Few weeks into first grow...any words of wisdom?

Hey guys, starting my first indoor grow (and first rollitup post) looking for any advice or tips (or even just some reassurance) from some of the more experienced here!

Started one Northern lights and two white widow from femmed seeds. I immediately learned about light height after burning my first two. The Northern light held up a bit and recovered but i had to junk the widows and started two more seeds but they're finally catching up.

Closet box setup: 2x2x5 area with a 600w air cooled HID dimmable ballast. Using a 6inch inline booster fan pushing air into the attic.

Light height: 2ft @ 50% ballast power, currently using metal halide bulb
RHumidity: 30-40% (mostly low 30's, only goes up when i water)
Temp: 61-75 F

Soil: Foxfarm ocean forest
Ferts: Grow Big 1/2 strength used once a week
pH: 6.5 but only using color test indicator, don't have a digital (should i get one?)

Some things I notice on the plants are a few burnt looking leaf parts, a couple small holes and a bit of discoloration of the leafs (as in slightly different shades of green, could be just normal? or lamp burn?). The Northern Lights (tallest one) is 5 weeks old from when it first sprouted. Does it seem small?

any opinions on my setup would be much appreciated!

(auto white balance on the last pic which is why it looks so green, but just wanted to get a picture to show the size. Also the NL was fimmed two days before this picture)

So many people do this in veg, they think the closer to the light they put the plants the faster it will grow, not the case, vegging plants require way less light than in flowering. you'll end up cooking your babies and wasting prescious time.

I think you're getting nute burn, you usually don't want to start using nutes until later on since Fox Farms Ocean Forest generally has enough nutes and things the plants need in the soil for a while. I'm only on like week 4 with my plants and no nutes, and I'm using FFOF too I won't add nutrients until later.
edit: and 1/2 strength at that young is way too strong, too.

Good luck and happy growing!

the holes are from water droplets the water magnifies the mh hence the burn marks

dont need nutes yet a little bit of superthrive wouldn't hurt tho

i highly recommend getting a digi ph tester you can get a cheapo off ebay for 10 bucks
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Pocket-PH-Meter-Tester-Pen-LCD-Monitor-Aquarium-Pool-Water-Laboratory-/170926712323?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27cc06a603

what i have

anyways good luck and stay high

p.s if you should start a journal you have a sub first grows are always interesting

Thanks guys. It's must be the overfeeding. I'll go back to pure water only. Also good to know about the water droplets magnifying and burning. I had no idea, but it make since since I mist them pretty often

wow, they put a lot of perlite in that soil!

I think OP added that perlite or I got ripped off..lol

Main advice... Patience,patience,patience

The RH is a little low, but they look pretty good!

Hi all, quick question on super cropping if anyone has some input.

Super cropped the main stalk, as well as some lower branches. Should i support or wrap that main stalk that's drooping pretty low? Or will it bring itself back up?



First pic is before. Last three are after super cropping.

It will stand back up it may have a bent portion of the stalk but yes it will stand its self back up.
It will also cause the lower branchs to catch up to the top.
And it will end up making the main stalk stronger then it would have been.

Thanks Budfever

Next time start them in light warrior, move to of after a few weeks and plain water for a while. Ph at about 6.5 since the soil is pre ph ed I don't ph anything besides the water going in. Don't over water you'll be good to go. Enjoy your time.

Thanks Snake. Is light warrior a growing medium? Fox farm?

Trek420 said:

Thanks Snake. Is light warrior a growing medium? Fox farm?

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just use coco choir man you can get it by the brick for like 10 bucks for 50kg ocean forest or light warrior is like 20 something for 30 kg the bricks are dehydrated so you'll have to rehydrate it which can be a pita but you can also get it by the bag for a few extra bucks alot of people use just coco iv used just coco nothing wrong with it i hate rehydrating the bricks so i throw a bag of perlight and a bag of premix in with it and it really stretches it out

Patience grasshoppa

pH: 6.5 but only using color test indicator, don't have a digital (should i get one?)


yes get a digital one PH is important to important to guess at it

feasy said:

pH: 6.5 but only using color test indicator, don't have a digital (should i get one?)


yes get a digital one PH is important to important to guess at it

Click to expand...

they sell cheapo testers on ebay for like 10 bucks even cheaper if you get one shipped from china