Northern Lights first Cabinet, Suggestions.
- Thread starter Xoshua
- Start date
overTHEman
Active Member
Xoshua,
The only way to fix what's going on is to start ruling things out; the only way to do that is to KNOW what you're giving her. Guessing that your PH is too high is "fixing" one problem by creating another. Start with your water, purchase a PH meter or at least a drip kit.
The worst thing you can do is make changes without knowing what you're changing. Start with your water, then move onto the next thing.
The only way to fix what's going on is to start ruling things out; the only way to do that is to KNOW what you're giving her. Guessing that your PH is too high is "fixing" one problem by creating another. Start with your water, purchase a PH meter or at least a drip kit.
The worst thing you can do is make changes without knowing what you're changing. Start with your water, then move onto the next thing.
hppy2balive
Active Member
Drip Kits are VERY VERY cheap u can get them at any store that sells fish products! Thats what i use to get a estimate on the PH, or if u get alot of rain like we do here u might wanna try collecting rain water like me! The ph is always where it needs to be, never to far out of whack like Tap water!
overTHEman
Active Member
Listen, I am thoroughly impressed with your cab. It's awesome! You've got a good space and great light.
In your last post you asked about the plant's health and what you could possibly obtain from it. I think these questions are premature. Happy2balive and myself have replied through the lens of your water. Try to see your questions from the opposite perspective: what is keeping my plant from dying? what will allow me to harvest something rather than nothing? To both, I would say your cab construction. Ask the opposite and I would answer: your water.
Cash out the $5 for a drip kit so you can have an estimate of what you have to work with. I have read your thread and know that you're using the strips, I have used them myself. They are good enough for your pool but your plant needs something a little more specific.
In your last post you asked about the plant's health and what you could possibly obtain from it. I think these questions are premature. Happy2balive and myself have replied through the lens of your water. Try to see your questions from the opposite perspective: what is keeping my plant from dying? what will allow me to harvest something rather than nothing? To both, I would say your cab construction. Ask the opposite and I would answer: your water.
Cash out the $5 for a drip kit so you can have an estimate of what you have to work with. I have read your thread and know that you're using the strips, I have used them myself. They are good enough for your pool but your plant needs something a little more specific.
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
I went through my forum but I couldn't find the ph. The ph of the water was close to 7, plant was ph 7.2.
I added orange juice yesterday with water diluted to drop the ph. I had nute burn this week so I flushed and just regular water now. Do the tips go back or do you take it off?
I added in some pictures taken just now. It looks pretty clean and I counted 8+ bud sites. Anyways, let me know what you think/ how to correct deficiency/ if I should water with nutes or just regular water.
Also, subscribe and stay frosty.
I added orange juice yesterday with water diluted to drop the ph. I had nute burn this week so I flushed and just regular water now. Do the tips go back or do you take it off?
I added in some pictures taken just now. It looks pretty clean and I counted 8+ bud sites. Anyways, let me know what you think/ how to correct deficiency/ if I should water with nutes or just regular water.
Also, subscribe and stay frosty.
Attachments
hppy2balive
Active Member
Nice!! I should be Harvesting soon! Glad to see that ur just a little ways behind me! Where u live? I need a cloning buddy, and a bud swap! lol ur plants looking good and healthy brother! Fuuny that were both growing NL and are plants look alot different!
View attachment 2022221
View attachment 2022221
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
How bizaar eh? I did lst during veg and might of made some mistakes. My NL is the way she is from trial and error lol. She is my first grow other than her 3 dead brothers, may they r.I.p lol.Ill pm my where abouts, even though I'm comfortable with rolliup community knowing just not random google searchers. Anyways, yours looks nice. She's a bit yellow but might be either ph or a deficiency. I'm an amateur so I shouldn't be diagnosing yet heh. I would love a clone partner. Believe it or not, I've already persuaded 12 people to start growing microgrows and directed them to the health canada mmj card registration. Don't be surprised if 2012 has an increase in mmj cards in canada to 500% increase.Anyways, I'm splitting up my paragraphs but when I post it turns it into a wall of text so keep me updated. I plan on opening a legal dispensery one day here, well see how it goes. I need more experience first of course.
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
Question. Judging by my new size cabinet, how many pots should I get to maximize this space? I will be going tomorrow to buy materials.
Also, I cut most of my fan leaves off the areas without a bud site. It looks like your plants now in the third pic happy.
Hopefully this is alright...
Anyways I will be picking up more reflective stuff, ph reader, 6-12 pots depending how much you guys think and how big?
Anything else? Any soil mix I can pick up at walmart/ canadian tire/ home depot?
Also, I cut most of my fan leaves off the areas without a bud site. It looks like your plants now in the third pic happy.
Hopefully this is alright...
