First Grow, would like some advice please

I’ve just put another net up after I took the photos, as it’s growing so so fast.

In regards to bud sites I never counted. I was just amazed that yesterday there was non, and today they where here.there is many though. I actually snapped one off that had 3 sites on :frowning: so it’s going in the pot to make oil tomorrow. Probably add nothing to the oil, but it was that or bin it.

I cheapened on on my second scrog net, the one you can see, was relatively ly expensive at £10 (probably $14 usd), but was simple to install. The one I bought today is a general duty Long mesh net, it’s massive and will probably do 10 layers, but omg it was so hard to install it. Don’t ask me how I managed to make it so hard. I still can’t figure out how I done it so bad. So I may just invest in a load of the more expensive ones over time. Lol I really made it hard for my self.

I’m glad your plants have recovered. And the extra 2-3 of veg can only be a good thing.

I’m loving your lights, they look really clean and professional, you should see my set up, it is for from clean. My whole electrical routing “system” (there is no system) needs a rethink. The only reservation about Leds is heat or rather the lack of it. I’m insulating my grow space over the summer, but still in the winter, I don’t think the leds will give off enough heat. The only way I can find out is to build one and see how it suits a uk attic in the winter.

As it’s not insulated atm, hot days it’s like a sauna, and cold day is cold, and that’s in July. So in december Im going to have to get imaginative.

Im actually thinking of tapping into my central heating, typical UK set up, radiators with hot water running though them, as that would cost nothing extra as it runs 12hours a day October - March anyway, and is simple to do. First off I need to insulate the underside of the roof. As my house is over 100, the roof isn’t insulated, rather the top side of the upper floor ceiling is. I just doubled the stuff before I boarded it out too. I could of save the cash and insulated the roof, but then (last Xmas) I hadn’t thought of growing. I just wanted more usable storage space.

When it’s fully insulated, I could erect a centre wall, and have half for veg and half for flower, and do away with the tents.

Sorry for vomiting my BS here, im more recording my thoughts, than anything else. Lol.

I’ll update more pics next week if there is much change, if not defo in two weeks time.

Happy growing.

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@MAXHeadRoom, one week later, i think this is day 21 in flower when taken. i noticed about Wednesday/Thursday last week they stopped growing taller, ive not had to move lights or manipulate stems since them. i have a nice even canopy , more luck than design lol.

the flowers have increased in number and size, and they have now got clear liquid droplets (forgot the term) on the flowers. my jewellers loop turned up today after i checked on them, so tomorrow im going to have a very close look.

my filter is doing a good job, there cent is strong when i open the doors.
i didn’t count the flowers like i said i would . a rough estimate would be “many” lol.

i think the plants could do with thinning out the lower stems and leaves, but given this is my first, i dont want to mess anything up and not thinning and letting them grow natural, will give me a baseline figure going forward .

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They look great… Take it easy… Baby steps.

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@M4ur cheers, I sure am. That is when anxiety isn’t killing me, making me second guess every decision. Lol, touch wood all is going well… So far…

I have made one big error, I have the two plants set up in a way that I won’t be able to flush them when needed. The 5gl bags are sat on a t-tray which is on the floor. I can’t move them as the plants are interwoven with the scrog nets,

so I’m stuck, however as the whole yield is going into oil and won’t be smoked, I’m hoping it won’t matter. I’m sure I can come up with some type of solution if feed back is I must flush.

My second grow that is under way, is set up properly, with the bags/pots suspended on a stated shelf above a large (well two) under bed storage box.

OMG bro… Same problem :joy:. Newbie scrog…first try /second grow but I’m a quick learner and future grows will be better and better…i hope so LOL​:joy::sweat_smile::wink:
I screwed up whit my grow box (to tiny) but maybe next year I will make a small room just for my hobby :+1:.

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@TheDuke it’s all part of the learning process. In the us they sell plastic trays to put your wet shoes on when you come in the house. Good for holding 2 plants then use a wet/dry vac to cleanup the runoff. I can post a pic if it helps?

At about 21 days of flowering the stems have all hardened off and they are pretty much done growing. From here on out it’s all about fattening up the buds!

We have a topic going about vaping and making oil etc. You should post your thoughts over there. Here is the link

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@TheDuke
Great Job!!! They are looking better then you expected. I knew you could do it. Your words sound like you are happy with your grow, and funny too. :rofl:

I just started flower today with a 36 hours of darkness soak. That seemed to work because all the spots where they are going to bud where a lot lighter color.

