For all new growers with questions... Tons of information and answers..

I'll move the lights away a bit more, but I don't feel they are the problem because aside from the accidental burn on top of 1 plant, all the leafs around the top are great. They are only having problems on their first pairs of leafs starting from the bottom (first the baby leafs fell off, now the bottoms pair on all are yellowing, the biggest was hit the hardest and now its having issues with its pair that is 2nd from the bottom).

I'll hit the indoor garden store tomorrow for some pH testing and control kits and hopefully a humidity reader too. The plants are scheduled for their first day on 1/2 strength nutes and their first watering in 3 days tomorrow morning (they will be very close to their very very dry weight). I will try to get to the store nice and early tomorrow morning so I can gather supplies. Should I set out a container of tap water for tomorrow or should I just stick with distilled water?

Am I forgetting anything important? pH tester for soil/water (should i get one dedicated for soil and the other water? or a drip tester or something else?), humidity reader, and pH adjusting kit.

showhard2handle said:

Perfect, thanks for quick response again.

No air pump, but will grab one this week.

I know this is a dumbass question, but I am mixing the 1/4 strength solution for the "Vegetative Growth" formula laid out on the technaflora mixing receipes (preesh that too!), correct?

Just wanna make sure that I am not still at the seedling stage. And need to mix seedling recipes.

So 1/4 strength niutes (Vegetative) for the first week, and then up to 1/2, or full?

Thx!!

Click to expand...

yep, your starting vegitative growth... so start with that.. you can actually just follow exactly what they say on the chart.. dont 1/4 strength that... if you go 1/4 strength go by whats on the bottles... but the chart is spot on what you need...

jdizzle22 said:

I'll move the lights away a bit more, but I don't feel they are the problem because aside from the accidental burn on top of 1 plant, all the leafs around the top are great. They are only having problems on their first pairs of leafs starting from the bottom (first the baby leafs fell off, now the bottoms pair on all are yellowing, the biggest was hit the hardest and now its having issues with its pair that is 2nd from the bottom).

I'll hit the indoor garden store tomorrow for some pH testing and control kits and hopefully a humidity reader too. The plants are scheduled for their first day on 1/2 strength nutes and their first watering in 3 days tomorrow morning (they will be very close to their very very dry weight). I will try to get to the store nice and early tomorrow morning so I can gather supplies. Should I set out a container of tap water for tomorrow or should I just stick with distilled water?

Am I forgetting anything important? pH tester for soil/water (should i get one dedicated for soil and the other water? or a drip tester or something else?), humidity reader, and pH adjusting kit.

Click to expand...

things every grower should have

ph test kit/pen (one for water and one for soil... if you get a drop style one for your nute solution, make sure your nutes are clear.. if they are colored it will affect the reading you get since the drops turn the solution colored themselves..)

moisture meter (helps remove guess work from watering)

temp and humidity gauge

ppm/ec meter

also, you may want to get some super thrive... it will helps your plant...

water tomorrow if the soil needs it.. dont nute this time.. just water.. distilled is fine.. or you can leave water out over night.. your choice...

haha555 said:

Click to expand...

i hate saying it.. but thats a male...

how's it going. I'm a new grower and I have a few questions regarding my plants.

first here's my setup:
3 100watt cfls and 2 125watt cfls
(the 100watt ones are 2700k and the 125's are 5000k. I plan on adding a few more 150watts at 6500k.)
I built my own reflector that holds the 125's and 2 of the 100's. I have a clamp reflector for the other 100watt.

I have a Snowcap clone and a Grape Ape clone under the lights. the Snowcap clone is around 6-8 inches tall and the Grape Ape is at about 4-5 inches. They are both in cups with holes at the bottom for drainage.

My first question is how often do I need to water them?

My second question is when do I need to transplant them to a bigger pot?

My last question for right now is what nutrients should I feed the plant and should I spray the soil or the leaves?

Thanks alot!

braid said:

how's it going. I'm a new grower and I have a few questions regarding my plants.

first here's my setup:
3 100watt cfls and 2 125watt cfls
(the 100watt ones are 2700k and the 125's are 5000k. I plan on adding a few more 150watts at 6500k.)
I built my own reflector that holds the 125's and 2 of the 100's. I have a clamp reflector for the other 100watt.

I have a Snowcap clone and a Grape Ape clone under the lights. the Snowcap clone is around 6-8 inches tall and the Grape Ape is at about 4-5 inches. They are both in cups with holes at the bottom for drainage.

My first question is how often do I need to water them?

My second question is when do I need to transplant them to a bigger pot?

My last question for right now is what nutrients should I feed the plant and should I spray the soil or the leaves?

Thanks alot!

