First Grow

Thanks for the support. I am using a 400 W High Pressure Sodium for veg and I can agree with you, it is not ideal. Every morning they look like they have been beaten to shit. I open up the door, give em a bit of water and some air from outside and they pep up in about an hour. I am still not exactly sure how low to keep the lamp. I have six plants and it seems like I am adjusting the bloody thing every other day. The plants seem like they get really dehydrated every night, so I am trying to find a solution. Saturday will be the third week and I am going to give them about 25% of the suggested nutes. I am still playing with the water too. Damn rookie I am! :)

Peace from Praha!

Your plants look fine, good luck! :thumbsup:
I think you don't have to worry about HPS, I use 250W for 2 plants, they are 20 days old now and look very healthy (however, I use a DWC hydro, probably it corrects some possible problems with light).
I keep the bulb at 60cm (24") distance from the substrat surface (but please note, I have 250W - in your case the distance must differ).
A few questions:
1. What are your plants strains?
2. What is about airing, what do you use?
3. Environment temperature?

Thanks Oomlah for your message!

Ok, I am going to sound like an idiot, but not exactly sure of the strains question. Sorry :( I am using a somewhat large computer type fan that unfortunately does not oscilate. It gets kind of cold in my closet as I live in Central Europe and there is a bit of a draft in the room. It is hard for me to control it, so sometimes it is like 8 to 10 c in there, yes, a bit cold. At night the plants look great, but when I wake up in the morning, they look like hell. After about two hours, they perk up again. I think they are getting dehydrated easily. Could be an issue with my soil, or me just underwatering. I realize they are to be watered every 2/3 days, but I sometimes find myself giving them a bit of water daily because they tend to droop. I am just having your typical problems of controlling the temp, water and proper light distance. I am still learning. These photos were just taken and this is day 20. Will be giving them 1/4 nutes tomorrow.

you are ready for nutes, and you'd be safe running that 400 two feet above, no less than 18 inches. i overkilled by keeping my veg light to low... i now utilize a 4x8 area in veg with only a single 400w mh, no stretching, everyone's happy and no heat stress/dehydration...

I now have it at 50 cm/ 20 inches. They seem much happier! :) I am going to give them some nutes tomorrow morning. I am quite sure it was heat/stress because my lamp was too low and I was not giving them enough water. I am sure you have read on here to put your on top of the plant and if your hand does not get hot, than the plants will be ok. Was not the case with mine. They were getting beat up under the light as it was about 10 inches on top of them. Strong buggers as they always seem to recoupe, however I know it did not help their overall growth.

Thanks so much for your insight!

Peace-

Heya

My 400w MH is 45cm from the top of the plants and doing great.
Watering wise you should water when the top 2 inches of soil is dry, how often you water depends on your soil and the size of your pots, small pots dry out fast under HID lighting, i used to water every 2 days in my little pots, after transplanting to bigger pots i only water every 5 days.

Im using a soiless mix (1/3 coco,1/3 vermiculite,1/3 Perlite)

Peace :rastasmoke:

P.s On your next grow ORDER SEEDS!!!

Thanks for the input. Going to water them tonight with the first dosage of nutes. Will give them between 25 to 50% of recommended dosage. Took this photo this morning. I think they look half decent.

My seems came from Amsterdam. Dutch Passion and the name of the seed is "Sensible."

Hope the plants take to the nutes. Thanks again!

Mmmmmm i was stoned when i posted and cant rememba why i told you to order seeds.......:S5:

Anyways glad you not using random seeds!

Peace:D

No worries man! :) Looks like they took to the nutes quite well. Gave them about 40% or so of the recommended dosage. I have found out that my soil mix is fine, however it tends to dry out quite quickly. I have to water them every day and a half or so, however I don't think it is that big of an issue at the moment. The 400W is about 45 cm above the plants and I am thinking I will just keep it at that height for the time being. The nutes were Plagron Terra Grow. Will do another week or so at 50% and then increase the dosgage.

Best!

Peace from Praha-

Forgot the recent photo