help! thinking about throwing in the towel

[PeytonManning]

What kind of nutrients do you use/how much and do u use a tds monitor? How do u monitor ph? Ph strips? Or digital? What strain is your favorite and gave u the most yield?

For perlite, any brand but miracle gro works. I use general hydroponics 3 part grow micro bloom. I use 5ml per gallon of each in veg, and then bump it to 5ml grow, 8ml micro and 12ml bloom per gallon in flower. I also have pH calibration fluid to keep it in range. I have a digital pH meter, but have never had a tds, ppm, or ec meter. No point in buying them when growing hempy style.

I grew a holy grail kush that gave 2 ounces, and that was even with messed up roots. Roots grew bent at a weird angle cause I didn't use a root riot plug. But she smells and grows awesome. But, the barneys pineapple chunk I'm growing now is awesome. There's a reason she's the number two selling seed on herbies. Big fast grower, and in flower it smells exactly like fruit stripe gum, which is good if you don't want anyone smelling weed. She'll be ready for harvest shortly after the new year. She's got about 30 colas on her. Vegged for 3 months and supercropped, she's massive. I have to cut her down branch by branch because she won't fit back out the door. But this pc should give 6 ounces or so, hopefully more

 

[roughneck 102]

Holy fuck! That's badass! How many lights do u use and how big is ur grow space? And what do u mean supercropped? Should I use Hoffman or hydrofarm perlite...What is the ph calibration fluid u use called

 

[PeytonManning]

Holy fuck! That's badass! How many lights do u use and how big is ur grow space? And what do u mean supercropped? Should I use Hoffman or hydrofarm perlite...What is the ph calibration fluid u use called

She was vegged under 175 to 250 watts of CFL, and in flower she is under a mars II 400 led light. My grow space is about 4x4x8 feet, and she is about 2 feet above the medium, and about 3 feet in diameter with her arms opened up. Supercropping is bending the branches and giving them a pinch or twist, that way they stay bent over and form a big knuckle to transport nutes better. Like a little superhighway for food. You can get any photo plant that big, you just gotta start training early on with them. I'll put up some links in here in a minute of some really helpful threads

 

[roughneck 102]

Ok cool how much is that mars led? Do I have to use the led for flowering or can I use 2700k cfls?

 

[PeytonManning]

You can use CFL, but you won't get the weight you want on the plant. You need good penetration and strong lights to get big dense buds. CFL are only good for about 6 inches of penetration, so most people go hps or led for flower. The mars II 400 was only 200 bucks, and I also have their old model 300 watt led light, which you can get for 100 bucks now. When it comes to flowering, you want as much light as you can get.

 

[PeytonManning]

How To: Bend and top your way to a 1 pound monster

 

[PeytonManning]

Increasing yield with defoliation indoors: What's it mean? How to do it?

My Tutt Style Training: Quick Guide!

CC's 2liter Coke Bottle Hempy Cloners

These are all some good reads too

 

[MassMedMan]

Lmao well since u put it out there like that I'm not even worried about it then! Ok so I'm about to order some supplies! Ok so from what I've read on Google for the hempy bucket I fill the bottom of my container of my choice with perilite lava rocks or grow rocks then the top half with coco and that's it?

I can't teach you how to grow like these folks, but, that is what I did to get started. True story, good luck man.

 

[dc534]

Learning advanced techniques is not advised until you get at least 1 grow under your belt. You can do what you want but some of these techniques you guys are mentioning are beyond most beginners. I am not saying its impossible but its best you learn the basics first. Like proper watering, feeding, lighting. Not how to get more yield, while important those are techniques you build up to not implement right a way in your first grow, especially if you have no idea what you are doing. The more you implement the more difficult you make the grow for a beginner. Its good he has questions about LED's and lighting but is it really wise to advise him to buy an expensive LED system? I realize it is his choice and he can do whatever he wants but does he understand the advantages/disadvantages of the different types of lighting available.

While these techniques may be small and easy to do you miss out on the basics I mentioned. Learning to grow is not about how many techniques you can implement your first grow, learning to grow is about learning why you are doing the things the way you are doing them. Doing things the proper way is as important as learning the techniques. Getting bigger yields comes with patience and time. If you really want to learn to grow master basic things first like watering, feeding, lighting, ventilation/circulation. You already have a lot to worry about with just those things.

 

[roughneck 102]

Yeah ur right dc thanks for bringing me back to earth all this shit was starting to make my head spin like more lights such as leds that tutt style training almost made me wanna give up again...I think ima take a little of everyone's advice kiss hempy bucket 1 plant all cfls and just make it through my first grow to harvest my main goal is to harvest some bud whether it's a little or a lot then tweak a little at a time as u said! Slowly build and tweak till I get really good and can develop my own style so thanks again for the slap in the face!

