Total Newb ..need some advice

[Kurl3y]

I stepped into this without much research (Ya My Bad!) .. I was actually helping out a friend that hit some troubled times so I bought this stuff from him to help his family out it was all still brand new in the boxes but he could not return it to Amazon as it had passed the time frame to return. I have a couple questions as I have been scrolling thru the various threads here and many of the details are above my understanding on growing mj at this point. The tent is a 4 x 4 Vivosun, the lights are (don't flame me here) King LED's (2 of them) 1200's. I figured midas well give it a whirl, I started by purchasing seeds from ILGM and germinated them in a paper towel and put them into the small cups pictured. I went to a grow shop in my area and explained to the guy I don't know beans about growing MJ and I did not want to get involved with a bunch of chemicals I have no clue on how to use and I want this to be as easy as possible until I figure out what I'm doing. I went the soil route as he suggested I use FarmFox Ocean Forest as the growing medium I guess it's full of nutrients and what have you. The strains are Goldleaf, California Dream and Chronic Widow. The information on the lights is totally confusing, I followed the directions started one light up high and dropped it down to 34 inches this morning. These are a week old. I have a cpl questions, please if I am asking redudant questions I have already searched and apologize.

1) I purchased 5 gal soft fiber buckets from the shop .. how soon or when should I move these and should I go straight into the large pots or buy some smaller/medium sized ones?
2) The manual that came with the lights is confusing it does not offer any sort of true guidance at all .. right now I'm only running one light with the Veg switch only on. The manual says to use "All On" when you get to a specific stage and then switch over to straight bloom mode late in the flower cycle? .. I'm sure that is several weeks away do I run it with both switches in the on position when I get to that time frame? and when or don't do that at all? like I said the directions that came with the lights are quite vague. My intention is to utlize both lights when or if the garden gets big enough to do so. One light per two plants.
3) The guy included a brand a new PH20 water tester also, my city tap water tests out at 7.1ph do I buy stuff to adjust the water back to 6.5 Ph or just leave it alone? and water accordingly.
4) Will I need any type of growing solutions down the road? Nothing to extreme

Thank You in advance for any input as this was a fly by the seat of my pants start up and I'd like to get a little something..someting out of it if possible. I've included pictures of the manual so you can see exactly what I'm talking about. Thx Kur

 

[Nate_in_AK]

I'm using hydro, but can offer some feedback from my experience. It seems like over-watering is damn near a chronic problem with new growers. I over-watered on of my sprouts early on too. Lots of good info on the forum about watering. :)

Regarding pH: Again, different from hydro, but it DEFINITELY matters.

It looks to me like you are off to a great start!! I'm fairly certain most folks keep the plants in the solo cups until they are darned near outgrowing the cup.

One more point: once you are comfortable with the above stuff, you should look into VPD (vapor pressure differential). This is basically matching your grow room temperature with your humidity to keep the plant happy.

Cheers!!

 

[Cattapilla]

Welcome to the farm!

 

[KLight03]

Hey there!

New grower here, too. Welcome to the forum.

You will get a ton of great knowledge here and a big debate about the lights. :) I understand about how you ended up growing. Mother Marijuana is making it a point as of late to land into the hand of people who had no idea she was coming. Yes, I operate differently than most. I digress.

Can you please show your plants without the purple light? Do you have normal lighting available? I'd like to see the true color. I used normal lights up until they grew up to true veg, then I put them in a 1 gal pot. I made sure to sterilize my medium first, you never know what you are getting from someone else, you know? (I'm also a former EMS person, too, so I'm funny about vectors anyway)

It's been my experience that you don't need all the extra fancy equipment, but that's just my preference. As I learned through my current grow, it's best to go from Solo to 1 gallon, to 3 gal/5 gal, and so on. Growing mediums are preferences, too. I use Coco, which I've adapted to, but requires more of a balancing act. Next grow, I will use soil.

 

[Kurl3y]

I'm using hydro, but can offer some feedback from my experience. It seems like over-watering is damn near a chronic problem with new growers. I over-watered on of my sprouts early on too. Lots of good info on the forum about watering. :)

Regarding pH: Again, different from hydro, but it DEFINITELY matters.

It looks to me like you are off to a great start!! I'm fairly certain most folks keep the plants in the solo cups until they are darned near outgrowing the cup.

One more point: once you are comfortable with the above stuff, you should look into VPD (vapor pressure differential). This is basically matching your grow room temperature with your humidity to keep the plant happy.

Cheers!!

Thank You for the tip ..I will get some PH down to adjust the water. I will read up on the VPD also.

 

[Kurl3y]

Welcome to the farm!

Thank You ..Lots to read up on here for sure!!

 

[Kurl3y]

Hey there!

New grower here, too. Welcome to the forum.

You will get a ton of great knowledge here and a big debate about the lights. :) I understand about how you ended up growing. Mother Marijuana is making it a point as of late to land into the hand of people who had no idea she was coming. Yes, I operate differently than most. I digress.

