FIRST GROW! Soil and a 400w mh/hps. PRAY FOR GIRLS!!!

[ottawaliquid]

Hey! Thanks man, I'm very proud of what little I've accomplished thus far!! They are in 4 gallon pots. As far as plans when this is done....I think what I'll do is take clones for sexing and then grow out the best looking/most resilient female clone into a mother for the next go-round. Or maybe i will do seeds again. I still have a blue dream, a blue cheese, another headbandz and 4 more blueberries. Gotta make a mother box if I want to go with the former. It would be nice though to know I have females and know exactly what to expect from the plant. Then I could go sog style and have short harvest times. I kinda like the idea of growing monster plants too though. It just takes too damn long. I'm probably vegging until mid Jan. +8-10 weeks flowering. Sigh......decisions decisions...

Yeah I just got too damn impatient and threw mine into flower tonight. That and with the issues I've been having I wanted to get things moving now.

I think you are going to have some monsters there though. Very jealous. I've been staring at my two plants and I'm pretty sure I'm one for two (1 male, 1 female). They both have very different looking preflowers No balls are evident yet but they look different from each other. I really wanted to grow some monsters too but I'm down my last 1/2 g

with 8-10 weeks of flower for me too I gotta get moving! mid-February seems like a long time away!

 

[matthebrute]

Yeah I just got too damn impatient and threw mine into flower tonight. That and with the issues I've been having I wanted to get things moving now.

I think you are going to have some monsters there though. Very jealous. I've been staring at my two plants and I'm pretty sure I'm one for two (1 male, 1 female). They both have very different looking preflowers No balls are evident yet but they look different from each other. I really wanted to grow some monsters too but I'm down my last 1/2 g

with 8-10 weeks of flower for me too I gotta get moving! mid-February seems like a long time away!

i hear ya im surviving of roaches, i have been 12/12 for about a week now but messed with thier lights a couple days ago. i have a feeling next 2-3 days ill know

 

[loyaltytoafault]

i hear ya im surviving of roaches, i have been 12/12 for about a week now but messed with thier lights a couple days ago. i have a feeling next 2-3 days ill know

Haha, oh no! Living off roaches is bad, only think worse it living off of resin pulls!

 

[growbuddy1]

Get your first crop yet?

 

[Chummerbum]

wow bro. im glad to see your plants have seriously rebounded. looking outstanding!

 

[loyaltytoafault]

wow bro. im glad to see your plants have seriously rebounded. looking outstanding!

Thanks chummer! They were for sure in rough shape to start. Night and day difference now ! Posting more pics from this morning in a few minutes!

 

[loyaltytoafault]

More pictures!! I adjusted my tie-downs and added a few more to some particularly big fan leaves. I have about 30 tops between the 6 plants, with more on the way! The daily growth is so fun to watch!!! Also, the plants are starting to stink already. Carbon filter working awesome though. No smell anywhere until I open the cab and then BAM!

 

[matthebrute]

looks nice, did you check my updates?

gonna make a compost pile, maybe i can influence you to do the same (providing you have the space where you live)

much better medium than FFoF or MG soils and all the nutes are organic so they wont burn your plants

 

[loyaltytoafault]

looks nice, did you check my updates?

gonna make a compost pile, maybe i can influence you to do the same (providing you have the space where you live)

much better medium than FFoF or MG soils and all the nutes are organic so they wont burn your plants

I did check it out. Looks good as usual ! Don't think I can run a compost. At least right now. It's freezing outside and I think it would all just freeze instead of breaking down! Once I added the lime to the ffof its worked perfect. I still have 50 pounds of it left, so I may run ffof again and be sure to mix in my lime right away. I'm a month in and everything is pretty and green. Thought I'd have to add my nutrients by now, but glad I haven't had to.

 

[matthebrute]

I did check it out. Looks good as usual ! Don't think I can run a compost. At least right now. It's freezing outside and I think it would all just freeze instead of breaking down! Once I added the lime to the ffof its worked perfect. I still have 50 pounds of it left, so I may run ffof again and be sure to mix in my lime right away. I'm a month in and everything is pretty and green. Thought I'd have to add my nutrients by now, but glad I haven't had to.

i live in Maine dude its cold here as well, compost gets hot. ideal internal temps are around 140F the microorganisms in the compost release energy wich in turn turns to heat.

im going to research before i do it but i would like to check the PH of my compost and mix in the lime or whatever i need to get it to perfect PH level, then when i use it i can just go scoop a bucket out of the pile, easy mode

 

[Chummerbum]

I did check it out. Looks good as usual ! Don't think I can run a compost. At least right now. It's freezing outside and I think it would all just freeze instead of breaking down! Once I added the lime to the ffof its worked perfect. I still have 50 pounds of it left, so I may run ffof again and be sure to mix in my lime right away. I'm a month in and everything is pretty and green. Thought I'd have to add my nutrients by now, but glad I haven't had to.

