SD's First Grow - 600w HPS

mcpurple said:

dam theri is a huge difference in those buds sfsurfer. i have heard people following the schedule and have great results but i have also heard of people following it and it was either to much nutes or to little, some strains require smaller or larger amounts depending on if they are heavy feeders or not. but i think FF is good but kinda spendy for 6 products. theri is great nutes that have one bottle for veg and one for bloom makes it a lil easier i guess and saves some money. im not hating on themcuz i know they work good

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Ya you really gotta feel out your plant and see what level of nutes she likes. I usually start off with quarter doses and work one plant up to a higher dose. If it responds well I increase the nutes on them all. Its definitely time consuming and having all six can be a pain but it worked so well for me the first time im almost scared to try anything else! I guess they call that product loyalty or rather product dependancy lol.

i raise my nutes the same way. start at 1/4 strength then move to half and so on and so on till i reach the max nute uptake

Thanks for the comparison sfsurfer, exactly what I wanted to see. I have the set of liquid nutes but not the solubles. The next $100 that frees up I'm going to definitely pick them up. I'll start their nutes tomorrow (1/2 strength BB, 1/4 GB), for real this time, since I transplanted them into bigger containers.

Speaking of, I moved the 4 younger plants into 1 gallon pots. Also, does anyone have experience with 'air pots'? A guy at my hydro spot was telling me that you don't have to deal with as many root issues and that it helps create great root mass. I was wondering if this is true or just a gimmick?

mcpurple said:

i raise my nutes the same way. start at 1/4 strength then move to half and so on and so on till i reach the max nute uptake

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Definitely the best way to do it!

SkunkDunks said:

Thanks for the comparison sfsurfer, exactly what I wanted to see. I have the set of liquid nutes but not the solubles. The next $100 that frees up I'm going to definitely pick them up. I'll start their nutes tomorrow (1/2 strength BB, 1/4 GB), for real this time, since I transplanted them into bigger containers.

Speaking of, I moved the 4 younger plants into 1 gallon pots. Also, does anyone have experience with 'air pots'? A guy at my hydro spot was telling me that you don't have to deal with as many root issues and that it helps create great root mass. I was wondering if this is true or just a gimmick?

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Whats up SD, I did a quick browse through your grow so far and everything looks like its coming along well!! I'm digging the setup for a first time grow man props for that!! Oh yea and +REP

I'm actually going on my third grow and I've been using FF soil and nutes since my "first grow."
It seems like your getting a lot of good suggestions already so I'll just give you a few tips for now.
I started off with the FF feeding chart and so far its been very good on about 10 different strains! Don't get me wrong I'm no pro but if you follow the feeding chart to the key I'm pretty confident you will be successful! If anything you might need to increase the dose down the road when there further along in flowering.. I've had to do this with almost every strain, not much but I do 3 teaspoon or "1 tablespoon" per gallon of tiger bloom. However I just started using there solubles but they seem to be right on aswell..
The big bloom is good stuff and you should be using it throughout the whole grow..

Starting 1/4 strength with any new nutes I think is a great Idea just to see how your plants react, you can always increase the dose if need be!

If you want to see what the FF nutes can do come check out my "kandy kush" grow in my sig

sfsurfer said:

A month seems long to go without using nutes in ocean forest. I guess it all depends on how fast the plant grows but ive been using fox farm ocean forest on my last three grows and have always started using nutes from week two (never had nute burn or issues just great bud!). FF is the shit though, I can't imagine using anything else

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sfsurfer said:

I would definitely follow the fox farm feeding schedule if you can. It really makes a huge difference. A friend and I both grew clones from the same mother plant, he only used one of the FF nutrients where I used all 6 according to their system (started off at half strength from week 2-3 then bumped up to full). The pictures are taken at the same time period during flowering and curing. Heres the difference;

Single FF nutrient
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All 6 FF nutrients
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No shit, I just read this past page so now you guys know what to believe lol..

I've already started using grow big 1/2 strength and big bloom full strength on my little party cup girls at around 15 days old and most of you guys have seen those already

FF schedule to the tee and increase if you don't see nute burn after a few weeks!

+Rep to you too sf surfer for clearing the confusion up!


Oh btw SD, I'm subbed!
Here's one of my girls, the most mature she probably has a couple weeks at most! She was only grown with big bloom, tiger bloom and molasses in FFoF soil, vegged for a few weeks.. "I did just pick up open sesme and beastie blooms but I still need cha ching." I just feed her with beastie blooms but its a little late to tell a difference I think..

SkunkDunks said:

Thanks for the comparison sfsurfer, exactly what I wanted to see. I have the set of liquid nutes but not the solubles. The next $100 that frees up I'm going to definitely pick them up. I'll start their nutes tomorrow (1/2 strength BB, 1/4 GB), for real this time, since I transplanted them into bigger containers.

