new here..would love advice on 1st indoor grow..pics & specifics in post

[Winnies.buds]

Howdy, name's Matt. glad to be amongst fellow dude & dudette growers and thank yawl in advance for your feedback~

started my 1st indoor grow last month & need some guidance/suggestions

pics are today at 4 weeks

autoflower bruce banner

3 gal fabric pots

6 pots, 3 of which are twins (2 plants) which is just an experiment to see yield per sq. ft. grow space

miracle grow potting mix since seedlings

2 single led 24w bulbs since germination

added 1000w led w/ dimmer 2 weeks ago. 1st week I had light distance about 12-16 in and full on (think i got light burn) so this past week I raised light to 26-30 in and dimmed to 80%

watering with well water which is hard to saturation (3-4 cups) every 3-4 days (trying to let grow medium to dry out)

So i'm looking for feedback & am questioning;
1. if there are any nutrients left in grow media & concerned i may be slowly starving them
2. how to measure nutrients and what tools you like to measure
3. if i'm over or under watering them
4. lighting recommendations (distance & percentage of 1000w)

Thanks guys & gals~

 

[SofaKingHigh]

Howdy, name's Matt. glad to be amongst fellow dude & dudette growers and thank yawl in advance for your feedback~

started my 1st indoor grow last month & need some guidance/suggestions

pics are today at 4 weeks

autoflower bruce banner

3 gal fabric pots

6 pots, 3 of which are twins (2 plants) which is just an experiment to see yield per sq. ft. grow space

miracle grow potting mix since seedlings

2 single led 24w bulbs since germination

added 1000w led w/ dimmer 2 weeks ago. 1st week I had light distance about 12-16 in and full on (think i got light burn) so this past week I raised light to 26-30 in and dimmed to 80%

watering with well water which is hard to saturation (3-4 cups) every 3-4 days (trying to let grow medium to dry out)

So i'm looking for feedback & am questioning;
1. if there are any nutrients left in grow media & concerned i may be slowly starving them
2. how to measure nutrients and what tools you like to measure
3. if i'm over or under watering them
4. lighting recommendations (distance & percentage of 1000w)

Thanks guys & gals~

Miracle grow is not good to grow in. You should get a EC meter or ppm meter and use it to measure feed water before feeding. Bluelab is a good brand.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

If you are growing in miracle gro, do not feed. Water only. It's already pre-loaded with food.
You will need to supplement only.

BlueLab is crazy expensive for a pH pen. And you will not need to worry about pH anyway. Your Miracle gro auto-adjusts the pH. Mess with it and you can cause issues.

You need to be very aware of your watering in that soil.

Basic Watering

Marijuana Watering, how media, pot size/shape and environment affect it

Ok lots of posts on how to water plants. So I thought I would put together a thread on how different factors contribute to different results that ppl see. This will be a long read based on my personal knowledge, opinions, research and others work to consolidate information for our members. I'm...

www.thcfarmer.com

Watering SOIL

New Simplified Way to Water Marijuana Plants

The other day I had an idea and after testing, it works great. To know if you need to water, get yourself a soil meter. Poke or drill 4 holes in your pot 1/4 way up from the bottom spaced around the pot. Insert the meter probe into the hole and test for moisture. If its dry, then water SLOWLY...

www.thcfarmer.com

 

[Winnies.buds]

Miracle grow is not good to grow in. You should get a EC meter or ppm meter and use it to measure feed water before feeding. Bluelab is a good brand.

Thank you

 

[Winnies.buds]

If you are growing in miracle gro, do not feed. Water only. It's already pre-loaded with food.
You will need to supplement only.

BlueLab is crazy expensive for a pH pen. And you will not need to worry about pH anyway. Your Miracle gro auto-adjusts the pH. Mess with it and you can cause issues.

You need to be very aware of your watering in that soil.

Basic Watering

Marijuana Watering, how media, pot size/shape and environment affect it

Ok lots of posts on how to water plants. So I thought I would put together a thread on how different factors contribute to different results that ppl see. This will be a long read based on my personal knowledge, opinions, research and others work to consolidate information for our members. I'm...

www.thcfarmer.com

Watering SOIL

New Simplified Way to Water Marijuana Plants

The other day I had an idea and after testing, it works great. To know if you need to water, get yourself a soil meter. Poke or drill 4 holes in your pot 1/4 way up from the bottom spaced around the pot. Insert the meter probe into the hole and test for moisture. If its dry, then water SLOWLY...

www.thcfarmer.com

Thanks comfortablynumb I appreciate the links to watering!
What do you mean when you say supplement only?? Supplement what & when? When my babies start flowering?

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Thanks comfortablynumb I appreciate the links to watering!
What do you mean when you say supplement only?? Supplement what & when? When my babies start flowering?

