For the moment I do not have a 400w mh/hps ballast, I was in the process of purchasing one and to say the least I came into some hard times of financial instability so.......
I Do have ftm a 200w cfl (42 watt) on three plants that are about a 6 weeks in now, I have up-to-date pictures taken yesterday and One very poor quality photo from when they were 4 weeks old. I have them all in a 2.5 gal hydro bucket from
www.generalhydroponics.com I purchased it from a friend not too long ago. Cleaned it out and I heard about this method of germinating where you take a knife and cut the top of the seed exposing the inside to moisture faster than regular or traditional methods(so they say). I heard some naysayers saying that it wont work and that its probly germinates half as much as doing it the "traditional" paper towel method or simply putting it in temp control soil blahblahblah BUT I had 4 Total seeds and decided to keep one just in case none worked out and Took three and they all would endure this method. I cut em all just saying fuck it cuz if i fuck it up i really dont give a fuck cuz i got the seeds for free(unknown strain-feel free to guess/or suggest names haha). Having heard from some supposedly wise growers from the north that i shouldnt even try cuz there is a %50 success rate IF THAT. Well like i said I tried three and after 2.5 days 2 were ready to be put into small cups of soil covered in suran wrap (sp?) and on top of a heating pad. I thought the last one(3rd seed) was a goner but after a week I looked back in my germinating bag and the root was like 3in long, LOL so i dropped that big fucker right into the same shit.
I Had a problem with PH because i didnt have access to purified water for lack of vehicle and or $, you know how that is. So i was just using the water out of my faucet.... bad idea. I thought i was giving my plants way too much nutes cuz as you can see in the pics there is some nutrient burn on them, but that was because the PH of my "CITY WATER" was 7.6!!!!! DAM. I thought like 7.2 at most, so i was adding a little vinegar here and there to drop the PH. Well now I got the PH at a steady 5.8-6.2 I have the Light on 24hrs a day and randomly turning the light off for an hr or two every other day (Very random sometimes up to 3-8hrs with no light, NEVER exceeding
Oh yeah and the water cycle goes twice to 3 times a day for about an hr to 2 hrs