Speaking of, I moved the 4 younger plants into 1 gallon pots. Also, does anyone have experience with 'air pots'? A guy at my hydro spot was telling me that you don't have to deal with as many root issues and that it helps create great root mass. I was wondering if this is true or just a gimmick?

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i never used air pots but all i hear is good about them, never anything bad. all i can say is buy a few and see if you like htem

SmellyTreez, those buds look nice and dense, nice job. How long were they in veg? I've decided that I'm going to veg a bit longer than I planned, probably another 4 weeks or so.

mcpurple, all I've heard was rave reviews about them as well. A 1.5L air pot was $3.50 here locally so I'll pick some up in the future when money allows. Are you able to grow in a smaller air pot because it promotes greater root growth in less area?

SkunkDunks said:

SmellyTreez, those buds look nice and dense, nice job. How long were they in veg? I've decided that I'm going to veg a bit longer than I planned, probably another 4 weeks or so.

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Thanks bro, they are That girl was in veg for around 3 weeks but shes was in a party cup for a while which is why I think she turned out so short lol..

I just put pics up in my Kandykush grow but check this girl out, 30 days flowering. Topped twice and lst'd, about 6 weeks of veg sitting in a 5 gall bucket! I had to tie the side branches up because as you can see there getting top heavy already!!

SkunkDunks said:

Thanks for the comparison sfsurfer, exactly what I wanted to see. I have the set of liquid nutes but not the solubles. The next $100 that frees up I'm going to definitely pick them up. I'll start their nutes tomorrow (1/2 strength BB, 1/4 GB), for real this time, since I transplanted them into bigger containers.

Speaking of, I moved the 4 younger plants into 1 gallon pots. Also, does anyone have experience with 'air pots'? A guy at my hydro spot was telling me that you don't have to deal with as many root issues and that it helps create great root mass. I was wondering if this is true or just a gimmick?

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Definitely do you wont regret it! Considering your set up you'll be able to grow some really good bud using just the first three but the soluables definitely help. If you can even get one I would get cha-ching, after I started using it the trichrome production went crazy. Glad I could help keep up the good work SkunkDunks!

SkunkDunks said:

SmellyTreez, those buds look nice and dense, nice job. How long were they in veg? I've decided that I'm going to veg a bit longer than I planned, probably another 4 weeks or so.

mcpurple, all I've heard was rave reviews about them as well. A 1.5L air pot was $3.50 here locally so I'll pick some up in the future when money allows. Are you able to grow in a smaller air pot because it promotes greater root growth in less area?

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i am pretty sure the air pots allow you to grow in a lil bit smaller containers cuz they air prune the roots and dont allow them to get bound from what ive read and heard. i wouldnt go to small though, id use at least a 1 gal for flower, i always flower in 3 gal

WEEKLY UPDATE

It's been about a month since I began this 'hobby'. I made a 2 room grow space and was able to get 8 out of 11 seeds to pop. I'm pleased with the progress I'm making and I'm excited for the future. Thanks for all the help

Now on to the good stuff.

All of the plants seem to be doing OK. I gave them 1/2 and 1/4 strength tonight of Big Bloom and Grow Big, respectively. I noticed some yellowing on 1 plant so hopefully the feed today will fix that.






These 4 are a week younger than those above.



The older ones are 18 days. How do ya'll think they look?

Also, the older ones are starting to grow their 5th and 6th sets of leaves, so I'll probably try some LST with at least 1 of them in the coming week or so.

Looking good, definitely give the lst a try. Have you thought about topping at all? I would recommend trying that too for sure!

mcpurple said:

i am pretty sure the air pots allow you to grow in a lil bit smaller containers cuz they air prune the roots and dont allow them to get bound from what ive read and heard. i wouldnt go to small though, id use at least a 1 gal for flower, i always flower in 3 gal

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Seeing as how quickly the roots can grow I will probably be doing the same when the time comes. Right now I have the 4 older plants in 2 gal. containers and the younger set in 1 gal. Come flip time, I'll step everybody up 1 gallon.

Air Pot Official Site <--- Official site and some videos that show air pots in use. It all seems legit. A 2 gal pot is $6.50 locally, so when my budget allows I'll grab a couple to test them out.

SmeLLyTreeZ said:

Looking good, definitely give the lst a try. Have you thought about topping at all? I would recommend trying that too for sure!