Pretty much. Keep an eye on them for color changes and such. Water them with regular filtered drinking water.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

Let us know and post pix here if you see something.

 

[Winnies.buds]

My woes using MG potting mix are forcing me to learn proper watering techniques!!

Update on where I'm at today:
Ordered a water meter which should arrive by the weekend. Once I get the meter I plan to allow all plants to dry out proper then use the simplified watering technique shared by ComfortablyNumb! Sounds like a sweet idea & will post updates.

Today I weighed a pot of dry media.
Then weighed each plant and subtracted weight of dry media to get an approximate water weight in each pot.
Gallon of water is 8.3 lbs. So I got an approximate amount of water in each plant.
3 gal pots full of media had water volumes between .3 gal & .8 gal. Last watered 36 hours ago.

The plants that are showing signs of over feeding & over watering had a significant higher water volume than the others.

I believe my over watering brought on nute burn since I'm using MG which is saturated with nutes!

My question to y'all is whether I should trim damaged leaves now or wait till plants dry out to trim or wait till they fall off themselves?

I'm planning to use Coast Of Maine Stonington Blend on next grow. Does anyone used that product? Results?

Thanks~

 

[SofaKingHigh]

My woes using MG potting mix are forcing me to learn proper watering techniques!!

Update on where I'm at today:
Ordered a water meter which should arrive by the weekend. Once I get the meter I plan to allow all plants to dry out proper then use the simplified watering technique shared by ComfortablyNumb! Sounds like a sweet idea & will post updates.

Today I weighed a pot of dry media.
Then weighed each plant and subtracted weight of dry media to get an approximate water weight in each pot.
Gallon of water is 8.3 lbs. So I got an approximate amount of water in each plant.
3 gal pots full of media had water volumes between .3 gal & .8 gal. Last watered 36 hours ago.

The plants that are showing signs of over feeding & over watering had a significant higher water volume than the others.

I believe my over watering brought on nute burn since I'm using MG which is saturated with nutes!

My question to y'all is whether I should trim damaged leaves now or wait till plants dry out to trim or wait till they fall off themselves?

I'm planning to use Coast Of Maine Stonington Blend on next grow. Does anyone used that product? Results?

Thanks~

You want to stay away from anything with a slow release of nitrogen.

 

[Winnies.buds]

Improved my grow space creating a more stable & suited environment.

Ad on better watering techniques and it seems to have eliminated the stress I was creating on my plants.

Also I am learning patience is key.

They are doing so much better! Thanks to sofakinghigh & comfortably numb for the comments~

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

They are looking really great!

 

[Winnies.buds]

6th week progress

Lost a plant this week to underwatering!!

Amateur move, only checked 2 of 6 plants in morning & when I went to water in the evening 1 in the back was totally drooped. Tried to save her but wasn't successful.

Now with the good;

Improved environment with more light, more insulation/stabilized temp at 74° (it's Cold in Connecticut), better spacing & better air circulation.

 

[Winnies.buds]

Training 101 for me;

Out of topping, fimming & manipulation..I favor manipulation with my autos~

Bending the bigger fan leaves under the new growth (without putting to much stress on them) has shown much more reward here in CT mid winter~

 

[tom29625]

Looks good.
Have flipped to 12-12?
Defoliation will be your friend, if want it to be.
Some defoliate....some don't.
There's 3 things a old grower told me....

1) It's only worth what another will pay.
2) Never seen a plant chop it's own head off.
3) And the one that sticks with me....I grow bud's.. not leaf's!!

Check out defoliation.

Patience....

 

[Winnies.buds]

Looks good.
Have flipped to 12-12?
Defoliation will be your friend, if want it to be.
Some defoliate....some don't.
There's 3 things a old grower told me....

1) It's only worth what another will pay.
2) Never seen a plant chop it's own head off.
3) And the one that sticks with me....I grow bud's.. not leaf's!!

Check out defoliation.

Patience....

Tom, i love the Wisdom, thanks~

 

[Winnies.buds]

Been spending a little time each day grooming these babies!

10 weeks from seed

Props to ComfortablyNumb, gnick55, sofakinghigh & tom29625 for knowledge & well wishes!

 

[Edinburgh]

U lucked out, must b a very hardy strain, miracle grow is no good for weed bc it contains food so everytime you water you feed, this can overwhelm ur plants, mix allso contains sodium (salt) next time use fox farm ocean forest. Looks good.

 

[Winnies.buds]

U lucked out, must b a very hardy strain, miracle grow is no good for weed bc it contains food so everytime you water you feed, this can overwhelm ur plants, mix allso contains sodium (salt) next time use fox farm ocean forest. Looks good.

It definitely has been more difficult because of the MG..forced me to be really attentive & I learned alot.

 

[Winnies.buds]

11 weeks

I might just get

a 1/2 decent yield

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

A touch of heat stress on the tips. What are the leaf temps?