# New Girl.....



## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

Hello all,

Just started my first grow and I've found the site to be so very helpful with all my stupid questions so thought I'd come say hi and show you my 4 week old babies 

I'm not great at the jargon so please bear with me and try not to howl at my doubtless many future mistakes!

I've been smoking for a long time but am a n00b to growing so this maiden voyage is as much an experiment as anything else, am using a 90w triband plus an energy-saving growlight 125w. Have just started using organic tomato feed.

So please feel free to chip in if I'm committing any glaring errors or if you just wanna say hi or ask something 

Red


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## Max Q (Nov 2, 2010)

My first impression is your plants look really small for four weeks. What kind of soil are you using? Any nutes?


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

It's a multi-purpose one which was recommended to me by someone, has 'added John Innes', what ever that is and added nutrients. Brand is Garden Health.

Thanks for the feedback


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

Additional info, I've only had them under the triband for 2 weeks, had to make do with the grow light at first.


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## The Ruined (Nov 2, 2010)

I agree with max q. I to am new but may be able to help you a lil. 

Can we lean a little more about what you have going on? 
What are temps?
Soil type? 
What's the NPK value of your tomato feed? Do you know if it also supplies all micro nutrients as well? 

Let us know we are all here to help.


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

Hi!

The temperature of the room is about 29 degrees c, is that a little high? Soil type, it just says premium multi-purpose compost with added West plus and enough nutrients for 5 weeks, also says it's ideal for flowering plants, sorry about my vagueness but I have no technical info at all!

The NPK value, well it says on the bottle 4-2-6, does that sound right? I've no idea about micro-nutrients.

Thanks


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## april (Nov 2, 2010)

Hi Redmist and welcome to the wonderful world of growing maryjane !
I would drop the temps ,i keep mine around 22-25 c ,and have u tested your humidity? Mine is between 45-55 walmart sells a dual temp for both for about 10$
My babies are about the same age ,i'm also new well halfway thru my first and just started 2 new babies a month ago.

Hey as long as they are alive your doing well in my book lol.
Just be patient and read alot of threads in the newbie section, lots of great info from people that know their stuff. 
Happy growing and best of luck


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

Hello 

Thanks for the temp info and your comments. Haven't tested humidity yet so am off to research this now.

Good luck to you too


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## DSB65 (Nov 2, 2010)

Your plant does look awful small..but sense you've only had it under the led a couple weeks i understand..what brand of led is it..ive herd that leds are good for the veg cycle but still debatable in flower..wish you the best of luck....welcome...


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

Thanks, it's good to be here  It's so good to have info from people as this is all new to me, so one for the tip list, 4/5 inches at 4 weeks is bad  

They did seems to not grow very much at all about a week ago but I assumed they were just working on roots or something.

Not sure of the LED brand I'm afraid, but will try and find out.


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## The Ruined (Nov 2, 2010)

Next grow I suggest using a soil with no nutes in it at all, for veg you want something with a higher N value somethig like 5-6-3 or something of a similar ratio 10-12-6 there is a "magic" ratio but I can't recall it. So far so good though they are not dead, and the height isn't as important at this age the number of nodes (leaf sets) is what's important. 

How far away are your lights? Being LED I'm guessing they don't produce a ton of heat. I'd lower them closer to the plants just test by putting your hand inbeteween the light and the plants. As long as your hand isn't hot the plants should be fine. Hope this helps


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## april (Nov 2, 2010)

Ya heres my babies, i'm going to switch to bigger pots in a week or so, i noticed with my first babies that they grew fast ,stopped then alot faster when they got to a bigger pot. But I'm also growing mine on 12/12 from seed. Takes longer but less $$$ in hydro bills. mine are only about 4 and 6 inches also, good enough for me as long as they are healthy


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

The Ruined said:


> Next grow I suggest using a soil with no nutes in it at all, for veg you want something with a higher N value somethig like 5-6-3 or something of a similar ratio 10-12-6 there is a "magic" ratio but I can't recall it. So far so good though they are not dead, and the height isn't as important at this age the number of nodes (leaf sets) is what's important.
> 
> How far away are your lights? Being LED I'm guessing they don't produce a ton of heat. I'd lower them closer to the plants just test by putting your hand inbeteween the light and the plants. As long as your hand isn't hot the plants should be fine. Hope this helps


Thanks for that, I already lowered the lights once but was a bit nervous about moving them too close as I wanted the light distribution to be even,
Could defnitely move them lower tho. The enviro light kicks out a bit of heat so that'll have to stay put for now.


