Newb's Own First Grow - AK-47s

Can I/Should I use "Superthrive" this early???

I would definitely build a reflector and try to get the HPS within a foot.

I would lay off any nutes just yet, keep it up bro!

after looking at those again you might want to tilt ur fan upwards could be too much wind i got windburn on my mother i threw into flower look kinda simalar

Day 20/5:
Things are going good, went and got some superthrive and a humi-dome today from the shop. Was debating the superthrive, but all three at the shop said it wouldn't hurt at all... so just recently mixed some superthrive in a spray bottle and sprayed all the babies good.


The biggest change since yesterday was the height, especially on the new 4... they gained about 1-2 inches since yesterday morning... stretching too much? I know before I was told mine were too short :-/ the 150 HPS is about one foot now from the girls, about 6-8" from the top of the dome.

Will be leaving town for the night for Halloween, hope all will be good... no.. make that great when I return LOL

Superthrive is just vitamin B1. It's fine for seedlings. That dome is creating another heat trap I think. How is air supposed to circulate around the plants? The temps have been your biggest issue so far. Domes are only really necessary for clones. Do have a thermometer in there? The distance of your light would be good for a 400watt hps but 150watt I think you can move a lot closer. Just make sure you have plenty of air moving between the light and your plants.

mared juwan said:

Superthrive is just vitamin B1. It's fine for seedlings. That dome is creating another heat trap I think. How is air supposed to circulate around the plants? The temps have been your biggest issue so far. Domes are only really necessary for clones. Do have a thermometer in there? The distance of your light would be good for a 400watt hps but 150watt I think you can move a lot closer. Just make sure you have plenty of air moving between the light and your plants.

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Agh, all the contradicting suggestions LOL

Well, the dome has two vents I can slide open/close, and the fan is right near... However, I'm wondering if they were actually on the cold side?? The cubes felt rather cold before, and with the new seedlings, they did a VAST part of their growth the first couple night when I placed them on a heat vent??

Wondering? May give them a couple days in the dome and see how things go... if no, I'll lose it.

Yea, trust your own instincts. I try to help but I'm not there to look at your thermometer or feel the coldness of the rockwool. I have the same dome but I only use it for clones - never needed it otherwise. All I can tell you is in my experience, no matter what age, my plants grow faster with cooler temps and maximum air circulation. High heat and stagnant air are sure ways to stunt growth. Keep the vents open and you should be fine.

Thanks for all the help man... yeah not trying to negate yours (or anybody's) feedback, just trying to find what works!

I did move the girls closer about 2-3" might play with a couple more here and see I found this chart that seemds helpful

Nice chart. I like that. I have 400watt HPS but it is supposedly 60,000 lumen. I keep it 12-14 inches away from the nearest plant. Any closer than that and I get heat stressed leaves. I suppose if I got a more powerful fan I could get it a little closer so the chart seems about right. I think if you had your light a foot away and then moved it 2 or 3 inches closer that should be about good so just give it a while and see what happens. It's moreso important for your new seedlings because if they stretch too tall they get hard to manage.

leggoeggo said:

Thanks for all the help man... yeah not trying to negate yours (or anybody's) feedback, just trying to find what works!

I did move the girls closer about 2-3" might play with a couple more here and see I found this chart that seemds helpful

Click to expand...

Here is the other chart for metal halide, they match.

For the most part just use common sense, put your hand under the light and next to the plant and feel the temperature, if it's all right for your hand it's all right for your plant, if it's too hot for your hand, well it would be too hot for the plant. It's easy trying to think too much.

Day 21/6: THREE WEEKS (for the veteran girls)
And while I know they close to what they should be, but that was because of my rough start. Since I've changed a couple things around (pH, HPS, water schedules, humidty) they are really perking up and growing faster/better...

Though, all-in-all the name of the game right now is "stretching" the new seedlings really have, and the others have gotten more height than normal. I just moved the plants even close, now 5" away...

things are looking up, I hope

leggoeggo said:

Day 20/5:
Things are going good, went and got some superthrive and a humi-dome today from the shop. Was debating the superthrive, but all three at the shop said it wouldn't hurt at all... so just recently mixed some superthrive in a spray bottle and sprayed all the babies good.

The biggest change since yesterday was the height, especially on the new 4... they gained about 1-2 inches since yesterday morning... stretching too much? I know before I was told mine were too short :-/ the 150 HPS is about one foot now from the girls, about 6-8" from the top of the dome.

Will be leaving town for the night for Halloween, hope all will be good... no.. make that great when I return LOL

Click to expand...

hey man ur hps looks awfully far away from your plants..especially when ur vegging wiith hps u want to keep them alittle closer. olhyea and try to find a reflector at home depot in the wiring and lighting section...cuz the way it is now ur light is just disapating in open space.

Yeah, thats why I moved them closer yesterday, now they're 5" from the lamp, the closet I've read is 4"...

got plans to run to the depot today for my reflector, know how to do it, hopefully it goes as planned...

Also, never really noticed, but although my closet is painted a very light green/white (no need for mylar)... the door that faces inward is dark brown!! Will covering/painting the door make a big ifference??

Day 23/8:
Gotta hood... for the most part. Went to the depot got a sheet of metal to bend and rig over the light. I will be painting it white here in a day or two, but couldn't wait to put it up


The older three are doing much better... still have some catching up to do from their stunted start... I'm getting excited when I compare photos from a couple days ago. Also, the reaching/stretching has stopped, though the new seedlings are rather tall from the first couple days...

Yay they gettin bigger i just put my clones in rock wool

The older ones are definitely looking a lot bigger and better. You can use toothpicks in the rockwool and bread twisty ties to hold up any seedlings that want to fall over.

Thanks guys, I'm glad things are looking up, I think I'm going to start my DWC here tomorrow or so... then they should really take off!!

mared juwan said:

The older ones are definitely looking a lot bigger and better.

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Think this is where they should have been at 2 weeks?? I'm thinking I'm a week behind...???

yeah you're a little behind, cool thing about these plants though is when they are stunted, if you correct the issue that caused it they will often supercompensate, that is they can have big growth spurts when issues are fixed.

so as long as you keep takin good care of them they should take off!

i'm on my first grow and i have a set of plants that i started with ended up veggin them for 7 weeks b/c of all the stunting i caused, ended up having to do a lot of pruning etc but the root system is massive and teh stems are strong and now i've got tons of bud sites branchign out from the bottom and literally flying to the top of the canopy.

since then i've started two more plants and switched to an SOG style grow (just cuz i'm impatient) and both of them are glorious, so green and lush and fuckin perfect