First Time Growing. Any Tips?

[BrokonBuds]

Hey guys, this is my first grow, I have a 4x4 tent, four plants, two blackberry, one lemon sour diesel, one alien orange cookie.
I'm currently on an 18:6 lighting cycle. Under 8 t5 bulbs.
Been in veg for 3-4 weeks I think. Was just trying to figure out about when should I switch over the light cycle. I've been told I need to start it ASAP and also have been told to wait a couple more weeks.
I'm gonna be using a Mars II 1200 led for flowering.
Currently watering with standard 20-20-20 fertilizer. They all appear to be really healthy. And was going to use tiger bloom for the flowering. Figured if I was going to try and grow some I would do my best lol.
Been tying down branches as you can see to make as many tops as possible. As well as cutting tips.

 

[MidwestToker]

Watch you're nutrient strength with that formula for salt build up. Fabric pot dry out a lot faster than regular pots and then tend to experience salt build without proper watering techniques.

 

[BrokonBuds]

I've been using half strength per gallon of water. Didn't know about the salt build up. Thanks I'll keep my eyes open for it. My next grow I'm gonna go for the earth juice or fox farms veg fertilizers.

 

[MidwestToker]

What's you're medium? Do you have strait watering in you're routine?

 

[BrokonBuds]

I'm using the sunshine number two soil. Just put them from one gallon pots into these five gallons a few days ago. I usually have been using fresh water at 6.5 every other or every two waters. Used fresh water right after transplant also. Made up some more nute water for the next time.

 

[MidwestToker]

You'll want to put something between you're pots and trays so you don't soak up any run-off.

 

[BrokonBuds]

You'll want to put something between you're pots and trays so you don't soak up any run-off.

Any cheap suggestions? Water rocks maybe?

 

[xavier7995]

I am on the side of flipping to 12/12 sooner rather than later. LED lights don't have the same penetration as HPS, so big plants with a deep canopy are not going to be ideal. You could keep vegging if you are going to put down a screen to keep them spread out in a SCROG setup, but mostly you just want to avoid really tall plants where you are growing big and long colas, go for a larger number of smaller buds.

 

[Underthesun]

Water was always the issue I had to figure out, just bad luck though. My 1st grow we had all kinds of minerals in our water, not sure what...that was over a decade ago, but we ended up just watering our plants with all store bought distilled water, haha. I wouldn't suggest that. Now where I live my well water is very very very hard, even after going through a softener. So I collect rain water and creek water for my plants. Point being, test your water source. Tap water should be fine, unless you are have issues like me. I'm jealous you have the internet for your 1st grow. Good luck, so much fun!

 

[xavier7995]

I'm jealous you have the internet for your 1st grow. Good luck, so much fun!

Right!!!! I just had some old drunk guy that we had to feed bottles of liquor to in order to get him to divulge his secrets.

 

[BrokonBuds]

Lol yeah I've been doing tons of research and gathering different opinions. It has been extremely helpful. I think I might end up trying some sort of scrog set up by just tying strings from the corners of the tent. Should I make this screen after I start flowering? I was thinking if I make the screen with the corner poles I can easily raise and lower it.

 

[xavier7995]

I know I said to scrog it...but I may have been a bit presumptuous. The big issue with doing a scrog is once they are in the net, you can't really move the plants. I find that in a tent situation, you definitely are going to want to move your plants around to water, inspect, etc. If the tent is small enough that you can reach everything, moot point. I have seen screens that fit over a single plant, that would be pretty ideal as another option to look at. You can achieve a really similar result just using string to gently pull branches where you want them and then tying off to the container.

 

[BrokonBuds]

Okay so I will scratch the screen idea lol. But tying branches to guide them is the way I'm gonna go. I've been making my plants bushy at an early start in veg. Should I start to just let them grow upwards now? Instead of holding branches down?

 

[xavier7995]

That is exactly the training method I would use, you even have the cloth pots so its easy to make holes:) Up to you really on how far to spread them out. I would let them go a bit bit further horizontally before having them start going up. I would say take them to the edge of the pot then let them start going up straight, they will form almost a 90 degree angle.

One issue I have encountered is that the center area surrounded by the "bud ring" if you will, is a pretty ideal environment for crappy larf buds and just weird non productive growth in general. So just keep that area trimmed up. The crappy little budlets that form will not amount to anything other than an ideal environment for molds/mildew.

 

[BrokonBuds]

Alright cool, thanks bro. Should I start trimming it up in veg mode or can I continue to do so while flowering?

 

[xavier7995]

Opinions abound on that topic:) I trim up whatever whenever. I do a pretty thorough trim job before flipping, but when you do the flip they are going to stretch and double in size so you really will need to give it another once over around 2 weeks into flower as you don't quite know what the plant is going to look like. At the two week mark you should start to see bud sites form that will help act as a guide on what you need to trim. I just try to get rid of any fan leaves that are blocking lower growth and to thin out the lower layer to allow better airflow.

you could probably skip doing it in veg without much ill effect with those plants. During veg my main goal with trimming is to allow good airflow, a whole lot of leaf in a condensed space creates a warm wet place that can be the start of a bunch of issues. Doesn't look like that will be an issue for you. If you do want to do some early work, take off everything up to about where you expect the plant to start its vertical growth. Many people remove all the growth (leaf, tiny branches, bud sites) on the lower 1/3rd of the plant as a rule of thumb, i follow that. new stuff shows up down there during flower, just cut it off.

 

[BrokonBuds]

Thanks for the tips bro! I have never grown or seen other grows before so I don't really have any idea what to expect them to look like and when. This is really just a trial run to see how I do and get an idea of how they will turn out in each stage of growth. I planned on letting these go for another two weeks. Any suggestion on when I should start to use the bloom fertilizer? And do I need to have a reg water before I do this?

 

[xavier7995]

I switch to bloom formulas a week or two after flipping. The first week or two after you change to 12/12 is kind of like extreme veg, I actually feed a bit higher levels of whatever veg nutes since they are doing so much extra structural growth.

Your doing fine and on the right path. Just keep reading as much as you can and don't over complicate it. Another two weeks will do them well, just count on them finishing up around twice the size as when you flip to flower.

 

[3N1GM4]

Looks kinda like my first grow, when I bought my 15 gallon cloth pots and the hydro store guy said " huh, gonna grow some trees are ya?" I kinda shrugged and agreed. I had no idea that my plants would get so big in those giant pots. Ended up having to supercrop two weeks into flower. Lookin good so far, cant wait to see those trees at the end.

 

[BrokonBuds]

Lol. Growing some trees are ya?
So I just got my LED today and set it up. Sitting 24" or 25" above plants. Looks great! I'm excited to see what it can do. Right now I've also got my t5 fixture on one side of the tent just for extra light.
Is my LED too high?