First Grow, any input or advice appreciated

[Chumminsboy1]

Hello all my current setup is as follows

600w Vipar spectra LED fan cooled light
2x4x5.5' grow tent
Plants are unknown as they were mixed bag seeds
Using 1/4 & 5 gallon smart pots
Plants are currently about 4 weeks old
Ph is between a 6.7-7.2
Watered with RO
Nutes use are FF grow big, General organics bio root, general organics Cmag+
Soil is FF OF
Now it was a very bumpy ride until about 2 weeks ago while i was waiting on nutes to come in, however most the plants have turned around and doing alot better then before, although a few are very small almost stunted, other then that my only other issue is currently keeping the temp down, its been running about 88 degrees during light on.

 

[Blew Hiller]

Seedlings shouldn't need nutrients (this early) in nutrient rich soil such as FFOF. Not sure what you mean by a bumpy ride...do you mean a slow start? 88F isn't a deal breaker, so I would try to get the light closer and focus more on growth.

Also, what is your plan with the 2x sizes of pots?

 

[Chris Scorpio]

1. Pics with lights off
2. No nutes in FFOF for at least 3-4 weeks, longer if up potted, just add calmag
3. pH at 6.2-6.7, optimum 6.3, get a pH pen if u don't have one
4. Big pots are hard to water at a young age, maybe down size them
5. Learn how to water, very very important, search Emilya how to water

Welcome aboard and good luck

 

[Greenlizard]

You have the makings of your first grow journal here. You should ask a moderator to move this thread into "Journals in progress". You will get help all the way through your grow and it helps keep track of everything you are doing.

 

[Greenlizard]

Looks good. I see you may have been influenced by people who grow autos. Autos start off with a big pot because they don't take uppotting quite so well. When growing photos it's best to start off in a small beer cup / solo cup then uppot to 1 gallon, then 2 or 3 gallon... until you have reached the end size pot that you wish to use. This makes it much easier for watering and builds a great root ball.
As already mentioned, the temperature being in the 80's isn't a big deal. You don't need to be worried about that right now.
Focus on what your end game is going to be. Do you have a plan for all those plants? I recommend using smaller pots and doing a SOG (Sea Of Green) with 11 plants in a 2x4 tent. If you were to grow those plants out you will have a very thick garden to work within and that could be difficult. The larger plants that are in the small pots will have no room to grow and will become root bound within another couple weeks.
Sorry if I am discouraging you. Don't worry. Your plants are looking healthy and you will defiantly produce lots of great bud even if you just keep going the way you are but we are just trying to fine tune things for you.
If I were in your shoes at this point I would put all the plants into 2 gallon pots and do a SOG. Otherwise I don't think you will be able to keep the smaller pots within the big ones down the road. You will run out of space. The other option I would consider if I were you is I would choose your best 4 plants and just go with that. I have a 4x4 tent with 5 plants in it and on the next grow I will just do 4 plants because it will be more manageable.
Happy growing.

 

[Chumminsboy1]

Seedlings shouldn't need nutrients (this early) in nutrient rich soil such as FFOF. Not sure what you mean by a bumpy ride...do you mean a slow start? 88F isn't a deal breaker, so I would try to get the light closer and focus more on growth.

Also, what is your plan with the 2x sizes of pots?

I had my lights lower but it seemed to be drying out the plants terribly bad, ive pry a 1/4 of them get root bound on me so that slowed them, i had a high cmag deficiency right out of the gate, a day after giving them a light dose of it they perked right up and regained color. Also i was giving them tap water wich was very hard on them, once in a while my ph fluctuates up to about 8 but comes right back down, as far as watering ive gotten pretty good with as the 1st week i did highly over water them but since ive kinda learned the plant a bit and what it needs and when. I feel like they arent doing so well compared to the larger few, these originally started in small solo cups as well, i didnt know how big of a pot to transplant into so i kinda did both to learn what would happen.

 

[Chumminsboy1]

Looks good. I see you may have been influenced by people who grow autos. Autos start off with a big pot because they don't take uppotting quite so well. When growing photos it's best to start off in a small beer cup / solo cup then uppot to 1 gallon, then 2 or 3 gallon... until you have reached the end size pot that you wish to use. This makes it much easier for watering and builds a great root ball.
As already mentioned, the temperature being in the 80's isn't a big deal. You don't need to be worried about that right now.
Focus on what your end game is going to be. Do you have a plan for all those plants? I recommend using smaller pots and doing a SOG (Sea Of Green) with 11 plants in a 2x4 tent. If you were to grow those plants out you will have a very thick garden to work within and that could be difficult. The larger plants that are in the small pots will have no room to grow and will become root bound within another couple weeks.
Sorry if I am discouraging you. Don't worry. Your plants are looking healthy and you will defiantly produce lots of great bud even if you just keep going the way you are but we are just trying to fine tune things for you.
If I were in your shoes at this point I would put all the plants into 2 gallon pots and do a SOG. Otherwise I don't think you will be able to keep the smaller pots within the big ones down the road. You will run out of space. The other option I would consider if I were you is I would choose your best 4 plants and just go with that. I have a 4x4 tent with 5 plants in it and on the next grow I will just do 4 plants because it will be more manageable.
Happy growing.

Indeed, i have figured i kinda messed up on my transplent stage from the cups by jumping straight into 5 gallon pots and not stepping it up like i did on the 1/4 gallon pots, as far as it goes i may only end up with 3 or 4 fems as they are mixed unknown sex seeds, i do have a spare 2x2 tent i could use if need be that i start my plants in. As far as SOG ive been highly thinking about, ive read where you can use a net towards the bottom to support them then another further up if need be, is this correct or am i misinformed?

 

[Chumminsboy1]

How can i have a grow journal started? Id like too start one but lost the main post about how too do so.