A little advice needed..? Not the best start.. When to flower?

[Qix]

Hi :)

First time posting on here and pretty much first time growing properly-ish.
My friend has a grow in his loft and I'm helping out with the growing but could do with a little help if possible please? :)
It's just over 6 week from sprouting.

Equipment.
Tent is a 1.5m x 1.5m x 2m
Fabrics pots are (I think) 5gallon
Plants are: 3x In House Genetics Zurple Punch BX and 1x BlimBurn Green Crack
Light: AC Infinity 600w
Humidifier: Mars Hydro
Extractor + Osci Fan: Mars Hydro
Heater: Ac Infinity
Coco coir and pearlite.
Canna nutrients.

Initial Thoughts
Plan was to do 4 plants, top once, LST and scrog, lollipop and have a canopy that pretty much fills the tent.

Grow Start
They first sprouted on the 18th of September.
Before the start of the grow I told my friend he needed a heater and humidifier but he held off for a couple of week so I don't think they got an optimal start.
Once they arrived they were set at 65% humidity and 23c.
Light was set to 25% at the start, 50% just after true leaves and 75% about a week or 2 later.
Transplanted from 1L to I think 5gallon fabric pots.

Nutrients/Feed Problems
They have been fed:
Silicone, Canna A+B, Cannazym and I've added a bit of PH down following all the recommended instructions.
(The Ph tester my friend got is a soil tester and it gives all sorts of different readings so I don't think it's working properly). The leaves on a couple of plants started getting a small patch of brown (after researching and putting 2+2 together I'm guessing it was to do with PH fluctuations and seems to be sorted now)
On a sort of separate note. I have one plant at my house and noticed a few small brown/black spots on the leaves which look like a slight calmag deficiency... The guy in my local grow shop said that the tap water in my area should be pretty hard and I wouldn't need any calmag. (None of the new leaves are showing any spots at all now. It was more the first couple of fan leaves).
Do I need to add calmag to my plant even though it was only a few slight spots? And.. Should I add calmag to my friends even though it's not showing any signs of deficiency? He doesn't live too far from me so I would of thought the water would be pretty much the same..
I have been giving around 1.5L to each plant every 3-4days.

Training/Defoliation
I topped once after 5/6 nodes had grown and have been bending (LST) since.
I have cut any leaves that have been covering the areas where new nodes are growing and some from underneath the plant which weren't getting much light.

Heat Problems
The temperature and heater all seemed to be fine but it's recently dropped in temp outside and I've just noticed the heater wasn't reaching the desired temp.
When I opened the loft the reading says 19c and when I open the tent it can drop to 16c.
I figured the heater out last night and should be hitting the desired temp from now. (set to come on below 23c)

Flowering?
I've been trying to look into when to switch to flower and most people say when the plants are half the size of the tent.
Since I've been training them horizontally there is pretty much no height to them.
The width of the plants are just bigger than the size of the pot and together they roughly fill 1/4 of the tent floor.

Questions
Do I need to add CalMag to mine and my friends?
Have I defoliated properly or cut too much/wrong leaves?
Have I bent them too horizontally?
Should I transplant them again to bigger pots and continue to LST?
When should I switch to flower?

In hindsight I would of probably put more plants in a tent of this size but I thought I would of been able to fill the floor space with 4 once they flower. Maybe with more optimal conditions? Maybe with less LST? Maybe with a longer veg? Maybe with a more Sativa dominant? I'm not really sure since there's quite a few variables but would be happy to hear any thoughts..?

TLDR
Plants not had the most optimal start.
Not sure if I've trained/defoliated properly.
Wondering when I should switch to flower.

Apologies for the long post.. I wanted to include as much info as possible to help get more accurate feedback.
Photos are from 2 days ago and video was 1 week back.

Looking forward to hearing any advice!
Happy Growing,
Q
:)

P.S The plant front right has grown completely different to the rest even though it's the same as 2 of the other plants. No Idea what's happened there other than it being closer to the humidifier and heater but I'm sure it was starting to grow different before they were added.

 

[NairnM16]

You should be watering till 10/20% run off everyday in coco,
It’s hydrophobic so it doesn’t hold onto nutrients like soil does,
Think if it as the opposite
In soil you need dry backs for the roots to grow,
In coco fully saturated is only around 56% water content, still plenty of oxygen to let the roots breathe nd grow,

They look like 5gal pots, I’d say around 2L a day should be fine, they look dry so about 4L to get it up to fully saturated than 2L daily from there,

As they grow nd you stop getting run off just add a little more in about .5L at a time

My girl in flower is drinking about 8L a day

To simplify it’s really hard to overwater in coco unless your plants are sitting directly in the run off, aim to never let the coco dry out, I hope this helps

 

[NairnM16]

Don’t flood the pots wither when watering get a sprayer, nd just lightly mist the medium untill run off, I do 1L at a time spaced 10 mins apart to let the coco wik up the moisture, try do do your shots at around 30m/1H after lights on,

