Planning Next Grow - Comment on Current Grow

Hello all!

Just got my medical license out here in bc. First time grower, limited cash but
I have just put my first plants into flowering. They are 3 days in at this point, so their flowers still aren't really showing. I had them vegging for about 3 weeks and I don't believe I can see any preflowers yet. Just a few more days to go!

I'm planning my next grow, in case these both turn out to be male and I have to throw them both away.

I'd like some comments about how this current grow is going, and any feedback about how I can improve it the next round. Here is the setup:

2 x 5 closet room (painted white)
420w HPS light + ballast (6% increase blue spectrum)
General Hydroponics Floronova, Florolishious and KoolBloom
22-25 degrees C
15-35% humidity
20/4 veg - 12/12 flower

The ventilation for this room is me coming to visit once or twice per day for about 20-30 minute periods. The air in the room is fresh with the window open. I have a relatively large fan in the room, it does not move but is quite powerful.

I topped these plants about 3 weeks into veg, then started 12/12 on the 4th week. In general should I wait a bit before I flower, or should I top after a flower? comments please.

Please find attached the pics. Aren't greatest quality...

it looks good but it u might want to put the lights closer

Sure about that? I had the 420 Watt HPS about 8 inches away until today when I moved them to about 10 inches. Anyone else thing I should move the lights?

well nvm now i didnt know that before

my humidity has been pretty low. From what I see from other people's plants using a 420 HPS my plants should be a lot bigger by now. Does limited humidity stunt growth?

It does look a little streched, most likely due to light spectrum. For four weeks that actually looks pretty good. It will double in size during 12/12. You should top or FIM
before you start to flower. Do yourself a favor and look into LST if you would like to
increase your yeild while maintaining height as topping will not increase yield it will just keep it nice and short. My current grow is going well I LST'ed it and humidity was 20% using 150 watt HPS, check it out --> https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/38038-20-days-12-12-a.html.

Good luck!

whats the bowl of water for?

TS, your girl is beautiful! Only 20 days in 20/20? That's awesome.

Yeah I can't have my plants growing too high, I only have about 5 1/2 feet to work with. Thanks for the input. They are a little stretched because of their difficult start - started them with a crappy CFL that wasn't close enough and later got them under the HPS... but stretchin was already done.

to answer your questio nabout the bowl of water, it's to help increase humidity. As I stated previously I only get about 20% humidity in the room.... without the bowl of water it reads LL (don't know what it stands for... assume it means low). Even with the bowl i'm nowhere near where I'd like to be.

With humidifiers out of the question, does anyone have any suggestions on how to increase humidity?

Thanks

A wet towel could help!

Get yourself a spray bottle. Spray the plants down before the lights turn on, and a little after they've shut off. Keep away from the hot bulb with the spray though... You'll end up shattering it. That should at least help a bit with humidity.

Thanks for the responses. I do spray these girls (wishful thinking) everyday in the morning, doesn't seem to help. Perhaps I visit them too frequently, but I love them so much. Is there really that much downside to having low humidity? I know mold won't be a problem

Yes and no... if you want perfection then you'll want to get your humidity under control. My first plant lived out its life in a room where I couldnt get the humidity up above 30%. She ended up giving me almost 4oz. My new area is small enough that the humidity stays pretty constant around 70%, and everything seems to be going well also...

Biologically, do the plants absorb the moisture in the air to grow? I read on some threads that low humidity is good because it forces the plant to lubricate itself with sticky resin, others say it stunts growth. Not too sure.

In general is it better to start flowering the plants after they show a preflower, or does it really matter?

bump.. bump bump it up!

bump again (sorry but I'd like to know about this humidity and current grow status!)