T5ho/HPS 400w 1st grow

mrwood said:

I like the plants to dry out between waterings. The soil is dry when you stick you finger in, and the pot is lighter. I then water until I get some minor runoff.
You are in 3 gal smart pots? Maybe try 3/4 gal every 3 days?
You got bigger plants than me, not sure of your humidity. I am in 2 gal smart pots, and water 1/2 gal every 3rd day. I am ~2 weeks into flowering.
Your plants look a little stretchy, but that is probably because they are a sativa hybrid?
You were asking about light distance - I get it as close as I can, as long as it is not too hot (measured by palm of hand & thermometer) and you are not limiting the spread of your light. 4" above canopy sounds great as long as not too hot & light is spreading out to plants.

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I can put my hand on my 400w cooltube without it burning or being uncomfortable, its warm for sure but not too hot.
Ya they stretched out but thts due to a week vegging under the HPS and the bulb i have has a very low blue spectrum.
Humidity stays around 40-50%. i have a humidifier tht kicks on if it drops below tht.
Im going to let them dry out and try a 3/4 a gallon every 3 days see if it clears up the Claw.
i also added an oscillating stand up fan tht is circulating the air better across the canopy and put the small desk fan blowing down the middle of the plant rows.
We'll see if this helps. Thanks for all help Wood!

Since hitting week 4 its evident that my girls are in different stages of bud development. From pictures on this site and some educated guessing Id put my oldest girl at 4 weeks and my youngest at 2.
Ive also noticed two distinct phenos in the bunch. One grows more tall and lengthy with a real fruity smell and the other is a shorter breed with a distinct citrus smell.
Ive also got rid of the claw. It was as I expected, too frequent waterings. This wasn't allowing my soil to dry out enough. So I stopped watering on the in between days and placed a desk fan at the smart pot/lower branch lvl to improve air flow. This has helped tremendously, as the claw stopped and even reversed a bit on some of the leaves.
Overall, Im pleased with the progress and may keep growing this strain if it yields/smokes right.
Anyway thts it. Enjoy the pics!

Looks good! Frosty & white!

and may keep growing this strain if it yields/smokes right

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I like the idea of grow the same strains/phenos for a couple grows. You get to know your plants & should grow better next run. You got clones from your two plant types?

mrwood said:

Looks good! Frosty & white!

I like the idea of grow the same strains/phenos for a couple grows. You get to know your plants & should grow better next run. You got clones from your two plant types?

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Thanx man! Hoping to see the oldest girl swell up nice and fat soon!
Havent takin clones yet but i got plenty places to take em on the bottom of the plants. Might do tht tomorrow if i get time. Just got to figure out a place to veg them. No room in closet untill i reverse the door to swing out instead of in. But thts a pain in the ass project im not looking forward too.

Oldest girls are lookin good!! Got at least 2 more weeks on the most mature plants. On some of the others i probably got another month or so. Notice my leaves are yellowing on the big ones but it seems to be normal for their maturity.
Already have 12 more of the same seeds goin in my other room, they sprouted about 3 weeks ago and are veggin under t5hos now. Ill be doing a separate grow journal for those though, definitely going to be doing some topping for a more even canopy.
PICS:

Here's my new babies lookin good! Just a little over 3 weeks from sprout, Soil is FF OF mixed with HF and perlite. These all came from the same bud and look at the genetic variations. I got one definite indica, a couple mixed and a couple sativa doms.
I first thought the seeds were a result of self polination but with all the genetic variants in the plants Im thinkin it could be a result of cross polination and Im expecting some males. But maybe Im wrong and self polination can express different traits in its genetics. Probably a question for the Adv. Growing forum.
Anyway here's pics

Your buds are fattening up nicely. But it may be more fluff than density..
The fattest buds I've seen yet (in my home) were in my first grow under T12's. But again, all fluff and lack of any real density.
The point here is, I think tube lights suck. Best thing I've done yet is making the investment in an MH/HPS combo. Still learning how to beef the buds up to their fullest (via nute feeding), but they're already much more dense.

All in all you're off to a great start with your first grow. Looking forward to your future updates..

The old ones & the new ones look good and healthy!

Who knows what kind of seeds you got? I think you said they were 'mystery' bag seeds.
That is the good & bad with bag seeds. You are not sure what you are growing, but you might get a good surprise! You may have two phenos from common seeds.

In time, consider adding some more soil to the new ones. Looks like you left 1+ inches in each one. I like to fill them up to ~1/4", then grow. The soil settles some, then I may add more. Use the whole volume of your pot !

