Highfidelity's First Grow CFL (Bagseed)

This is a closet grow with a little over 2' feet width and about 2-3/4' ft tall

As you can tell by the pics I'm just using a basic desk fan pointed at the lights.

Lights are 6 X 23w CFL and 2 X 26W CFL

The lights have only been installed for a couple weeks now.

There are five plants in there currently. The soil pH reading is around 6.8-7.0 for all plants currently.

The potting soil is MG potting soil and the nuts right now are schultz 10-15-10 and the MG organic choice which basically an N boost.

This weekend I'll be picking up some Fox Farms potting soil and the trio food pack.

I started out cheap with dixie cups, cheap potting soil, and sunlight, but of course as the weeks has progressed I've bought lights and such and I'm still upgrading. You can tell from the pics which two were raised on sunlight by the stretching.

Before I spend too much money on this I'd like to be able to grow one plant through the cycle and based on that experience I can hopefully feel more confident about buying seeds and better equipment.

The temperature is around 82f during light and 76f during dark cycle.

I've been using the 18/6 cycle from seed to current.

I've been having a lot of questions about watering as far as how much and the same with the nuts. Everyone tells you how often, but never about how much. I think the yellow leaves I'm seeing on mine are from overwatering, but let me know if I'm mistaken.

So, given the space and dimensions what size should they be before I start the flowering cycle? Should I consider LST or topping? I'm not too worried about height as I am about the branches being too wide.

I've received some good feedback from Sicc and a few other growers, but feel free to ask questions and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

My main reason for growing is purely for personal consumption. I live in the midwest and the only good weed I've been able to get consistently is from a guy in CA and while he is quick and easy to deal with the prices are a little steep for my budget (avging about $70-80 an 1/8 shipping included)

The pots I'm using are a 6X6 with drainage that I bought at Lowe's for $1.77/ea

I think the yellowing is due to that MG soil, but im not too sure, so said you started these outside? how long have they been under CFL's?

as for the nutes and water, you have to follow whatever chart the provide, use it as a basic guideline, but when you start out you want to do start at 1/4 strength, and work your way up

[QUOTE="SICC";3468122]I think the yellowing is due to that MG soil, but im not too sure, so said you started these outside? how long have they been under CFL's?

as for the nutes and water, you have to follow whatever chart the provide, use it as a basic guideline, but when you start out you want to do start at 1/4 strength, and work your way up[/QUOTE]

They all started indoors, but I was using light from a window at first...just to see how they would grow.

The MG could be since the newer leaves aren't as yellow....could be the ferts in the MG tapering off maybe??

yeah, I did 1/4 strength for the nutes I mixed up a few days ago. The CFL's have been up a couple weeks. I added the 2 X 26w this past weekend though.

Am I using enough light or do I need to add more?

Oh ok, well they should stay shorter with the CFL's, that should be plenty light for them all, with MG i have seen mixed results, and reviews, im new to the soil game, i was hydro before so im not too sure, i would just try and let your water sit out before you water them, and get some nutes going, i started mine at a early stage, again, as long as you start at 1/4th you should be good, my space is about the same as yours, and i flowered mine at 4 1/2 inches, she is now 16 inches tall, but i would just look into Topping and LST, i will be doing this the next, and i will be running 3 plants like yourself

what nutrient line up are you using? if you just started giving them some, i would wait it out, they should green up a lil more

I've got a spray bottle with a 1/4 strength solution of schultz plant food 10-15-10 mixed with a solution of MG organic choice for the extra Nitrogen.

Aight yea i was sitting on my first post for a bit haha, but it all sounds good, you seem like you got the basic knowledge down, so all your need is the experience, they should look better once your get some better soil, i would look into some better nutes as well

[QUOTE="SICC";3468213]Aight yea i was sitting on my first post for a bit haha, but it all sounds good, you seem like you got the basic knowledge down, so all your need is the experience, they should look better once your get some better soil, i would look into some better nutes as well[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I think I can get some Fox Farms stuff here in town. I'll try and get the soil and the trio food pack they sell. People on here seem to really like their stuff so I'll probably give it a whirl.

I was also talking to a guy on a chat he mentioned investing in a 250w hps grow light and if I keep the number of plants to 5-6 I can use that light from seed to bud.

Right now I'm lowering and raising the lights and with a grow light I'll have to move the plants so I guess I need to start looking for milk crates and such.

[QUOTE="SICC";3468213]Aight yea i was sitting on my first post for a bit haha, but it all sounds good, you seem like you got the basic knowledge down, so all your need is the experience, they should look better once your get some better soil, i would look into some better nutes as well[/QUOTE]
way to help a noob, great advice!

Drella said:

way to help a noob, great advice!

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yeaaa i think theyre looking good as well. like i said before... im no expert.. lol. but i think they all look good. i was wondering what type of CFL's are they?? are they the daylight type? and i ad the same problems with yellowing of the leaves.. and i wasnt sure if it was cuz a nute deficency or over watering... it seems to have gone away.. i slowed down on the nutes tho.. and as far as watering and how much... it seems to me its different depending on alot of different things... like the type of soil.. the drainage.. the root system.. the amount of light.... the amount of heat.. the strength of the fan blowing directly on the soil... and the humidity.... im sure theres more things.. but from what ive heard.. its best to just water until you start to see some start dripping out the bottom.. that seems to work best for me...

chb444220 said:

yeaaa i think theyre looking good as well. like i said before... im no expert.. lol. but i think they all look good. i was wondering what type of CFL's are they?? are they the daylight type? and i ad the same problems with yellowing of the leaves.. and i wasnt sure if it was cuz a nute deficency or over watering... it seems to have gone away.. i slowed down on the nutes tho.. and as far as watering and how much... it seems to me its different depending on alot of different things... like the type of soil.. the drainage.. the root system.. the amount of light.... the amount of heat.. the strength of the fan blowing directly on the soil... and the humidity.... im sure theres more things.. but from what ive heard.. its best to just water until you start to see some start dripping out the bottom.. that seems to work best for me...

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I might not be watering enough then. I never get water dripping out the bottom. That might be the problem with some of the growth maybe?

highfidelity said:

I might not be watering enough then. I never get water dripping out the bottom. That might be the problem with some of the growth maybe?

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Yeah, these are daylight CFL's by the way.

well they are pretty young, you dont want to soak the soil at this age

Well, I didn't soak them, but I did give them more water than I usually do and I noticed some improvement in color with the new growth. The leaves don't seem to droop as much and the new growth is greener. The youngest plant is doing the best. Since this is a bagseed grow this one might have come from a decent quality strain. While the others are a lighter green this one is a bit darker and seems to have responded the best to everything I've put it through. It looks like what a good plant should look like in other words. I wish I knew what strain it was, because I wouldn't mind paying a few bucks for more seeds like that.

My next grow will definitely be with bought feminized seeds. Lesson learned.

updates????

Okay, this guy here has been through a lot as you can tell. As you can the lowest set of leaves yellowed and fell off the plant and the next set has some curling and yellowing. The new sets don't seem to have that problem because I've cut back on the watering. These new leaves are concerning somewhat though. They seem to twisting and I'm not sure if that's a light issue or a nutrient issue. I don't notice any yellowing on the leaves so are they just twisting for better light or what?

How close are the lights? are you using any nutrients? shes probably hungry

[QUOTE="SICC";3569700]How close are the lights? are you using any nutrients? shes probably hungry[/QUOTE]

The lights are about 4" away and I've been feeding it nutes, but maybe I should kick the concentration up a bit. Right now it's about 1/4 strength.