Hello

[Thirvnrob]

Hi all, I’m pretty new to growing - I’ve had accidental success before, but I’m pretty early on in the learning curve. Presently I have two Durban Poison & two Black Widow that I’ve quadlined & just flipped them.
I have the DP in 5 gal cloth pots & the BW in 2 gal cloth pots. I’m using Fox Farms Happy Frog potting soil & just started using Fox Farms weekly feeding schedule I found here. I’m starting at 1/2 strength with everything. Plan is to feed every Monday & water only every Wednesday & Friday. Until now they’ve only had water.
The plants appear to be healthy although I think their growth has been somewhat sluggish - I may have over stressed them.
Temp in the tent has been 63 - 72 f & RH is at 40%. I’m using 2 Hystorm full spectrum 600 W led lights at about 30”.
All comments welcomed...

 

[Dusty Kiefers]

Looking good.

 

[Thirvnrob]

Looking good.

Thanks

 

[Buds Buddy]

Hi all, I’m pretty new to growing - I’ve had accidental success before, but I’m pretty early on in the learning curve. Presently I have two Durban Poison & two Black Widow that I’ve quadlined & just flipped them.
I have the DP in 5 gal cloth pots & the BW in 2 gal cloth pots. I’m using Fox Farms Happy Frog potting soil & just started using Fox Farms weekly feeding schedule I found here. I’m starting at 1/2 strength with everything. Plan is to feed every Monday & water only every Wednesday & Friday. Until now they’ve only had water.
The plants appear to be healthy although I think their growth has been somewhat sluggish - I may have over stressed them.
Temp in the tent has been 63 - 72 f & RH is at 40%. I’m using 2 Hystorm full spectrum 600 W led lights at about 30”.
All comments welcomed...

Hi, nice looking grow so far. You mentioned kind of sluggish grow so far. I'm kind of thinking it's due to the way you water because I see nothing else wrong with your plants. The reason I think this, is because you said "you plan to feed on Mon., & water on Weds. & Fri. That's not a good way to water. Your soil may not be dry enough for more water at that point. You really need to lift the pots to make sure they are light weight again before watering. Otherwise you keep adding water to wet soil cutting off oxygen to the roots & get slow growth & eventually root rot if it gets too bad.

 

[Pat Puffer]

Welcome to 420. Great job! Looks like accidental success again.

 

[Thirvnrob]

Thanks for the reply. I’ve been just feeling the soil & adding as necessary. That watering schedule isn’t engraved in stone - it’s meant as a starting point & to draw comments/suggestions. I’ll adjust as needed. Thanks for the input!

 

[Thirvnrob]

Welcome to 420. Great job! Looks like accidental success again.

Ha! Thanks!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Welcome @Thirvnrob.

How many days from seed for you plants?

 

[Buds Buddy]

Thanks for the reply. I’ve been just feeling the soil & adding as necessary. That watering schedule isn’t engraved in stone - it’s meant as a starting point & to draw comments/suggestions. I’ll adjust as needed. Thanks for the input!

You can feel the moisture in the bottom of a 5 gal. bag ? I wish I could do that. Putting your finger in the top of the soil will tell you nothing unless the pot is only 6" deep. The bottom is a lot wetter then the top. That's why we go by pot weight or we wait till the leaves start to droop to tell us what the plant needs.
Remember, the plant is the Boss here; not you or anyone else. You can't dictate what it wants. It will let you know what it needs. Fulfill her needs & you get greatly rewarded for it.
Just trying to be helpful. I've been at this 4 years now so I have learned a little. I'm sure a lot of others will tell you the same thing.
However, if you are not over watering, I would think the slow growth is not enough light. But 1200 watts sounds like plenty of light. Is that from the wall 1200 watts ? I'm thinking maybe those lights actually only pull 200 watts ea. from the wall. They just call them 600 watt because they are suppose to be the equivalent of a 600 watt HPS. If that's the case you need to add 2 more lights to get good growth.
There's a ton of info on all this in my current journal.

 

[Oldhippie59]

Welcome my friend!