If you really wanna get specific add like 500ml/700ml per 10mins apart nd aim for around 6/9 shots within the first 2 hours nd thtll be as close to crop steering as u can get, with another shot ever2 hours or so after tht of around 2/300ml to keep moisture, insuring good humidity during night time you’ll have good dry backs to start again the next day,

It trains the metabolism of the plants to want more food more often resulting in bigger faster vigorous growth, in flower during the weeks 3/6 u can lower the amount of run off nd stack ec in the medium for bigger fruit there’s loads you can do but for now keep it simple atleast 2L a day untill run off

 

[MileHiGhost]

Here is the size I started flower a week after topping, once the shoots started to bud I dropped the net. 8w5day into flower. Think they were like 12" tall when I flipped the light.
Hope it helps.. Good luck an Welcome to the Farm

 

[Qix]

Don’t flood the pots wither when watering get a sprayer, nd just lightly mist the medium untill run off, I do 1L at a time spaced 10 mins apart to let the coco wik up the moisture, try do do your shots at around 30m/1H after lights on,

If you really wanna get specific add like 500ml/700ml per 10mins apart nd aim for around 6/9 shots within the first 2 hours nd thtll be as close to crop steering as u can get, with another shot ever2 hours or so after tht of around 2/300ml to keep moisture, insuring good humidity during night time you’ll have good dry backs to start again the next day,

It trains the metabolism of the plants to want more food more often resulting in bigger faster vigorous growth, in flower during the weeks 3/6 u can lower the amount of run off nd stack ec in the medium for bigger fruit there’s loads you can do but for now keep it simple atleast 2L a day untill run off

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense.
First time I've used coco and I've been treating it like soil I guess.
Only really watered once it's dry an inch or so down.

Problem is, the grow's at my friends and I can't be there at exact times :/
Should of probably got an auto feeder for it to be honest.
I'll start giving them a 2L drink everyday from now on and see how they go from there.

Thanks again!
:)

 

[NairnM16]

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense.
First time I've used coco and I've been treating it like soil I guess.
Only really watered once it's dry an inch or so down.

Problem is, the grow's at my friends and I can't be there at exact times :/
Should of probably got an auto feeder for it to be honest.
I'll start giving them a 2L drink everyday from now on and see how they go from there.

Thanks again!
:)

Simple timer nd some drippers you’re local hydro shop will be able to set you up nd keep you right not a problem, any questions just ask I’m here to help

 

[Qix]

Don’t flood the pots wither when watering get a sprayer, nd just lightly mist the medium untill run off, I do 1L at a time spaced 10 mins apart to let the coco wik up the moisture, try do do your shots at around 30m/1H after lights on,

If you really wanna get specific add like 500ml/700ml per 10mins apart nd aim for around 6/9 shots within the first 2 hours nd thtll be as close to crop steering as u can get, with another shot ever2 hours or so after tht of around 2/300ml to keep moisture, insuring good humidity during night time you’ll have good dry backs to start again the next day,

It trains the metabolism of the plants to want more food more often resulting in bigger faster vigorous growth, in flower during the weeks 3/6 u can lower the amount of run off nd stack ec in the medium for bigger fruit there’s loads you can do but for now keep it simple atleast 2L a day untill run off

I'm looking into getting a drip system (are there any you recommend?)

I'm a little confused how much I would feed them though..?
For 2L per day
I would give them 6-9 shots in the first 2 hours (30m-1h after lights on) then another shot every 2 hours until lights off?
Would I split it to give 1L evenly over the first 2 hours then the other 1L the rest of the day?
And when would I measure the run off?

 

[Ninjadogma]

Looks puffy and clawed, you having a VPD problem? Leaves don't look off as far as color... if you're looking for a nutrient issue, it would be excess N with that clawing, but that looks more environmental to me with the accompanying puffiness.

 

[NairnM16]

I'm looking into getting a drip system (are there any you recommend?)

I'm a little confused how much I would feed them though..?
For 2L per day
I would give them 6-9 shots in the first 2 hours (30m-1h after lights on) then another shot every 2 hours until lights off?
Would I split it to give 1L evenly over the first 2 hours then the other 1L the rest of the day?
And when would I measure the run off?

Asuming you have you tube I like flora flex,

I do mine to set about an hour after lights on spaced 15 mins apart about 300ml normally takes about 6 (shots) triggers to see run off from my plants after about 10/15mins after last shot, don’t worry about top ups rn learn the basics atleast 1x a day till run off

But like ninja said it’s not just a feed amount problem but it’s good practice

Get your environment to about 74/76f at 50% humidity and the right light levels less is more

 

[NairnM16]

But yeah hop on YouTube nd look at flora flex or netaflem or something do good ones, download the Athenian handbook if crop steering is something you wanna look into