HELP!! givin extra rep to good answers

[JimiHendrix]

My baby is now a week old...I was wondering when would be the best time for me to start using plant food? I dissolved one tiny, little plant food rock in my spray bottle with some water. I spray my plants like 2 times a day and they are all looking healthy.

Thanks

 

[doc111]

My baby is now a week old...I was wondering when would be the best time for me to start using plant food? I dissolved one tiny, little plant food rock in my spray bottle with some water. I spray my plants like 2 times a day and they are all looking healthy.

Thanks

Usually start around 2-3 weeks. Start at 1/4 strenght and work up slowly. Best of luck and welcome to RIU.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

My baby is now a week old...I was wondering when would be the best time for me to start using plant food? I dissolved one tiny, little plant food rock in my spray bottle with some water. I spray my plants like 2 times a day and they are all looking healthy.

Thanks

Depends on what kind of soil you are using... does it have nutrients in it? Normally you don't want to feed any nutrients/plant food for the first two weeks... I'm assuming you mean Miracle Grow Plant Food or something along those lines... In another week, just read the recommended dosage per gallon and cut that in half or 1/4... mix that ammount in a gallon of water... Make sure you only feed every other watering though.. (water+food, water, water+food, water, etc..)

As far as the spraying, that's called foliar feeding.. as long as the plants take well to it, you're fine... If you see any signs of the leaves burning, i would stop spraying them... I spray mine daily, but w/o nutrients/food, just plain distilled water... Once you get into flowering, around 2 weeks in, it's recommended you stop foliar feeding all together as you have bud sites developing and really don't want to spray directly on them...

 

[JimiHendrix]

Depends on what kind of soil you are using... does it have nutrients in it? Normally you don't want to feed any nutrients/plant food for the first two weeks... I'm assuming you mean Miracle Grow Plant Food or something along those lines... In another week, just read the recommended dosage per gallon and cut that in half or 1/4... mix that ammount in a gallon of water... Make sure you only feed every other watering though.. (water+food, water, water+food, water, etc..)

As far as the spraying, that's called foliar feeding.. as long as the plants take well to it, you're fine... If you see any signs of the leaves burning, i would stop spraying them... I spray mine daily, but w/o nutrients/food, just plain distilled water... Once you get into flowering, around 2 weeks in, it's recommended you stop foliar feeding all together as you have bud sites developing and really don't want to spray directly on them...

Yeah, I'm using Miracle Gro, and I'm pretty sure there is nutrients in it. I don't have the bag though, because me and my friend split the cost on a bag.

Thanks for all the help man

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Yeah, I'm using Miracle Gro, and I'm pretty sure there is nutrients in it. I don't have the bag though, because me and my friend split the cost on a bag.

Thanks for all the help man

Was it the regular Miracle Grow potting soil mix? The Seed Starting mix? Moisture control?

If it's the regular potting soil (which i've used), it has time released nutes that are only given to the plant when you water it... it's really hard not to burn the leaves when they are young.. I unfortunantly found this out the hard way.. If it's at all possible, I would suggest googling "your hometown hydroponic store"... go there and get a bag of Fox Farms Ocean Forrest potting soil ($15 or so a bag) and some bigger pot(s) that will be good enough for their entire life cycle (3 or 5 gallon, bigger if you want, make sure they have drainage holes in the bottom)... If you have the money, while you're at it, get some of the liquid Fox Farms nutrients.. Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and Big Bloom.. all 3 will probably cost around $50... You only need the Grow Big at first, so if you can't afford all three, atleast get that one...

I would highly recommend repotting them ASAP... Fill the bigger/new pot up about 3/4 of the way w/ the Fox Farms soil... dig out a hole the size of the pot they are in now.. carefully remove it from the pot it's in now.. losen up the soil on the sides of the pot (it's a lot easier to do when the soil is semi moist rather than super dry.. do it the day after you water)... Flip it upside down and it all should come out fairly easily.. Try to be as careful as possible to limit the shock.. Get it down in the hole you made in the new pot and fill the rest of the pot up w/ soil... You can bury the stem up to where the first set of leaves is growing to help it stand up a little better... If all goes well, in a day or two they should start growing normally again.. This is why i suggest putting them in their final pot now instead of repotting a couple of times.. Once transplanted, they probably won't grow at all for at least a day (shock)...

If you do this a week from now (the day after you water) and you get the Grow Big (or even if you don't and want to use the plant food)... once you repot them, give them a good watering w/ the Grow Big/plant food mixed in... Do 1/4 strength mixture on both, whichever way you go per gallon... I use distilled water and it seems to work great as it has a neutral pH level as opposed to tap water that can have really high pH.. mine is around 8.5 to 8.7..

