My First Ghetto Grow! (HELP!)

hey all this is my first grow! its been goin for about 2 and a half months now and its lookin alright. the only problem is that i have no idea what im doing! i have a 150 watt heat bulb giving light to my baby and i water it every few days. i have the lights at 12 on 12 off right now. i've also been trimming off alot of water leaves and some of the lower leaves are spotting >< im not sure when i'll see buds or if its even female.im tossing up a few pictures and if anyone could give me any ppointers i would really appreciate it.

I would up-grade your lighting system to at least 400 watts.

[SIZE=-1]White spots may be a lack of [/SIZE]MANGANESE in your nutrient solution or spider mites.

Good luck

hey, thanks for the advice. there are a few gnats flying around my soil, i dunno if they are the spider mites? also i have a 100 watt mercury vapor bulb ready to install

I hate soil for indoor!!!!!!!
there are manny other ways to go...
soil can become a bug infestation....

Get some lights, those are insanely stretched. What do you mean a 100w heat bulb?

i thought about that before i started. unfortunatley the $$ was a factor. everything i have for my setup was given to me by some friends. im also using a bag seed from some killer shit i got on my trip to seattle. my next go-round i may attempt to invest in a hydro setup



*thanks for the advice all! Keep it comin*

it was a 150 watt heat bulb that im using now and i have a 100 watt mercury vapor bulb ready. i just have to buy the fixture.

thanks gtiguy

from what i can see it looks like a female, pics are not that close, but i think i see hairs.

i topped the plant today. this would be the second time i've done it. the first time i waited to long i think and let the plant grow to high before doing it. that might be why its so bare down low. i'll put some more pics up tonight of the whole plant so u can see rhe whole thing. im guessing its around 4 and a half foot tall.

thanks mattnono, yeah the camera usedis kinda crappy but there are definatly alot of hairs all over the top

I agree with Kitty, upgrade your lights to a 400w system and buy two bulbs, a Metal Halide bulb for vegging and a sodium bulb for flowering. If you can go for a coolshade light that couples to your extractor fan for super cool growing.

The heat lamp you have at the moment is not suitable for worthwhile results, and has caused your girls to strech and have limited a amount of leaves. The Mercury Vapour bulb also produces a great deal of heat, and puts out about 1/10 of the lumens a metal halide bulb. Try not to trim any more leaves. The white spots may well be heat stress related, can be an mg deficiency, but usually the leaves curl up at the ends, hence the phrase "praying for mg". May also be related to your fungus Gnat problem.

As for the sodding fungus gnats, I think everyone has had problems with these fucking things this year - both in the States and the UK. Best cure is to use the old sticky traps to catch the adults, and treat your soil with Gnat Off. It stops the larvae, that live in the soil and feed on your roots causing problems with nutrient uptake and inviting disease, from eating. I had my grow room sorted in a week.

thanks alot david you confirmed alot of things that i wasnt sure about. i really really appreciate all the advice, like i said this is my first grow so its been kinda sketchy the whole time.like i said before i topped it again today and i'll put up some new pictures tonight or tomorrow.

*thanks all and if anyone has any advice feel free to toss it in *

hey all!
i figured i'd wait a few days to throw up the new pic so i could see some good change. its still lookin good with alot of crystals grown on the newer leaves now. im still not sure which leaves im supposed to trim off >< i've just been goin for the unhealthy/light blockin ones. if ya have any info feel free to help me out.
like i said before this is a ghetto grow and i dont have much $ to put into it so im just tryin to slip by with an average grow.


*Thanks*

yeah like has been said heat lamps and merc vapor lamps are not suitable for growing plants but obviously ur making by somehow. i wouldnt trim any leaves off. how will the plant produce buds and grow if it cant photosynthesize and produce sugars? only trim leaves if they are damaged beyond 75 percent. you should only trim leaves if you are doing a scrog or sog style grow. just normally i wouldnt trim any IMO. how long have u been on the 12/12 cycle?

Hey, thanks for the pointers i've had it on 12/12 now for probably 30 days, she sprouted september 9th.

and take that damn foil down....


you are creating hot spots man

good god johnson! what are you doing?! lol dont burn ur plants yet man they arent ready!

word average flowering time for a plant is 8 weeks for indicas and 10+ for sativas. your about to be at week three so u still got a while to go. go out to walmart and buy 4 46 watt cfls, hook em up and your plant will return the favor.

Haha!
you think i should? like i said its a ghetto grow and its my first time...i kinda thought it was reflecting light down.


*thanks*

you can use DOLLAR christmas wrapping shit...

called polywrap...and it wont create the hotspot!

thanks billybob,
how much are those lights each a walmart?