1st time grow...just looking for pointers!

[SmoothPollock]

What's up everyone, this is my first post ever as well as my first growing experience. I was given a few bagseeds a while back and am now into about the 5th week or so. I'm posting some pics so you can get an idea of my setup and ladies. I am not interested in dumping much cash into this trial as I will be moving to a "grow-friendly" state here in the next few months and will like to get a good setup at that time. Pretty much everything in my grow room I resourced from things around the house, I did buy a few things here and there that I thought would help me through trial and error of this "practice grow".

If at any time I am not using this forum correctly or am in the wrong area, please direct me to the correct source.

Research:
I did do a bit of research before I started, and have continued to try to learn something new each day. I did read/skim Greg Green's "The Cannabis Grow Bible <4th edition>" and daily search for new thoughts, questions, concerns, ways to improve, etc... please advise if there is something I have wrong or incorrect!

Where I'm at:
4 plants
Germinated all seeds using the paper towel method in a ziploc baggie
"Plant 1" -Oldest plant: 30 days old today (day planted in soil was day one)
"Plant 2" -25 days old (just FIM'd it today at 25 days)
"Plant 3 & 4" -3 days old


What I've got going on.
- Strain? - Bagseed. (completely unknown - i never even smoked the weed it came from)
- Lighting? - CFL bulbs: 23w 5000k 1600 Lumens (4 of them) - suspended about 2-4 inches from the tops of the plants
- CFL bulbs: 26w 2700k 1250 Lumens (5 of them) - suspended about 2-4 inches from the tops of the plants
- started the first 2 weeks at 18/6 lighting schedule, now on a 24/0
- Soil - MG Potting Soil Mix (I am aware that this is the lowest of the low soil mixture, but I had a huge bag of it and thought I'd give it a shot) - so far, minimal problems
- Vermiculite - mixed about 60/40 MG to Vermiculite
- Nutrients - I am aware that the MG has time release nutes - the bag says 21-7-14 (N-P-K), I also have MG All Purpose Plant Food (24-8-16), and some MG Bone Meal (20-0-0) - I'll explain later how I have used these thus far.
- Water - Distilled Water since day one - I only water as needed (finger test method)
- Temp - Consistently between 75-85 degrees (F) (depending on if the door to the closet is closed or not)
- Humidity - Fluctuates between 32-70% (dependent upon if I have a damp towel in there or not)
- Space - Closet in an extra bedroom upstairs (approx. 4 'x 3' x 8')
- Fan? - yes (non-oscilating), blowing directly on the top portions of the leaves and at the base of the lights - have had the fan running in there since day one
- pH - unknown - no tester


I think I've covered the basics. Here are some pics to put a visual on everything

Overall Setup:

Plant 1:

Plant 2:

Plants 3 & 4:

(hope I uploaded those correctly)

anyway, if anyone sees anything right off the bat that I could be doing better, please let me know.

Thanks all!

Look forward to learning from your experiences!
-Smooth

 

[Noob grower1]

get ph tester.. My plants allmost died last week. My run off was 3! with 6.5 goin in. n ur,humidty fluxuates alot. And keep a eye onn temp.. Besides that. Keep on keepin on.. ;D

 

[SmoothPollock]

thanks for the response, my humidity is typically between 30-40% unless I choose to raise it. I thought for veg state it's better to have higher humidity as long as it doesn't get over 70%?

pH tester: will put it on my list.

 

[Turm]

good job man, keep it up. Keep doing research and slowly invest into more equipment.

 

[SiliconeBud]

I think everything looks pretty good, plants look nice and healthy.

So have you put them into flower yet?

Cheers,
- SB -

 

[LadyJane420]

What's up everyone, this is my first post ever as well as my first growing experience. I was given a few bagseeds a while back and am now into about the 5th week or so. I'm posting some pics so you can get an idea of my setup and ladies. I am not interested in dumping much cash into this trial as I will be moving to a "grow-friendly" state here in the next few months and will like to get a good setup at that time. Pretty much everything in my grow room I resourced from things around the house, I did buy a few things here and there that I thought would help me through trial and error of this "practice grow".

If at any time I am not using this forum correctly or am in the wrong area, please direct me to the correct source.

