My "undercover" cfl grow! Coming along ok?

My first plant I used miracle gro with the same "time-release fertilizer" shit.
Let's just say my plant spontaneously died after a month in.
I say get rid of that horrible crap and upgrade to some decent organic soil.
Like Fox farms ocean forest, its not even expensive, so why not?!
And you will also need nutes because FFOF doesn't come with a time-release fert that murders cannabis plants..
I recommend grow big for veg and tiger bloom for blooming. They work great together.

It doesn't look like you need to bury your plant either, just let it be for awhile.
It will do its own thing.

edit:
why do you use nutes when your soil has a time release fert?
That's why your tips are burned as fuck.

And I would really turn the light cycle to 24/0 when you use CFLs, Its my opinion but it seems to work better.
What light spectrum are those CFL's, and what are the wattage?

Sorry for the questions I just want to make sure your doing this right and not wasting your time.

how tall is your dresser? i think you will have space issues once you start flowering

and did those brown leaves at the start turn green again? o.o

/

nrg0102 said:

to answer your question on whether or not u can bury your plant deeper yes u can ive done it many times. it doesnt seem like u want to here it but judging by u thinking it was flowering by like day 7 tells me you've never grown a plant to flowering or even close and marijuana is its own almost separate art from normal gardening so it would be wiser not to piss off people trying to help you that have been growing successfully for years and are not trying to patronize you but only wish to help your poor excuse of a plant

Click to expand...

When did I ever THINK the plant was flowering within 7 days?! Please tell me! I just didn't know ifnyou could potentially tell a plants sex during the veg stage. And your right, no I have not ever flowered a plant INDOORS but i HAVE had a plant produce outdoors on its own. Nonetheless I appreciate you all's input and i don't take it for granted. I had 10+ plants growing last year in a shed using A LOT of HPS bulbs and reflectors, but i never got a yeild out of the 5+ ft plants because I got sketched out by my neighbors! I used the exact same products on those plants awnings am on this PLANT! Never had a problem, in the veg stage tho.... never had a chance to fake my other plants into thinking it was fall, so i don't know what the outcome will be at that point. I will take some pictures when i get off of work and get home, I'm working on my third set of "full" leaves to give u a basic idea.

Saldaw said:

how tall is your dresser? i think you will have space issues once you start flowering

and did those brown leaves at the start turn green again? o.o

Click to expand...

Oh and those crispy leaves were hacked, I was told if a leave is more than 70% dead than to get rid of it at the stalk. I'm telling you, that wasn't nute burn.... it was from the transplant! It happened before i even put the baby in her new pot! While it and its rootball were hanging out (literally) waiting to be planted in its new home, the leaves withered! Everything is looking fairly decent now though, just slow.growth for some reason! Its staying very short and bushy and inhavent even gotten to LST'n! Maybe I wont have to

I don't think space will be an issue with ONE plant and lst'n but if it DOES become a problem I will get a new dresser to fabricate into a grow box! I'm working with about 2 1/2 ft squared and 3 1/2 ft tall, small I know but I found it on the side of the road and i think it'll be a perfect setup for this specific grow. I'm just PRAYING that this thing is a female!!! If not, guess ill make some bubble hash? Lol

Sorry to sound defensive in my post, I do listen though and i take advice... but if this same setup worked once before for me.... than why couldn't it again??

Blackhash said:

edit:
why do you use nutes when your soil has a time release fert?
That's why your tips are burned as fuck.

And I would really turn the light cycle to 24/0 when you use CFLs, Its my opinion but it seems to work better.
What light spectrum are those CFL's, and what are the wattage?

Sorry for the questions I just want to make sure your doing this right and not wasting your time.

Click to expand...

I have four 42w cfls and three 23w cfls... fan blowing in, fan blowing out. Its on a 20/4 light cycle now after reading your post. I laid off on the nutes as u implied considering its in the time released "crap", now it only gets super thrive every 3rd watering. I don't want to stress this plant anymore or else I WOULD go with your recommendations, I'm just going to see what happens considering I'm already adjusted and this plant isn't really a HUGE deal to me. I plan to order some new seeds in the future but for now ill wait till death or harvest or male
Thanks for your input and i will see to doing as u said on my next single plant grow.

Blackhash said:

My first plant I used miracle gro with the same "time-release fertilizer" shit.
Let's just say my plant spontaneously died after a month in.
I say get rid of that horrible crap and upgrade to some decent organic soil.
Like Fox farms ocean forest, its not even expensive, so why not?!
And you will also need nutes because FFOF doesn't come with a time-release fert that murders cannabis plants..
I recommend grow big for veg and tiger bloom for blooming. They work great together.

It doesn't look like you need to bury your plant either, just let it be for awhile.
It will do its own thing.

edit:
why do you use nutes when your soil has a time release fert?
That's why your tips are burned as fuck.

And I would really turn the light cycle to 24/0 when you use CFLs, Its my opinion but it seems to work better.
What light spectrum are those CFL's, and what are the wattage?

Sorry for the questions I just want to make sure your doing this right and not wasting your time.

