How are my plants doing? first time grower

ak.fortyseven

ak.fortyseven

Well-Known Member
yea, the strong survived, i think you have a graspn what you are doin, post pics and such, dont let these posts make your desicions, use them as a reference.
 
mysunnyboy

mysunnyboy

Well-Known Member
ak.fortyseven said:
yea, the strong survived, i think you have a graspn what you are doin, post pics and such, dont let these posts make your desicions, use them as a reference.
Click to expand...
AMEN to that ak, there are some strange posts going on sometimes, fortunately it's not too hard, just kinda time consuming, to wade thru the muck to get to the gold but totally worth it. BTW thanks for all the advice I've seen you give out, I have learned so much.
 
pandan

pandan

Active Member
What you should of been told is that the HPS is very effective and powerful from the start of the grow to finish BUT you have to be a lot more careful than using a CFL. I use a 600w HPS for vegging and flowering with no cfl's at all but when the seeds sprout the lamp has to be somewhere like 35.4 inches away. As the plants get bigger you slowly move the lamp closer. Those smaller plants you have in the cups you could maybe get as close as 23.6 inches away with a 600w. That bigger one in the larger pot if you wanted to push the limits you could try 15.5 inches. From what i know you shouldn't try to get any closer than 11.8 inches from even a fully grown plant. Some people do get their lamps really close but they are experienced and know they are pushing the envelope and have equipment there to make sure their plants don't get fried. ON TOP OF ALL THIS you not only have to take in to consideration the light intensity on your plants and the stress it could cause but you also have to look after your air temperature. Being 11.8 inches away from the top of a fully developed plant is brilliant for light intensity but you will get stuff all growth if that causes the relative air temperature around the plant to rise about 35 degrees Celsius (sorry i'm Australian you'll have to convert that yourself).
I would certainly recommend you use your HPS in vegging but only if you are prepared to put a lot of work in and check on your plants a lot until you learn how to do it safely. If you don't have the time or effort in you, go for the safe option with CFL veg. Having said that CFL will only let you down in flowering so will have to learn how to use your HPS effectively none the less.

On a totally different matter, you must re-pot all those plants right now- especially the biggest one. What is really hard to notice (unless you have side by side testing) is that limiting root space will bonsai your plant. They still develop and look really healthy but when the roots find the limits of your pot it sends a signal to the plant to stay shorter and compact. I'm not even talking about making the plant root bound- if you let it get to that stage it's a whole new kettle of fish with nutrient and oxygen problems- what I mean is the thin roots spreading out want to feel like there are no limits and not so much as touch the sides of the pot too soon. Some people go through 3 or so pot stages but unless water and nutrient volume is a problem it's safest and easiest to just go the big pot right from the start or do a medium pot (something at least twice as big as your cups) until the plants are around the size of your small ones are in those pics (two or three nodes) and then go right in to the big pot.
 
561crim

561crim

Active Member
I only use HPS to veg...floro or cfl just takes too long...I keep my lights about 24" from seedlings, then as they get bigger slowly move closer to getting within 16"...having good airflow is key and water them alot...do this an in 3 weeks you'll be thinking..should i go another week in veg? 8 weeks later you will have 7' tall plants if you use HPS throughout...typically growing at a rate of 2"-3"/day.
 
TwistedTree199

TwistedTree199

Member
pandan said:
What you should of been told is that the HPS is very effective and powerful from the start of the grow to finish BUT you have to be a lot more careful than using a CFL. I use a 600w HPS for vegging and flowering with no cfl's at all but when the seeds sprout the lamp has to be somewhere like 35.4 inches away. As the plants get bigger you slowly move the lamp closer. Those smaller plants you have in the cups you could maybe get as close as 23.6 inches away with a 600w. That bigger one in the larger pot if you wanted to push the limits you could try 15.5 inches. From what i know you shouldn't try to get any closer than 11.8 inches from even a fully grown plant. Some people do get their lamps really close but they are experienced and know they are pushing the envelope and have equipment there to make sure their plants don't get fried. ON TOP OF ALL THIS you not only have to take in to consideration the light intensity on your plants and the stress it could cause but you also have to look after your air temperature. Being 11.8 inches away from the top of a fully developed plant is brilliant for light intensity but you will get stuff all growth if that causes the relative air temperature around the plant to rise about 35 degrees Celsius (sorry i'm Australian you'll have to convert that yourself).
I would certainly recommend you use your HPS in vegging but only if you are prepared to put a lot of work in and check on your plants a lot until you learn how to do it safely. If you don't have the time or effort in you, go for the safe option with CFL veg. Having said that CFL will only let you down in flowering so will have to learn how to use your HPS effectively none the less.

On a totally different matter, you must re-pot all those plants right now- especially the biggest one. What is really hard to notice (unless you have side by side testing) is that limiting root space will bonsai your plant. They still develop and look really healthy but when the roots find the limits of your pot it sends a signal to the plant to stay shorter and compact. I'm not even talking about making the plant root bound- if you let it get to that stage it's a whole new kettle of fish with nutrient and oxygen problems- what I mean is the thin roots spreading out want to feel like there are no limits and not so much as touch the sides of the pot too soon. Some people go through 3 or so pot stages but unless water and nutrient volume is a problem it's safest and easiest to just go the big pot right from the start or do a medium pot (something at least twice as big as your cups) until the plants are around the size of your small ones are in those pics (two or three nodes) and then go right in to the big pot.
Click to expand...
I dont have the room for big pots but I did just transplant them in to as big as pots as I can. I am definitely about to start flowering. I have heard they double to triple in size.
 
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