 

[Subnoise]

Just thought I would chime in here if you are using mg soil are you using soil that feeds for 3 months or 6? I believe the yellow bag is 6 months if that is the case you would never have to feed them and flushing them can be dangerous cause the more water the more nutes it releases un like the standard leaching soil without nutes in it. What kind of water are you using tap or ro? If I had to guess I would say there either strangling eatchother fighting for room and rootbinding, or a ph problem. Did you mix any perelite or anything to keep the soil from clumping up, and allowing more oxygen to the roots?

 

[roughneck 102]

I think ur right cuz right after I tried to flush them is when they took a turn for the worst...No unfortunately no perlite mixed in I was clueless to everything like that I have definitely learned a lot from these guys the past few days...that's y I'm waiting to get all my new supplies organized and everything tip top before I try again...although my plants are kind of at a stand still they aren't getting any worse so maybe they might recover I will update with pics when I get back to the house in a few days

 

[roughneck 102]

Ok I found this cheap led light on Amazon anyone know if it would be good for one plant?

 

[PeytonManning]

I would check out some led journals and get something that is proven to grow. Topled old model 3x100 is only a hundred bucks and is proven to work start to finish. There's a lot of Chinese led garbage out there, so research it and spend wisely

 

[roughneck 102]

So if u can use ur mars for seedlings, veg flower, y do u use cfls to veg?

 

[roughneck 102]

Peyton the only thing I wasn't sure on to purchase from Amazon for my hempy bucket is what ph calibration fluid u use?

 

[PeytonManning]

You can put seedlings under led, but it can be harsh on them if not at perfect height. My HGK and SB spent their whole lives under mars II 400, so when they were flowering under it I had to veg the others under CFL cause I only had the one led. I have two led panels now, but will still veg under CFL because of the electricity savings. Seedlings only need about 25 watts, and Veg plants only need about 100 watts, so 4 CFL work perfect. The led panels use about 180 watts each

I use the general hydroponics 4.01 and 7.0 calibration fluid for my pH meter.

 

[dc534]

Read that How to guide I gave you and read the differences between lighting. Plants use different spectrum's of light during different stages of their life. You go to the store and look at CFL's some say soft white rated at 2700k or some say Daylight 5000k. Well plants use different spectrum of light during different stages of its life. During the Vegetative stage they prefer a light spectrum that is 5000k and up. During Flowering or blooming they prefer a spectrum that is closer to 3000k or lower. Think of it like this during the Spring/summer the sun is just about to reach its longest time out in the sky and is at its most intense so you go with bulbs rated at a higher Kelvin, that is how they measure light intensity. During spring/summer the plant uses this extra energy to grow what else but vegetation, leaves, thickening the stem, but it is not flowering yet during this period. Now during the late summer/fall the sun is out less and less and it is also less intense, starts creeping down into that 2700k and it is out maybe just 12 hours in the sky instead of 18 hours. So what do plants do during the late summer/fall? They produce fruit, they do this as a store of energy for the long winter. This is the buds/flowers the cannabis plant produces.

Now here is the kicker LED's produce light intensity at exactly what they are rated for, if it is rated at 2700k then it will shine at 2700k intensity, this is where their advantage truly lies. CFL's and HPS bulbs are rated at 2700k but it is really an average of all the light the bulb is throwing off. It might be throwing off multiple spectrum's of light at 1200k-4000k so they take the average and rate it at say 3000k. Hope this clears it up a little for you.

Many use CFL's during veg stage because they are cheap and are good enough to produce vegetative growth. Many use a more powerful light during flowering still rated at near 2700k because they need the light to penetrate the foliage now that buds are beginning to form it is hard for light to penetrate very deep into the plant when the buds start to get thick, it shadows the lower branches and this in turn leads to less bud growth and less dense buds. It is not to say you cannot use CFL's it is just they do not produce as powerful a light as most HPS or LED lights. They do not have the penetration that those other bulbs do, which is fine when you are not trying to develop dense buds but when you are trying to get dense buds you need a lamp that is powerful enough to penatrate the thickening foliage that is quickly forming.

It talks about this in that How to guide. Just go down to lighting and read the general lighting part. There is many nuisances to lighting. Can you use the same lighting throughout the grow? Some do. Some just use a HPS because it throws off light in every spectrum so it meets what the plant is looking for whether in Veg or in Flowering. To flower your plant all you would do is reduce lighting from 18 or 24 hours a day down to just 12 hours light 12 hours dark. The switch fools the plant into thinking winter is soon approaching and I better start storing up energy.

 

[roughneck 102]

Oh ok I understand now...Ok I figured it was those two so do u mix the two togetherTo get what u want? Where do u keep ur ph 6.5? Cuz my tap is around 7 waiting for my digital ph monitor to get here so I have a more of an exact reading

 

[PeytonManning]

You can mix them, but you want more of the spectrum needed for the phase. I usually do 3 to 1 ratio for CFL. 3 6500k and 1 2700k for veg, and flip the numbers for flower.

With hempy you want your pH to be at 5.8 whenever you water them. Make sure and mix your nutes into water first and then pH it.