Could you take a look at my first grow?

Hi,

Just starting my first ever grow, and just wanted to see what you guys thought; if you noticed anything that is particularly wrong (or right), things that could be improved within the basic small-space-cfl scenario I have going on here, how the plant looks. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

So, she (hopefully, that is) is an 18 day old White Rhino. No signs of sex yet.
-She's been on 24/0 the entire 18 days.
-Has been in this five gallon pot from germination, no transplant.
-The soil is Fox Farm Original Potting Mix.
-She had been getting about a cup of 6.0-6.5pH water everyday. No nutrients at all until today, when she was watered slightly less than 1 liter, with Bio-Grow vegetative fertilizer with an NPK of 2-0.1-6.6. The liter of water had 2-3ml of the Bio-Grow in it.
-The lights have changed the whole time. Started off with 8-10 23 watt "soft white" cfls. These were rearranged in placement and number to try and get the best lighting without having extra bulbs running, but still had at least 5 going the whole time. Got the two 42 watt bulbs on Tuesday, and sort of re-did the lighting set up to what you see now.
-Two CPU fans, a desk fan, and a box fan. The CPU fans are over the input and output, sucking in and blowing out, respectively. The box fan on the left is turned away from the plant to help move air across it, and towards the out vent. The desk fan does not oscillate, as there is no room for it to do so.
-The smallest set of leaves at the top is the 6th node, with the leaves of the 7th growing inside of it. Almost all of the nodes have secondary branching occurring.
-The highest leaf-tip is 5.5inches, so the 6th node (the top) is about 5 inches from the dirt.
-It has been fairly hot in there. At night, with the door on, it gets up to just under 90. During the day, when the door is ajar a little more, it stays about 80-85. With no lights on, however, it drops to about 70 with the door open, so i would assume about 75 with the door closed. (The lights were only off when the fixtures were being set up differently, during which time it had one desk lamp with one of the 42w bulbs right over it). The humidity is very low, between 10-20%.

The timer is set to turn off the lights in just a few minutes, and not to turn them back on for 12 hours, so my adventures in flowering start soon.

So basically, any input would be great. It seems like things are generally going alright, heat and humidity are a problem, but they don't seem to be causing any major problems right now, although I worry about hermaphrodite problems down the road. There does seem to be a lot of secondary growth going on for how short it is, however. This seems good in that there is a lot of growth happening, but bad in that it is starting to get tangled up in some places, with some of the leaves twisting around to try and get more light. Anything an experienced eye notices would be great to know.

Thanks

Veg longer. Give it time to build up a good root system, and get more shoots for buds to form on. Maybe another 2-3 weeks of veg. You'll want your temps lower for flowering, 85 or higher is too high, ideally 72-75, and lower at night. Guano is a great Phosphorus source for flowering.

Im not experienced at all. SO my input might not count at all. But here goes anyways,

The plant itself looks pretty good right now. But i do have one suggestion that might help / be better.

~ The lights that are plugged in your Surge protector, You have the Light socket to the outlet adapter, Take that adapter and add some (Y) light socket adapters. This way you can put 6 lights on a single surge protector. Also, go to wal-mart or were ever and pick up one of those cheap metal cooking dishes ( cheap metal disposable ones people use for turkey or whatever) Or even pick one up at the dollar store.

Then you can put the Surge protector in the metal thing and bingo, 6 lights and a reflective top,

That will give you a + on your lighting and might even bring down those 90 degree temps.

BUT all in all your plant looks pretty good. I hope my first plant works out well.

netgamer416 said:

Im not experienced at all. SO my input might not count at all. But here goes anyways,

The plant itself looks pretty good right now. But i do have one suggestion that might help / be better.

~ The lights that are plugged in your Surge protector, You have the Light socket to the outlet adapter, Take that adapter and add some (Y) light socket adapters. This way you can put 6 lights on a single surge protector. Also, go to wal-mart or were ever and pick up one of those cheap metal cooking dishes ( cheap metal disposable ones people use for turkey or whatever) Or even pick one up at the dollar store.

