2nd attempt at 1st grow...problems again :-(

Sorry I meant Northern lights I have a lot on my mind right now...and once you dissolve the powder it is done there will be a little sand that ends in the bottom of the tank but it is fillers they use...And in hydro I'd go with Northern lights and crystal...big bud isn't all that great a lot of people will tell you it's garbage...<---I don't think it is but you need to know what it likes to get a decent smoke...the smoke to me kinda reminds me of good street weed...kinda like pinesol mixed with diesel...but northern lights if grow to the full bore is heaven...and crystal is bag appeal all the way home strong fuel flavor and smell...oh and I'd stay with the 1000 watt till next grow...good growing

N lights and crystal it is, and I only have 1 fem nycd left so I do want to grow it and see if that is indeed what I am flowering now that says nycd on it's tag, lol..be nice to know what it is for sure by harvest time!!
A few more pics of the girls...today for their feeding I tried to calculate it so they'd get more N..so I added an extra 2 cc's of grow and micro...hope it doesn't mess things up but I think they need to be a deeper green at this stage, otherwise I'm going to have some sad assed yellow leaves at the end, and you don't have to end that way from what Ive been reading..

I didn't even answer that question sorry but once the leafs have formed they are done...the new growth will be darker green...but let me explain why I don't follow the keep it dark green all the way to the end...I believe that by letting the plant use up the energy stores in the leafs at the end of flower it builds better buds they are doing what nature tells them too...if you keep nitrogen levels high in flower it slow buds site from forming common problem with other types of flowers...the plant has to do something with the nitrogen so it uses it to form leaf...you ever hear of leafy bud...<---is also genetic...I follow a different plan and it is to build green healthy plants in Veg...and let nature take over in flower...everyone focuses so much on flowering...but building a nice plant before is just as important...I'll tell you everyone has a different opinion about this...if I had my way I'd say in a normal 3 month grow 6 weeks is veg and the last is flower because it takes time to switch over to full flower...I feed grow and bloom mixed when I flip and it works pretty well...I use a 1 to 7 ratio when I flip...but anyway good growing

I agree with the let them veg thinking, too.
Why flip a 6" plant when it will grow 3' in 6 weeks of veg, a little more time=a lot more bud. I know people will grow a LOT of plant material in a short time for the quicker harvests, and sure if you have 99 it will be the same as a lot less big ones..I think a plant should live up to whatever genetic potential it has, call me sappy, lol. I would much rather handle 15 very big plants than 50 tiny ones, just my preference.
I read a lot of stuff on here from great growers, and I have learned more than I ever thought I would in such a short time.
In the end it is always find what works best for you and always try to improve on that. I am so happy to be growing, it's so healing and centering.My tendencies towards perfectionism unfortunately come out in my growing as well ( frustrated perfectionist at times) but it keeps me thinking, always of different, better, maybe easier ways of doing things.
Thanks for being part of this journey. Great growing!

coming along nicely ....I see you got a few Big ones in there SWEET!...so how goes the battle

Decided to take pics tonight after lights out under natural/flash light..and they really don't look as light green as they do under 1600 watts of HPS! They may be just fine and dandy, though I do see some lighter green areas.

Damn I am so not sure on some of the alleged "males" I pulled, some look like they are flowering, but have no hairs...how long is too long to wait with them by the females? I mean, do the males get big and very noticeable before pouring out their pollen? So do I have time to wait awhile to be certain?

yes..........they show before they blow

I love that scrog...lmao...and Newbb your plants look amazing they don't need anything but time...when they start packing on massive buds your going to be amazed too...for a first grow it's a plus...well for any grow it's amazing...good growing