Click to expand...

you have to water as they need it.. its hard saying.. there is not a magic number of days to tell you.. basically if the soil feels dry at the top and (if you can feel inside them) the drain holes at the bottom then water.... water until the soil is well saturated...

transplant when growth slows or stops... or if roots start growing from the drain holes thats a good indication also...

until you start seeing them begin to yellow a little or you transplant them i wouldn't worry about nutes... you'll want a good 2 or 3 part system tho to have the best results... i dont believe in foliar spraying.. thats just me tho... i think that it leaves residue behind on the leaves that may cause issues.. but again, thats just my opinion...

showhard2handle said:

So, things stopped running so smoothly & beginners luck ran out.

I moved ladies into v-drip last night (inside of tent), turned on the HPS (400 watt), & dude I walked in this morning & the temp was 100degrees, sweet!

So I killed HPS, put the floro inside tent (but it's only 110 stinkin watts).

Pics below are of my tent set up, & then exhaust leading out (don't laugh everyone, yes I'm a newb dumb-ars).

Anyway man, I have the x1-4" can fan installed in top right corner of tent. EVIDENTLY, that just ain't cuttin it.

Please hook up some knowledge brotha, I do not wanna have to hit the abort button.

Lemme know what the doc. thinks, and thanks a bunch. I do have another 4" can fan not being used. Is it really gonna help that much? Oh lawwdy......

Click to expand...

100 degrees?? damn.. that sucks bro...

ok.. so i think i have part of the issue figured out already...

from the pics it looks as tho the exhaust exits out the back of the tent and then turns 90 degree upwards and runs up through the ceiling.. is that right?? if so that could be a good part of the problem...

a 90 degree bend in duct work can cause a 60% drop in fan efficiency.... so pretend your fan is rated at 100cfm... a 90 degree bend can potentially take that down to only 40cfm.... the fan runs the same... its the air that causes the problem... it doesnt flow right.. causing drops in efficiency...

see if you can get the exhaust to run straight... that should help a lot.... if that doesnt get things cool enough we'll continue to trouble shoot...

simpsonsampson420 said:

and yes.. adding another fan to help exhaust heat will help too

Click to expand...

Thanks man, for the 90degree situation, I acutally purchased a 90 degree elbow, which when i was hooking up seemed to work pretty smooth. But obviously not well enough. Are there are any type of test I could try *light a candle on the foor of tent & proper circ. would blow it out, etc.). Some type of litmus test to determine if what I have would work, if installed correctly. I'll dink with it as soon as I get home.

One other thought, the ballast, how much heat do those jewels put out, that currently is bolted to wall near ceiling of closet. I could move to attic if needs be.

Or should I scrap it, & run my ass to hydro store & purchase a cool tube. Or what in your opinion is the coolest running 400 watt?

I have some coin, not a ton, but wanna get this right, lemme know & thanks again.

Last stupid question, I had a bunch of photo beans on the floor of closet last night (HPS was on for approx 8 hours). However it was on the floor. As I mentioned before the temp. is @ least 10 degrees cooler on floor (I was worried bout water being too cold in res.) Do you think those beans are still viable?

And it was all going so smoothly. I suppose I needed some growing pains like this. Thanks bro!

the problem with setting up any grow is that although you can be aware of many factors, how the grow room actually reacts to the environment it is in is one of the things you can't know until shit is set up...

for instance i started in a basement that worked well.. until it flooded and mold started growing... so i moved to a new room.. which worked until i went to build a dividing wall (did just have a large plastic curtain at first) and temps spiked in the 100s for a few days... basically things never go completely as planned at first.. they can be close.. but rare is it that they go as planned...

the elbow helps.. but it still cuts efficiency.. its the angle itself that cuts the efficiency.. theres nothing you can do to change that... elbow or not...

i dont know any sort of test you can do to check things... i always just fuck with my stuff until it works how i want... lol

if its a digital ballast it shouldnt put off enough heat that it matters... electronic and magnetic ones are different tho.. they get much much hotter... if you have a noticeably warm ballast near the grow room you should move it for sure... the more heat you can remove from the tent and surrounding areas the better off you are...

adding a second exhaust fan will help remove more heat.. you cant go wrong there.. and its free if you have it on hand...

i dont know about cool tubes.. i have heard mixed reviews.. i havent used them tho.. so i cant comment for sure.. itd be interesting to try.. but involves a water chiller to keep the water cool... seems like it could be a pain in the ass more than its worth..

the beans should be ok.. more than likely.. only thing you can do is try to plant them and see what happens...

