Fresh newbie, 400W/1 Plant, indoor soil.

[alotaball]

Steez the hydro shop down here has em for less then 30.. not great meters but they are on warranty .. just get the calibration liquid too. They will explain how it all works if you can make the drive to riverside ... If not .. just get what you can .. the ph meter is the most important!

 

[steeZz]

Alright then, I'll just get the PH meter... you think I should pick up grow, bloom, and micro? or just bloom and micro? andddd thank you thank you thank you :]

anddd if I could drive down there I totally would :/
I would of done it by now aswell, so I can see how you do everything in person instead of reading it on rollitup

 

[alotaball]

http://generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/feeding_charts/GH_KeepItSimple_DrainToWaste.pdf here is the one I used at first.. Ill find the other one later.. I used this one but started at 1/4 strength of what this says.. then I worked my way up to about half strength .. some strains can take alot .. some cant.. START LOW... I would buy all 3 if you can Steez .. that way if you do get a plant that needs more nitro .. you can still feed it. Plus I like how their schedule slowely reduces the amount of each nutrient in each stage. More nitrogen in veg then it fades to nothing in flower and all bloom. Following this my plants stayed really green.. I didnt use any of the aggresive measurements .. just the standard and transition .. and it worked well. When I get home ill try to get you the soil specific feed chart.. but really just start low and learn what each plant likes.. is the best way imo.

 

[alotaball]

GH also has floranova which is a 2 part instead of a 3 i believe... i havent used it .. but I have heard good things.. Also heard real good things about their General Organics line... Someday lol

 

[Lanternslight]

Thats actually a question i've been meaning to ask, thank you for bringing it up THCHead...

YEA ALOTABALL, since you're the almighty wizard of this thread, and can conjure up miraculous answers!
How many mason jars do you think we will need for a pound harvest?

And i'm using a 400W light + Air cooled reflector... I got the light probably 10 inches to a foot from my plants and I can probably even drop it another 4 inches if I wanted to...
I read it's heat that kills plants not light, and my light literally has no heat.. i can put my hand on the glass and feel nothing after its been running all day.

It really depends how big your nugs are, a smaller nug will allow for more negative space to be filled in the jar. While a larger nug will have more negative space that you could maybe fill in with smaller nugs. You can pick up Mason Jars from just about anywhere, Grocery stores have them even, they are used in canning and you can pick them up at many Arts and Crafts stores too.

As for the closeness of the light, I think you have the right idea by dropping it closer a little at a time. That will allow you to watch how your babies respond. A rule of thumb is exactly what you were doing with your hand; use the back of your hand (sense it is heat sensitive) and if it doesn't hurt you to leave it there for a 90 secs the plants should be ohk. If you look at some flourescent threads they talk about this quite a bit. Really watch you plants and see how they feel about it. No one grow is the same. Your next could be a complete 180 from what you are doing right now.

Make sure you the adjustments you are making are small, if something isn't right it gives you room to recover. Remember everytime you stress the plants you have to make up that time to get the truly best crop you can.

 

[Lanternslight]

I plan on building a a 6'x4'x6'. Is plywood with flat white paint enough? Should I put anything else on the walls? Like aluminum foil or reflective board?

Going by what I've read on this thread, with my 600w light I have about 12sf to work with for plants. About how many plants does that equate to. Oh btw, witll be planting NL fems.

Equipment (as of right now):
PowerTrip 600+ kit:
6" or 8" air cooled reflector w/ flip glass
Dimmable fan cooled ballast
Dual-Arc 600w bulb
FFOF and FF light warrior for the seedlings
GH micro and bloom
five gal buckets

Any advice, comments, suggestions, or caveats will be greatly appreciated. I am about to leave for work, so I will not be able to respond to any posts until later this evening or tom morn, but I will check back. Thanks again and happy growing!!

For the first question flat (matte) white paint is enough to get reflectivity, however, if you go call your local hardware store to see if they have rolls of mylar or panda plastic (white) it would be better for you, less messy and easier to install. Plus, if you have to move you can take it down and reuse it. The mylar is easy to tear, so if you have these problems I would recommend the Panda Plastic

Here is a link to another forum debating the issue. http://www.gardenscure.com/420/theories-speculation/101127-panda-plastic-v-mylar.html

You have enough light from my research to cover 4x4x6 area basically with proper venting and cooling going on. I would go to the lighting forums and look up specifics on lumens/sqft. I know the bubbleponics guys have tons and tons of info on this topic. With that area you have as much room per plant as you make use of, if you are using techniques, like screen of green or something like this, you may only need 1 plant to cover the area. You plant should be as wide as it's container and can grow as much as twice the height. If you have a 3 in. tall container it may grow 6 in. from the top of the soil.

I have a 4x4x6 grow tent, I was told at the time I purchased it that I could grow 9-12 plants in it. That leads me to plan how I will use the room in the area I have to work with. I would recommend using 3Gal buckets for a smaller area, you achieve more canopy if you aren't using training techniques.

