Novice - Help with basic growing

[research420]

Hello all,

I'm a novice grower and I would greatly appreciate some help diagnosing some growing problem that I may have, I have read your thread on how to post for help, so please excuse too little or too much information posted.

Any help from some more experienced growers would be greatly appreciated:

These plants were started from seed.
Germinated, then planted in soil.
After 4-6 weeks in smaller pots of soil, they were transplanted to larger pots.

After transplantation to larger pots the plants took some time to set their roots and begin growing again.
Some leaves died off and were trimmed and new leaves prevailed.
The plants appear to be dark green and growing and healthy with no apparent spots or dryness.
I am going on 9 weeks now and I feel these plants are deficient and have stopped growing at the pace in which they were growing in the smaller pots.

Question: What can I do to promote growth? What is missing? What nutrients do they need? Do I need more powerful lights? Am I watering them too much?

SOIL GROW

Strain - 50% Indica / 50% Satvia (Dark Angel - Crop seeds)
# of Plants - 3
Grow Type - Soil
Grow Stage - Vegetative
Bucket Size - 5 Gallon
Lights -
Fixture #1: (2) 22" T5 Full spectrum Florescent 24 W (per fixture)
Fixture #2: (1) 16" 6 LED, Energy consumption: 14 W
Nutrients - none? Garden Fertilizer 18-18-21 (Miracle Grow)
RH - 20% to 25%
Room Temperature 80deg F (26Deg Cel)
Room Square Footage - 5' x 3'x8'
Pests - small fruit flys

Fixture #1 is located on the ceiling of the room
Fixture #2 is currently located 4-8" above the plants

Pictures to follow ..... in the next message

 

[research420]

 

[JuanCarlos]

To address the fruit flys (gnats), let the soil dry out a bit before watering.

Next, get that RH up if you can. Humidifiers are cheap and will do the trick.

I believe your limiting factor to be the lights. I would check out eBay and search for the Mars Hydro 300 watt old style lights, they are $70 shipped and should do the trick for those three plants at this stage. For bloom I would add another light. Those T5s aren't really doing much being that far away, the LED bar is the main light source for those plants.

Next up I would look into getting some cannabis specific soil nutes. Fox Farms, Advanced Nutrients, there are plenty to choose from, those are the two that spring to mind.

Good luck to you.

 

[Jamesnns]

Im a noob too.
You need more lights. CFLs need to be relatively close to the plant. My CFLs are at the height where the temp is 75 f, about 8-10 inches.
Im running 10 23w cfls on one plant right now. Granted, shes a LOT bigger and further along than yours. Imo, you should triple the cfls lighting for now.
80 F is the high limit and your humidity is low.
I run mid 70s and 40-50% humidity.
A cheap humidifier will correct the temp and humidity at the same time. Mine did.
Get the "Accurite" gauge. It measures both temp and humidity levels. $12-25 on amazon.
At 9 weeks, you should have been giving nutes weeks ago.
I use the Fox Farm trio.
Big Bloom, grow big and tiger bloom. Dont follow the directions on the bottle. Go to Fox Farms website and dwnld the soil schedule.
Fox Farm nutes avg about $10-12 a bottle. Its concentrated...you'll have enough for many many plants.
Id stop the MG nutes now. You'll regret it if you continue it.

Read and follow the advice Imposting about watering...its crucial.
The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant

 

[Jamesnns]

I forgot....
Get a PH tester. If your PH is off, your plant wont absord any nutes and growth will be stunted and you'll end up with deficiencies.
Your Ph should be 6.5.
Add your nutes first to the water, then test and correct PH level.

These are all things Ive learned over the last month or so here. My plants are going really good now because of the advice Ive goten here.

 

[Jamesnns]

One more thing. I bought the PH kit that uses drops instead of strips and it came with a bottle of Ph up and Down.

6.5 is yellow with a slight ting of green.

My tap water is about 7-7.5 and it only takes about 5 drops per 1 gallon of Ph down to get it right. In other words..it'll last a LONG time.
An electronic Ph tester is way more expensive for a reliable one. Id go that route if I was growing a lot more than I am or plan to do.

 

[research420]

Thanks Juancarlos, much appreciated.

I'll work on the RH, lights and nutrients.

 

[research420]

Thanks James, much appreciated.

Looks like same advise as Juancarlos, I'll also look at my PH levels...

Will keep you posted.

 

[JuanCarlos]

Yes, work on pH as well. You can go the cheap route and get a chemical test kit and pH up and down. If you get a digital pH tester be sure to get calibration solution as well.

 

[research420]

Alright... Mars light on the way and Nutes in hand.
Fox farm trio as suggested by James.
Big Bloom, grow big and tiger bloom

So..... seeing as I'm into 10 weeks but my plants are stunted in growth... do I follow the soil schedule on Fox farms website or the bottle or different? Suggestions?

