First Grow Ever

Whats up everybody, I'm attempting to grow 5 bagseed plants under 5 CFL's. Anyone use Foxfarm Grow Big before? How about a 3-in-1 meter for ph, moisture, and "light output"? Since this is my first grow, would all this shit be overkill? Should I just stick with Miracle Grow and deal with questionable nutrient levels? lol

Thanks in advance

Fox Farms stuff is good. Don't bother witht the meter, it's a waste. If you feel the need to check the ph get the dropper and take runoff and test the ph with it. It's not a huge deal though. Water when the soil is dry an inch or so under the top.

ghengiskhan said:

Fox Farms stuff is good. Don't bother witht the meter, it's a waste. If you feel the need to check the ph get the dropper and take runoff and test the ph with it. It's not a huge deal though. Water when the soil is dry an inch or so under the top.

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??????????????

PH is VERY important...too high or too low you lock out nutes...and your plant will start to suffer. You should flush your plants at least once every 3-4 weeks with a very mild solution of nutes.

Letting your plants get a little dry is not going to kill them...i find the best and quickest way to see if they need water is to to the weight test...do they feel light?...or still a bit on the heavy side?...if light i water them. You want the roots to search for the moisture to ensure strong and healthy root system.

Thanks guys, good to know. Since that 3 way meter is only $10, what the hell, I might as well get it when I get my organic nutes tomorrow. I feel that heat stress is becoming a huge issue with my set up. The temp is always at least 90... sometimes a little higher... I know this isn't good, any ideas on how to fix it? I already have 2 fans in there, one on at all times the lights are on to circulate the air, and a smaller intake fan that goes on for an hour, off for an hour. I also have 2 holes in the box, one for intake with the fan in it, and one for exhaust. Intake is near the ground, exhaust up top.

Thanks again

You need to draw in some cool air some how, but i'm stummped for ideas....maybe a small a/c in front of the box, and a vent fan drawing in the air.

Have that one fan on at all times with the other fan. You need keep a steady flow of air...i think if you do that...you temps should start to drop.

I have another little fan that I can put in the exhaust hole, I think this might help. I'll put this new light on the same sched as the other one, and I'll leave the other fan that circulates on more. Thanks for the advice.

I put the other fan in and made the exhaust hole larger. Now the temp is constant at 85° F with the lights on, and 80 when they are off. I bought some Fox Farms Grow Big and Superthrive today and watered the plants with it, hopefully that will bounce them back!

homegrownboy said:

??????????????

PH is VERY important...too high or too low you lock out nutes...and your plant will start to suffer. You should flush your plants at least once every 3-4 weeks with a very mild solution of nutes.

Letting your plants get a little dry is not going to kill them...i find the best and quickest way to see if they need water is to to the weight test...do they feel light?...or still a bit on the heavy side?...if light i water them. You want the roots to search for the moisture to ensure strong and healthy root system.

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yea nevermind what I wrote, I must have been really high

Grow it and roll it! said:

I put the other fan in and made the exhaust hole larger. Now the temp is constant at 85° F with the lights on, and 80 when they are off. I bought some Fox Farms Grow Big and Superthrive today and watered the plants with it, hopefully that will bounce them back!

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-Easy, killer. You want to go real easy on the FF Grow Big. Start it out on 1/8 strength. Also is your soiled pre-fertilized?

Only one of my plants is in a pre-fertilized soil, but I flushed that soil really well a while back to try and get rid of most of the nutes. I feel like an idiot too, because I already fed them with the recommended dose of 3 tsp per gallon. I think that the plants really need it tho, something just seems not right with them... I haven't fed them at all really.. and its been about a month and 5 days since they popped up.........

Grow it and roll it! said:

Whats up everybody, I'm attempting to grow 5 bagseed plants under 5 CFL's. Anyone use Foxfarm Grow Big before? How about a 3-in-1 meter for ph, moisture, and "light output"? Since this is my first grow, would all this shit be overkill? Should I just stick with Miracle Grow and deal with questionable nutrient levels? lol

Thanks in advance

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I'm not going to bad mouth Fox Farms because they do make a very good product.
In my experience Fox Farms is very potent. You need to follow the instructions to a "T". Don't be afraid to call their customer service center.

If this is your very first grow I would go with something that's less likely to burn the shit out of your plants if you mix it incorrectly.
Try using Botanicare products, until you gain more experience.

Thanks for the concern Bongjuice, but I take mixing nutrients with water very seriously, following directions to a "t", and making sure all of my calculations are spot on.
Good news though!!! Since I added the fan and nutrients, ALL of my plants are showing more growth in one day than they have in probably literally a week! Thank you sooo much everyone at RIU!

Best of luck to you with it all and your weird baby plant looks like a triploid to me

Thanks. Haha yea, theres definately a mutant in there.. O well, we'll see what it turns into.

I have a mutant as well...growing VERY slowly...and the other day it was growing a double set of leaves making a total of 6 sets per node...but that went away fast.

This mutant of mine is growing rapidly like the other plants, just in its own... weird little way haha. The bottom leaves are all scrunched up and weird looking... o well