So the plants are on their dry weight I haven't watered them yet. Went to the indoor garden store and got a bottle of pH up/down, got a rapitest mini moisture tester and a ph tester for the soil, an analog temp/humidity reader, small bottle of SUPER thrive (not sure of the brand but the bottle and cardboard background looks like it has tons of advertisements on it), a few bigger square soil container pots, a pH drop tester for the water (bottle with a vial for a drop +water), and an electric tds meter (ppm/temp of water) with a bottle of calibration solution.

hopefully you can help me out soon otherwise I might just water normally with regular water

PS: I have some idea of what I need to do, but i figure since the one plant is having big issues right now it would be better to just water them or to get a full round of advice on the next step. Bottom pair of leafs on each is yellowing, except on the biggest whos first pair basically died and now the 2nd pair is going with the dry but green ends and the blackish bruise looking spots.
PSS: getting a pick, the biggest plant's second lowest pair that is dieing actually has 3 leafs on each side, but yeah each of those 3 leafs on each side is yellowing and developing some sort of black thing (infection?)
PSSS: at the time of this edit it is 12:38pm and if no response by 1pm i will water with plain water, the humidity reader is reading a little over 40% (it was a cheap like 8 dollar reader that also had a mercury type temp gauge on top
PSSS: Ok gonna soak with plain water now and do a ph test and all that, the humidity reader now says about 30 (wonder if its accurate? it rained this morning and its kinda dark cloudy outside and google says the humidity in my city is 59%)
PSSS: Ok so i think the moisture meter probe is crap, i soaked the soil in each and put it in a few minutes later and its on the dry end! I also tried out the soil pH meter prove thing (like a 6 dollar thing) and it read just under 6.5 on each pot a few minutes after the soaking, gonna test the distilled water for pH now (should have done before hand i guess...)
PSSSS: ok just did the vial with drops color test ph thing on the distilled water, and if i did it right apparently the distilled water's pH is probably about 5.5-5.75
PZ: (haha) forgot about using my 'TDS-3' gonna check the ppm i guess, ok tested it and it read 0 which i suppose it should with distilled water? tested it on house tap water and that was 27ppm, tested it on some 1500ppm calibration stuff and it read 871? so i might need to recalibrate that... Although on the bottle it says something about at a .70 conversion factor (and 871 x 1.7 = just about 1500) so maybe it is accurate?

hey everybody =) this is a pretty dumb question haha
is there pics of low quality plants any where? im just wonderin how my plants lookin and its kinda hard to compare to all the badass plants people post pics of lol im on my first grow, and im actually jus kinda curious too of wut some bunk weed looks like while its growing lol

jdizzle22 said:

So the plants are on their dry weight I haven't watered them yet. Went to the indoor garden store and got a bottle of pH up/down, got a rapitest mini moisture tester and a ph tester for the soil, an analog temp/humidity reader, small bottle of SUPER thrive (not sure of the brand but the bottle and cardboard background looks like it has tons of advertisements on it), a few bigger square soil container pots, a pH drop tester for the water (bottle with a vial for a drop +water), and an electric tds meter (ppm/temp of water) with a bottle of calibration solution.

hopefully you can help me out soon otherwise I might just water normally with regular water

PS: I have some idea of what I need to do, but i figure since the one plant is having big issues right now it would be better to just water them or to get a full round of advice on the next step. Bottom pair of leafs on each is yellowing, except on the biggest whos first pair basically died and now the 2nd pair is going with the dry but green ends and the blackish bruise looking spots.
PSS: getting a pick, the biggest plant's second lowest pair that is dieing actually has 3 leafs on each side, but yeah each of those 3 leafs on each side is yellowing and developing some sort of black thing (infection?)
PSSS: at the time of this edit it is 12:38pm and if no response by 1pm i will water with plain water, the humidity reader is reading a little over 40% (it was a cheap like 8 dollar reader that also had a mercury type temp gauge on top
PSSS: Ok gonna soak with plain water now and do a ph test and all that, the humidity reader now says about 30 (wonder if its accurate? it rained this morning and its kinda dark cloudy outside and google says the humidity in my city is 59%)
PSSS: Ok so i think the moisture meter probe is crap, i soaked the soil in each and put it in a few minutes later and its on the dry end! I also tried out the soil pH meter prove thing (like a 6 dollar thing) and it read just under 6.5 on each pot a few minutes after the soaking, gonna test the distilled water for pH now (should have done before hand i guess...)
PSSSS: ok just did the vial with drops color test ph thing on the distilled water, and if i did it right apparently the distilled water's pH is probably about 5.5-5.75
PZ: (haha) forgot about using my 'TDS-3' gonna check the ppm i guess, ok tested it and it read 0 which i suppose it should with distilled water? tested it on house tap water and that was 27ppm, tested it on some 1500ppm calibration stuff and it read 871? so i might need to recalibrate that... Although on the bottle it says something about at a .70 conversion factor (and 871 x 1.7 = just about 1500) so maybe it is accurate?

Click to expand...

your plants sound like they have some sort of fungal infection... thats typically what black spots point too... it could have came from the seeds or the soil or the air.. who knows... but you should try to spray with an anti fungal spray...

everything else sounds like it is fine and where it should be... there isnt many other things it can be at all... its getting down to things that cant be fixed...

jumboSWISHER said:

hey everybody =) this is a pretty dumb question haha
is there pics of low quality plants any where? im just wonderin how my plants lookin and its kinda hard to compare to all the badass plants people post pics of lol im on my first grow, and im actually jus kinda curious too of wut some bunk weed looks like while its growing lol

Click to expand...

i dont know where you would find pics like that...

its hard to really compare plants to plants since everybody has different set ups and are in different locations...

as long as your plants are for the most part green, not stretched, and growing, your doing ok...

