First Time Growing - Advice Welcome

[cmay]

More growth the merrier is how i see it... So if these seeds where started end of jan and its now week 2 in March how far along am I with these? I mean how much longer should I run these guys in the Veg state which im running 18/6hrs. They are basically 8 weeks from seed at this point.

 

[Papageno]

It is all about the grow space and not over filling it or growing into the the heat zone from the lights.

Figure out frst how tall they can grow before getting too close to the light. Assume the plants will triple in size and start flower when they are short enough not to get too tall.

At 4 nodes (so 8 potential stalks) top the main stem and then you will get much better yield and more even maturation. Flowers closer to the light mature faster so having more flowers all the same height is better than one much taller.

Top first and wait for the new growth to catch up you may want to continue topping until the branches are all the same height.

 

[cmay]

Im still wondering about topping them but I did just go an top them the other day. So now am I correct in that im waiting for the spot i pinched off to grow back? So after that grows back my 2 nodes should now have 2 more for a total of 4 in that location? Is that the correct theory and what happens when you top them?

Can i start topping the the nodes on other steams or you only to top the very top one?

 

[Papageno]

no...if you "topped" that means you cut through the stalk (whether it be pinching or properly cutting). The plant will stop growing there where you cut it off. What happens is the branches from the nodes below now get all of the energy and start growing faster. If you don't top you have one main branch going up that determines the size and height and all the res are lower and less mature and they all suffer for the one main branch. by stopping the main stalk from growing you are making a more even set of flowers that can all mature at the same rate and you will get more final weight in the end.

This is why typically you want to top with 4 sets of nodes below becasue that makes 8 main branches which when trained out to the sides makes a perfect small indoor bush. Now many people make monsters and each thing you do adds a little more time but a good 8 branch bush is a real good way to get going.

 

[cmay]

Thank you for the info it was very helpful. So how much longer would you say i should keep these ladies in veg? I have no clue if its 2 or 5 weeks. I was going to go by overall height then flip them to flower. I only have about 2.5-3 feet from their height now before i run out of room. The Sour Dee is 11'' and the AK47 is 8'' so they are pretty close in height as i wont have to worry about a big height variance just yet at least.

 

[Papageno]

Well that is not much space. I would top it now as you are at about the max height you want before bloom given what you just said. When the lower branches get up to that reasonable height to where it could triple in size and be safe then you bloom. That may be about 1 week or so depending on how they are growing. I have seen plants grow more than an inch day in strong veg. Those were much bigger with big root systems.

 

[cmay]

Hey Village i have a question for you. If my reserve Ph level hasn't really change all week like maybe went up .2 and down .3 in the last few days. Also the PPM has only went down 20 ppm in the last 4 days. The water level has not changed in the last few days. What does this mean is going on with the plants?

 

[Papageno]

Well not seeing the water drop make that very odd. Did you flip the lights to bloom cycle? It could be the plant is transitioning to bloom and sometimes it slows down uptake through the transition.

Hard to say if the pH is stable too.

 

[cmay]

Ok so maybe i wasnt totally sure but the water level did drop a little. How much i can not say.

 

[Papageno]

If the water is dropping and the pH is stable and the PPM is hardly changing then you have an ideal situation. That means the plant is taking on the water and nutes evenly at the current concentration.

 

[cmay]

If that was the case how long could I leave the water in? I would think I can get more then 7 days out of it.

 

[cmay]

So here are Just a few updated pictures after the water change today.... Topped them a few days ago and im wondering how much longer i should keep these in veg? Anybody have a suggestion, all are welcome =)

 

[Papageno]

I submit there are too many variables for me to estimate your water up take.


I went back an looked at the beginning of this thread and it stakes 3 gallons in your res. That is the absolute bottom. That means at some point you can't go anywhere and have to top off like every 12 hours probably to maintain a happy plant. Typically 5 gallons is recommended. In the peak of growth I have had to add a 5 gallon bucket daily of highly concentrated solution to a 4 plant system.

I had good lighting and ventilation and temps and humidity.

 

[cmay]

I did have the 3 gallon bucket but switched to the 10 gallon DWC a few weeks back.

Some Updated pictures:

Added New MARS HYDRO 350W LED
Mini Floor Tower Fan

Added Net For Support

That little guy is my clone....im rooting for him ha ha i crack myself up!

 

[cmay]

So how do I get more people to help me out with advice on here. Seems like village is the only one around.

 

[LiquidBud]

I would lovely help you but I'm still with no experience. Trying to learn myself. Well what I did was, I fixed my signature, put my journal link there, also I'm going to other people journals, read them, and comment on the topic, some people will help you. Best is to find someone, who's at similar stage of grow and then you can follow it and observe it Hope this will bring more people into your journal )

 

[cmay]

Turned the good lil ladies to bloom today. Im new at this an cant wait to see how things change during the bloom phase. I have my carbon filter ready for when they start to smell. Here are some updated pictures.

My little green house for my clones. Im cloning one sour and 3 ak-47.

 

[Rifleman]

Hey cmay I just saw your post on the eye candy thread. This is my first time doing a scrog, and I don't plan on changing the reservoir until after harvest unless something goes bad. Using pH buffered nutrients and the very large capacity are making it easy to ignore water changes.

 

[cmay]

Hey Rifleman glad you showed up and thank you for any input and please know any and all input is greatly appreciated. So im very new but wont your water get the slimmy film build up over time. I get a little slim after i let her go 10 days with out a change. I have a question for you.

This is my first grow and i have just turned my girls to bloom this past monday. Now that im running both veg and bloom lights during my bloom i'm getting higher temps in the tent, and being im exhausting into the same room as tent my exterior tent temp is now getting up there. Inside tent in shade its 77 when lights on and about 70-73 when off over night. Im runnig a mars hydro reflector 96 with bloom switch and veg switch. I have them both on now while in bloom as I was told that more light even the veg spectrum is good to have on while in bloom. So basically i learned here to get the exhaust vented out into a different room or outside.

My issue growing in a tent that's 24x24x60''
Tents in a walk in closet.
No window just one small hvac vent in there.


My ideas are being I have no access to the attic maybe i could cut the duct to stick my hand up there and move it out of the way, its flex ducting so it should be easy to cut and move. Then attach my exhaust to it with a one way air flapper to keep any of the attic elements out of my exhausting and tent.


The second idea is to cut a hold in the sheet rock in the bottom of the closets wall and just have it vent into the one of the bays. This seems to be the hardest to fix when moving out though.


Third is like the first just put the one way air flow flapper on it and just stick in the vent. Pro is its easier, cons are id have the hvac blowing into my exhaust even though i have the flapper air flow blocking it, i highly doubt much would get through honestly. Besides this Im just trying to keep my closet cooler so the air outside the tent can cool the inside like i have learned here

 

[Rifleman]

I haven't had a slime problem yet. I keep the air pump on high and temps low. I cured my heat hurdles with aggressive exhaust. During the Winter it is exhausted to other areas of the house with flex ducting. During the Summer the flex ducting gets hooked to a piece of 6" pvc which is run through the sheetrock at the top of a closet to my attic. If your reservoir temps get too high you'll get root rot, which I'm sure you know. If you don't already, I would use something like Hydroguard or Sensyime to help avoid the rot of high temps.


Edit: And yes run both bloom and veg switches in bloom.