Brand new caregiver in need of help.

[katiemarie]

Pics

I have the one light venting out, not the lights thats not running, thats the hps, I want to veg under that bigger plant under the hps since I found out it wont cost that much to run.
I just watered before taking the pics they re tad droopy. Whatdo think looking better? there definately growing thats for sure...
u really helped me out of a bind..

 

[Alien Abductee]

ok, those look over watered as well. Have to let them dry out.. only water them when the soil is completely dry on top and cracking. Other than that they look so much better than when you first posted.

Can you turn this room into a flower room and any other room, doesnt even have to be light sealed for veg?

 

[Alien Abductee]

If not, lets see.

You can move the plants to a dark room, but the room it goes into has to be highly vented or your gonna lose them to mildew and mold, you have to keep a lot of air moving across them. SO important to always keep air circulated in flower.

I would go ahead and just flower all the plants that are close to 2 feet at once. With some good light management and some fans we can control the stretch and keep them in check and ill show you some techniques you can use to keep them from going crazy.

First, less water will make things so much easier. It is very important that the roots get o2. If there is always water the plants droop like you see because of lack of o2. they are suffocating and showing signs of stress by drooping. cause it cant make enough glucose to hold the leaves up. The leaves should be pointed at the light reaching up. Your close and I dont see any perm damage, just maybe slow growth rates, but you need to get those leaves up pointed at the light for a truly effective flowering.

second, Is there a dark room with lots of fresh air movement you can use?

 

[Alien Abductee]

Alien I think we are talking about two different plants, when I sent the pics earlier today they were pics of the clones...you said I need to get the over watering issue repaired before worrying about hps or mh. I will take some pics of the greenhouse plants tonight and you can see them. then maybe we can talk about the lighting. I know your right about the stretching but it funny that it only happened to one strain the others are shorter and bushier......I just got home from buying a timer, what schedule do you recommend for the cloning mchine?
peace and hairgrease <3

I have no idea, I have never used a cloning machine. Maybe someone can chime in. Is it a bubbler or spraying type? I can prolly look it up somewhere.

 

[Alien Abductee]

I reviewed the pictures and I think I have a good idea what would be a good course of action.

1. Get the plants pointed back at the light and stress free.
2. Flower them.

I was looking at the plant structures and density and I think they are ready. I would feel highly confident that they could support it and give you nice return within the space you have.

Now just have to figure out what to do with the plants that are still vegging.

 

[Alien Abductee]

Could you divide the room somehow, so that you have 2 sides, with the flower side blocked from the MH light? A divider of some sort, but you have to make sure the MH light doesnt hit the flower side?

possible?

 

[katiemarie]

I could divide the room with black plastic thats the best idea I have. Glad you told me about the ventilation bc I have a couple of nice rooms I could use but I would have to cut a vent in the door as they are solid concrete block with no windows to ventilate.
I think the drooping maybe a residual effect of lack of water, they really needed to be watered this past sat but do to an unexpected emergency I couldnt do it until Sunday and they were really really drooping, I read about induced stress and it said it fine to stress them like that occasionally and although it was accidental Im glad its ok...anyways, I think maybe it been to hot in there the temp is a constant 80 degrees, finally got the vent in and immediately cooled in down in there to about 72. I only have a cheap humidity meter and it says 60% I have a great dehumidifier I have read 45% is ideal ahould I hook it up and get it lower in there???
I mean when I go in there it was really hot and humid uncomfortable, I readif its uncomfortble to us it probably is to the plants as well I think it is stressing them out a little between the heat and humidity....the next few days may tell a lot with the cooler temps. Im really having difficulty understanding the nutrients aspect of this I HAVE to get a ppm/ ec ,meter there just really expensive. Can you tell me the difference between TDS and PPM, can t seem to find a good answer to that question. I was thinking of taking a soil sample to the local agriculture department here at the university and have them analyze it, is that a dumb idea or genius? Ha!
Ps the cloner is the sprayer type, I think the clones look amazing but what do I know :) a lot of that droop was too many heavy leaves, i trimmed them off. they are perkier now.

