my 1st cfl indoor grow, advice and hints welcome

Hey guys and gals

just thought i would put up some pics of my first EVER grow!

killed 6 sprouts due to over loving and over excitment.....fellow newbies, i cant stress enough, LEAVE THE DAMN SPROUTS ALONE, WATER KILLS!!!!

finally calmed down, and getting results!

ok, my grow, any advice/tips/tricks welcome! :

7 week old northern lights, roughly 7/8 inches tall. Am growing under 4 27w(100w) cfl lights 2700k (6500's in the mail to me). I am using john innes seed compost with 30% ish pearlite, with a half inch layer of hydro balls at bottom of pot for extra drainage (root rot paranoia possibly) Water soil twice a day with a half strength miracle grow all purpose nute mix in de-chlorinated water. (1/4 strength for first 10days). Say what ya like bout mg but seems to be working fine! And a foliage spray in morning with just de-chlorinated water).

soil ph 6.8 and water ph 7.

Growth has slowed over last week so will be transplanting to larger pot as roots are curling round inside of current pot now and plant in j.innes 2 (kinda suprised the j.innes seed compost has taken me this far to be honest!)

have started my first clone project today!!! prob slightly premature but hey, what the hell!!! The stems of the clones are fairly thick and healthy (4 or 5 mm thick!) cut at 45deg, peeled one side of stem (half inch long - the potted proportion) and dipped in root hormone "growing success root growth gel", put into jiffy pellets and whacked in the proporgator and under a single 27w(100w) cfl - will keep posted how these turn out. Should they root succesfully, I plan to practise supper cropping and topping on clones as, well, im in love with the mother and cant bear the thought of her being a "practice plant."

cant think of any info of my setup i have missed.....any info you guys need to offer tips and tricks, let me know.

Anyways, greetings all from this newbie grower, veteran smoker. Will post regular updates.

all the breast boys and girls!

briddler said:

WATER KILLS!!!!Water soil twice a day with a half strength miracle grow all purpose nute mix in de-chlorinated water. (1/4 strength for first 10days).

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looks pretty good but you can tell by the drooping leaves that you are still overwatering your plants. watering twice a day is way too often - weed likes to dry out before watering. one approach is to wait until the soil is dry a couple of inches down and then add water until water flows out of the bottom of the pot. you'll end up watering every few days.

desertrat said:

looks pretty good but you can tell by the drooping leaves that you are still overwatering your plants. watering twice a day is way too often - weed likes to dry out before watering. one approach is to wait until the soil is dry a couple of inches down and then add water until water flows out of the bottom of the pot. you'll end up watering every few days.

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yeah sure, do you think that is maybe a reason for the darkness of the leaves also? I seem to remember reading that dark leaves could indicate a water schedule prob?

cheers for the hint tho bro, 'ppreciate it

Another reason you should let the plants dry out is because it will make the roots grow in search of water. more roots=more leaves=better plant=bigger yields.

briddler said:

yeah sure, do you think that is maybe a reason for the darkness of the leaves also?

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leaves are dark green more likely due to excess nitrogen. also, btw, i would transplant into a larger pot.

Did you say you've gotten this far with 2700k I guess that means I can use my 3000k for awhile until I can get bigger ones.

hey
you said you used john innes compost, so did i , do you live in the uk then?
and your plants r looking really healthy btw
x

bobbyhopefeild said:

hey
you said you used john innes compost, so did i , do you live in the uk then?
and your plants r looking really healthy btw
x

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your plants look great but follow the previous posters' advice: water every few days and transplant into bigger pots. Also be careful with your nutrients. i feed my plants every other watering. you'll also need twice as much wattage if u want good buds during flowering.

Foolet said:

Did you say you've gotten this far with 2700k I guess that means I can use my 3000k for awhile until I can get bigger ones.

