New Grower, need advice

J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
Okay so I am new to growing, got the urge one day and germinated some seeds. The only one to break I planted and I've nurtured this plant up to it's current lack of crappiness? It seems decent to me but I need the advice of experts. I also have pics of my cab and a second little plant that I think needs more help than I can give it. Anyways, all help is greatly appreciated and I'm open to any suggestions if they'll help with my eventual cloning and cropping. Also taking tips on camera angles and such, I can't photograph to save my life, so if you need clearer pics I'll attempt them.


This is the one I think is doing well. I clipped the sun leaves because someone I know suggested it. Not sure of the sex yet, not precisely sure how to check.


Closer pic, but not the clearest.


This is the last pic of it, I took it out of it's cab for these pics so I could get a better shot, the next 2 shots are of my setup and the light I have on them (x2).


I just realized I uploaded these 2 pics to the wrong area, not sure how to go about fixing that but I guess they should be in the cabinets folder. My bad :-/.


A pic of the lights I bought, $10 each at walmart. I'm sure there is something better to put on them, but I am not sure exactly what.

These last 2 pics are of my struggling plant. She got poked into the dirt by a homie and sort of just sprouted from nothing. Looks like a couple of leaves got eaten off (or torn off) but still seems to be alive and trying to go. What might help it really just strive?







I really appreciate any help that is given. Hoping the big one is a female and able to be a mother for cloning. Kind of hoping the other one will take as well and provide a second type going.

BTW: These were bag seeds, not specially bought.

:joint:
 
pjboy31

pjboy31

Well-Known Member
ok do you have a walmart or Home depot near you? If so go get some superthrive for now to help the roots along and add 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water. Then make sure to not over water. Plants are plants they will grow if we can just dial in the specifics , you will be successful. Trust yourself , and for me it always helps to document what day I watered what nutes I give etc, This way I can see patterns and mistakes . Does that make sense? About how old are they I think I missed it sorry.

keep me posted I will watch for your post. I wish you the best of luck , and welcome to gardening.........
 
RASCALONE

RASCALONE

Well-Known Member
dont clip these fan leaves off,bot a very good idea unless you know what your doing as there is a method but which is for the more advaced grower,from what ive read.your gonna need more light!!!if an hps is out of the Q right now then go with some cfl's,there's some good grows on the board as we type!that lil guy is real stretched,get it closer to the lightmwith cfl's you can get hem about an inch or two away from them.READ THE GROW FAQ'S and youll get alot of yourQ's answered,alot of good info in there and what you cant find there then post up some Q's it'll save u some time,lol.....good luck jugg....peace,ras
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
Aight, so I tried to get to the store today, but doesn't look like it's happening. I noticed some drooping, I'm assuming the top lighting will fix that. After getting the cfls (and I assume I can get a string of sockets or something right?) and installing them, should I ditch the flourescents? I don't plan on budding the clones in this room, still in clean up and construction phase on that little room. When I get to that part should I use those HID lights? or can cfls take the plant all the way? if so it'd alleviate some of my heat concerns, but if not I can work out a good exhaust system I'm sure.

Anyways, appreciate the input so far, after I tackle the nuts and the lighting I'll post new pics of my cab and closer and clearer pics of the plant itself.
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
So I put in 6 cfls that are the 100w equivalents. that enough light? or a little overkill? I'll get pics updated tonight or tomorrow on how the cab looks now.

I couldn't remember the name of the nutes you suggested when I went to the store so I held off on them, I'll prolly get those in the next few days (money allowing).

Also noticed that those cfls do put out some heat, should I get a fan going in there?
 
Humboldt

Humboldt

Well-Known Member
Yes definitely put in a fan osculating preferably and no the light is not over kill, the more light the better also I would leave the side lighting in.
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
my concern is the area is about 2' deep 3' tall and 18" wide, not much room for a fan, could I put a vent fan in the side of my cab? or would it be better to put 2 fans (intake and exhaust) in the side? It will only be moving it a cabinet away but that other cabinet is fairly large and empty. I figure there's enough room to cool the air with those fans.

Another question I had that didn't really get answered... I've had this thing on 24/7 light (because of the crappy flourescents) should I start now putting it at 18/6? I'll need to get a timer but I saw a few at walmart that looked fairly inexpensive and capable of the job.

Again appreciate the input, and I'll put more reading into the faqs here in the next few days so yall don't have to answer something if it pops up in the faqs, I just like seeing my questions on the screen from my fingers before searching a faq for answers to unknown questions. :-/
 
PlatinumKasse

PlatinumKasse

Well-Known Member
dude on a positive note (not that i've read any others.), the plant is thick and thus will produce mad amount of bud once you induce flowering.. that plant will double and even triple in height during flowering.. it develops maturely however you wish.. stretch it, keep it low.. etc. whichever you choose, i recommend keepin it low, tame the height of the plant by having the light high enough not to burn the leaves, but low enough to keep the growth short and compact, so that it inevitably can bare more weight.
 
Humboldt

Humboldt

Well-Known Member
Intake and out air would be helpful but I'm thinking you'll still need a fan to circulate the existing air, try mounting a small fan in the top corner of your closet facing down toward the plant(s) although two small fans one for each corner would be ideal.


