this is a great post... i just recently started my 1st grow about a mth ago and i wish i would have read this b4 now... i am using the t8 bulbs and while the do put off a lot of light to me, i dont think my babies enjoy it... they are growing super slow and are only a few inches tall... simpson if you wouldnt mind take a look at my pics on my profile... i dont know how to post pics on here yet.... thanks for all the info!!
after looking at your pics your plant looks great and healthy.. but like you said small for the amount of growth time... it is directly related to the light.. plants dont see light like we do.... we see light and how bright it is based on the bulb and how well it lights a room... plants see light through wave lengths and spectrums... although floros such as t5/t8/t12s may look bright to us and light the room well for us, the light that the plant would see and use is spread over the entire length of the bulb and pushed in many different directions, with only a small amount of it actually hitting the plant to be used...
bulbs such as HID bulbs and CFLs push all their light from smaller focal points.. this means the light is more directed and more intense... it takes much mroe energy to create light energy from 1 point (a cfl or hid bulb) than spread over an area (long tube floros)... this means it takes more floros to get the same amount of light to 1 point then if you were using CFLs or of course HIDs...
the light you are using is sufficient to grow with but is more suited to just root clones.. your plant will grow it will just take a long time... if you want to increase growth rate you need to add more light... it would be best to purchase some CFL bulbs.. they have "y-splitters" that allow you to connect to bulbs to 1 cord/socket set.. there are 2 sockets of course on it... a couple larger watt cfls will increase your growth rate a lot... rememeber that when you purchase, lets say, a 300w cfl it is not actually 300w's.. its the equvilant to 300ws.. which i think means its more like 90 or 100ws.. so you dont need to worry at all about power consumption or anything like that...
like i said earlier tho.. your plants look nice.. they just need more light to grow faster..
anything else i can help you with??
yea heres a question for ya.
what would you suggest the NPK scale be.. for each cycle of growth for mj?
Vegetative cycle: ?-?-?
Flowering cycle: ?-?-?
I have some Schultz 'All Purpose Liquid Plant Food - PLUS' npk= 10-15-10
is that usable for veg or flowering cycles? If not I wont use it. Then again thats why I asked you that question
because I'm not really sure what i should look for as far as NPK scale I should use for veg and then flowering cycles.
the NPK values represent the amount of nirtogen, phosphorous, and potassium in the nutes you are using.. the numbers them selves tell you 2 things.. the amount of each compared to one another, and the percentage of that specific nute in the fert. all together...
so a 20-10-5 tells you this
there is 20% nitrogen in the nutes and there is twice as much nitrogen as phosphorus and 4 times the amount that there is of potassium... 10% of the nute is phosphorus, and 5% of it is potassium.. the rest is fillers...
durung veg growth your plant will use a LOT of nitrogen... which means during your vegetative growth stage you want a high N content.. it will use less phosphorus and potassium.. so those numbers should be lower..
during flowering your plant uses a LOT of phosphorus.. the further into flowering, the more it uses.... also during flowering it almost stops using nitrogen at all.. so your flowering nutes should have a low N and a high P value.. a little nitrogen in your flowering nutes are ok.. but you dont need much.. it just helps to keep the leaves green..
potassium is used throughout the entire grow, so you want some sort of K value the entire grow...
now as far as what numbers to actually use it is hard to say... different nute manufactures use different formulas which cause different NPK numbers to appear on the package.. knowing what they mean is the important thing... keep in mind tho, that the larger the numbers are the more "intense" the nutes are and the stronger they will be... more isnt always better when it comes to nutes...
an all purpose plant food like you have will work, but you can run into issues with salt build ups if you use too much.. especially with all in one nutes you have to be careful... they can be used with great success as long as you pay attention to your plant and how it reacts to the feedings.. i highly recommend only using at most a 1/2 strength does... if you do stick with that...
if you have the money, and want to have the most control over what you feed your plant and make sure they are getting only what they need when they need it you should switch to a 2 or 3 part nute.. 2 parts have a veg and bloom formula that contains everything your plant needs during those stages.. 3 part systems, which cost the most in the end, give you the most control tho... they have a veg, bloom, and "boost" formula... this means you can custom blend your nutes and give them more of whatever they need when they need it and less when they dont...
both the 2 and 3 part systems should come with guideline feeding schedules... and if not you can get them on line.. it takes a little more work with these.. but the results are better.. and it helps limit nute burn or nute deficiency because, again, your plant is only getting what it needs when it needs it and you can add or subtract amounts depending on the plants needs...
i hope that helped out... if you have anything else you would like to know feel free to ask..
