New Grower

[ValiumForMe]

What's up ladies and gentlemen. A friend is trying to grow a bag seed just for shits and giggles. She started it in a paper towel, once the taproot busted free she put into a little 4" clay pot with some 100% organic soil.

She's currently got two 40 watt and one 60 watt compact flouro (they are daylight flouros so the light is a whiute/blue color) about five inches from it. It's about a week old now. It has two big leaves, two smaller leaves and she can see some small ones coming in. It's probably about 2" at this point. She's used no nutes, nothing but bottled water. She has it on a timer with a 18/6 cycle.

She just bought three (she thinks 150 watt) 2,000 lumen compact flouro lights, these ones aren't the daylight variety so she thinks they will be more yellow than blueish white. She also bought two more reflective light hoods to point that light in the right direction. She also bought a bigger pot (3 gallon) some rooting horomone powder and some perlite and a small fan to strengthen the stem.

Her questions are:
1. Is she using the right lighting cycle?

2. When should she transplant it?

3. Can she do it now or should she wait until it gets bigger?

4.When she does transplant it should she mix perlite with the organic soil?

5. If so what mixture %?

6. Should she be adding Nutes?

7. If so, what kind?

8. Should she stick with the less lumen blueish white bulbs or use the higher lumen yellowish bulb? It would be 4,000-6,000 lumens.

9. How far should she keep them from the baby?

She already read that great thread about transplanting so she has it figured out HOW to do it, she'd just like to know when.

She will send me some pictures to upload when she gets home.

[greenmonster]

too man questions man..... find a online grow FAQ thingy and go from there. 'weedfarmer' has loads on it

[ValiumForMe]

would it kill you to answer like one or two of them. I have a broken hand right now so internet navigation is a bit tricky.

[ValiumForMe]

Perhaps simply answering the transplanting question would help her out

[greenmonster]

ok ok:
18/6 is fine for veg,
transplant when the pot is full of roots-not brimming but a root ball,
use perlite or similar yes,
add nutes for sure if soil has none, if it does dont go overboard,
high in 'N' for veg, thats the first number so 15-5-5 or such,
keep ur blue fluros as close as u can get um but make sure u have fan on them to keep um cool and to build up strength in stem.
im talking too much: havent smoked today but its turning up in bit: nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa need a spliff!
hope this helps

[ValiumForMe]

Thank you. How can she tell when the pot is full of roots, it's clay and unfortunately she doesn't have her x-ray specs.

Pics will be posted in a bit...

[smoknjoe]

I would wait until it got bigger. Some people wait until the roots show through the drainage holes.

I would consider beginning a nutrient regimen soon, using extremely diluted ferts, and working your way up to full strength over time. Its good that she is using clear water (no nutes) for the seedling. You might want to consider organic nutes.

Dont know alot about the other topics.

Good luck!

[greenmonster]

gently seperate the plant and pot a little and if the soil stays together and is filled with roots its time to pot on (rootball). now there is probably a much better way of doing things but this works for me. Just dont be heavy handed and its probs best if ur wrist is fuckoed to let someone else do it. be real careful not to damage plant when ur doing this. If you place ur hand over the top of the pot with the stem prodruding from inbetween 2 of ur fingers you can turn it upsidedown and lift the pot a bit to see what the rootball is like without damaging the plant. seen horties do this with other plants all the time....
its just common sense man.....

[ValiumForMe]

What nute number? 15-5-5? How does she mix it she has like a 1 liter spray bottle, say that was full of water, how much nutes should she add? I'm assuming you add the nutes to the water and let them dissolve?

I'm sorry but she has no clue what she is doing and could really use and really appreciates the help!

Also, should they be sprayed at the beginning of the night cycle since that is when the photosynthesis is taking place?

[ValiumForMe]

gently seperate the plant...:beer: gracias

[greenmonster]

15-5-5 was an example of NPK numbers u will find on ferts. go to garden centre and ask for a fert that is highest in 'N' the first of these numbers is 'n'.
and read these threads and u will soon know ur stuff. lots of good people on here always willing to help
good luck

[ValiumForMe]

She sent Some pictures

[smoknjoe]

You could use a higher N, but I think 15-5-5 sounds pretty good.

