First time grow! how do they look?

Like i said above its my first grow, so here is what i got going on. I germinated 7 seeds and all seven sprouted. I transplanted them in 2.5 gallon buckets and used a 14-14-14 plant food. they have been vegging for a little over 5 weeks now. I have had the plants on a 18/6 light time for almost 2 weeks now.(was on 24hour light)

Lights: I have 2 75w walmart grow lights, and a double bulb t5 grow light that are 14w each and 6500k.(planning on another t5 set up)

Watering: So I give them 40oz of water twice a week(pretty much once the soil on the top looks a little dry)

So how do they look? any tips or sugestions?

They look nice and healthy..whatever your doing keep it up!

ok thanks! what about lights am i going to need more for vegging? and how much bigger will they get during flowering?

a plant will get about 2-3x bigger by the end of the stretch phase of flowering as they were when they started it. They look healthy. can you link me a page with more info on the walmart growlights you have? watering is best determined by following this method. credit for the info goes to 10k, the original author.
What is the "lift the pot" method?

Added by: 10k

The "lift the pot" method is a widely practiced, and very accurate method of knowing when to water your container plants.

The best way imho, to know when soil grown potted plants need more watering is by checking how heavy the pots feel. This method is very simple to learn once you get the feel for how light a ready for watering pot of soil feels.

Get an equal size pot and fill it with your soil. The medium should be about as moist as a new bag of potting soil. Use this planter as a learning tool to get a rough idea of how much the pots should weigh before watering again. The pots with your plants will feel only just slightly heavier when the soil is ready for more water. Pick up one of your planted pots, if its noticably heavy, do not water it until it feels "light". Next time you water a planter, pick it up and feel how much heavier it feels compared to the sample pot of soil.

It only takes a few times picking up the pots until this skill is like a "second nature" to you. You wont even need the sample pot after you get accustomed to the lifting method.

Sure your plants are always putting on more weight as they grow larger, but once you're proficient at lifting the pots, you'll also know how to compensate for the weight of the plants with ease.

I dont know how to better explain this method of knowing when to water, but believe me, anyone who learns this method, will always know when its time to water

Aside from how awesome the Green plants look next to the red pots.. AMAZING.

CHRISTMAS COLORS !!! WOOOOOOO Do not top & let them all turn into christmas treeees ! as a matter a fact.. you gave me an idea.

walmart lights:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lights-of-America-24-Fluorescent-Grow-Light-Fixture/16879945

ha ha ya i never noticed the green and red but im digging it now haha

are you (planning on)flowering under those lights too?

no i was planning on getting either more t5's and flowering under those ? or maybe high pressure sodium setup? any better halfway cheap light options for flowering?

look at it this way, if you invest in hid at the end of the grow you should get back at least as much as the investment in good high quality bud. under a 400w hps you should get at least 3-4 oz a harvest and even if you mess up real bad this grow(dont feel bad if you do, we've all done it at one point or another) and only get between a half-oz you would break even. then youve still got the light which you can continue to grow more good high quality bud with.

they look healthy but get a better light trust me. if you check out the grow journal in my sig you'll see pics of my plants. i vegged 6 plants in 5gal buckets under 1 600w for 5 weeks (now im just barely switching to 12/12 under 2 600w hps)

they do look very healthy. im just saying you sold youself short with the low output lights.. HID will work best. they do make them in 150, 250, 400w varieties so you can even get one for a small grow.

w/ 5 wks veg under a HID you could have them at 12-18 inches tall easily however you do have it down w/ the feeding/watering as they look very nice so dont change a thing with that

thanks for all the help everyone! still unsure about a full t5 grow or hps... hopefully more reserch and pics will help. will keep updating pics

Oregonbuds said:

thanks for all the help everyone! still unsure about a full t5 grow or hps... hopefully more reserch and pics will help. will keep updating pics

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t5's are fine for veg but i wouldn't flower with only t5's. not gonna be enough lumens to get done what you want. I have a 4ft 6bulb system and it only puts out 30K lumens (it uses 432w btw). my 600w hps puts out around 95,000 (mattering on the bulb) lumens. you easily get more bang for your buck with an hps.

just my opinion

alright sweet ill look into my options and give an update!

