so here we are, off onto another hobbyist grower’s marijuana dreams: lofty aspirations of 1g+ of kush per watt, 4oz per plant, and a perfect grow setup that never fails. plants that cure perfectly and buds that taste fit for the gods. we can dream, but of course there will be issues along the way, and that’s what i’m here to bring you: the grow, the bad, and the fugly. this is my first grow, and since the people in my life may or may not want to hear about it constantly, i’m going to turn to you guys for a helpful ear.
what i’ve got going:
-one 4x8 tent that contains two 315w CMH bulbs
-one 5x5 tent that contains one 400w phytomax2 black dog LED
-soil is a mixture of black gold, fox farm ocean forrest, and filler for aeration
-have taken clones/cuttings just before flipping into flower
i just flipped the plants to flower two days ago, looking forward to the stretch that’s bound to happen in the next few days, and that sweet pungent odor that fills the room. i’ve spent a lot of time training the canopies, trimming, and just trying to keep as much exposed to the lights as possible. i think the main problem i can see developing is that they may get too big for my space. i had a pH imbalance and simultaneous nutrient overload that stunted a lot of their growth for about 5 days and forced me to veg them 10 or so days longer than i intended. either way, they look great and healthy now, so i will continue to train the canopy in whatever ways work best and go from there.
i always thought i would end up a bonsai farmer, but watching these grow has given me the same contentment i always imagined i’d have with bonsai, only with some added benefits. anyway, here are some pics of these pretty babies:
thanks for chiming in or following along, i’m here to learn first and foremost. if you see something i can improve on or have tips i’m all ears, i wanna hear what works for you or how i can improve my setup.
Your 5x5 tent is extremely lacking for light, 400 watt in led is about 100-200 HPS equivalent and only good for about 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft of canopy space. That space u should be running at least 2k watts led or 600w or 1000w HPS, ur severely underpowered in there
the LED that i am running is equivalent to more than the two 315w CMH’s combined. i had two 2000w led’s that i switched out for this b/c it is that much more powerful. my only regret is i didn’t get the 600.
Hi @caddymix024 , thanks for sharing your grow. Its looking great, however something to be cautious of looking at the first picture. Your leaves are very glossy, dark green and some leaf tips seem to be clawing. I see you have realised that you over fed them and had as pH imbalance, but it could be signs of overfeeding nitrogen. Anyway your room looks great, plants look healthy and hoping you have great success.
Well looking at the pic it def looks way to dark for that canopy, that’s what made me look up the size u had, really should consider adding something more… Looking up specs of the light it’s only covers a 4.25 x 4.25 grow space and ur growing in a 5x5, that would explain why I had concerns of the outer edges looking dark, even if it’s not a lot of extra I’d try to add at least 1 more of something small
yup was thinking the same thing as these start to get bigger and knew i was reaching with the 4.25x4.25 specs, i guess i thought i could pull it off having only six plants in there instead of 9 or even 12 but as they’ve gotten bigger i tend to agree with you. i have a friend selling some CMH’s for a good price, wondering if anyone here has had experience mixing the two lights (LED with CMH)? thanks for the feedback 1andonly, the light is definitely a step up from most LED’s but you’re right, the room needs a little boost to maximize yield
chris thanks a lot for the input. at the time of that first picture i had been getting a little pour happy with the fish emulsion, i have since realized how detrimental too much of a good thing can be, dialed that way back and things are looking much better.
i am growing in soil that is a mix of black gold, fox farm ocean forrest and promix mycorrhizae, roughly a third of each with just a little more promix - should i be adding nutrients now that i have flipped to flower given that soil mix? i picked up a bloom booster from buildasoil who’s videos i really liked, but don’t want to over feed them again cause that was hell
Ya I generally will go just a tad over done for the space, for example a 5x5 I’d go with enough to cover a 6x6, a mix of lights never hurts at all. I’ve got 10 different led units of 5 different brands that provides a wonderful variety of light spectrum, other thing is how far up ur hung, def look a bit farther up than I’d suggest , flowering shouldn’t be much more than a ft from the plants
What’s ur feeding methods? I personally use AACT( actively aerated compost teas) there’s gonna be 3 diff recipes, one for veg, one for flower and one for finishing the flower cycle. U should start a flower feeding a week or two before about to flip. One thing I’d also suggest mixing those soils is adding extra perlite (about 20%) or smashed up lava rock
Welcome Caddy. There is allot of experience and some really great people here that can, and are willing, to help us out a great deal.
Its a good place to be. Best of Luck on your endeavors !
alright been a few days so just wanted to update. i have another tent and a phytomax-2 600w LED on the way, looked into other lights but overall i’m really pleased with this so just decided to upgrade it. everything is looking awesome, i have clones set up and space to do veg while my other babies flower to thwir full potential. i’m excited to be on a cycle and get that constant flow going. i’m thinking i’ll lollipop more on the bottom in my next days off, and i am pretty much constantly defoliating and re arrranging to make sure everyone is getting even light. i haven’t added nutrients yet since i just transplanted into 5 and 7 gallon fabric pots five days ago that have fox farms ocean blend and black gold mixed in, i fugured that’s enough for now but open to opinions.
so just a few days before flower i had an issue where my pH tester wasn’t properly calibrated - i ended up feeding them nutrient rich water that had a pH of like 8.5, they all stopped growing, wilted, looked like shit etc. so ever since then i’ve calibrated the meter and been giving them only filtered balanced h2o to flush it all out.
and here’s them today, roughly two weeks into flushing them. they look healthy enough to start adding nutrients again so will be testing this build a soil bloom booster
got my first buds and hairs started!! in 20 years of smoking this is the furthest i’ve ever grown a pot plant so much fun!!! and we have a phytomax-2 600w LED and tent arriving today, so hoping to really space them out and let em rip now that we are into flower
No calm down. There pre-flowers. The flowers you sexted the plant with thats them all mauture. Those are what get pollinated first when males are around then the rest of the flowers developing would get pollinated also. Your plant did not herm.
so much fun!!! and we have a phytomax-2 600w LED and tent arriving today, so hoping to really space them out and let em rip now that we are into flower
