My best plant of 4

[Aweedtec]

This plant was planted 5 days before the other 3 plants I have but its doing really well. It has never been stunted never had an issue and is under the same light and in the same well mixed Pro Mix with Dr Earth and that is literally all I have put in the soil. When its time to flower I will use Dr Earth bloom organic and that is it. I dont want to try anything else until I get success with minimal nutrients.

Trying to get some feedback because I only know what I read online and so much is people speaking who dont know and contradictory info. It looks great to me. But what do I know? This is my first time doing this. My other 3 plants have issues. All right next to this one.

1 looks like its strangling itself like it grew too fast on the sides after I topped it and the side leaves tangled into the two stems and all its leaves. It has curling leaves that got a bit brittle. I was in the hospital and my friend was taking care of them for 4 days. In 4 days they went from great looking to "AAHHH!!!!WHAT THE HELL!"


So the first photo is the one in what I believe to be doing well.

The second is the curling leaves and more tangling then I have ever saw in a MJ plant.

The plant you see behind the plant in the first photo, I know what is wrong with that one. It needs to be transplanted and that will happen tomorrow. Its only in a 3 gallon pot. The roots are growing out the bottom holes already. lol

 

[Sativa1970]

I don't see anything that is concerning. You have the right idea with minimalist approach for success. It's like a car. Maintenance will get you to the finish line. Adding high performance may get you better results or a blown engine if you do it wrong. Get comfortable and confident in the basics first.

Do you know what strains they are? What size light are you using? Oscillating fan? Wrap the white buckets with aluminum foil, towel, something to block the light. Roots hate light.

The first pic and black pot are sativa dominant strain. It is going to grow the slowest in general but ultimately be the biggest lanky plants. Brown pot and left front are indica dominant, so faster growing smaller bushier plants. When you top a plant it will send the energy from the main trunk to the top laterals. It is normal for it to become a clustered mess after topping. All of those short leafy branches will stretch out, forming a flat top. If you top it and the laterals are on right, it is going to grow right. You may want to turn your pots if the light is not strait up and hitting all sides evenly. Give it a week or two to recover from being topped then you can thin the plant to train how she grows.

 

[Aweedtec]

I don't see anything that is concerning. You have the right idea with minimalist approach for success. It's like a car. Maintenance will get you to the finish line. Adding high performance may get you better results or a blown engine if you do it wrong. Get comfortable and confident in the basics first.

Do you know what strains they are? What size light are you using? Oscillating fan? Wrap the white buckets with aluminum foil, towel, something to block the light. Roots hate light.

The first pic and black pot are sativa dominant strain. It is going to grow the slowest in general but ultimately be the biggest lanky plants. Brown pot and left front are Indica dominant, so faster growing smaller bushier plants. When you top a plant it will send the energy from the main trunk to the top laterals. It is normal for it to become a clustered mess after topping. All of those short leafy branches will stretch out, forming a flat top. If you top it and the laterals are on right, it is going to grow right. You may want to turn your pots if the light is not strait up and hitting all sides evenly. Give it a week or two to recover from being topped then you can thin the plant to train how she grows.

Humboldt seed company.....
Blueberry Pancake is one of them or two. Not sure.
Pistachio
Cookie dough

Pistachio and Cookie dough were freebies. My buddy bought them from Humboldt and had three blueberry pancake seeds originally...but squirrels. lol

When the squirrel massacre happened it removed all the markers. So we dont know what is what.

The two front plants appeared to be the same for a while but are 5 to 7 days apart on planting and then the one on the left front started looking crazy on top like some crazy lettuce instead of how it normally grows and the other was looking really normal. Then the crazy looking plant, after I topped it, shortly after it grew those huge fan leaves at the bottom in like two days and it just tangled itself up so that I cant really make any changes to the plant. It is possible there was too much air on it at the time and that tangled it up.
I thought about taking those big fan leaves off because my buddy was telling me that's what he read. But I refused. Some of those humongous bottom leaves have stems that are outrageously thick and have good upward growth on on them about an inch or two out from the stalk right on the leaf stem.

These plants were all started outside until I realized the sun was only up 12 hours 36 mins a day. Then I bought a light and brought them inside. I knew I was going to need it. We started late.

Light SZHLUX 500w 28" x 27.5" I believe is the size from memory.
23 hrs on 1 hr off while inside.

I started the light 28 inches off the plants on the step up. I think this is backward. I should have those top plants on the bottom and the bottom plants on the top step. But I never made the change.
Right now its 38 inches above the front left plant.

Fans 2x Faraday 5 inch 3 speed... do not oscillate but are moving all plants gently on speed 3 from one fan which is high and the lower fan is on speed 2 which hits the other two plants. Speed 3 on that fan was a bit much for them.
Medium In small cups we used miracle grow to start. Once past seedling... Then mixed Dr earth 1/4 cup to 5 gallons Pro Mix. It was sifted multiple times to make sure it was even. That is all.
I plan to give them Dr Earth organic bloom once the budding phase starts.