aww, thanks bud...I really appreciate it, I just took the info u gave me on what to do "with Luna" and did it with them all, and viola! I knew I could grow, just have to iron out the wrinkles!!
one of my bubbles (I think, or it may be a thc snow) is realllly getting "flower-y" has long white hairs on every bract on the plant(thats the correct term, right?
What I can't wait to see is where all this bud is going to go, lol..I see flowers, how does it go from that to bud all the way down the stems??? Most peoples grow journals have like weekly pics and it's like ok, theres flowers, them bam! the buds all over the place, I guess I should rewatch some of those youtube videos I watch way back when I started that show slow-mo of the entire grow, that may help me to understand what my girls are going through, and with no flowering plants for reference, I won't know if things don't look right.
I got that 600 watt light that only has a cheap batwing reflector, seems the plants I moved under that aren't as happy as the ones under the 1k. why would foliage have like wet stuff on it(I was thinking at first too much heat) and some of the foliage on fan leafs is a bit crispy round the edges towards the top..I am going to order 2 600's from amazon, as they have the exact ballast I just got at the local hydro store for 245...on amazon they are 200 with a 6" cool top, I am going to need those 6" vents come summertime...let me know if you think these 2 things are any good for venting them outside my garage..was thinking this http://www.amazon.com/hydroponics-Outlet-carbon-active-Filter/dp/B004YXDQE6/ref=pd_sbs_hg_22 along with this http://www.amazon.com/LED-Wholesalers-GYO2402-Hydroponic-Booster/dp/B003YFADW8/ref=pd_bxgy_lg_img_b or they do sell them together...I would need 1 fan on each light, right, then just attach the carbon filter to the ducting at the place it's being vented outdoors?
I'm thinking also of getting a good sized grow tent for flowering so I don't have to separate the room, can have plants vegging and my mom/clone nursery area all in one 25x20 room..use the 4' HO t-5 to veg with, the 600's for flowering, and pick up a small like 2' T-5 for the clone/mum area (there is a shelf in the room about 4' high by 4' wide and 2' deep) figure that would be perfect I could build a separator and under the 2' t-5 have moms, and just use either a reg shop light or cfl's for the cloning area, maybe 2 shelves on the clones side. I am also ordering another roll of that panda film, I can just use that to enclose under that shelf, but if I get a flowering tent I won't really have to close them off due to light.I never had a huge area just for growing so this is all new to me, I see a lot of people advertise for guidance in grow setups, but I don't think telling some person I don't know where I live is too smart, even with my paperwork handy.Maybe the ganja is making me a tad bit paranoid, lol. for some reason the mylar is crap I got at my hydro store looks like the DULL side of foil...its not shiny at all so I don't know if it's low grade or what. I do have some up now in my bedroom and the plants on the side with the mylar are a lot smaller than the ones without. The big ones are still under the 1k light, too though.
ok, been up all night n am rambling...sorry! good night n happy growing!

good morning...when the lights came on I gave luna yet another look over..man she seems like shes getting flowers, but no pistils,anywhere I took some pics, she def doesn't have the 3-5 or 6 cluster of balls some of the others did, but she isn't showing any white hairs, either..then again, neither is the supposed nycd feminized seed/plant from.
Thought I'd throw in some update pics, going into week 4 soon, the 4th week on 12/12 (day 24 today)The bubbles, thc snow and widows seem to all be doing their thing, 1 more ww may yet be a male, I just can't tell with no white hairs all over, has a few tiny ones, but not sure..and she/he was the one I was talking about that had crunchiness around some fan leafs...well found out her problem, they aren't due for food for 2 days and her pot was sooo light...plant just lifted right out, now I have seen root-bound plants, but this poor thing was so thick w/ roots they even covered the whole bottom(deep, too), not just the spin around the pot.;.ok will attach pics..named them who they are/or what I want to know (like isLunaaBoy...etc..lol...man I haven't been to bed yet, I'm ready to ass out!!