Anyways I will be picking up more reflective stuff, ph reader, 6-12 pots depending how much you guys think and how big?
Anything else? Any soil mix I can pick up at walmart/ canadian tire/ home depot?
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
Didn't get an answer so I had to google some extra info when in the store. So I bought this soil for my next grow. Doesn't have any time releasing nutes, for indoor pot soil. The only thing I'm worried about is lack of nutriets and drainage. I didn't see any perlite in it, didn't know the drainage.
I also saw cactus soil which I thought would be good to buy but held off...
I'm a bit worried about the power bars holding the lights. The plug parts are a bit yellow from usage. They were bought brand new in November.
For my next grow, I'll be growing 5 since thats all that could fit with the pot size. I really wish I could find taller, square pots so I could add an equal number. Maybe I'll keep looking. I have a giant tub that I could potentially use with dividers. I also bought this plant food. It said tomatos and I remember reading cannabis is close to tomatos.
Any answers on the previous post or this post would be greatly appriciated.
PS- When should I harvest?
I also saw cactus soil which I thought would be good to buy but held off...
I'm a bit worried about the power bars holding the lights. The plug parts are a bit yellow from usage. They were bought brand new in November.
For my next grow, I'll be growing 5 since thats all that could fit with the pot size. I really wish I could find taller, square pots so I could add an equal number. Maybe I'll keep looking. I have a giant tub that I could potentially use with dividers. I also bought this plant food. It said tomatos and I remember reading cannabis is close to tomatos.
Any answers on the previous post or this post would be greatly appriciated.
PS- When should I harvest?
Attachments
Should I stop feeding nutes?
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
I bought 5 pots, same size of my current pot. Should I grow 5 or a bunch of small pots?
Also how does she look? She is my first grow, was started in a small cab. How tall can a plant get with my current flower pot?
I'm also studying nutes and soil. I need some help for soil. I now know soil is very important. I also know as a general rule not to buy time releasing nutes. Example is: "Feeds up to 3 months."
I'm almost tempted to go hydroponics, purchase one online. I'm leaning towards it because theres no soil stores around except home depot, walmart, canadian tire. Unless someone can suggest otherwise. You can see the soil I bought on the page previous to this. Also, I'm worried the plants are almost done since the hairs are turning white to amber. It's hard to tell in this pic but let me know.
Also does anyone have a website to order affordable lights? Preferably something that has veg and flower switch. Most power is hps 250 I believe. Maybe a t5 light with the red and blue lights. Something for Ontario, Canada thats cheap/ affordable. Sorry if I'm repeating myself, I'm a bit high.
Also how does she look? She is my first grow, was started in a small cab. How tall can a plant get with my current flower pot?
I'm also studying nutes and soil. I need some help for soil. I now know soil is very important. I also know as a general rule not to buy time releasing nutes. Example is: "Feeds up to 3 months."
I'm almost tempted to go hydroponics, purchase one online. I'm leaning towards it because theres no soil stores around except home depot, walmart, canadian tire. Unless someone can suggest otherwise. You can see the soil I bought on the page previous to this. Also, I'm worried the plants are almost done since the hairs are turning white to amber. It's hard to tell in this pic but let me know.
Also does anyone have a website to order affordable lights? Preferably something that has veg and flower switch. Most power is hps 250 I believe. Maybe a t5 light with the red and blue lights. Something for Ontario, Canada thats cheap/ affordable. Sorry if I'm repeating myself, I'm a bit high.
Attachments
hppy2balive
Active Member
Your plants are looking great! I just chopped mine! Also amazon.com has EVERYTHING from lights to hydroponic setups. They have HPS lights as low as 75watts, tons of T5 lights. Also i went to my Local Home Depot the other day and they had a T8 4ft 4light setup. Pretty Sweet.
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the reply! So I've started planning my next cycle. I'm going to keep the existing cab. I'm going to square, tall pots; then I will make something similar to a scrog net to hold the pots. Underneath will be a bucket/ container to catch the water the drips.I'm still trying to build the soil. I have general stores around but no garden stores. I know soil is iimportant so I really need help prepairing the correct soil mix. My first plant had to much deficiency so I really want to avoid ph or deficiency problems. I've seen peat moss, indoor potting soil that I bought, perlite, cactus soil, verm, and some others. Can someone suggest something?Also can anyone suggest a store online for canadian hps 100-400 watt. Also a store for giant square thin pots.Thank you!
overTHEman
Active Member
Hey Xoshua,
If you decided to run with the CFLs again, you'd have a better opportunity to learn about your preferred growing habits than if you switched to an HPS. It's best to figure out one thing at a time. Since you're asking about a soil mix, let's start there.
Home Depot or Lowes is pretty much all you need to build a simple soil for a nute-free grow. You will need soil, aeration, and nutrition.