Click to expand...

I want to thank you for your post and answer, there should be more ppl like you on forums. You actually answered my question and then gave good advice instead of bashing on the newbie. Forums are created to help ppl with hobbies and such, not to flex your muscles and try to be the top dog! Anyways, I'm taking your advice on the products u mentioned! I saw online that Sears carries all of those growing products, if they do at my local one I will be going by to pick it all UPNTODAY! (PAYDAY! LOL). Anyhow, I will not be using it on this specific plant, I'm going to ordernaome seeds tonight.

That being said, where is a legitimate site to order from to the States? Also I want a strain of plantnthat will stay small and bushy, what do you recommend? I want to keep everything cfls though, keep that in mind if u give me the advice. I don't want any problems ladies n gentlemen, I just want to learn and get me a free personal stash! Are the ordered.seeds all guaranteed females as well? Thanks.... can't wait to start a GOOD plant in the correct soil and such!i

Ok well absolutely NO garden center or ANYWHERE for that matter carries much foxfarm products (what I'm getting over the phone anyways)!! So what is a substitution I can use that will work well. I already have a GREAT nute for vegging, I'm sure I can find a good bloom product but what about soil?! I want something organic like the ocean forest but something that is available at a big chain such as McDonald's nursery, Walmart, k mart, Lowes, etc. Can SOMEONE point me in the right direction asap so i can pick it up after work on about 2 hours??

shotnva777 said:

ok well absolutely no garden center or anywhere for that matter carries much foxfarm products (what i'm getting over the phone anyways)!! So what is a substitution i can use that will work well. I already have a great nute for vegging, i'm sure i can find a good bloom product but what about soil?! I want something organic like the ocean forest but something that is available at a big chain such as mcdonald's nursery, walmart, k mart, lowes, etc. Can someone point me in the right direction asap so i can pick it up after work on about 2 hours??

Click to expand...

pm me................

Do you have a nursery in your area? Check out yellowpages/google and search your area and look for a nursery.
Every nursery should have Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil, and the Fox Farms nutrients.

You should be find with an organic substitute for your soil, as long as there is no fertilizer in the soil, you want to add that yourself.
Here, I'm going to PM you something that has helped me and still continues to help me.
And heres my CFL grow using FFOF and FF nutes. https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/476282-my-cfl-grow.html#post6456019

Ok, so here's what I did.... NOWHERE in my area sells Fox Farms products, NONE. Trust me, I checked every nursery, big name store and the likes within a 50 mile radius. When I went to Fox Farms website they said that McDonald's Nursery carried it, after calling them though (all 7 in my area) they said they pulled it off the stocking list a while back because no one was buying it. My guess is because McDonald's has their own organic potting mix and nutrients that are practically the same exact thing but with a much smaller price tag!

But.... this is what I purchased and how I "created" my own soil: "McDonald Organic Potting Mix" (which contains peat moss, decomposed forest products, compost, perlite, limestone and organic fertilizers) nothing more that I see ANYWHERE on the bag - def not any NPK! Next I bought some more "organic perlite" because I felt it was neccessary and some Canadian peat moss. Then on the way home I stopped by a lady I know who owns horses and asked her about giving me a bucket of manure, she was more than happy too, for FREE! The reason I went the manure route is because again, NO NURSERY AROUND HERE sells freaking worm castings!!! Any who, I mixed my soil about 75% of the Potting Mix, 10% of the organic perlite, 10% of the Canadian Peat Moss and 5% of the horse manure (the horses feed on nothing but grass and organic food, that was the first question I asked - if that even makes a difference?) Nonetheless, there are no nutes in my soil mix right now and boy let me tell you.... SuperThrive makes a HELLUVA difference on roots, when I transplanted the lil girl into the new soil the root ball was CRAZY compared to last time I transplanted! I would recommend that shit to ANYONE trying to root a new plant! But, that's a whole 'nother story and debate!

Anyways, now I can control the amount of nutes this plant gets and when. I fully understand the whole concept of not using that MG "time released" shit anymore, I was green on the soil subject (even though that stuff's worked for me before) but now I get it and can concentrate on the REAL green! For now I'm using a MG product (don't jump down my throat yet!) for my veg stage nutes, it's all I have and can afford right now. But from reading post on other forums, it seems like the stuff works fairly well if you don't over do it. It's for plants that "love lime"! Here's a link to it (except I have the small pebble type things that dissolve in water) same shit, different toilet... http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?proId=prod70346&itemId=cat70044

I don't have a credit card to order anything off of the internet, nor do I feel like doing that either. Can you point me in the direction of a good nute (that's available at most retail, big name stores) to use when I finally start my flowering stage in a couple months? I would highly appreciate it, as I have with all of your other advice (that's to everyone!)

.... so, how do you think I did creating my own soil?

EDIT** Here's the pics you asked for!

The NPK usually isn't on the soil bag, its on the bottles of nutes you have. What is the NPK on the nutrients you own?
Yes that soil mix should do you just fine! And as long as the horses ate organic materials, then it's okay to use it. Not sure on how big of a difference it would be, though.

