First grow and general Q's if you could :-)

[420ReBeLGrower]

Also
You gotta find a good source for garden supplies , 10.00 for a 5 gal pot is crazy .......

I know right!!! I'm done with soil after this. The girl is going to use them for other plants so it wasn't a waste or anything. I've already got my DWC system bought, just need to buy lines and wait for these to finish before starting up the new DWC. I've never done it before, but feel I will get the hang of things over time.

I will be sure to stay off nutes for this soil grow. Since I added a bit of everything I think I should be fine for the rest of the grow. The 5.5 gals are not plugged at all either, and drain onto a pan now. So, I will be checking them more often since they will probably dry out much faster with the new soil.

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

I wouldn't add any nutes , but I would let them veg for 2 more weeks if you can afford the time , that way they will tell you if they are happy in the new home , and give the plant some time to fill in root zone
I think your miracle grow has plenty of nutrient in it also ,you should be well fed for a month if not entire grow ..... ....

Should I keep them in the VEG light cycle for the next two weeks? I'm in no rush and can spare the time if it means better yeilds :-)

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

Just a quick update....

Noticing some of the plants look to have branches and leaves that are falling to the floor and was wondering what to do with them. . .

They look almost droopy to me. I'm seen them do that at night after their lights turn off, but never mid-day like this. I see that on almost every plant even the stronger growing ones. Is this a sign that the plant isn't happy?

But, the other leaves all look healthy and growth is still good.

I also just realized something which I think may have been causing my problems. . . I have an exhaust fan setup that has a trigger set to turn on whenever temps get over 75F or RH gets above 65%. While I have oscilating fans in the tent I do not have anything else pulling in new air. I don't know how often my exhaust fan turns on and so now I feel like the problem is that I didn't have a constant exhaust fan pulling fresh air in from the bottom vents at all times.

Could that be what stunted the growth, or is that a normal kind of setup? I feel like everyone I read about has an exhaust fan always running to create a constant flow of fresh air from outside the tent. But I was basically looking at it like this . . .

Open bottom vents so new air from outside can come in
If temps or RH get above X% turn on exhaust fan

I also have a dehumidifer outside the tent in the basement just kinda blowing in new heated air whenever it was doing its thing for the basement. So, the tent was getting outside air shoved in from time to time, but that was probably once every 20 minutes.

Thoughts?

 

[One drop]

Just a quick update....

Noticing some of the plants look to have branches and leaves that are falling to the floor and was wondering what to do with them. . .

View attachment 988919

They look almost droopy to me. I'm seen them do that at night after their lights turn off, but never mid-day like this. I see that on almost every plant even the stronger growing ones. Is this a sign that the plant isn't happy?

But, the other leaves all look healthy and growth is still good.
View attachment 988920View attachment 988921

I also just realized something which I think may have been causing my problems. . . I have an exhaust fan setup that has a trigger set to turn on whenever temps get over 75F or RH gets above 65%. While I have oscilating fans in the tent I do not have anything else pulling in new air. I don't know how often my exhaust fan turns on and so now I feel like the problem is that I didn't have a constant exhaust fan pulling fresh air in from the bottom vents at all times.

Could that be what stunted the growth, or is that a normal kind of setup? I feel like everyone I read about has an exhaust fan always running to create a constant flow of fresh air from outside the tent. But I was basically looking at it like this . . .

Open bottom vents so new air from outside can come in
If temps or RH get above X% turn on exhaust fan

I also have a dehumidifer outside the tent in the basement just kinda blowing in new heated air whenever it was doing its thing for the basement. So, the tent was getting outside air shoved in from time to time, but that was probably once every 20 minutes.

Thoughts?

Run you exhaust 24 /7 buddy add passive air I tack at bottom of tent this will help in heat and RH in the tent it’s very easy and needs no money to build . Regards Od .

 

[dire wolf]

Hey 420 , sorry I didn't answer previous questions , I don't have an alert or anything reminding me of questions so I get lost sometimes , yea the plants look great , lower leaves usually get less light or succumb to humidity being near the soil , just pluck them off , it's no indication of the plants health , you can torture these plants so don't worry about a little striping of leaf here or there , I mean you can shave off half the growth from an entire side of the plant then break it in half and tape it back together and it will probably grow back faster and stronger than it is now , well don't break it but bending and torture is common ......

