First timer - Need some random help

[YetiCool420]

Hey guys. This is my first post and first grow.
Have a few questions related to lighting, cloning and timing. Plant has been watered and kept clean of pests and ailments.

1) Lights, I have purchased some LED bulbs from a local store. They are 5000k, 65 Watt equivalent(8 watts actual) and 700 lumens. Currently I have one plant that was planted from a seed. Has been growing for a few weeks now. Just grew its first 5 leave group(past was 3) amd the first tear shaped leaves just fell off. So, will 4 of these bulbs suffice for my current?

2) Cloning, as I do not have access to seeds(looking for legit seedbank tell me if you have a preference) I want to make the most of this opportunity. Like I stated above this plant is still a baby(around 2weeks total) so when is the earliest I could cut to start a second plant? I have read and looked at pics of where to cut but never a clear answer of how early it can be done without harming either plant.

3) Timing, I have done some reading on 18/6(V), 24(V) and the 12/12(F). My plant has been outside and inside(like 2 nights total no light) If I have a timer set to 18/6 will my plant survive the trip indoors? If so when do I need to start flowering?

Edit: Can exchange out to CFLs if need be

 

[Scientific]

Hi Yeti -- I'll take a whack at some of this. It would be helpful if you would read the post below and answer the questions there. It would be especially helpful to know about your growth medium (a.k.a. "dirt" ) and the strain you are growing ("autoflower"?). Also, you would do well to read some of the "How to" posts that are sticky-ed here, and of course YouTube is a great source.

How to Ask for Grow Support

1. Your LED bulbs will be fine to get you started. They are efficient and have good spectrum. If you keep them close to the plant ("back of the hand" test for too much heat), you will have the desired sunny day illumination level for now, so you are in good shape for the first few weeks. In fact, you could take the plant all the way to harvest with those bulbs. However, when your plant starts getting bigger and those lumens start to get spread out over a larger area, the light level will not be enough for really robust growth, and when you get to flowering, your buds will be small and not very dense. You could put "Y" sockets in your existing sockets and add more LED bulbs. I would recommend brighter bulbs. The advantage of that kind of setup is that you can place individual lamps around the plant to have even illumination. The shortcoming is that you have to adjust the lights every day--lots of fussing. You should consider maybe buying an LED grow light, nominally 300 watts (they put out less actually) to add to your setup. (Metal halide and sodium vapor lamps are an option too, of course, but they're hot, and setup is more complicated).

2. You don't say what strain you are growing. You probably know that you can't clone autoflower varieties. I'm not a cloner and there is a ton of info out there that is easy to find, so I won't answer that one except to say that you should wait until you have a big healthy plant before snipping pieces of it off!

3. Timing: Autoflowers can take up to 24 hours of light a day throughout their entire lives. Some feel strongly that you should give the plant some time to "rest" or "sleep" or whatever, but my experience has been that an auto will do just fine with 24 hours of light a day.

"Regular," "photoperiod" plants should be kept on 18/6 until they are about 1/2 to 1/3 the final desired size (because they double to triple in size when flowering), then start giving them 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness every day during their flowering cycle. There's tons of info about that out there, but that's the essence.

As for moving them in and out, my advice would be just to make sure that you give them consistent lighting duration. If you can get them outside during their normal growing hours for more light from the sun, that's great.

Please do have a look around this site for more info, especially the grow logs for the strain that you are growing!

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Scientific]

2) Cloning, as I do not have access to seeds(looking for legit seedbank tell me if you have a preference)

The seed source sponsors here should all be legit and good quality. I got mine from sponsor www.cropkingseeds.com. The seeds came quickly and very stealthily. My friend had good luck with them too. Shopping for seeds is fun!

 

[YetiCool420]

Much thanks Scientific. I was stressing over bulbs, more than I should have for sure. As to the strain...I cannot answer that with confidence. The fingers are not long and skinny nor are they short and wide. I did NOT know about the autoflowering/cloning. That is good to know. I need to look more into "how to recognize an AF over a regular" though. Next question is to flower or not to flower...if it is not an autoflower.

Thanks again
YetiC

 

[Scientific]

Hi Yeti -- So it looks like you started with what seems to be called here "bag seed." Nothing wrong with that!