Then you can put the Surge protector in the metal thing and bingo, 6 lights and a reflective top,

That will give you a + on your lighting and might even bring down those 90 degree temps.

BUT all in all your plant looks pretty good. I hope my first plant works out well.

Click to expand...

yeah the y splitters kick ass as for the turkey pan idea i don't think that will work very well i got 12 bulbs on a surge protector with y splitters and well the bulbs get warm and hot to the touch... and the heat rises so if you put that turkey thing over the lights... well thats gonna trap heat and push it right into the plant then up


push the foil might uhh reflect the light a little to good and burn the plant

Hey guys, thanks for your input.

To CSI Stickyicky: I decided to put it into flowering now, rather than wait for it to get any bigger, due to space limitations, and the fact that this is mostly a practice grow. It shouldn't actually hurt the plant to go ahead and flower it now, right?

To netgamer416: I think the splitters are a good idea, I was planning on using some once I had more of the 42w bulbs to fit in there. Which will hopefully be soon.

yeaa man .. everythings looking pretty good man.. i was gonna ask you if you have any "daylight" spectrum bulbs...?? if not you should try gettin some of those.. pretty much the more the better.. the ones you are using now are better fo rflowering.. as you can tell.. you CAN veg using those (im guesssin theyre 2700K) but if you were to use the Daylight spectrum (6500K) or even "Full Spectrum" (6000K) your plant would love you for it.. just make sure that if you do get those bulbs.. put the bulbs your using now somehwere safe. because you will deff need them for when you start flowering..

Also.. its up to you when you want to start flowering.. just remember (not sure if space is an issue or not) that your plant is going to double.. and may even triple (although tripling in size in VERY unlikely) in size.. soo just keep that in mind if you need to conserve space..

have you thought about LST'ing or topping your plant?? or even FIM'ing (which stands for "Fuck I Missed.. lol.. it happened cuz someone tried topping their plant.. and missed the stem.. just a little useless info. lol).. this would make it keep its short stature.. but be very bush.. i know its your 1st grow.. and when i was doing my 1st grow.. i didnt wanna do anything like that to it yet.. because i just wanted to grow it regularly 1st.. for the experience.. soo if you dont want to.. i completely understand.. but if you do.. its a great way to get more out of your plant..

i have tried LST'ing.. but mine.. sadly.. did not come out that great. lol. i think it was because i had started doing it in such a small pot... and the purpose is to make a loop around your pot so that light will get to all the buds at the nodes.. that would usually get blocked by the bigger fan leaves.. but yeaaa.. it didnt look that good.. lol

and as far as topping/fimming.. i like FIM'ing better.. and feel like its easier to do.. basically.. you just look at the top of your plant.. for the "NEWEST" growth sticking up.. it should be pretty obvious which one it is.. but you would take a pair of scissors and find the newest growth.. and cut about 3/4 of the new growth off.. the best thing about doing this is if you do it wrong.. you can try it again.. as where if you do an LST.. you cant really make it straight again.. and topping.. well if you top it again.. your gonna be losing like 2-3 inches off your plant. lol... but after you FIM it.. you should have 2 colas. instead of one.. (it is possible yo get up to 8 colas from FIM;ing.. but not likely).. and so instead of having one big bud at the top of your plant.. you will have 2. =-)

and one last thing.. you might want to try to get some type of reflection going.. do you ghappne to live near a family dollar?? or maybe a dollar tree?? or some kinda of dollar store? if soo.. go there with a couple dollars.. you might even be able to get away with just spending ONE dollar.. but at family dollar.. you would wanna look where all the wrapping paper is.. and the christmas wrapping paper too.. not sure where it would end up.. but look for wraping paper that it ALL silver.. nothing else.. just all silver. (also.. just so you know the whole thing is silver... both sides. there is no white paper material on it) i bought some from family dollar.. but only 2 out of the 4 family dollars in my town had it.. soo you may have to look at another one if you dont find it.. but its only a dollar for a 10ft. roll.. which is really good when you campare that to the prices of mylar. and honestly.. In My Opinion.... i think this stuff works JUST AS GOOD AS MYLAR.. and its about 1/12 of the price..

