1st Grow Cfl

ClosetCoco said:

your looking pretty good man.... the 150w hps will be fine for 1 plant........you should start nutes at 1/4 strength and work your way up.... its a little to late for lst but keep it up your looking fine... its sucks that your lights went off.. but oh well thats life right?

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xebeche said:

Yep, a 150w hps will be fine.

I would re-examine those nutrients in regard to the NPK levels. I see very little potassium there. There's probably some K in the organic soil mix that you're using, but unless you're using a reasonable amount of pH Up (KOH version) to adjust your pH of your nute solutions, you may end up with a potassium deficiency later on down the road. I prefer to use a packaged nutrient mix with a balanced NPK ratio listed right on the package... at least then I know what I'm feeding my ladies. I've never used the FF nutes, but it seems there are plenty of folks here that do, so they must be okay.

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BlazedMonkey said:

Looking nice, why did you choose to go with 18/6 for vegetative vs 20/4 or 24/0?
Sucks about the lights, mine died when i tried a PC grow because when i was on vacation my power got knocked out and messed up the timer and my lights never came back on
Lots of people flower from seed though you just get a much smaller (faster flowering) plant which should be good for you

What are you going to do about odor...?

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xebeche said:

She looks good to me. 12/12 is where the fun begins

IMO, you'll most likely need some kind of odor control, but often it depends on your situation (where your garden is located, and how stealthy you really need to be, how stinky your particular strain is). I've grown in closets with a bath fan that vented into the attic...and I've also grown in closets without any odor control at all (since at the time I rarely had any visitors to the apt I was living in). Bottom line is, some mj plants just stink more than others. Lately I've been using Ona gel with my cab that's located in the garage...it works wonders for masking the skunky smell of the strains I'm running now, but does leave its own "dryer sheet" kinda scent, so anyone walking into my garage (with the door closed) can def smell something, but probly couldn't guess that there's mj growing in there. Since our garage is attached to the house, the Ona odor sometimes leaks into our living area...but I also have bowl with some Ona in the room with our cat's litter box, and the only time a visitor mentioned the smell, I just blamed it on the cat. Carbon filters are the way to go if you need to maintain a neutral-smelling environment, but they're usually designed to work with standard 4, 6, or 8" hvac-type ductwork and adapters. Since you're using pc fans for exhaust, you'll have to somehow construct an adapter that fits the 140mm exhaust fan. My cab in the garage also uses pc fans (80mm, 2 ea) but I haven't needed to construct a carbon filter adapter to fit the 80 mm fan since the Ona gel seems to be doing an adequate job. If I ever need super-stealth, neutral-smelling odor control, I'll probably replace the pc fans with a regular 4" diam centrifugal (?) or squirrel-cage type blower, since a carbon filter attached to a pc fan would probly slow down the airflow a lot, and I need decent airflow in my small cab to keep the temps down.

If you wanna give the Ona gel a try, I can give you additional info on using it. To try it the way I'm using them now would probly cost you about $30...and, as I said, if you can live with the smell of the Ona itself, it's a fairly cheap option if you don't wanna build a carbon filter to fit your pc exhaust fan.

As far as watering/feeding goes, I think feeding a weaker nute solution every time would probly be a good idea. Best thing to do then would be to try it for a while and observe your plants closely to see if they like it. Everyone probly has their own schedule for feedings that they develop by trial and error and watching to see if their plants develop any signs of deficiencies or overfeeding. As long as they look healthy with the feeding regimen you end up using, you should continue doing it the same way...and if you see any signs of deficiencies, they can always be corrected. Since this is your first grow, it's good that you're "practicing" on some bagseed, and can afford to make some mistakes. IMO, erring on the side of having lower nute concentrations (like you're planning on doing) is probly a good idea since i should be easier and quicker to adjust if you notice any deficiencies than if you overfed and had to flush out excess nutes from a burned plant.

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xebeche said:

I mix this (http://www.hydroponics.net/i/134265) with this (http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-JCD100SMJ-Soil-Moist-Granules/dp/B0009ZENCW) in roughly equal amounts. Place some in a small bowl or wide-mouth jar or two and leave wherever you need to mask the mj odor. The Soil-Moist makes the Ona last longer and tones down the smell of the Ona itself.