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I've looked into topping and FIM'ming and will try one of them, probably within the next couple of days. A quick question while we're on the subject: do I top/FIM only the main branch and then LST, or can I LST and then top/FIM all of the new budding sites? I would think that the 2nd option would create more budding sites but I'm not too sure

Never herd of air pots.. But now I gota have em!! haha. Thanks for that link. Air pots = awesome. And thats a good question about pinching!! Can't wait for the answer

SkunkDunks said:

Seeing as how quickly the roots can grow I will probably be doing the same when the time comes. Right now I have the 4 older plants in 2 gal. containers and the younger set in 1 gal. Come flip time, I'll step everybody up 1 gallon.

Air Pot Official Site <--- Official site and some videos that show air pots in use. It all seems legit. A 2 gal pot is $6.50 locally, so when my budget allows I'll grab a couple to test them out.

I've looked into topping and FIM'ming and will try one of them, probably within the next couple of days. A quick question while we're on the subject: do I top/FIM only the main branch and then LST, or can I LST and then top/FIM all of the new budding sites? I would think that the 2nd option would create more budding sites but I'm not too sure

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You could do it either way, you would have to let it veg for a little longer if you wanted to lst and then top all the new side branching.

What I did on the Kandykush was top her right around 2-3 weeks old right below the 2nd node. Then I let her recover for a week or 2 and then I topped all four of the new main tops again, then with some lst to even out some of the shoots and bam like 20 main tops lol..

SkunkDunks said:

Seeing as how quickly the roots can grow I will probably be doing the same when the time comes. Right now I have the 4 older plants in 2 gal. containers and the younger set in 1 gal. Come flip time, I'll step everybody up 1 gallon.

Air Pot Official Site <--- Official site and some videos that show air pots in use. It all seems legit. A 2 gal pot is $6.50 locally, so when my budget allows I'll grab a couple to test them out.



I've looked into topping and FIM'ming and will try one of them, probably within the next couple of days. A quick question while we're on the subject: do I top/FIM only the main branch and then LST, or can I LST and then top/FIM all of the new budding sites? I would think that the 2nd option would create more budding sites but I'm not too sure

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i would top and not FIM all FIM is, is a fucked up toping attempt and topping is easy. i like to top before lst, i top using UBS method for four maintops witch is topping at the second node, the after it shoots up 4 main tops tie those down ina x shape and then let those grow up a bit and you can continue to lst or top each shoot again

mcpurple said:

i would top and not FIM all FIM is, is a fucked up toping attempt and topping is easy. i like to top before lst, i top using UBS method for four maintops witch is topping at the second node, the after it shoots up 4 main tops tie those down ina x shape and then let those grow up a bit and you can continue to lst or top each shoot again

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Couldn't have said it any better, I attempted to FIM and it didn't do shit.. Topping is very simple and turns out pretty bad ass!!

Thats exactly how I did my kandykush mcpurple with 2 toppings and a couple branches needed lsting to even out the canopy. Shes turning out sexy as ever!!

Topping and FIMing a plant is a definite and proven method of increasing colas and yields but be VERY careful. Some plants do NOT respond well to the training. I watched my friends plant go through training and instead of several large main colas there were several very small airy colas (this was his 4th time growing the strain and was trying the topping method for the first time) If you dig around on RUI you'll definitely find an example of your strain being topped or FIMed, make your judgement call based on that. I would however highly recommend LST with or without topping. I am personally having a very successful grow using LST (I wanted to top my plants but I saw too many examples of cheese topping gone wrong lol) Its only been 4 weeks of veg (theyre on 12/12 now) and each plant has over 20 main colas all perfectly level!

SkunkDunks said:

WEEKLY UPDATE

It's been about a month since I began this 'hobby'. I made a 2 room grow space and was able to get 8 out of 11 seeds to pop. I'm pleased with the progress I'm making and I'm excited for the future. Thanks for all the help

Now on to the good stuff.

All of the plants seem to be doing OK. I gave them 1/2 and 1/4 strength tonight of Big Bloom and Grow Big, respectively. I noticed some yellowing on 1 plant so hopefully the feed today will fix that.

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These 4 are a week younger than those above.

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The older ones are 18 days. How do ya'll think they look?

Also, the older ones are starting to grow their 5th and 6th sets of leaves, so I'll probably try some LST with at least 1 of them in the coming week or so.

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They look awesome man, very healthy! I would definitely start LST when they're this small. I started around this time and couldnt be happier (check my thread if you want a week by week LST from clone) I would recommend that when you do LST them, that you bend the main tip one direction and the second largest branch on the opposite side of the stem the other direction. This way your plant will spread out evenly instead of growing on just one side. I made this mistake, check out the difference

This plant hadnt grown a second branch for me to LST out and ended up being the smallest of my 5 (this was my first LST grow so I learned the hard way). You can see how it has not completely covered the pot.


This plant I trained in both directions by bending the main tip one direction and a secondary branch in the opposite. You can see how I started the LST and the way it finished completely covering the pot. I also noticed significantly more growth spots on this one because it grew in 2 directions.
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