For all new growers with questions... Tons of information and answers..

[jdizzle22]

Haha, darn you replied too quickly again!
So with mogul socket reflector hoods and ballasts, do you plug the hood into the ballast and then the ballast into a wall socket?

I am going to go with the hortilux blue and super hps (unless there is a much better hps for flowering you can recommend, maybe one with a better spectrum to make up for not also running a mh) and then a ballast that I can use for both (i don't believe an electronic ballast would be a problem would it? those only have problems with cmh correct?)

I think I am going to go with a GrowLab GL80 tent (almost 3x3x6), hortilux blue mh and super hps, Cool Sun Reflector 6" (basically a slightly better Yield Master II), then that whole soil formula of fox farm ocean forest/lightwarrior/potting soil/perlite, and then probably one of these babies for the odor control and the negative air pressure/exhaust http://cgi.ebay.com/6-X-14-ACTIVATED-CARBON-FILTER-ODOR-SCRUBBER-130-CFM_W0QQitemZ350202294858QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5189aef24a

So yeah, do you know of a better hps for flowering? Digital ballasts have any issues other than with cmh bulbs? Bulb-mogul base-ballast-wall? Am i missing anything?
PS: do you know of a good reliable humidity/temp gauge?
PSS: what is simpsonsamson? your 2 favorite cartoon characters? Go Team Venture!
PSSS: what is the reason to get a 240v ballast instead of a 120v? I live in the US and i believe our outlets are only 120v so is 240v for euro countries or something? if anyone could explain this that would be nice
PSSS: whats the best 400w hps? so far i know of that hortilux super hps

 

[ijustgrowGREEN]

SimpsonSampson - i've got a basic, beginner question...... working on germinating 3 seeds, when they pop and are planted, how long should i wait before going 1/4 strength on the vegetative nutes? 2-3 leafsets? thank you ~GREEN~

 

[simpsonsampson420]

Haha, darn you replied too quickly again!
So with mogul socket reflector hoods and ballasts, do you plug the hood into the ballast and then the ballast into a wall socket?

I am going to go with the hortilux blue and super hps (unless there is a much better hps for flowering you can recommend, maybe one with a better spectrum to make up for not also running a mh) and then a ballast that I can use for both (i don't believe an electronic ballast would be a problem would it? those only have problems with cmh correct?)

I think I am going to go with a GrowLab GL80 tent (almost 3x3x6), hortilux blue mh and super hps, Cool Sun Reflector 6" (basically a slightly better Yield Master II), then that whole soil formula of fox farm ocean forest/lightwarrior/potting soil/perlite, and then probably one of these babies for the odor control and the negative air pressure/exhaust http://cgi.ebay.com/6-X-14-ACTIVATED-CARBON-FILTER-ODOR-SCRUBBER-130-CFM_W0QQitemZ350202294858QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5189aef24a

So yeah, do you know of a better hps for flowering? Digital ballasts have any issues other than with cmh bulbs? Bulb-mogul base-ballast-wall? Am i missing anything?
PS: do you know of a good reliable humidity/temp gauge?
PSS: what is simpsonsamson? your 2 favorite cartoon characters? Go Team Venture!
PSSS: what is the reason to get a 240v ballast instead of a 120v? I live in the US and i believe our outlets are only 120v so is 240v for euro countries or something? if anyone could explain this that would be nice
PSSS: whats the best 400w hps? so far i know of that hortilux super hps

all hps bulbs are going to act about the same for flowering and growing.. just stick with hortilux.. they are a good brand...

wall socket to ballast... ballast to mogul socket... lamp goes in mogul socket... mogul socket/bulb go in reflector...

simpsonsampson is sampson simpson backwards... from half baked... lol its just me in my ventures...

240v things split the amps between 2 circuits... for instance a 1000w light pulls a little over 8 amps... a 120v 1000w ballast will pull all 8 of those amps from 1 breaker... 240v ballasts will split it between 2 breakers... so 4 amps off 2 breakers.. it saves amps on circuits and allows things to run more efficiently.. it does not save power... thats a really bad misconception...

hortilux or optilume bulbs imo are the best brands...

SimpsonSampson - i've got a basic, beginner question...... working on germinating 3 seeds, when they pop and are planted, how long should i wait before going 1/4 strength on the vegetative nutes? 2-3 leafsets? thank you ~GREEN~

wait until you see growth start to slow/stop or the plant starts to yellow.. maybe 2 weeks after transplant...

