New timer

Just starting out, this forum has been lots of help and most probably looking for future help along the way. i put my seeds in wet paper towel 12 days ago and are now showing second sets of true leaves, three pointed ones. grow medium is a starter soiless mix from a trusted small time flower shop. plants are under a 3 foot t5 that i keep within 1.5 inches to .5 inches of the tops with a fan on low about 18 hours a day. light cycle is 18/6. i have given a 1/4 dose of 10-15-10, then got a little over-zealous and redosed yesterday night. i noticed a pin sized nute burn on one of the leaves so i flushed them all with spring water before further damage. i dont have a ph tester yet but planning on getting one. i wont be posting any pictures on till i have enough posts to do it directly on this site. will be doing entire grow on cfl's since am not concerned about yield or sale, but i am concerned about energy costs and keeping things low key. this project is purely out of pleasure and also so i no longer have to rely on dealers. thanks for any input and will hopefuly get some pics up as soon as i have enough posts. peace :hippy: gots to hit the books

Welcome aboard. This is a great site for small farmers. Dealer talk is shunned here.

You likely know this but my advice is read read read. Check out the stickies in my signature below. There a lot more at various levels of this site so be sure to look to see what stickies you can find at each level.

good to know, thanks.

went out and got general hydro 3 part today and will be starting it on my next water. something fell on one of my young'uns and seperated her (hopefully her) from her root ball all except a few strands.:mad: replanted her and she is back under light. anyone have advice on care for a damaged young plant like this? mos def not gona keep stuff over my grow shelf no more. enuff fooling around with plants for me back to the books. stay easy :rastasmoke:

Depends on the break. If you set it right away you can create a splint from a few match sticks around the two bits of stalk merging the broken ends back together. Apply a few dabs of cloning hormone if you have it. It's like setting a broken bone. Then you bind it gently with string or a twisty tie around the splint so that it holds in place. Give it a week or two and the plant will grow back together. It is the same concept as grafting two plants together. It is best done immediately but I'm guessing it might work up to an hour after the break so long as the stalk does not dry out. However, I'm not sure that this would have worked in your case. It sounds like it was root damage. If you had an aero cloner I'd say stick her in there. At the very least you want to put a humidity dome over her so that she does not expire more water than necessary.

she's still healthy to below the soil level, i would say about 80 percent of the root was lost, but a couple 1 inctrands of delicate root was still sticking out. none of the above dirt stalk was damaged. i put it back into soild 1/2 an inch deeper than it was before to provide support, hopefuly this doesnt drown my roots. btw i know that with many full grown house plants its a no-no to plant them deper than their original soil level due to roots not getting enough oxygen (the root system grows "intellegently" by keeping some close to soil surface for air and some to explore water). any idea if its the same for my girls?
thanks

That applies mostly to outdoor plants where it is possible that rain might swamp the plant on an ongoing basis leading to root rot. In fact, some people do plant a little deeper with each re-potting. I have not done this so I can't really comment. Similarly, when root pruning mothers it is recommended. So I think you did the right thing. She will not be happy to be sure but keep her hydrated and put a humidity dome over top if she is not too big.

Hey, back on the log to update with pictures from the biginning. shows my setup, and all, bout to thin out my numbers tho, dont need so many.

so the last picture is my concerne, i had what i thought was a chem burn issue a few days ago that i followed with a water flush and last night when the plants were far to close to the light i noticed some browning that kinda looked like cooked spinach and as you can see from the picture this morning its more yellowish, does this pattern look like continuous chem burn from over nuting the other day (3 days ago flushed yesterday) or am i dealing with just some burning from being to close to my t5? any advice please.

other than that things looking aight, a slight limey smell comming off them with the sniffer real close up. :D

did the plant actually touch the light? If not, I'm doubtful that that was caused by the fluro.

Hey KP, bad luck about the root damage....hope she recovers well from it. Just wondering what strain you're growing? Read all you posted above a couple of times, but darned if my brain picking anything up just now :smokin:

have you got a PH tester yet? Just a thought that it could be your PH isn't right, though I guess the rest of the girls would show same discoloration? One of our girls had some slight yellowing early on, can't remember now if we ever discovered what it was....but again, if it was nute burn and you're feeding all the girls the same doses, then you'd probably expect the others to show same yellowing. Might just be one of those things, but deff get a PH tester.

Nice to see the pics too :thumbsup:

yes thry were resting against them, and the t5's seem hotter than usual, i made a makeshift foil hood over them, maybe it is trapping and consetrating heat?

the strain is kinda tricky, bag seed, it was something growing on vancouver island out on the pacific coast of canada, some guy i know found a couple abandoned seeded ladies that he guessed was harvested for their seeds then left there, so they snatched these two girls up. the green was shite to smoke but i found some seeds in the bag and so i germend them, damned if 8 out of 11 didnt crack (after spending 8 months in the deep freezer) so il always be dealing with that issue. now, this is brand new dirt, a soiless potting mix from a trusted greenhouse, and i used all bottled water so far so the ph couldnt realy be the issue. not only that but if ph was down wouldnt that cause lockup or whatever and the yellowing would be from thirst? these girls are drinking it down mighty good, and the budget isnt realy there for one anyway. later :hippy:

The T5s will burn the plants if they touch the tubes. That's your issue.

i feel like a wave of hate could come down on me from all the outdoor dudes that have ever lost plants to scavengers.... just saying it wasnt me!!!

thanks bigsby, im trying to keep them within an inch but differences in heights and growth spurts have me adjusting twice a day it feels

Ahh, about the strain, what i do know about it is when i put my nose in the bag from where the seeds came i distintly remember thinking it smelled like limes and i assumed he had tried re-hydrating some with lime peel, but just now i rubbed a leaf a little and it has a very distinct identical lime smell that i got from the bag. i have never smelled any of my herb smell like lime before, kinda a B.O. and lime smell, anyone have any experience with it?

