1st time grower, would like some plants opinions from experienced guys

Hey everyone, and thanks for all the great posts on here, they've been a real help for a first timer...Ok, I'll give you all the info I have cause I know you guys like a lot of info...I had a bag of great headies, maybe best I've ever had, and it had three seeds...so I planted them outside..well, they all sprouted...so I brought them inside, got a MH bulb, 50 watts, since there's only 3 of them...they are about week 4 or so and they are about 6-7" but fairly bushy and on 6th stem set....the bottom of the stem is smaller than the top as you can see, and the original little leaves they sprout in are just starting to die...I know that's normal, but does that signal that the stem is starting to get thicker at the bottom....I have Dynamite slow release formula in there thats 19-6-8 with all minors and did 1/3rd dose of blood meal for extra nitrogen this week for the first time...they seem healthy to me....light is 6 inches away, well ventilated,water after only dry a few inches down, walls are white.....what do you guys think and how long yet should I let them grow until I go to 12/12...I'm adding an HPS light on tuesday....any opinions help, thanks so much!!! You guys rock!!

Looks good, Im not one of those guys with a ton of exp but when you transplant them bury the stem up to the first set of baby leafs.. the stem looks ther looks a little weak.

Those are going to be twiggy unless you get more lights. 1 50 watt MH isn't going to cut it. The HPS will be good for flowering. Its okay for vegging but you would be better off supplementing the HPS with some 6500k CFL's. If you have plenty of time and are in no real rush, veg until they show pre-flower's. Usually takes a month to a month and a half for pre-flower's to show.

For comparison here is one of my two white widows at about 4 weeks old. It has roughly 7 nodes in the span of 8 inches.

things look good. your plant will double and sometime striple during flowering. just make sure you have the hightif not top it or tie it over. heres two that sprouted on 3-7-09

thanks for the posts guys....please everyone reply..all posts are very much appreciated....

snyder007 said:

Those are going to be twiggy unless you get more lights. 1 50 watt MH isn't going to cut it.

Click to expand...

yup and it's the wrong spectrum, 6500 K CFLs would give you better growth. https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/cfl-growing/240662d1226605588-5000k-vs-6500k-hortgraph2.gif

Nice graph frmrboi. Depending on what kind of MH bulb he has I wouldn't write it off as completely useless.

snyder007 said:

Nice graph frmrboi. Depending on what kind of MH bulb he has I wouldn't write it off as completely useless.

Click to expand...

no I wouldn't either but damn close. There's no way that bulb will be anything but a standard MH or 4000 K.

so the light that I have is almost useless?? I read on a bunch of places including here that MH is high in the blue eynd of the spectrum and that it's best for vegetative growth....I wish I wouldn't have had the wrong information the MH is more expensive than the CFL's.....how many CFL's would you recommend for three plants if I'm adding an HPS on tuesday

Is there any information printed on the MH bulb?

jrebuck212 said:

I read on a bunch of places including here that MH is high in the blue end of the spectrum and that it's best for vegetative growth.....

Click to expand...

they are if you buy a horticultural bulb like this:http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47279 There's not much selection for these 400 & 1000 watt lights only.
If your switching to the HPS you don't need any cfls to finish off.

not on the bulb itself, but the bulb came with the ballast, and on the outside of that it says 3,500 lumens, and the light coverage area is 6,000 sq feet

Are you sure? Did you look the bulb over completely? Almost always there is some sort of information on the bulb? Did you buy it new? Did the bulb come with any kind of wrapping on it?

Yes, I looked it over, it just came with the ballast and the bulb itself was just inside a piece of cardboard....the info I have is from the ballast box..thanks snyder007....and frmrboi, I was going to use the HPS in conjunction with the MH while still keeping it on a 20/4 hour cycle....I would like the plant to get to about 12 inches untill I swith solely to HPS and the 12/12 cycle....my worry is with the stem thickness, I would like them to be as healthy as they can be before I switch the light cycle...so basically what I'm asking here is you guys can see the pics, if they were yours what exactly would you do from here with that size at 4 weeks....Thanks again I appreciate you guys taking the time for this...And do they look relatively healthly for that age??

Put an oscillating fan on them to thicken the stems. Relatively healthy? Yes. A little light on the foliage though but they should thicken up once you get more lightning. I would add any lights you can as soon as you can. You should also, as was stated earlier, if you have the time, flower when the pre-flower's show up. That usually takes 1 month to 1 1/2 month.

I will do that!! Since they are about a month old are they about to preflower now, or in another month and a half and what should I be looking for? They have started to grow new leaves in the nodes

How many nodes do you have. Usually after the 4th or 5th node you should watch next to the stipules for the pre-flowers. I noticed my pre-flowers around the same time the nodes started to stagger. 9-11 nodes total on the plant.

the two biggest ones are just growing into their fifth

A month old and only 5 nodes? You desperately need more light. My 3.5 week old White Widow plant has 8 nodes with the 9th on the way out. Lighting is the most important part of the grow.

What CFL's do you recommend