Fellow beginner needs advice

[capebreton]

Hey guys, I'm growing bull rider 21 and the plant is about 2 weeks old now.

For the past few days I haven't noticed too much growth coming from it. I water it accordingly with a spray bottle. I keep it under a 60w cfl light bulb throughout the day, or if its sunny enough I will put it outside over anything. I have a few questions on what I should do, and if you guys can give me any extra tips that would be appreciated.

--first off I need to know when I should start fertilizing, I used a pinch of Miracle Grow but not often because that shit burns I heard. so im wondering when should if be ready to be fed.

--Is there anything I can do now to help the baby grow healthy and stronger?

--When should it be transplanted, I plan on taking it to the deep woods and shelter it by means of a greenhouse or "mini tent plastic sun gathering shelter home"

-- And lastly, should I be using a different light source now to give it a boost? and are there any colored lights that could be of benefit to it as a baby or even a semi mature pup.
Below are some pictures of it.

View image in gallery​

View image in gallery​

 

[josh223]

1. When the third or fourth set of true leaves form is typically a good time to start feeding. Miracle Grow will work. From past experience, I'd say to mix it at 1/4 the recommended rate. It can burn, especially young plants.

2. Is your 60 watt CFL true 60 watts or a replacement for a 60 watt incandescent? If it's the latter, I'd say get some more. 50 watts/sq ft. is a pretty good rule to stick by. But, CFL's don't produce the same intensity of light that HID's, induction, and LED lamps do. At any rate, you want that CFL as close to the plant as possible. 2" away is a good bet. Another thing is get an oscillating fan on her. That will help thicken up the stem.

3. Keep an eye on the drain holes at the bottom of the pot. When you see roots starting to pop through, that's a good indication to move your baby to a larger pot.

4. I only use CFL's for vegetation phase of growth. They work great. As do T-5 fluorescents. You don't need to run metal halides to get a good looking plant in veg. Once it comes to flowering time, you may want to look at getting a High Pressure Sodium unit. Complete kits can be found from our sponsors or on sites such as EBay or Amazon.


Here's some pics of my new mothers and an older one, all veged under CFL's.

 

[Pogre]

1. When the third or fourth set of true leaves form is typically a good time to start feeding. Miracle Grow will work. From past experience, I'd say to mix it at 1/4 the recommended rate. It can burn, especially young plants.

This. For sure. It also depends on the soil you're using. Some of the better soils won't require additional nutes for the first month. If you transplant a couple of times into larger pots with fresh soil, you might not need to fert for a couple of months. When they're babies like that, adding ferts of any kind makes me want to cringe.

I totally agree with the rest of Josh's bullet points as well. I'm using all CFL with pretty decent results, but I wish I had HPS for flowering.

 

[OG1969]

Two weeks from time of planting or two weeks above ground? As for the miracle grow would steer away if possible there are many affordable organic nutrients out there that will work, and when you do truck it out into the field how often are you going to be able to tend to the plant as far as watering/feeding? If you have the place to put her outside I would say that will beat any indoor light and it is free. Try not to over water at this stage it is easy to do, water and let it ride their root system does not have the structure to utilize all the water and or food, if adding miracle grow feed to soil that already has nutrients in it, could be an issue. Keep the cfl close to the plant and try to just use water not a big fan of miracle grow, there are much safer and natural products out there to take care of your babies. Slightly off topic but would you feed your kid a synthetically modified food?? Most of america does with gmo's . The end product is going into you or a friend that is why I go the organic route. Just food for thought, Peace and hope to see a nice big plant come fall, OG.

 

[capebreton]

Slightly off topic but would you feed your kid a synthetically modified food?? Most of america does with gmo's . The end product is going into you or a friend that is why I go the organic route. Just food for thought, Peace and hope to see a nice big plant come fall, OG.

I totally agree with everything you had to say here in the quote. I'm a strong believer of that organic route.

I appreciate the help you guys have offered as well.

 

[OG1969]

keep us updated would love to see a nice phat cola,OG.