Advice and tips

Hello everyone this is my very first completely solo grow. I posted earlier this week and took everyone’s advice swapped into smaller containers (instead of one large bin for 2 plants. This is week 3 since germination. My lighting is as follows: 2 50 par 32 watt LED Lights. 1 65 watt incandescent plant light. 1 65 watt equivalent led full spectrum bulb . 2 no brand 25 watt full spectrum led panels claiming 1500 par at 10-12 inches(they have a second option upon purchase for 2 45watt panels and the diagrams seem to represent the capability of 1 of the 45 watt panel) I recently switched from tap water to distilled water. I flushed the soil last night to hopefully remove any of the bad compounds left from the tap water. The plants have seemed to perk a lot since my adjustments. The small plant is on week 1 from sprouting. The “empty pot” is a seedling planted 2 days ago. I am running 18/6 and my soil is fox farm happy frog. Any advice is welcomed!

Looking good actually I'm going to follow this and see what happens with that Fox Farms soil. Major tips are going to be watch your input PH and avoid tap water because it's commonly full of sodium and possibly chlorine/chloramines and who knows what else if its city water..

Be sure to not over water the soil always just water until a little run off comes out the bottom and monitor weight of pots to know when to water or not, if the pot is heavy you don't need to water.

calvin.m16 said:

Looking good actually I'm going to follow this and see what happens with that Fox Farms soil. Major tips are going to be watch your input PH and avoid tap water because it's commonly full of sodium and possibly chlorine/chloramines and who knows what else if its city water..

Be sure to not over water the soil always just water until a little run off comes out the bottom and monitor weight of pots to know when to water or not, if the pot is heavy you don't need to water.

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Thanks a ton for the reply I’m shocked that this forum is so responsive! As for ph distilled water should be adequate and not in need of ph up or down? I am also going to be following the fox farm trio mix schedule for my nutes. My biggest question would also be will more light be required during the flowering phase? Or will my current setup last me from start to finish?

OrganicPanda said:

Thanks a ton for the reply I’m shocked that this forum is so responsive! As for ph distilled water should be adequate and not in need of ph up or down? I am also going to be following the fox farm trio mix schedule for my nutes. My biggest question would also be will more light be required during the flowering phase? Or will my current setup last me from start to finish?

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I try to provide answers to everyone as fast as I can cause I was new once and no one is done learning yet we all have stuff to learn.

You will need to balance your ph of your water even if its Distilled / Reverse Osmosis filtered. I recommend the Cyco brand of PH Up and Down it's the most potent and affordable. Literally you only need a couple drops..

If you plan on gardening for a long time you should add the BlueLabs PH Pen into your inventory and a BlueLabs PPM Meter or Truncheon (your choice) I like the Truncheon because it gives me EC, PPM 700 & 500 scale and also you can use it as a stir stick. lol

OrganicPanda said:

My biggest question would also be will more light be required during the flowering phase? Or will my current setup last me from start to finish?

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You are going to want to look into a higher output light if you plan to grow for more than an experiment. The "blurple" LEDs or low wattage LED are okay for veg growth but once you start growing buds they're not going to get big unless you have powerful light. Personally I started out after Blurple with Mars-Hydro TSW-2000 fixture and each light can easily yield around 10-16 ounces with 3-4 plants. The yield depends on genetics, nutrients, lighting, co2 levels in the air etc.. It gets much more technical.

For FFOF (Fox Farms Ocean Forest) you're going to want to run a PH of 6.2-6.5 for the best results in my experience. I'm hoping you don't run into the same issues I did with FFOF a couple years ago. The quality was so bad I found a fish hook in a bag and had bugs fly everywhere after I watered the soil for the first time.. IT was like grow your own bugs.. Don't let that discourage you though you possibly have a good batch.

Update: I found some reflective insulation type material in my basement and figured since my lights are not extremely high intensity I’d be able to get away with using it even though it has dimples and creases. Please correct if I am mistaken. Since adjustment the leaves seem to have opened overnight but look to maybe be yellowing in the centers? Also swapped my 13 watt equal for the tried and true 65 watt incandescent plant bulb. Any pointers I’m all ears

For distilled water you need to add a buffer to the water or ph can swing like crazy since it has no buffers

Kerovan said:

For distilled water you need to add a buffer to the water or ph can swing like crazy since it has no buffers

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Can you elaborate on a buffer? I’m very uneducated on terms

That should work, but as others mentioned you're going to be underlit for flowering.
A simple guide for lighting requirements using economy led fixtures and screw-in led bulbs would be 50 watts of power used for each square foot of canopy.
For a couple of SMALL plants, you might be able to get by with 100 watts total but I think that you would get much better results with 100 watts/plant.
Good luck with the grow.

GBAUTO said:

That should work, but as others mentioned you're going to be underlit for flowering.
A simple guide for lighting requirements using economy led fixtures and screw-in led bulbs would be 50 watts of power used for each square foot of canopy.
For a couple of SMALL plants, you might be able to get by with 100 watts total but I think that you would get much better results with 100 watts/plant.
Good luck with the grow.

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I figured I was underlit even now seeing as their growth has almost stopped since a few days ago. I decided to purchase the ra1000 by parfactworks would my current setup plus this be suitable? For a full grow that is?

That fixture uses 110 watts-it should be able to flower 2 sq feet of canopy.

GBAUTO said:

That fixture uses 110 watts-it should be able to flower 2 sq feet of canopy.

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Good to hear I plan on getting a second one when I have the money since their daisy chain capable.
I just checked the plants after coming home and I’m having trouble trying to determine their sex. It looks to maybe be a herm or are the pollen sack looking sprouts possibly just immature foliage not yet separated

OrganicPanda said:

I just checked the plants after coming home and I’m having trouble trying to determine their sex. It looks to maybe be a herm or are the pollen sack looking sprouts possibly just immature foliage not yet separated

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Too early to tell.

Today my ra1000 ant tent came in. I’m hoping this will help! Will update again in a week. Any tips welcomed!

Okay okay I know I said one week but I’ve seen some insane growth and would like to start lst but can’t figure where to start. Also I’m beginning to think it’s a hybrid species seeing as it has developed ruderal sativa and indica shaped leafs. I’m sorta confused by the appearance but she looks healthy

Can anyone point out what’s causing these white spots it seems to be potentially to much light? It started after upgrading to a ra1000 at 18-24 inches I’ve raised my light as much as I can could this possibly be a nutrient deficiency or burn? I’m running fox farm soil trio

I’ve decided she’s fs a female and looking like a heavy indica very healthy growth in the past days and after the next feed I think she’s gonna be even better! I’ve decided due to the coloration of the stems and the ruderal/indica mix with new growth looking to be very sativa like to name her Bianca. Hopefully the bud is some quality!