To make a diluted solution, you can measure out a teaspoon or whatever onto a table, and keep halving the pile until you have an 1/8 or whatever fraction you want to use.

Or, you can add water to dilute a solution. If you make a gallon solution, and want a 1/4 strength, you add 3 more gallons.

I wouldn't suggest spraying ferts on the leaves. The leaves dont function to absorb nutrients, roots do. Plus the ferts could burn the leaves if the lights are on. I liked to spray the leaves with water to cool them down and keep humidity up.

Once you begin flowering, don't spray the plants at all. You want to keep humidity as low as possible.

hope this helped.

[karmaxul]

Ya joe a higher nitrogen would be great to lock it up and kill the plants.
Plants use the most N then K then P. A 5-4-6 will be ideal to flower and ad earth worm casting for veg.

One love
c

[ValiumForMe]

That sucks, she just added a bit of 10-5-10 (that was the highest nitrogen level she could find at the four stores she went to), only like two squirts into the soil from a spray bottle. She added 7 drops to a gallon of voss water (her plants only drink the finest) shook it up, poured some into the spay bottle and sprayed the soil.

How do the plants look for being a week old?

[karmaxul]

They look great but the soil is a bit dense from the looks of the picture. Try mixing in peat moss at 80% so the roots have more oxygen. She will be ok I would be carefull to not over water as the dirt may take a while to dry.

One love
c

[ValiumForMe]

She's also using two bright white/blue 1,200 lumen 60 watt compact flouros and one soft white/yellow 2,000 lumen 150 watt compact flouro. There is a fan on low about a foot away blowing air towards it and the bathroom vent is on to suck old air out. Luckily she has an extra bathroom. Let's just hope that her maids don't stumble upon it (There is no doorknob, only a deadbolt).

[ValiumForMe]

They look great but the soil is a bit dense from the looks of the picture. Try mixing in peat moss at 80% so the roots have more oxygen. She will be ok I would be carefull to not over water as the dirt may take a while to dry.

One love
c
She bought some perlite, but how would she go about mixing it at this point? She has a larger 4 gallon planter, I guess she could mix the perlite/soil and transplant now, would that do more harm than good?

[ValiumForMe]

She also has some planting charcoal. She could put some of that at the bottom of the larger pot (does that help drainage/oxygen flow)? Then put the perlite/soil mixture on top of that and then use the best transplant method ever she read about on this site...

[karmaxul]

I would wait as you dont want to stress the fragile roots. I would go to a one gallon next at most.

One love
c

[ValiumForMe]

Well fuck, there is no one gallon. I guess a trip to the store could help. What are your thoughts on the perlite/soil mixture with the charcoal at the bottom?

[smoknjoe]

K - A lot of people have used 15-5-5 or higher N with great results and withought locking up or killing the plants. HAHAHA thanks for the sarcasm, jackass.

V - I agree, you should use a 1 gallon before the a 3 gallon.

[greenmonster]

valium, if ur in uk and want ferts that are easy to get hold of (highstreet stuff) and seem to work well heres what you should do: Go to B&Q or likewise and buy 'babybio' and 'phostrogen' which will be enough to see you through untill you have a better idea of how nutes work etc. The 'npk' of babybio is N10, P4, K1 and is good for veg stage, when they start to flower hit them with the Phos which has a NPK of N14, P10. K27. Just follow instructions on packets for house plants and you will be fine. Obviously there are much better ferts out there on the market but these are easy to find and do the job until your 'mate' has found his feet. oh and people i just said 15-5-5 as an example, not a req.
if ur not in uk then this was a waste of 5 mins of my life...... magic.....

[ValiumForMe]

Sorry to have wasted your 5 minutes, but thank you for better explaining the nuting process.

[greenmonster]

hahaha should have know... no worries.... im sure they will have similar near you. bio and phos cost me £5 and u get enough for perhaps 10 grows for ur money: cheaptastic

[ValiumForMe]

it's about eight days old now, i can still see small leaves forming, but it seems rather slow. Should I be on a 24 hour light schedule or the 18/6 I'm on?

