T5 Flourescents w/ Random Bagseed & Miracle-Grow Organic soil (+rep for reply!)

I

Iron883Guy

Active Member
Please comment, I'd love to hear opinions ;)

After my first grow went terrible and my 6 plants yielded less than 1/4oz in total, I knew I had to make some changes. First, I looked at my lights and realized that I was using crappy T12 floros, which put out less lumens than a lightning bug. Second, I realized the soil I was using sucked. So, here is the result of those fixes.

I decided to use this wonderful fixture: http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=49346

I have used zero nutrients, and I give them 20hrs light, 4hrs dark. This is a simple closet, with no ventilation except the door being opened.

And I picked the Organic-choice Miracle grow as the mixture. Many people hate MG, but since I couldn't find a local place, or a good place to ship me Fox Farms, I picked this for its organic nature.

Here are the pictures. What do you guys think? Two things of note: 1) The real pathetic plant on the left was potted with generic potting mix, note how much good soil makes a difference. 2) The strange looking plant was actually from my last batch, I cut off all the plant to dry and smoke, except the bottom smallest leaves. Check how she exploded!

















As a point of reference, this was my first grow, at time of harvest. Yes, pathetic. At least I knew the next one could only get better! (I made MANY mistakes).


Please comment! THanks!
 
upthearsenal

upthearsenal

Well-Known Member
you're on your way man,if you can find a place for good soil that would be a huge plus, but i'm sure you know that ;p
either way, i would add a fan just to get the air flowing under the leaves. btw what strains are those?
 
I

Iron883Guy

Active Member
Thanks for posting Upthearsenal! I have no idea... I had 4 seeds I've saved from previous stuff, and like 50 from some pothead girl's ashtray. Just planted... and bam. Its a surprise! :P
 
I

Iron883Guy

Active Member
UPDATE! PH PROBLEMS (LOWER THAN 4!), MILD BURNING PROBLEMS, CRAZY PLANT IS A LOT LARGER THOUGH!

So, I bought a PH Meter for this grow. First one I didn't have one... yikes. Terrible results. I tested the PH... most of my plants were 5 or lower. WAY TOO ACIDIC. So, I bought some Dolomite Lime, and I mixed it in with the water feedings today, and I'll see if that helps raise the PH to where it should be. In a few pictures you can see some burning, that was my fault, I accented my floros with a CFL and had it way too close :( Additionally, I'm 99% sure the plants that look like they are hurting are due to the WAY TOO ACIDIC PH. Hopefully I will have this remedied with the Dolomite Lime addition to the acidic tap water we've got here. I'd love to hear comments and suggestions! Thanks!










 
NewbGrower^.^

NewbGrower^.^

Active Member
If they are 2 weeks old and have been on 24 hours of light. I could bet that is a nitrogen deficiency and rootbound. Miracle grow organic gave me the same problems weeks 2-3. BTW Miracle grow soils have awful PH consistency. I buy bags that range from 4 to 7 which is a joke. Most are about 4-5 ph which means from the start you should have been watering with about 7.5 ph water. Think of it as like dumping 2 different liquids with different ph's, the final liquid ph would be around the middle. Understand a bit more? The ph overall is a mixture of the water and the soil it goes into. Fox farm ocean forest which I use is always 6.3-6.6 PH which is spot on. That means I water with 6.5. Give them a small nitrogen dose soil and foliar. All I can say is transplant into larger pot, and after give soil drench with nitrogen nute along with foliar spray. Good luck

Included picture
Bagseed 5 days old 24 hours light under t5's. They are already rootbound in the party cups with 2 sets of true leaves! So they are getting transplanted ASAP. Lightly slide your plants roots,dirt,and all upside down and out of the party cups to check the roots. I can bet you have some insane root action judging by the size of those plants
 

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I

Iron883Guy

Active Member
I really gotta buy this Fox Farm Ocean FOrest stuff. Where can I buy it cheap? Without the shipping costing a shitton?
 
NewbGrower^.^

NewbGrower^.^

Active Member
Check your local yellowpages and just call up every nursery and hydro shop in the area. Buying online will suck since a bag will be 20 bux and the shipping will be like 16 bux... =/

Did you check if they were rootbound>? I could bet money if you transplanted them into good sized containers with a Fox farm or other good known soil they would bounce right back. You are running out of time though and you need them out of party cups!
 