Shiz, 1 last thing.

How long do you think the girls will be ok inside the tent with just the floro on them?

I realize time is especially of the essence as they are autos, but am I cool to just use that on 'em for bout the next day or 2 max?

Thanks bud,

Only the biggest plant that had the problems first has any black spots on it. I can't get a good picture of it with my camera but I will try again. Should I destroy that plant or remove the infected looking leafs? None of the other plants appear to have this problem, the only problem the others have is that their lowest pair of leafs are yellowing (which I imagine is a simply fert deficiency, according to your instructions earlier I should have started on 1/2 strength grow big today but I didn't). I will see how quickly I can get some anti fungal spray, maybe there is some at that store. Any good homemade concoctions out there? *will scour the internet haha

PS: Found this - 2 uncoated aspirin dissolved in a quart of water, as a foilar spray for black spot
Also should I try giving them anything today or wait again until the next watering? I got that Super thrive should I do something with it today?
PS: its only on the yellowing leafs of the largest plant that has the spots, its first pair are gone (i very gently removed them today because they were very much dead and dry and I didn't want them to turn into zombies and eat the other leafs)
PSS: So I am thinking I am gonna try the aspirin thing, although only 1 in the 4 cups or spray bottle reservoir, also: I got bigger pots for them for inside the pc grow box, they are 2.6 liter square containers that look like they will hold 3-5 times more soil than their part cups have. If I transplant them in a few days should I avoid giving them any ferts for a week or 2?

I think one thing I will do differently next time is to make them stretch a little at first so their leafs won't sag and touch the soil like they have a bit lately (the tips of the lowest have rested on the soil lately)
I am going to take a big risk I think and just try and transplant them now...

Just finished transplanting the biggest/sickest plant, didn't have tons of roots growing around the sides of the dirt but I could see some. I have forgotten one thing though - So I know you are supposed to water them right before you transplant, but are you also supposed to water the container they are being transplanted into? Before or just after you top it off with dirt? Ok the 2nd largest plant had more roots growing around on the bottom than the largest, starting on the 3rd...

Haha well they all had roots showing but it wasn't as much as I expected. Somehow they seem better already but maybe its just cause a bigger pot makes it seem more impressive? I hope this goes well and they don't hate me for what I've just done. Left my humidity reader in the window sill by the open window and forgot about it, its been there for several hours and now it is night time and its reading almost 70% (really wonder if this thing is accurate at all, think I will get one with a probe or something a digital)

So its been an hour since I finished transplanting and 5 hours since they got any water, i shouldn't put any water around any of them for a couple more days right? Or should I water the area around the middle? (didn't remember and couldn't find on the internet if i was supposed to water the soil they were transplanting into or not. Ok I found this http://www.buydutchseeds.com/transplanting_marijuana_plants.html and that says I should have watered the new soil in layers and added some of that Super Thrive... Reading in other forums people seem to use it a lot during a time of stress or sickness. I think that would be now for me but I should probably wait until I water again right? I also read about poking holes and stuff in the root ball so they grow out more and I didn't read about that until afterward. Some people are saying they use an amount of super thrive every watering, others say at most 2-3 times during veg, do you have any experience with it?

So it would seem the humidity isn't too high, but can it be too low? 40% is what its been at for awhile now and I wonder if i should put a small dish of water in front of the pc grow box tower for the fans to suck air in over/around

EDIT: this latest picture is from a quarter to midnight of the plants about 35 hours after they moved in. Figure I will give them some amount of Super Thrive and 1/4 strength grow big (cause I don't know if they will stretch out their roots in time to save the yellowing leafs, the yellowing leafs on all plants are starting to show tiny signs of other problems dosen't look like the black spots are coming in like the biggest plant had, but the tips are drying, and the ends are yellowing a bit, still not sure why the one plants leafs are curling inward (not the plant that looks like a ball the one on the right with this latest picture). I think I might try raising the lights to the top? Maybe they are part of the problem, this wouldn't be so confusing if each of the 3 plants was responding the same way.

cool thanks for the info. the Snowcaps roots are currently coming through the drain holes so I think I'll get it transplanted tomorrow. A couple of her leaves are yellowing as well which I think is a sign that it needs nutrients. Thanks for the help man!

showhard2handle said:

Shiz, 1 last thing.

How long do you think the girls will be ok inside the tent with just the floro on them?

I realize time is especially of the essence as they are autos, but am I cool to just use that on 'em for bout the next day or 2 max?

Thanks bud,

Click to expand...

i wouldnt leave them too long in there with just a floro.... but they will be ok for a couple days.. they are too small right now to be greatly affected by lack of light... but the sooner the hps can be up and running and working right the better off you will be...

also.... temps can be warmer in the tent than normal IF three things happen...