Can you please show your plants without the purple light? Do you have normal lighting available? I'd like to see the true color. I used normal lights up until they grew up to true veg, then I put them in a 1 gal pot. I made sure to sterilize my medium first, you never know what you are getting from someone else, you know? (I'm also a former EMS person, too, so I'm funny about vectors anyway)

It's been my experience that you don't need all the extra fancy equipment, but that's just my preference. As I learned through my current grow, it's best to go from Solo to 1 gallon, to 3 gal/5 gal, and so on. Growing mediums are preferences, too. I use Coco, which I've adapted to, but requires more of a balancing act. Next grow, I will use soil.

I will upload some pics with just a regular light, here is the soil I got. The lights are the most confusing part, the Veg light has a heavy blue tint (just Veg Switch on) and the bloom light(just the Bloom light on) has a very heavy red tint. Both Veg and Bloom switches can be run at the same time or each one individually which is confusing. I have been unable to locate a true grow guide using these lights. I'm sure the battle will go on with lighting forever but at this point I'm rolling with what I have just to see what happens. I think ... "I think" (lol) they suggest to use both switches on when you begin the flowering process until such time the plant has stopped growing and is putting all it's energy into the blooms then you run just the bloom light .. Like I said I think .. I'm hoping to find someone that has experience with these lights to offer some insite on exactly how to use them correctly. Right now I'm just running the Veg light at 18 hours on and 6 off, that's why the pictures have a bluish tint to them. If this is correct I would need to look at probably week 6 or 7 or so to switch to flowering mode (both switches on). I don't know ..guess that's why I'm here. Thank You so much for your input.

 

[BurnzYzBudZz]

You didn’t mention which lights and frankly idc but I have heard to run it with both on the whole cycle of the plant. I don’t have any one those kinda lights, maybe someone with experience will chime in. As for new growers, like myself, overwatering is a big issue. I have yet to run into over watering because I have heard it’s best to let soil dry almost completely before watering again and so far it has worked for me. happy grows!
Burnz

 

[KLight03]

I will upload some pics with just a regular light, here is the soil I got. The lights are the most confusing part, the Veg light has a heavy blue tint (just Veg Switch on) and the bloom light(just the Bloom light on) has a very heavy red tint. Both Veg and Bloom switches can be run at the same time or each one individually which is confusing. I have been unable to locate a true grow guide using these lights. I'm sure the battle will go on with lighting forever but at this point I'm rolling with what I have just to see what happens. I think ... "I think" (lol) they suggest to use both switches on when you begin the flowering process until such time the plant has stopped growing and is putting all it's energy into the blooms then you run just the bloom light .. Like I said I think .. I'm hoping to find someone that has experience with these lights to offer some insite on exactly how to use them correctly. Right now I'm just running the Veg light at 18 hours on and 6 off, that's why the pictures have a bluish tint to them. If this is correct I would need to look at probably week 6 or 7 or so to switch to flowering mode (both switches on). I don't know ..guess that's why I'm here. Thank You so much for your input.

I understand. I did realize after a bit that I am still of the school that less is more. I'm of the mind that they are your plants and to go with what feels right. I think right now you 'sense' something is up with the lights since it's something we all keep talking about. What do you feel you should be doing at this moment in time? Outside of what books and ten other people tell you to do. Decide to do it and do it, then see how it goes. I've learned to limit myself to three bits of outside information, that way I don't get overloaded with buying all the accoutrement, if you get what I mean. Your plants will guide you in the right direction. Document your dates on your calendar and lots of pictures. I didn't realize just how far I had gotten until someone told me to look back. It will help you learn to trust your Self. :)

 

[Dan789]

When in the seedling stage seedling don’t need much light, and a small fluorescent 2’ fixture can supply that. But going with what you’ve got, just use one fixture, veg switch activated only and keep them up off the plant 30” or so, till the plants stat to grow. With those styrofoam cups (assumed) you’ve got, punch a few holes in the bottoms, so you can see the roots when they start growing out of the bottoms. Then it’s time for bigger pots, solo cups is kinda where your at, so 1 gallon bag (fiber) would be the next graduation. Get yourself some mycorrhizal inoculant sprinkle that in with the soil you add when transferring into the bigger bags, pots. Hint if the soil is a little damp, and you’ve got enough root growth, the root ball should stay relatively together during the transfer...(squeeze cup, loosen sides, bump the cup around and grasping the stem, give it a little tug, should come right out, ready to get into the new bag/soil.) once your in bags, you won’t have holes to judge when to up-pot, but from one gallon to 3 gallon usually takes 2-4 weeks... after the plants go into the one gallon bags/pots you can start dropping the light down to around 18”...

