First Grow Guidance: 400w MH/600w HPS & Soil

[Boss]

Looking good!! Less water my friend :-) Check your ph in the twisty one, and as Erie suggested, a good 1/2 str high N would do you good about now.

[Harry Red]

Howdy all.

You peeps were right on the money!

These plants are now 13 days from germination. I transplanted into 10" pots 4 days ago (just after my last update) and I haven't watered them since. I do believe that I had over watered them while they were in the small cups and that was causing my problems.

They're looking so much better now..











The runt is starting to grow faster and the twisty one is looking much better.

I guess it's pretty easy for a noob like myself to over water out of the gate. As I mentioned, it's been 4 days since I transplanted and watered yet the soil still feels moist. I'll suppose I should wait until the 1st 2 inches on the top feels dry before watering, per the FAQs I've read.

I plan on starting with half strength FF big grow and half strength FF Big bloom. Does that sound about right?

Thanks!!

[Boss]

Sounds good, and they look GREAT :-) +Rep!

[Harry Red]

Hello friends!!

After feeding with half strength FF Grow Big & Big Bloom, the plants are doing great!! I had a few gnats flying around but have taken precautions and they appear to have gone for now. I'll keep an eye out for 'em, being they can be bad around here. I sure wouldn't want disaster to strike.









Looks like they are getting ready to form the 4th node?

Should I be topping at the point just after the 5th node appears?

Anything else y'all could recommend at this point to possibly increase yield?

[Harry Red]

How bad can I screw up if I try the FIM technique and mess it up, lol? :)

[Harry Red]

Wow,

The Fox Farm Ocean Forrest soil is pretty impressive and easy to work with. At $25 a bag, it's damn expensive, afaic. I wish I could find a cheaper alternative but I can't find anything that doesn't contain slow released ferts.

Anyway, these plants are growing like.. er ..weeds! :-)







Any suggestions on a good soil mixture that I could put together from Lowes or Home Depot that would be close to FF Ocean Forrest, without costing me $25 a bag?

[Harry Red]

Greetings friends!!

It's day 30 into the veg phase and I've moved to full strength FF grow big and big bloom. I've only had to water & feed around once a week so far, but I can see that they will require more water as they grow.

One the second watering, I loaded the plants up with BTI from pool dunks to eliminate the fungus gnat problem I was having. That took care of most of the gnats but I plan on another dose of BTI in the next watering.

I have a couple of tall ones. They are over 12 inches and I'm getting ready to crimp them.





I have a few more that aren't quite as tall but they are getting there. I have one that is growing more slowly and I may not top that one at all. Maybe I'll just tie back some of the limbs so it can get better light penetration.

I'm keeping the temps between 74 and 84 with the humidity ranging from 40-65%.



Here's a couple of nice shot of the plants.





So far, so good. I'm not seeing any signs of sex yet, but it may still be early. I'm thinking I will continue to veg under the MH for 3+ more weeks before moving under the HPS and flipping to 12/12. I'm really hoping to see some signs of sex by then so I can take a few clones. I sure don't want to spend too much time, effort and money to grow males.

Does it seem like I'm on the right track here? Any suggestions on how I should proceed would be appreciated!!

Thanks!

[FreakNature]

I think you're doing great. The young ladies look very healthy. Sorry you haven't had too many responses to your questions. It seems like the mods are on vacation. :)

Here's a link to some input RooRman had on mixing your own soil:
Bat Guano for Organic Indoor Gardening w/RooRman

[Be IRIE]

If you are going to "crimp"?? them better do it soon, give them a chance to heal up before the flower transition. By crimping do you mean supercropping? They are looking good Harry, you are doing a fine job. My LA showed preflowers at 7 weeks...

[Harry Red]

Originally Posted by FreakNature

I think you're doing great. The young ladies look very healthy. Sorry you haven't had too many responses to your questions. It seems like the mods are on vacation. :)

Here's a link to some input RooRman had on mixing your own soil:
Bat Guano for Organic Indoor Gardening w/RooRman

Well, I sure hope most of them are ladies, FreakNature but I'll take what I can get. Thanks for the link. RooRman posted that to another thread where I asked a soil question. I think I've found a local source for worm castings, which appears to be a key ingredient. I'll finish this grow with FF and try something new on the next one.

Originally Posted by Be IRIE

If you are going to "crimp"?? them better do it soon, give them a chance to heal up before the flower transition. By crimping do you mean supercropping? They are looking good Harry, you are doing a fine job. My LA showed preflowers at 7 weeks...

Good info on preflowers IRIE. I'll be more patient. The way these things are growing, I may make it 7 weeks into veg before they get too big.

I went ahead and crimped the largest one. It stands 12 inches right where it's crimped. I will probably do the others tomorrow.

From what I've read in various FAQs, crimping is one technique used in supercropping. My understanding was that supercropping is a variety of techniques and crimping (as it was called in the FAQ) was only one of those techniques. I have read where others refer to just the crimping part as supercropping. I really don't know which is the correct way to refer to it.

Thanks for all your help!!

[Be IRIE]

Get a pic of it if you can... How high is your light off the canopy? Thanks for the info..

[Harry Red]

Originally Posted by Be IRIE

Get a pic of it if you can... How high is your light off the canopy? Thanks for the info..

I've been keeping the light 15-18 inches from the canopy.

Here is a pic of the crimp I did a few hours ago. The stem is turning brown but the leaves at the top look OK. I tried to break the inner herd of the plant without damaging the outer. I don't know if I succeeded. I guess the worst case is that the top dies and I just remove it.



Here is the thread from Smokin ***** that I was referring to which discussed crimping.

[Be IRIE]

Same thing as supercropping.. Looks good, Sometimes you gotta show them who is boss..Binder clips make great splints if it needs a bit of help getting back up.

[Harry Red]

This morning the crimped top was back at a 45deg angle and raising up. Maybe I didn't damage it enough, I dunno. It might just be my imagination but I think I detected stronger growth below the crimp in just these last 24 hours

I'm gonna crimp two more plants as they move above 12 inches.

The way these things are going now, I'm thinking I don't want them to get above 18 inches before going 12/12. My plan is to get a 600w HPS for the flower area and use the 400wat'r just for vegging. I'm thinking 4ft - 4.5ft high would be where I need to be at the end of flower. Does that sound about right?

[Be IRIE]

You did good, it looks like a good superCrop...It will rebuild nicely... They get bushier and thicken up a bit right after.. I also Supercrop some of my side shoots too.. I think they like it...