1) the res water remains under 75 degrees...
2) there is plenty or fresh air coming in... passively is fine.. it just needs to be new air to supply CO2 (or you have some DIY co2 maker in the tent)
3) there is a good amount of air movement in the tent (to help move fresh co2 to the plants)

jdizzle22 said:

Only the biggest plant that had the problems first has any black spots on it. I can't get a good picture of it with my camera but I will try again. Should I destroy that plant or remove the infected looking leafs? None of the other plants appear to have this problem, the only problem the others have is that their lowest pair of leafs are yellowing (which I imagine is a simply fert deficiency, according to your instructions earlier I should have started on 1/2 strength grow big today but I didn't). I will see how quickly I can get some anti fungal spray, maybe there is some at that store. Any good homemade concoctions out there? *will scour the internet haha

PS: Found this - 2 uncoated aspirin dissolved in a quart of water, as a foilar spray for black spot
Also should I try giving them anything today or wait again until the next watering? I got that Super thrive should I do something with it today?
PS: its only on the yellowing leafs of the largest plant that has the spots, its first pair are gone (i very gently removed them today because they were very much dead and dry and I didn't want them to turn into zombies and eat the other leafs)
PSS: So I am thinking I am gonna try the aspirin thing, although only 1 in the 4 cups or spray bottle reservoir, also: I got bigger pots for them for inside the pc grow box, they are 2.6 liter square containers that look like they will hold 3-5 times more soil than their part cups have. If I transplant them in a few days should I avoid giving them any ferts for a week or 2?

I think one thing I will do differently next time is to make them stretch a little at first so their leafs won't sag and touch the soil like they have a bit lately (the tips of the lowest have rested on the soil lately)
I am going to take a big risk I think and just try and transplant them now...

Just finished transplanting the biggest/sickest plant, didn't have tons of roots growing around the sides of the dirt but I could see some. I have forgotten one thing though - So I know you are supposed to water them right before you transplant, but are you also supposed to water the container they are being transplanted into? Before or just after you top it off with dirt? Ok the 2nd largest plant had more roots growing around on the bottom than the largest, starting on the 3rd...

Haha well they all had roots showing but it wasn't as much as I expected. Somehow they seem better already but maybe its just cause a bigger pot makes it seem more impressive? I hope this goes well and they don't hate me for what I've just done. Left my humidity reader in the window sill by the open window and forgot about it, its been there for several hours and now it is night time and its reading almost 70% (really wonder if this thing is accurate at all, think I will get one with a probe or something a digital)

So its been an hour since I finished transplanting and 5 hours since they got any water, i shouldn't put any water around any of them for a couple more days right? Or should I water the area around the middle? (didn't remember and couldn't find on the internet if i was supposed to water the soil they were transplanting into or not. Ok I found this http://www.buydutchseeds.com/transplanting_marijuana_plants.html and that says I should have watered the new soil in layers and added some of that Super Thrive... Reading in other forums people seem to use it a lot during a time of stress or sickness. I think that would be now for me but I should probably wait until I water again right? I also read about poking holes and stuff in the root ball so they grow out more and I didn't read about that until afterward. Some people are saying they use an amount of super thrive every watering, others say at most 2-3 times during veg, do you have any experience with it?

So it would seem the humidity isn't too high, but can it be too low? 40% is what its been at for awhile now and I wonder if i should put a small dish of water in front of the pc grow box tower for the fans to suck air in over/around

Click to expand...

alright.. if you transplanted go ahead and water... you can go with 1 more 1/4 strength application... after that make it plain water.. then 1/2 strenght.. then water.. you may not need to go past half strength.. we'll see tho...

as far an fungicide sprays i dont know any home remedies... i do however know molases (the kind you'd use to feed your plant) acts as a natural fungicide.. the fungual infection could have been absorbed from the soil itself.. who knows...

you can use super thrive every water if you want.. regardless of if you are using other nutes... its a good all purpose additive... just dont over do it... its better to be slightly under feeding than over feeding...

dont mess with the root ball itself.. ever... there is no need to.. when the transplant is done the roots will stretch out on their own... poking and fucking around with the root mass will only stress the plant out more and longer... root trimming is about the only thing worth doing.. but you dont need to worry about that with such small root masses...

humidity is fine.. i wouldnt worry if its not under 40% or not over 65%...

i think that covered everything??

showhard2handle said:

Sampson 1 more question for tonight. I'll kep it short.

Just to be clear on the technaflora nutes. You said that the chart you provided was spot on. However, if I was to follow the bottle cut to 1/4 strength. Here's what I did.

The recipe (attached) says to mix "X" amount of all the VEG stuff per x1 gallon of water. So to cut the shit I totally suck @ math, and figured I am only going to start the first run in the reservoir with x3 gallons of distilled. Add the nutes prescribed per gallon of water in all x3 of my gallons of water, therefore cutting the potency of the nute solution to 1/3 strength. What you think? Ah man, I can't tell you how much I appreciate u keepin me straight goose.