 

[ru knuts]

I'd set the light about 32" above the seedlings and only use the veg light to see how the babies react than lower it a bit every couple days to see how they like it. If the seedling want to stretch lower it until the stretch stops.
Personally I use cfl's for small seedling and young clones, they're a lot more forgiving and you can put the light 2-3 inches above the seedling.

 

[Kurl3y]

You didn’t mention which lights and frankly idc but I have heard to run it with both on the whole cycle of the plant. I don’t have any one those kinda lights, maybe someone with experience will chime in. As for new growers, like myself, overwatering is a big issue. I have yet to run into over watering because I have heard it’s best to let soil dry almost completely before watering again and so far it has worked for me. happy grows!
Burnz

There are certainly several threads on watering I agree I'm going to go way easy in that arena. I did pick up some PH down yesterday to adjust my tap water to 6.5 ..Thx for the input

 

[Formallyhap]

you;re going to want to add lime to that soil to keep up with the PH needs over the long run, you don't need to ph your water with soil as long as the soil has buffering in it.

I don't know if anyone answered about the pots, you don't want to go from the cups to big bags, so pick up some 1 or 2 gallon fabric pots, and then once they are fully rooted out in those, then move to the larger pots.
As for your light, don't mess with channels, all on, all the time, if you're not freaking about electric bills. I run my lights 8pm to 8am for flower and then 8pm to 4pm for veg so I get maximized time when my electricity is cheaper, and no lights are on in the hottest part of day.
Messing with a 20/4 light cycle because I want to work auto flowers into my veg area, 18 is plenty.

 

[KLight03]

There are certainly several threads on watering I agree I'm going to go way easy in that arena. I did pick up some PH down yesterday to adjust my tap water to 6.5 ..Thx for the input

Just in case your water is like mine (it fluctuates daily with mine), I'd put a bucket of water, non-treated, daily (maybe more depending on how big). I realized it mellowed itself out by itself and I don't need to add all the extra for the most part. As I take out, I put in, if that makes sense. That way, it's always steady in pH. If you have an aquarium, even better, which is what I'm working towards. The plants love that water. Or put a rain butt outside or something similar to catch rainwater.

 

[Kurl3y]

I understand. I did realize after a bit that I am still of the school that less is more. I'm of the mind that they are your plants and to go with what feels right. I think right now you 'sense' something is up with the lights since it's something we all keep talking about. What do you feel you should be doing at this moment in time? Outside of what books and ten other people tell you to do. Decide to do it and do it, then see how it goes. I've learned to limit myself to three bits of outside information, that way I don't get overloaded with buying all the accoutrement, if you get what I mean. Your plants will guide you in the right direction. Document your dates on your calendar and lots of pictures. I didn't realize just how far I had gotten until someone told me to look back. It will help you learn to trust your Self. :)

Totally Agree, I'm going to use some of the advice I've rounded up here in the Forums on PH and watering etc. The light's are a little confusing but I'm going to go with Dan's advice as I agree with that as well ..Just run the Veg light for right now and transplant into 1 gal buckets until they get big enough when I see the roots coming out of the holes in the bottom. I started a new batch last night if all goes well I'll give those 4 a run outdoors we live in a rural area so I can put them in say May'ish and check out the difference. Do appreciate the help. Oh..here is a picture with just regular light.

Thank You,

 

[KLight03]

Totally Agree, I'm going to use some of the advice I've rounded up here in the Forums on PH and watering etc. The light's are a little confusing but I'm going to go with Dan's advice as I agree with that as well ..Just run the Veg light for right now and transplant into 1 gal buckets until they get big enough when I see the roots coming out of the holes in the bottom. I started a new batch last night if all goes well I'll give those 4 a run outdoors we live in a rural area so I can put them in say May'ish and check out the difference. Do appreciate the help. Oh..here is a picture with just regular light.

Thank You,

Did you start a grow diary so we can all follow along? They are beautiful.

 

[DreamsOfDiesel]

I have vivosun tent & king leds, growing with soil, msg/tag me if you have questions & I'll help, mine are doing well (even with those lights)

 

[Dan789]

I have vivosun tent & king leds, growing with soil, msg/tag me if you have questions & I'll help, mine are doing well (even with those lights)

No one is throwing shade on King lights, they will certainly grow MJ, hope the community isn’t coming off as lighting snobs...Lol. Many have used those same lights successfully...

 

[BurnzYzBudZz]

Yeah let’s not get this started here.. that’s a couple threads back. Happy grows.

 

[Kurl3y]

Yeah let’s not get this started here.. that’s a couple threads back. Happy grows.

I hear ya there ..from what I've seen many..many.. Many different opinions it the lighting arena I'm going to run with what I've got, with all the help and wonderful tips I feel I have certainly found the right Forum in THCFARMER ..so many helpful people and just a ton of information here. I don't know how to start a diary but I can post some updates on this thread as time moves forward. Happy Growing Yall!! I'm off to a great start for sure. Thank You to all that have responded it is truly appreciated and I'm sure to have some addional questions as I go forward.