I wouldn't go changing the light cycle now, keep it at 24/7 until you flower then put on 12/12, I'm thinking if you change the light cycle now that it could cause shock or stress witch can result in your plant(s) turning herm, also they will grow at a faster rate.
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
Was thinking of cloning it, and keeping it as a mother... or would it be more fruitfull to bud the entire plant? Kind of like the idea of a continuous flow of green, but if it's better to just bud it I'm down too :-)
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member

Pic of the CFL setup I created


Top down view of the good plant


Close up of one of the stems (and lower left the top of another stem) I can see 2 little horns at the joins, but not sure what that means. Hoping it means female and all systems go, but I'm prepared to scrap and start over if not.
 
Humboldt

Humboldt

Well-Known Member
Pretty cool, so you have her in a box, are you able to move the lighting up and down or are you planning on moving the plants when needed? also if that's your only girl and if you want more or a continuous amounts of weed it would probably be wise to take clippings from her.

Get some clones going then start the flowering on her around the time she's ready to harvest your clones should be ready to throw in but be sure to keep a mother for cloning if you want continuous weed. Enjoy smoking some weed while waiting for the next batch, eventually you'll find a process that works best for you.
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
I was planning on keeping her as a mother, if it's a female (can anyone tell for sure? or do I have to wait till I bud a clone?). I have also noticed some redness at the top of the plant, along the stem of the fan leaves. Is this normal? or am I about to have a big problem?

As for the box, the lighting is fixed to the top because I didn't have the material to put it on a board that can lower or raise. I plan on creating a clone room in a old shed I have available. Someone suggested I keep the clones and the mother sepparate, even for the veg process.

My clone room is going to be set up in the next few weeks and I'll be able to start a cycle of about 2 weeks. My plan is to take clippings every 2 weeks to keep something going all the time. I'm hoping to have 4 clones started every 2 weeks, that way when they start becoming ready to smoke I get a nice 2 week split on available crops. I know this means a lot of plants at varying stages, but I think it's the best way to keep me supplied without having massive crops that might attract undo attention.

The plan for the room is a sliding tray system my friend suggested. In which I put the first tray of clones in under flourescents with rooting formula. After 2 weeks another batch of clones will go under the floros and the first batch will move over into the area with a raising/lowering board of cfls. I may put another set up like I had (2 vanities, but end to end this time) on a 1x6 suspended by a pulley system. prolly going to have 2-3 of these so each tray can be set up to have it's light source as close as it need to be. After a month of veg (that is about what is suggested right?) I'll move the clones over into a sepparated area on a 12/12 timer. 2 months in there (again unsure on the timing of all these phases) and hopefully I'll be clipping bud every 2 weeks.

So I guess it will break down to 1 tray always under the floros, up to 2 trays under the cfls, and then 4 trays in the budding room. If I'm capable of maintaining a good flow with this number of plants, the excess clones will go to friends. the mother will likely stay pruned in that cab yall see in my pics, hope she will stay in there without any problems.

Any feedback on my plan would be appreciated. I know it's all speculation at this point, and mostly only about the lighting. I also plan on working out my fans and temp control in the near future. So I'll update with those ideas as well.

Edit: I do have a question that hasn't quite been answered yet. Can I go all the way with cfls? or do I need to invest money in some HID bulbs? I really don't want to have to worry about the overheating problem with those, so if I can get a respectable crop from an ass load of cfls I'd rather go that way with it. Besides, cfls and the board I made were cheap, $100 would see me with the equivalent of 2400w (6 100w equiv cfls time 4).
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
so, I still haven't been able to see anything definitive in the preflowers, but I plan on cloning here soon. if anyone is up to provide feedback on what I mentioned above I would appreciate it.

Shameless bump
 
pjboy31

pjboy31

Well-Known Member
I have seen some journals using strictly CFLS. So i think you will be ok. I personaly use HID and I too am cloning and rotating my plants. i have a cloning area with cfl's then a metalhalide area for veg. And last 3 400 watt HPS for flowering. I just sucessfully cloned my white widow mother. I was so stoked when I saw the roots. So tonight I will take about 10 more from her, then I will let her flower. This should be interesting because she has had a long veging period. She is very healthy and tall and bushy.

good luck to you and keep us posted~
 
J

JuggaloWicket

Active Member
Quick update: 2 things happened today after adding Superthrive yesterday...
1) I think I might have mixed it a tiny bit strong (had to eyeball a 1/4 teaspoon in a 1/2 teaspoon. I noticed there are little spots on the fan leaves, only 2 so far, and not really concerned about them. the real story is....

2.) I SAW IT TODAY!!! For the first time I saw definitive proof of my plant being female. I spotted the 2 white hairs poked out of some of hte upper preflowers. This is excellent news to me, because it means that no matter what I do to this plant... save it and clone practice or bud it and enjoy... IT'S FEMALE!!!!!

I suppose I ought to give her a name now, but I've never been good when it comes to coming up with a name.

Anyways, hella stoked at 3 am because I finally saw the sex... I'm addicted to growing now I think. :-D

Edit: Pics will follow ASAP
 
Humboldt

Humboldt

Well-Known Member
Congratulations,

LOL you're just now getting addicted!! wait until you flower that bitch, can you get any good shots of her private parts?

I know exactly how you are feeling I recently learned the differences between the sex and I now have five girls, never really thought about naming them so I will just called them bitch 1 through 5 lol.

Thought about it I just may think up a couple names tonight for my two largest plants , the other three are still young yet, haven't had enough time to learn their personalities:mrgreen:
 
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