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bigred1991
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Ok I looking right now for Ph up and in Walmart and home depot and that's all they have is in the pool area idk. I'm almost to the point to throw the whole damn thing away
My First Grow
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Most of those stores won't have what you need. I've found it's best to order some things online, or visit a local hydro store.
Make sure you test your PH meter with vinegar! You gotta find out if it's calibrated properly or not before you add stuff to your nutes.
Thanks Antics. I didn't know about the baking soda issues. That makes perfect sense- it is very salty to taste. Just kinda pulled threw that one out there without checking, trying to think of alkaline solutions in the household. Oops.
I agree 100% about calibrating the pH tester. I got the impression that maybe his tester is the kind that only works in soil? I didn't Google that make though.
I can say that I've used that potassium hydroxide before as pH up while awaiting supplies, and observed zero ill effects. I did read that it was okay but should be avoided only because it's quite caustic as the powder. In that form (aka Lye) it's definitely a poison. However you can find commercially available drinks (some people believe alkaline water has health benefits) in which it is an ingredient in diluted form. At any rate it worked fine for me when i was stuck and I think it would be ok to get him by in a pinch because his situations sounded drastic.
BigRed - you will definitely need a half decent, calibrated pH meter and like Antics I would highly recommend you go to the garden supply store.
Some people HAVE used baking soda and didn't kill their plants, I was not as fortunate, and when trying to adjust my PH using Baking Soda, thanks to some bad information on the net, killed my first two plants.
It's just not a risk I'm willing to take anymore. Especially with Fem seeds costing around $5+ each.
If a tester works in soil, I'm not sure how/why it wouldn't work when using it to test a solution. But there might be something I'm missing.
I do know that my current meter does NOT work in soil, or any type of grow medium, and can only be used to test liquids due to the position of the probe within the housing.
I agree, there are some quick fixes around for PH, like Lemon juice or vinegar, but neither should be used long term, as they get costly. It's much cheaper to buy the correct PH adjustment product.
BigRed, do the absolute best you can to get the best supplies possible, I promise you won't regret the choice to upgrade. My cheap PH meter is why one of my plants on my current grow died, and it almost killed the second plant.
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BigRed, do the absolute best you can to get the best supplies possible, I promise you won't regret the choice to upgrade. My cheap PH meter is why one of my plants on my current grow died, and it almost killed the second plant.[/QUOTE]
Agree with this sentiment 110%!! I walked the tightrope for years with crappy ph pens. Finally got the bluelab guardian. I could have afforded two of them with the money I wasted over the years not to mention the damage to my plants and general mental stress. Do whatever you can to get decent equipment.
Don't let all this talk put you off growing please! It's really not that hard. You just need to find a way to have that ph between 6.5 and 7. Don't overwater, overfertilize. Keep it about room temp. Give it light, and you're golden. It's not difficult really just a balancing act.
Edit
PS I googled your ph meter and can't tell if it will work in solution/water but do read that it gets horrible reviews as being totally useless and inaccurate
BigRed, do the absolute best you can to get the best supplies possible, I promise you won't regret the choice to upgrade. My cheap PH meter is why one of my plants on my current grow died, and it almost killed the second plant.[/QUOTE]
Agree with this sentiment 110%!! I walked the tightrope for years with crappy ph pens. Finally got the bluelab guardian. I could have afforded two of them with the money I wasted over the years not to mention the damage to my plants and general mental stress. Do whatever you can to get decent equipment.
Don't let all this talk put you off growing please! It's really not that hard. You just need to find a way to have that ph between 6.5 and 7. Don't overwater, overfertilize. Keep it about room temp. Give it light, and you're golden. It's not difficult really just a balancing act.
