My First Grow Ever

dcarrier89

Member
Okay I am doing my first grow and I have set up two 80mm fans, one on the top for outake and one on the bottom for intake. I just put them in today and I have two little seedlings just sprouting. There is a little change in temperature. Should I always run the fans? I am growing an AutoBerry so it will autoflower and I can run a 18-6 light cycle the whole time.
 

Btrja

Member
First, get that light as close as you can (if the back of your hand can take it, so can your plants.). Second you need more light. Third, kill the leds on the fans, they will create problems down the road. If you can get the fans on dimmers or temp. sensors it will give you the control your looking for. Better to run slow constantly than fast and periodically. (if not using co2.) Typically creates less noise so more stealthy.
 

dcarrier89

Member
Just giving you guys an update. It has been 39 days for the bigger plant and 36 days for the smaller. I now have 2 CFL 150w bulbs running on both of them and have been applying Miracle Grow fertilizer to the water.

1st plant - 23"
2nd plant - 19"
 

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Snow Crash

Well-Known Member
My suggestion is to back way up on the nutrients as you enter flowering. Like 10-15% of suggested. They don't look bad, you can probably remove some of that underdeveloped lower foliage as it's never going to get the light or hormones needed to make them worth while in a CFL setup. Anything more than say... 6" from the top can probably go at this point without doing much damage to the plant. As you enter further into flowering the remaining energy and hormones are better focused in the remaining tissue.

Those CFL bulbs have weak casting distances (with 300w of CFL you might as well had gone with a 250 HPS for more lumens at a lower cost) so anything further than 8 to 10 inches from the bulb just isn't going to get enough energy to photosynthesize and are sorta just "place holders." Removing them will also help with the air flow around the plants which can help keep mold out and possibly save a crop.

They are kinda stretched. Including a stretch controller like Organicare Seaplex, or Emerald Triangles Humboldt's Own Bushmaster, might be a good move for you. Do some research on them but they can work to keep the internode distance short during the first two or three weeks of flowering. You can get the small bottle of seaplex for like $10, I've used it and it does work.

Take it easy on them as you go forwards with that MG fertilizer though. You'd be surprised how little nutrition the plant really needs in soil. Figure, feed, water, water, water, feed, water, water, water, feed... etc. If you see some genuine deficiency you can feed more frequently, or include just a small amount of nutrition in each watering.
 

dcarrier89

Member
Ya I just laid off on the Miracle Grow all together and am just using water now. And my CFL lights are really really close to my plants (1-2 inches away). Unfortunately they are this close because my grow cabinet is kind of short and the plants are at the top of it so I don't have a choice. Thank you very much for your input, I really appreciate it.
 

DaLeftHandMan

Active Member
looks good! perhaps maybe a transplant to bigger pots would be in order? they looked a wee small for them big girls! 1' of plant growth should be fascilitated by a gallon of soil...or something like that..
 

Snow Crash

Well-Known Member
Woo, those were overfed.

Did you flush? Doesn't look like it.

If not, prepare for some miracle grow harshness. Watering is not flushing.
 
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