A-F Grow: Advice for a Virgin

So, first grow. Just best bag seeds and some from a friend who grows. At this stage (2 weeks in) I have six plants selected based on health and vigor. I've attached pics of my current setup and progress. Just looking to see if I'm on track and get any advice. Just bought some 10-5-8 Food and 8-6-6 fert, still unsure of when to start those....I know I need more/better light, but I've only put 40 bucks into this grow so far and want to keep it under 100 bucks. Also...aside from redoing my setup altogether (which I'll also hear advice on) should I make foil/reflective hoods on the tops of each of my three boxes?
Biggest problems so far:
Slight stretching, staked two, more dirt on 4, and fan for the last week. They were all at about 6/7 inches.
Insuff light, working on getting more/better

Soil:
1:3:2:1
Starter/Potting/Top/Manure
Also have two worms in each pot
Watering with reg water every other morning, Nitrate enriched every other other.
Room has been at at least 72, generally 74F
Was doing 16 hr light/day, now at 20 hr light/day

Welcome tips:
How to speed up grow (Don't need a huge yield, all for personal use)
General Improvement
Setup
When/How to Fert and Feed
Anything else you can think of.

Much Thanks,
Kite

Box 1:


Box 2:


Box 3:




Plants:


 

plsfoldthx

Active Member
1) What did you spend 40 bucks on already? Cause it looks like you just grabbed a bunch of stuff from the closet and put it together

2) Why the hell are you making two threads on every single grow forum?

3) If stealth is not an issue all you should need is as many CFLs and outlets you can buy with 100 bucks.

4) Do some damn research instead of spamming different boards with this. You aren't even asking a specific question you are just asking us to hold your hand and tell you want to buy. Christ man it doesnt even sound like youre excited about growing... sounds like u just want some weed. If you were excited about growing you'd read some threads and figure out something. It's really not that hard man. Daylight CFLs for veg and add some cool white CFLs for flower and get as many watts as youre comfortable with. It's not rocket science.
 

Kerovan

Well-Known Member
You need to get the light a LOT closer to the plants. they are stretching bad which will cause weak stems. Fans don't make strong stems, good lighting and good nutes make strong plants. Fans just help circulate the air so it doesn't get stagnant.
 
Lol, I've only bough soil/soilstuffs, two bulbs, and fert/food for later. Sorry for all the posts (It's actually 3 or 4 threads >_>. it's only here and grasscity. I posted in mult topics because I wasn't sure which was most appropriate. I actually did do a lot of research beforehand and asked questions on the forums under my buddy's account. I wanted to go all out with HPS and such, but I'm a college student and on a college student budget. I was going to get a new computer monitor, but I'll prbly just be increasing my budget for this to 200. I had looked into self-ballasted and everything. Finally, you and another guy on grasscity told me about the power strip CFLs, somehow I had missed that in all my searching. I think I got overzealous. I am switching from tin foil to mylar. had some in the garage. Going to build a full box in my 5x5 closet this weekend. i mostly just wanted to see if I was on the right track (I knew I needed to improve lighting) in terms of general concept and progress of the plants. This IS my first grow and I'm actually very excited. i have plenty of weed, just like the idea of growing my own and having this as a hobby. Not looking for handholding, just general opinion. I already thought about, purchased, and setup just about everything myself, but want to make this grow as good as possible, even if it's my first venture into the world. And, jesus, sorry for the SoC writing. I've done a bit of acid and took a shower, so I'm sleepy and out of sorts.
 
Thanks for the advice. I added the fan a week in and still hadn't noticed improvement. I'll be movign those lights closer and adding a sit ton more tomorrow night, per everyone's advice. Thanks to all : )
 
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