On my own so far - lots of questions thanks in advance

fierybong

Well-Known Member
This is going to be a LONG post. I am first time grower who has read about everything there is to read on the internet that I could easily find as far as compiled guides go... so I know about 5 different theories on everything and I am really kind of confused! I have done the best I can so far but I desperately need some guidance!

Around 1/20-1/24 or so I had 3 seedlings, and now at 4/21 I have 2 females about 2 weeks into 12/12 force which for some reason I decided to change to 10 light/14 dark to see what would happen. I am not sure if anything did. I think I got SUPER lucky, 2 females out of 3 seedlings but I don't know if I did something inadvertently to make them female, or if that's even possible? Anyway, is 14 hours too much, should I really stick with 12/12?

The attached pics are about 4 days old now. The buds are larger and the plants even more fleshy with leaves, not sure why that is happening or if it is normal.

So, I'll jump into what I really want to ask which are questions!!!! LOTS of them so here goes:

1) What sort of fertilizer should I use? Liquid in the water, or in the soil? These plants got those slow-release bead things in the top two inches and I have no idea if it helped or not but I can't think that it hurt.


2) WHY do the lowest leaves on my plants keep turning brown and falling off? Almost all of the tips of all but the top leaves are brown and the lowest leaves always look like they want to die! I've got popsicle sticks here and I am pretty sure they shouldn't be that way but I don't know what to do about it! This probably greatly impacted my yield.

3) A bit on my lighting - when I started these plants I only had about 700 lumens of florescent grow tube on them, and I think that is why it took so long for them to grow to a decent size (they are about 15-17" at the moment)or maybe I just didn't force early enough?

About 5 weeks ago I added 2x 1500 lumen "daylight 100" bulbs (3000 lumens for only 46 watts!) and the plants seemed to just come flying out of the ground when I did that. I now have about 3700 lumens of light on them in the form of actual 'grow' bulbs and 2 compact daylight bulbs.

Am I doing my lighting right? What could I change or improve without going all out?

4) How much smell will I have to deal with? Currently I have a fan running in there, I spray a bit of ONA in a bottle on a shirt the fan points at each day and it seems to be controlling it for now but I have no idea if I will come home one day and the whole place will just reek of the stuff!

5) How much longer should I let them flower? I have read until 75% of the while pistils turn brown...

6) Container size - I am pretty sure these root systems are busting out of the pots, I can spread about 1 inch of soil or less and see roots in there. I know I heard 5 gallon bucket everywhere but I thought wrongly at the time that it would mean a way huger plant (don't ask me why I thought that it seems so stupid now) so I used those little buckets you see there... is it too late to transplant? I assume I wouldn't want to do it now while they are flowering at the least.

7)re-use - should I keep my plants or kill them during harvest? If I keep them, how do I do it?

8) Pruning - do I need to be removing leaves from the plants, or the little leaves near the buds?

So hopefully you guys can see a closet newbie in real need of some guidance here... please forgive me if I really have no idea what I am talking about, all I know is what I have experienced myself so far and gleaned from info all around the net.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! HAVE A GOOD ONE

:joint::joint::joint::joint::joint::joint::joint::joint::joint::joint::joint: = :peace:
 

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fierybong

Well-Known Member
Wait, wait, wait. Those things are 3 months old? They are ridiculously small and thin.

Well it's my first try with no help or community or real process or knowledge, I'm not trying to brag I'm asking for some advice...

Also the scale in the photos is not off, they are like 18" high or however much, just no lower leaves :(
 

korvette1977

Well-Known Member
Well it's my first try with no help or community or real process or knowledge, I'm not trying to brag I'm asking for some advice...



Ok .. get through this one and start over ... read more , look at pictures , Im no expert , but there was a guy here who grew a female plant in the gutter of his house by accident that looked better than those .. Start out with decent seeds good soil and some decent light.. read Roll it up..
 

fierybong

Well-Known Member
Ok .. get through this one and start over ... read more , look at pictures , Im no expert , but there was a guy here who grew a female plant in the gutter of his house by accident that looked better than those .. Start out with decent seeds good soil and some decent light.. read Roll it up..
I think that starting from the bottom up with at least mediochre light like I have now will vastly improve things, and I did use organic potting soil that was the nicest stuff they had at home depot's garden center which was not small.

Any answers to the above questions though?

Well, nothing else yet, I guess I will check back some more; I will give a photo update in 2-3 weeks and we can all see what my string beans turned into bud wise... I'm not afraid of looking bad here, just want advice... like to remove the aluminum foil (was never sure on that and it doesn't seem extremely safe around lights and water)...

Can anyone tell me how many lumens of light I really .need. to have? I know there is lots of science on wavelengths and everything... is there a way to tell what sorts of light a particular bulb produces?
 

DerKiffer

Active Member
Bury your stems if you replant those things, hopefully they'll root up and you'll end up with a well rooted plant and you know, more root = more plant.
 

