First Grow Looking For Input

[GrowNE420]

Hey guys just an update. Everything is going good so far. Thursday will be the end of week 8 from germination, you guys think I should flip to a 12/12 then or wait another week for the screen to fill up a little more?

 

[One drop]

Only my 2 bits but when you flip they will stretch a bit more which may be just right to fit your screen .

 

[GrowNE420]

Only my 2 bits but when you flip they will stretch a bit more which may be just right to fit your screen .

Yea that's what I was thinking thanks...

 

[GrowNE420]

Work light mode with this California light works solar system 550 can't beat it

 

[GrowNE420]

Ok so I kind of ran into I slight problem, I was supposed to flip to a 12/12 today. And last night I watered and decided to take some clones off of my plants as well as doing a little trimming just around the lower half. I guess I should have waited till after the flip? I did it to just do it opposed to just leaving it alone, SMH lol.
Should I wait another week now before I flip or can I still flip them today or tomorrow?

 

[GrowNE420]

Here are some pics I def didn't go crazy.. didn't lollipop or top at all just cleaned the bottom for air flow.

 

[GrowNE420]

Top shot

 

[GrowNE420]

So do I wait a few days or go right to 12/12

 

[nomdeplume]

So do I wait a few days or go right to 12/12

So as plants near the stage where they are about to flower plant hormones (cytokinins, auxins) move upward to the shoot tips, so trimming the bottom actually promotes this. The only real issue as I see it is sometimes taking clones off youngish plants can be hard to root, and easier to rot because they tend to be succulent as opposed to semi woody/woody and they require high humidity. The question is how tall are they, because the look squat, I flower at around 16-18 inches minimum. You can flower smaller but it does impact the yield doing it, if they are too young. You said eight weeks? That should be good, just about perfect, if everything is healthy. I usually allow the plant to determine, if it's roots are shooting through the drainage holes, it's time to transplant into the final containers, and turn back the lights, they will spend 7 to 10 days to "set up" and grow into the pots, go through an initial burst of upward and outward growth, and show sex, I then count the days until harvest from there.

 

[nomdeplume]

Another bit of advice? Wait until the initial burst of growth occurs, then trim up the bottom 1/3 of your plants if you're using LED's and 1/4 if you're using HID's (just for reference). Then root those bottom branches, they are now nice and semi-woody and firm and should root in 14-21 days under a humidome on a heat mat at 76-79 degrees. Sorry, high and bored and I've been doing it so long. The reality is there are hundreds of ways to grow, but certain variables are constants, like Ph, EC (nutrient strength), quantity and quality of light, a decent medium, co2 temperature, and in my opinion only, the game is to take best advantage of those constants so that the only limitation to growth is genetic. Another thing I keep in the forefront of my planning is the axiom as the complexity of a system increases the meantime between breakdowns decreases proportionally. You're shooting for consistency Trust me it works...it's the reason for these rambling posts, I'm baked on my shit lol.

 

[GrowNE420]

So as plants near the stage where they are about to flower plant hormones (cytokinins, auxins) move upward to the shoot tips, so trimming the bottom actually promotes this. The only real issue as I see it is sometimes taking clones off youngish plants can be hard to root, and easier to rot because they tend to be succulent as opposed to semi woody/woody and they require high humidity. The question is how tall are they, because the look squat, I flower at around 16-18 inches minimum. You can flower smaller but it does impact the yield doing it, if they are too young. You said eight weeks? That should be good, just about perfect, if everything is healthy. I usually allow the plant to determine, if it's roots are shooting through the drainage holes, it's time to transplant into the final containers, and turn back the lights, they will spend 7 to 10 days to "set up" and grow into the pots, go through an initial burst of upward and outward growth, and show sex, I then count the days until harvest from there.

I have taken more the 12 clones off the 5 plants in veg

So as plants near the stage where they are about to flower plant hormones (cytokinins, auxins) move upward to the shoot tips, so trimming the bottom actually promotes this. The only real issue as I see it is sometimes taking clones off youngish plants can be hard to root, and easier to rot because they tend to be succulent as opposed to semi woody/woody and they require high humidity. The question is how tall are they, because the look squat, I flower at around 16-18 inches minimum. You can flower smaller but it does impact the yield doing it, if they are too young. You said eight weeks? That should be good, just about perfect, if everything is healthy. I usually allow the plant to determine, if it's roots are shooting through the drainage holes, it's time to transplant into the final containers, and turn back the lights, they will spend 7 to 10 days to "set up" and grow into the pots, go through an initial burst of upward and outward growth, and show sex, I then count the days until harvest from there.

thanks for the reply!
The plants are 8weeks 2 days from seed. I have already taken 2 clones from each plant so 10 total about 2 weeks ago and 8 of them rooted! They are in 1 gallon pots now.. I took 3 the other night when I trimmed them all the clones wer 3-5 inches long.. the plants are well over 12inches hard to determine exactly because of training them. I only have 6ft even for height so I'm very limited in that aspect of things. They were transplanted from 1gallon pots to 5 gallon fabric pots exactly 2weeks ago.

