Hey there!!!!!! I know I am bit late but may I pull up a chair??? I feel like we have VERY similar grows... My name is Kitty. How do you do??
I'm not going to derail your thread too much but you can check out my journal if you want to see a grow... very similar... but a few weeks ahead. I apologize in advance because I have a tendency to be long winded.....
Like you, I too got a mars 300 as my first lamp. Was/am REALLY happy with it but, like you, realized my plants were going to outgrow it quicker than I thought they would. My girls are all approx. 5 weeks above soil now. I have 8 plants and, like you, I am using REG seeds... they were gifted to me by another grower in Florence but I had a lot of issues getting them to crack and some funky mutations on occasion. The problem now is they STILL aren't giving any indication of sex in their preflower naughty areas and its time to do the final transplant before the flip to 12/12.
Mine are in 6.5 liters now and, like you, I was REALLY hoping I wouldn't have to transplant all of them. Its a lot of expensive soil, space, and energy to be wasted if half of them are, in fact, males. I don't see any obvious distinctions in height, structure, etc because I believe the LED makes them ALL squat and bushy bitches.... (I call them girls... and they all have female names)... positive energy begets positive results right??
I don't know if you have already gone ahead and ordered the other brand 300s but Mars does the 2 pack for 137 as well....
2PCS Mars Hydro 300W Led Grow Light Full Spectrum Hydroponic Veg Flower 135 Watt
I was able to use the Mars 300 plus a few supplemental CFLs ranging from 30watt to 150watt to create a seedling/early veg space that they thrived in... my original plan was to add another Mars 300... or even 600 as my budget is quite tight and I was totally impressed by the performance of my little 300 panel.
But the Mother Mary Jane blessed my grow and I found a Mars 2 1200w on EBay still in the box and less than an hour away from me here in Italy. Crazy good timing/luck. He accepted my lowball offer to come get it and pay 200 euro cash... about 213 american. (About 70 dollars more than I wanted to spend but.. it was too good a deal to pass up). Turns out the guy had no car, lived in the middle of nowhere up in the mountains, and hand't accounted for his low ceilings which made the lamp virtually useless in his home... I saved him a lot of hassle with shipping and he saved me... well 225 bucks... I wasn't even considering that lamp as it was more than twice my budget new.
I also got my grow tent second hand but that wasn't quite as great a deal as that lamp. Before I came across the 1200watt I found a lady selling used 600watt hps kits for 20 euro a pop (bulb, reflector, balance, hanging kit, and cords) on a local classified like craigs list.
What I am getting at is... if you are the bargain hunting type, used equipment is ABUNDANT with this hobby. On EBay you are always protected if a seller misrpresents an item and if you can find it locally, even better...
So congrats on the new babies. I will be sending them pink rainbow unicorn girly vibes
Some strains show sex early... some show them later... I pray that you girls are in fact girls and let you know ASAP
xxKitty
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