It seems to me that the best course then is to assume that you have a "regular," non-autoflowering strain and just give it 18/6 for four weeks from seed. If it is an autoflower, you should start to see "preflowers" by then (little white pistle hairs sticking out at the nodes). That means that it is autoflowering and you have nothing more to do but to shepherd it through to completion. If you don't see preflowers by then, you probably have a regular photoperiod strain, so you'll need to switch it over to 12/12 when it's 1/2 to 1/3 final size.

One other thing that I didn't mention is that commercial seeds these days are often chemically treated to make sure they're all females. (They're "feminized.") Since you don't know the provenance of your seeds, you have a 50/50 chance that your plant is a male, which you can tell by looking at the early flowers--they look like balls on males as the pollen sacs form instead of little white pistle hairs like on females. In that case euthanasia is probably called for unless you want to start breeding or just want an ornamental cannabis plant.

Good luck and have fun.

-- S

 

[YetiCool420]

Gonna pack up these bulbs and find some others. Not gonna buy a panel but will look for some higher lumen LEDs or maybe some CFLs. Could you give me a personal estimate of how many lumens you would use in my situation? 1 plant(2 if clonable).

Growing in Miracle Grow standard.

 

[Scientific]

I have a mix of CFLs and LED bulbs. A guy here who seems to know what he's talking about really prefers LED bulbs, saying they have much better spectrum. (He removes the diffusing globes, which is pretty cool.)

For reference, the photo below is of my Dwarf Low Flyer, which has been trained into a bush and is about 15" tall and 20" in diameter. Just this one little plant has five 1600-lumen 6500K CFLs, four 800-lumen 2400K LED bulbs, and one 12 watt LED grow light. (I started out with just four CFLs and added more lights as the plant grew and matured.) That amount of light is working OK (photo of 3" bud below), but I could actually use maybe 25% more.

Here's a link to my grow log. The first two weeks were kind of a comedy of errors, but she is finishing up well.
Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 2017

For comparison, here's a link to another grow with the exact same strain but with just two 35-watt LED grow lights. The grow was a success, but the plant was not dense and neither were the buds. There is no substitute for lumens!
Dwarf Low Flyer - Closet LED - 2017

Just FYI, Miracle Gro soil is almost universally reviled here because it's delayed release fertilizer does not work as well as a more sophisticated fertilization regimen. One of the most popular soils is Fox Farms Ocean Forest with 30% perlite added. That's what I would use for a soil grow.

Dwarf Low Flyer under the lighs

3" developing bud 60 days from seed.

 

[Jdub95]

Gonna pack up these bulbs and find some others. Not gonna buy a panel but will look for some higher lumen LEDs or maybe some CFLs. Could you give me a personal estimate of how many lumens you would use in my situation? 1 plant(2 if clonable).

Growing in Miracle Grow standard.

I use a 1500 lumen Phillips 100 w equivalent light with y adaptor with a aluminum dome

 

[Scientific]

I use a 1500 lumen Phillips 100 w equivalent light with y adaptor with a aluminum dome

So... if you're using a Y, you have two or more of them? 1500 lumens isn't going to be enough once your plant is out of diapers...

 

[Jdub95]

6 lights total each one being 1500 linens

 

[Scientific]

6 lights total each one being 1500 linens

Much better!

 

[Jdub95]

You think that would sustain one plant all the way through flowering?

 

[Jdub95]

Also thinking about changing though lights to 4-6 t5 lights

 

[Scientific]

You think that would sustain one plant all the way through flowering?

See post #7.

 

[Jdub95]

I use a 1500 lumen Phillips 100 w equivalent light with y adaptor with a aluminum dome

I'm running 6 lights at 100 w Equivalent each and each bulb supply's 1600 lumens I got mine at Home Depot Phillips brand

 

[Jdub95]

So I'm trying to get the ph right first starting with the water. I found this water to have a ph of 6.2-6.7

I'm going to mix this with some fox farm soil I have coming in the mail. Any opinions do or don't's ?

 

[Scientific]

So I'm trying to get the ph right first starting with the water. I found this water to have a ph of 6.2-6.7 I'm going to mix this with some fox farm soil I have coming in the mail. Any opinions do or don't's ?

Be sure to mix the Fox Farms with 30% perlite to get good drainage.
I like the idea of water that's the right pH right from the source, but unless your local water is bad, I think some pH Up and pH Down would probably be cheaper in the long run.

(I also wonder what is lowering the pH in still (uncarbonated) water. Sulfates?)