 

[jdizzle22]

Ok so I've run into my first problem growing. I know the little round leafs they are born with eventually start to yellow and fall off. Well that started today with my oldest plant that has been out of the ground for about 12 days. The real problem I have now is at the tip of its first 2 new leafs there is some damage I can't explain. Its as if part of the leaf is decaying but its not the actual tip. The pictures will explain. Aside from the round leafs yellowing and these 2 tips on each of its first pair of leafs it seems fine. The cfls are not too close, the only thing i can think of is that maybe those parts of the tips were resting on the edge of the red cup and somehow that was enough pressure to do damage? But I don't think that is it. There is also a picture of it last night, I don't imagine dehydration is the problem either because I water every 3 or 4 days and it has only been 28 hours. I have to go to work now and won't be back for 6 or 7 hours so I really hope this isn't a big deal and someone has some idea whats happened. Oh they are growing in a mix of FF Ocean Forest and perlite (FF 2, perlie 1)

 

[simpsonsampson420]

its nothing i would worry about.... your plant is fine...

remember that is just a plant... as with most naturally occuring things there will be flaws regardless of how careful and loving we are... as long as the problem is limited to a few leaves, or is not progressing then it is nothing to worry about...

 

[jimmyluvsweed]

what nutrients do i need for a standard out door plant?

 

[haha555]

so im bumed fuck dude so the plant flouring but guess what? its a boy :{( but i got one more sprout and i got a light and and all kinds of goodies so i hope this one will be a girl hopefully

 

[simpsonsampson420]

what nutrients do i need for a standard out door plant?

well.. outdoor is a little more easy on nutes than indoors.. you can use MG outdoors with less worry... i would still recommend a good 2 or 3 part nutrient system such as general hydroponics, fox farms, advanced nutes, technaflora, or cutting edge solutions... (the last is a new brand.. i am using them now in a soil grow.. works great) these all will provide you with the best results for your money and give your plant everything it needs... adding some liquid karma and molasses to the feed mix would round things out perfectly...

so im bumed fuck dude so the plant flouring but guess what? its a boy :{( but i got one more sprout and i got a light and and all kinds of goodies so i hope this one will be a girl hopefully

that sucks bro... sorry to hear that... the good news is you have some practice.. so you can be better prepared for things to come.. and you can always try again... i've had my share of failures... you just learn from them and move on... growing and learning to grow take a lot of patience.... you never know what is going to happen.. just have to be prepared to deal with the unknown...

 

[jdizzle22]

So with my problem I shouldn't remove the apparently dead parts of the leaf? Growing up I did that to plants because I thought I head that not doing so could lead to diseases and stuff growing from that area and spreading around. Those spots don't seem to have changed or spread at all since last night, but they don't look like they will get any better.

 

[haha555]

that sucks bro... sorry to hear that... the good news is you have some practice.. so you can be better prepared for things to come.. and you can always try again... i've had my share of failures... you just learn from them and move on... growing and learning to grow take a lot of patience.... you never know what is going to happen.. just have to be prepared to deal with the unknown...[/QUOTE]

ya man well i got new one under a light with blue spc and timer got some potting soil and peat pelts and all i need is some more seeds but ya man i think ill let my boy grow so i can make hash with it before it open it ball o and im growing all natural no mer gro and on my soil it says 0.41/0.55/0.31 is that to high?

 

[simpsonsampson420]

So with my problem I shouldn't remove the apparently dead parts of the leaf? Growing up I did that to plants because I thought I head that not doing so could lead to diseases and stuff growing from that area and spreading around. Those spots don't seem to have changed or spread at all since last night, but they don't look like they will get any better.

they will heal eventually... or not at all.. but little spots like that wont do any harm...

having a couple brown spots here and there.. or minor imperfections... is fine.. its just a plant and as perfect as we try to keep things and them its pretty impossible to have perfect looking plants every single grow....

the only time i personally remove foliage that is dead is if the "infected" leaf is over 50% damaged or it is dead and dried out...

that sucks bro... sorry to hear that... the good news is you have some practice.. so you can be better prepared for things to come.. and you can always try again... i've had my share of failures... you just learn from them and move on... growing and learning to grow take a lot of patience.... you never know what is going to happen.. just have to be prepared to deal with the unknown...

ya man well i got new one under a light with blue spc and timer got some potting soil and peat pelts and all i need is some more seeds but ya man i think ill let my boy grow so i can make hash with it before it open it ball o and im growing all natural no mer gro and on my soil it says 0.41/0.55/0.31 is that to high?[/QUOTE]

males are good for hash and butter... thats about it.. unless of course you are a breeder... maybe someday i'll work at creating my own strain.. but not anytime soon...

soil sounds good.. those numbers aren't the total nutrient value in the soil.. just what is imediately available to them... since nutes have to be broken down in the soil they arent available right away.. the values you put is just what is available right away.. its good... no worries

 

[jdizzle22]

Ok so the apparently dead spots are still the same, but this morning the 2 leafs (first pair on the plant besides the baby leafs, same two with the dead spots) are yellowing/losing their green color. They definitely got to a lower weight before I watered them this time, they seem to lose their water way faster now (especially when I water them it drains out the bottom of their cups way faster than the first week, have to spend a lot more time getting their water weight up). Can dehydration cause yellowing in the leafs? Or do I have another problem here? Everything seems fine with the plant, aside from those 2 leafs, they seem to just hang off the plant more than the others (is that normal for the first pair at 2 weeks?). Should I start feeding it nutrients? I have that Fox Farm 3.