 

[GrowNE420]

Here's one of the clones

 

[GrowNE420]

Another bit of advice? Wait until the initial burst of growth occurs, then trim up the bottom 1/3 of your plants if you're using LED's and 1/4 if you're using HID's (just for reference). Then root those bottom branches, they are now nice and semi-woody and firm and should root in 14-21 days under a humidome on a heat mat at 76-79 degrees. Sorry, high and bored and I've been doing it so long. The reality is there are hundreds of ways to grow, but certain variables are constants, like Ph, EC (nutrient strength), quantity and quality of light, a decent medium, co2 temperature, and in my opinion only, the game is to take best advantage of those constants so that the only limitation to growth is genetic. Another thing I keep in the forefront of my planning is the axiom as the complexity of a system increases the meantime between breakdowns decreases proportionally. You're shooting for consistency Trust me it works...it's the reason for these rambling posts, I'm baked on my shit lol.

Man I'm right there with you baked all day everyday and start reading and reading lol fucks me all up so many people do things differently! 1 person would say one thing and another say the opposite haha then I'm like ahh did I read that right and re read lol never ends

 

[iKharon]

My babies are growing up! Thought I'd post a lil update. :) Jillybean and Brian Berry are killing it! Dropped the t5 down to about 8" away, basically covering one tray or 8 plants, so I'm rotating the trays daily so they can all rejoice in the light lol.. look like they are reaching for their mama or giving a peace sign :)

 

[GrowNE420]

My babies are growing up! Thought I'd post a lil update. :) Jillybean and Brian Berry are killing it! Dropped the t5 down to about 8" away, basically covering one tray or 8 plants, so I'm rotating the trays daily so they can all rejoice in the light lol.. look like they are reaching for their mama or giving a peace sign :)

Those are looking awesome

 

[GrowNE420]

So now if I switch to a 12/12 should I start the 12 hour cycle from when lights turn off or start the 12/12 once the lights turn on?
Also I am going to be using the fox farm tiger bloom and big bloom for nutrients not sure if anyone on here uses this stuff but I have heard good things with these 2 working together.. Should I start adding nutrients before I start the 12/12 or start after I switched? Although they have only been in these pots for 2 weeks so is the soil still good for another 2 weeks in flower like is is for vegative stage?
Sorry for all these questions I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple more! Just stoned and keep reading everyone going back and fourth on which way to do it kinda just want a straight simple answer I'm not trying to do anything fancy just trying to do it right and finish my first GROW!!! Thanks guys

 

[nomdeplume]

When you switch to 12/12 let the lights go off for 12 hours first. I heard an old wives tale that letting them sit in the dark first hastens their flowering. Not sure if true but I do it that way. I use fox farm nutrients and I measure the strength with a blue lab ec/ppm pen and run it at 1.8 EC at a Ph between 6.0 and 6.2. I use an RO filter so I supplement with cal mag. Start the flowering nutrients when You cut the light cycle back too much nitrogen encourages eccessive stem and leaf growth and is really only needed in trace amounts during flowering . You should transplant them into whatever containers you plan on flowering in, you don't want them to get rootbound and have to transplant flowering plants, it stunts their growth due to transplant shock and you have a limited amount of flowering time so that's a nightmare, besides the medium will clog your stomata, slowing down growth by limiting respiration through transpiration.The soil is good until the plants get rootbound and have to be transplanted into new containers.


They look beautiful.

 

[iKharon]

So now if I switch to a 12/12 should I start the 12 hour cycle from when lights turn off or start the 12/12 once the lights turn on?
Also I am going to be using the fox farm tiger bloom and big bloom for nutrients not sure if anyone on here uses this stuff but I have heard good things with these 2 working together.. Should I start adding nutrients before I start the 12/12 or start after I switched? Although they have only been in these pots for 2 weeks so is the soil still good for another 2 weeks in flower like is is for vegative stage?
Sorry for all these questions I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple more! Just stoned and keep reading everyone going back and fourth on which way to do it kinda just want a straight simple answer I'm not trying to do anything fancy just trying to do it right and finish my first GROW!!! Thanks guys

Not a big deal dude.. the important thing is: total darkness! It's the complete dark they want to flower

 

[GrowNE420]

Thanks guys for replying ! It's help out a bunch.
What I ended up doing Monday was total darkness for 24hrs then started 12/12 because I wasn't sure how to start and I read this was ok?
They have been in these 5 gallon pots for 3 weeks now should I be worried about root bound? Please say no!!! Haha live and learn.
I did my first watering yesterday and since I really didn't see any nute deficiency I figured soil still has some left. My tap water comes out at 8.0ph and about 160-180 ppms I do let it sit for 24hrs.. so I did add about 1/2tsp of cal mag and 1.5tsp of big bloom brought down ph to about 6.3-6.6 I was nervous on using the tiger bloom right away didn't know if it would be to hot right now.. the fox farm schedule recommends using it right away but also says use a bunch of other things that I haven't used and plants look fine so I DoNT KNOW! Lol

 

[GrowNE420]

Also should I worry about the low ppms schedule is saying something like 1750-2100 I'm nowhere near that I was at like 360