 

[dire wolf]

Looks like they are moving along great , contrary to what I said before , you might want to top the plant now by pinching the top and creating 2 new growth sites......

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

Run you exhaust 24 /7 buddy add passive air I tack at bottom of tent this will help in heat and RH in the tent it’s very easy and needs no money to build . Regards Od .

Yeah, I'm stupid and didn't really think about it. I've switched to a constant speed and will be looking into getting a cheap variable fan to be the constant exhaust while turning my programmable fan into an intake for when it gets to hot or something.

Hey 420 , sorry I didn't answer previous questions , I don't have an alert or anything reminding me of questions so I get lost sometimes , yea the plants look great , lower leaves usually get less light or succumb to humidity being near the soil , just pluck them off , it's no indication of the plants health , you can torture these plants so don't worry about a little striping of leaf here or there , I mean you can shave off half the growth from an entire side of the plant then break it in half and tape it back together and it will probably grow back faster and stronger than it is now , well don't break it but bending and torture is common ......

Looks like they are moving along great , contrary to what I said before , you might want to top the plant now by pinching the top and creating 2 new growth sites......

By pluck them off do you mean with you hand? Ot should i get some sheers to cut them close to the main stem?

I had heard not to TOP & FIM the same plant? I FIMed about 14 days ago but I am happy to TOP them now too if it will help make them all bush out like crazy. Its also only been 4 days since I transplanted into the 5.5 gal, but if you think they can take the topping, I'm all for it.(Oh and don't even worry about it. This forum has been so helpful, any extra guidance is just icing on the cake)

 

[dire wolf]

Yeah, I'm stupid and didn't really think about it. I've switched to a constant speed and will be looking into getting a cheap variable fan to be the constant exhaust while turning my programmable fan into an intake for when it gets to hot or something.



By pluck them off do you mean with you hand? Ot should i get some sheers to cut them close to the main stem?

I had heard not to TOP & FIM the same plant? I FIMed about 14 days ago but I am happy to TOP them now too if it will help make them all bush out like crazy. Its also only been 4 days since I transplanted into the 5.5 gal, but if you think they can take the topping, I'm all for it.(Oh and don't even worry about it. This forum has been so helpful, any extra guidance is just icing on the cake)

Hey 420 , yea I didn't know you fimmed , I personally prefer one way or the other , fimming be first choice , so no , don't do anything let the film get going....

 

[dire wolf]

Can you post a pic in white light , blue lights off , where you fimmed .....

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

Hey 420 , yea I didn't know you fimmed , I personally prefer one way or the other , fimming be first choice , so no , don't do anything let the film get going....

Can you post a pic in white light , blue lights off , where you fimmed .....

Here are some pics of them now . .

I have highlighted in RED the node/spot I FIMed (well. . . kinda FIMed haha. Missed some leaves as you can see) on 6/6/20...

I checked the soil today and the original soil seems to still hold some water while the new soil around it has pretty much dried up. I was wondering ...

1. Should I water the plants today, but not water the main soil, and focus on the new soil to help push the growth to it?

2. Since turning on the exhaust fan to full time (at a slow speed), the temp has dropped in the tent from about 74-75F to about a constant 72F (RH ranges from 55 - 65%). I wanted to keep the temps in the 75F range, any cheap ideas to bring the temp up without expending a ton of $$?

3. Should I cut off the lower fan leaves that are touching the soil? You stated to do that, and then said to hold off.

Sorry for all the questions. I'm taking notes like crazy trust me.

 

[revfunk]

what's the real wattage? Probably around 80-120W. Definitely not enough to flower with.....

What brand/light my friend?

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

what's the real wattage? Probably around 80-120W. Definitely not enough to flower with.....

What brand/light my friend?

Here is the LED light I bought...

GreenGo 900W LED light

Says that it is 190 nominal power with triple-chip 15W

I have only been using the VEG setting during the entire VEG stage of the plants. (so, their whole life at this point haha)

When I was starting out I notice that if I put the light anywhere closer than 38 - 40" the leaves would start pointing up. Which I read was sun/light stress?