What kind of lighting are you using BTW? how many plants? did you buy seeds or just use some from a bag you had?

 

[JimiHendrix]

Was it the regular Miracle Grow potting soil mix? The Seed Starting mix? Moisture control?

If it's the regular potting soil (which i've used), it has time released nutes that are only given to the plant when you water it... it's really hard not to burn the leaves when they are young.. I unfortunantly found this out the hard way.. If it's at all possible, I would suggest googling "your hometown hydroponic store"... go there and get a bag of Fox Farms Ocean Forrest potting soil ($15 or so a bag) and some bigger pot(s) that will be good enough for their entire life cycle (3 or 5 gallon, bigger if you want, make sure they have drainage holes in the bottom)... If you have the money, while you're at it, get some of the liquid Fox Farms nutrients.. Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and Big Bloom.. all 3 will probably cost around $50... You only need the Grow Big at first, so if you can't afford all three, atleast get that one...

I would highly recommend repotting them ASAP... Fill the bigger/new pot up about 3/4 of the way w/ the Fox Farms soil... dig out a hole the size of the pot they are in now.. carefully remove it from the pot it's in now.. losen up the soil on the sides of the pot (it's a lot easier to do when the soil is semi moist rather than super dry.. do it the day after you water)... Flip it upside down and it all should come out fairly easily.. Try to be as careful as possible to limit the shock.. Get it down in the hole you made in the new pot and fill the rest of the pot up w/ soil... You can bury the stem up to where the first set of leaves is growing to help it stand up a little better... If all goes well, in a day or two they should start growing normally again.. This is why i suggest putting them in their final pot now instead of repotting a couple of times.. Once transplanted, they probably won't grow at all for at least a day (shock)...

If you do this a week from now (the day after you water) and you get the Grow Big (or even if you don't and want to use the plant food)... once you repot them, give them a good watering w/ the Grow Big/plant food mixed in... Do 1/4 strength mixture on both, whichever way you go per gallon... I use distilled water and it seems to work great as it has a neutral pH level as opposed to tap water that can have really high pH.. mine is around 8.5 to 8.7..

What kind of lighting are you using BTW? how many plants? did you buy seeds or just use some from a bag you had?

I am using the Miracle Gro Moisture Control..and currently I am using a 60w CFL on 4 plants, the oldest is a week old. I got the seeds from my collection that I've had for the past 8 months or so. How much is it for the Grow Big?

Thanks for the help...+rep

 

[jonboy30]

yeah, wait till the plants are 4 weeks old or 5 nodes tall...then introduce 1/4 strength nutes as mentioned above...then gradually work them up to full strength...

 

[TheDifferenceX]

I am using the Miracle Gro Moisture Control..and currently I am using a 60w CFL on 4 plants, the oldest is a week old. I got the seeds from my collection that I've had for the past 8 months or so. How much is it for the Grow Big?

Thanks for the help...+rep

Don't really have any experience w/ the Moisture Control, but i hear it's a lot better than the regular Potting Soil mix as far as nute burn...

The Grow Big is somewhere around $12-$15... If you keep an eye on the plants, you may be able to get away w/ the Moisture Control, so if you pinched and have to choose between to the two (soil or nutes), i'd snag Grow Big for sure...

Ok, so they're a week old and you have 4 plants under a 60watt CFL... You're getting to or allready past the point where that isn't really enough lighting... How big is the room/closet/box they are in?

As long as you have proper ventilation, you should be able to install some more lights (which are going to be neccessary going forward if you want all your time and effort to turn into something good).. I use a 250 watt HPS light for 2-4 plants, and it works great.. CFL's work good too, as long as you have the right ammount, but HPS is definetely more efficient.. downside is it's pricey and uses more electricity.. If you can afford it, go for it.. if you can't just make sure you add some more CFL's ASAP!! For four plants, i'd make sure you have atleast 250-500 watts.. Given that, you need to add atleast 190 watts to your grow at this point... See what's on sale... It's actually recommeneded to use 40 watt CFL bulbs to get the most efficient lighting... Get some y-socket adapaters where you can plug 2 lights into one socket... or even one that has 4 sockets on it.. Most of this is pretty cheap, if not allready laying around your house.. Just make sure it's safe...