you can check at your local dollar store too.. and you could find it there.. or also.. before i found the wrapping paper at family dollar.. i was at a dollar store (dollar tree) and i found some tissue paper.. that was silver.. VERY VERY shiny silver.. its wierd cuz ive never heard of silver/shiny tissue paper.. and jsut soo you know.. it doesnt feel like tissue paper.. lol.. but its really thin.. and you can see through it.. which works out good if you decide to make like.. a box around you plant with this tissue paper... but you get a better deal at the family dollar.. you get alot more.. and the wrapping paper is a little bit thicker.

ummmm......... yeaaaa. thats about it.. lol. sorry i always smoke and then ramble on and on and on.. lol but if you got any questions.. lemme know.... subscribed.. and +Rep for growing some bomb ass weed with CFL's!!!

also.. i SWEAR this is it for the day.. lol.. you can make a reflector for your CFL's with soda/beer can.. you use a can opener.. and open the top of the can (where you would drink from) and then take scissors or a razor blade.. and.. actually.. im gonna just look for the link on how to make it.. lol.. its kinda hard to explain.. especially without pictures.. lol

ok.. heres on link.. its a little bit different than what i said.. he cuts the opposite side off... but ill give it to ya anywayz.. cuz it still will work great..
https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/232568-beercan-cfl-reflectors-cheap-easy.html

ok.. and heres a video on how to do it... THIS IS THE ONE I MADE!! and it works good.. its better than nothing.. hope it helps..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBbxECCk9kc

It looks pretty good for 18 days old. Plenty of light, although for veg, you should be using 6500K. She looks a bit overwatered - don't water it every day. Water it well (until you see a little runoff) and then let it dry out some - when you don't feel moisture for a couple of inches into the soil, it's time to water.

I have some White Rhino going as well, and they do seem to like higher temps - so you may be ok in that department. If you can bring them down just a little though, it would be good.

I think it's way too soon to flower, I think you would be happier with the end result doing LST and vegging at least a couple more weeks. You could top her as well (big fan of Uncle Ben's topping method, you can find that thread stickied in the Advanced section).

Don't worry about the "tangled" appearance of the leaves - they know what they're doing.

All in all, it looks good - nice job for your first grow!

You are overwatering.

Don't flower yet. A good rule of thumb is 12 inches before flowering.

Hey, thanks to everyone for getting back to me!

CHB444220: The bulbs I am using are "soft white", so I'm pretty sure that they are 2700k. Alot of my set-up was based on that SeeMoreBuds book about using CFLs, and he uses soft white the whole time, which is why I decided to go with those all the way through. That beer can reflector is a great idea, I appreciate you sending me that link.

DoeEyed (and SunnyDaze): I think you're definitely right about over watering it. The amount to water the plant was something that bothered me a lot, and something that I had a fairly hard time finding information on, to be honest. Finding out when to water your plants is very easy, but the actual volume of water, and how much it should increase as plant size increases was a topic people didn't seem to talk about that much. Last night, about an hour before those pictures were taken, was the first time I had water it that much, and the first time that the water had actually flowed out of the bottom of the pot. I will try to be more careful about the next time I water it, for sure, but if anyone has any advice on watering amounts, I would be glad to hear it.

