First grow...600w x2 HPS, 13 Bagseed in soil

Alright friends roll one up and welcome to the beginning of my first grow journal, and grow for that matter!

Here's the specs....

Room:
1x Basement storage room- 7'x4'x7'
1x 750 cfm exhaust fan w/regulator piped through 6" semi rigid ducting to attic, to roof.
2x 6" passive intakes placed at pot level sucking cool air in.
1x 15" or so oscillating fan mounted opposite of plants.
1x Cheap cool mist humidifier from wal-mart (I was having high heat-low humidity issues)
1x Cheap thermometer/rh tester

Lighting:
2x iPower 600w adjustable ballasts and reflectors w/timers
2x 600w HPS bulbs
1x 600w MH bulb (mistake on shipper I should have received two)

Plants/Soil:
13x unknown strain Bagseed, mid quality at best, germinated 11/11/12
About half in 4 gal pots other half in 5 gal
Half growing in Fox Farms Ocean Forrest
Half growing in custom blend of premium potting soil, bat guano, fish emulsion, sand, and Perlite.

Nutrients:
Fox Farms Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom
Tap water left out for 24 hrs.

that's all I can think of at the moment...

My temps are around 76-84F/day and 60-66F/night
Humidity goes from about 25% to 45% but averages 35ish%
PH is 6.0-6.5 at watering, fed nutrients for the first time at 3 weeks old
18/6 for veg

So the ladies (hopefully) are 3 weeks old from germination, all look well? I have a few questions, what will be my best option for maximizing yield since ScrOG seems out of the question considering these aren't feminized and I don't want to train males... I was thinking Uncle Ben's technique for 4 main colas?

This is my first grow so ALL advice is WELCOME and APPRECIATED!! Thank you!!

I'll continue to update this thread so like I said roll one.... or twelve up, and stay tuned....

Much Love,
Swisher Twister B)~

Here's some pics...

Oddly enough, I've found that the plants under the 600w HPS are getting ~1" of growth per day, compared to those under the 600w MH bulb are growing ~1/4" per day. I was under the impression the MH bulb was the light spectrum best for vegetative growth, now I'm thinking of switching it out for my other 600w HPS.
Any suggestions if this is a good move or not?

Swisher Twister said:

Oddly enough, I've found that the plants under the 600w HPS are getting ~1" of growth per day, compared to those under the 600w MH bulb are growing ~1/4" per day. I was under the impression the MH bulb was the light spectrum best for vegetative growth, now I'm thinking of switching it out for my other 600w HPS.
Any suggestions if this is a good move or not?

Click to expand...

if im not mistaken hps light streches plants a bit while mh tends to keep them shorter n bushy someone correct me if im wrong. subbed

Subbing in just to observe. The knowledge and advice available here is incredible. Far more than I can offer. Good luck

Swisher Twister said:

Oddly enough, I've found that the plants under the 600w HPS are getting ~1" of growth per day, compared to those under the 600w MH bulb are growing ~1/4" per day. I was under the impression the MH bulb was the light spectrum best for vegetative growth, now I'm thinking of switching it out for my other 600w HPS.
Any suggestions if this is a good move or not?

Click to expand...

Hps bulbs are ..obviously higher in the red and yellow spectrum than cfl,mh/hid that are primarlblue. The higher reds make your plant stretch. Making nodes farther apart, while as alre ady said the mh,cfl,hid will keep the nodes closer together. (Short and busy) using hps and 18/6 wilk give you taller thinner plants..
I have heard lots of positives about scrog
and wouldnt mind trying it even with un femed seedz.... Mind you im not a pro either.

Robfather said:

Subbing in just to observe. The knowledge and advice available here is incredible. Far more than I can offer. Good luck

Click to expand...

Good lookin' out mayne! I'm just starting out so hopefully beginner's luck is on my side, if it is I'll make sure to roll a fatty in your honor for sending all the good vibes!

Doski said:

Hps bulbs are ..obviously higher in the red and yellow spectrum than cfl,mh/hid that are primarlblue. The higher reds make your plant stretch. Making nodes farther apart, while as alre ady said the mh,cfl,hid will keep the nodes closer together. (Short and busy) using hps and 18/6 wilk give you taller thinner plants..
I have heard lots of positives about scrog
and wouldnt mind trying it even with un femed seedz.... Mind you im not a pro either.

Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks for the info! After looking at my plants, those under the MH do have slightly closer nodes, but not a considerable amount compared to those under the HPS. On the flip side though, in addition to added height on my plants under the HPS, those plants also have exploded with bushy vegetation.

I am still trying to decide if the light difference is the only variable, but if it is, then the 600w HPS is BLOWING the 600w MH out of the water. Like I said it could be coincidence though...

On the ScrOG note though, I am deciding on not doing it until I have feminized seeds because there is a significant chance that half my screen will be filled with male flowers and I really don't want to fuck around with yanking all those plants out, plus then it would have defeated the purpose of training my females, as half the screen would still be empty.

Ok so here are some updated pics, I'll try to refrain from pictures everyday as I'm sure that would get monotonous, I'm just so proud of my girls!!!! Lol but notice the 5 plants under the HPS (square white buckets) are A LOT bigger than those under the MH... Coincidence??

Hey bro nice grow. Still havent tried my first one yet just finished the cabinet and looking forward to getting started looks like you have anice jump on things. Looking forward to learning from you and all the others who put in there 2 cents. Im subbed..



HMB.......

hmasonb34 said:

Hey bro nice grow. Still havent tried my first one yet just finished the cabinet and looking forward to getting started looks like you have anice jump on things. Looking forward to learning from you and all the others who put in there 2 cents. Im subbed..



HMB.......

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Hey brosky thanks for dropping by! Yeah, the construction on my cab took a few weeks, and more than a few alterations lol... At least the end result is DEF worth the work! Once you get a grow journal started lemme know, I definitely don't have everything ironed out haha, and am always down to learn from someone else's trial and error!

You know what I have learned about the HPS and MH, and stretchyness of plants it Has nothing to do with the light. Alot of people will get info, and lets say that info works, they will naturally assume that info is correct and the only way to it. I have many different types of seeds all under the same condition, and the result will vary on strain/female on whether it is stretchy or not. the height of the light also makes a difference. All plants will stretch for the light, males will shoot up faster naturally to be taller and pollenate the shorter bushier females. This is science, unless grown outside whether nature takes full course. The only reason we have so many diff strains is because of scientist not nature. MH light at same watts as HPS has approx 15-25k less lumens. I have seen Super MH bulbs that match those lumens. Spectrum does make a diff, but the science of the strain makes more from my exp. I mean lets use common sense, I can have the purest spectrum on the planet, if its 100 watts, im getting more from a few spectrums at higher watts. In plain, you can only know what your plant is gonna do, no one else. Tho many sciences are similar with the same strains, many results can be predicted but not all.

So a few of the plants are showing sex, at 4 weeks old... I spotted 2 males and immediately yanked 'em, but also found 4 possibly 5 females.

So the breakdown:
2 males
4 females
1 female prospect
6 unknown

Also I switched my MH bulb out for a HPS, so now both 600w HPS are running, and began the 12/12 flowering cycle. A bit early for a few of the plants I know, as they are around 10", but the rest average around 14" with the tallest being 18". I'm trying to finish these a bit quicker as I am ordering some feminized seeds from Attitude.com.... Any recommendations on breeders? So far I'm pretty focused on Conosseiur Genetics, and possibly Dinafem. Anyone have recommendations?

Subbed for cute dogs and healthy plants.

Roomie said:

Subbed for cute dogs and healthy plants.

Click to expand...

+rep, for excellent judgement

Updated pics, day 2 of flowering...

Ok, so it's been a week since flowering began, I have picked out all the males- there ended up being 5 out of the 13 original sprouts. Not too bad. I possibly have a hermie plant though, definite pistils coming out, but one little spot has what is possibly turning into balls. Sound hermie-ish?

Also I accidentally broke the top off one of my bigger girls trying to train her.... Sometimes I feel like a bull in a china shop in my cab lol. The lady didn't show any stress from the event, but I tried to turn the top into a clone but it didn't take. So I am 0/1 on cloning. Woooooo!

Everything else is going pretty smooth though it seems. A few of the girls are real low and bushy, and are starting to funk up quite a bit.

Love,
Swisher Twister

Quick pic update...
Everything seems to be rolling along, still LSTing the stretchier girls.

Soooo.... Whaddaya guys think?? How do the ladies look?

They look great from here. Will you trim fan leaves?