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

april said:


> View attachment 1246238Ya heres my babies, i'm going to switch to bigger pots in a week or so, i noticed with my first babies that they grew fast ,stopped then alot faster when they got to a bigger pot. But I'm also growing mine on 12/12 from seed. Takes longer but less $$$ in hydro bills. mine are only about 4 and 6 inches also, good enough for me as long as they are healthy
> 
> View attachment 1246237


Ah, mine are from seed and are on constantly, was gonna put them on 12/12 when they were about a foot tall. Yours look nice and healthy.


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## The Ruined (Nov 2, 2010)

Redmist said:


> Ah, mine are from seed and are on constantly, was gonna put them on 12/12 when they were about a foot tall. Yours look nice and healthy.


When they flower they could grow 2-3 times their size before they finish their stretch. If you plan for some tall ladies I'd suggest getting some side lighting when they start to bud.


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## april (Nov 2, 2010)

Thank u. Are u growing in a grow box? I had a plant about 8 inches, we build a simple 3x2x3 wood box, mylar walls, 4 cfls,( gonna add more next grow need to upgrade electrical box.) But the plant went from pic a to big b to c in a month and a week, crazy how containing light makes a huge difference. I did some LST'ing to contain her.


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## Redmist (Nov 2, 2010)

Wow, impressive  Hope mine fare as well. It's more of a closet really, ! metre by 1 metre.


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## Ernst (Nov 3, 2010)

that NPK seems reasonable.

First grows are learning experiences.

I am not familiar with the grow light you talk about but I can tell you Cannabis can handle nearly twice as much as our grow books say. 
Some grow books talk about 50 watts per square foot of floor space at a specific distance above the plants. In reality Cannabis can handle 90 watts per square foot of specific spectrum light ( made by scientific machine I understand of something like that I read.) 

So some folks work with 125 watt Metal Halide lights in a small grow but most work with 250 Metal Halide lights in a small grow.
Also LED's are very reasonable too for growing not price. However i have nothing bad to say about the GlowPanel when it comes to Vegging small plants! 

Most folks I know from the sites find a 400 watt High Pressure Sodium bulb barely enough to flower a plant well.

I an hinting at getting a better light. Todays Electronic ballasts are excellent. Look for a unit that can switch from 250 watts to 400 watts and on to 600 watts.
It will give you the flexibility to experiment.

It's the solid advice if we want to grow 4 plants and flower them like i see you are trying.

Welcome to RIU and I hope you don't find my comment on the light a bummer.. Just saying what is real as far as I under stand things.

Ernst


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

Hey Ersnt,
No, I don't find your comments a bummer at all, it's good of you to take the time to do so  The led triband is 90w, equivalent to a 400w hps so I was told. The envirolight is 125w. The space is only 1 metre by 1 metre, with 5 plants. The growth has actually sped up the past couple of days, I'll try and get more pics on today.


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

I would like to invest in more lights but cash flow is an issue right now.


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

So here they are a couple of days later, much more leaf growth and a teeny bit of height growth.


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## gNurgles (Nov 4, 2010)

The Ruined said:


> Next grow I suggest using a soil with no nutes in it at all, for veg you want something with a higher N value somethig like 5-6-3 or something of a similar ratio 10-12-6 there is a "magic" ratio but I can't recall it. So far so good though they are not dead, and the height isn't as important at this age the number of nodes (leaf sets) is what's important.
> 
> How far away are your lights? Being LED I'm guessing they don't produce a ton of heat. I'd lower them closer to the plants just test by putting your hand inbeteween the light and the plants. As long as your hand isn't hot the plants should be fine. Hope this helps


Get some nutes from your local grow shop. I use fox farm. It's cheap and effective. Grow big for veg and Big Bloom for flower. Google their website and you can dl the feeding schedule. Also try and get some soil there as well (depending on what you get it's already ph'd). And don't forget the dolomite lime for ph balancing and cal/mag supply.