[greenmonster]

it doesnt really matter... both r ok. 18-6 is probs better as at some point ur going to start having to give it darkness anyway so just stick with what ur on and all will be fine.

[karmaxul]

If you choose 18/6 I would start the dark period at the same time you start the 6. Less stress the better. Mothers last longer on 24 hour light, or so I hear.

One love
c

[ValiumForMe]

Whats the quickest way to get it big enough to clone it so I can flower and sex a clone? It's bagseed so who knows wtf is going on with it. Like I said currently 18/6 with ~5200 lumens 360 watt worth of light from 3 diff cfls. I finally gave the soil some perlite so it could breathe. and stuck a fan on low on it. stick w/ 18/6 or go 24. Just want it big enough to turn into mother if female but most importantly get a clone to flower and sex.

[greenmonster]

ummmm, if u don't know where the seed came from it could be hermie so u wouldnt want to mother it. is it self pollination when the seeds r rubbish?? anyway dont go through loads of hassle hoping some bagseed will turn out amazing because there is a chance it wont. can u remember the weed it came from?? was it stacked with seeds? i.e. mexican bush or such or was it from some skunk and there was only like 1-2 seeds an 8th?
there are pleanty of places to buy seeds online and some still post to u guys over the pond. if i were u id look about get some nice seeds plant them up and take the best female for a mother-harvest the rest.
good luck

[ValiumForMe]

ummmm, if u don't know where the seed came from it could be hermie so u wouldnt want to mother it. is it self pollination when the seeds r rubbish?? anyway dont go through loads of hassle hoping some bagseed will turn out amazing because there is a chance it wont. can u remember the weed it came from?? was it stacked with seeds? i.e. mexican bush or such or was it from some skunk and there was only like 1-2 seeds an 8th?
there are pleanty of places to buy seeds online and some still post to u guys over the pond. if i were u id look about get some nice seeds plant them up and take the best female for a mother-harvest the rest.
good luck
It was good pot. 1 seed in over an oz

[greenmonster]

ok... see im not overly sure what i say is correct here but i figure its one of two things. either a hermie seed or its a sweet femanised seed. i guess u just gotta grow it and see! karma??

[karmaxul]

Female seeds form my experience, are created with out pollen form hermie or male flowers and are stress seeds from hormone fluxuation.

One love
c

[ValiumForMe]

what does all of that mean. Chances are I'm growing a male?

[ValiumForMe]

My buddy said to get it big enough to cut a clone from it so I can rapidly veg and flower a small clone for the purpose of sexing to know whether or not to waste any more time...

[greenmonster]

ummmm im lost.... surely that would take about 3 weeks anyway? do u know how to clone?

[Gruffy]

oops mispost

[karmaxul]

Mess with the light cycle. I first noticed it worked when I had a power outage that threw my timers off. I looked all of my plants over with great care at all stages of growth. I grew single cola plants that finished at about a foot. Male flowers after they open turn yellow and ae easily notice. I had some seeds yet no male flowers. Other professinal growers concured that fluxuation of the light cycle (dark releases hormones) will cause stress seeds with no male flowers. Every seed I ever hatched from these seeds has been female. I have produced over 1000 female seeds.

One love
c

[busteruk7]

hey thats a nice lot of seed and would be even better if they are all female seeds that will be enuff to keep ya going for years :)

[karmaxul]

that was years ago but they last great. most got stolen by my brother of all people along with a bunch of nugs. I prefer mother plants and clones.

One love
c

[busteruk7]

hey kong what is peatmoss i am interested in getting some as i have seen you say (get peatmoss) a lot
what is it and what does it do
thanks m8 :)

[ValiumForMe]

There is a bit of yellowing on one of the first two big leaves. The other two large leaves and the smaller leaves forming look fine.

Suggestings? Should I take it down to 1 150 watt 2,000 lumen light w/reflector right over top of it so it gets light closer? I mean, it wouldn't be getting AS much light but the light would be closer so it would be getting more of it, and 2,000 lumens should be enough for such a small seedling/plant, shouldn't it?

[ValiumForMe]

Super High Res. You can already see little trichromes on the leaves when you zoon already in (is that what those are?)