First grow tips or advice welcome

Hello all. First grow and I'm curious to know what the forum thinks. Two 4x4 tents with 300w ufo leds growing purple Kush and white widow in one tent alongside early miss and dwarf low ryder Autoflowers in the other.

Setup 1 :

This tent features two Autoflowers, early miss and dwarf low ryder at week 5 from seed in 5 gallon pots running a pro mix bh soilless mix with added perlite and vermiculite. Lights and fan running a 20/4 schedule. Ph hovers around 7-7.5, feeding pH down water (5-6ph) GH flora series (half concentrations) alongside rapidstart, pro tekt silicon and liquid karma weekly and watering every 3-4 days. Perhaps a more powerful led to help them grow such as the Mars 2 led 900w?


Setup 2;

This tent features white widow and purple Kush at week 3 from seed in 5 gallon pots running a pro mix bh soilless mix with added perlite and vermiculite. Ph hovers around 8-7, feeding pH down water (5-4ph) GH flora series (regular concentrations and schedule as per website) alongside rapidstart, pro tekt silicon and liquid karma weekly and watering every 3-4 days. 18/6hr light and fan schedule. Temperature 25c and humidity 40%. Thoughts and suggestions? Plants look behind schedule. Perhaps a more powerful led to help them grow such as the Mars 2 led 900w? Any help much appreciated.

Hi!

Before i say anything i must say im only in flower week 7 of my 2nd plant ever. (1st one died of nutrientburn).

But i think i can help you with ur plant, i think its lack of light. The evidence being that you can see how its very lanky due to it stretching to reach the light. Im pretty sure thats it. So lower ur lights is my suggestion.

Tips would be read up on how far your light should be from the top of the plants. Also read up on watering. I think u should try to feel your plants more than just following a schedule, if the medium is dry, water it, even if its only been 1day between waterings.

Good luck with the grow!

lilhoe said:

Ph hovers around 8-7, feeding pH down water (5-4ph)

Click to expand...

Hovers around 8.7? Or between. 8.0 and 7.0?

pH down brings it to 5.4? Or between 5.0 and 4.0?

Either way neither is very good. Add supplements One at a time at first stiring between each added supplement. I usually begin with my CalMag. Add your main nutrients last and mix between adding each part. Once everything is mixed pH your water between 5.8 - 6.5.

And your plants definitely look stretched... Get those lights as close as you can.

I agree with snow capz. If your pH is either of those ranges, you need to get it to be kind of right in the middle there, as he said, 5.8 - 6.5. You're going to have major issues if you don't. And yes, make sure you're checking pH AFTER adding whatever you're adding (I made that mistake my first grow As far as the stretching, don't forget that if you can't bring the lights closer to the plant for some reason, you CAN bring the plants closer to the lights using a stool, or a box, or whatever you've got.

You said you are a newbie, and so you have already made the first mistake; going soil-less. Growing pot is not hard, but people make it hard by attempting to use techniques that are way above their experience level or adding bullshit supplements.

Here is my advice;

• Get a good quality soil and transplant your plants into a nice big pot of soil with plenty of holes at the bottom and plenty of aeration below them.
  
• Throw out your pH up/down. Because you don't need that. If you are using a good soil, then pH is not going to be an issue (unless your water supply is absolutely fucked, in which case you are fucked either way)
  
• Get 2 bottles of fertilizer and nothing else. Thow all that bullshit snake oil you have out and stick with a single complete plant food for each of the 2 phases. One high in nitrogen for veg (such as 8-2-4), and one for flower which still contains nitrogen (because yes, plants need nitrogen during flower) but with more emphasis on potassium (K) such as 4-2-7. You do not need a high phosphorus fertilizer for flower.
  
• Do not have feeding/watering schedules. Evaluate each plant every day and determine on a per plant basis what it needs.
  
• Learn the weights of your pots. You will know when to water when the pots start to feel light. Do not wait for visual cues from the plant such as drooping leaves before you water. When you do water, dont be shy and give it plenty. Make sure there is a good run-off at the bottom.
  
• Give them water ONLY. The only time you should EVER use your fertilizer is if the plants tell you. If you are using a good soil, and your tap water isn't a joke then the only time your plants should look a little off is if they need feeding. Most soils come with slow release fertilizer, and so depending on the soil you get you may find that you dont need to use any fertilizer whatsoever until half way through flower. Watch them every day, if you start to notice the upper leaves are getting ever so slightly lighter green or they are just not looking quite as vibrant as usual then its probably time to add fertilizer to your next watering.