Yeah, it's common to want to feed the plants a lot (more food = bigger buds, right?), but definitely be patient and stick to a regular schedule. Of course mj can be relatively forgiving, and different strains like different amounts of nutrients at different times, so there's some experimentation with every grow. But that's half the fun. Most important is to check on them regularly and as long as you're providing them with plenty of light, good air circulation, comfortable temperature ranges and adequate nutrition, mj is pretty easy to grow and really doesn't require much extra care.

If you don't have one yet, something like this (http://www.hydroponics.net/i/133994) will come in handy when you need to get a close look at your plants. Good for inspecting for small insects like mites, and also for checking your trichomes when you get later into flower and start wondering if it's time to harvest.

Probably now the most important thing at this point is to keep your fingers crossed and hope for a female. It would be a real shame to spend too much time on a male. I always run at least three plants at a time (unless I'm using feminized seeds)...just to be sure I have a very good chance of ending up with at least one female. If you find this first grow enjoyable (which most folks do), I would recommend looking into purchasing some decent seeds online for your next grow. Genetics can make a huge difference in the quality (and quantity) of your harvest...and there are a lot of good choices available these days that aren't very expensive considering how much bud each plant can produce if treated properly and comparing to how much it would cost to buy the same amount from a dispensary or on the street. You can easily find strains that'll produce between one and two oz. per plant using only a 150w hps...maybe even more if you're growing large plants using a scrog technique or something similar. And buying them online is a lot easier and safer than it was even 5-10 years ago (I would guess because of the growth of the medical mj movement in the past several years).

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xebeche said:

Personally, I like to leave the fan leaves on until at least about the time that they stop stretching in 12/12 and then reassess which leaves aren't getting much light and can therefore be removed. Once they stop stretching and growing it seems to me that the canopy shape pretty much stays the same until harvest time and it's really only the buds that change for the rest of the grow cycle. If any fan leaves become discolored or just start looking unhealthy I'll usually clip them at any time, but if they're green and alive I leave them on. Later on in flowering I'll often trim the lower undergrowth for better air circulation...but again only the ones that don't seem to be exposed to a lot of light.

I've never used the FF nutes but looking at the specs just now they seem pretty reasonable. In fact, if it were me I'd be tempted to try just the Tiger Bloom since it has a pretty good NPK ratio for where you're at, but I couldn't find the NPK specs for the Big Bloom, and I do see that FF's "feeding schedule" suggests using both so it's probly safer to follow their advice than mine. However, I do think it's a good idea to lean toward the lower end in terms of nute strength for the first few times, just to see how it's reacting, especially since you can't be sure how much nutes are still left in your soil...maybe half the recommended amounts for the first watering and see what happens. Again, I've never used ff nutes, so maybe someone else who's used them can chime in and give you first-hand observations. I like to be conservative when I'm feeding with new nutes but I also like to experiment. It's much easier to add more nutes than to remove excessive amounts later.

One thing that I would caution on is that with the nutes I use I noticed early on that I really needed to check the pH of the resulting nute solutions before using them. I first just assumed that if I used the recommended amounts that the pH would be acceptable for feeding without pH adjustment, but I later found out that I was watering with a solution that was pH around 5, way too low and that's why my plants were not looking all that healthy. Nowadays I always check w/a pH meter and adjust to around 6.5 before use and I've had no problems. So if you have a pH meter, that's great, it'll come in handy. If not, you can pick up cheap pH test kits, I think it's well worth the investment just to make sure your pH isn't completely outta whack because that can cause significant stress to the plant depending on how bad it is.

Still too early to tell yet on the gender question imo, judging from those pics. Give it another week or two, it'll happen, it just takes time, like so many aspects of gardening - patience is a virtue, but I do understand that it's not an easy one to acquire, but you will as time goes on ( Hmmm, it takes time to learn patience...is that right? one must be patient about learning patience? lol, sounds kinda funny to me, and I'm not even baked yet today). Anyways, your plant looks good, and keep us posted on your progress and how that Ona works out for you.

