Green House Big Bang First time grower

Images from 2/8/09

Images from 2/12/09

They grow a lot in 5 days.

New pics from today.

Starting to smell a little bit. Doesn't smell bad but you notice it when you open the closet. Closeup pic you can see crystals on it.

Looking great so far!

i have posted a thing on ya home page take a look and av answered your ph question on my journal

Thanks a lot scotish Lad. The lights aren't as close as you would think. I think they are maybe 3-4 inches away. It isn't hot when I put my hand right above the leaves so I think it should be ok. I though with CFLs you want to keep them very close. My HPS is a little farther away. My setup is rigged with chains and belts hanging from a bar in my closet and would be too hard to alter now other than height so I don't really plan on changing where the HPS is but ill try and get it more involved as it gets bigger and especially during flowering. Also I rotate the plant 1/4 every day so the HPS should stretch it evenly if it does stretch. As for tall or bushy I don't really care I was just planning on vegging for 4-5 weeks (been 2.5 so far) and then flowering for 9 and whatever it looks like is fine with me as long as there are buds attached. Thanks for answering me.

needhelpgrowing said:

Thanks a lot scotish Lad. The lights aren't as close as you would think. I think they are maybe 3-4 inches away. It isn't hot when I put my hand right above the leaves so I think it should be ok. I though with CFLs you want to keep them very close. My HPS is a little farther away. My setup is rigged with chains and belts hanging from a bar in my closet and would be too hard to alter now other than height so I don't really plan on changing where the HPS is but ill try and get it more involved as it gets bigger and especially during flowering. Also I rotate the plant 1/4 every day so the HPS should stretch it evenly if it does stretch. As for tall or bushy I don't really care I was just planning on vegging for 4-5 weeks (been 2.5 so far) and then flowering for 9 and . Thanks for answering me.

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you are correct sir cfls are ment to be really close i was thinking your lights were 1-2 inch away 3-4 is sweet .
(whatever it looks like is fine with me as long as there are buds attached) lol exact same way i think

Just got ph testers. Water was 7.0 and soil was 6.5. May try and get soil a little lower, or should I just wait until flowering when i'll be using nutes that will likely affect the ph?

your water ph of 7.0 wont do your plants any harm so up to you wither to wait or do it the now its up to you .

Updated pictures from today.

Is it supposed to be so dense? Most pictures i see the plants are spread out more, mine looks like a giant pile of leaves.

Also it seems to have a short thick stem. I have an occilating fan very close to it on middle setting 24/7. Should I use it less? Isn't that what makes it grow a stem?

Hey NHG.. Gunna subscribe..
Looking great so far man, just a few things..

Ph ideally wants to be at 5.5 - 5.8 on the BB, I adjusted mine to 5.5 all the way through my grow and they turned out great!
My Big Bang ladies grew very thick and dense right from the word go they will spread out though.. it may help to trim down some of the thicker foliage before you flower as some of my buds from the centre were a little funky.. but thats entirely up to you..
The smell started to kick in around the same time as yours, but became a problem late into flowering, have you got a carbon filter?
one last thing, how much space are you dealing with? They will stretch around 2/3 their size when induced to flower and they get real bushy too!
Good luck with your grow, up for seeing the end product!
any Q's you just give me a shout, i'm sub'd anyway so i'll get the email..

Thanks a lot Joe, few questions for you.

What did you use to lower the PH and how slowly did you lower it? Do you mix it in with the water for when you water it? As much detail on this as you can give, I really don't want to mess it up and hurt my plant as I have never lowered the PH of anything before. Again as simple as you can get, I don't mind being talked down to like I have no idea, because I have no idea Also on this I have a little test kit for hte soil with capsulses. How do I know where to test the soil? What if I use the lower PH but the place I get the test from is different than most of the soil PH wise? What is the best way to test the soil so I know my results are accurate?

I have a decent sized closet that can handle maybe 3ft by 3ft by 5 ft high so I don't think that will be a problem.

I don't have a carbon filter but my closet is next to a window on the second floor of my house. I was going to try and open it when it gets a little warmer in a few weeks to get some of the smell out. It isn't really a problem unless someone comes over, but for now it doesn't leave the second floor.

Also how big was your yield per plant? I was planning on 5 weeks of veg and 9 weeks of flowering. Did you find that its better to do more or less than that? Since it is the only plant I am growing and the first one, I wanted to give it a little extra time if it would give a bigger yield, which is why i wanted to do 5 weeks of vegging.

Do you have any nute recomendations for this strain? Perticurally something cheap and easy to find at say a walmart/home depot? I wasnt going to start using any until flowerin in 2 weeks so a flowering nute would be what I need. Also how did the nutes effect your PH?

I am going to the store now to buy PH down as it seems to be the most recommended and they sell it at a pet store by my house for 5$. Any advice on using it would be appreciated.

needhelpgrowing said:

Thanks a lot Joe, few questions for you.

