1st Time Grower Lots of Questions

Ok so its my first time growing and i have lots of questions. first off my plant is just a seed out of a bag i bought. I have it in a small pot with black gold soil under a T8 fixture that is 4 ft. x 6 or 8 bulbs. the light cycle is 18/6 i have the cutting edge solutions nutrients (only used once at half strength so far). been just using normal clean water mostly. its been growing but very slowly its been almost 4 weeks now since its been germinated then planted and is only about 2 inches so far with small slightly drooping leaves. am i doing something wrong? can post pictures if that would be helpful with getting help. just want to know how to do it before buying femanized seeds from Attitude....Please help any advise will do

Here we go:

If you are planting just one seed it's a waste of time because more than likely 6 out of 10 seeds you plant will be males ( which do not produce marijuana). Next, if you are using a T8 fixture you want that plant as close as possible; almost touching. Furthermore, you'll need to find another source of lighting for flowering even if that plant was a female. Next, that seedling is way too young to be receiving nutrients. The only thing it should be getting is bacteria and fungus to promote root growth. Probably not what you want to hear but, re advise your attack and start over. REMEMBER: Smooth is fast and fast is smooth. As for seeds banks, you are better off buying guaranteed feminized seeds instead of the "here's 5 seeds and see what happens" bag. They take about 3 weeks to get to the states (if that's where you live) so i'd order now. Usually you get 1 free seed with your first purchase! One last thing, if you continue to use that T8, i would run it 24/7

^^^That's the truth. Dude, before you set up a grow, READ,READ,READ, and get an idea of how big you wanna go, then get everything you'll need before you start. I did the opposite, and ended up playing catch up with the grow, always a step behind. That's not a good thing when the plants start to smell!!!

yeah im ordering seeds from attitude online today (since that seems like a legit place that ships to US). i just figured id plant the seed i found a while back in my grow room and see how it works out before i invested more money in it since ive never grown pot just herbs and vegetables. how tall should it be a month after planting? how many leaves/nodes? and should i not use them even if the nutrients say to use in seedling stage?

i have a 4ft by 6 bulb T8 set up for veging on my vegetables and herbs and i have a 1000w HPS bulb and Ballast and a xxxl magnum 8" hood for flower i know how to grow just not pot really

Dude, then use that HPS all the way through. growth varies my friend, i have a T5 fixture i'm using and i usually get about an inch of growth every 2 or 3 days. Marijuana shares a lot of similarities with tomatoes in the way they grow. youtube is very marijuana friendly and so are we also, they sell the grower's bible at almost any hydroponic store.

i thought that a t5 or t8 with blue lights were fine to use when growing in the veg stage does using the hps make that big of a difference in the veg stage cause i thought that plants like blue light during veg

CaptainCarnival said:

i thought that a t5 or t8 with blue lights were fine to use when growing in the veg stage does using the hps make that big of a difference in the veg stage cause i thought that plants like blue light during veg

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with the fluro's you want to use any bulbs around the area of 6500k during veg and around 2900k for flowering. HPS can be used the whole way through; possibly better than fluro's in both stages. My t5 is absolutely amazing for veg but HPS gives off a better orange/red spectrum than 2900k t5 tubes. Also, you can buy cfl's to support your t8. same thing goes for cfl's as it does your t8.

what do you mean cfls to support the t8 is the t8 not enough light for pot plants

CaptainCarnival said:

what do you mean cfls to support the t8 is the t8 not enough light for pot plants

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compact fluorescent lights. they are supplemental lighting not primary (even tho people do use them as primary). The T8 could very well be enough light but, the more light it can receive the faster cell production and photosynthesis will take place.

ok well dude youve been a huge fuckin help. thanks a whole lot. by chance since clearly you live in the US do you advise any seed banks other than attitude that are good to order from that deliver here

only one i have messed with man. i'm sure they have links to other sites or you can post a new thread asking.

CaptainCarnival said:

ok well dude youve been a huge fuckin help. thanks a whole lot. by chance since clearly you live in the US do you advise any seed banks other than attitude that are good to order from that deliver here

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use the hps. and if possible buy a mh light and just use that if i were you.

CaptainCarnival said:

yeah im ordering seeds from attitude online today (since that seems like a legit place that ships to US). i just figured id plant the seed i found a while back in my grow room and see how it works out before i invested more money in it since ive never grown pot just herbs and vegetables. how tall should it be a month after planting? how many leaves/nodes? and should i not use them even if the nutrients say to use in seedling stage?

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I HIGHLY suggest that you start out with bagseed before you go killing off expensive genetics. It's not your ability in question, it's just that I don't care WHO you are, for some reason, when we start growing MJ, all rationality goes out the window, and we start looking at the girls with a microsope and panic at anything that doesn't look PERFECT! The hardest thing for a new grower to do is just sit back, and realize that this is just a plant. If you can grow veggies, you'll be a shoe in for this. It is NO different.

CaptainCarnival said:

i thought that a t5 or t8 with blue lights were fine to use when growing in the veg stage does using the hps make that big of a difference in the veg stage cause i thought that plants like blue light during veg

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You can grow a very respectable grow under either spectrum. If you want to get REALLY anal, then yes, a bluer spectrum (MH) is ideal for veg and a more red spectrum (HPS) is ideal for flowering. If you were to compare the results I'd sat that the difference in yield would only be measured in grams. My nugs are just as dense under MH as they are under HPS.
If you are driven and OCD, there are always ways you can tweak this to squeeze that extra gram or so out of them, and you can chase that to extreme, or you can just sit back, relax and enjoy the trip.

week two after seed
week 3 after seed
week 4 after seed
week 5 after seed/this week...whats wrong with my little friend oh and ive heard some stuff about being able to tell sex somehow by the nodes being at different heights. is that true or do i have to wait for flowering

NO, you cant tell sex from the nodes. The only way to tell is from pre-flowers or until actual flower.

^ Thread jacking. Anyway, the only way to tell sex is when you are in pre-flower. Also your seedling looks like it is suffering from nute burn. I would give it very little to almost no nutrients right now. Wait until it has a couple sets of fan leaves to even up the dosage a bit, if you do up the dosage do it slowly. For example. I use foxfarm nutes for a hydro grow. I started out giving my two plants 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. I waited a week and upped it to 1 1/2 per gallon, then they got bigger and bushier. I upped it to 2 per gallon, then to 3 and a half and just today I put only 2 in to kind of ease them a little on the nutes only because I want to slow the growth just a bit. Anyway. Your seedling doesn't look bad at all. It will survive if you catch and problems early. Fix your feeding, because nute burn will lead to stunted growth, and or slow growth. I know because my first plant I tried growing ended up dieing because I went nute crazy with it like an idiot. Read up a bit on how often and when you should start feeding them. If you are growing in soil that is a whole different aspect to hydro. There is my 2 cents. Good luck to your grow and may you be blessed with a lady that gives you nice buds.

does the drooping leaves mean im over watering and is (hopefully she) look about how tall a seed should be by this point

Drooping leaves can be normal, but it could also be a sign of over-watering. I don't know much about soil, but if you stick your finger in the soil and go down to where the roots are. You should be able to feel whether it is moist or dry. If it is dry, water. If it is moist, then leave it be. Have you measured exactly how tall your seedling is? You can't really say for sure how tall a plant should be at a certain time, it can be a genetic thing. For 4 almost 4 weeks your plant could be a bit taller and it could be bushier. I think you may have temporarily stunted the growth, reduce the nutrients and just give it time to recover and you will probably see it start to grow more/faster. One of my plants is just about 4 weeks as well and this is what it looks like.