So yeah, I have diluted nutes, seem to be workin OK, (take a look @ pic & u tell me, this is exaclty 24 hours from translplant. (Obv. some betta than othas).

And oh boy, here's the killer, (u are so lovin mee).

I bought the PPM meter like you said. But could you give me a quick overview of PPM in general. Or simply point me in the right direction of an unbiased resource so that I can get saavy??

Wow, really wish I could do something for ya dude, all ur time is an amazin help, weather this run falls to pieces or not. I'll keep fishin, thanks bud!

Click to expand...

alright.. so i think i get what your saying.. you just added enough for 1 gallon of nute mix to 3 gallons of water.. correct?? if so that will give you your 1/3 strength.. which is fine... it doesnt have to be exactly 1/4 strength.. and honestly, in hydro applications, you can get away with starting a little higher.. just watch the sprouts and make sure they are reacting ok to the nutes..

alright... ppm.... part per million.. its a way to tell how strong of a nute solution you have... here's the kicker.. there are 3, yes 3, different PPM charts depending on the meter you are using... i personally stick with EC (electrical conductivity).. what it reads isnt important, but what is important is that it only reads one 1 scale... so to make things easier i will tell you the EC is use.. and you can match it up to the ppm scale your meter reads using the link i supplied below..

sprout/veg (1rst week) - EC = .4 to .6
veg (week 2 and 3) - EC = .8 to 1.0
veg (4+ weeks) - EC = 1.4 to 1.6
transition week (first week veg to flower) - EC = .4 to .6
transition week (second week of 1/2 as bud sites start to show) - EC = .8 to 1.0
flowering (early stages... week 3 and 4 roughly) - EC = 1.2 to 1.4
flowering (heavy... weeks 5, 6, 7) - EC = 1.6 to 1.8
5 day flush - EC = .4 to .6
last 2 days are just water and florakleen for the last final flush..


http://www.gardenscure.com/420/hydroponics/96521-printable-ec-ppm-cf-conversion-chart.html

piffsmokingmaniac said:

i got some white bugs in my soil can anyone help me out

Click to expand...

if they are flying then they are most likely soil gnats... the easiest way to get rid of them is to get some sterilzed sand and put a couple inches on top of your soil... this way water can still run into the soil.. but the little bastards cant get back into the soil where they live, and the ones below die...

you can also try to get a no pest strip.. these are chemical strips you hang in your garden.. they work well.. but again are chemical.. so thats up to you..

there are other homemade remidies that may work.. garlic sprays.. tabacco sprays... hot sauce sprays... but really the top two are the easiest best options.. the sand will take longer but takes no sprays or anything.. the pest strip will only take a couple days to finish the job...

no pest strips and the sand can be found at home depot or menards or anywhere like that..

braid said:

cool thanks for the info. the Snowcaps roots are currently coming through the drain holes so I think I'll get it transplanted tomorrow. A couple of her leaves are yellowing as well which I think is a sign that it needs nutrients. Thanks for the help man!

Click to expand...

sounds like it is time to transplant and begin nutes for sure..

Ok so the bottle of super thrive says a 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water for activity or stress, for constant or daily stress 1-3 drops. In about 3 hours it will have been 24 hours since I watered last, should I wait another day or 2 before watering with all this stuff or is my situation dire enough I should water again now? The plants are looking a little better today (the top set of leafs on the biggest/sickest look like raised up a little from their droopy state), I went ahead and gently remove the infected looking leafs on the one from the stalk cause they were so yellow and getting spotty and dry anyway and moved that plant to the back of the case so in case there is any kind o spores spreading hopefully it would get sucked straight out the back by the fans and not pass over any other plants on the way out.

I'm going to try a lot harder to look around and find out why its leafs are sagging so much. So humidity doesn't appear to be the problem, I am pretty sure its not over fertilization, have we ruled out over/under watering? Could it be anything besides that?

Also I am going to try a lot harder to not talk and ask so many questions... I have a hard time telling when I am being annoying like that and I have been asking a lot of questions in here so I will try my best in the future to be quick and concise and to the point, and to just not ask so much in general. (haha I practically have a grow journal running in this thread)

PS: Immediate edit* Gotta figure out to why the lower leafs keep yellowing on each, should I really go with a 1/4 strength again? (did it 2 times in a row and watered plainly once after which was also the last time I watered). Oh but since they have unused soil to go through I guess they wouldn't really need 1/2 strength quite yet... Ok... Man I was hoping I wouldn't have any of these problems, makes me annoyed some people that know even less than I do can grow it in their closet with a card board box and a single bulb, or on their window sill...