What did you use to lower the PH and how slowly did you lower it? Do you mix it in with the water for when you water it? As much detail on this as you can give, I really don't want to mess it up and hurt my plant as I have never lowered the PH of anything before. Again as simple as you can get, I don't mind being talked down to like I have no idea, because I have no idea Also on this I have a little test kit for hte soil with capsulses. How do I know where to test the soil? What if I use the lower PH but the place I get the test from is different than most of the soil PH wise? What is the best way to test the soil so I know my results are accurate?

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No worrys..
I never tested my soil, only adjusted the PH of my water. If you want to test the soil then its probably better to dig down about 10cm and get some soil from there.. but again, I don't test my soil..
My PH tester cost me about £35.. its worth every penny though.. ..very accurate for spot on PH readings..probably best to get one of them (digital PH reader)
I lower it with vinegar.. I get my water from the sky.... and add a 1 drop of vinegar to every 2litres of water. I then warm it up..(always warm your water to the same temps as your grow room, otherwise you could shock the roots)..I add my nutes then allow to warm up again, (I use 2litre bottles and 5litre bottles) as one bottle of food is warming i'll mix up another bottle and so on.. Once all my water is at the right temperature and has been left to sit for a while (I let it sit for around 10mins) I then take my PH readings and adjust accordingly, Vinegar for up and tap water for down..
I'll feed some and then let it soak through for 10mins, then feed the rest. when I wait between feeds I check the PH and adjust accordingly. You are going to want to flush your ladies every four or so weeks, some will say more some say less, its really each to their own..

I have a decent sized closet that can handle maybe 3ft by 3ft by 5 ft high so I don't think that will be a problem.

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You should be ok.. did you say you are going to LST the big bang aswel?

I don't have a carbon filter but my closet is next to a window on the second floor of my house. I was going to try and open it when it gets a little warmer in a few weeks to get some of the smell out. It isn't really a problem unless someone comes over, but for now it doesn't leave the second floor.

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Sounds like you should be ok, the BB will get smelly though, just a warning...

Also how big was your yield per plant? I was planning on 5 weeks of veg and 9 weeks of flowering. Did you find that its better to do more or less than that? Since it is the only plant I am growing and the first one, I wanted to give it a little extra time if it would give a bigger yield, which is why i wanted to do 5 weeks of vegging.

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I've yet to weigh the second lady, she will get weighed in about 7-10days.. the wait is almost too much to bear!
The lady who is dry and mostly packed inside my lungs in the form of oil came in at a cool 83.2grams dry, just shy of 3oz's...
not bad for 23days veg..
I would say go for it, 5weeks veg and some TLC, you will yield more than my girls..trust me I won't say, yeah 9 weeks cause they are not always done when the packet says they are.. .. my girl took what, 81 days or something, thats like 11 and a half weeks! Just keep checking on them, you don't want to cut early and you don't want to harvest late, its all about patience..

Do you have any nute recomendations for this strain? Perticurally something cheap and easy to find at say a walmart/home depot? I wasnt going to start using any until flowerin in 2 weeks so a flowering nute would be what I need. Also how did the nutes effect your PH?

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I'm not familiar with walmart sorry, I went for the basic biobizz line, grow, bloom and alg-a-mic, really wouldn't know what to get from a home depot though, but trust believe, there are loads of people on here that will.. just ask about or start a thread for the 'best nutes from walmart' or something..
The nutes lowered my water PH, so it was easier to adjust, i never let it sit for 24hrs or anything, just 10mins or so and adjust it then feed them.. seemed to do me no harm...

Pheew, happy growing!

Thanks for the reply. I guess ill try just lowering ph when i get to flowering using hte ph down mixed with the water and ill start with a very small amount.

How do you flush them exactly?

Also I got my first problem today. PLEASE SOMEONE SAVE MY BABIES!!!! A few of the big leaves are developing yellowish spots. See Pic.

The leaves that are the outermost and oldest are having the problem. The ones with yellow are the oldest that are NOT the two oldest spikey leaves. THose two aren't yellow but they look deformed and bad. Here is a picture of that leaf. Please save my baby!

Oldest 2 spikey, this picture all deformed.
Next oldest 2 or 3 have little yellow spots (previous picture)

needhelpgrowing said:

Thanks for the reply. I guess ill try just lowering ph when i get to flowering using hte ph down mixed with the water and ill start with a very small amount.

How do you flush them exactly?

Also I got my first problem today. PLEASE SOMEONE SAVE MY BABIES!!!! A few of the big leaves are developing yellowish spots. See Pic.

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Yea don't over do it with that PH down, i'm sure you only need a tiny amount..

Flushing them involves giving them a s**t load of water, plain PH'd water, it flushes away any salt build ups that may be in the soil, then you can add your nutes in after.
I use 20litre pots, so when I flush it will be with more than 20litres of water, all plain, PH'd and warmed..
If you were say, using 10litre pots, then it's best to flush with more than 10litres, maybe 15litres, and don't dump it all in at once, allow it to soak and wait for 10-15mins between waterings, may be wise to put the plant in a bath or something when you do flush.

The yellowing could be nute burn, maybe someone else has an opinion on this?

I haven't added any nutes yet though. I did recenlty increase the water from maybe 2/5 liter to 3/4 liter. Could that be the problem?