new grow

i got my seeds from dr. chronic friday, it took a week for them to get here in the good ole U.S.of A. I germinated them in wet paper towels, all 5 of them sprouted! I planted them today. i am so excited about this strain, "the church" supposed to be pretty good and hearty.
i am starting them out in waupaca putting soil with perlite. got them under 2 4' fluor. t8. which put 3140 lumens each on a 24/0 light schedule. i will be switching to a 400 watt hps as soon as i come up with the money, but for now, the fluor. seems to be doing good.
the only thing i am doing different this time, is i'm not using the miracle grow potting mix to start them out.
when should i start putting in nutrients? i am going to use miracle grow 24/8/16 to start and veg. then i am planning on using miracle grow bloom booster 15/30/15 for the flowering. i used that for my last grow, and i had some overfeeding issues, but i am going to cut back this go around.

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Originally Posted by tonyandgina

i got my seeds from dr. chronic friday, it took a week for them to get here in the good ole U.S.of A. I germinated them in wet paper towels, all 5 of them sprouted! I planted them today. i am so excited about this strain, "the church" supposed to be pretty good and hearty.
i am starting them out in waupaca putting soil with perlite. got them under 2 4' fluor. t8. which put 3140 lumens each on a 24/0 light schedule. i will be switching to a 400 watt hps as soon as i come up with the money, but for now, the fluor. seems to be doing good.
the only thing i am doing different this time, is i'm not using the miracle grow potting mix to start them out.
when should i start putting in nutrients? i am going to use miracle grow 24/8/16 to start and veg. then i am planning on using miracle grow bloom booster 15/30/15 for the flowering. i used that for my last grow, and i had some overfeeding issues, but i am going to cut back this go around.

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I too also use MG as that's all I can afford right now, but I'd using it VERY SPARINGLY Usually it's OK to start giving nutes about a month after starting, but of course it may be earlier depending on the strain...Best way to know is just watch your plants for any sign of deficiencies. When I first started with the nutes I gave it 1/5 strength with a drop of ST to a gallon of 3 day old water. Just so long as you start little with the nutes then build your way up you should have no problems. Maybe give it 1/5 for a couple of weeks and then move up to 1/4, 2 weeks later 1/2 and so on and so forth.

i had nute probs with my first grow, i know now it is easy to overfeed with mg. so i will be cutting way back.... so about a month till i give them some, i dont want these babies to suffer like the first ones did. i used bag seed on my forst grow, and was pretty lucky, i got 7 girls out of 10 seeds. i decided to go with some bank seeds this time, see what i can get out of it.

hey bro, good to see you haven't given up.

if cash is an issue you might want to consider CFL's, first because they are
relatively cheap and easy to find, plus, you can add them as you can afford
them. another plus is that the heat is more evenly distributed so it's less of
an issue.

also, another big plus is that you're able to customize the spectrum's of light
you use, you'll want mostly blue or cool light (5000Kelvin and up) for vegging
and mostly red or warm light (2700Kelvin and lower) for flowering.

here are a few pics of my old light set-up and the only reason i'm not still using
them is because i'm building a new flowering cab that'll be powered by 2 new
150watt HPS lights i picked up before Xmas.

i actually grew with CFL's exclusively for over a year with excellent results
so i'll include a couple of bud shots so you can see what CFL's will produce.

anyway, good luck, if you're persistent, you will succeed.

and a couple more

hey bozo, i will never give up, all you can do is get better by learning from your mistakes. i am using a couple cfls in my flowering room along with 2 warm fluor, and 6 cool fluor. on my new babies, i was wondering if using both cool fluor, and cfl's would have an advantage over just one or the other?

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Originally Posted by tonyandgina

hey bozo, i will never give up, all you can do is get better by learning from your mistakes.

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Ha, that would be the case you'd think, but there are always some people asking the same question a million times in like 6 diff. ways....It's crazy

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i am using a couple cfls in my flowering room along with 2 warm fluor, and 6 cool fluor. on my new babies, i was wondering if using both cool fluor, and cfl's would have an advantage over just one or the other?

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This is the easiest way to put it......More is better...so if you have it and can control your temps then use it...maybe you could use CFL for the top of the canopy and use the T4 on the sides....Just a thought :D

i guess the biggest advantage to using tubes rather than CFL's is heat, the tubes
spread the heat over a greater area, plus the ballast components are better
shielded so they run cooler than CFL's.

the advantages to CFL's is that you don't need a special fixture as they will
work in any regular light. also, because you have multiple bulbs you can
really customize the spectrum.

here is some info from the old Overgrow site that might be helpful to you in
choosing what light you need to add to your existing set-up.
just keep in mind that this is old info and they've come a long way with CFL
bulbs so, while HID lights will certainly yield more, CFL's now have the power
to produce respectable yields as well.


The color of a light source entails a complicated relationship of different factors, that are important in determining the right light source for your garden. The advantage of Metal Halide lamps is that they provide high-quality, crisp white light in a variety of different color temperatures that meet the needs of many different users.

Correlated Color Temperature(CCT)

The first factor in choosing a color of lamp is to determine whether you need a warm or cool light source. The CCT, expressed in Kelvin degrees, relates to actual thermal temperature. If you've ever seen a piece of metal being heated, you know that as the metal gets hotter, it's color changes. The CCT rating of HID and flourescent light sources indicate how warm or cool the light source is. For instance a lamp with a CCT of 2700 Kelvin is considered warm; with a CCT of 4200 Kelvin is considered neutral; and one of 6000 Kelvin is considered cool.


Spectral Energy Distribution

When you look at a light source, you perceive seeing a single color, but you are actually seeing thousands of hues. The combinations of different wavelengths of light make up the color we see. The relative intensity of the various wavelengths are used to determine a light source's Color Rendering Index(CRI).


Color Rendering Index(CRI)

The CRI is an indication of a lamps ability to show individual colors relative to a standard. This value is determined from a comparison of the lamp's spectral distribution compared to a black body at the same color temperature. Light sources, such as metal halide lamps, are rated with a CCT; however, CCT does not provide any information on the quality of the color. For this, a CRI is also necessary. In general, the higher the CRI rating of a lamp, the better the different colors will show.


5K - 7K Kelvin: Strong Blue Light
Promotes bushy growth. Ideal for rapid growth phase of plants.
Greatly enhances all-around plant growth when used with super
high output, high pressure sodium or 3K warm metal halide lamps.

4.2K - 4200 Kelvin: Cool white Flourescents
Can be used as supplimental blue lighting when used with a 3K
source.

4K - 4000 Kelvin: Neutral Metal Halide
Best single source for plant growth, producing shorter, bushier
growth than 3700 Kelvin and color rendition. Used in general
plant lighting.

3.7K - 3700 Kelvin: Softer Metal Halide(coated)
This coated lamp is used in general plant lighting and for more
rapid growth than 4000 Kelvin produces.

3K - 3200 Kelvin: Warm Metal Halide
Highest photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) value of all HID
lighting for all phases of plant growth. PAR watts account for the
nutritional value of light and are a direct measure of the light
energy available for photosythesis.

2.7K - 2700 Kelvin: High Pressure Sodium Lamps
Redder color mix, used for propagation, blooming, supplemental
greenhouse lighting.