My first noob pirate grow! 500w hps(?)

Hey guys, this is my first attempt at growing this herb, it started by putting seeds in a small cup of vita-water (I didnt really plan growing any) and 2 days later 15 of them sprouted so I said hey I'll give it a chance.

So I got a 10-l sack of soil for 2$, planted them, put them on the window ledge and waited to see what'll come up.
They actually grew really fast, this pic was taken at day 3 from germination:


After 4 days of letting them get about 8 hours of good direct sunlight and another 4 of undirect sunlight I found a giant Projector-like lamp in my house, Its a 500W with ballast but im not sure if its the best to grow this babies with.
Anyway, they were planted in 30/6, this is how to look like today (day 11)


Yesterday I replanted the one to a slightly bigger pot (he was in the big pot with 4 other plants) and about 15 mins after I moved him his 2 big leaves curled up and I dont know why.. he still looks good tho.

Anyway Im not sure what to do will all of them I think its a bit too much to grow in my conditions, Is there a way I can find out which ones will most likely be females or is it just luck?
Also Im thinking of moving to CFL lighting because this lamp produces ALOT of heat and im afraid I might burn them..
Nutes needed at this phase?

Will keep you updated

Good luck with your grow, but IMO you are going about this the wrong way. You really need to do a lot of research before hand if you want to yield a lot. And the fact that you referred to one of your plants as "he" but in friendly terms...

Here are some questions and advice:

How hot is it in your grow area at canopy level? Idea temps are in the mid 70's. You can go hotter than that, but the increase in temps can cause problems.

Is your grow space light tight? When you go to flower these plants you'll need 12 hours of complete darkness. Cave darkness. The kind of dark that if you sat in your grow room for 20 minutes with the lights off you wouldn't be able to see your hand. Make sure any electrical equipment, like surge protectors, has their LEDs taped over.

How much air intake do you have? Your plants need a fresh supply of CO2 to continue growing.

What kind of odor control do you have? If you don't have any odor control you'll be in trouble. Even vegging plants give off a unique odor, and if that's not enough, just wait until you start to flower. A few plants could easily stink up a small apartment building.

Your plants will show signs of sex eventually, but not yet. The easiest way to get the to sex is to take a small cutting, put it in a glass of water, and then put it 12/12 cycle to reveal sex. Wait until the plants are at least 5 or 6 nodes before taking cuttings.

What kind of 500w light is it? Not all watts are equal. When it comes down to it, light spectrum is more important than sheer power, which is why LED bulbs are useful.

What kind of security do you have? Does anyone know you are growing? Can you keep it secret from everyone you know? The first rule of growing is that you don't tell anyone.

Don't give any nutes for the first 3 weeks or so. Look into the soil recipes on this site and choose one that all you have to do is add water.

Finally. READ. READ. READ. You are diving in head first, which is great for fun, but not always great for results. I'd wager that I had close to 2000 hours of reading done before I bought my first seed or piece of equipment.

Edit: Are you sure its HPS? Just because it is a bib bulb doesn't guarantee its HPS, and I don't think I've ever seen a 500w HPS bulb.

Hey. You can send me a few of them and I'll grow them.

Thank you for your reply. As for your qeuestions:
Im growing them in a room "dedicated" only for that. Its basically a medium-sized room that I use for storage.
I dont have a thermometer so I dont know about themp but room temp here is around 82F and slightly hotter at the grow area.
As for light, its ok, the room is pitch black. The room is ventilated by an open window with a fair amount of wind coming in but there's no fan or something yet.
There's no odor control and that why Im not sure I should grow all of them (14 in the number.. lol) even though I live in a high floor and the grow room window Is not close to another building...
Im not sure about the light, Its been in my house forever. looks kinda like an halogen lamp but I wont be surprised if its not. it doesnt say anything on it though.
Security is not a problem in this case..
The problem with reading is that there's so much contradicting info Im not sure what should I utilize in my grow and what not to!

WOW...........how old are you?

25, why? -10 characters-

You are going to need some money to get going. My suggestions:

1) Get a good light, a good reflector and a good exhaust fan. HID bulbs put out a lot of heat but they are worth it. Unless you are growing with CO2 you are going to want your temps to be 85 at the absolute highest. Ideally you would want mid 70's.

2) Get odor control. This is actually more important than getting a better light. You have no idea how bad 14 plants can smell. Growing cannabis has a very, very unique odor. The vegging plants will give it off to a degree. Flowering plants can go from stinky to holy shit it smells like a dead skunk is in the grow room stinky. DO NOT TAKE CHANCES. $300 for a proper carbon filter and fan is much cheaper than any legal defense.

3) Spend the money it takes to get a thermometer. Don't guess at temps. High temperatures are one of the best and fastest ways to drastically reduce yield.

why you putting him down its a good start good job bro

thanks man.
bump for update day 13 I rigged them with 2X45W 2700K and 1 45W 4500K CFls and man they love it. the last lamp burned some leaves because it was so hot,
but now with the CFLs everything's nice and cool.




Anyway Im planning to move a bunch of them into a closet, about 4 of them, do you think this lightning is overkill for a small closet with 4 plants?

bump I added a little computer fan to get those stems firm. the guys seems pretty responsive of the cfls...

Too much lighting? No. Until you are over 70w per sq foot you won't have too much lighting.

Looks like they are nice and green and starting to branch out. They did have some serious stretch at the beginning.

yup they did, do you think that with the current light system they'll get bushier?

It looks like they are starting to. If they aren't bushier in 14 days I would work on getting more intense light. You could get a 150 or 250w HPS system for pretty cheap.

already shed enough for this lights. they seem to love it atm. planning on moving them to a closet today. hope they wont care

So today I buckled up and move them to a closet, rigged it with electricty (it cant get any ghetto than this..), added another 26W 6500K and put them in their new homes, and man they love it - new growth all over the places... check it out:



Check out picture #3, there are 4 plants in this jar and its about 2.5L. I should get them out of there and put each one in a diffrent pot right?
also I think this thread belongs to the CFL forum now.. hehe. how do I edit the topic name? I cant seem to find an edit button lol.

Good improvements. I think you want the lights a bit closer. Make sure you have good intake and outtake of air. Also think about space,they are gonna get big.

Im not going to keep all of them, planning on flowering them at an earlier stage to see which ones comes out female and then just keep those.

Bump day 17, planted another 2 in bigger pots.. looking good
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I think the light positioning is a little off but im not sure how to put it. anyway I tried to get them closest as possible to the cfl. starting to think this aint enugh light at all..

bump when do is the earliest time I can flower those?

Looking at a few grams there.