First time grower suggestions pleeeeease

Nor

Active Member
Hi fellow smokers i have been lurking on this site for about 3 weeks trying to soak up as much information as i can and now i would like to ask some opinions on my first grow, would love some feedback or any information possible so i can cut out as many mistakes as possible.Ok so im trying to get some plants going and i am experimenting with 2 different grow mediums, i currently have 4, 1 month old plants sprouted from bag seeds from some awesome chronic that i smoked, they are set up in an average sized cupboard under 2x 42watt 6500k cfls 2x 18watt 4200k cfls and 2 x 10 watt 2700k cfls. The grow medium for 3 of the plants is a cheap 5 dollar bag of potting mix from kmart and 1 is 1/3 perlite 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 peat moss. Air intake is 1 small desk fan cut into the side of the cupcoard, venting is 1 standard 250ml bathroom extraction unit. i have Introduced nutrients 2 weeks ago at 1/4 strength and 1 week ago up to 3/4 strength, it is organic fertilizer called garden magic from our local nursery at 10-3-4. On one of the pictures attached you can see some leaf tips are discoloured and on another picture one of the lower leaves of the plant has a yellowish colour and seems much lighter then the other plants. Looking at some other posts it seems maybe my plants seem to not be growing as fast as they should does anyone have any suggestions as to why this would be happening? Also any other comments or mistakes you can see i have made form the pictures attached, any suggestions to improve my first growing experience would be much appreciated, thanking you in advance for an unreal site and for anyone who has any suggustions, bong on...
 

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swooper

Member
Hey what's up set up looks nice but your right one plant is looking a little yellow, im about to start my first grow aswell and about to check out some threads to get me some info, can't really give you any advice but good luk with it. Maybe try to get a reflector or something on the top that look like the only thing that is missing... P.s are you using another area for your flowering stage?
 

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
get the lights so close they're almost touching the leaves. make a reflector of some kind, your loosing 2/3 of your light out the sides and back of the bulbs.
The 4200 K bulbs are useless get rid off them.
Discoloration MAY be from overfeeding the organic matter and causing a PH swing, easiest fix is to flush your soil with a heavy watering next time. Always water to the point of runoff then feed when needed.
 

Nor

Active Member
Thanks swooper good luck for your grow also, I have got a 400 hps light with built in reflector and ballast and have approx 1.5 x 1m space for the flowering stage but still have to set it all up, it has to go next to the cupboard i already got in that room.
 

Nor

Active Member
Thanks for your imput frmrpoi ill get those lights lowered asap and am currently working on making a reflector, any suggestions?? So the 4200k lights are useless?? really?? Also when you say feed when needed how do you when when is needed??
 

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
am currently working on making a reflector, any suggestions?? So the 4200k lights are useless?? really?? Also when you say feed when needed how do you when when is needed??
I always thought those disposable aluminum turkey roasting pans could be made into a a reflector. Even some aluminum pie pans clipped to the back would be better than nothing.
see the attachment for 4200 K info
when needed ? that's the "art" part of gardening. I don't use organics myself so I really can't say how to use them. I just use solubles like miracle grow 20-20-20 etc. on a steady basis diluted to 1/4 strength.
https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/cfl-growing/240662d1226605588-5000k-vs-6500k-hortgraph2.gif
 

Nor

Active Member
I always thought those disposable aluminum turkey roasting pans could be made into a a reflector. Even some aluminum pie pans clipped to the back would be better than nothing.

Good call i think ill go find some of those roasting pans, like you say i guess it's better than nothing, but ill try to find something better for the future. I'll so also get a ph tester tomoorw to see if we have thrown that out with our organic fertilizer. So you think soluable nutrients are a better option? The stuff i have is just from a local nursery, i am becoming afraid of hurting my little babies and dont want to burn them with nuts. 1 more thing do you think these plants are small for being 1 month old??
 

