Midwest1228
Member
There are adapters. The round plug is a ground plug. Just look for 3prong to 2 prong adapters where ever.
My First Grow!
- Thread starter Foolet
- Start date
Foolet
Active Member
Great! Hope this turns out well.
Foolet
Active Member
Everything is ALL setup just waiting for the seed to germinate. I'll be growing (1) in Scotts Premium Potting Soil (.07 - .01 - .03) It says "Continuous feeding for up to 4 months." so does this mean I won't need to add nutrients? I grabbed a lot of "Dried Blood 12-0-0" would this be good for nutrients? Comments/concerns/experiences? Also, I will have the lights OFF from 3 PM - 9 PM and on the rest of the time. I have 10x23 and 2x26 watt 6500k daylight CFL's. I plan running on the 18/6 schedule the whole way through. I'll have 282 watts for 2 plants, think that'll be enough/get me a good harvest if done properly?
Foolet
Active Member
I see the root coming from the seed. It's pretty tiny but it definitely working. I now have ANOTHER problem. I put my thermometer in the place I will have my box and today at the end of an EXTREMELY hot day it was 84. That is OUTSIDE of the box.. This obviously means I will need to do something extra. I have heard putting a frozen water bottle in the box would help keep the temperature in the box down. Can anyone confirm this? I need to plant TOMORROW SO I REALLY NEED INPUT.
Midwest1228
Member
That's pretty hot for seedlings, a small air conditioning unit would be the easiest fix. With 85 ambient temp outside the box, then even lot's of airflow won't help.
Hupomone
Active Member
Frozen water bottles are not effective at bringing temps down. Especially not with an ambient room temperature that high. If you can't pull in air to the box that's cooler than 84 degrees, your box temperature will never be below 84. How could it? That's impossible. You need to bring your ambient temperature down. With proper ventilation your box can achieve the same (within 1-2 degrees) temperature as your room.
Long story short, you need a way to bring that rooms temperature down, or a way to force cold air into your box from an outside source rather than using a passive intake pulling in the rooms air. Like an A/C unit.
Foolet
Active Member
I just took the temperature and it's at 67 degrees! Last night it dropped into the 70's by 8 PM. My lights will be off from 3PM-9PM anyway so this could work well. It seems that the hottest possible is about 84 degrees. But that's during sleep time anyway. I will be planting the baby today! Do you guys think it'll be okay to use only (eight) 23 watt 6500k daylight CFL's for the first few weeks.
That's a real picture btw. I'd put the plant right in the middle of the 8 bulbs. So all the light would be coming from the sides. Is that okay?
Hupomone
Active Member
Marijuana plants are kind of like pine trees. You notice how a pine tree in the wilderness has a broad base of branches and as you go to the top it gets narrower and narrower until it reaches the final tip? That's the apical tip. Marijuana, like pine trees, is perfectly content with pushing its apical tip all the way to the light while ignoring the rest of the lower growth for the most part.
The reason why I'm explaining this to you is because you need a full range of light. You need light for your plant to reach for on top, and on the sides. If you only have light on the sides, your plant is going to start trying to reach for that. If you have light on top and on the sides, your plant will reach in all directions.
Also that's great to hear that the temperatures got down that low. I do know for a fact that the hottest time of the day is around 3PM though so your box is going to be getting pretty toasty during the morning/afternoon with all those lights.
To answer your question if 8 bulbs is enough. You only need 1 bulb to grow 1 sproutling. You only need 2 bulbs to grow a bigger sproutling. 4-6 Bulbs would easily carry a single plant through most of its vegging career. The main thing to keep in mind is as your plant is first developing from a sproutling into a well developed veg stage (good root system) you don't want to stress it out with excess light and heat. In fact, less is more at that stage. You want your sproutling to be able to thrive and develop a good root system before you start beaming the sun on it. After it has developed a couple nodes and stuff and your root system is strong and developed and there's no signs of stress on the plant, it comes to that point where as much light as you can shove in there is best without destroying the plant with high temperatures.
Foolet
Active Member
Okay, I'll have 2 lights to the left, 2 lights to the right, and 2 lights from the top. I'm about to plant the baby! Can't wait!
Foolet
Active Member
Picture 1: Upward view of the pot I am using
Picture 2: Side view of the pot I am using. ( I also have a little metal pot catcher for the drain water )
Picture 3: The germinated seed
Picture 4: The germinated seed right before I put in the soil
Picture 5: After I put the little seed in the soil and covered it up, I poured about half the water bottle in, let the water drain, then repeated until the whole water bottle was used. Now I don't plan on watering it for a day or two? I currently have 1 of the cfl bulbs on each side, and 2 hanging from the top. I have it running from NOW until 3 PM tomorrow then it will go back on from 9 PM. = 18/6 schedule.
Does everything sound right? I'd appreciate any concerns.
My 1 concern : When I poured the water bottle in the water raised some of the soil up and probably shifted my seed. What will happen if the root part is facing down instead of up?
