First Grow in 20 years! - Sprouts Intro - Afghan

remember you'll have to buy a mogul socket you won't be able to run them on regular sockets...I think because of the built in ballast....as far as miracle grow...your plants don't know where the nutes come from as long as they get them you just have to watch what your doing...on my first crop I used mg at 1/4 strength when I watered and flushed the pots once a month....no problem...and the buds were pretty good, nothing like smoking your own brand. now I'm growing for medicine and I've been ebb and flowing..soooooo much easier.

email468 said:

I heard (repeat: heard - this is not from experience since i don't foliar feed) that foliar feeding during flowering is risky since buds are more prone to mold. also - sodium is an ingredient in most seltzer/carbonated water and would most likely stick to the leaves and cause spotting.

while we're talking about CO2 - i would spend the money on quality lights or nutrients before i'd worry about adding extra CO2. My understanding is you have to create a pretty ideal environment for your plants in order to use extra CO2. So unless you create this ideal environment, my opinion is your plants will get all the CO2 they need by making sure you have a constant supply of well circulated fresh air.

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Carbonated water has no sodium added. The lumens for a 50watt HPS is 4000. Ideal lumens per square foot is 3000. A direct sign of lighting issues are extended nodes. My plants have an inch or less. I plan on increasing the lighting by at least double for flowering.

email468 said:

I heard (repeat: heard - this is not from experience since i don't foliar feed) that foliar feeding during flowering is risky since buds are more prone to mold. also - sodium is an ingredient in most seltzer/carbonated water and would most likely stick to the leaves and cause spotting.

while we're talking about CO2 - i would spend the money on quality lights or nutrients before i'd worry about adding extra CO2. My understanding is you have to create a pretty ideal environment for your plants in order to use extra CO2. So unless you create this ideal environment, my opinion is your plants will get all the CO2 they need by making sure you have a constant supply of well circulated fresh air.

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Been thinking about the CO2 and realized you are right. CO2 water is not cheap. And since I am trying for the ultimate getto grow, I need to reconsider. But if I did decide to go CO2 enrichment then circulated air would blow all my CO2 to the wind. It needs to linger under those leaves or it does no good.
Oh and thanks for the heads up on the moldy bud. That would SUCK!
I'm going to mist the leaves only. Best place is on the bottom of the leaves.

Hey sprouts! Good luck to you on your grow. I wanted to say good luck with the miracle grow as well. Miracle Grow may well be on every shelf in the US but so are cheaper more organic soils. Most places that sell soil have MG as the most expensive, at least the ones I've been to. Just be careful that it doesn't nute burn your plants. Can't wait to see some pics.

OK. Did some research on foliar feeding. You should stop foliar feeding the last weeks before harvest. Till then, it is ok to feed once a day, right after the lights turn on. The stomata on the underside of the leaves are open then. Hit the leaves, not the bud. any indirect moisture on the buds should evaporate quickly. This is the equivalent of morning dew for outdoor plants. Have yet to find someone who has experienced bud mold while foliar feeding so I think I'll start up a discussion and see what I find.

I don't think foliar feeding guarantees bud mold - it is just one of the dangers. I would like to foliar feed since it is fun messing with the plants but i am kind of negative about it. it messes up my grow room - gets spots all over my mylar and my glass light cover. It also seems to make spots on my leaves (just plain water - no nutes). And i've noticed no difference from when i stopped doing it to when i did foliar feed.

but then again, i may be missing out on something by not doing it - what the hell do i know?

mal_crane said:

Hey sprouts! Good luck to you on your grow. I wanted to say good luck with the miracle grow as well. Miracle Grow may well be on every shelf in the US but so are cheaper more organic soils. Most places that sell soil have MG as the most expensive, at least the ones I've been to. Just be careful that it doesn't nute burn your plants. Can't wait to see some pics.