just got out my book...those tear shaped things that I am referring to as "balls"...they are just the calyx's??? man I hope I didn't toss plants out of the light just because I saw their calyx!!
The anatomical pics I have of males don't look like anything I've had here, either, but how long does it take for the male flowers or pollen sacks to develop?? Need to get REAL pics of staminate floral buds instead of these drawing I have lol.
So when it looks like a bunch of bananas then it's close to pollinating?
Damn, I took 4 plants out of the room b/c they had those little tear shaped things, some had a cluster of them on certain branches.Is it a safe bet their males if it turns into more than 1 of these and ends up with no pistils?
Thats what I based pulling them on
should I get them back into the light until they show better???
helpppp I feel lost, lol.
Oh hey I was just getting ready to put in my amazon order this morning when I found a guy on craigslist whose selling 2 600 watt lights with hoods, both have fans, venting, and a carbon scrubber filter to put at the end, basically everything I was going to order...he also has the foxform hydro trio (big bloom, tiger bloom and grow big, he only wants 300 for everything, my order on amazon was going to be close to 750!!! cha-ching..I just saved 450 and I don't have to wait a week to 10 days for everything to get in!! My landlord put in a new breaker box just for the garage "needs" yesterday, I'm about ready to move these big girls!
I found what looks like a gnat on my sticky paper...but I have no screen in my window and it's open like 3-4 inches, at night I cover it with a double drape, now I am going to have to be vigilant about bugs since i live near the woods, lotsa bugs here, been actually thinking of ordering a grow tent to put IN my grow room, will take up about half the room, it's huge enough to setup my ebb&grow in it and def big enough for 3 600 watters.or 2....dep how big I grow them next time, but I think I will keep a 3rd around just "in case".The tent is 96"x48"x78"--->http://www.amazon.com/Reflective-Mylar-Hydroponics-Hydro-Cabinet/dp/B003VW6IN2/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1332973280&sr=8-10, since I just saved 450 on all my stuff for inside it, I won't feel bad spending 140!! What a good day and i still haven't been to bed yet!
I should do that...as soon as I get some real pics of male plants, so a bit of research...then bed!
Happy growing all..

well it's easy to find out just wait males only require about 1/10 the light that females do if they keep putting on pollen sacks then it's a male and it will grow in extremely low light conditions...I don't think Luna is a Male she just needs more time to tell...<---but keep an Eye on it to be safe...those others looks suspect to me...<---I've never pollenated a crop on accident from hermie's or male because I look at my plants everyday and inspect them in flower like a hawk...then I leave them alone...I don't want bugs or hermie bullshit call me crazy but that's my secret...good growing

I'm always in there yacking at them and looking them over, but I need new glasses, so my sight isn't the best, I just mainly looked over the branches and foliage for potential problems, some were really flimsey and broke easily on the ww's and thc snows, don't think from what I read they are supposed to get as tall as I got em, hell that bubble with 4-5 main stems..she almost reaches the bottom of my 1K light, and it's on them light hangers and they are all the way up to the ceiling! I sure hope she and a few others are done with their "stretch"..what weeks does that usually happen in flowering?...so I keep her and the other stretchy ones off to the side, and her other side gets light from the 600 I put up. all the pics I looked up on google were huge masses of balls..these things I pulled the plants over are about the size of a sesame seed, maybe a tad bigger, but NOTHING like what the males I googled looked like..so it's safe, while they are tiny balls I have no worries of pollinating my girls? How long does it take them usually before they "dump their load?" or are old/mature enough to drop the pollen?
Actually the 2 I put in the bathroom for a few days look really pale and a bit saggy,but those little tear shaped things are still exactly the same as they were 3 days ago or so, the 1 that did def have a mad cluster(like grapes) of them, I already chopped.
I put them back under the lights today, just in case I def don't want to mess with my yield by chopping innocent females!!
They basically have those tiny calyx looking things that I thought were balls on luna, too..so the longer their flowering period, the longer it can take to show sex? I can't figure out how people sex plants when they are like 6-10" tall, or 3-5 weeks.I guess like sooo many other things, I will learn
Thanks for all the help there!
You think for 140 that huge tent is a good idea, it's mainly to keep them in a very closed controlled environment, I don't want bugs attacking them after they go out in the outbuilding, I've come too far with this batch to let em get ravaged by pests!! During the day when lights are on I can open the flaps and let air move through the screens(plus the lights will be vented out of the tent, into the rest of the room while it's still cold to keep the temps up in there, and in the summer I am going to make a few holes in the side of the garage, 2 to bring fresh air in(low on the wall) with the 6" fans blowing into the room and into the tent, and one hole(up towards the roof to let heat be blown out, mostly for summer) for the ducting from inside the tent, and all holes will have fine meshed screen over them to keep bugs out and I was thinking air filters too. and as soon as they get put out there I start on my surgical schedule with them...scrubs and operating room hat on anytime I go in to work with them, no shoes, etc...I don't want any bugs jumping on me between the house and where they will be. And my hair falls out a lot, I pick it off the plants and out of the soil all of the time, and I don't want hairy buds, no way! I know how I have the grow room pictured in my mind, doing it alone will be rough and I hope it's nice and lab quality when I am done with it.
goodnight....n happy growing!

