Is it time?

I have two plants that were planted on 7-15 and today they are right at 4 1/2 inches tall. One of them seems to me to be very bushy, but overall looks healthy, possibly a twin. I did end up burning them a little with the lights but not all that bad(had water on the leaves and left swirl burns around the plant, matching the cfls). And one also has the bottom leaves yellowing. I have only used straight water so far, every 3 - 4 days.

I still have plenty of room in the box at the moment, using stacked plastic containers, so I can certainly let them veg longer.

Is the growth height for this time frame ok? If not, approx where should they be?
Can I start LST now?
When should I flip the switch to 12/12?
Is it time to start using ferts? I have the all purpose miracle grow food. Its rating is 24-8-16, will this be ok?

At this point, what should I be doing if anything?

rkm said:

I have two plants that were planted on 7-15 and today they are right at 4 1/2 inches tall. One of them seems to me to be very bushy, but overall looks healthy, possibly a twin. I did end up burning them a little with the lights but not all that bad(had water on the leaves and left swirl burns around the plant, matching the cfls). And one also has the bottom leaves yellowing. I have only used straight water so far.

I still have plenty of room in the box at the moment, using stacked plastic containers, so I can certainly let them veg longer.

Is the growth height for this time frame ok? If not, approx where should they be?
Can I start LST now?
When should I flip the switch to 12/12?
Is it time to start using ferts? I have the all purpose miracle grow food. Its rating is 24-8-16, will this be ok?

At this point, what should I be doing if anything?

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A picture would be cool. Sounds like you are doing OK though. I would not use that nute on the plants get soemthing like bat guano, or really dilute the hell pout of it. You can start nutes if you would like but remember to take it easy in the beginning. I would definitely get some nice nutes though if you plan on getting good results. And don't use any of that soil with time released food if you use nutes. I use Botanicare nutes a lot of people like Fox Farm. How tall is your grow box? You might want to start 12/12 soon if that is the case. Of course you can LST now. A pic would help a lot though.

Thanks Gygax, I am using Jethros plans for the box, two 30 gallons stacked. Here are the pics. The first is the soil I am using, you cant see it in the pic, but it is a 20-20-20 mix with 1% calcium, but I dont see any thing that looks like capsules in the soil. The 2nd and 3rd are the first plant, and the 4th and 5th are the second plant. The 4th and 5th the plant looks retarded, seems to be growing odd.

Transplant ASAP into some nice soil. Those plants are burnt pretty bad. That soil you are using is too strong.

Gygax1974 said:

Transplant ASAP into some nice soil. Those plants are burnt pretty bad. That soil you are using is too strong.

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I originally thought the soil was too strong and have flushed it twice in the last 2 weeks. Should that help make a difference? Those burns are from the light, I pretty much watched that happen over a period of 5 to 8 hours. I will take your advice, but I am just trying to get a better understanding of why. On the soil, should I just get straight potting soil with nothing in it? I bought what I did because I see here all the time about using organic soils, so I thought I was doing the right thing. I just need some clarification so I can learn. Thanks man.

Oh I did not know you burnt them. The soil mix of 20-20-20 is too strong. You want to get some plain top soil and add guano and worm castings, perlite, etc. or get a nice pre mixed soil from say Fox Farms. I use their Ocean Mix and Light Warrior and then when they are old enough I use botanicare nutes. If you go to the growfaq there is a section on nutes and what exactly N-P-K means. There should be something on soil in the growfaq too, but if you have the money I would try and get some nice soil I can vouch for FF stuff I use it, but everybody uses something different

Not that you need to order from them but if you go here they have some different soils and soil additives. High Tech Garden Supply
I would highly reccomend getting some Light Warrior is nice and fluffy, great for seedlings and transplants, once they plant gets old enough I mix up some Ocean Mix and a little Light Warrior and that is waht they get transplanted into. The nice fluffy mix allows O2 to get to your roots...it arerates them.

So, if I go to Lowes, and ask for good soil for tomatoes, would they give me the right stuff? Does Lowes carry FF?

But on another note, I will go here in a few minutes to get more soil. How close am I to flipping the switch. I know the transplant will probably give it a little shock, but after it recovers how close do you guess-ta-mate I am? I have the plants raised right now on buckets, and still have room to keep lowering them. And how is the growth so far since being planted on 7/15?

Looks like it was going good except for the burns but they definitely have a couple weeks at least until you see them looking good again. I just burnt one of my plants really badly, I had one branch of growth left and it looked bad. Now three weeks later I have a nice little branch that I was able to LST and it looks OK. Lowes probably wouldn't have FF, don't get any soil with the food, you already know that. I would get something t a hydro shop but if lowes is your only option. Get a nice soil with low NPK. I used to get Scotts soil (plain soil) then I would add guano and worm castings along with perlite and a little peat moss.

besides the heat stress it looks nice... veg for at leas a month if possible you may start lst whenever you want honestly.... but most people do so after the 3rd/4th node shows

Thank you both!! Should I toss that stuff I am using now or would it be ok for flowering. Everything was/looked fine until the lights got them on monday.

BTW...The burns are not as bad as they look in the pics.

lol dude those pics scared me man its scary

rkm said:

Thank you both!! Should I toss that stuff I am using now or would it be ok for flowering. Everything was/looked fine until the lights got them on monday.

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I guess it's OK if you just burnt them but you need to keep a couple things in mind. Are you going to feed it nutes during flower? It can mess with your nute schedule and amount. I see on the bag it says six months, that means it will feed for six months and 20-20-20 is a high in all areas NPK way too high. My bat guano is like 10-0-0 for my veg stage and I think I only add one teaspoon per gallon of water. Overdoing it is harder on the plant than underdoing it. Good luck

Gygax1974 said:

I guess it's OK if you just burnt them but you need to keep a couple things in mind. Are you going to feed it nutes during flower? It can mess with your nute schedule and amount. I see on the bag it says six months, that means it will feed for six months and 20-20-20 is a high in all areas NPK way too high. My bat guano is like 10-0-0 for my veg stage and I think I only add one teaspoon per gallon of water. Overdoing it is harder on the plant than underdoing it. Good luck

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Gotcha....I will remedy that ASAP

It's good to know that you flushed them, learning is good and we learn from mistakes I've made alot including yours. Those plants will look OK in a little time just be patient, weed is hard to kill.

Ok, from the looks of it, the best thing I could find at Lowes is the miracle grow african violet soil 18-6-12, I got some perlite also. Everything else I saw was very high across the board or contained weed killer.