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Oh, just cause I say getto, doesn't mean everything should be the cheapest thing on hand(of corse this would truly be getto then). I'd be using a few 13watt cfl's in some old lamps with some yard dirt in an old pail in that case. The idea is to have the "Ultimate Getto" grow; the greatest yield for the lowest cost. I know there are lots of nutes out there, but I trust MG. If my Mom had something else around the house when I started growing, I'd be using it instead. I just trust MG. She nor i have yet to go wrong with it. Others on the forum are going through hell and I have no idea how to help them. That may be my only problem with MG. That i don't know why it works, it just does for me. But thanks for piping in. Comments are always welcome and I've already learned bud might be able to mold while on the plant(hmm) and maybe two lights are better than one bright light.

there is no doubt mold can form on the bud while growing. i doubt many growers would disagree.

and as for lights - the more the merrier! while there is a light saturation point - chances are good you'd be dealing with heat issues long before you have "too much light".

as for MG soil - the seemorebuds book (by one of the mods here at RIU) uses it and has had success - but as i mentioned -- he waters with water that has a pH of 7.4.

personally - i grow hydro and haven't tried my hand with soil (for weed anyway).

email468 said:

I don't think foliar feeding guarantees bud mold - it is just one of the dangers. I would like to foliar feed since it is fun messing with the plants but i am kind of negative about it. it messes up my grow room - gets spots all over my mylar and my glass light cover. It also seems to make spots on my leaves (just plain water - no nutes). And i've noticed no difference from when i stopped doing it to when i did foliar feed.

but then again, i may be missing out on something by not doing it - what the hell do i know?

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Yeah, spotting could be a real issue because of the salts in nutes. But it is the best guard against root lock. I'll probably end up pouring it in the soil anyway. I'm lazy like that
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Thanks for all the advice. Keep it comming

email468 said:

as for lights - the more the merrier! while there is a light saturation point - chances are good you'd be dealing with heat issues long before you have "too much light".

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I'll have to compare my total yield to a 1000watt soil grower, then I'll buy into that. Till then, I'm going with 3000 lumens/square foot.

how much was your light at HD? I wanted to get a small little hps system for my cabinet grow, i saw they had bulbs, but i couldnt find a fixture or ballast system

I'm not saying this will be the quickest grow or the largest every. I'm more interested in cost/yield. That's it. Bottom line.

matman4444 said:

how much was your light at HD? I wanted to get a small little hps system for my cabinet grow, i saw they had bulbs, but i couldnt find a fixture or ballast system

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$35
It comes with a 50watt bulb but the ballast can handle 150watt. the broacher for this lamp is on the first page.

sounds like a nice setup... 3.50 a month extra for electic??? I gotta get some of those lights you got.

GMNRecordsCT3 said:

sounds like a nice setup... 3.50 a month extra for electic??? I gotta get some of those lights you got.

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Yeah. The cool thing is you can own 8 of them for the same price you would pay for one 400watt system, around $280. So as you males get plucked you can go down in wattage. Move the extra lights over to the clone room Clone the hell out those ladies!
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Are you sure about it being able to run the 150w bulb?
I checked HD.com and this is what I found

Lithonia Lighting 50 Watt Bronze High Pressure Sodium Floodlight - TFS 50S 120 LPI M6 at The Home Depot

On the specs it says 50w max. =(
I want to pick up one of these tonight if it can do it.

matman4444 said:

Are you sure about it being able to run the 150w bulb?
I checked HD.com and this is what I found

Lithonia Lighting 50 Watt Bronze High Pressure Sodium Floodlight - TFS 50S 120 LPI M6 at The Home Depot

On the specs it says 50w max. =(
I want to pick up one of these tonight if it can do it.

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According to the broacher I posted, it handles from 50 to 150, but because they are so cheap you are better off buying two or three. If you buy three online you get free shipping I got two plants under one of these and they are thriving! I'm just going to buy an extra lamp if both these are female.

It's been fun. Unbelievable response! Spent most of the day chatting with folks about this and that. Didn't realize how addicting posting can be

oh! I can answer that. hey! a reply. aah what does he know...
thanks all
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Lets get some updates on these bad boys! (hopefully girls)

matman4444 said:

Lets get some updates on these bad boys! (hopefully girls)

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Oh yeah, I started a grow journal. Maybe I should have posted something here. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/47294-sprouts-afghan-grow.html