Just check out Uncle Ben's thread for two or four main colas; I just topped my entire tent a few days ago to keep the height down for flowering - you could look at those pics if you'd like.
Grow tent 600w hps hydro under construction
- Thread starter anon1122
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laserbrn
Well-Known Member
And topping isn't something that I've tried. Correction, I've done it , but I have no idea if it helped or not. I guess I got more "main cola's", but nothing that I really noticed or paid enough attention to. One of these days I'll take a real run at topping, but for my FI grow I've just started I'll grow them Au' Naturale and try to get some big ol' pretty buds. I just like'em that way.
anon1122
Well-Known Member
Ok, just a quick update...
I have confirmed all 3 are in fact ladies. They are approximately 10-12 inches tall. I changed their nutes yesterday and bumped them up to 600-650 and they seem to be liking it.
Here's how I've been doing the feedings:
If you look at the feeding schedule they recommend, I went week 1, 2, then 2 a 2nd time because of the light burning issue, then week 3, now I am doing week 2 again for extra veg time then I am going to do week 4 next week, and the following week will be flower time.
Do you guys think it's a good idea reverting to week 2 for extra veg or should I just change the water today again and go for week for week four? I want extra veg time to get more clones before flowering and for a larger yield.
Whaddya think?
I have confirmed all 3 are in fact ladies. They are approximately 10-12 inches tall. I changed their nutes yesterday and bumped them up to 600-650 and they seem to be liking it.
Here's how I've been doing the feedings:
If you look at the feeding schedule they recommend, I went week 1, 2, then 2 a 2nd time because of the light burning issue, then week 3, now I am doing week 2 again for extra veg time then I am going to do week 4 next week, and the following week will be flower time.
Do you guys think it's a good idea reverting to week 2 for extra veg or should I just change the water today again and go for week for week four? I want extra veg time to get more clones before flowering and for a larger yield.
Whaddya think?
smokingrubber
Well-Known Member
I think you should not go back to week 2. A 3 year old kid can't wear and eat what a 2 year old wears and eats. He can, but that won't slow his growth (mentally maybe). He'll be an underfed 3 year old. If a plant is of a certain age and size, it needs the fuel to continue growing.
Let the size of the plant determine the flowering date, not the feeding schedule. Just my opinion.
Let the size of the plant determine the flowering date, not the feeding schedule. Just my opinion.
Agreed, at 12" tall and under a reasonable HID, 600 sounds like an appetizer to me (and that's assuming you're on a .5 conversion, at .7 it's a joke).
Understood that you don't wanna burn your plants, but you need to bump that up, kid.
I'd bump it up ~100PPM every three days until I noticed the first tinges of yellow on the tips or I got to 1000PPM, whichever comes first (again, assuming .5 conversion, if .7, 1300).
Just my $.02, but if you wanna stay uber-safe, don't go higher then 800 for now.
Good luck.
Understood that you don't wanna burn your plants, but you need to bump that up, kid.
I'd bump it up ~100PPM every three days until I noticed the first tinges of yellow on the tips or I got to 1000PPM, whichever comes first (again, assuming .5 conversion, if .7, 1300).
Just my $.02, but if you wanna stay uber-safe, don't go higher then 800 for now.
Good luck.
anon1122
Well-Known Member
It was 600ppm not an ec reading. Right now they are at 675ppm and are doing really well. I got the nutes to the point where it was ever so slightly turning the tips. As soon as the open sesame was added, the lower and side growth EXPLODED. I won't have a shortage of clones to choose from this weekend. The nutes will be the first week of flower nutes and the bulb will be switched from a MH conversion to HPS. Ill update more later.
smokingrubber
Well-Known Member
What kind of reading is that? Pics please?
anon1122
Well-Known Member
Ok,
took a couple clones today, trimmed the lower 1/3 just like laserbrn. switched the bulb to the 600w sunmaster hps. switched the nutes to week 1 of flowering nutes. After the light goes off at 1 am I will adjust the timer to come on at 8 am and off at 8 pm. Ph is 6.0 and the nutes are at 835-850ppm. Hopefully that isn't too high, if it seems to be I can always back off. I have all day off tomorrow to monitor them like a hawk.