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yeah always used them from the very beginning, however i am changing to 6500k over next ten days. will monitor the improvement...should make a big dif though

cheers

bobbyhopefeild said:

hey
you said you used john innes compost, so did i , do you live in the uk then?
and your plants r looking really healthy btw
x

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hey, yeah im in uk, j.i has been awesome! As i say, the plant is getting to a foot tall and STILL in J.I seed compost (although changing v.soon to a JI 1 and 2 mix 50-50)

happy growing

briddler said:

hey, yeah im in uk, j.i has been awesome! As i say, the plant is getting to a foot tall and STILL in J.I seed compost (although changing v.soon to a JI 1 and 2 mix 50-50)

happy growing

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thats awesom i have a similiar set up and grow going on ive notice from reading that most mother plants will veg nicely in most any soil it gets difficult to keep them alive and most problems later on in the cycle or with trying more advanced methods of growing ie DWC any way, i was given the advice of pinching off a few fan leaves that just drain plant energy instead of making new nodes, you or anyone else suggest something similiar?

Ok guys, apologies for the long wait for update, been mega busy!

First off, funeral march for the clones, they didnt make it

am gonna have another go next week, maybe get a taller propagator so i can take larger and more advanced grown cuttings. (my propagator is so shallow i could only put a cutting in there no more than 2 inches tall). Also am going to get some heat strips to put under the propagator to add localised warmth to the clones and not effect the mother plants temp and humidity.

ok, but for the good news....

My mother is really taking off now!!!!

Major changes : i have repotted into a larger pot as roots were starting to curl round inside of pot and becoming bound. Repotted into a 50% j.innes 1, 25% j.innes 2 and 25% perilite soil mix. Still MEGA impressed how far the j.innes seed soil took me - AWESOME product!

for all you first timers like me : these two simple changes have SERIOUSLY accelerated growth! i wasted weeks in the growth by suffocating the root growth in an unsuitably small pot. - dont waste time like me - slower growth = check roots and consider re-potting to larger pot.

Have cut down watering schedule also, still watering daily but only once in the morn. Tried every other day unitl water trickled from bottom of pot and the smaller leaves close to stem curled up, dried out and died.

Still using the Miracle Grow All Purpose Plant Food - and STILL no probs (hope this helps with the "mg yes/no debate" that seems to be all over the net!)

Ok lights : Got my 6500k cfl's. When this plant has been harvested im planning to conduct a light experiment - 2 identical strain seeds grown in identical conditions, water schedule etc etc etc BUT, 1 with my older 2700k's and one with the 6500k's - all cos im pathetically sad and interested in knowing for myself, exactly how MUCH dif it makes.
Also worth mentioning that i will be adding 2/3 more lights in the next few weeks - will update on this addition and its effects.

Now the plant has reached 23 inches high i have topped it! I kinda figured if it goes tits up, ill just put the plant into flower phase and still get a reasonable yield for a virgin grow! However if she heals well and sprouts two heads and stems then it would be awesome too.

ok so i have added pics for you guys to check over, and offer any advice or point anything out that im doing wrong or could do better.

talking of advice, does any veteran grower think i could benefit from maybe cutting back some of the foliage as you see its VERY bushy in places close to the stem (does this effect nutes reaching top nodes/light coverage etc) and if you think i would then some advice on what to cut away will be great!

cheers lads, lassies, lords and ladies!

All the breast, and happy growing

Briddler!

very nice looking man. do u have two grow spaces or just 1? i myself have considered cloning but dont have anywhere to revert them back to veg so i havent yet..

kingdavid918 said:

very nice looking man. do u have two grow spaces or just 1? i myself have considered cloning but dont have anywhere to revert them back to veg so i havent yet..

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Yo bro! cheers, been a long heartbreaking experience getting my first plant to this size but finally getting the hang of things and thoroughly enjoying things!!

To answer ya question, im lucky enough to have a walk-in double wardrobe/closet.

I currently only use one half of it as im only growing one "tester plant" but i will be creating a partition using mdf timber so i can have a veg and flower room! Always handy to have both so you may clone etc, which again, is always a handy thing to do if you are not sure whether your seeds were m/f....clone a cutting and put it straight into flowering to see if ya get beautiful stinking female buds or dirty male bollocks.

Saves you getting months down the line and being heartbroken when the mother starts to produce ball sacs!

Another further good use of a seperate room, is you can get into genetics, cross breeding strains to breed your own (will have a crack at that next year)

so all in all, yeah, two rooms is a must if ya want to keep a continual cycle of lovely green-ness!

hope this helps my brother....

All the breast and happy growing

Briddler