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
So you think soluble nutrients are a better option? 1 more thing do you think these plants are small for being 1 month old??
no I don't think they're better, just easier.
Yes I think your plants are small for 1 month. I usually have already topped mine and started flowering at 4 weeks.
 
Looks good but yeah i would say to definately get some sort of reflector asap, thats probly 1 reason your plants are a little small, the perlite vermiculte peat moss mix looks like the healthiest one there so if your going to do any more in the future, probably best to do it in something like that for an indoor grow, get those lights as close as possible and with some reflection you should be ok, keep me posted on how you are going.
 

Nor

Active Member
Frmrboi

Thanks for all your info. Do you think they are stunted because of the nutes or the lighting? Id love to get them into flower after 1 month. Hopefully if i get things figured out i can start moving them that quickly. A little scared of the miracle grow though as i have read bad things about it and dont want to stuff this up all together. I think it was miracle grow i was reading about anyway.
 

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all your info. Do you think they are stunted because of the nutes or the lighting?
probably a combination, I'm not suggesting you change your nutrients (miracle grow soil is what's getting the bad rap, not the fertilizer) They're far down the list of critical elements to growing.
I suggest you put a reflector under your plants, on the soil too (I use aluminum foil discs) to boost your light level. (Some dick head is going to chime in right away that they cause hot spots, I disagree)
here's the link to the CFL growers sub forum in case your unaware of it: https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/
 

Nor

Active Member
Ok cool maybe ill stay on these nutrients and learn how to use them properly. When i 1st started i went and got this reflective gift wrapping paper i was going to use onthe walls. Its pretty reflective. Its kind of similar to foil but it does not crease as easily. I think ill cut some discs out of that then. Will doing that though promote mould or anything like that? My water source is stright up tap water atm. I know thats probably not the best. Im not able to check the ppm or ph it as yet either.
 

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
Will doing that though promote mould or anything like that? My water source is stright up tap water atm. I know thats probably not the best. Im not able to check the ppm or ph it as yet either.
no, mold won't be a problem.
Your tap water MAY be too hard and cause a nutrient lockout, if you can gather rainwater without drawing attention that's good.
 

Nor

Active Member
I'm in australia and we havn't been getting to much rainwater here lately so gathering it would be i bit hard, what about the bottled water you find in the supermarkets? You can get like 1 or 2 gallons for 2 or 3 dollars would that be an option??
 

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
You can get like 1 or 2 gallons for 2 or 3 dollars would that be an option??
possibly, if your tap water comes from a well it's probably hard. It takes a LOT of pure water to grow properly. A reverse osmosis filter would pay for itself soon enough if that's what bottled water costs you.
 

Nor

Active Member
No its not well water but id say your right with it being hard. One of those filters is way out of budget at this point but its on the shopping list now. Does boiling water work or treating it any other way? Also if you had to guess what strain would you think this might be. + rep(not sure if it counts for much from a noob?) for all your help mate i appreciate it.
 

frmrboi

Well-Known Member
Does boiling water work or treating it any other way
boiling would make it worse by concentrating the dissolved minerals. Here's a poor man's ppm meter, let some of your water dry out on a mirror and see if it leaves a mineral deposit on it, if not your OK.
I have no idea what strain your growing.
 

Nor

Active Member
Ok so today i lowered the llights and made a reflector out of cardboard and the reflective wrapping paper stuff. Also bought a PH meter and the Ph in the chaep crap soil is between 4.0 and 6.2 which sucks arse. So now im thinking of transplanting them to a new soil. Does anyone have experience with that? Im thinking if i shake off as much of the sucky soil as possible then throwing them into a perlite, peat and vermiculite mix. Hope someone can give advice on this.
 

Nor

Active Member
boiling would make it worse by concentrating the dissolved minerals. Here's a poor man's ppm meter, let some of your water dry out on a mirror and see if it leaves a mineral deposit on it, if not your OK.
I have no idea what strain your growing.
thanks again mate. I will give the poor mans ppm meter a go tomorrow. Didnt get time today. Think ill just use bottled until then.
 
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