Soil - Get any bag of potting soil as long as it's not Miracle Grow. Their stuff has fungus gnats in it and they can become serious pests.
Aeration - Most common here is perlite and it will do in a pinch. However, it does degrade over time, float, and hold no water/nutrients.
Nutrition - Espoma Biotone Starter Plus (veg) and Espoma Tomato Tone (flowering).
Most importantly, balance your PH in your soil mix. #50 bag of pulverized garden lime at Home Depot garden center for $5.
Application rates:
1 Part Perlite : 6 Parts Soil
1 Part Vermiculite : 3 Parts Soil (optional and if employed, use perlite 1:4 soil)
1 Part Biotone : 50 Parts Soil + Perlite (+ Vermiculite)
2 TBS Lime : 1 Gallon of the above (NOT optional)
Feed with molasses and water.
Biotone is the key, it has the required biological diversity to process nutrition for your plant. Otherwise, check out MycoGrow.
Good luck! Let us know what you decide!http://www.fungi.com/mycogrow/index.html
If you decided to run with the CFLs again, you'd have a better opportunity to learn about your preferred growing habits than if you switched to an HPS. It's best to figure out one thing at a time. Since you're asking about a soil mix, let's start there.
Home Depot or Lowes is pretty much all you need to build a simple soil for a nute-free grow. You will need soil, aeration, and nutrition.
Soil - Get any bag of potting soil as long as it's not Miracle Grow. Their stuff has fungus gnats in it and they can become serious pests.
Aeration - Most common here is perlite and it will do in a pinch. However, it does degrade over time, float, and hold no water/nutrients.
Nutrition - Espoma Biotone Starter Plus (veg) and Espoma Tomato Tone (flowering).
Most importantly, balance your PH in your soil mix. #50 bag of pulverized garden lime at Home Depot garden center for $5.
Application rates:
1 Part Perlite : 6 Parts Soil
1 Part Vermiculite : 3 Parts Soil (optional and if employed, use perlite 1:4 soil)
1 Part Biotone : 50 Parts Soil + Perlite (+ Vermiculite)
2 TBS Lime : 1 Gallon of the above (NOT optional)
Feed with molasses and water.
Biotone is the key, it has the required biological diversity to process nutrition for your plant. Otherwise, check out MycoGrow.
Good luck! Let us know what you decide!http://www.fungi.com/mycogrow/index.html
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
Awesome, thank you! So I have the ingredients copied. This "molasses" is a tricky one. Where do I purchase it and which kind is it? I looked it up on wiki and it says its a tpe of sugar cane, there's also black molasse, how much feeding do I do during veg and flower with that? Also you've mentioned Nutrients Espoma Bitone and tomato tone, are these used with molasses? Do I need to purchase this online?
overTHEman
Active Member
Molasses ...the stuff you put in cookies.
Espoma Tones are dry ferts made from compost, manure, or plant matter and will function best when mixed into the soil, try Home Depot for these.
This is going to sound rude but I'm gonna say it anyway. You can't go into this activity expecting to figure it out as you go; you need to plan. Before you plan, you need to educate. If there's one thing you buy for your grow online: let it come from this site.
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
Very good! No need to feel rude, I asked for suggestions. Critizism and feedback are key ingredients to a healthy start. I know I should know every detail about the microbiology of the plant. I will understand and master every aspect I can with mj but as I learn, there's nothing wrong with a little trial and error. Ill check these books out.
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
So I know soil vs hydro is an ongoing debate with no real winner. Both have pros and cons. My concern is, with soil you need to have a 5-10 gal pot to grow 5-6 ft plants. With hydro you can use smaller pots to grow taller, bushy girls. Is this true? I'm trying to optimize my space. I would like to grow 4-8 females in this cabinet. I will prob end up buying an hps for flowering. I'm thinking to buy a 250w for my build since anymore would add too much heat and waste. Ill have to google and ask an electrician friend to help. Currently I'm using power bars and extension cords. It seems like this project will require bigger and badder (lol) tools. Back to the main question, if I want to grow 4-8 taller plants to use my space, should I go hydro? Any suggestgion?
Xoshua
Well-Known Member
I'm harvesting soon! For my next grow I'll be making my own grow bags so I can fit better. Also I'll be looking at DIY cool tubes. I was looking online but it was expensive. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been battling bronchitis.
Okay so, grow bags are taken care of, soil will be supplied from a garden nursery, I'll be purchasing a veg and flower nutrient kit as well. When flower stages comes I'll have my HPS 400. Sorry if it's hard to understand this post, doc has me on antibiotics and some other stuff.
Okay so, grow bags are taken care of, soil will be supplied from a garden nursery, I'll be purchasing a veg and flower nutrient kit as well. When flower stages comes I'll have my HPS 400. Sorry if it's hard to understand this post, doc has me on antibiotics and some other stuff.