Edit
PS I googled your ph meter and can't tell if it will work in solution/water but do read that it gets horrible reviews as being totally useless and inaccurate
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bigred1991
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bigred1991
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I'm thinking about not topping it I'm only growing for myself how much yield will it put off if I don't topped
Basically you want to maximize the surface area of your plant that gets light. Left on it's own the plant will probably grow into somewhat of a cone shape and unless you have side lighting for the lower areas, those will be farther away and grow smaller. Your plant does have several potential tops already so I think it will be a nice shape. You may want to spread those branches out a bit when they lengthen enough to do it. You can trim out the little budsites down lower after they start and leave the more exposed ones. Topping (combined with training) is to try and make it wider and flatter for more equalized light exposure. I think most people would say that, leaving the lighting issue aside and everything else being equal (of course it usually isn't) the plant should be pretty much the same yield whether you top or not. It's fine to just leave it, without side lighting too, if you want too. Maybe you'll be wasting a little light and not getting maximum use out of your space, but thats not a crime, as far as I'm concerned anyway. One other reason I top sometimes is that- even though I like big colas- I'd rather have a bunch of smaller ones and no mold than have mold attack the precious monster buds, as it likes to do if I'm not careful because of sometimes high humidity. So- depending on your humidity levels and air flow situation - it's always nicer to have several small buds than zero big buds.
As for actual yield- no one really likes to talk about it till it's already happened- because we have figured out the hard way about counting chickens before they hatch. Throw in 1000 variables and it's just fairly pointless. Just help the plant grow as best you can, it will do the rest. However, here is a link on yield you'll enjoy. How vegetative growth time exponentially affects yield It does use topping however.
Keep in mind that he is an amazing grower so his plants are going to be super healthy plus the growing style he's using gives way faster growth than soil.
As for actual yield- no one really likes to talk about it till it's already happened- because we have figured out the hard way about counting chickens before they hatch. Throw in 1000 variables and it's just fairly pointless. Just help the plant grow as best you can, it will do the rest. However, here is a link on yield you'll enjoy. How vegetative growth time exponentially affects yield It does use topping however.
Keep in mind that he is an amazing grower so his plants are going to be super healthy plus the growing style he's using gives way faster growth than soil.
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bigred1991
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I been pushing my fan leaves down and moving my side branches up when the are long enough I don't have side lighting but it seems to do pretty good without it my humidity stays in between 50% and no lower then 40% my temp stays about 72 to 80 degrees my only problem I have is my water and I think I done figured it out my mute burn has stop so I was really happy about that to me it seems to be doing good but I'm no professional this is my very first time trying I know I'm gonna have mistakes that's why I been posting I think I need all the help and advice I can get if you see anything I'm doing wrong please let me knw
Ok. I'm absolutely not a professional either- just trying to help with what I do know about. I can't look at your plant and diagnose subtle signs of deficiency. There are lots of guys here who know way more than me and/or are more picky about getting everything just right. I keep things pretty loose- partly just circumstances and lack of time. Just a small semi-legal grow for personal. Your plant looks good to me. Still has plenty of nitrogen.
The reason to top or train would be to slow that main top, and give those nice lower branches time to catch up. Then you'd have several biggish buds instead of one close to the light and the rest farther away. But it's really no problem not to and it's sort of nice to leave them alone sometimes too. Get a ph tester going yet?
The reason to top or train would be to slow that main top, and give those nice lower branches time to catch up. Then you'd have several biggish buds instead of one close to the light and the rest farther away. But it's really no problem not to and it's sort of nice to leave them alone sometimes too. Get a ph tester going yet?
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bigred1991
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I appreciate all the help you have giving it been most helpful I think it's the nutrients I gave it for the high nitrogen I was also told that the nutrients I was giving was more for flowering stage. The worst thing for me is I have hydro shop or nothing around here in my whole state so I pretty much did everything homemade. I made good friends at the flower shop but they don't carry nothing I ask them about how to set up a hydro system and they couldn't evenly tell me I want to start ordering online but really don't know what to get. I'm not a broke person but would like to keep it as cheap as I can but there's so much different setups. Where I'm at the state disagrees with marijuana so I got tired of taking the risk off buying and wanted to try myself. I done grew vegetables before wasn't nothing to it then I looked up weed and it's like science and I wasn't very good in science back in my day. And for my oh meter no I haven't gonna try get one online waiting till tomorrow for payday
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bigred1991
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No shops where I live either, believe me. Everything is ordered in. Basically you'll be reading and reading and reading if you get hooked on it as a hobby. Any well regarded nutrient line up will work fine. The basic grow and bloom nutes, and after that the bloom boosters and various additives and sugars and stuff are not strictly necessary. I go with botanicare grow and bloom at the moment, with liquid karma as a nice but not essential bonus. You absolutely need the ph stuff though. It's a science because we are growing indoors and trying to replicate nature which is very difficult. Also- trying to go for maximum limits of what the plants can handle sometimes and grow large flowers. I don't think growing other plants under the same conditions would be much different in the long run. In nature there are lots of balancing factors at work. Make a laboratory situation and it's up to you to make that balance.