Oregonbuds said:

alright sweet ill look into my options and give an update!

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ok .cool keep us updated!

fyi though if you're researching prices a 600w from htgsupply can run you around 250. A 150 or 250w can be found for around 110-150 or so. They do give off quite a bit of heat so a fan to blow on the bulb while it runs is practically necessary if you want to get it close. I always keep one blowing on mind. By doing that i can get the most use out of it by placing it extra close to the plants.

rule of thumb is if the light feels warm for your hand (resting on the tops of the plants) then its probably too warm for the plants. thats what i go by...keeping it close as possible without it feeling too warm.

Best of luck on your quest.

I did my first two grows under T5s with T8s for side lighting. I went up to over 400w and heat became an issue because with the florescent bulbs the ballast is with the bulb. With a HPS your ballast can sit outside the cabinet/tent. Then I switched to a CoolTube and 250w HPS. My temps dropped and my yield went up. My last grow I upgraded to a 400w HPS. It does take some money but my last harvest was about 8 ounces. How much would you spend buying that much?

You can get a 6" air cooled reflector, 400w digital ballast, HPS bulb, 6" centrifugal fan, fan speed control and carbon filter for about $400.

Yes you could do it cheaper but a 250w ballast isn't that much cheaper. Just like the 4" fan isn't that much cheaper than the 6" fan.

thanks for all of the help! im really interested 250w hps set up mainly because i am growing in my closet so i have a 2.5'x6'x4.5' tall area to grow so im worried about the heat of a 400w system. and i have 7 plants now but i should have like 3ish after i find out if i have males right? FYI this grow is a semi secret grow because i do live in appartments.

Oregonbuds said:

thanks for all of the help! im really interested 250w hps set up mainly because i am growing in my closet so i have a 2.5'x6'x4.5' tall area to grow so im worried about the heat of a 400w system. and i have 7 plants now but i should have like 3ish after i find out if i have males right? FYI this grow is a semi secret grow because i do live in appartments.

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with lst and a air cooled hood w/a good fan sucking air through it and remote ballast you can keep outside the grow area shouldnt be a problem.
heres an example.
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTGSupply-400-watt-High-Pressure-Sodium-Grow-Light.asp
get the upgrade to the high output growbright bulb for $4. now the air cooled hoods, you can go with the cheaper euro reflector(i did at first) but the cooltube is alot better imo and is worth the $11 more than the euro reflector it costs.
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-6in-High-Velocity-Inline-Fan.asp
this fan will work fine for the cooltube.
for an exhaust fan for the grow i'd get this
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-4in-Inline-Fan-&-Carbon-Filter-Combo.asp

The great thing is if you email htgsupply and ask for a discount because your placing a large order they will give you it. Everytime ive asked for a large order or frequent customer discount they agree.
Like i said you should easily make your investment back with your first harvest. an 1/8th of good high quality stuff goes for $50-$75 usually so even if you only got 1 ounce you would about break even while still having all the equipment so you never have to buy bud again and have a steady supply of high potency high quality bud.

oh sweet! is that fan necessary or can i just aim a 10'' normal fan at it?

darkdestruction420 said:

look at it this way, if you invest in hid at the end of the grow you should get back at least as much as the investment in good high quality bud. under a 400w hps you should get at least 3-4 oz a harvest and even if you mess up real bad this grow(dont feel bad if you do, we've all done it at one point or another) and only get between a half-oz you would break even. then youve still got the light which you can continue to grow more good high quality bud with.

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U took the works out my mouth hps r excellent for flowering plants they will bulk up ur yeild and quality ,although under LEDS like the LED UFO resin glands will be outragous truss me i know because this gold hash I'm smokin has me speechless
Overall grow looks excellent keep it up