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

Thanks so much for the input, I was kind of aiming (as this is the 1st go and a bit experimental) to keep it simple, but it sounds like it's getting kind of complicated with all this talk of nuets (what is the difference between nutes and plant feed anyway?) And ph balancing? Cal/mag supply? *heads to google* But thanks so much for your advice, you've given me some stuff to think about.


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## gNurgles (Nov 4, 2010)

Redmist said:


> Thanks so much for the input, I was kind of aiming (as this is the 1st go and a bit experimental) to keep it simple, but it sounds like it's getting kind of complicated with all this talk of nuets (what is the difference between nutes and plant feed anyway?) And ph balancing? Cal/mag supply? *heads to google* But thanks so much for your advice, you've given me some stuff to think about.


I know it's a lot to take in but it'll all come together soon. From my experience if you want to do it right with good results then soil is about as simple as it gets. I may be wrong here but plant feed is the same thing as nutrients but the type you have may not be what your plant prefers. Fox farm is made for cannabis as are most other nutrients sold at a grow shop. With soil, ph balancing isn't as difficult to fine tune as it is with hydro. I've always used root organic soil which is pre-ph'd but as you add nutes the may raise or lower the ph level. Dolomite lime helps balance the ph to what cannabis likes and adds two necessary supplements calcium and magnesium. 

Google is our best friend. You'll find what you need. Most of the grow related searches i make end up pointing me to RIU. A good book to get is the Jorge Cervantes Medical Growers Bible. Between that and this site you cannot go wrong.


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

Ah cool, you've instantly managed to make it all sound far less scary  and yeah, this site has been a godsend to me!


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## Ernst (Nov 4, 2010)

Redmist said:


> I would like to invest in more lights but cash flow is an issue right now.


 equal to a 400? Okay.. I'm still learning about LED but I have a small Glowpanel here for cloning and I have nothing but good things to say about it.

We all upgrade over the years on our garden and it never ends. 

Again welcome!


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

Ernst said:


> *equal to a 400? *Okay.. I'm still learning about LED but I have a small Glowpanel here for cloning and I have nothing but good things to say about it.
> 
> We all upgrade over the years on our garden and it never ends.
> 
> Again welcome!


According to this anyway; http://www.chinaqualitydigital.com/d-p1113295390654368100-led_ufo_grow_light_ufo_plant_grow_light_ufo_led_grow_light_wex_y90/

I guess I'll find out soon enough


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

Ooh, sorry forgot to post this link too ; http://www.myhydroponicgardening.com/ufo-led-grow-light-review-is-this-the-right-grow-light-for-your-hydroponic-garden/

Thanks for your welcome, people are so friendly here.


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## Ernst (Nov 4, 2010)

Yes females do tend to look as if they stall while they put efforts into roots from what I can tell.

Not a 100% way to early sex unknown strains but known strains are sometime easy to sex that way here. Just a thought.


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## Redmist (Nov 4, 2010)

Fingers crossed


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## thedoc08 (Nov 5, 2010)

OMG OMG OMG girl.


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## Redmist (Nov 7, 2010)

Thanks for your contribution, whatever it's about :s


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## Ernst (Nov 7, 2010)

Redmist said:


> Thanks for your contribution, whatever it's about :s


 We see a few like that and usually we all know to smile.. 

Hope your experience is going well!


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## Redmist (Nov 8, 2010)

Yes, thank you  my babies are coming along quite nicely now, had a big shock to see their progress this morning. I was being impatient with them. Hope you're well.


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## Ernst (Nov 8, 2010)

Oh I know.. They tend to dottle around like they know you are watching and when you aren't they decide it's safe and shoot up.