These are some pretty exciting times. Don’t screw it up now

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Cheers, no pressure then. :crossed_fingers:

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yeah, it’s not like we’re all watching or anything! hahahaha You’re doin’ great @TheDuke

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so day 28 into flower and i have some frost, and growing buds, but not a great lot of difference this week. not sure if the changes slow down the further towards the end, or if my lighting is holding them back. probably a bit of both.

its a real shame that this site doesnt allow full res images, my last pic above is really special, before its upload here.

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If you post one pic per post then they can be super zoomed. I wouldn’t do that for every pic! Try it out! @TheDuke

You should get an led to add above the cfls. They extra power will help them blooming. I’d recommend Mars hydro 300w. I think you can get 1 on Amazon for like 65$ and I think I’ve seen deals for 2 for like 100. If I remember correctly you are using cfls because you are in a cold area in a cold spot of the house. Even if you just get some cheap Chinese LEDs of Amazon you’ll be able to help increase yield a bunch

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@bob31 I will try next Monday. I need to run any pics via the PC to strip location date etc out of them. The pics I’ve taken are already deleted.

I do have a ppm/PH question for anyone that can help. Since I’ve started I’ve have done one run off test and that was just before flower iirc.

Today (day 30 flower) I have done another. As my set up is flawed I took a good sample of soil out of the 5gl pot and tested that. I should of ph’d my test water to 6.7, but out of lazy Ness I didn’t, given it doesn’t ultimately matter. But here are my results.

Water going in (out the tap), was 7.1ph and 226ppm, after the water coming out is 6.9ph and 320ppm.

So anyone with any knowledge I’d be happy to hear from. If I don’t hear off anyone I’ll repost this in its own thread.

@MAXHeadRoom @Tonyb @bob31 @Nug-bug and anyone else :relaxed:

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Your pH is on the edge of locking out nutrients to your plants. I would recommend 6.5 in!

@TheDuke

@bob31 always put in 6.6 or 6.7 to the actual plants.

The soil tested was taken out of the pot, so I did but 7.1 into to actually plant, just the sample soil.

I was thinking because the water came out at 6.9, point 2 down. If anything my plant is actually hovering around 6.6, but I may be looking at it all wrong.

I’m away untill Monday, so Im just going to drown the plants tomorrow, and do the test again on Monday, but PH the tap test water down to 6.6/7, to get an exact figure.

But don’t take my passages above in the wrong light. I’m helpful for all input and advice. I just thought I’d expand on my original question.

Tbh the PH I’m happy to deal with, it’s the ppm I know less than nothing about. The ppm in ready by just under 100 is that good or bad or Indifferent? And if bad, what does one do to help rectify it.

Just to clarify my plants are in week 4 (3days) of flower.

PPM’s are just a unit of measure of the total dissolved solids in your water. It’s just one way to measure where your plants are at with regards to their overall level of nutrients. Whats going in and whats going out tells us how much they are using.

You lost me on the whole pH deal.

Did you slurry test your soil?

Anyway if you are getting 6.9 runoff you should go in at 6.3 and see how your runoff is @TheDuke

@bob31 Sorry yes I slurry tested. One third a soil two thirds water (7.1ph in my case), mix tougher.i let it sit over night, then sieved it. Let it sit 30mins to settle. Then tested the PH and ppm.

Ill redo to test once back home on Monday. I’m leaving early tomorrow and it’s getting late here now. (half nine).

Tbh I thought it was a good sign it come out slightly under the 7.1 I put in. Monday I’ll put in 6.7 and see what comes out.

To be honest, as I’m entering the last 3 weeks of my first grow, I’m getting a little paranoid about it all going wrong. So I wanted to check the soil wasn’t completely out of whack. Given such small diffences in the figures in vs out, I feel a little better any way. But will do on Monday.

I’m going to just water 6.6ph tomorrow a.m. untill soaked, that should be fine untill Monday. They will be patched by then, and I’ll probably be giving them their last feed.

@bob31 you just freaked me out,(it’s not your fault). so I’ve just ph’d some freshwater to 6.6 and am really doing the test. Just incase I have to start balancing what I but in tomorrow.

So water going in is ph6.6 and ppm was 220.

The sample soil is the same, form the same batch I took yesterday, not re using the same soil I just tested overnight.

You need to raise your PPM also. Right now your plants need more phosphorous. @bob31 gave you a chart awhile back that showed you what your nutes should be running at. I don’t grow in dirt but I know 200 is to low. Did you buy some liquid nutrients or are you even using nutrients AT ALL!!!. 200 ppm is normal for tap water. You need to fix that before you go away for the weekend.
@TheDuke

Yes Im FF stuff. But not to there scheduled as ive read its not great.

However she is due a feed.

water with sea weed (sw)
Water
Water with sw
Water
Water with sw and nutes

That covers about 14 days. So they was last fully fed then.

I’m going to feed for (probably) the last time next week.