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xebeche said:

I use this one (http://www.amazon.com/Hanna-Instruments-Conductivity-Temperature-Tester/dp/B002ZG8L58/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302643986&sr=8-1). It's a little pricey, but search around on the internet and you may be able to save a few bucks. Been using it for 4 years with no probs, just needed to change out the battery one time and the probe once ($40)...but that was my fault, I accidentally ended up storing it with RO water for a while which is very bad for the electrode. It's a combo meter, so it measures pH and also ppm (which is handy for ensuring that your nute concentrations are at reasonable levels). I highly recommend investing in one if you plan to continue growing as a hobby, it's well worth the price imo. But if you wanna try a different (cheaper) one, search around here on riu for threads discussing pH meters, I'm sure I recall reading at least a few discussions and for sure Hanna isn't the only option or even the best, it just seems to work fine for me.

As I said, if you don't have the $$ now, something like this (http://www.hydroponics.net/i/211515) will do what you need it to...which is just to ensure that you're not feeding your plants with a solution that's outrageously high or low in pH. Anything between 6-7 is fine for soil grows...pH 4-5 is bad (as I found out from experience), and an inexpensive pH tester kit like this should be accurate enough to tell you if you're in the right range. It may very well turn out that the nutes you're using result in a reasonable pH when mixed together...but the ones I use are way too low so I have to adjust with pH Up (http://www.hydroponics.net/i/216003) before I use it on my plants.

Measuring ppm, on the other hand, isn't absolutely necessary if you're following the directions on the nute bottles...since the manufacturers generally design the schedules and amounts so that you should be at about the right ppm for the stage of growth that your plants are in. I only find the ppm meter handy when I'm modifying the amounts on my own...like when I feed seedlings and young plants: I like to gradually raise the ppm levels from around 400 to 1200 during the four or six weeks of veg, and using the ppm meter just helps me to make sure that I haven't miscalculated of mis-measured something when I mixed them up.

Honestly, growing your own mj CAN be a very expensive hobby (then again, buying mj can be even more expensive over time)...but it doesn't HAVE to be. I used miracle grow ferts and cheap Home Depot potting soil for my first grow and it worked out better than I would have ever expected - without ever having to check pH, ppm or anything like that.

The forums here on riu will probably be your most valuable (and cheapest) resource for learning how to successfully grow your own mj. I grew for years with information I found in other grow forums...but I've still learned A LOT more just by reading through numerous threads here since I joined.

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xebeche said:

Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself, my friend...we don't even know if she's a she yet, lol.

Actually, if it IS a girl, a scrog would be a great project. She's pretty small now, but she's in a big enough pot where you could veg a bit longer and probly fill a screen nicely. Partly depends on how patient you can be, since I think you might need a few more weeks of veg time for a good scrog. Well worth it, imo...I used to do scrogs several years ago (with my 150w hps), and I like them very much.

With the lights, I'd recommend taking things one step at a time. First hps...then, as long as your temps are still okay for a day or two, add one cfl...and if they're still manageable after that, then you can think about a second cfl. Quite honestly, even just the hps by itself can produce some impressive results, so the cfls wouldn't really be necessary. They can certainly help...as long as their use doesn't come with the risk of stressing your plant.

First things first, though: get the hps light in and check your conditions...and keep an eye out for any signs of gender on your "child."

Oh, and if you don't have any more seeds already sprouted, you might wanna think about starting another while you're waiting...just in case this one turns out to be a boy. I always like to plan for any contingencies, so I won't lose too much time if things don't go as I hope. After all, it's still roughly a 50/50 chance at this point.

You should know within a few weeks time.

Edit - thiking a litle ore about it, I'm not sure a scrog would be the best way to go with this plant...since it's not that big and you're already into flowering. Scrogs take a little more planning, imo...I usually do them when I know I have a female (either through cloning or by using feminized seeds) and only if i can give them time enough in veg so that they can fill a screen pretty well. Most times I also top them during veg so that they get branchy enough to do a scrog.

I could be wrong. Once you start feeding her and put her under the hps, it's possible that you'll see a growth spurt in the next few weeks. Depends partly on the genetics you're working with, so it's really difficult to predict. You may just have to wait and see. Even if a scrog doesn't end up making sense for this grow, you'll have other chances later on down the line...and this grow can still be a good "general growing" learning experience. For all we know at this point, it could turn out that your plant prefers to be grown as a bush, or a single cola plant. We just can't know yet.

Personally, I find every time I start to grow a new strain it's a learning experience, since they can behave so differently. And often it's not until the second time or third time growing the same strain that I "know" them well enough to decide what would be the best way to grow 'em.

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