 

[Dave Groomer]

Alright... Mars light on the way and Nutes in hand.
Fox farm trio as suggested by James.
Big Bloom, grow big and tiger bloom

So..... seeing as I'm into 10 weeks but my plants are stunted in growth... do I follow the soil schedule on Fox farms website or the bottle or different? Suggestions?

I would start light on the nutes and work your way up. 1/4 first feeding, then 1/2 dose then full. If you have ordered the Mars Led I would also get a bottle of Cal/Mag.

I use the FF trio. I feed 1x per week. I usually water 1 time in between. I give 1t Cal/Mag with every watering. You can check out me journal in my sig if interested. I use Mars-Hydro lights also.

 

[research420]

I would start light on the nutes and work your way up. 1/4 first feeding, then 1/2 dose then full. If you have ordered the Mars Led I would also get a bottle of Cal/Mag.

I use the FF trio. I feed 1x per week. I usually water 1 time in between. I give 1t Cal/Mag with every watering. You can check out me journal in my sig if interested. I use Mars-Hydro lights also.

Thanks super groomer.

Just one question though whats the dosage?
On the bottle is says for general feeding:
Tiger Bloom: 2-3 Spoons
Grow Big:2-3 spoons
Big Bloom: 4 spoons

On Fox farm website is says under soil schedule it says (Week 9):
Tiger Bloom: 2 Spoons
Grow Big:1 spoons
Big Bloom: 3 spoons

thoughts?

 

[Dave Groomer]

I feed my girls in flower 60ml (4T) of Big Bloom, 15ml (3t) Tiger Bloom, and 5ml(1t) Cal/Mag. For the girls in veg, 15ml(3t) grow big and 5ml(1t) Cal/Mag. I would probably do my first feeding at 1T (15ml) BB and 1t (5ml)TB to start and 1t(5ml) of GB for the girls in veg. If you give them too much, you will start to see "burn" on the leaves. If you get to that point, stop feeding a flush. Hopefully you don;t get there, but if you do, we will talk and I will help you though it.

 

[Jamesnns]

Make sure youre reading teaspoons and tablespoons correctly. Use the online FF amounts.
Theres 3 teaspoons to one tablespoon btw.
Im around 10 weeks, but yours are stunted...
My feeding amounts are per gallon
1 teaspoon Calmag
3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) Big bloom
2 teaspoons of both grow big and tiger bloom
In the next week I'll be eliminating grow big per FF sched

 

[Wolpertinger]

I would bet there isn't enough light for these babies. Personally I would get a 600 digital ballast and HPS bulb. I didn't see a fan, try an oscillating one to strengthen the stems and get air circulation. I agree to get rid of the MG, I use General Hydro, the 3 part (worked better for me than the Duo) but lots of folks here like the Fox Farm, and etc. Different strokes for different folks. You can get a good Blue Labs digital ph and ecm (ppm) meter from Amazon. I found out our water was @200ppm and a ph of 8.3 to 8.5, makes a huge difference when mixing nutrients.

Let us know what you decide and how it works for ya

 

[Hashassinz]

Juts my 2 cents plants look like you overfeeding imo. Might want to chill a bit with the ferts. Still sexy looking plants GL.

 

[research420]

Alright Folks... Starting week 11

2 weeks later I have the Mars 600 LED and lowered the florescent lights down to about 6-8" inches away from the girls.

Mar's hanging from the ceiling about 4ft from top of leaves
Fluorescents about 8-12" from top of leaves
LED BAR about 3ft from top of leaves

*Its a 5'x3'x8' room, so I need sunglasses when I open the door now lol

Humidity is between 35-45%
Temp is between 28-32 Deg Celcius (80-87 F)
No Fan, but I have a laundry room fan and open vent to outside.

2 weeks ago I did a feed watering of 2 Gal water with:
Tiger Bloom: 1 Table Spoon
Grow Big:1 Table Spoon
Big Bloom: 1 Table Spoon

Broke it up into two feedings cause it was too much eater for the pot, but it certainly worked and promoted growth!
Very hearty leaves, all dark greek no burns, or very very little just near the tips of a few leaves.

I'm thinking I need to up the nutes on this next feeding.
I don't have a PH tester yet, having trouble finding one but I need to check a few hardware stores this weekend.

What do you guys think of the progress?
And what would be the next dosage for feeding?

Pictures to follow after this post.

 

[research420]

 

[research420]

Juts my 2 cents plants look like you overfeeding imo. Might want to chill a bit with the ferts. Still sexy looking plants GL.

Hash, I haven't fed them at all until week 9, two weeks ago.

 

[Hashassinz]

Looks awsome to me without a ph meter you are doing great so far. But looks like to me if you are married or living with a girl she gonna be pissed when she got no room to do the laundry. Hopefully you got a friend close by in case she throws you out haha.