I

Iron883Guy

Active Member
Newb: Yep, tons of roots. I've transplanted all but two out of party cups into larger pots. Unfortunately, all I have is this MG organic soil, which is the best I've found at Lowes/Home Depot/Walmart/Target... But I think I've mostly fixed the PH problem. More pics to come as progress continues!
 
NewbGrower^.^

NewbGrower^.^

Active Member
Id say just finish this grow with the Miracle Grow and worry about your new soil when these are almost done. After the transplant they should green up a lot and start to grow quickly again.
Party cups are decent for starting seeds and clones in... but they just get so filled with roots so quick! I try to get plants out of party cups about a week in.

Included pics:
Day 7 Seedlings already rootbound
 

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TheOldRat

TheOldRat

Member
you can keep them in the cups quite a while especially if you top them for 4 main colas, but figure on a 5gal bucket to finish them.
If you need to adjust the soil PH, with plants in it,just use PH corrected H2O or blend the soil mix before the plants are in the soil.
When they get in the 5gal buckets they will launch off so make sure to have your light as low as possible to control growth
just make sure the bottom of the bucket is packing peanuts or something. and has plenty of drain holes so all the little guys doing the magic in the soil can breathe.
I just use 6" of dead brown leaves with my soil on top, I put it all in a bag and leave it outside, in the 100deg heat for a few days to kill any critters before using a oven will do on low.
after flowering, the roots in the leaf mass are amazing.
Every 2 weeks of flower I make a molasses and water drink, for the little magic guys in the soil/leaf mass to feed on, and water them manually, to keep my res and pump cleaner.
soil quality is so over rated most any well draining soil will do.
I provide nutes and water daily using a small pump and a few drippers, a drain to waste system will only consume about one quart per plant per day.
Hommie Depot in the sprinkler department has a nice 12 site 2GPH drip head with hose and bubblers for less than 15$ make sure to get a 6" chunk of 1/2" hose and a fitting that fits the head to the hose before you leave HD.
A 50GPH pump and head will fit into the bottom of a 5gal bucket, 15min once a day will do it.
3 plants a 5 gall bucket lasts 4days
a H2O PH meeter is needed, as is a TDS meeter. I test the drain water from them too.
keep one nice branching plant as your mum and you can then live and learn and will always have clones to flower :)
we have to water our plants any way we might as well feed nutes at same time.

TR
 
NewbGrower^.^

NewbGrower^.^

Active Member
TheOldRat said:
you can keep them in the cups quite a while especially if you top them for 4 main colas, but figure on a 5gal bucket to finish them.
If you need to adjust the soil PH, with plants in it,just use PH corrected H2O or blend the soil mix before the plants are in the soil.
When they get in the 5gal buckets they will launch off so make sure to have your light as low as possible to control growth
just make sure the bottom of the bucket is packing peanuts or something. and has plenty of drain holes so all the little guys doing the magic in the soil can breathe.
I just use 6" of dead brown leaves with my soil on top, I put it all in a bag and leave it outside, in the 100deg heat for a few days to kill any critters before using a oven will do on low.
after flowering, the roots in the leaf mass are amazing.
Every 2 weeks of flower I make a molasses and water drink, for the little magic guys in the soil/leaf mass to feed on, and water them manually, to keep my res and pump cleaner.
soil quality is so over rated most any well draining soil will do.
I provide nutes and water daily using a small pump and a few drippers, a drain to waste system will only consume about one quart per plant per day.
Hommie Depot in the sprinkler department has a nice 12 site 2GPH drip head with hose and bubblers for less than 15$ make sure to get a 6" chunk of 1/2" hose and a fitting that fits the head to the hose before you leave HD.
A 50GPH pump and head will fit into the bottom of a 5gal bucket, 15min once a day will do it.
3 plants a 5 gall bucket lasts 4days
a H2O PH meeter is needed, as is a TDS meeter. I test the drain water from them too.
keep one nice branching plant as your mum and you can then live and learn and will always have clones to flower :)
we have to water our plants any way we might as well feed nutes at same time.

TR
Click to expand...
Great info but too much for him now as he is somewhat a beginner. How those plats doing after the transplant mate?
 
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