 

[StoneOtter]

Welcome Rob! Nice grow!

 

[Thirvnrob]

Thanks!

 

[Thirvnrob]

Welcome @Thirvnrob.

How many days from seed for you plants?

40 days

 

[Thirvnrob]

You can feel the moisture in the bottom of a 5 gal. bag ? I wish I could do that. Putting your finger in the top of the soil will tell you nothing unless the pot is only 6" deep. The bottom is a lot wetter then the top. That's why we go by pot weight or we wait till the leaves start to droop to tell us what the plant needs.
Remember, the plant is the Boss here; not you or anyone else. You can't dictate what it wants. It will let you know what it needs. Fulfill her needs & you get greatly rewarded for it.
Just trying to be helpful. I've been at this 4 years now so I have learned a little. I'm sure a lot of others will tell you the same thing.
However, if you are not over watering, I would think the slow growth is not enough light. But 1200 watts sounds like plenty of light. Is that from the wall 1200 watts ? I'm thinking maybe those lights actually only pull 200 watts ea. from the wall. They just call them 600 watt because they are suppose to be the equivalent of a 600 watt HPS. If that's the case you need to add 2 more lights to get good growth.
There's a ton of info on all this in my current journal.

Thanks again. Your earlier comment was eye opening & I found a good post about how & when to water. I’ve attached a pic of my light specs - lighting is harder than anything else for me to understand. Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

 

[Enr0n]

I am the type who has the tendency to over water and I found this link early and follow it Watering your plants.
The larger the plant gets the more water it requires. Example: My current plant at peak foliage with all her leaves was consuming almost 1.5 gal every 3rd day.

If you use all of your senses and create a harmonious relationship with them it seems to grow better. Talk to her, breathe fresh air on her (CO2), touch the soil, how does it feel? Do the leaves feel dry?

Love her and she will return the favor big time one day.

 

[Thirvnrob]

I am the type who has the tendency to over water and I found this link early and follow it Watering your plants.
The larger the plant gets the more water it requires. Example: My current plant at peak foliage with all her leaves was consuming almost 1.5 gal every 3rd day.

If you use all of your senses and create a harmonious relationship with them it seems to grow better. Talk to her, breathe fresh air on her (CO2), touch the soil, how does it feel? Do the leaves feel dry?

Love her and she will return the favor big time one day.

Thanks. I found that same article last night & plan to follow those suggestions.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Thanks again. Your earlier comment was eye opening & I found a good post about how & when to water. I’ve attached a pic of my light specs - lighting is harder than anything else for me to understand. Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

With 2 of those you only have 248 watts. What size grow area ? You want 30 - 50 watts per square foot of light.
Your lights are OK for a 2' x 4' area. If doing a 4 x 4 tent you need 2 more.

 

[Thirvnrob]

With 2 of those you only have 248 watts. What size grow area ? You want 30 - 50 watts per square foot of light.
Your lights are OK for a 2' x 4' area. If doing a 4 x 4 tent you need 2 more.

Well at least I can stop worrying about it being too much light...
For the time being I’m stuck with those lights till I can stash a few bucks. Any way to optimize what I have until then? I do have two more of the same lights that are in another tent with the same two strains vegging. I have a couple smaller T-5s I could move into the veg tent & put the others in the flowering tent if that would help - don’t want to rob Peter to pay Paul...

 

[Buds Buddy]

What size flower tent & how many plants are in there ? Do you need the full area or can you move the plants in a way to take up less space ? If so, buy a Mylar Blanket ($2 - $3 at most) & hang it to use as a divider to make your area smaller.
If you use a T-5 in veg it will keep the plant alive; but you wont get much growth.

 

[Thirvnrob]

What size flower tent & how many plants are in there ? Do you need the full area or can you move the plants in a way to take up less space ? If so, buy a Mylar Blanket ($2 - $3 at most) & hang it to use as a divider to make your area smaller.
If you use a T-5 in veg it will keep the plant alive; but you wont get much growth.

Man you’re slick as chicken snot! I’m gonna try that!