Rellikbuzz
Active member
Greenjello said:
I also wonder about your plan for doing so many plants in such a small space. Depending on the bucket size that you plan to flower in, that 15 plants or so may prove to be unmanagable and not perform as well as you like. I had a 6' x 2' x 9' flower closet and in that footprint I was able to flower 8 plants in five gallon buckets under two 400's. With just eight plants the closet got extremely bushy and I had to prune rather agressively to make sure that the light got to all the budsites. I was growing bush style plants though. You MIGHT be able to flower a couple more if you are going SOG but I would definitely go single cola and prune all other lateral branching so that I could cram the plants closer together.
You are wise to keep the HID up high a bit until your babies are more established. Although I think 24" is more than enough. In the coming 10-14 days, I would gradually lower the light daily until the light is about 6-9" from the tops of the plants. This is where I kept mine throughout flower and had no problems whatsoever. If you were running a 600 or 1000 then I would say keep it at least 12" from the tops. The lumens drop off exponentially as you move away from the bulb. Even a few inches has a dramatic affect in the amount of light the plants receive. As you were told earlier, just hold your hand at the plant tops (palm down) under the light. If you don't feel a burning sensation on the back of your hand after 45 seconds or so, neither will your plants. If it burns your hand, it will burn your plants. It's that simple.
As far as nutrient regimes go, your first decision is whether you should go organic -vs- chemical. If you go organic, you can use things like fish emulsions, worm castings, bone/blood meal, prepared teas and such and is usually pretty inexpensive. Obviously, your buds should taste wonderful in the end but your grow will stink like Charley the Tuna's shithouse! Chemical ferts are always an option. There are many different lines out there to choose from and, depending on your budget, can get quite pricey.
I, myself, chose to go with Advanced Nutrients. Their's is the only product line specifically developed for cannabis plants and they advertise as such. Also their line is the most diverse with many different nutrients and supplements to choose from. They offer a totally organic line now as well as their 2+program that I used. While their 2+ program does have some chemical nutrients in the program, over 60% of the products are organic! My buds always smelled and tasted amongst the best anyone had tried. I absolutely love the stuff. Additionally, the have a nutrient calculator right on their website that allows you to customize it to your grow. You can select soil or hydro, resevoir size and strength of nute mix and it will give you the precise amounts of each ingredient to add to your reservior or nute bucket. If that isn't enough, they have a 1-800 customer support line where a guy named "Tech Mike" will answer any and all questions you might have about your grow. And you don't have to talk about "tomatos"! They will get strain specific with you and discuss openly what your cannabis plants need.
No matter what line you choose, LEARN ABOUT YOUR NUTES! This will save your ass and your plant's asses in the long run. I'm amazed by the people on here that just add this and that not knowing what they hell it is or what it is supposed to do. If you don't know what it is or what it does, then you should not use it. Anyway, best of luck and here's a link to their website. Hope this helps!
www.advancednutrients.com