I'll keep you posted.
laserbrn, what time did you do your floods throughout the day during flowering with the widow?
took a couple clones today, trimmed the lower 1/3 just like laserbrn. switched the bulb to the 600w sunmaster hps. switched the nutes to week 1 of flowering nutes. After the light goes off at 1 am I will adjust the timer to come on at 8 am and off at 8 pm. Ph is 6.0 and the nutes are at 835-850ppm. Hopefully that isn't too high, if it seems to be I can always back off. I have all day off tomorrow to monitor them like a hawk.
I'll keep you posted.
laserbrn, what time did you do your floods throughout the day during flowering with the widow?
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
That ppm will really depend on the strain and it's needs. I think that 800-900 is a good start for flowering. It's on the safe side which is what you want the first time around. You are doing the right thing not trying to force feed. The plants will tell you if they are starving and more nutes don't make buds bigger and don't make plants grow faster.
I did my floods about 30 minutes before lights on, and again mid-day (their day).
anon1122
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply! ppm is at 835-850 still. Ph is hanging out in the neighborhood of 6. Lights on at 8 am and off at 8pm. Flood times are at 8:15am noon, 4pm, and 7:30. Do you think that is too much? I planted the seeds into 1" rockwool, then they went into the square pots with hydroton, so I dont know if we have the same water retention properties since you used larger cubes and used a bed of hydroton. Everything looks good with them, just some of the newer leaves have a V shape to them. Eventually they pretty much flatten out. But they seem to be happy and I have a large healthy root system judging by the bottom of the pots.
How long before I start seeing flowers form?
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
You should definitely be watering at least 3 times x day if you are only using 1" rockwool cubes. You are going to get a lot less moisture retention than I do. I would even consider 4x/day for 15 min. each when they are taking up more water during flowering. After about the third week I'd say.
You should start seeing female pistils in just a few days, the small flowers don't really start to show up until about the third week. Some take longer some a little shorter. Once you can see the "bud sites" and the flowers it just takes off from there. I wish I could see how big they've become, but you've done a good thing to limit your risks.
anon1122
Well-Known Member
They have a ton of white pistils, 3-4 at each node. I might be able to take some pics and send them to you in a PM so it isnt all public. You're the one providing the most support. I think I'll stick with the 4x a day right now and see how they keep up with it. I was worried about bumping them up so much on nutes, but they seem to be fine and loving it. Time will tell eh?
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
Definitely. If you have any problems we can take care of them that way, as long as all is well go ahead and keep it as secure as possible. Sounds like it was more than ready to be flowered so the onset shouldn't take too long at all.
Anon, is the flood level reaching the 1" rockwool cubes or staying strictly in the hydroton area?
I use only hydroton (root in a bubbler), and I flood for ten minutes every two hours that the light is on, and then once at "night".
My light cycle is on at 9:00pm and off at 9:00am.
Flood times are 9:00pm, 11:00pm, 1:00am, 3:00am, 5:00am, 7:00am, 9:00am, and then once at 3:00pm to make sure they don't dry out during the dark cycle.
I've actually contemplated going to floods once an hour, but will stay at every other hour - long story short, it's virtually impossible to overwater hydroton, as long as your pump floods your tray in a reasonably short period of time.
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
I actually agree. I would think without the rockwool cubes your not going to retain enough moisture. You'll certainly get enough oxygen to the roots, I would think you can water as often as you want as long as it drains at some point. If I were usually 1x1 rockwool cubes I'd be flooding at least every 3 hours, every other hour if possible. If I could get away with more often than that I would do it too. If I could get it to flood and drain quickly I'd do like 10-15 minutes per hour.
100% agreed - you CAN'T overwater hydroton, as long as the floods are quick.
I'd go to once an hour, but the plants are doing great at every other hour - and as far as flooding at night goes, not sure if it's necessary or not, but I'm now able to keep my humidity pretty much in check, so I'm not too worried about mold or anything like that (as of yet, might change).
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
I don't think your humidity would even make that much difference. It needs to be controlled really due to the moisture in the buds during flower.
I'd flood through the night. I might actually switch to doing it this way in the future, it's just that rockwool keeps my plants alive a lot longer if a pump fails (seems to happen a lot) or I lose power or anything else that can be a fairly quick killer. Sometimes I end up away for days at a time due to time spent under medical care. I like to have it as forgiving as possible.
I'm actually contemplating putting in two different pumps and running each one every 1.5 hours, so that there's a failsafe in case one of them goes out (would have them on different circuits, obviously).
Something I've been meaning to do, but it's not at the top of my list, currently.