First grow. Any tips at this stage? Could use some great opinions. /

Hey guys! New to rollitup and this is my first grow (besides some old bag seed I grew on the farm I grew up on)

I am a medical patient in CA

I had a very limited budget to work with this first time around so I decided to go with some high power, cheap LED, 1-1000w led equivalent (dimgogo) and 1-1200w equivalent (holland star). I ordered both off Amazon and have had no issues with them so far. I love the minimal heat because I'm working in a walk in closet with no real ventilation system. Right now my ventilation is me fanning the door. (I will be wanting to be switching to a nice tent after this all works out)

Seeds are W.W. Feminized from the single seed centre. I believe five of them sprouted and the sixth is one of the "mystery seeds" they sent me. I did not label them so I am not positive which one is the mystery. And I am working with Fox farms ocean forest as substrate, no additives besides the fox farm nutes. Grow big, big bloom and tiger bloom. Half strength the first two feedings, and full strength today.

They are 44 days from seed, (6weeks)on a 24 hr light schedule during their early seedling stage, but were put under the 1000w equilavant quite early. (before second node) and then to a 18/6 light schedule ever since. Temps are probably high, mid eighties sometimes (but they have been that way their entire life) and not sure about humidity. I have not purchased a thermometer yet. Also don't have a PAR meter so I've been totally guessing with light height. I've had it as close as 18 inches but I thought that might be keeping them too short and now that I have both lights hanging I moved them to 36"

They were topped early, ((5th node and still very short)they have been very short the entire grow but very dense canopy and undergrowth) and most have been topped a second time. Minimal LST. They are all 6-8" tall but many many tops. (they were a bit lanky in the beginning so I did bury some of their stem their first transplant and pulled their tops down with LST) the plants pictured are my tallest, my shortest, and my bushiest. The other three are all in between.

So my questions are basically what you guys think so far? I think they're very short for age but do look healthy... Could be a possibility because they lost growing time after both toppings?

Also what size containers would you recommend for flower? And what height? (upward space isn't a problem but the power of my cheap LEDs might be, although they seem to be doing great so far)
Also my space is big, so do I need to put up reflective material like mylar on the walls?

Should I use a SCROG?

Anyone who can lend a hand would be appreciated. Tips? Personal experience with these lights? Comments on what the plants look like at this stage? Fox farm nutrients? What I may be able to expect to yield? (I know that's a hard estimate)

Thanks a lot guys. I'm really looking forward to hear your opinions and tips.

How often are you feeding them? And what is "half strength and full strength"? They look like they are getting too much food, they are really dark in those pictures, but other than that they look fairly good. I would put them in 5 gallon pots as soon as possible if not yesterday. Continue with the Ocean Forest with a lot of extra perlite mixed in also. You might be able to move the lights closer, I have no experience with them but I do not see any signs of stress from the light. Then in a week or two after getting them in their 5 gallon pots switch them to 12/12. You will probably get a nice yield off of them if nothing goes drastically wrong.

I wouldn't recommend scrog for your first grow, it's more work and you have plenty of room in that closet to grow them big naturally. They are really going to bush out the way you have topped them. After you get this first grow under your belt you can start experimenting. I would imagine that you will get anywhere from 6 months to a year or more supply from this one grow giving you plenty of time to experiment with subsequent grows.

Thanks a lot! This exactly the info I am looking for! Keep it coming guys.

So I have been giving them 1.5tsp of big bloom and 1tsp of grow big per gallon every other watering. And today went to 3tsp/and 2tsp respectively. Probably water once every four-five days. Two days in a row when their soil magically goes dry? (I do not use nutrients for extra watering) I did accidentally give them a dose of Tiger Bloom today because I was following the foxfarm feeding table. I really hope I don't nute burn them. I will be transplanting them in a few days. Would three gallon containers be okay? Or should I really opt for the five gallon buckets?

Jdow420 said:

1-1000w led equivalent (dimgogo) and 1-1200w equivalent (holland star)

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The grow community prefers to think and talk in the actual watts of the unit
Sometimes the manufacturer will say "actual watts: 270w", but rarely with the cheapos.
I got a meter that plugs in between the light and the wall socket, telling me the watts it's drawing. I love it, especially since my lights have a dimmer.

Yeah, I know and sorry I do not have a meter to tell me what it actually is drawing at the wall. I wish that I did! These are all purchases I will make as I can afford them as I continue this hobby.

I see one in a clear plastic container - I've done that a few times, and most of the time noticed reduced growth, sometimes utter stunting.
I put black tape around those clear home made pots, and the plants took off. The light clearly bothered the roots

Jdow420 said:

Thanks a lot! This exactly the info I am looking for! Keep it coming guys.

So I have been giving them 1.5tsp of big bloom and 1tsp of grow big per gallon every other watering. And today went to 3tsp/and 2tsp respectively. Probably water once every four-five days. Two days in a row when their soil magically goes dry? (I do not use nutrients for extra watering) I did accidentally give them a dose of Tiger Bloom today because I was following the foxfarm feeding table. I really hope I don't nute burn them. I will be transplanting them in a few days. Would three gallon containers be okay? Or should I really opt for the five gallon buckets?

