ok basically I appreciate any who can help. I may be simple, as I cannot figure out how to start a new post. This is my problem…first im an avid fan, and in being one I collected every seed I could find (all bag) not ever knowing what would or could happen. finally deciding this spring to try my hand. we started a hand carry in and out in spring, there were three sprouted from seed. only one girl; ill take it as its my first attempt. however since seeing real growth on her we got excited. decided to keep it going over the long cold days to come. We bought two t5’s, on a single lamp the other a double fixture. so three t5’s. completely grown under blue light spec. 6400k, we have plenty of animals to supplement our own soil which I refined as much as possible. there are a headaches. first my sprouts all hit dirt within a week of each other. I started with 7, two never opened, 5 did. Three are perfect, all in their forth week, granted none are taller then 6-8",i may go the full six before adding any 3700k bulbs, I feel(im also a newbie), two are not so much.one is dying no matter what I add or subtract so trash bound, one is still in its first container, almost ready for transplant but im considering keeping just the three. as I made the “mistake” of only blue lighting I can already tell all three are growing great pistils. they have a regular 18-6, ph holds between 6.5-7.0, I am using high nitro bat guano once a week on top of dirt, pre watering, clean rain water the rest of the time. the help I need lies in the fact that I transplanted my 2 sativas and 1 indica(current best guess) into 18 gallon storage totes. however I screwed up by only filling the bucket half way, I thought I could add as it grows however they have seemed to be growing wider daily but not vertically as well at all. I know the 1-1/2 rule, they are way to small to start flowering( I don’t know for certain, tallest started fifth row of braches, roughly 8", the middle child is 6"-4 rows deep,the little one(indica) is 5"-4 rows also. I only have the space for three large buckets, past length of lights now, UNLESS I transplant all three to five gallon “painters buckets” which are taller. IS IT WORTH it? I am aware of shock and root rot. im scared of both so I NEED to know its necessary. I read somewhere that their roots are smart, as in they will grow to surroundings. So can I leave alone and they will know to grow out more then down??? or is it a huge risk because they want to go south more then east or west?(per say) this is my sincere 2nd-3rd-4th healthy plants all from bag. So I cant get missing traits or other info. but adore them, so risk is a little to much…HELP!!! please and thanks to any that read this much…
Hi @Ceely,
I’m not sure what you mean by you “made a mistake of only blue lighting”. 6400K is bluer light than 3700K but it is not “blue” light. It is actually almost perfect true white and much closer to the actual color of the sun than 3700k. And in fact there is absolutely nothing wrong with growing cannabis under 6400K light from start to finish, as it is so close to the color of natural sunlight. While it is true plants can use more red light than blue, with T5s and CFLs, if someone could only afford one light, I’d tell them to get anything with a 5000k to as high as a 6500K and use it from veg on through until flower and harvest. This color has nothing to do with your plant showing pistils, and this case it is likely they are only pre-flowers.
~MacG
I know my entry was very long, however I need to know how long will my roots want to get? if they cant keep going down will they rot? they have roughly 1’ of space to go down but at least 1-1/2 ft on each side to go out. will they? or should I start to consider transplanting? then if so how do I go about not hurting the roots with shock?
If water pools and air can’t get to the bottom of that container, the roots will rot down there. The roots will grow wide as well.
I see you have lots of holes drilled in the container, it is not necessarily the configuration I would have chosen, but it should work fine. I’ve seen successful indoor grows with one large plant in those super short and super wide children’s swimming pools filled with soil.
~MacG
btw, you might want to be sure you have some holes in the very bottom and in the middle bottom of those tubs
again, so as not to have the soil staying too wet and soggy in the bottom and middle of those containers
this is what will cause root rot, the soil staying too wet
@Ceely replies,
Again thanks, can I ask one last thing of you? What would you recommend? I am not in a position to vent my room. but have a few small windows near by that can stay open, I try and let moisture scale I have determine feeding.
I realize you are in a tight space vertically. The roots will be able to make use of the soil horizontally as well as the depth.
As I stated it is of utmost importance to not water-log or drown your roots, they are not that different than cactus roots in this regard.
The recommended way to water and/or feed your plants is to water, or use water and a feed mixture, and soak the soil to saturation the first time, then let it nearly totally dry out, this is often determined by feeling the weight of the container, and not watering again until the container feels extremely lighter than saturated and it is nearly totally dried out.
Air flow in your grow area is important for many reasons, it helps supply co2 to your plant’s leaves as well as keeping the humidity from building up and causing things like mold, mildew or bud rot.
~MacG