 

[simpsonsampson420]

alright.. so now theres some pieces to the puzzle i didnt have before..

ok, first off you are ready to start nutes for sure... start them on 1/4 strength dose of nutes... see if that helps perk them up a little...

if your plants are drinking water at a faster rate you need to either transplant them to a larger container, put them on a drip system that feeds constantly in very tiny amounts, or when you water them submerge the entire container in nute solution for about 5 minutes.. this will ensure a thorough soaking...

your root mass is at max size for the container its in... when soil is completely sucked dry it can have problems rehydrating... think of it like a shamie.. it has to be moistened to be able to absorb... whats happening is the roots have absorbed every bit of water it can from the soil, so the soil isnt holding all the water it can when you are watering.. hence why it keeps running through like you said it is.. i personally would just submerge the container in nute solution/water for a few minutes when you water.. this will give it plenty of time to absorb all it can and save you from having to transplant...

 

[jdizzle22]

I already watered them for the first time in 3 days about 2 hours ago (dry I believe each party cup is about 90 grams and when I water every 3 or 4 days I have doubled the weight with water). Should I go ahead and drop their cups into a solution of water and 1/4 strength grow big? (cause the other 2 bottles aren't for much later correct?). It says a teaspoon per gallon, so should I use a 1/4 teaspoon for a gallon and say put it in cooking pot and put their party red cups in and let them soak for a few minutes even though I already watered today?

PS: Right now I only have a pc grow case and won't be able to drop them into much bigger containers (since there are 3 of em in there). Although there is room for the plants in order to keep each plant under a bulb I can't upgrade to a bigger pot size. I suppose I could upgrade their pot size and just evenly space them out along the length (right now 2 are side by side with a bulb directly over each, and the biggest is half way between the 2 bulbs at the other end.)

PSS: on the fox farm website right here http://www.foxfarmfertilizer.com/soilfeed.pdf is says for 2 week old seedlings its 2 teaspoons per gallon (on the bottle it says to begin feeding at about 2 weeks and says 1 tsp for every watering). I imagine I should go with 1/2 tea spoon per gallon?

PSSS: I watered them at about 9:15am at the time of this latest edit it is 12:23pm

 

[simpsonsampson420]

i wouldnt water them again.. just when you do water them do that method of watering.. so the next grow let them soak in a pot with a 1/4 strength water/nute solution...

you can leave them in those cups if you water this way.. it will just ensure a good soaking and happy plants...

start with 1/4 tsp per gallon and increase from there.. i dont personally believe in foliar feeding... but if you want to do that you could start now also...

 

[jdizzle22]

Thanks, yeah people seem pretty split on foliar feeding. But I think in this particular case it would actually work great since I'm not supposed to water them again and it needs its supplements now. Unfortunately i have no foliar feed, is there anything I could whip up from stuff around the house to do the job until I can water them again? Thanks for all your help man! Are you sure there is no official rollitup point system or votes or something so I can give you mad props?

PS: So since they need the feed now, if I go with the soaking method should I use ferts and soak each watering or every other? Then should I not worry about increasing it over 1/4 strength until they show problems again? I should be moving on up to a nice tent and a good mh light within a month, hopefully I don't have too many more problems by then

 

[simpsonsampson420]

there really isnt anything you can use for a foliar spray in this case... i thought maybe the grow was usable as a foliar spray since you had mentioned some thing about foliar sprays earlier...

you can click the little scale looking things in the right corner of any of my posts to give reputation.. but thats all as far as a points system goes...

i would soak a couple times with 1/4 strength solution and then increase to 1/2 strength and then full strength.. but after the initial couple soakings go with an every other type feeding schedule.. 1/4, 1/4, water, 1/2, water, full, water, full, water... make sense??

but it also is going to depend on how much longer you plan to veg these.. if you are going to flower soon then obviously the nute strength wont get that high... when you go from veg to flower make sure to cut back to 1/4 strength nutes again and start over...

