Newbie Farmer, Tons Of ?'s.

[No12u]

I don't even know where to start so ill start by saying hi. I have some gardening experience but I just started to farm, so please bare with me. Im super paranoid about my babies an every little change has had me on edge. Ive stalked a few fourms for a few weeks but found this one alil more useful so i signed up literally mins ago. To me i think im doing ok as a rookie, the only problem is my babies are about 1 1/2 ft tall vs a friends babies which are about the same age but are 3 ft tall already.
He says its the light. So i went andpurchased two 2 ft afl24/t5/865/ho/eco blue lights. (Which there currently under. Is that enough ? I also just purchased two 830 lumen 11w 5000k led lights. Should i add these also or is it over kill.

Babies= White widow

One auto (looks great) lil white pistons coming out everywhere)
Two regular (8-9 month grow cycle) babies are small.

All are about 7-8 weeks old.

I have so many questions but ill start with this one first.

Thanks for helping a newbie. Hope to get some veteran advice.

 

[No12u]

My babies, please help.

 

[justiceman]

Welcome buddy! Let me get this straight. You have one T5 fixture that has two T5 bulbs in it correct? I think that size is about 24w per bulb. So 48 watts. you have enough light to effectively cover about 1 square foot. I don't think it will be enough.

How big is the space you're trying to cover? A general rule of thumb is about 40-50 watts per square foot. You can get by with a little less like a 600w hps in a 4x4 tent(37.5) but you don't want to go much under 40 if you still want decent yields.

The wattage of your light all depends on the area you want it to cover.

I personally use a 600w High Pressure Sodium with an aircooled hood and an inline fan in a 4x4 tent with good results. If you want to stick with the t5's I would grab more of them. I've seen some pretty cool SCROG grows using t5's.

(Pulled this off google)Looks like he has about 9 t5's in that set up(216w)

Your plants look nice and healthy. Good job.

 

[Seamaiden]

Welcome to the farm! I think the cat above has got you covered. :)

 

[No12u]

Welcome buddy! Let me get this straight. You have one T5 fixture that has two T5 bulbs in it correct? I think that size is about 24w per bulb. So 48 watts. you have enough light to effectively cover about 1 square foot. I don't think it will be enough.

How big is the space you're trying to cover? A general rule of thumb is about 40-50 watts per square foot. You can get by with a little less like a 600w hps in a 4x4 tent(37.5) but you don't want to go much under 40 if you still want decent yields.

The wattage of your light all depends on the area you want it to cover.

I personally use a 600w High Pressure Sodium with an aircooled hood and an inline fan in a 4x4 tent with good results. If you want to stick with the t5's I would grab more of them. I've seen some pretty cool SCROG grows using t5's.

(Pulled this off google)Looks like he has about 9 t5's in that set up(216w)
View attachment 652752
Your plants look nice and healthy. Good job.

Thank you for all the information. Is it OK if I mix lights?I bought 2 38W LED lights they produce 4,000 lms each. I also purchased 2 65 W CFL bulbs Each producing 3900 lms. I plan on installing them as soon as I get home. As for my grow space and set up it's about 8 x 6 x 3 it's a closet actually. For my nutrients I'm using Foxfarm, big bloom, big grow and tiger bloom "extra strength fertilizer, 2 tablespoons for every gallon of water. The soil is organic idk the name, as a friend gave it to me. I have been able to keep my pH of 6.5 soil and water using the drops. I purchased a digital one but have no idea how to set it up but i hear there more accurate. I have two fans blowing circulating the air. Just bought a humidity tester and thermometer combo. Ideally i would like to buy better equipment but i have to start slow.

Have a few more questions if tou dont mind answering.

1) Can i cut any fan leaves blocking my buds on the auto ?
2) I watered my babies the other day and the auto let out ALOT of water and doesn't feel heavy as the regulars do. Is that common or is there a problem? ( they look healthy though) should i water her differently?
3) also should I transplant any of them now. Auto has about 3 weeks left. And the regulars just started producing the little white hairs.
4) Everything is on a timer, shouls i turn the fans off to when the lights go out ? 18/6 day/night

Thank you in advance for answering my concerns.

 

[MamaBear]

Congrats on your first grow!
1) yep, you should remove fan leaves if they are covering buds as long as you don't strip the plant. Or you can just tuck them under and out of the way.
2) most cannabis likes to dry out between waterings but sometimes the soil dries out completely and doesn't want to absorb water again (it all runs out the pot). Water slowly and let it soak in a bit at a time until the soil is saturated again. I use yucca in my soil - it helps with this! Some of the organic potting soils come with yucca already in there now.
3) with only 3 weeks left, I'd leave the auto but the regs can still be up-potted.

And yeah, you need LOTS more light and I don't think there's a problem with mixing them as long as you're in the right spectrum.

Also, if using good organic soil, you can quit messing around with soil PH. As long as your water PH is good, it will be fine.

Nothing wrong with starting slow - it's how most of us started too! The trick is to figure out what is really important without making it more complex than it really is. You don't need a lot of expensive stuff to do that.