SimpsonSampson... i have these seedlings here, they're about 2 weeks old. no nutes as of yet. under an 8 bulb flouro with circular fan moving leaves very very slightly. light is about 3 1/2 " away from top of plants. i've noticed the leaves curling and twisting as you can see in the picture... any ideas as to why both plants are growing this way? they are a nice color green other than the issue with the leaves..... also, they were planted from seed about 2 weeks ago, can i start going 1/4 strength on nutes now? thank you for the help. ~GREEN~

jdizzle22 said:

Ok so the bottle of super thrive says a 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water for activity or stress, for constant or daily stress 1-3 drops. In about 3 hours it will have been 24 hours since I watered last, should I wait another day or 2 before watering with all this stuff or is my situation dire enough I should water again now? The plants are looking a little better today (the top set of leafs on the biggest/sickest look like raised up a little from their droopy state), I went ahead and gently remove the infected looking leafs on the one from the stalk cause they were so yellow and getting spotty and dry anyway and moved that plant to the back of the case so in case there is any kind o spores spreading hopefully it would get sucked straight out the back by the fans and not pass over any other plants on the way out.

I'm going to try a lot harder to look around and find out why its leafs are sagging so much. So humidity doesn't appear to be the problem, I am pretty sure its not over fertilization, have we ruled out over/under watering? Could it be anything besides that?

Also I am going to try a lot harder to not talk and ask so many questions... I have a hard time telling when I am being annoying like that and I have been asking a lot of questions in here so I will try my best in the future to be quick and concise and to the point, and to just not ask so much in general. (haha I practically have a grow journal running in this thread)

PS: Immediate edit* Gotta figure out to why the lower leafs keep yellowing on each, should I really go with a 1/4 strength again? (did it 2 times in a row and watered plainly once after which was also the last time I watered). Oh but since they have unused soil to go through I guess they wouldn't really need 1/2 strength quite yet... Ok... Man I was hoping I wouldn't have any of these problems, makes me annoyed some people that know even less than I do can grow it in their closet with a card board box and a single bulb, or on their window sill...

Click to expand...

first and foremost dont think you are annoying me... i like to help out... i was a new grower once and wish i had a solid helping hand for me through my first few grows... thats why im here.. being a consistant source of help is what i made this thread for.. i enjoy it even... so never feel bad for asking things.. regardless of what it is.. and if i give you an answer that still doesnt make sense tell me and ill try to explain it another way!

so first i would not water again until it needs it... over watering it or trying to over correct the problem to quickly will lead to more issues.. it will need time to fix itself.. showing it love and affection is fine.. but we dont want to love it to death...

humidity is not an issue.... thats for sure...

over watering may have been part of the issue after the change in watering practices... but by now things should be adjusted...

if it is a fungal infection, it could be throughout the plants already.. but its hard to say... since from what you have said all the infected leaves are removed as of now we'll be able to see if spreads.. if it begins to appear somewhere else it will be time for more drastic decisions...

my opinion is it was a combination of many small things that caused 1 major issue.. first was the need to transplant... the second was the increase in watering.. and the third could easily have been a combination of nute def and a small infection...

dont feel bad things arent going perfect... i could write a book of my own personal fuck ups of things i did when i started... shit happens.. of course we all want things to be perfect.. but its hard to achieve... i know it can be discouraging to see other grows going well while yours suffers.. but believe me, you are in the majority... its happened to us all...

ijustgrowGREEN said:

SimpsonSampson... i have these seedlings here, they're about 2 weeks old. no nutes as of yet. under an 8 bulb flouro with circular fan moving leaves very very slightly. light is about 3 1/2 " away from top of plants. i've noticed the leaves curling and twisting as you can see in the picture... any ideas as to why both plants are growing this way? they are a nice color green other than the issue with the leaves..... also, they were planted from seed about 2 weeks ago, can i start going 1/4 strength on nutes now? thank you for the help. ~GREEN~

Click to expand...

nutes are probably fine to start now.. feed them once and see how they react.. if things go good you can continue on and increase the amount over time...

as far as the leaf curling goes i would say its just a pheno type of the strain (whatever it is) you are growing.. nothing to worry about

showhard2handle said:

Dude, I swear as soon as i get thru this little hiccup, and get my shit dialed in, I'm gonna stop stalkin ya.

What if I got the fan on the link below.


http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=CMF615&AC=1

Here's the other question, what if I mount in attic directly above attic. I read that fans PULL air way better than PUSH, so by that logic, wouldn't mounting in the attic & using the new flex ducting I just bought make a serious improvement?

Number one, I am going from Eco-Line 78cfm total piece (4" inline fan currently that set the motha up to 100 degrees), to 392cfm with the 6" fan.

Now, I am going to have to have a 6" to 4" reducer to make work with my tent (adapter obv. would be on fan in attic). But Even with the lack of efficiency from the reducer, shouldn't quadrupling the cfm, along with the new better flex ducting (is flex really that much better?) Homeboy @ the shop says that the ducting in itself helps a bit & helps to mittigate the issues w/ 90 degree angles u mentioned. I realize an angle is way less efficient than a straight line, but I'm thinkin this could solve my issues.

