My first grow, how am I doing?

zyklon

zyklon

Member
Hey this is my first post. I have a closet grow setup with one indica plant. I'm not big on cash, so it was mostly improvised, but seems to work well. I'm not exactly what date I started, but it's been vegging for a couple months. It's roughly 16" tall now, with, I believe, no discoloration, and a pretty nice stem width. I haven't trimmed it or cut any parts of it for altercations, I just let it grow. I'm not really sure how to tell if it's male of female at this point, but from what I can tell it is female.
I'm not an expert on growing, but I have a friend who helps from time to time with adjustments and advice and such. He recently changed my light hours for flowering. He lend me a few lights and got me nutes (Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom fertilizers). I have 5 CFLs and a cool tube on over her. Apparently, not enough for a large grow, which is why I'm concentrating on this one plant, as it is my first grow on my own. I put up a few pics, any pointers? Thanks.
 

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buraka415

Active Member
looks like you got slight deficiency based on the leaf tip curling? perhaps? what's the NPK's of those ferts you listed? 3-2-1 for grow, 1-2-3 for bloom is from what I've read here a good rule of thumb for nute NPK ratios. I've made the mistake in the past just accepting what people told me to use, like given a formula that was said to work in other places, and I didnt even take the time to learn what it was I was giving them, etc. and some of that advice wasnt so sound it turns out.

How long ago did your friend change your light times? If its an Indica it could theoretically be done anywhere between high 50 days to late 60's, to maybe even 70 days. I would get a jewelers loupe? and use it to identify when your trichomes are ready. Amber, milky colors, what those mean, etc.

I would also consider taking off the lower scraggly stuff, because the buds it produces wont be that much. or you can just let it go. you can force some of that nutrient uptake and output into the buds closer up to the top if you trim some of that bottom stuff off.

what kind of medium is that?
 
zyklon

zyklon

Member
My bottles read as follows... Grow Big: 6-4-4; Big Bloom: 0.01-0.3-0.7; Tiger Bloom: 2-8-4. I didn't buy them, my friend gave them to me to use after he used some for a small grow of his own. He said they were what I should use. I've been giving her tap water for the past week or so, but I made up a new nute mix for the flowering.
He changed the timing just today actually. I don't have any real magnification to get in there and check it out with, nor a camera with a necessarily high resolution for close up (I used my phone for those pics)... so that might be a bit of a problem in that department. My friend said I should do the same about the lower leafs and stuff, but I didn't get to it, figured I'd let him do that he has a bit more experience. Also, the medium is just some potting soil he happened to have as well as some peat moss on top... in a Fresh Step container. Ha.
 
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buraka415

Active Member
I havent used those nutes, but judging from the NPK values, the Big Bloom sounds awefully low. Tiger bloom I dont know about, search on the site for others who have used it.

You dont need the magnifier now, you will need it near the end - if you truly want to tell when they are done. Strains come with a flowering time, but it should be a rule of thumb, not set in stone. A jeweler loupe is like $10 - $15 I think.

unsulphured molasses is not a bad thing to use in bloom. it provides sugars and beneficial organisms. If you can hit it with some compost tea that would be good. if you're close to a grow store, maybe they have some hum tea.

wait - what size container is that? and is there a reason you didnt bring the medium closer to the tip?

a good soil mix is definitely better than just average soil mix from Home Depot or whatever. again, if there is a store nearby, maybe get a bag of FoxFarm Ocean Forest. That stuff is pretty good. you can cut it with sum perlite - will help on drainage. They look pretty good man.

do you have a PH meter? how do you know that your nute mix isn't get locked out due to too high/low of PH?
 
zyklon

zyklon

Member
buraka415 said:
I havent used those nutes, but judging from the NPK values, the Big Bloom sounds awefully low. Tiger bloom I dont know about, search on the site for others who have used it.

