first grow... ive ran into a minor problem... could use some help?

dude take the drive to the hydro shop..it'll be worth it..shit at home depot sucks!..and yes,fox farm soil is in like every high times mag. saying all kinds of good shit about it!..some ppl use light warrior..or ocean forest..sometimes a mix of both..i just keep it simple..i get the pottin mix and just mix it with perlite for good drainage!..since u want pots/p.h. meter all that good shit!...go to the hydro store!

heres the f.f. soil i use!


and heres the bud i produce with it!..."strain" violator kush!

good rule of thumb is a gallon of container for every month of grow..u never want ur plants to become rootbound..so if u wanna keep them short..just start flowering at about a foot...maybe less...remember plants double-triple there size while flowering!

natmoon said:

Your plants are way to far away from the 400 watter.
You need to let tap water sit and breathe,lid off,for 48 hours imo.
Any good one part nute will bring down the ph levels to the correct levels and if you need to increase it and cant afford a bottle of ph acid use lemon juice by adding a few drips per litre until you get the correct reading.
You will need to buy a ph test kit.

I would say your main problem is that your mh ballast is way to far away.
I have my 400 8" above my plants after they are 2 weeks old starting of at about 24" when they are newly popped seedlings and lowering by an inch or two a day.

Best of luck

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oh natmoon i luv you but acid lowers your ph NOW YOU KNOW and knowing is half the battle i usually go 12-16 inches away with my 400w with a fan blowing i set it at 16 and let it grow to 12 than raise it 8" is awfully close for a growing plant and a newber

tusseltussel said:

oh natmoon i luv you but acid lowers your ph NOW YOU KNOW and knowing is half the battle i usually go 12-16 inches away with my 400w with a fan blowing i set it at 16 and let it grow to 12 than raise it 8" is awfully close for a growing plant and a newber

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Yeah man thats what i meant lol.
I am seriously baked right now and sleep deprived
Thanks for noticing and correcting me

8" you know i know now now i know lol

natmoon said:

Yeah man thats what i meant lol.
I am seriously baked right now and sleep deprived
Thanks for noticing and correcting me

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all in a days work

wow natmoon..the tops on that plant look beautiful!...

GNOME GROWN said:

wow natmoon..the tops on that plant look beautiful!...

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Yeah dont be afraid of the slight bleaching that occurs by having the lamp so close that will go away.
Always get the lamps as near as possible to the tops for the best results.
I got 487 grams from that plant dried,believe it or not.
Was airbasketed though and fimmed a lot,many tops.
Colas were on average 3 foot long and very tight and thick in the end.
Was an f1 as well so they always grow about 25% bigger than stable strains.
Some colas have already been removed from this plant
Plant is on a king size bed

yah same here..i toped that vk plant twice while veggin!..my colas didnt fill in like that though..maybe its the strain!...but damn..that shit looks nice!i got over an ounce off her..i dont remember exactly how much..but i was happy for it being my second grow!

GNOME GROWN said:

yah same here..i toped that vk plant twice while veggin!..my colas didnt fill in like that though..maybe its the strain!...but damn..that shit looks nice!i got over an ounce off her..i dont remember exactly how much..but i was happy for it being my second grow!

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Yeah i think i had 13 really fat,3 foot long colas from that plant.
I can honestly say that having the 400 watter only 8" away makes a lot of difference.

I also remove a lot of leaf all the way through which makes the buds swell even more as the small leaves that are on the buds expand instead of the big shade leaves,which imo,they dont need in our protected grow areas,all though many other people disagree with me all i can say is that my buds are bigger than theirs for a 400 watt hps so far i havent seen anyone anywhere grow them bigger than me.

And i am not trying to say that i am the best or anything just that my techs work and the proof is in my pics.
You do have to be more careful though and make sure that you raise the lamp accordingly every day or so to ensure that you dont actually burn them

shit guys, some beautiful looking bushers in here! thats what i wanna see, not some tall skinny little things, i gotta look into this topping during the next crop, but for now ill stick to the training, since apparently its even called fim i know ill fucking miss lmfao


and well, to the hydro store it is! hahahaha.

so what am i looking at, like, 3 gallon pots, then?

also... i just noticed this, but can you please explain the airbasket concept to me?

is it still grown in soil?
what would be the difference?

dude u meen 450 g wet rite?

GNOME GROWN said:

dude u meen 450 g wet rite?

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No,i meant what i said.
These are not "tops" they are 3 foot long fat colas.
If you go into my pics link in my signature and then actually click on some of the close up pics you will be able to see the pistils and oil on them.
Donkey dicks is what someone called them who actually saw them in real life
My missis has very large tits,contrast is everything and size cannot be assumed from a pic

I think these pics also says it all as well.
Please note that this plant was once about the same size size as the others.
After lowering the lamp to 8" and using the airbasket you can see the result.
Anyone can build an airbasket,i do not sell them

yah dude i just went threw the pics..it was just hard for me to belive at first..thats a p. off 1 plant!!!! good job man! + rep for u my friend!

GNOME GROWN said:

yah dude i just went threw the pics..it was just hard for me to belive at first..thats a p. off 1 plant!!!! good job man! + rep for u my friend!

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Thanks for that man.
The cavemans club that you can see tied up has already had several colas removed from it and one that i accidentally snapped of at about 3 weeks into flower so it would have looked even bigger.
I remove colas earlier to see what the taste,high and flavour are like to assertian the best harvest times for my personal taste.

Using fimming,airbasket,fans,water crystals,leaf removal,good nutes,good water and low level lighting makes a lot of difference and not to metion it was a sativa/indica f1 hybrid which usually gives 25% more of everything from f1 hybrid vigour.

Hopefully this info can help people to grow bigger,better plants and get done less if they do get caught because they only have 1 or 2 plants instead of 20.
Also of note this way only takes about 2-3 weeks longer than just banging them out.
5 weeks veg,max,because of the fimming recovery/regrowth period and whatever flowering time your strain has

shits intense!

ive purchased a cheap ro filter, a ph pen, nutes, and some ph up and down. my plants are currently in week four of flowering, doing real good. i wish i could find my camera to post pictures, but it seems to have disappeared. weird, i never took it anywhere.

anyways, im 100% sure that it was a mixture of ph and the ppm of my water.


ive also got two power skunks and two fem wws vegging that have been brought up properly from the start , i might start a grow journal but my inability to find my camera is killing me -.-

theyre a bit less than a month old and all ive got to say is that this 230w t5 fixture (which is the only light in my veg cab) is definitely giving me results comparable with the 400w mh i used to have, especially when i consider the fact that my whole room would be hooooot having that thing in there 24h a day!

in my flowering chamber i have another 230w t5 suspended right above the tops but also 2x2ft 20w t12 fluoro tubes on one side and 2x4ft 40w fluoro tubes on another side, i need to get another 2x2ft 20w t12s in order to make myself happy lol but im not too worried about it, the buds seem to be filling in real nicely, its only week 4 and i can see buds beginning to fill in, nice looking ones too

im hoping for a harvest by around feb! i was wondering how i would know when to harvest? is it based on hairs or trichomes? or a mixture of the two? ive been under the impression that it was only based on trichs but ive seen some people mention hairs?

basically if im at week 4 right now, when should i start looking at trichs, and how will i know when to start flushing to get two weeks of a flush?

is it possible to harvest TOO late? like, if it sits for maybe an extra two weeks, could that ruin the harvest?

I think if you harvest too late you will have reduced resin, potency, taste, and smell.

so then, at what week of flowering should i start a flush? how would i be able to tell when its the last two weeks?