For vegatative nutrients, you want the N (Nitrogen) to be higher than the P (phosphourous) and the K (pottasium). You also want P to be the same as K. For example, my nutrients have an NPK of 6-4-4.
For blooming nutrients, you want the N to be lower than the P and the K, but the P higher than the K. My nutrients haven an NPK of 2-8-4.

As long as the NPK values are close to that, you should be good.

As far as nuteing, I would say do 1/2 strength of what's on the bottle, and do it every other watering.

All I needed to know... thanks my friend, youve been much help! Much appreciated! Is there a rep thing on this forum?

The NPK is 30-10-10 for the vegging.... I will obviously cut that down in half to get around your level(s).

Oh, sorry... the blooming nute's i have are 4-9-3..... good?

Yeah that sounds like it will work nicely.
Yes this forum has a repuation feature, all you have to do is click on that star/badge thing underneath a post to the left.

I just want to update yall on the grow, especially you "Blackhash"... here's the pic's, this thing has started growing QUICKLY since being in the new soil and everything you recommended! Check it out.... I have several questions as well, my questions are how long should I veg this thing? (2 months im thinking?) Can I start LST'n or cutting (fimming or something)? Can anyone tell if it's indica or sativa? And is there ANYWAY POSSIBLE I can tell if this is going to be a male or female BEFORE flowering!? I would be SO MAD if this turned out to be a male after all of this! If it's a male, I'd rather kill it now and start a new grow on ordered seeds or something....

BTW - The bottom leaves are still recovering from the nute burn of the "MG Time Released Soil"!!! Bastards....

Thank you for the direct responses to my specific questions, I appreciate that. No beating around the bush! (literally!! lol)

Foreal though, 'preciate that!

Think she/he is growing ok? Just from the pictures....

*EDIT* - Oh and here's a GREAT question for anyone, though I'm sure it's been answered several times somewhere else! Apparently, I'm just not a good google'r! Is it possible to go into flowering RIGHT NOW and then once it shows its sex IMMEDIATELY go BACK to vegging??? That'd be great!

ya looks good since the first pictures i can tell theres been lots of growth

Glad it's workin out for ya! It's workin great for me too.
Even though you got the answers, I'll answer them also.

How long should I veg this thing?
Looking at the size of your box, I would probably start flowering after about day 20 from seed. (Doing it this way is called force flowering, and it is essentially that, force flowering.) I force flowered my 2 plants (one was a male) at about day 22. It took about 10 days for one plant to show pollen sacks, and the other plant to show some pistils. So that's about 32 days from seed to sexing!

Can I start LST'n or cutting (fimming or something)?
I think that is a great idea, do whatever you feel fits your situation better (fimming/topping). That REALLY helps the growth and will give you more overall main colas (if you looked at my plant, you can see that it's not just one main cola, but 5 and one small cola.)

Can anyone tell if it's indica or sativa?
Like legalizeit said, it definitely looks Indica to me. Sativa leaves look more like fingers and Indica leaves are wide at the base, which yours are really wide.

Is there anyway I can tell if this is going to be a male or female BEFORE flowering?
If you don't end up force-flowering it, then yes, pre-flowers will develop before you get into flowering and you can tell the sex then. When I forced flowered mine, there was only little nubbys coming off (pre-flower) between the stipule and the main stem, but I could not identify the sex. I suppose if you had a 60-100x magnifier, you could actually see the sex at a much earlier date.

Blackhash said:

How long should I veg this thing?
Looking at the size of your box, I would probably start flowering after about day 20 from seed. (Doing it this way is called force flowering, and it is essentially that, force flowering.) I force flowered my 2 plants (one was a male) at about day 22. It took about 10 days for one plant to show pollen sacks, and the other plant to show some pistils. So that's about 32 days from seed to sexing!

Click to expand...

Well I fimmed yesterday morning and i plan to start lst'n within a week or so..... I want a couple more inches on her first. I have a much bigger grow box now also, about 6 ft tall x 4ft depth x 2 1/2 ft width. So I'm ok, i painted white inside, fabricated an awesome reflector (made by yours truly!) and calked up all the wholes that were shining light BEAMS through lol. I'd like to let it grow a lot more if its a female tho, about a 1-2ft tall BUSH from LST'n. This is what sucks. I either start flowering while he/she is young and get a BLUNT of buds if its a female and if i wait it out without forcing a waste of time if its a male (maybe some crap hash)!

Is there anyway to go into flowering in a few weeks, then once I identify sex GO BACK to vegging for a while? Excuse me if I'm wrong but I beleieve I've even heard putting a banana somewhere to help it show sex?

Just don't want to waste my time here guys (and gals).... would like to ditch this one if its a male and give a true female all my TLC for its THC! LOL...

Again, any recommendations on where to buy good, legitimate, female seeds in the states? Website address? HEEELLLLPPPP WITH ALL OF THIS!!!! lol jk

attitude is great and reliable.

hmmm? Attitude? Google?

i linked the word and an add for it is under the first post of every page of every thread