CPmass said:

Your buds are fattening up nicely. But it may be more fluff than density..
The fattest buds I've seen yet (in my home) were in my first grow under T12's. But again, all fluff and lack of any real density.
The point here is, I think tube lights suck. Best thing I've done yet is making the investment in an MH/HPS combo. Still learning how to beef the buds up to their fullest (via nute feeding), but they're already much more dense.

All in all you're off to a great start with your first grow. Looking forward to your future updates..

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Thanks for stopping by CPmass! I only use the t5hos for vegging, I know a MH has the canopy penetration but the t5hos from Home Depot put out 10,000 lumens per 4' 2 bulb fixture. At $50 per completed fixture (with Agromax bulbs) and the fact I place them all around the plants, I get the same penetration with less heat and $$$$... Still, when I get the cash Ill probably invest in a separate 400w MH for veg. (Its what the old man used in the 90s LoL!! Yes second generation grower)
The buds do have density though, I just wish I wouldn't have switched out the T5HOs for HPS the last week of veg (just wanted to use my light!!!). I had a real stretch issue with the stems tht could of went into bud production. But its a learning experience and I already have plans for my next grow to maximize my rooms potential. Thanx again man!!

mrwood said:

The old ones & the new ones look good and healthy!

Who knows what kind of seeds you got? I think you said they were 'mystery' bag seeds.
That is the good & bad with bag seeds. You are not sure what you are growing, but you might get a good surprise! You may have two phenos from common seeds.

In time, consider adding some more soil to the new ones. Looks like you left 1+ inches in each one. I like to fill them up to ~1/4", then grow. The soil settles some, then I may add more. Use the whole volume of your pot !

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Thanx Wood!!
Ya I wasnt quite sure bout filling them up all the way and the soil did settle pretty low. But to be honest I think I was just being cheap because I was low on funds. Even mixed in some Jiffy Seed starter with my bigger girls to fill out the mix. Next time for sure ill be toppin them off!
Its just so cool to see the genetic variations in one plant. Been pretty exciting actually.. Cant wait for the first smoke report !!!

oh, so you are flowering under HPS?

Are you using any kind of nutes?

Yup got a cooltube, 400w lumatek ballast. Not sure abt the lamp brand though.
Been using FF Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom since 2nd week 12/12. Im pleased so far but the Tiger Bloom at full strength does seem to burn my sativa dominate plants. My indicas love it though.
For my next batch ill be adding Grow Big for the veg nutes though.

oh shit.. you're big pimpin' then. Just made my setup look like peanuts in comparison.

LoL! Nah man, you got yours working for ya! Those Cheese plants look like some fire !! I just saved up and bought what i thought was best for the space i had. I wish i would of went bigger!!
After i harvest im upgrading to a 600w and 6" inline. Maybe some real genetics too, Im thinkin 818 headband...

Everything is moving along pretty smoothly, pretty much got the routine down for watering, nutes and the environment according to what the plants like. Although like i mentioned before the plants are in different stages of development and I think I have one thats ready just need some feed back.
I bought a radioshack microscope and looked at the trichromes. They appear mostly cloudy and clear but I do see clusters of amber too. Heres the pics of the plant I took with flash on and off.


And some bud shots of the younger girls

Heres the next batch comin along.. Got another month of veg left.
Going to top some of them tomorrow. Im going to keep the indica dom and best mix hybrids as mothers.

Buds look good & new plants look healthy!
Keep it up!

Hey guys!! Sorry its been so long but I'm back with a final report.

GROW REPORT
The grow overall, for a first time, was a success. I got enough smoke to last me till my next grow and a little to sell to my buddies on the side so I'm happy.
The strain was bagseed genetics that Im calling Emerald Coast Crush. The final harvest weight came to around 5.5 Ozs from five plants in 3gallon air pots.
I had trouble with two of the girls and got a little less than 1/2 OZ a piece from them. So that brought down my yields drastically. The other three yielded nicely with weight all or around 1.5 OZs a piece.
Noob mistakes and the general feeling out process had a lot to do with my low yields but Ive got a routine down now and my 2nd grow is already kicking this grow's ass!! Hoping for a half pound this next time.
Here's some pics of the final plants and dried bud pics. Plus a little bit of the bubble hash I made from the trim (total of 6grams from 7 OZs of wet/frozen trim)



Heres some of the pics of the new plants.
Going to take clones from 2 of these beasts and cross them with Mandala Hashberry..
Grow log to come. Thanx for stickin around guys!!!