Erysichthon

Well-Known Member
My friend you came in the same boat i did, your plant is stretched from poor lighting, and you have lots to learn. luckily you are here now :). first off, more light,as much as possible. if i were you id finish that one off as quick as possible then start a new crop, my plants were about a 3 weeks in when i found this site, and i tore into it. i got my light set up at least half proper and im still learning, just so you know your not alone heres some pix of my early crop...

the general idea with lumens on cfls is, try to get at least 3000 lumens per plant/square foot of grow area. if you can keep em wrapped aroudn the plant it helps, close as possible always like no more than 2 inches at MOST.

Ery

check out my new grow journal one of those plants is still around its the y shaped one, now its questionably female https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/66563-first-proper-grow.html
 

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fierybong

Well-Known Member
Well, I ordered 10 "Top 44" seeds last night so maybe just... do they all come with fans? Some look like they are meant to attach to a different external vent... I need an odor control solution that will sit in the closet itself.

I've heard muffin fan + ONA + soil moist does the trick superbly, I may try that.

I think I have about 3 weeks left on flowering these (have to see) and should get my REAL seeds (these were from a baggies)... have a lot of setting up to do though!
 

Twistyman

Well-Known Member
I stay away from time release nutes...I like to control myself...I've burnt my plants once the leaves turned brown like you described...it was the pit's and a lot of hard work to save 1/2 my crop....which sucked....
Good Luck
 

fierybong

Well-Known Member
Well, I stabbed huge splinter under my thumbnail and spent most of the night in the ER but I did manage to get my growroom cleaned out and re-setup with a trip to the hardware store...

Pictured are 2x23 watts (1500 lumens each) daylight compacts, in the center is a 40 watt(2600 lumens) standard compact... 5600 lumens for under a hundred watts! Fixtures bulbs and everything under 10 bucks each... not even a huge cost for what has to be a big upgrade forme. They aremounted on a guitar stand that easily adjusts up and down as needed.

So, plants aside I feel the space has improved... Ireally want to take the good seeds that i ordered and do it right and not until i am ready, any thoughts?

(sorry for the bad spaces my normal space thumb is numb :neutral: )
 

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kearners

Well-Known Member
splinters are not your friends!! i am like a splinter magnet!! ever since i was small my dad used just take them out with a needle... i am now afraid of needles and cannot get any injections without freaking out!! all because of those evil bastards.. splinters!!! well neway i just taught id say that, but what i meant to say was how much where the 1500lumen daylight bulbs??
 

Erysichthon

Well-Known Member
nice to see your makin progress, new lights are always good. still get more lights :), the more the merrier. im workin on getting 4 new t8 32watt U shaped ones now. and will still be after more when i get those. always look for stuff to improve your grow. i just made a trip to the hydro store a couple days ago, for various things.

how big are your pots? id say you need at least 2gal or 10-12 inchers to flower. kinda hard tell how big pots are in pictures.. get your seeds, get a copy of Buds For Less at your local Barnes & Noble, it has a fully documented CFL grow start to finish. done by one of RIU moderators. keep lookin at this site. theres so much here.

good luck

Ery
 

fierybong

Well-Known Member
nice to see your makin progress, new lights are always good. still get more lights :), the more the merrier. im workin on getting 4 new t8 32watt U shaped ones now. and will still be after more when i get those. always look for stuff to improve your grow. i just made a trip to the hydro store a couple days ago, for various things.

how big are your pots? id say you need at least 2gal or 10-12 inchers to flower. kinda hard tell how big pots are in pictures.. get your seeds, get a copy of Buds For Less at your local Barnes & Noble, it has a fully documented CFL grow start to finish. done by one of RIU moderators. keep lookin at this site. theres so much here.

good luck

Ery
I have come a really long way check out this thread:

https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/67812-how-many-cfls-2-plants-3.html

Been totally busting ass, I am eve way further than that thread documents fully, I am going to make a new post when I have the divider set up and I am ready to germinate to log everything, thanks for the reply!
 

WhiteWidowSuperSkunk

Well-Known Member
keep lights about 3 inches away keep humidity 40-60% temp 75-80 around 3200 lumens per plant ill post pics of my cfl closet grow later and u can see my babies most of all this is for u, its a living thing, u can correct problems with the plant if u catch them early read up on symptoms of sick plants and deficencies and youll be a pro
 

fierybong

Well-Known Member
thanks for the replies, I am going to start my log... just got my T44 in the mail today I was so stoked I had to choke it down until I got inside... the 'trial run' I started back in late jan is getting red hairs all over now, it is just a tiny pathetic bit of pot for 2 plants but OH WELL I am pretty much done with them now! Probably going to just flash dry bits off of them until I need the space for MOMMIES!

everybody with white widow in their name around here is super helpful lol

plants look great by the way that is going to be a shitload of pot if you have the right red spectrum
 
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