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

I have been reading up a little bit and looked up my brand of light and the 1200 version (300W more than mine) puts out a PAR of 1419 from 20" away.

Link for reference

So extrapolating my PAR, I'm guessing my 900W is probably around 1064 PAR from 20" away.

I also just tried putting up a Trellis to help support the buds and hopefully make it easier for the stems to support the weight.

However, I think i might need to take it down and put it up in a later stage (like 2 weeks into flower cycle).

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

I took down the trellis. I was getting way ahead of myself and decided it would be easier if I just stuck to the basics. However, I'm going to probably start the 12/12 cycle on Friday. That will be 10 days instead of 14, but will be enough for hopefully something to grow from these things.

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

Been a little while and wanted to post an update . . .

After switching to 12/12 cycle, the plants have grown over 6 inches in the last few days. I've purchased another 900W light to run in parallel with my current 900W and hope this will be enough for the plants to produce a good yield.

I have noticed that my main stem is like 1/3 the thickness as a lot of other people on the forums, so I figure these are going to be smaller buds.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the help throughout this process. I'll probably end up starting a grow log on here for my DWC system. (Fingers crossed I don't kill everything)

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

Just wanted to share an update...

I'm now 8.5 days into flower light cycle and these things have picked up a bit.

Before 12/12 flip (all taken from top of soil to top of highest leaf)
plant 1. 17"
plant 2 12"
plant 3 14"
plant 4 14"

After 9 days they now stand at . .

plant 1: 24"
plant 2: 18"
plant 3: 19.5"
plan4 4: 21"

I am also starting to see what I *think* are the sex identifiers for the plants . . .

They look like tiny little hairs coming out.

I also found these little nats flying around. They have black bodies with tiny clear wings. I have looked under almost all of the leaves and do not see any egg sacks any anything eaten. Are these little guys beneficial for the plants? I read that they could be afids but i have not seen any of their babies or grown adults on any of the leaves leading up to now. I'm getting close to the point of nto being able to spray anything on the plants or grow room since the buds are going to start forming in the next week or two.

Here's a quick pick of the plants, I'll grab another one in normal light soon...

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

Here are some pics is normal light . . .

I did notice some of my leaves having a tiny bit of tip burn, but its rare among most of the leaves . .

Just wondering what you guys thought and any poiners moving forward into the budding/flowering stage.

 

[Dr.B]

Those are female parts indeed. You might have fungus gnats. You can interrupt the reproductive cycle by keeping the top inch of soil as dry as possible for two weeks.

 

[420ReBeLGrower]

Those are female parts indeed. You might have fungus gnats. You can interrupt the reproductive cycle by keeping the top inch of soil as dry as possible for two weeks.

That's exactly what they must be. I've been having trouble with my soil not draining fast enough due to not having enough Perlite in it.

I want to aim a fan directly at the tops of the planters but it would wind burn all those leaves down there and my plants don't exactly have a strong leaf system hahaha.

Thoughts? I guess I could take a towel and put it against the top soil to pull water out?? I don't know haha, just thinking..

 

[Dr.B]

That's exactly what they must be. I've been having trouble with my soil not draining fast enough due to not having enough Perlite in it.

I want to aim a fan directly at the tops of the planters but it would wind burn all those leaves down there and my plants don't exactly have a strong leaf system hahaha.

Thoughts? I guess I could take a towel and put it against the top soil to pull water out?? I don't know haha, just thinking..

Gnats are tough. I was over run once and basically lost the battle. In the end I got the gnats with an inch of sand on the top of the pot and very careful watering, so as not to break up my sand barrier. I removed the sand after two weeks but the plants didn't really recover. Diatomaceous earth is a better option than sand, I found nematodes to be ineffective, predatory mites helped bit didnt wipe it out, expensive too. Pyrethrins failed to take out the eggs... I think I tried everything before sand...

I have four 6" circulation fans on my one plant at the moment. Placed in the corners of my 5' x 5' tent, pointing down to create an upward vortex around the plant in the center. It dries out the soil with no ill effect. Consider the intake also blows about 150 cfm at the pot on top of the fans... I also just created a new rack for the plant to sit up on from a milk crate. It allows for airflow to nearly 100% of the pots surface. Keep your fans at a low speed, they dont need to be cranking out air, just moving it.