First time grower. Need advice. Have Pics

got 4 plants already up but need to know what light cycle to keep them under and should i run both my mercury vapor and HPS light together. im lost but anybody helps is appericated! all Plants in foxfarm medium. watering bout every 2 to 3 days. Have a 175w HPS and a 175w MV When should i change light cycle to 18-6 or should i leave it at 24-0. and the last thing my stupid ass wants to know is should i start flowering before 8 wks. Thanks a hole bunch

Welcome to Roll it Up...

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/1326-101-already-asked-questions.html

first of all welcome aboard. Secondly the link that Serapis gave you is the right stuff for any "beginners" question. Thirdly i would definately get rid of mercury vapor. It does not contain the right color spectrum that your little ones benefit off of. In other word she really isnt using much of the mercury vapor light. You are better off getting a few 26watts cfls daylight since you already have hps light that way you have some blue color spectrum for vegative stage.

using all fox farm products. had cfls but all the wire it looked like a fire harzard to me so i went with the HPS and MV. But now Im going to change my MV and Use a MH instead. Think that will help me. Also have air pureafier and good exhaust and temp stays around 77 degrees. when will b a good time 2 switch from 24-7 to 18-6 or is there any need. Man all help is greatly appreciated. Im all ears when it comes to tips and hints. Thanks Happy Blazing

will somebody give me advice or do i have to pay for it

Hey,,
It depends,, personal I dont see any need in staying on 24/0 with the lights. One because it cost more in eleccie, two no plants are givin 24/0 in nature. As its your first grow I advice trying as much as possible to make the outdoors indoors.
So with 18/6 its more like nature and gives the plants a sleepy time. I havnt noticed faster growth with 24/0 compared to 18/6. I think plants can only process a certain amount of light in a day...everything needs a rest period. And it dose save you cash on the eleccie bill.
As for flowering you can really start as soon as sex is shown. (that info's in the forum.) I advice a day and night of darkness before switching to 12/12 but you can deal with that when you get there//

Hope that helps abity..
Take it easy

18/6 is what i do rather than 24/0, 24/0 will veg a little faster people claim but nothing in percentage to what your paying for those extra 6 hours every day....meaning the cost of electricity and life you loose off of your bulbs will not outweigh the yield you get form vegging those extra 6 hours. dudeman above is right, plants need rest its natural. Also your lights need a rest, your gonna have a light on for months straight if you veg 24/0 that cant be good for the light or your electric bill. You will find many people contradicting this on this site everyone has their own strategy...i like 18/6 bc my lights get to chill and last longer and i agree that plants should chiiiillll

start flowering when you want to...i flower when my girls are about 18-24inches tall, remember your plants will grow a lot in flower, especially with that HPS....IMO HPS makes plants taller then most lights they tend to stretch. My boy has the same strain under HPS that i have under LED and his are a lot taller and spaced out and mine are bushier.

Ya I agree mercury vapors are useless they consume major amounts of power and have minimal to 0 spectrum the plants need especially when in veg. Plus they produce a ton of heat.

I agree with solar guy the plants do like a rest although we ran some tests and the power bill went up from running the lights 18/6 versus 24/0 The amount was so minimal it was barley worth mentioning but its the power HPS and metal hilide use when starting. 9.5 amps until they are at operating temp.4 amps when running. Also starting and stopping will decrease lights life faster. There is a great article by a manufacture about this topic. We used a light meter for 6 months to see if it was true and it was. The light suffered hard when turned off and on. I still like to chill as solar guy mentioned. I will try to find the article on the light thing and post it later

when do i need to take them off of 24-0 and put them on 18-6

ilove2puff said:

when do i need to take them off of 24-0 and put them on 18-6

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Some common sense, doing a bit of your own research and a timer would go along way in solving your lighting issues.

ilove2puff said:

when do i need to take them off of 24-0 and put them on 18-6

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I guess the link I gave you with answers to all of your questions wasn't good enough? Did you even do any reading up on growing marijuana or do you expect everything to be handed to you, with no research or effort on your part, other than making comments like this.....

ilove2puff said:

will somebody give me advice or do i have to pay for it

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Kind of sad, considering all of the stickies and other resources. It's one thing to have a question, it's another entirely to not know the basics at all about growing marijuana, skipping the tutorials, and going right up on the firing line pandering for the basics....

well i add a Metal halide and turned my HPS back on and when with 18-6 and the two that are in the solo cups(done already been transfered) started lookin really good. Any tips on what i should expect or do well be helpfully. thank to all whos helping

the point of joining the forum is asking and answering.

just reading while stoned is well confusing.