Just recently added some side lighting, i'm 4 weeks into flowering, my plants are 8 weeks old total... I added a 65watt CFL bulb and 2 23 watt bulbs towards the bottom of my plants to light them up some more... With more lighting though, comes hotter temperatures.. CFL's aren't as hot as the HPS light, but it will still warm the room up some more... That's why ventilation is important.. Leaving the door cracked is not really the best way of ventilation.. Fans sucking air out of the room and fans blowing fresh air in the room give the plants a much better environment.. No fresh air and they will struggle to grow...

BTW... Make sure the bulb you are using is 6500k (not lumens), not the 2700k ones.. The 6500k bulb is heavy in the blue spectrum, which is what is needed for the veg stage of the plant... the 2700k is heavy in the red spectrum, which is needed for the flowering stage...

If you're using a 2700k bulb, i'd suggest swapping it out ASAP...

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Feel free to check out my grow journal... there's link in my signature.. i don't post a lot of pics, but you might find some useful information in there.. As well as the rest of the site.. There are plenty of friendly people on here that will point you in the right direction though if you have questions..

Good luck to ya! If ya' have any other questions, feel free to ask...

 

[JimiHendrix]

Feel free to check out my grow journal... there's link in my signature.. i don't post a lot of pics, but you might find some useful information in there.. As well as the rest of the site.. There are plenty of friendly people on here that will point you in the right direction though if you have questions..

Good luck to ya! If ya' have any other questions, feel free to ask...

I just bought some Bio Grow Soil, and some perlite, and also some Bio Grow nutrients..the guy at the hydroponic store said that bio grow is better than that big grow stuff..anyways im gonna go to menards today and pick up some more lights...

Thanks for all the help dude..I would rep u again but I already did a while ago and it wont let me

 

[luvvin growin]

ill help you out and give him some too,that was some hella good advice.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

I just bought some Bio Grow Soil, and some perlite, and also some Bio Grow nutrients..the guy at the hydroponic store said that bio grow is better than that big grow stuff..anyways im gonna go to menards today and pick up some more lights...

Thanks for all the help dude..I would rep u again but I already did a while ago and it wont let me

Alright, your plants will def. thank you later! good job!

If you plan to transplant, hopefully you're allready good to go as far as a larger sized pot... You're still a week or two away from wanting to feed nutes, so be patient... don't jump the gun on that!! I'm sure the soil you bought has enough nutes in it to feed the babies for another week or two...

Look at the reccomended ammount (if the bottle says mix 1 tablespoon per gallon, mix 1/4 tablespoon per gallon the first time, 2 tablespoon = 1/2 tablespoon, etc...) Whatever it is, mix it to a 1/4 of that per gallon of water.. If they react OK the first time, you might bump it up to 1/2 the recommended dosage.. Just make sure when you initate the nutes, you keep an eye out for the leaves burning.. If you see that, you need to flush them w/ water immediately.. x2 or x3 the size of the pot.. 1 gallon pot, you would want to flush w/ 2 or 3 gallons of water..

Looks like you're well on your way to having a decent grow.. Start a journal, post the link here and i'd be glad to keep an eye on how things are going and help you w/ any problems you might encounter...

Once again, good luck, and happy tokin'!!

 

[JimiHendrix]

Alright, your plants will def. thank you later! good job!

If you plan to transplant, hopefully you're allready good to go as far as a larger sized pot... You're still a week or two away from wanting to feed nutes, so be patient... don't jump the gun on that!! I'm sure the soil you bought has enough nutes in it to feed the babies for another week or two...

Look at the reccomended ammount (if the bottle says mix 1 tablespoon per gallon, mix 1/4 tablespoon per gallon the first time, 2 tablespoon = 1/2 tablespoon, etc...) Whatever it is, mix it to a 1/4 of that per gallon of water.. If they react OK the first time, you might bump it up to 1/2 the recommended dosage.. Just make sure when you initate the nutes, you keep an eye out for the leaves burning.. If you see that, you need to flush them w/ water immediately.. x2 or x3 the size of the pot.. 1 gallon pot, you would want to flush w/ 2 or 3 gallons of water..

Looks like you're well on your way to having a decent grow.. Start a journal, post the link here and i'd be glad to keep an eye on how things are going and help you w/ any problems you might encounter...

Once again, good luck, and happy tokin'!!

I just bought some more lights, and a fan..

I think I will make a journal that's a good idea

Thanks for all the help man, I appreciate it.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

I just bought some more lights, and a fan..

I think I will make a journal that's a good idea

Thanks for all the help man, I appreciate it.

Cool, what kind of lights did you buy?

Be careful w/ the fan at first, especially this early on.. make sure it isn't blowing right on them, really hard, or you may wake up the next day to find they fell over...

Post a link to your journal here if you make one...