I'm so stoked that the lime worked. i've found that with soil grows you only really need bloom nutes, cause the soil should sustain them until flowering starts.

 

[matthebrute]

also as far as the composting goes you can do it on a relativly small scale, 50 gal rubbermaid tote would work nicely

http://chetday.com/compostrubbermaid.htm

 

[loyaltytoafault]

also as far as the composting goes you can do it on a relativly small scale, 50 gal rubbermaid tote would work nicely

http://chetday.com/compostrubbermaid.htm

I'll do some reading, thanks!

 

[loyaltytoafault]

I'm so stoked that the lime worked. i've found that with soil grows you only really need bloom nutes, cause the soil should sustain them until flowering starts.

Yeah, I'm geeked about it too! As far as nutes go.... I'm vegging for like another month. My plants aren't showing any nute burn with waterings anymore. Nothing is yellowing off or showing deficiency. Should I go ahead and start thinking about using some small doses of nutes? And which ones should I use(I have the fox farm trio)? Or, should I keep waiting till they show they need it? In other words, if they can handle it, should I give it to them regardless of if they NEED it?

 

[ottawaliquid]

Yeah, I'm geeked about it too! As far as nutes go.... I'm vegging for like another month. My plants aren't showing any nute burn with waterings anymore. Nothing is yellowing off or showing deficiency. Should I go ahead and start thinking about using some small doses of nutes? And which ones should I use(I have the fox farm trio)? Or, should I keep waiting till they show they need it? In other words, if they can handle it, should I give it to them regardless of if they NEED it?

Good question.. Again you know I'm a noob 1st time grower. but the science/chem eng background in me says to give them a little bit in case there is anything they may be starting to lack in their soil...

but then again I've gone with nutrient free soil right from the get go.. so I've been adding nutrients with every watering.. I think I've only done one small "plain" watering

My plants are looking better today. I gave them a heavy feed last night... I think it was a Mg deficiency they look much better.

Your plants are such a nice green though... I would hate for you to burn em at all at this point...

 

[matthebrute]

I personally would wait. using the FFOF if you want to up the nutes just up the plain watering, maybe start watering a bit heavier. not really sure your watering methods at the moment but if your not watering till a little bit of runoff happens then start doing so, this will release nutes stored in the soil and also act as sor of a "flush" for all the salt buildup. From what i have read if you just water small amounts without letting it drain out the bottom salts can/will build up around the roots and cause a lockout of other nutrients.

with pre treated soil i would imagine its best to use all nutes in soil that way you know exactly what your girls are getting. just my 2¢

 

[ottawaliquid]

I personally would wait. using the FFOF if you want to up the nutes just up the plain watering, maybe start watering a bit heavier. not really sure your watering methods at the moment but if your not watering till a little bit of runoff happens then start doing so, this will release nutes stored in the soil and also act as sor of a "flush" for all the salt buildup. From what i have read if you just water small amounts without letting it drain out the bottom salts can/will build up around the roots and cause a lockout of other nutrients.

with pre treated soil i would imagine its best to use all nutes in soil that way you know exactly what your girls are getting. just my 2¢

That makes a lot of sense.. I didn't think about all the potentially unreleased nutrients that might be left in the soil...

 

[loyaltytoafault]

Thank you both for input. I was leaning towards waiting longer and that's what i'll do. And I've been watering with about 22 oz of water every three to four days. There has been a small amount of runoff everytime since I had upped the amount of water to about 18-19 oz. When I first started them in their 4 gallon homes I used 16 oz per plant and had runoff once in a while. I have been slowly increasing the amount as the plant gets bigger and uses it faster.

 

[matthebrute]

Thank you both for input. I was leaning towards waiting longer and that's what i'll do. And I've been watering with about 22 oz of water every three to four days. There has been a small amount of runoff everytime since I had upped the amount of water to about 18-19 oz. When I first started them in their 4 gallon homes I used 16 oz per plant and had runoff once in a while. I have been slowly increasing the amount as the plant gets bigger and uses it faster.

well said man see you got this shit under wraps!!

 

[Jack Harer]

Get out of that mindset of watering a given amount every so many days. Water that sucker until you get run-off. Then feel the weight of the pot. Let the pot dry out before you water again, this time feel the weight of the empty pot. That's how you judge when to water. Give them what they want, when they want it, and always water until you get run-off. Keep the soil from separating from the sides of the pot. If it gets too dry, the water will run right out. If that happens, place the pot a the tub full of water and let it soak.
As for the soil, you're always better off with soil that has not been "pre-nuted". Start out with a soilless potting mix, then add compost and any other amendments you plan to use. If you do use pre nuted soil, remember that the nutes in it will get you thru 90 days or so, well into most flowering cycles.