You dont need the magnifier now, you will need it near the end - if you truly want to tell when they are done. Strains come with a flowering time, but it should be a rule of thumb, not set in stone. A jeweler loupe is like $10 - $15 I think.

unsulphured molasses is not a bad thing to use in bloom. it provides sugars and beneficial organisms. If you can hit it with some compost tea that would be good. if you're close to a grow store, maybe they have some hum tea.

wait - what size container is that? and is there a reason you didnt bring the medium closer to the tip?

a good soil mix is definitely better than just average soil mix from Home Depot or whatever. again, if there is a store nearby, maybe get a bag of FoxFarm Ocean Forest. That stuff is pretty good. you can cut it with sum perlite - will help on drainage. They look pretty good man.

do you have a PH meter? how do you know that your nute mix isn't get locked out due to too high/low of PH?
Click to expand...
Yeah, again, I'm no expert here. It's my first grow, I just kinda hucked it. I'm not entirely sure what's what with nutes or PH. I don't have a meter. I'll search around for what other people have to say.
I'm not sure where the nearest grow store is. The one my friend and I went to to get nutes and stuff was a bit of a drive to get to.
The container is roughly 9.5" x 9.5" x 11". Also, I don't really know why we didn't bring the medium higher. I thought it was low. I had her in a small flower pot until she got too big for it, so we transferred her to the Fresh Step box. Do you think, from what you can see, that the level of the medium will effect the growth of the plant/roots? Should I add more beneath and raise her up?
I don't know the quality of the soil either, but I guess I'm stuck with what I got for now? On my next grow I will definitely invest in a good quality medium and a better pot. Maybe a loupe too. :p
 
TheJointProject

TheJointProject

Well-Known Member
You can pick up a good pocket microscope from radioshack for about $12. 60-100x magnification. can't beat it for the price
 
zyklon

zyklon

Member
Word, I'll check that out.
Also, I just added a fan to the closet. It's about a foot in diameter. It's not blowing directly on the plant, but in the direction of the plant, for a bit of circulation. Her leaves rustle very slightly, but not a lot. Is this good? How should I go about air circulation with a fan?
 
ndzbnln

ndzbnln

Active Member
dont worry about circulation untill it gets bigger keep temprature 75-85 and with the nutrients dont go over 20-20-20 learn to use that ph meter and check the water every feeding at 5.5-7.0 and you wont go wrong an i prefer to grow under hps lights google it and you should get maximum yield per harvest with those specific lights and check if the soil has nutrients it self how old is the plant?--------ak-48 1month 2 weeks-----------View attachment 1048466View attachment 1048468View attachment 1048467
 
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buraka415

Active Member
you should definitely try to raise the medium up, but that would mean transplanting to a new pot, like fast. Transplanting can cause a lil bit of stress, so maybe its not a good idea? But the point is, more medium, means more room for roots to grow. Better root growth means better foliage and better buds.

a decent PH meter will run you about $40. Waterproof ones can run you about $80. I've been using the drops form of PH testing, which is only a $10 kit. But that was only because the other HANNA meter I had, the probes got dry for too long and I wasnt confident the readings were reliable. It's just a pretty invaluable tool to have. I highly suggest picking it up.

You could probably get away with the regular potting mix, but I would look around on this site in amending soil, and ask some people who have better experience with it than I do. The organic soil amendments take longer to kick in I think.
 
zyklon

zyklon

Member
It's about 85 degrees in the closet right now. I made a mix of nutes that follows the bottles instructions. Probably not the best idea, but I'm starting with every other watering. I don't have a pH meter on hand, so I won't be able to test it. Just have to wait and see what I'm doing works I 'spose. I never wrote down the date I started this plant, and I'm a little hazy trying to think of how long she's been in there. It seems like a month, maybe more? Beats me. :eyesmoke:
And yeah about the medium height. That might be a bit of a challenge. She's in there good, and I don't want to stress it too much. The pot it's in is about 11" tall, and there's about 6" of soil in it. Would that be alright? I'm not going to grow the plant til it's huge, but big enough for me to just let it flower and maybe get a few nugs out of it. Again it's my first grow, I'm gonna experiment and see where I get.
 
zyklon

zyklon

Member
Update... She's about 26"-27" tall now. Lots of vegetative growth, lots of branches. How does it look? When should I see sex? I think it's a female, but I can't really tell yet?
 

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