 

[katiemarie]

I surprised I dont have a mold mildew issue as hot and humid as it has been in there, I had to get the money to get the vents ran did it tonight tho. I think my room is bangin for a chick and no help whatsoever, I did it all meeself tee hee :)

 

[katiemarie]

I eamnt no help setting it up, not to discount your valuable advice Id be in left field with mud on my glasses without it!

 

[katiemarie]

I have an entire basement that I can make a flower room just have to move the light and hang black plastic and vent it...eventually I want to fill this existing room with all vegging or flowering. I wish I could have this veg room wider, those lights are freakin huge and its hard to get around in there.
I have so many questions sometimes I forget them all, seems like all I ever do is read, and check my emails to see if you replied lol...have a good night alien,,,btw is that your real name hahaha.

 

[Alien Abductee]

It could be a little heat stress now that i look. Lack of water and over water look slightly different, they bend at different places. Lack of water more towards the stem and over watering more towards the leaves. to me, looks like over water but really hard to tell if i am not there. At that size in normal circumstances, you'll water about every 4-5 days, around 3 days for the larger plants. If your watering every 2-3 days, then that maybe too much. You have to let the soil tell you when to water, it should look dried and cracked. Then water. If you still see dark, too soon.

Long term, you want different different veg and flowering rooms. You might want to make that happen. So much easier.

tds and EC. total dissolved solids, the number of non water molecules to water. in parts per million.

EC is the electrical conductivity of the water., which is how tds is measured, so they are basiclly measured the same way, just different calculations.

 

[katiemarie]

I have a dimmable ballast, I will take another pic tonight to see if you still see the stress unless it will take longer to recover from it. If they dont look better with a cooler room I will turn the light down, its on a dimmable ballast, so if its not the heat in the room its the light, the pots are bone dry every other day they need water dry cracking and light in weight, I have to transplant soon, they are just in little 6 inch pots right now, my daughter bf told me I should transplant a total of 3 times each time changing soil to prevent salt build up. I think it would be ok to go to the largest size this time instead of transplanting to medium and than large what do you think?
I red somewhere that you should water little and often and others say less often and a lot, whats your take on that?

 

[katiemarie]

I should re read these before posting, I guess you get that I have a dimmable ballast by now LOL

 

[Alien Abductee]

By this time they should be in the largest pot. Personally, I plop my clone in the pot i will flower it in and never run across any problems with salts as long as water enough, which i normally have to do anyways to correct ph problems anyways. Specially in flower, where they can build up quicker.

 

[katiemarie]

ok a NICe cool 72 degrees in there instead of 80 ish. They are rootbound in the pots, gowing to the hydro store right now...I guess I will get the grow bags bc theyre cheap, maybe 3 gallon or 5 gallon? I read once they get root bound they dont bounce back well so it has to be done today.
This is my plan, rinse the roots really really well, plant in pots and water with full strength nutes....sound right? Should I rinse the roots under the tap water or would be distilled be alright or should I not rinse them that way and just rinse them after they get in the pot with the dirt. I have been told or read that you dont have to ph the water you rinse with just the final watering containing the nutes.....

 

[Alien Abductee]

Id water them really good, but dont use nutes on them yet, they willl be shocked for a day or so. Feed again when you see new growth.

 

[Alien Abductee]

5 gallon would be better for the size your going to end up with.

 

[Alien Abductee]

With heat, i use this simple method. Put your hand on the top of the plants and if its hot, its hot for your plants, they have about the same comfort range as the back of your hand.

 

[Alien Abductee]

Vegging plants recover better than flowering plants. It'll be fine. Flowering plants dont grow roots that well compared to vegging plants. So your good.

 

[katiemarie]

ok no nutes,,,,but should I flush them or just water normally with phd water, if I flush since I dont have enough water sored can I flush wth tap water and final water with the ph'd water? Thanks SO much your really a nice person for helping me so much