but you have to keep them out of flower till the fall. If they start to flower and then stop, that's just like harvesting and then regrowing the same plant and putting it back into veg. It's called revegging and every time you do it the plant looses some potency and the genetics get a little more messed up.

The jumpy bugs sound like spring tails, but can't be sure unless I saw one. Spring tails aren't really dangerous, and there's a beneficial micro organism that traps them in the soil so the roots can absorb the Nitrogen from the decomposing bug. I don't remember what it was called, but if you can find some it might save you some money on ferts.

The worm you might want to worry about. If it's an earth worm you're ok. But there are some worms that eat roots. So make sure it's an earth worm.

Those little beetle looking things I have no idea on. It's too big to be a mite, which is good because mites suck. But beyond that I can't say what it is.

Like I said, flowering outdoors is a good idea because if you don't give your plants enough light indoors they wont produce as much buds. But bugs will be even worse on the roof, not that the bugs sound like they're leaving your plants alone now. lol Either way it sounds like you might want to start spraying them with some horticulture oils on a regular basis, like every 3 or 4 days. Getting some lady bugs is another way to keep the pests away, but I don't tihnk they'll eat worms. UV light will also keep some of the biggest pests away.

If I were you I'd get rid of those big black bugs, make sure those worms are earth worms, and keep my eye on those jumply bugs, maybe look for that beneficial micro organism that traps, kills, and turns them into Nitrogen. I'd also set up a bug control regiment, like treating every 3 days or getting lady bugs.

Hope that helps.

looks like they are springtails from these photos.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/selago/3223361514/in/photostream/

i also found another kind of worm whilst digging about.. have a look at the photo.. it was sort of translucent and a slow wriggler.

and i found an woodlouse too!

Your girls look good. Looks like the big one is going to need another transplant soon, and the other 2 aren't far behind. But I'd worry about the drooping leaves. It could be over or under watering, but it could also come from the roots being eaten.

I've never seen a worm like that, but I'm no expert. If you can't find any info on it, I'd buy some nematodes if I were to & get rid of whatever that is.

Don't know what a wood louse is, but it doesn't sound good. This is why I was saying to set up a regiment of treating for bugs every 3 days or so, growing in the attic is going to leave them open for infestations. Be glad you don't have mites. Again, lady bugs wouldn't be a bad idea either, or cleaning out a closet & bringing them inside. But if you have to leave them there, I'd get some lady bugs & spray them every 3 days with different oils (Mite X, All Season, etc....) Bonide has a few good ones www.bonide.com You should keep changing the oils every spraying so the leaves don't get dried out. And always let them dry thoroughly before putting them back under lights.

Adding UV light may help also, many bugs don't like it. You can get a 10.0 UVB Reptile Bulb from a pet store and a cheap fixture for it at Wal-Mart. Just don't put the UV light too close right away. Start it at about 3' from the plant and move it closer slowly as the plants build up their "base tan". And always wear sunglasses with UV protection when working around them.

Of course moving them inside is a much better idea, but if you have to leave them there, then these are a few ideas.

You should make getting rid of those worms priority one if you don't know what they are, and whatever soil you used, don't use it again. The worms probably came in with the soil unless it's a larvae of something else.

Good luck with those critters. Peace

P.S. You should start thinking of adding grow lights soon. If they haven't done it already, they'll start to slow their growth pretty soon if you don't give them bigger pots & more light.

i can get hold of a UV light so i might borrow that..
i think someone said using a UV light builds up some sort of oil or resin on the leaves that protect it that can also get you high.. is that true?
Unfortunately i do have to leave the plants there, ill see how the bug problem goes.. if they start harming the plant ill do something about them.
but i got a new light!! £13 off ebay! and by the looks of the bottoms of the pots- your right again, they need repotting.. dont know where to get big fuck off pots from though, ill try the local dump.

one question- this new CFL, its 125w and im using the socket for the HPS which was 400w. the CFL is self ballasted what ever that means but the socket for the HPS has to be connected to a ballast box. does this matter? the light doesnt seem amazingly bright but not that bad.. what do you think? i put some photos of it up.. thanks again for all your help!

Also is this a good idea? https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/200413-fimming-m-blaze-complete-how.html

sebbay said:

i can get hold of a UV light so i might borrow that..
i think someone said using a UV light builds up some sort of oil or resin on the leaves that protect it that can also get you high.. is that true?
Unfortunately i do have to leave the plants there, ill see how the bug problem goes.. if they start harming the plant ill do something about them.
but i got a new light!! £13 off ebay! and by the looks of the bottoms of the pots- your right again, they need repotting.. dont know where to get big fuck off pots from though, ill try the local dump.

one question- this new CFL, its 125w and im using the socket for the HPS which was 400w. the CFL is self ballasted what ever that means but the socket for the HPS has to be connected to a ballast box. does this matter? the light doesnt seem amazingly bright but not that bad.. what do you think? i put some photos of it up.. thanks again for all your help!

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sebbay said:

Also is this a good idea? https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/200413-fimming-m-blaze-complete-how.html

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Yeah, tricombes & resin are the plant's natural protection against UV rays, so if you expose the plant to some, it will grow more tricombes & produce more resin which increases the potency. But be carefull you don't burn your plants. The light doesn't give off much heat, but your plants can get a sun burn just like you or me.

A light that's that cheap probably isn't going to do much. Here's a 300w CFL that someone on mygrow.com is using and his plants are keeping pace with mine. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/300w-dual-Spectrum-CFL-grow-light-hydroponics-hanger_W0QQitemZ280448735727QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN?hash=item414c0c19ef It's dual spectrum too, so when you get ready to flower all you have to do is turn it over. And as you can see, it comes with it's own cord with plug on one end & socket on the other.

If the 100w CFL has it's own ballast, then you should be able to just plug it into a regular light socket, unless it has some kind of special socket end on the bulb. By using the 400w ballast, you might as well be running a 400w bulb. You're wasting a lot of electricity. I'd suggest getting 2 or 3 of those 300w CFLs though, that should take you most of the way through your harvest. You may want to add some smaller CFLs when you're flowering if the plants get big enough, but other than that 3 of those lights should do you fine.

His FIM guide is the best on the net that I've come across. I've already FIMmed all 7 of my girls. If you do it right it should increase your yeild considerably, if you do it wrong you should still get some more yeild. But you're going to need to add light if you want more yeild. If you have a 1,000w bulb and you grow & flower 3 plants with it, you'll get the same yeild as if you grew & flowered 6 plants. Limited lights will limit your yeild.

Good luck with the bugs, but don't wait on those worms. If you can't identify them, then get rid of them. If they're damaging your plants roots, you wont see the damage till it's too late.

Peace

I've changed the light cycle to 24/7 cause the timer broke.. will this stress them out?
and heres some recent photos.. FIMing looks like its gone well!..
also what are the tear drop shaped bits in a few of the close up photos?

shit, actually the other plant has these things too but hairs coming out of them! shit i guess they started flowering.. what would happen if i keep them on 24 hour light then?
thanks!

the tear drops a pollen sacks might be a male and it wont stress them to bad might wanna start ur 12/12 in a few more weeks

dont tell me that!
they've grown a bit since yesterday.. they're starting to look like new shoots.. can new growth sprout from this area?

yeah to early to tell though dude
and yes shoots will come from all around ur plant