And as for flowering: I completely agree that the plant would do better if I let it veg out for longer. But like I said, size is a pretty big issue, and this is largely a practice run, s making sure I can just get it to produce something of reasonable quality is my first concern - once I get that down, I'll move on to increasing yield with things like LSTing and FIMing and such. I do really want to try that stuff out though! So the question I have about flowering is: Is it going to actually damage the plant by putting it into flowering this early? As far as I can tell, it will just not be very large, but still react basically the same way as an older, more developed plant would. If this is not the case though, I am willing to try and switch back to vegging (last night was the first night of 12/12). Again, in the SeeMoreBuds book (which I realize isn't handed down from God or anything, but shows a pretty straightforward, successful method), he flowered at 16 days, and not much difference in height (I also realize I'm not using the strain he used in that book, but think the principle should apply generally). These are just my inexperienced opinions though, I'm definitely open to input.

So again, I really appreciate the input I've gotten so far, thanks for the support, and I hope talk again soon!

yeaaa i think youll be fine flowering now.. i flowered my 1st batch at 21 days.. and theyre turning out fine.. ive heard that flowering them early stresses them out a little.. but im not sure on that.. i just "heard" that.. but in my opinion.. i would just keep it in the flowering cycle.. ive seen plenty of small little bonsai grows and theyre all successful.. this guy SICC has a BEAUTIFUL plant growing.. and he has it in a party cups.. i forget how long he vegged for.. but anywayz.. you will be fine.. and i know what you mean about not wanting to lst/top or anything like that yet.. you just want to get ONE successful grow.. and then move onto other things.

soo i think you should just go for it.. well i mean just keep it flowering. it will be fine as long as you take care of it.. and i agree with the other people.. you should try not to water every day.. its better to water it ALOT every 3 days than to water it a little everyday. =-) good luck!!

im no pro by any means but the longer you veg your yield will dramatically increase even if we are only talking about 8-10 days, its going to double or triple (some even more) in size in the coming weeks of flower, so 1 inch becomes 3 and those 3 inches will be part of your cola.....i started topping on my 2nd go round and idk if ill ever grow again without topping, via uncle bens method, check out his threads sometime, hes a genius, but anyways, its much like lst except it provides you with clones and involves removing some of the plant (which makes some hesitant, myself included) but it turned out for the better and im looking at a harvest which should prove to be greater than my others if this "parital harvest" concept works out

maxmax said:

And as for flowering: I completely agree that the plant would do better if I let it veg out for longer. But like I said, size is a pretty big issue, and this is largely a practice run, s making sure I can just get it to produce something of reasonable quality is my first concern - once I get that down, I'll move on to increasing yield with things like LSTing and FIMing and such. I do really want to try that stuff out though! So the question I have about flowering is: Is it going to actually damage the plant by putting it into flowering this early? As far as I can tell, it will just not be very large, but still react basically the same way as an older, more developed plant would. If this is not the case though, I am willing to try and switch back to vegging (last night was the first night of 12/12). Again, in the SeeMoreBuds book (which I realize isn't handed down from God or anything, but shows a pretty straightforward, successful method), he flowered at 16 days, and not much difference in height (I also realize I'm not using the strain he used in that book, but think the principle should apply generally). These are just my inexperienced opinions though, I'm definitely open to input.

So again, I really appreciate the input I've gotten so far, thanks for the support, and I hope talk again soon!

Click to expand...

Personally, i vegged too long (6 weeks) on my first grow, and they really grew during the first few weeks of flower, too big for my space. I tried it at 4 weeks this time and its perfect for my space. The plant will still go into flower at 18 days, you wont yield anything really. In veg, the stem thickens, and the stem is the pipeline for nutes/water. You also develop more stems for buds to form on. It will stop developing new leaves in 12/12, and focus on bud growth. I think another week would have done you good, but if its already 12/12, stick it out, and enjoy the learning process.
2 things to look for when deciding if it is mature enough to flower are preflowers and non symmetrical growth. Pre flowers form near where the fan leaves meet the main stem. Most new plants put out new growth in a symmetrical pattern, once that stops, the plant is mature enough to flower.

If you're set on flowering now, yes, it will do all right - just not as well as if you had let it mature more fully. Think of it kind of like a twelve yr. old having a baby, vs a twenty yr. old.

looks like you got a sativa from the look of those long as leafs