So the canoeing plant (Back left) has just a very little bit of canoeing left but most is gone. Its very pliable and not dry at all. The Sativa dominant plant(back right), its bottom leaves feel like parchment. But it has significant growth since transplanting. Its like it needed it badly. (note to self... never use spackling buckets again and never ever start in under 5 gallons again.)


My biggest concern now is the biggest plant has some leaves that are 11 segments. Since so much growth occurs during flowering I wonder if I should start that one in 2 weeks. I can actually just remove it from the light and put it in the basement in the dark while the others stay under the light.

But would it be better to cut the light back some? I have done so much reading and some people say they need a good darkness even in veg. But consider me a veg when it comes to knowing what I'm doing. Thanks a bunch. This place rocks. Best forum I've ever found. Under any topic.


Will throw up some new photos in a few right on this post
75 degrees is only when I keep the door fully open. If I close it a bit I can get the temps up to 89.
So I just adjust every few hours. RH stays consistent unless it rains for days like it did recently.

First photo is the fans. You can hardly see them but one is high hanging from a hanger and the other is on the floor. The high one reaches just the tops of the bottom plants and hits the back plants and the bottom one is light brushing the front plants.

 

[Aweedtec]

How they are doing now. The largest plant is 36in in diameter and in a 4 foot wide closet.
I have a second light coming tomorrow because They have become too crowded.

 

[Sativa1970]

All that info is vary helpful and they look good. Sorry for not responding sooner. All my 420 notices went to my spam folder for some reason.

This for examples, add your own figures. If you have an 8 foot celling that's 96 inches. Subtract the height of the hanger and light fixtures 12 inches = 84 inches. You need 1 gallon of media (soil) per foot of plant so 84 -16 inches tall pot= 68 inches. You are going to want that light 40 inches from the leaf tops in veg. and 20 inches in flower so 68 - 20= 48 inches. That is how much room you have for final plant. 4 foot would be 4-5 gallon pot. Most plants double in size when you change to 12/12. It's referred to as the stretch during the first 2-3 weeks of light change. So 48 inches divided by 2 =24 inches. 24 inches is your max height to switch to 12/12. You can top or tie down branches to lower the height but that increases your width. Plants get too big and fragile real quick when you flip lights so moving it in and out isn't a good idea. I would use one room for veg and one room for flower.

Too much light the leaf tips will curl up and burn. Heavy light gives dense plants with little vertical growth. Week light promotes vertical growth with large spaces between nodes. Nodes are where the leaf attaches to the stem.

Gentle movement of the leaves is all you need. 73 to 83 degrees. High side in veg and low side in flower. 60-70%RH in veg and 50-60% RH in flower. These are the ideal grow environment but they can easily grow outside these ranges. The plant will grow in 50-95 deg and 35 -80 RH before issues are emanant.

The number of fingers per leaf and size vary by strain and just random genetics. Five is the normal minimum but eleven is common for sativa. I've seen up to 15 fingers and plants with 14 inch long leaves. Nothing to be concerned abought.

Photos don't "need" a dark cycle during veg but there is no big gain in 24 hour lighting. The surface of the leaf is a solar panel converting minerals into simple sugars for energy. The center of the leaf is storage for the sugars being shipped out and raw minerals coming in to be converted. During the dark cycle the accumulated sugars are pumped out of the leaf and more minerals are pumped into the free space. The leaf is now staged, ready for high productivity mode when the lights turn on. As the day goes on the sugars build up blocking minerals from flowing in, making the leaf less productive. So dark cycle uses less electricity, generating less heat, less stress on plant, and same growth rate.18/6 is roughly peak productivity. That is where the wives tails of roots, leaves or whatever only grow well during lights out. The sugars still flow after dark. During flower is hole different topic.

I think that answered all the questions. Let me know if you have more questions now that I am getting notices again.

 

[Aweedtec]

Too much light the leaf tips will curl up and burn.

Is this true even if the light isnt hot to the touch? I mean I can grab my lights anywhere and even squeeze them and hold them for as long as I want. Even put my face against them. Just so little heat. They are warm for sure. But not hot at all.

Can that still be too much?

 

[SmokingWings]

Is this true even if the light isnt hot to the touch? I mean I can grab my lights anywhere and even squeeze them and hold them for as long as I want. Even put my face against them. Just so little heat. They are warm for sure. But not hot at all.

Can that still be too much?

I think you might be thinking of excessive heat as meaning too much light intensity.

 

[Sativa1970]

LEDs will PPFD burn long before heat burn. Like getting a sunburn on a cool day.

 

[Aweedtec]

LEDs will PPFD burn long before heat burn. Like getting a sunburn on a cool day.

What number should I be looking to be under for this to not happen?