Yeah I grow in a tent...I tell most of the people that want to get into it to get a tent...oh and keep an eye on those males you put back in unless you want seeds in your weed...<---by the way it's not the worst thing that can happen...yeah it takes longer for the sativas to show...and too tell the truth sexing really early isn't always a good thing...I don't worry about it at all...I think thats the point just to have a good time with it...and don't steal my tag line<---Cheers

steal your tag line...I said happy growing, not good growing, lol.. want to hear a crazyyy thing, that 1 plant I JUST repotted into a dirt bag, it was barely showing with those crowded roots,in fact I wasn't 100% sure it was a she yet, by the next night it had as many and as big white puffies as my bubblegum does! I'm thinking she just needed more room, and probably wasn't getting much of her food with that mass.She went crazy after I fed her!!!

OK..I have a serious question, can't seem to find the answers I am looking for on google or my books. The sunshine advanced #4 soil less mix I am using says to PH the nutes and h20 like it's hydro, so I have been PH'ing everything to 5.6.(usually after adding the gro, micro& bloom it averages out to 6.5-6.6)
Normally this mix runs at about a 6.6-6.8 PH. Why would my mix suddenly be dropping Ph? I am ranging from 5.3-6.5, besides a bit of brown crunchies around the edges of a few old fan leaves and a few now and then that get yellow my foliage is looking great. If the digital PH meter read 5.1 then I used the one with just the manual thing to give reading is giving me readings of 6.4-6.6.I don't know how accurate the digital is. wouldn't I be locking out all my nutes at 5.1-5.5?
The flowers are getting bigger every day..and spreading down the stems, I'm super excited to see the changes everyday.
My question is this, in hydro, if your ppms rise and PH falls it means something, like if the ppms go up it means the plants are drinking more than they are eating, or something to that effect.
Another conundrum is flushing in the cloth pots..I mean when I water I don't usually water until they drain out/leak from the bottom, but yesterdays feeding they seemed a bit dry/droopy so I gave each enough to get some runoff (or flow though in the case of the cloth bags)
Can someone point me in the direction of a good article or similar on what the PH and PPM's rising and falling all means?
Happy growing~~

Newwb I hate to be the one to tell you this but that is not good it's a sign of root root...why did you lower the PH to 5.5 in a soil less medium...whats probably happened is you burned your roots because the medium doesn't dry out as fast as in hydro...I'd flush with plain water...and wait to see if the problem worsens...I'd only ph to 6.0 at the lowest in soil less medium...6.2-6.5 is a good place to be...I always go to 6.0 because over time I've noticed the PH comes up to 6.5 if the plants use the nutrients in the soil then they get just water...so it's like a flush in between...plus if you're plants are 4 feet thats a gallon of water per...but if your using one of those soil probes those things are not really good at all...pull one of the plants out and see if the roots are brown or slimy or smell foul...anyway probably nothing could also be that your plants are use all the Phousrous in the nutrient right at this moment and it's leaving everything else behind...good growing

Here's a Ph Chart...

OH I'm sorry, duh..I PH their feedings to 6.5, I apologize,I just soaked some rockwool for seeds and IT was 5.5...see so much to still get confused about! no sleep..lol..noo root rot, Ive seen the roots recently and the ones I saw were freakin awesome!!!
I ran like 6-8 cups of reg h20 in each pot(was time 4 a drink anyway), and they are all reading 6.2-6.6..I think the 2 that I was getting low 5's readings on were a mess up with the cheap digital, the one with the line in it never got below 6.4.I'm taking all my meters into my hydro guy, he has said he'd calibrate them all for me, and I never have had it done in like...5-6 months.
I did pull that 1 out b/c it's in a plastic grow bag and it was easier, roots 3x the size they were > a month ago when I repotted them in there, no smellies,Huge white roots...medium actually has a nice earthy smell. I use this microbe brew alternating weeks with kangaroots, they're full of bacteria and all the beneficial B's, ones a catalyst.(fox farm/Bushmaster)
So low PH means bad shit growing from root rot? That is great to know.
out of the 3 left unconfirmed, I believe another female has emerged victorious! 1 is looking more and more male, starting to get the balls in clusters...think it's chop time on him?
Thanks for the speedy reply..and yes the digital has a probe, I just read those are supposed to be replaced every so often, another on my "to-do" list!!!
Thanks so much!! Happy growing~