1000 Watt MH and 2000 Watt HPS first grow

I would check and see if your city adds chloramine to its water if so: "Chloramines make the water acidic which over time can change soil pH. This may result in nutrient tie-up and create yellowing (chlorosis) problems in many plants. Chloramines prevent the absorption of other nutrients which also may lead to yellowing. The action of chlorine and chloramines kill bacteria both good and bad. Many good bacteria that live in the soil control fungal diseases. When we lose these good bacteria there is no natural control and turf grass diseases like “Brown Patch, Take All and St. Augustine Decline” become rampant. In other words the more one waters, the greater the chance that one will experience disease problems in their grass and other plants."
To prevent Chlorine and Chloramine(which cant be evaporated or boiled out" I use a water conditioner you can get at any pet store that neutralizes chlorine and chloramine in the water. Its used because those two chemicals kill fish, so therefore you need to treat your water for your fish tank. Works great for the water I use for my plants. No worries about nasty chlorine/chloramine or other harmful metals in the water.

Unfortunate that shit is added to our drinking water. I saw what chlorine did to my plants on my first attempt with tap water. Initially my ladies didnt mind the tap until one day i noticed ppm on tap went from 160ppm to 250ppm and I could smell a stong chemical odor from top of my 55gal storage tank.

That was the day I had to buy an RO setup and it was well worth it.

I regained control over my grow because my ladies were hurting pretty bad after those chemicals.

Best of luck with your ladies!

I think I am very very lucky and my tap water only has 20-25ppm out of the tap. I did look up my local water stats and there is both chlorine and chloramines, low levels but still. I will look into a RO setup.

Today I watered each plant with 1/2 a gallon which filled their overflow trays up. I moved them to the bath tub and watered again with 1/2 a gallon and caught some run off. It had a PH of 7.2 and had 1430ppm. From everything I have read my PH and ppm is too high. I watered with 6.3 water today... I watered just before lights out and the lights just now came back on and they already seem a bit happier... Perhaps they were just ready for water. I feel that the creeping of the yellow has slowed or stopped. Perhaps the last couple days I was just looking for yellow and saw more and more of it. I am going to keep a close eye on everything and work on RO... We will see

Since my soil PH is too high should I water with even lower PH water... Like 4 or 5? I feel like watering with water that is PHed super low is like trying to bail out a boat that is sinking. Sure you get a little water out but the hole has not been patched. Or to put it another way, I am treating the symptoms and not the problem...

I did a little more LST today. Should look pretty dank in 12 hours or so... Also attached a progress picture.

Progress comparison for my sake...

So another question guys. As you can see in the picture above I have 6 little clones in 4 inch pots sitting on top of my big girls. They are ready to be transplanted... I was just gonna put them in the same size pots as the big girls. My concern is that adding 6 more pots and raising the light may prevent all plants from getting enough light. Would that be ok or should I get another 1000W MH bulb and move them over. My flowering configuration is going to be 9 plants under each 1000W HPS. Does this seem like a game plan? What do you guys recommend?

All new growth looks great! Not sure I would transplant into those larger size pots just yet imo. I'd transplant the clones into something a bit smaller and try to sqeeze the clones in between the larger pots. Your canopy is filling in nicely with that 1000watt!

I had some clones in solos for a while due to space constraints and they were great..just had to water much more once they were larger like 20plus inches tall

They were 20 inches tall in solo cups? Holy shit lol thats awesome. I was worried that I would stunt their growth leaving them in the little pots. They are not root bound yet but will be in a week I bet... If I can get them to keep growing for 2 more weeks I will pop 9 plants under each 1000 watt and will not worry about light for at least a month...

I have to admit that this is taking up much more of my time than I thought it would. I love it and am enjoying all of it but now have huge respect for all you guys... The people that say "its a weed, just water it and put it under light" are doing a disservice to new people IMO... Seems everyday a new subject is coming up I have to look into. Thought lately my biggest task has been using plant wire to get all the branches(twigs) into position through LST.

Yea man i hear you there..definitely worth more than what people think when you add up all the hours but im sure most of us are doing it for the love of the hobby in all aspects..the good and the bad depends all on perspective. The more you grow the more you learn mostly from making mistakes but such is life...a lot of shit to think about.

Im gonna get a picture on here for you of those clones i had if you dont mind i post in your thread

Oh no I welcome it. I would love to see em!!! It will make me feel way better about leaving my babies in their little cups.

Just had to water about every day but they certainly weren't root bound..not sure they seem to mind.

They look very happy and healthy. Guess I am gonna leave them in their 4 inch pots for now. They really only need to spend 2 more weeks in little pots before I turn on the second light and space is no longer an issue. The topping looks great on them too...

10 days of growth...

Now that my babies have been under my 1000W MH for almost 2 weeks I am no longer worried about light shock... I have an 8" can-fan pulling 932 cfm of air over my lights. I am able to hold the back of my hand on the glass and it barley gets warm. I want to lower my light a bit as right now it is just over 2 feet away from my canopy. My laser temp reader says the leafs are about 73 degrees so I feel like I can get it closer. Any issues with my logic? I want to lower it until the leafs are 80 degrees or the footprint of my reflector gets too small. Seem reasonable?

Is this what I should be doing with LST? My reasoning is that I am trying to get my plants to spread out and get light deeper into the canopy. Is this the best way to do that?

Lookin good to me.when i was training mine i would just sqeeze stems a bit..sorta roll through my fingers till it bent over where i wanted. Worked great..alwayz ended up with tips back up next day or so and a knuckle would form at the bend. Youll get much bushier plants the way your goin..great job!

BellsBudz said:

Lookin good to me.when i was training mine i would just sqeeze stems a bit..sorta roll through my fingers till it bent over where i wanted. Worked great..alwayz ended up with tips back up next day or so and a knuckle would form at the bend. Youll get much bushier plants the way your goin..great job!

Click to expand...

You have some balls to "sqeeze stems a bit." I have a hard time slowly and gently moving them into position to bend the wire over them for LST. I am sure experience helps. I doubt they are as fragile as I think they are but just couldn't live with myself if I broke a branch or god forbid a stem... But perhaps I will give it a try sometime, as I like the idea of not spending hours wiring everything up...

So my new dilemma is how to proceed with my grow. I have 2 1000W ballasts that I intend to flower my current plants under. The issue I am having is the best way to proceed with clones and getting a good rotation going. I guess I am going to have to create a separate veg area. I would like to go with LED because it would alleviate the need for more exhaust systems and setup. I am having issues deciding on a light to veg about 18 plants for 2 months. I intend to top or fimm them a lot and also use LST to keep them very bushy. Because of this I feel like I could get away with one light. Any ideas on the best way to veg 18 plants for 2 months before putting them under 2000 watts?