Hey folks, small update on the plants. so i went to the cabin for the long weekend, 5 days away and i had my gf look after my plants, i know she doesnt cruise this site so i'll feel free to say, BIG mistake. hahaha my poor children were hanging on a thread, they went realy dry and my guess were drooping right down, bottom leaves were yellow and crisping, but they pulled thru and are looking better.

so im into week 4 after germination, im still in the same pot, heard having a solid root ball before transplanting is good (advice on this fact?) i have pots that equal about 2x the size they are in now, thinking of moving them up slow

also i heard that if the run off is brownish coloured this is a build up of salts, so i flushed realy well (advice on this fact ?)

Q: just flushed, do i fertalize right after or should i give them a cycle to drink some clean water?

Im still working with just 1 single 3 foot T5 6500k bulb, but im feeling i may need to upgrade as lower leaves are starting to show branching out and i believe they will need more light.

Q:i have a 400 watt magnetic ballast with a mean sounding buzz, can i contain the ballast in a sound proofed box or will it get hot as hell and burn down my house?

oh ya, twice leaves got too close to the bulb and burned so i figured id top them realy close to the top

ok here are a few pics

ps, im giving 4 away to bring me down to 4. im getting rid of the less vigorous ones. dont know if you guys remember one i wrote about whose root ball busted off when something fell on it, its growing like a weed.... odd

14 days in using a 400 watt hps

week 6. any idea if im leaning more towards indica or sativa dom on these random bag seeds?

as you can see some upper leaves have up curled edges i associated with heat stress, since i added ac, kept the fan running across the canopy 24/7 and lifted the light the situation hasn't gotten worse, and with heat damage im not expecting it should get better.

i also suspected ph problems so i got a tester and the soil run off was way acidic, i started building the feed up to level off the run off and i think im back at about a 6.5 hopefuly, hard with just a little fluid drop tester.

also i am adding 1 tbsp of blackstrapp molasses to every gallon of water i feed.

later :hippy:

i should also mention my local hydro guy who has been a lot of help has given me some advice im not to sure about. first he recommended his powder carb instead of molasses due to its higher purity... i can understand he needs to sell his product, so wont blame hime, but second he told me i should prune all the lower fan leaves since they are wasting space and energy taking it away from the buds. any thoughts on this? i have a small space to grow but none of the fan leaves are in the way of buds. any thoughts on these two tips?

looking good:thumbsup:

interesting to see how much you get off them girls.

thanks weed daddy. first time doing this so dont even have a hint as to what to expect. cant wait to get the dry weight

Stick with the store bought molasses. What ever they are selling at the shop will not add much that you don't already get from the blackstrap.

As for fan leaves, there are different opinions. I would leave them alone. If they are blocking bud sites then you can think about it. At this point those leaves are producing energy for the plant. They may have taken a bit of energy away from the plant while they were growing but once grown they produce for the plant. Also, no need to stress them unnecessarily. My two cents.

Looking damn nice for bag seed!

thanks, i think il leave them on, the lower buds dont seem to be hurt in any way by a bit of shade, in fact some of the lower side shoots are more frosted then the main cola odly enough.

yo bigsby thanks for the extra help you been giving, i dont think this would have gone as smoothly as it has if it wasnt for your help.

im wodering tho, is 14 inches away is too close for a 400 hps home made cool tube? my temp in room is about 26 c during the day and 22c at night, humidity is around 50, maybe up to 60 on rain days. the reason i ask is im wondering if heat is affecting the top most buds, they dont seem as frosty as some of the lower side shoots.

Your temps and humidity are fine. Ideally the humidity comes down a bit. You want it lower during the final weeks of flower in order to avoid bud mold. A fan across the top of the canopy will also help in this regard.

Two thoughts.

1. Use the hand test. Place your hand just above the top of the canopy. If you can keep your hand there without discomfort then the light is far enough away to avoid damage.

2. If using a thermometer, be sure to put the thermometer just above waist level and be sure that it is shaded such that the light does not shine directly on the glass as this will distort the reading. This is a more accurate temperature gauge.

Those top colas will pick up. Be sure that you don't harvest too early. You can see up to 25% increase in yield over the last two weeks of flower. You wouldn't want to miss that!

deadly! hahaha, im so fucking excited, im sure im not the only one that got that feeling near the end like "holy shit i cant believe this is working" Im stoked to see what they manage to produce, never thought those crappy little shrivelled seeds turned into anything, they were ugly as.

thanks again for the advice, my hand feels completely fine even closer then the tops and the fan is blowing nice and gently across the top. im gona do some research on bringing down the humidity, thanks homes:thumbsup:

last feed was 3 days ago, i think the next time they dry out il be going to water flush then just molasses and water. i hear general hydro's three part nutrient system is high in amonia? is this correct?

gawd, i can see why you are anxious to call that crop done. those buds are gorgeous! love your photos, clicking on them and enlarging them... there's your magnification for checking the color of the trichomes. you're close, but not quite there yet... it'll be worth the wait, i betcha!

Give it some more time my friend. ;) Looks dayum good tho! :thumbsup:

my humidity coasts around 45 during lights on and 53 lights off, so gona look into de-humidifying options :detective1:

update, still not ready! testing my patience.

total wet weight approx 380 gram off the 4 plants. now to go hot knife my trimming scissors. :yippee:

also chose my two best ladies and am gona re-veg

so fast question, is it too much light? i hear light is bad for them but this is indirect flo light...

as in the indirect flo light, could it cause damage to the drying buds up above?