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- #54
bigred1991
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Will do I'm gonna get a ph kit. I'm doing the very best I can with what I got I'm gonna step it up a notch for sure. But the soil ph meter I have is accurate so all I need is a ph meter to read my water and nutrients right
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bigred1991
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bigred1991
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I have a question and would like your advice weaslecracker and Antics. Just from your experience would it be ok to go into flower stage and also do you think the yield might be
Hey big red. Just from the photo, I'm guessing it's maybe 12" high and 12" wide or thereabouts? Do you know yet if it's female by the way? Guessing yield is dicey, as I was rambling on about yesterday. However, if I have to guess. Conservatively, you 'should' be able to get an ounce off that if it's the size I think it is, if things go well. Maybe more
But maybe less...maybe a lot less .
Yes you can flower it now no problem. If you have the space and lighting, you can also wait a week longer and your plant will only benefit, with a better root system to fill that bucket. Did you read the link I gave you?
It would make sense to have your bloom nutrients lined up and have that and the ph tester on the way, at the very least, first so you're not getting yourself in a tight spot without them. Once the plant starts putting a lot of energy into making flowers, it gets a bit less tolerant of overwatering, ph problems, etc. so it's nice to kind of have that stuff under control, and it's more fun too. What will your lighting be?
But maybe less...maybe a lot less .Yes you can flower it now no problem. If you have the space and lighting, you can also wait a week longer and your plant will only benefit, with a better root system to fill that bucket. Did you read the link I gave you?
It would make sense to have your bloom nutrients lined up and have that and the ph tester on the way, at the very least, first so you're not getting yourself in a tight spot without them. Once the plant starts putting a lot of energy into making flowers, it gets a bit less tolerant of overwatering, ph problems, etc. so it's nice to kind of have that stuff under control, and it's more fun too. What will your lighting be?
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bigred1991
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I'm going to have my bloom nutrients and ph tester before I go into flowering stage. My next problem is my lighting. Since I used cfl on veg and it's done pretty good I was thinking the same for flowering. Home depot carries 100 watts actual 26 watts at 2700k. Will that work if I get enough. I'm only running 5 cfl right now in veg state at 26 watts at 5500k so I was thinking will it work on flowering stage
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bigred1991
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Hey everyone just thought I would post a pic today. How does it look
Maybe it's about burned through the nitrogen that was in that soil and time for a little drink of N I'm guessing? It's a nice sturdy plant. When you get more cfls for flowering you can hang some down low so the lower budsites to get some light too, and you'll get some nice colas down there. With more light, and some 12/12, that plant is going to really change shape and size on you - you'll be pleasantly surprised!
I've always found 5 gallon buckets of soil to be a Pita to water because of their shape (tall)- unless I have a big plant in there it's hard to get moisture evenly spread, without overwatering. Though it looks like you didn't fill yours all the way up so that probably works better.
After it's done it's early flowering stretch I would do some trimming down lower and remove all the growth that's inside or close to being inside the bucket, for better airflow, and any totally shaded budlets that aren't going to ever get light, along with probably a bunch of jungly undergrowth of shaded small leaves
I've always found 5 gallon buckets of soil to be a Pita to water because of their shape (tall)- unless I have a big plant in there it's hard to get moisture evenly spread, without overwatering. Though it looks like you didn't fill yours all the way up so that probably works better.
After it's done it's early flowering stretch I would do some trimming down lower and remove all the growth that's inside or close to being inside the bucket, for better airflow, and any totally shaded budlets that aren't going to ever get light, along with probably a bunch of jungly undergrowth of shaded small leaves
