please help a first time grower

Lip I was wondering how he got away with keeping those plants so close to
HPS. Just figured I was a peanut head.....

dear virgin,

i've got some time, so i'm going to give you some setup advice that will get you through to the flowering stage.

vegging plants like a spectrum of 6500kelvin. go to lowes, purchase a florecent fixture, (48" are perfect if you have room) and get GE daylight bulbs. these are a t12, 40w, 3050 lum ea. bulb and at 6500k.

these bulbs veg plants like i have never seen. plus they put off NO HEAT WHATSOEVER!!! this means you can let the plants touch the bulb, allowing more light absorption. use these lights, or daylight (make sure it says daylight) cfl's.

when going to flower, use kitchen and bath bulbs, right spec, and lots of light out put. just keep in mind, flo's aren't as powerful as hid's so you'll need to do the lumen math. you want at least 12000 lums per sq ft. or 2 48" fixtures.

as for your sick little babies, mg soil has time released ferts in it. use nothing but water for at least 30 days or you WILL HURT YOUR PLANTS. mg soil is cool, but you should never start seeds in it, as it is pretty potent for pot. however, if they make it, they will grow like weeds! i had lots of luck seed starting in bacto, and then transplanted the whole bacto pot in mg garden soil. wow.

but as i said, it's potent stuff. try watering each pot with at least a half gallon of pure water each time you water for the next four or five waterings.

they should come around.

good luck, hope this helps!

love brooke

also check out my thread "rootone"

love, brooke

thanks brooke you have been a really big help so has every ones else i just hope i can make it through this grow im going bk to my local hydro shop 2moro and get every thing i need as money is'nt an object on my first grow hopefully i can get bk on track. i will keep you all posted on how its all going but in the mean time if any one else has advise feel free to add especially on my sick baby many thanks to all

just to let you know i have just watered karma and she looks better all ready thank you all. as for lucy i still dont know she has not grown in the last two days but ive decided im not going to give up on them. but as a precaution i have 5 seeds in jiffy pellets in my propagator now so hopefully i'll have 7 in all now. but its a first grow so its all learning thank you all and ill keep every one updated on whats going on

respect to every one

can i just ask roughly how lond does it take from seed to harvest i no u cant rush these things im just wondering thats all.

its a 500w mercury vapour light
the description in the book says (phosphorous coated to promote blue and red spectrum so you can veg and bloom, more blue light than red)

is this the right light to use as some one said earlier that i need blue and red light's. i could really do with the help so i know what light to get if this is the wrong one. but if it is how low to my plants should it be

thank you for any help in advance

glad to hear it vg, i'll be keeping tabs on your grow, (i'm going low budget now rrrrrr!) and would like to see what ya get and your results. good luck, and keep posting!

love, brooke

brooke if that is you in that pic u have got to be the sexiest ganja grower ever thank you for all your help so far and i'll keep you updated, once this grow is over and out the way i'll try my nft system i either have to build a grow room or buy a grow tent not sure which one yet.i need the experiance first b4 i go mad on a big project lol speak soon all

just noticed that my response was out of place.

let me try again...

as far as time from seed, your plants will have to reach sexual maturity before you can flower them (you CAN flower earlier, but you'd still have to wait for them to mature, which would take longer because of less light hours.)

the veg time from seed to maturity is generally 4 to 8 weeks, averaging 6. if you grow uder 24/7 of light, chances are they will reach maturity sooner.

to tell if your plant is mature, look for alternating nodes. see how your plants' nodes have two leave per node? at maturity, there will be one leaf per node, and the branch will take on a zigzag shape.

i throw my plants into flower at 4 weeks because of the extremely rapid growth rate of my plants. they look equal to or bigger/better than most twice their age (i'm a good mom) remember; your plants will double, if not tripple their size in the flower stage, so if you have little room, use lst techniques, or flower early.

now, for the merc vapour lights; get rid of them. i know they say they work good, but i had three that were nothing but a pain (heat probs, distance, and the fact that the ones under flo's were growing at twice the rate) so i lost the mv's and got more flo's. remember the kind i told you about? i'm telling you, those are the best for veg (my opinion only, not based on fact. don't want any bad feed back please).

if you are going to use hid's and can afford it, get a metal halide for veg and hps for flower. i think they even make a conversion bulb for one or the other, but i'm not sure which.

as for distance, if you use flourecents, cool ones, you can put the light right on top of them. and i do mean right on top of them. because of the fact that the light puts out virtually no heat, the plants can touch the light without being burned.

for metal halide, if you use a cool tube, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet away, if not, 3 to 4 feet
same for hps.

whew, now i gotta go smoke a bowl.

love, brooke