 

[jdizzle22]

Yeah I understand what you're saying. Well I had planned on vegging these as until their foliage was crowding and then moving them on up to a tent when they couldn't fit. I guess I have greatly underestimated how long I can keep them in there for! I am growing medicinal for my aunt who needs it pretty bad and my uncle (her husband) was going to finance the rest of the operation. I had told him I wouldn't need the tent and all that for a few more weeks but I may have to convince him otherwise now. Hopefully I can get away with feeding them nutes in there party cups for awhile longer... And then move them up to a proper size pot, is there any big problem with that plan? I don't know a whole lot about how temperamental they can be, or if they have problems growing into a big pot after getting stuck in a tiny one for so long.

PS: Hopefully those 2 leafs can last a couple more days and make a full recovery with the nutes, each plant is about 2 days behind the other it would seem, so hopefully they'll get the nutes before they start having issues. I think the 2nd oldest/largest just starting to fade from light green to yellow (could be wrong), but the round baby leafs on the 2 biggest are definitely done for. Is it usual for those to die off after only 2 weeks? Or is that because of the nute problem and they cannibalized them for food? haha

PSS: I am surprised you didn't recommend watering them again with the nutes even after such a short amount of time, is that just part of the whole *can't water too much just too often?

 

[showhard2handle]

Sampson, me brova. Sorry bout that msg. earlier, musta sounded getty as a school girl. I'm sure u can remember that day too though!!

anyway, look bro, I need some 4" blocks for my photo beans. Was gonna just grab some rockwool, but I hit up a site & saw this stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hC9LrpeNT4. Or: suretogrow.com. Same stuff, they at least sound like they know what they talkin bout, Could you please take a peak when you have a moment if I should give that stuff a whirl, or stick with the tried & true rockwool?

Obviously, my only experience w/ rockwool over the years was when I fooled around up in the attic as a kid & got some of that junk on me,And man I remember that stuff being ITCHY as all get out.

Break me off the gospel as always homey.

Thanks a bunch for everything!!

 

[simpsonsampson420]

Yeah I understand what you're saying. Well I had planned on vegging these as until their foliage was crowding and then moving them on up to a tent when they couldn't fit. I guess I have greatly underestimated how long I can keep them in there for! I am growing medicinal for my aunt who needs it pretty bad and my uncle (her husband) was going to finance the rest of the operation. I had told him I wouldn't need the tent and all that for a few more weeks but I may have to convince him otherwise now. Hopefully I can get away with feeding them nutes in there party cups for awhile longer... And then move them up to a proper size pot, is there any big problem with that plan? I don't know a whole lot about how temperamental they can be, or if they have problems growing into a big pot after getting stuck in a tiny one for so long.

PS: Hopefully those 2 leafs can last a couple more days and make a full recovery with the nutes, each plant is about 2 days behind the other it would seem, so hopefully they'll get the nutes before they start having issues. I think the 2nd oldest/largest just starting to fade from light green to yellow (could be wrong), but the round baby leafs on the 2 biggest are definitely done for. Is it usual for those to die off after only 2 weeks? Or is that because of the nute problem and they cannibalized them for food? haha

PSS: I am surprised you didn't recommend watering them again with the nutes even after such a short amount of time, is that just part of the whole *can't water too much just too often?

if you can get your uncle to purchase what you need now it would be a good idea.. you will quickly find space becomes a premium as they grow.. keeping them going in the party cups a while longer is possible tho.. but the sooner you can move them the better..

once they are in bigger pots their root systems will expand and growth will take off again... they'll be very happy...

the 2 round leaves always fall off.. usually within the first couple weeks they are done for... the light green/yellowing of the plants is due to lack of N in their diets.. starting nutes should solve that problem and the little bit of browning you have..

Sampson, me brova. Sorry bout that msg. earlier, musta sounded getty as a school girl. I'm sure u can remember that day too though!!

anyway, look bro, I need some 4" blocks for my photo beans. Was gonna just grab some rockwool, but I hit up a site & saw this stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hC9LrpeNT4. Or: suretogrow.com. Same stuff, they at least sound like they know what they talkin bout, Could you please take a peak when you have a moment if I should give that stuff a whirl, or stick with the tried & true rockwool?

Obviously, my only experience w/ rockwool over the years was when I fooled around up in the attic as a kid & got some of that junk on me,And man I remember that stuff being ITCHY as all get out.

Break me off the gospel as always homey.

Thanks a bunch for everything!!

dont sweat being excited bro.. its natural... i do remember those times like they were yesterday.. lol

those blocks from STG look pretty cool.. my computer has no audio so i couldnt listean to anything.. but they look like they work well.. would be worth a shot... i may even check them out in the future...

the only thing i dont like about them is cost.. they are kind of expensive.. i guess that also depends on the size you get.. but for 2 gallon buckets it would cost me 150 or so to get inserts for all my plants.. plus it doesnt seem they are reusable.. but in the end results out weigh cost...