Also, I don't want to forget to mention specifically DO NOT use aluminum foil. It will cause spot lighting and has worse reflectivity than flat white matte paint. It will burn your plants and inefficient use of space.

Another tip I learned from a friend and found again in forums and books is, make sure the area above your tent has something reflecting or small cfls. The light will bend towards these dark areas and away from your plants. Don't know if you have already done this as I haven't seen your setup. It is definitely worth mentioning.

 

[steeZz]

Ohhh and btw, the spidermite problem seems to be completely under control... just doing routine sprays and i havent seen any progression of it getting worse.. so i figure if i keep up the sprays atleast every 3-5 days I should be gravy :]

 

[Lanternslight]

And also, generally how long would you veg? I would like the plants to be anywhere from 3-4 ft tall, but will nice dense nugs. Thanks again!

If you are worried about the height of your plants then you would want to think about topping/ FIM. Dig around it's easy to find a thread on the subject.

 

[Lanternslight]

I agree with alotaball the pH is vitally important in maintaining your plants health. You have to know how they are taking in the nutrients and you can tell from pH early I believe for things like salt lockout coming on or something like that. Make sure you aren't over spraying, you could risk over doing the plants and they won't be able to process the carbon dioxide they need or breath out the oxygen.

Take a look @ this thread https://www.rollitup.org/bugs/437875-neem-oil-life.html

It describes neem and whatnot. Also, you wanna get on the underside of the leaves, as this is where the spidermite thrive. As it protects them from rain it will protect them from falling neem.

 

[steeZz]

So thats pretty much how much nutes I use per gal of water, but i should only start with 1/4 the recommended dose and work my way up possibly to 1/2 the dose correct?
also.. should I be watering with 1gal of water each time I water?

 

[ray420365]

You can get a digital ph reader from amazon, the yellow and black one for about 25-30 bucks, works great, has sunlight sensitivity/soil moisture content/ph i got one for my lawn, but its great for plants any soil, just dont submerge it in a water system.

 

[alotaball]

Steez.. im glad to hear that the mites appear under control.. just dont get comfortable and you will be GOOD.. some people think they got em all.. but miss a couple .. and it can take a month or so till you notice they bred and have infested... so keep your inspections up.. and you will be all good bro!

 

[alotaball]

LOok like lantern is here to help with the questions >.. SWEET lol .. Lantern got anything growing right now??? fill us in !

 

[steeZz]

Lantern is a friend of mine, he has had some grows in the past.
I think hes gettin ready to start one up though soon :]

and yea, i'm going to keep spraying until i can't spray anymore around 5th week of flower yea?

 

[alotaball]

Steez.. guess what happend.. I pulled one of my girls out to inspect her and check the trichomes.. caught a branch of the chemdog on the way back in .. snapped the top straight off.. .. but its all good.. shes loaded.. im gonna have a sample.. this little top is 8.9 grams.. here is a pic.. she has a couple weeks tell she will be done.. but is getting SOO frosty .. and MY hindu's .. I swear they double in trich's every night lol.. check my journal for some bud porn in a min. Here is a pic of the nugg that broke off

 

[alotaball]

ok steez one more picture and im done.. this is the hindu nug u get when we meet.. of course it will be ripe trimmed and cured.. .. would you smoke this ?????

 

[steeZz]

I would inhale straight nug of that, not even the smoke.

 

[Regs Suck]

Thanks alotaball and Lantern for the info. Regarding the heat, would it help if I had a fan blowing 24/7 to keep fresh air flowing in and circulating? Would this do enough to keep the temp down to manageable ranges? I don't have my box built yet, so I can't experiment, just wanted ya'lls opinions.

Sounds like mylar is the best. Will try to find it around town.

One last quick ?.. How close to the cups would you put the T5's after you plant the seeds? Once it pops up, would you put it closer or farther? I want to say I've read you would want to put it closer after it sprouts, but just wanted to verify. Thanks again for the responses!!

 

[steeZz]

You would want your light closer, you don't want it too far away cause the plant will search for the light and grow to be lanky and skinny.

And yes, you should have air circulating all the time, my exhaust fan is on 24/7 aswell as my small white fan, and i have a bigger fan running during lights on aswell.

I think aslong as air is circulating and your temperature is stable.. you should be fine.

 

[steeZz]

All the plants are coming in great, whatever problem their current leaves have the new growth doesn't seem to. All of it is coming in gorgeous and I think the plants are finally stabilizing and enjoying their new home. Only took a picture of the desert dream, I woke up this morning and the lights were already on.. but she was like SUCKED to the light, all her leaves were fucking having an orgasm. I also brought my light down pretty close to my plants, literally almost touching them... it still stays really cool.. roughly 80 degrees all the time so i figure it'll be alright.