Research:
I did do a bit of research before I started, and have continued to try to learn something new each day. I did read/skim Greg Green's "The Cannabis Grow Bible <4th edition>" and daily search for new thoughts, questions, concerns, ways to improve, etc... please advise if there is something I have wrong or incorrect!

Where I'm at:
4 plants
Germinated all seeds using the paper towel method in a ziploc baggie
"Plant 1" -Oldest plant: 30 days old today (day planted in soil was day one)
"Plant 2" -25 days old (just FIM'd it today at 25 days)
"Plant 3 & 4" -3 days old


What I've got going on.
- Strain? - Bagseed. (completely unknown - i never even smoked the weed it came from)
- Lighting? - CFL bulbs: 23w 5000k 1600 Lumens (4 of them) - suspended about 2-4 inches from the tops of the plants
- CFL bulbs: 26w 2700k 1250 Lumens (5 of them) - suspended about 2-4 inches from the tops of the plants
- started the first 2 weeks at 18/6 lighting schedule, now on a 24/0
- Soil - MG Potting Soil Mix (I am aware that this is the lowest of the low soil mixture, but I had a huge bag of it and thought I'd give it a shot) - so far, minimal problems
- Vermiculite - mixed about 60/40 MG to Vermiculite
- Nutrients - I am aware that the MG has time release nutes - the bag says 21-7-14 (N-P-K), I also have MG All Purpose Plant Food (24-8-16), and some MG Bone Meal (20-0-0) - I'll explain later how I have used these thus far.
- Water - Distilled Water since day one - I only water as needed (finger test method)
- Temp - Consistently between 75-85 degrees (F) (depending on if the door to the closet is closed or not)
- Humidity - Fluctuates between 32-70% (dependent upon if I have a damp towel in there or not)
- Space - Closet in an extra bedroom upstairs (approx. 4 'x 3' x 8')
- Fan? - yes (non-oscilating), blowing directly on the top portions of the leaves and at the base of the lights - have had the fan running in there since day one
- pH - unknown - no tester


I think I've covered the basics. Here are some pics to put a visual on everything

Overall Setup:View attachment 2476304View attachment 2476294

Plant 1:View attachment 2476296View attachment 2476297

Plant 2:View attachment 2476299View attachment 2476300View attachment 2476301

Plants 3 & 4: View attachment 2476303

(hope I uploaded those correctly)

anyway, if anyone sees anything right off the bat that I could be doing better, please let me know.

Thanks all!

Look forward to learning from your experiences!
-Smooth

Hi - welcome to growing. I think you've got the right idea. First, you're better off than most because you're here, reading and posting, You should see how many people visiting the hydro shop have absolutly no idea.

Like others said, get a PH tester. Its worth it, just a few bucks.

But, the best advice I can give is, dnt over water. I did that at first.

Lastly, use the bag seed for now but, 99% its probably going to be crap. When you move, invest in fire genetics.

Good luck!

/jane

 

[SmoothPollock]

Triickster
I've been thinking about this...I open the closet door multiple times a day, and the room with the closet has a window (2nd story room) so i open the window and have 3 fans total circulating the air. (ceiling fan, portable fan in the actual room, and then the grow room fan. it seems to be doing the trick....

Also, it would be such an easy addition to put an inline fan in the closet, because it would vent to the attic, however, i don't own the home, so i'm hesitant about cutting the closet drywall.

 

[SmoothPollock]

I think everything looks pretty good, plants look nice and healthy.

So have you put them into flower yet?

Cheers,
- SB -

Thanks, I was under the impression that they need to veg for a minimum of 6-8 weeks before putting starting flowering. As of today, the oldest is only 4+ weeks. If I continue to Veg for another 2-3 weeks, that should increase my overall yield ....correct?

 

[SiliconeBud]

The reason I asked if you put them into flower is you're using 5 2700k bulbs and 4 5000k bulbs. Usually 2700k bulbs are used for flowering and 6400k are used for veg. I've seen posting of grows where there is a mix but the 2700k bulbs are in the minority.

For vegging I use only 6400k bulbs and when I switch to flower (12/12 lighting) I change all the bulbs to 2700k. FYI, I've only been doing CFL grows.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, they are growing and the plants look healthy. A small suggestion if you can, you might want to swap out some of the 2700k bulbs out for either 5000k or 6400k bulbs.

