growing wide

You guys rock! Thanks so much for your help so far.

I've been using the Technaflora B.C. starter kit. It's made for hydro, and I'm growing in FF ocean. So, I mix it at 1/6th hydro strength, then only feed every third watering. I did this because it included all the nutes I needed for every stage in one box set. Then mixed at those levels, this $35 kit should last me around 5-6 grows of 12 plants (about the same size as my "trial grow").

About that light hood and bulb?,.. Since we have no idea WHAT you actually bought, we couldn't tell you if it's the right one. However a reflector does reflect regardless of WHAT is generating the light inside it.

I'd still suggest a few regular CFL drop lights. Even with this 200w CFL overhead. A couple CFLs bringing light in from the sides won't hurt. Plus you can buy both 6500K CFLs for better veg growth, and 2300K CFLs for flower!:thumbsup:

Well, I am returning the first reflector I purchased and am getting this one instead. It is only about $15 dollars more than the other one, that is just about the same reflector, plus the 125w 2700 bulb. Still keeping the 200w bulb for veg, and I am going to add a three or four 100w equal (27w I think) drop lights.

Seeing as how I may be kind of messing up my first grow a bit, should I even bother cloning this one or should I just start from scratch for the next one? I am going to probably take a clone off for learning purposes, but I think I read that a stressed plant's clones don't do much better than the mother. It that true?

yes practice....one tip for successful cloning is get a small dish of water...like a baking dish or just something to do the final cut of the stem under water with your razor...at a 45 angle of course...but doing it under water prevents air bubble from happening to the end of the cut(embolism) stopping it from rooting and the cut just damps off...the stem basically melts away! use rapid rooters or good quality rooting plugs are the easiest to use...jmo!:thumbsup:

I ordered some rooting plugs, and some root gel. I am definitlely go the cloning route. Wondering if a stressed plants clones can be any better than the mother though. IE. After this plant I'm growing buds (hopefully :)), if I am dissatisfied with my results will it be likely that I can do better with the clones, or will they be doomed because of the plant they came from?

not exactly...they may take a little longer to root but it will be good practice!:thumbsup:

keep your dome on and temps in the mid to low 80's:thumbsup:

Will do. Thinking I'm getting the light hood and other goodies by Friday or so (I fucking hope so anyway). Once I do I'm thinking I'll give her a week with her new lights, then take a clipping and throw it into flower.

My camera will be home on Tues., so I'll have some pics up soon after. It's looking good other than where the leaves have grown into the light during the day and got burnt. It's really only a few extreme edge of leaf so I'm really not worried about that too much.

Checked the soil PH yesterday, and it came in somewhere between 7.5 and 8 as far as I could tell. This coupled with the fact that she was in the same pot as when her seed cracked (a 2 gallon planter) that was filled with potting soil that had little pearlite with only a single drain whole at the bottom. The single drain whole, coupled with such a big pot was leading the soil to mold around the bottom drain where some roots were comming out.

Taking what I have learned here, I decided I needed to do an emergincy transplant into a smaller pot. I got a little planter (mabey 3/4 gallon) and filled about 1/3 full with a hummus compost, pearlite mix (50/50) and got it wet enough that I could plaster it to the edges of the pot in preperation of mom.

So she just happened to be ready for water, making the dig WAY easy. I dug in with my hands trying to stay to the outside of the major root system. Once I got her out of the ground I lightly shook off any dirt that would come off without taking roots with it. The root ball that was replanted was only slightly smaller than the plant, so I believe I am good there. Plunked her in the new pot and flushed it well.

Now a couple hours later she is looking healthy still. She has a bit of droop going on with some of the larger fan leaves, but I think all in all it was a good move. I'm planning on letting her veg like this till I start to see major growth again, giving it a week or so then giving her a gallon planter upgrade (the root ball barely fit in the new pot, so she should fill it with roots quickly). Then one more transplant into a 3 gallon pot 2 or 3 weeks into flower.

So keep the nutes from her till I start to see growth again, correct?

Yeah keep the nutes to a minimum but also do not use too much light until the roots are growing strong again.

Are 4 26w cfls too many, or just about right for the time being?