First Time Grower - Soil and MG

[msstatenoob]

Hey guys, this is my first time growing. Been smoking for quite some time now. Me being a college student however, means that im on a very tight budget as far as what i can use in my grow. I have done a hell of a lot of research, mostly on 420 mag, and feel like im headed in the right direction.


Im using 90% mg potting soil and 10% sand, which ive read can be a sub for purlite.
I have a 4 foot shop light from lowes (about 13 bucks) with the fluorescent bulbs, not sure what wattage as i bought and threw away the box before research.
Im using about 3 gallon pots, most likely for the entire grow.
Im using tap water (ph of 7) for now but will be getting ph downer very soon.
Im growing in a clost thats about 4 1/2' X 3'
I have a fan that consists of two 6" fans, on on top and bottom, which is keeping good circulation in my closet.
Room temp stays around 74 degrees.
Im using all purpose mg nutes now but hopefully will be using a more popular brand during flowering.
I am running my lights 24/7 now and am considering a early flowering as I am not 100% positive on strain and do not want to waste much "quality" bud growing time.
Im using a reflective insulation from lowes???? not sure if its good.
I water as needed by moisture and weight.


It is hard to get investors without telling people. But I do need investors which i think i have found a close buddy who now that he has seen my progress is starting to take me seriously and will probably be pitching in. I am thinking about going to 12/12 within the next week knowing my yield will be greatly reduced but im just ready to grow a for sure strain. My seeds supposedly came from blue dream. This site has def been my entire starting point, so i appreciate all of you experienced growers' input and i can just hope to have some advice for my first grow.

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

plants are doing good. i fed them nutes two waterings in a row and they are doing pretty awesome. Im wanting to try lsting but i'm also thinking about flowering earlier. Will I get sufficient enough stalk growth to support the lsting if i do start flowering say now?
Also ill be making a hour and a half trip to my nearest hydro store to pick up some fox farms ocean soil and the ff line of nutes.
Also needing to know if the reflective insulation im using its efficient or do i need to go to mylar?

 

[BubbaKush]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

theyre definatly hungry for nutrients by the cupping of the leaves. they look healthy but dont use sand you want drainage sand holds water.

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

Thnx for stopping by bubba.
I was doing only 1/4 of the recommended so ill step up to the full dose since they are used to the nutes. And thanks for the heads up i wasnt sure if i had over watered or under watered as to why they were drooping a little. And ill take the sand out when i switch to the fox farms soil.

Any info on the reflectors? The roll says super reflective but im not sure if the insulation part absorbs lumens or not. The temp in the room good though.

 

[Icemud]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

Actually the cupping or taco shape of the leafs usually indicates heat stress...not lack of nutrients...

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

well im using floros so they aren't putting off any heat and i have two fans running inside my closet. Last night was the first they've started to do this and the temp has been the same from day one. Could the size or maturity have anything to do with it needing to be cooler now?

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

Maybe i should have said AS Much heat. I did move the light from about 2 inches to about 8 inches from the plants so hopefully that will help.

 

[BubbaKush]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

With mine it wants more nutes never had a heat issue wouldn't know. Mylar is good if plant is within a foot.

 

[JB42]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

Yeah the leaf cupping is heat related as Icemud said, moving the lights should sort that. I just did that with my CFL grow due to cupping. sand can be used as drainage if mixed in a low ratio, it will only hold it if it in clumps in the bottom or top. But it will keep your soil from compacting a bit for now and keep the water moving. Obviously change to perlite when you switch to fox farms.
I also find dolomite lime a good thing to mix with soil, it'l keep you pH in check and give you a good supply of cal/mag, a new lesson I have learn't an am working with now with good results.

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

Alright thanks for the info. Ive got the lights moved back a little and im going to increase to full nutes but probably going to feed every other watering.
When would be the best time to lst?

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

so i know im posting alot but ive been busy with the plant and new on here and its fun. i did lst a few minutes ago. I figure it wouldnt hurt to do them now even if their short as long as they survive it which im not sure why they wouldnt.

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

alright timer on lights is now set to 12/12. So here we go. Hopefully the lst will work and give me multiple tops and hoefully i will have two females.

 

[Hash Hound]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

are you going to use the 4 ft fluro for flowering also???
you need to keep them 2 or 3 inches max from the bulb,
If so, you better train them to be right under the bulb, maybe something like this:

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

yea Im going to use the flos. now that you mention it i didn't think about the light and the lst but Im going to try to keep the main stalk as close to the soil horizontally and possible. I haven't ever seen it done using bamboo.
Thanks for swinging by also, I just read the super skunk and papaya journal. It looked pretty good. Im not sure what im growing here but if it turns out any where near what you had ill be happy

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

alright so everythings good. I fed them full blast yesterday and the loved it. On the 12/12 now and i know their needing more light so i bought another shop light and have them hangign side by side until i can come up with a way to hang one sideways. Im also still broke as hell so ive came up with a little something to get some light to the sides until i can biuild a mylar rack.

 

[BubbaKush]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

Wow very nice. Good work. They're flatening oug nice and green

 

[msstatenoob]

Re: first time grower, soil and mg

thanks BK. I like watching them grow. This can get expensive though

 

[msstatenoob]

So its been 6 days since i started 12/12 and now i believe i've given a little nute burn to one of the plants. Looking good though i think.

 

[Dr.Blue]

4 foot shoplights are what I started the grand experiment with, great learning tools. If you are using Miracle gro nutes I suggest 2 teaspoons of Miracle gro ( I liked the 15-30-15) and 1 teaspoon of epsom salts per gallon as your nute mix and alternate watering and fertilizing. If they seem to be getting too much just water twice in a row. Your lights aren't going to let your plants take a lot of nitrogen at a time. I hesitate to mention it but I used what we called the "Poor Mans Halide" which is one of the cheap 300 watt quartz Halogen outdoor lights you can get for around $14 once I got the plants standing well. There will of course be those wailing about spectrum issues but the facts are the quartz halogen 300 watter will way out grow the 4 foot shoplight which I also used as supplemental light with cool white bulbs. The light needs to be at least 18 inches from the plants and the halogens red/orange spectrum is great in flower. It will cause some stretch but you are doing LST. Just a thought, that if you try it will increase your yield four times over the 4 foot flourescent fixtures. Have you started PHing your water? I have to admit that plants veg beautifully under the shoplights and still use them for cuttings and seedlings. Yours look very nice and they may be what you think they are, Blue Dream.

 

[msstatenoob]

Wow. a lot of good info there. The miracle gro is working for now so i will probably just finish the entire gro with it. I haven't started ph'ing the water yet but it won't be long. I will definitely be trying out the halogen now because the majority of grow lights are way out of my price range this semester. But if i can increase yield with the halogen i will be switching to that. Maybe today. And so far the lst is working out pretty well. I think ill end up making almost a circle or something. thanks for the info though. My next gro will be done with the hids and fox farms or bpn.