1st Grow, 3days old

High, i haven't posted here in a very long time, but thought id drop a pic, this is my first attempt. im shocked by how fast these little things are growing.
I planted the seedlings into the soil on saturday (22nd) by sunday there were 3 poking through the soil at which point i introduced them to 16/8 lighting. at the moment i only have a pathetic 60w bayonet type 600 lumen bulb, i would really appreciate some advice on what light setup to buy, im thinking of a relativly small 100-200w hps setup? as i only want to continue with 2/3 plants, at which il decide after sexing, also what is the first thing to look for when looking for the sex of the plants?

well it looks like you got some stretch starting, as far as the female/male, do yourself a favor and do a search on the forums, there are pics EVERYWHERE of males and females. Second, you should have all that stuff setup BEFORE you start growing not when you are in the middle of it. Do you even know what the grow space is gonna be? What about ventilation, heat, smell, etc, etc, etc. You really need to have all that setup ahead of time....

Good luck on your grow tho....

When your looking for the sex of the plant you look for little calaxys by the nodes and if its a male it will look like little balls but if its a female it will look like the little balls still but it will also have a white hair coming out of the tip of it....that means its FEMALE!!!! and you did awesome.Look around on the web or here on the forums and there is picture diagrams everywhere about sexing plants....good luck

ok, im sorry, i should have explained better, i understand the basics of sexing but wasnt sure if there was anything early i should pick up on, and i know i should have had the lights allready, im buying a 150w metal halide setup this friday unless im advised otherwise, i didnt expect the seeds to even grow to anything, i have about 40more, i'm expecting to grow 3 plants in 4" pots an area of 5ft by 6.5ft high, with a depth of about 2ft, i have two 100mm ventiallation fans which i can duct directly outside, also i have a 600w ceramic bulb to gain heat if need be, but the room is at a constant 20c, the smell doesn't really matter too much.

There isnt really anyway you can tell the sex of a plant untill you put it into flowering.As for the 4" pots im not sure those will be big enough threw the whole grow...im thinking you might need some bigger pots later on so there is more room for root growth

Fix that stretching, ASAP. I can kill your plants' chances already.

18/6 lightings better also bud ;)

lighting schedule is completely up to the grower. The amount of difference from a 24/0, 20/4, 18/6 is really not that much. When a plant is under a 24/0 the root growth in a 24 hour period is around 28cm, and a 20/4 is around 33cm and a 18/6 light schedule is about 38cm. So the difference between 24/0 and 18/6 is really up to the grower and the effect that it will have on the electric bill. One has to figure out which is best for their situation.

As far as early sexing there is no such thing. You can only tell if its a male or female when the plant has gone into the flower stage. The bud will either grow a flower or what looks like "Ballz" (these are the pollen sacs). You dont want the one with pollen sacs unless you plan on saving the pollen for later and you can see how to do that in one of the FAQ's on the boards.

My best suggestion for you is to go to google, and then do a custom search on these boards for something that you are looking for. I will put a crap load of money down that if you look on these boards, someone has already seen it and fixed it. The problem and solution will be on here. Just take the time to do the searching, your plant wont die in the time that it takes to do the search....I promise it will still be alive when you are done searching.

Good luck on your grow....:thumbsup:

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[attachment=o159683]Just an update, i have purchashed a 250w hps system, its comes with sylvania bulb which im sure is aimed for flowering, as the light is so yellow. i was thinking about buying a mh bulb as the ballast is compatible. I also got this cabinet which I enclosed pics of for free! which is pretty cool as its new. I have looked through threads with the aid of search, but i'd like to ask you the question/s
How far should the lights be from the plants?
I'm also having a major temp problem, i had a 100cm fan but i dont have adequate exhaust ATM i'm about to fix this problem now. I only recieved the light yesrterday.
I left the light on for around 4 hours and the temps inside the cab were over 100F.
I'm obvously going to get a better result with what i'm about to do
(im going the install the fan on the ceiling of the box, ducting out, poss to a window, eventually ill install a 4inch inline fan system which i have found. and also install an intake on the lower side of the cab.
Or am i just being stupid trying to keep the heat down in this little space??
i plan on growing all of them till i have determined the sex of the plants, i currently have 8, but as you can see in the pics, atleast 3 of them are pretty badly burnt and iv'e heard that heat stress can cause hermies/ induces males?. I'im either gnna need to put them back under the 3x20w cfl (unknown colour spectrum but its pretty cool they are phillips genie bulbs) or if move the lights futher way enough to stop the leaves burining and drying so much + extra ventillation will they cope?
Also i have no way of controlling the humidity other than wet tissue which isn't meant to be any good is it? i'd also be worried about water vapour below the HID light, am i just being parranoid?
Any input will be appreciated, im gnna need to repot them asap, what size would you guys suggest to last them until i can indentify the sex of them, at that point i'll choose the best 1 or 2 (hopefully) if they aren't allready ruined, i do have more seeds but i'd like to continue these. BTW they are currently on day 11 after i first planted the germinated seeds (wet tissue)

bump!