Do this, and you will have lush green healthy plants that produce big quality buds like mine. You don't need advanced setups to grow the good shit. Like i said, growing weed is simple and does not have to be complicated. Soil-less mixes and hydroponic setups have added complications and are not suitable for new growers unless you have someone there helping you.

The others are right, the reason you plant is lanky is probably because of lack of light intensity. Keep you lights as close as you can to the plants without burning them. I've never grown with flouro's and probably never will so i dont know how low you can get them. High intensity lighting all the way.

This got a bit out of hand. I might make a post about this.

Thanks for the tips nizmo, what organic soil and amendments mix do you recommend or should I divulge into something recommended here? http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html

I also adjusted the light lower in both tents. Week 6
Autoflowers:


Feminized purple and widow : Week 4

sno capz said:

Hovers around 8.7? Or between. 8.0 and 7.0?

pH down brings it to 5.4? Or between 5.0 and 4.0?

Either way neither is very good. Add supplements One at a time at first stiring between each added supplement. I usually begin with my CalMag. Add your main nutrients last and mix between adding each part. Once everything is mixed pH your water between 5.8 - 6.5.

Click to expand...

Hovers around 8.0 - 7.0 and brings it down to 5.0 - 4.0 respectively. Sorry for the confusion.

lilhoe said:

Thanks for the tips nizmo, what organic soil and amendments mix do you recommend or should I divulge into something recommended here? http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html

Click to expand...

You're doing it again, your over complicating it. Don't attempt to mix your own - go out and buy a good quality one from a plant store.

Hahaha yes keep it simple. I'm limited in my selection to Lowes / home Depot and Amazon.ca so I'll do some research on those retailer offerings.

lilhoe said:

Hovers around 8.0 - 7.0 and brings it down to 5.0 - 4.0 respectively. Sorry for the confusion.

Click to expand...

If you are using chem ferts, whether using supplements or not, don't worry about your pH before mixing nutrients/suppliments whatever the case may be. Only pH after mixing your solutions and get them between 5.8 - 6.5. For soil/coco stick between 6.0 - 6.5. I use coco and my plants seem to love it at 6.2.

If you are running a nutrient line such as General Organics then you need to pH your water both before and after mixing your nutrient solution...

Even if you decide to use a full nutrient and supplement line it's not very complicated as much as it is intimidating to you at this point. With a few grows under your belt you'll be amazed at how routine and simple it becomes. Yes you could use the bare essentials or you could go big with nutrients and supplements but honestly that's something you'll figure out. What works for me may not work for you. Test the waters, that's simply how we learn!

But as nizmo stated... Definitely look into buying a premixed soil and if you want something even easier to grow in and manage then i suggest using Mother Earth coco and add in Perlite(not miracle grow). A 50/50 mix is Good. I also suggest buying yourself smart pots. Size dependent on how big your space allows you to grow.

Liking the 5gallon smart pots like you suggested. Need to find a good organic mix now or make my own as I'm pretty limited to what I have access to up in Canada. If not might try a couple plants your coco perlite mix. Cheers.

Cheap and easy!

Updated the Autoflowers to a Mars ii 900w led light and now have 600w LEDs in the other tent. I feel the clawing effect is diminishing and a thicker, denser canopy is forming in the Mars tent. A couple of the purple Kush seem lagging behind at week 4. See below.


Mars tent :


Right now just letting them dry out fully and watering with ph around 6 as needed on a plant by plant basis.

Any suggestions to improve or just sit back for the moment? Going to try some organic grows also. Cheers

Its looking like buds are forming, so ur doing something right.

Since this is ur first grow, id recomend just chill. Read up alot. "growweedeasy" is very good. It helped me to grow my first plant without any other help.

And just sit back, next time you will learn even more. Noone knows the exact answers to everything cuz plants are quite individual!

Hope i make sense!

Awesome! thanks for you input.

I still think they look very stretchy!, you should read up on distance on lights! I would tell you, but im not sure on LEDs!

Thinking the same thing. I lowered the light by half foot so now it hangs about a foot above the canopy in the Mars tent.