Picture 2: Side view of the pot I am using. ( I also have a little metal pot catcher for the drain water )
Picture 3: The germinated seed
Picture 4: The germinated seed right before I put in the soil
Picture 5: After I put the little seed in the soil and covered it up, I poured about half the water bottle in, let the water drain, then repeated until the whole water bottle was used. Now I don't plan on watering it for a day or two? I currently have 1 of the cfl bulbs on each side, and 2 hanging from the top. I have it running from NOW until 3 PM tomorrow then it will go back on from 9 PM. = 18/6 schedule.
Does everything sound right? I'd appreciate any concerns.
My 1 concern : When I poured the water bottle in the water raised some of the soil up and probably shifted my seed. What will happen if the root part is facing down instead of up?
Attachments
Foolet
Active Member
Would still like to know...
Foolet
Active Member
Little girl popped out of the soil last night or this morning. I gave her about half a water bottle. She still had some water at the bottom of the pot, so I don't plan on watering her for about 2 days. I turned on 2 more lights so now the lighting is:
2 hanging above, 2 to the right, 2 to the left. Today was 90 all day and the box seemed to be COOL maybe in the upper 70's. She is on a 18/6 schedule. I'll take some pictures on Friday. When should I start adding nutes?
2 hanging above, 2 to the right, 2 to the left. Today was 90 all day and the box seemed to be COOL maybe in the upper 70's. She is on a 18/6 schedule. I'll take some pictures on Friday. When should I start adding nutes?
Hupomone
Active Member
I think you're already watering too much. IF you see run off, stop watering. That's telling you that you've already added too much and adding more isn't helping anything.
Don't judge any of your watering based on what you read. It's not that simple as "watering it every 48 hours." You might not have to water it for a week straight. You need to learn how much water your plant is using. No one can tell you that except for your plant. If you need to take notes, weigh your pot when it fully watered and when its fully dry, or whatever else it takes, you need something so you know how much water your plant needs. The finger in the soil works pretty good for your smaller pots with your sproutling, but over time as your pot size gets bigger you need more "sophisticated" methods of determining if you need to water or not. I like to lift my pots and judge by the weight and of course the way the plant looks.
When you water using a water bottle a trick I like to use is put m index finger over the tip of the bottle. As I pour it, it hits my finger, and trickles out. This way my soil isn't disturbed and moved around a lot. I'm sure your plant is fine if it sprouted already though.
considering
I cannot stress this enough though. Please, please do not talk about nutes right now. You are so far from requiring nutes it's not even funny. I have had my current plant growing for a month and only now am I even considering nutes. Keyword here is considering. And please for the love of all things mary jane do not water based on a set hourly schedule as described above. Right now I cannot recommend anything more highly than the Marijuana Plant Problems forum and all of its stickies. Most importantly for you right now is research research research and patience. Do not try to rush the plant. When you learn to listen to your plant ittakes so much guesswork out of growing. IT will tell you when it needs nutes, water, if its too hot (or cold), and etc.
Looking good so far though man. Happy to hear your temps are under control so far.
Don't judge any of your watering based on what you read. It's not that simple as "watering it every 48 hours." You might not have to water it for a week straight. You need to learn how much water your plant is using. No one can tell you that except for your plant. If you need to take notes, weigh your pot when it fully watered and when its fully dry, or whatever else it takes, you need something so you know how much water your plant needs. The finger in the soil works pretty good for your smaller pots with your sproutling, but over time as your pot size gets bigger you need more "sophisticated" methods of determining if you need to water or not. I like to lift my pots and judge by the weight and of course the way the plant looks.
When you water using a water bottle a trick I like to use is put m index finger over the tip of the bottle. As I pour it, it hits my finger, and trickles out. This way my soil isn't disturbed and moved around a lot. I'm sure your plant is fine if it sprouted already though.
considering
I cannot stress this enough though. Please, please do not talk about nutes right now. You are so far from requiring nutes it's not even funny. I have had my current plant growing for a month and only now am I even considering nutes. Keyword here is considering. And please for the love of all things mary jane do not water based on a set hourly schedule as described above. Right now I cannot recommend anything more highly than the Marijuana Plant Problems forum and all of its stickies. Most importantly for you right now is research research research and patience. Do not try to rush the plant. When you learn to listen to your plant ittakes so much guesswork out of growing. IT will tell you when it needs nutes, water, if its too hot (or cold), and etc.
Looking good so far though man. Happy to hear your temps are under control so far.
Foolet
Active Member
Thanks A LOT for the advice. Now that it sprouted I will definitely water it A LOT less. I just wanted to be positive I "kept the soil moist." She already grew a bit more. The temperatures are getting out of control, but when I fix my lighting schedule to 10:30AM - 4:30PM OFF this will fix it a lot. I can't believe how fast it is growing. Day 2 of sprouting and it's maybe half an inch higher then yesterday. I currently have 144 watts(one 26 watt and one 23 watt on both the left and right, and two 23 watts above it). The girl has 2 leaves in the front and 2 on the side.