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3 gallon will be ok, 5 would be better but not mandatory, they are going to get big. You should only be using the grow big right now. The big bloom is for after they start flowering, then you will stop using the grow big. Continue using the grow big for the first 2 weeks or so of 12/12 until they start flowering good. But I wouldn't feed them for a while, like I said they look like they are getting too much food, possibly because you are using both flowering food and vegging food at the same time. Then you can stop the grow big and start using the Tiger bloom or big bloom after the flowers start taking off. If you use both I would use them at lower strengths for a while and see how it goes. Better to underfeed than overfeed. It's much easier to give them more, not so easy to correct a nutrient burn.

And don't take the light ratings seriously. they are not equivalent to what they say. A single 1000W hps would be much better than both of those combined, not that they are "bad", just the ratings they give led's are ridiculous. You need to look at the actual wattage of the lamps, not the fake rating they give them. They are probably in the 250-350W range I would imagine.

Jdow420 said:

Yeah, I know and sorry I do not have a meter to tell me what it actually is drawing at the wall. I wish that I did! These are all purchases I will make as I can afford them as I continue this hobby.

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You should be able to find the actual specs somewhere. They always list the actual power draw somewhere.

GreenLogician said:

I see one in a clear plastic container - I've done that a few times, and most of the time noticed reduced growth, sometimes utter stunting.
I put black tape around those clear home made pots, and the plants took off. The light clearly bothered the roots

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Thanks! That one definitely is my shortest plant. I have been using it to keep an eye on root growth. They will go into a real pot in a few days.

Kerovan said:

3 gallon will be ok, 5 would be better but not mandatory, they are going to get big. You should only be using the grow big right now. The big bloom is for after they start flowering, then you will stop using the grow big. Continue using the grow big for the first 2 weeks or so of 12/12 until they start flowering good. But I wouldn't feed them for a while, like I said they look like they are getting too much food, possibly because you are using both flowering food and vegging food at the same time. Then you can stop the grow big and start using the Tiger bloom or big bloom after the flowers start taking off. If you use both I would use them at lower strengths for a while and see how it goes. Better to underfeed than overfeed. It's much easier to give them more, not so easy to correct a nutrient burn.

And don't take the light ratings seriously. they are not equivalent to what they say. A single 1000W hps would be much better than both of those combined, not that they are "bad", just the ratings they give led's are ridiculous. You need to look at the actual wattage of the lamps, not the fake rating they give them. They are probably in the 250-350W range I would imagine.

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Thanks a lot, I will definitely stop their nutrients for a while, especially since I will be putting them in fresh soil soon and it will have what they need for a little while. And cut the flowering nutes. I agree with these led ratings,they are rediclious it took me so much research to even decide on these two. I will get a third one if necessary.

I imagine if all goes well and you start 12/12 in about 2 weeks or so you will get about 3-4 oz's per plant trimmed and cured about 3 months from now. Possibly even more.

Also guys, I am concidering just using bought clones from this point on. Recommend? I wanted to start from seed my first time around. I had a friend tell me I can get clones veged already ready to go right into 12/12. I could effectively harvest twice as often skipping doing the veg period myself correct? Also can you take cuttings from clones?

Kerovan said:

I imagine if all goes well and you start 12/12 in about 2 weeks or so you will get about 3-4 oz's per plant trimmed and cured about 3 months from now. Possibly even more.

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That sounds like it would be an absolute win on my first time around, I sure do hope so

Jdow420 said:

That sounds like it would be an absolute win on my first time around, I sure do hope so

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It could be 2-3 oz's per also. But that would still be a win! 3 gallon pots will reduce your haul a little over 5 gallon, but probably not a lot. The question is how well the led's will do compared to hps which is the gold standard and produces the most.

Jdow420 said:

Also guys, I am concidering just using bought clones from this point on. Recommend? I wanted to start from seed my first time around. I had a friend tell me I can get clones veged already ready to go right into 12/12. I could effectively harvest twice as often skipping doing the veg period myself correct? Also can you take cuttings from clones?

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Yes, you can take cuttings from clones. If you want to do that though you will need another small tent to propagate them in. Must be nice to live somewhere where you can get clones.. They need to legalize it everywhere. I should move to Colorado.

Kerovan said:

Yes, you can take cuttings from clones. If you want to do that though you will need another small tent to propagate them in. Must be nice to live somewhere where you can get clones.. They need to legalize it everywhere. I should move to Colorado.

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Yeah man. I grew up in Wisconsin, where second time possession of any amount is a felony. Moved to Cali five years ago. My gf is from Colorado and we went to visit for the fourth of July. They literally have dispensary/gas stations called gas n grass XD It's really nice here and the laws and public in generaal are so relaxed about it all. But your jaw would probably drop if I told you what I pay for a one bedroom apt here. Now that these LEDs are becoming affordable I decided it was finally time to give it a go.

Just an update, I got them planted. Their roots looked terrible after getting them out of their last containers. But they seemed to have bounced back. And today I have positively identified them all as female