And to answer your question on yield there are so many factors and strain is one of them. The number of nodes (branches) is another and this depends on how long you veg for - See my signature for a link to my Sweet Purple Journal.

Hard for me to tell but some of your plants look to have 6 nodes plus the cola and this is pretty decent # for a CFL grow. But yeah leave it for a few more weeks and get a few more nodes because when you do switch to flower you will probably want to trim off some of the lower branches to get air circulating under the plant.

Another factor to think about is space and height limits in your grow area. A sort of rule of thumb is when you do switch from veg to flower your plant will double in size. So if vegged till the plant is 12" tall, when harvest comes expect the plant to be approx 24" in height.

Hope that helps

Cheers,

- SB -

 

[Coho]

I prefer perlite to vermiculite..I doesn't hold water like vermiculite.

 

[whocares100]

Well I'm new too, so I'm interested on how your doing too...

 

[Big Trees]

make sure to pinch or lst to strengthen the stems. you can also blow a fan directly on them. you want your stems nice and strong for support.

 

[SiliconeBud]

make sure to pinch or lst to strengthen the stems. you can also blow a fan directly on them. you want your stems nice and strong for support.

Never heard that LSTing or pinching strengthens the branches but agree that keeping a fan blowing on your plants helps. If you do use a fan, try to get a rotating fan.

Cheers
- SB -

 

[bwest]

Thanks, I was under the impression that they need to veg for a minimum of 6-8 weeks before putting starting flowering. As of today, the oldest is only 4+ weeks. If I continue to Veg for another 2-3 weeks, that should increase my overall yield ....correct?

You can flower straight from germination, no such thing as a minimum veg time. You can check out the 12/12 from seed thread. Good luck with your grow, looks good.

 

[SmoothPollock]

Lil' update on the ladies (hopefully!)....

Sorry, it's been a few days, and thank you to those of you that have responded and shed some insight. I do have a non-oscilating fan on them, and have since day one. The stems seem nice and healthy and seem to be thickening up day by day. I made a blood meal tea and fed it to my 2 larger plants (after letting it sit for a few days - and after straining it). They seemed to respond almost instantly.

My question now is....what's next? Pics below. The one on the right is 5 weeks, and the left one is 4 weeks to the day. Both seem to be doing quite well, and I'm wondering how much longer I should wait until I begin flowering. I have some 42w 2700k bulbs on order, and they should be here in about a week. Would that be too soon?

Any additional insight is always appreciated. Just looking for advice. (I cannot believe how much fun I am having with this new found hobby!)

Pic 1 (left plant) Pic 2 (right plant) Pic 3 (both plants showing approx. 9" in height) Pic 4 (bird's eye view of left plant showing FIM from a week ago) Pic 5 (bird's eye of right plant)

 

[SmoothPollock]

You can flower straight from germination, no such thing as a minimum veg time. You can check out the 12/12 from seed thread. Good luck with your grow, looks good.

Thank you! My understanding is that if you don't veg and go straight 12/12 from seed your yield will be significantly less. Am I incorrect? Obviously I understand there are many other factors that will increase/decrease yield, but in this particular instance isn't a 6-8 week vegetative period an opportunity to grow your plant so that it is closer to maturity before flowering thus giving it a greater ability to produce a significant yield?

 

[SmoothPollock]

Another question I have for anyone out there..... Why are my plants so bushy as opposed to taller and more lengthy? Is this a good/bad thing?

 

[SiliconeBud]

Looking good. Whatever you are doing its working.

You've seen some pics of my sweet purple grow. The plant started out more bushy in veg, it's mostly indica and is a trait of this strain. Once switched to flower it started to stretch. Still bushy but I think that is a good thing, lots of nodes (branches) mean more bud.

Cheers
- SB -

 

[whocares100]

Mine did better with a variety of light, I have 4 CFL bulbs 2 6500 , 2 2700, Changed to 1 flourescent 4100 replaced them with 10 CFL 2700, added the old units in too, they are happier now...even if the light is Flowering it's works for autoflowers.

 

[SmoothPollock]

Small Upgrade! now am running 9 23w CFL bulbs (5000k). Leaving for a few days so I'm excited to see how much they grow while I'm gone. (friend looking in on the plants a few times a day to ensure no issues). LST'd one of my seedlings and within 12 hours she's perked back up and growing steadily.