First Grow, 400W HPS

Hi all,

Here's my setup and my 3 plants (sex unknown).

I have some questions after my description, so anyone who feels like responding, please do.

This is my first grow, so my only intention was to learn some lessons. I've had some problems, but the existing threads steered me in the right direction.

I germinated 3 seeds (white diesel) that I bought online starting on April 18th and have had them under an 18/6 light rotation.

It got REALLY nice outside on and off over the past month, so they've spent a fair number of days on the back porch.

I transplanted them last week from a 16 ounce cup into the containers they are in now. I am hoping that what I have them in will last until harvest.

I spray them every morning with distilled water. Once a week, I add some nutrients to a couple quarts of water, take them outside and soak them.

I topped the plant number 1 this morning just to do it.

My basement is pretty humid, so I'm going to get a dehumidifier this weekend. On one of the pics, you can see how pegged my humidity meter is.

Here's my questions.

1. I have little fan on the floor sucking air through the ducting. I've had a hard time finding an appropriate one. I have a 6 inch fan that I was hoping would mount on the hood, but it's either not the right size or I wasn't given the correct mounting hardware.

At any rate, it's like a little jet engine in there. I don't think I need as much airflow as I am getting so I'd rather have something with adjustable speed or just a low speed. Any suggestions?

2. I am waiting to see some alternating branches before I go to flower, any ideas when I can expect that judging from my timeline and the pics?

3. At the end of July, I am going to Amsterdam for a week. Unfortunately, I have a feeling I'll be flowering then. I plan on hitting them with a good watering, making sure the hood is high enough and just hoping for the best. Any tips on making this successful would be appreciated.

4. If you look at the middle plant, you can see that the tips of the leaves are slightly discolored. Is this a lack of nutrients? It seems like just this one plant has a tendency to do this.

Anyway, this has been a great site for getting me this far and ANY tips you have for me will be appreciated.

Ciao

Here's where they sit when the sun is out.

The back porch gets direct sun from mid-morning until after dinner, so they'll have all day sunlight today.

Also, it never hurts to have them guarded by such a vicious animal, no?

I decided to go into flower since I started seeing some node alteration happening.

2 of the three are female, so I've removed the male and decided to try a few clones.

Three of the four clones that I started yesterday look pretty good.

As I said earlier, my worry is that I'll be on vacation starting July 24th and I'm concerned that my absence will hurt the harvest, like I'll either be gone when I should be picking or I'll be drying when I leave and be gone too long...

sadwin9s said:

Here's my questions.

1. I have little fan on the floor sucking air through the ducting. I've had a hard time finding an appropriate one. I have a 6 inch fan that I was hoping would mount on the hood, but it's either not the right size or I wasn't given the correct mounting hardware.

At any rate, it's like a little jet engine in there. I don't think I need as much airflow as I am getting so I'd rather have something with adjustable speed or just a low speed. Any suggestions?

2. I am waiting to see some alternating branches before I go to flower, any ideas when I can expect that judging from my timeline and the pics?

3. At the end of July, I am going to Amsterdam for a week. Unfortunately, I have a feeling I'll be flowering then. I plan on hitting them with a good watering, making sure the hood is high enough and just hoping for the best. Any tips on making this successful would be appreciated.

4. If you look at the middle plant, you can see that the tips of the leaves are slightly discolored. Is this a lack of nutrients? It seems like just this one plant has a tendency to do this.

Anyway, this has been a great site for getting me this far and ANY tips you have for me will be appreciated.

Ciao

Click to expand...

1. I wouldn't go with a smaller fan. the more air you can move threw the reflector the better. I would add some ducting to the intake side of the reflector, bringing fresh air in from another area. I would also add a small personal type fan to blow across the plants to keep the tops cooler, and to strengthen the plants stocks.

2. Already in flower (yea).

3. If you didn't start flower until around the 7th of June, You should be just fine. You wont even be at 8 weeks flower if your back by the first week of August. You can usually go at least 9 or 10 weeks, just makes it better. I would set up a supply of water, and a pump with a timer to a drip hose. Just figure out the proper timing so you don't over water.

4. The plants look fine.

Have a good trip.

Thanks for the reply!

I had been hoping that, while I was gone, I'd be drying, but it's getting closer and looking more like I'll still be flowering.

I've been watering heavy once a week (with nutes) and I spray the leaves a few times a week. I'm not sure if that's enough water, but they do grow pretty quick and I haven't seen any signs that they are lacking water.

I'll look into a pump for when I'm gone but my other concern is the dehumidifier water. It seems to pull a gallon every couple of days but, since I'm in the basement, there's nowhere for it to run out.

Here are some updated pics, I think we are looking at about 2 weeks of flowering, maybe a day or two more. I'm very happy with them so far.

Hi again if anyone is reading this.

So, I just transplanted into two 5-gallon buckets, but before that I took this picture.

They sat outside today in the sun and I noticed a good deal of bud growth from morning until I put them to bed.

The larger fan leaves are turning yellow. Is this a normal part of flowering or am I not doing something right?

You can see the yellowing I was talking about. They look more yellow in the pictures than they do in person.

I think this is the end of the third full week, but it might be the end of the 4th, I can't remember when I started exactly.

Last week I transplanted to 5-gallon buckets (with holes poked in the bottom for drainage).

I added some molasses to yesterday's watering just to see what it does.

I think this is the end of week 4 or 5, and I'm hoping they are looking good.

This is me every morning before work:

Here's the girls as we go into week 7. I've been sampling the taller of the two plants and it's pretty potent, easily as good as what I've bought in the past.

I leave next week for 10 days. My thoughts are that I'm going to water them thoroughly prior to going and hope for the best.

It stays cool in the basement and they are in 5-gallon buckets, so I think they'll be ok for a few extra days.

I thought about using a pump for water, but I'm not comfortable having too much going on while I'm gone for so long, so I'm just leaving the two fans and the light.

they're looking great!

very nice!