I have to do 6" fan in my attic, as there is no fuckin room @ all with my set up. I could fit a 4 inch can fan (same brand as 6") however, it is half the cfm's. And the 6" fan is only 20 bucks more for twice the cfm's.

I could fit the 4" fan in my closet, as opposed to attic, but there will be much more acute angles (similar or worse than 90 degrees).

What's ur take doc.

I owe ya my 2nd born, for real, thanks bud

Click to expand...

that fan looks good... the more hot air you can remove and the quicker it can be removed, the more cooler air gets pulled in passively and the faster it gets pulled in.. all of which are a good thing...

typically fans are better to push than pull... there are a few reasons... especially if the duct is bent.. but if you are going straight it doesnt matter... i would go 6" in the attic if the duct can be run straight... much better results..

the type of duct really doesnt change stuff... i guess some may have a flatter inner surface, which would cause a smoother flow of air.. but thats about it... and im sure it causes very little increase... most of the time they say shit to sell you over priced stuff... 6" duct is 6" duct...

you didnt show the bulbs you were talkin about tho..

Hi there SimpsonSampson I would like your advice again please ! I've taken on board about fim'ing Tec witch I did on 2 of my girls I used my fingers and ended up with 4 tops on each girl ! Now I want a go at supercropping now you hav explained to me how to do it but when ? Do I do it ? My girls are only 5 inches tall at the min but my other girls hav about a week to 2 weeks left in flower ! Just wanting to get all the info so I'm ready wen the girls are ! Also wud you fim the tops after super cropping ? And the branches ! Thankyou for all the help I've allready !

Ahhhhh, we are back on line goose!

It's been a nerve racking 2 days, but I just finished gettin the 6" set up & dude, that thing sux the fuckin walls in. Whole different world.

So anyway, they been up under the hps for bout 2 hours.

Sorry i forgot the pics, but here we are.

Lemme know what u think. The other cheapie bulb had a similar soldered lookin blob of metal, but no brown / orange residue around it, which is my primary area of concern.

It be nice to use this one, cause it says "GROW" on it too, ha. dumb joke.

Anyway, I do also have a halide bulb that came with the light. Lemme know which of the 3 i should use. i remember u sayin that the halide burns hotter, but I am very confident that I can cool that jank. (Man u feel the air gettin sucked straight under door (used foam to make top lightproof), anyway. respek to can fans, they are 100% authentic. Not the cheapest solution, but fuk me did it work.

Gonna relax for a bit, then try & get my head wrapped around that PPM info. you were KIND enough to break off.

THanks bro, talk soon.

Prob, get ya some pics of the youngins tomorro, or sometime soon so u can hook up a post-transplant analysis.

Mr frosty said:

Hi there SimpsonSampson I would like your advice again please ! I've taken on board about fim'ing Tec witch I did on 2 of my girls I used my fingers and ended up with 4 tops on each girl ! Now I want a go at supercropping now you hav explained to me how to do it but when ? Do I do it ? My girls are only 5 inches tall at the min but my other girls hav about a week to 2 weeks left in flower ! Just wanting to get all the info so I'm ready wen the girls are ! Also wud you fim the tops after super cropping ? And the branches ! Thankyou for all the help I've allready !

Click to expand...

congrats on the successful FIM...

as far as super cropping.. in veg i would do it as soon as you want lower branches to start pushing up and the plant to start bushing out.. maybe after 4 or 5 node sets appear...

if you are flowering you cant super crop.. its far to late after the 2nd week of flowering...

and yes, you can FIM the tops of the super cropped sections after they up right if you want..

i personally super crop as much as i can through veg to strengthen branches and produce as many tops as i can and then FIM all the tops..

showhard2handle said:

Ahhhhh, we are back on line goose!

It's been a nerve racking 2 days, but I just finished gettin the 6" set up & dude, that thing sux the fuckin walls in. Whole different world.

So anyway, they been up under the hps for bout 2 hours.

Sorry i forgot the pics, but here we are.

Lemme know what u think. The other cheapie bulb had a similar soldered lookin blob of metal, but no brown / orange residue around it, which is my primary area of concern.

It be nice to use this one, cause it says "GROW" on it too, ha. dumb joke.

Anyway, I do also have a halide bulb that came with the light. Lemme know which of the 3 i should use. i remember u sayin that the halide burns hotter, but I am very confident that I can cool that jank. (Man u feel the air gettin sucked straight under door (used foam to make top lightproof), anyway. respek to can fans, they are 100% authentic. Not the cheapest solution, but fuk me did it work.

Gonna relax for a bit, then try & get my head wrapped around that PPM info. you were KIND enough to break off.

THanks bro, talk soon.

Prob, get ya some pics of the youngins tomorro, or sometime soon so u can hook up a post-transplant analysis.

Click to expand...

the new bulb is fine...

if you want amazing veg growth and can cool the MH bulb and keep the tent cool i say use that.. but the hps is fine again..

glad it seems to be working...

PPM can be a bit confusing at first.. just ask if you have questions...