I am a firm believer in the Root Brain http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CC4QFjAD&url=http://www.dowebsites.net/linv/images/papers_pdf/root%20brain.pdf&rct=j&q=root brain + darwin&ei=1anYTJ7EIov2swPXovS7Bw&v6u=http://ipv4.ipv6-exp.l.google.com/gen_204?ip=99.137.86.169&ts=1289267660376618&auth=v5bz47xyzdkn5kib3jvehwkbuhoxotp5&rndm=0.6716335858012702&v6s=2&v6t=16973&usg=AFQjCNGDqFBpP4uXEmc6kud2IsSB6IEdSA&sig2=KSm5xhH9ioeYdfy9_u8osA&cad=rja

My Garden main is a 4x4 or 16 sq ft indoor planter bed Cab. I have watched them grow year after year and i have seen fights, competition and plants that give up.
Once I opened the box and it felt like I had interrupted a conversation where they all stopped talking and were looking at me in silence. A very odd sober experience.

So I totally get your point of view.


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## Redmist (Nov 9, 2010)

Thanks for the link, v interesting though being a total newbie at growing anything I started to get a little lost by page 3 .

Haha! Cool plant story, made me giggle and think of an old western movie when the bad guy walks into a bar and the piano stops playing and everyone stops playing cards


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## Ernst (Nov 9, 2010)

Exactly.. I sit right next to a 16 sq ft soil box / planter bed cab with 1500 watts of blended spectrum to type on the keyboard ( medical Cab Mr. Lawman )so  "we all live in a yellow Submarine"  here 

I swear on something that it was just as I said! I noticed and it was an odd experience!


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## dekard421 (Nov 13, 2010)

Thought I'd throw my noob hat into the ring here. First time grow with me as well. Read a TON before doing it which has helped to troubleshoot, and received some excellent and quick advice a couple of weeks ago from experienced members. My plants are now 4 weeks old today. That's 4 weeks since I started germination from seed. They started slow, I thought, but in the last week have exploded. This is a pic of my plants today, 4 weeks exactly from when I first put the seeds in 1 inch rockwool cubes. I'm going to post a my grow log hoping it'll help other first timers, I think I'm doing some things right, but I'm sure some things could be better. I don't know if my growth is ahead of the curve or not, but it seems to be doing well.

3 strains bought from Attitude
400 watt Hortilux Super Blue MH
Dutch Master Gold Nutes, on 2nd week of grow protocol 600ppm


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## lib (Nov 13, 2010)

hello there peeps, hey red mist, i was having same problem (slow growth) under fluoros, then i changed to hid's and still had slow growth, so i checked my ph .. which was way too high so plants were unable to access the nutrients they needed, balanced ph and now the babies are growing much faster, they're 4 weeks and about ten times the size as your's  , hope this helps xx


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## Ernst (Nov 13, 2010)

Best wishes here!


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## Redmist (Nov 14, 2010)

dekard421 said:


> Thought I'd throw my noob hat into the ring here. First time grow with me as well. Read a TON before doing it which has helped to troubleshoot, and received some excellent and quick advice a couple of weeks ago from experienced members. My plants are now 4 weeks old today. That's 4 weeks since I started germination from seed. They started slow, I thought, but in the last week have exploded. This is a pic of my plants today, 4 weeks exactly from when I first put the seeds in 1 inch rockwool cubes. I'm going to post a my grow log hoping it'll help other first timers, I think I'm doing some things right, but I'm sure some things could be better. I don't know if my growth is ahead of the curve or not, but it seems to be doing well.
> 
> 3 strains bought from Attitude
> 400 watt Hortilux Super Blue MH
> ...


Looking good there Dekard  I topped mine last week and they've rewarded me with sprouting wonderfully. I'll try and add pics tomorrow.


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## Redmist (Nov 14, 2010)

lib said:


> hello there peeps, hey red mist, i was having same problem (slow growth) under fluoros, then i changed to hid's and still had slow growth, so i checked my ph .. which was way too high so plants were unable to access the nutrients they needed, balanced ph and now the babies are growing much faster, they're 4 weeks and about ten times the size as your's  , hope this helps xx


Thanks Lib, they're doing much better right now but am going to hunt out a ph tester this week. Good luck with yours!


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## Redmist (Dec 27, 2010)

So I've been offline for a while and thought I'd drop back in to let you all know that out of 5 germinated, I ended up with 3 ladies (so now I have a mother and 2 to harvest, mwahahahahaha!) and they're about 3 feet tall with lots of bud sites, have attached a couple of pics to show the buds. Hope everyone had an amazing Xmas


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