seedlings

[N4tur3]

still fairly new to this but i have a few autos going right now in my tent and had my 400w hps on them. i just put a few more auto seeds down 2 days ago. was wondering if it would be ok to place the new girls in the shade of the bigger ones under the hps after they break soil. since they are all gonna be on the same light cycle i wasn't sure if that would be too much light n them. if so i was considering getting a few cfls. how many would be good to get 8 autos strong enough to put under the hps? sorry if these are easily answered. i did some searching and am a bit confused about how many i would need and how long to leave them under cfl before going to hps.

 

[rocketman420]

cfl are good for the first week or two, after that you can grow with them as long as they are big. you are looking for par light and hid has the best. seedlings and fresh clones dont have a strong root sytem so they dont need a real intense light. i sprout my seeds under my 600 watt mh just fine. plant them dont worry about a new light just after a week or so raise them up so your canopy is even. when you go to clone put the clones in indirect light until roots develop. i put my cuttings in a clone machine with my 600 watt all the way to the top of my tent cut down 50% power for first week, second week 75% power, week 3 full power. i run dimmable ballast. i have tried massive cropping, take clones at day 21 into flower takes longer to root but they branch like crazy. i put a 15 watt cfl over those on 24 hour light.

 

[rocketman420]

make sure they have light if left in the shade they will strech a lot in search of light. i would start them out veg with mh, it has more blue spectrum for veg growth, hps has a lot more red spectrum good for buds, and stem growth, thats why your plants double in size in the first two weeks of flower. growing with hps will make your plants stretch out more. look into hortilux blue mh for magnetic ballast and digilux for hps. i know a lot of people who use hortilux blue for veg and flower. i use digilux because of my ballast, and have noticed more compact nodes compared to the cheap bulbs they send with the ballasts.

 

[N4tur3]

ok awesome. i already had a few cfls from a friends little stealth cab build. biggest being 23w, so i threw them under that. im gonna leave them there for a week or so if you think that one bulb would be enough for the 8 seedlings i got that popped. if that wont be enough ill just throw the other 2 13w bulbs in as well. the only reason im worried about this is because i think i messed some up on my last batch cause i started with 7 seedlings and 1 didnt even open the cotyledons, just kinda died there and another died because of heat. The remaining 5 will be done in 2 weeks or so and i wanna get these others going good. i put down 3 barneys farm auto pineapple express 3 auto purple cheese 1 auto diesel and 1 auto ultraviolet. That is the end of the auto seeds i ordered and just want to get the hang of this before i get into the real stuff. got ton of freebies from the seedbank i ordered from and would love to learn to create small moms, but know dick about topping or training.

 

[rocketman420]

cfls arent too strong for them you could put all of them on it. are you running a cool tube or hood on your hps. what kind of box/ tent are they in. what nutes you usin, do you ph your water.

 

[N4tur3]

i got a tent thats 2x4 hps is in a hood, my nutes im using are some foxfarm ones i got, tiger bloom, some big bloom, and some guano. i went and got a new ph kit yesterday. i now know my water is fucking outta whack. it goes from over 7 outta the tap to around 5 after nutes. so im off to buy my ph up and down to help it out. Like i said im really new at this and the ph kit i had was bunk i guess cause it was showing it being at around 7 before nutes and 6 after. this new one seems more accurate. so that being said i think my issue is ph, being over 7 closer to 8 is probably too harsh on my girls. I hear around 6.5-7 is acceptable? What nutes would you recommend. i see so many suggestions my head is spinning. i just wanna go and get something that is not too expensive but keeps them healthy. Thanks so much for the info by the way, it has been a great help so far.

 

[rocketman420]

i ph my water anywere from 5.8-6.3 to start. the plant takes up nutes at different ph levels that start aroun 5.9 or so. ph slowly rises as the plant starts using it. 6.8 is were it slows to taking up almost nothing. i use fox farms big grow and big bloom for veg, and the big bloom and FF solubles for flower. the solubles will give you the yield but it is easy to burn your plants. FF tells you to use a little to much nutes than you need. to little is better than to much. remember high N during veg, high P for flower. my local hydro shop gave me a $100 starter pack of nectar of the gods for free to try. its all organic. the good thing aboout organic is better flavor and quality and the chemical nutes give you yeild. FF is a mix, the only thing that is organic is the big bloom. i know people who use guano and have great results. make sure you let your water sit out for at least a day to let the chlorine out unless you use ro water. you can put a bubbler from a fish tank in the water to speed up evaporation of the clorine. and when you look into new lights or anything go big. i started with a 400 watt and kicked myself for not getting a 600. now i run 600 veg and 2k flower. you can use as big of a light as you want as long as you keep it cool. i have a 540 cfm fan cooling the 2k lights. my temps stat around 70-72 in the room and 72-75 in the tent with the lights. you can use a cheap 240 cfm fan for $30 off ebay to cool your hood if your not running a filter. thats what i run on my 600 and i got a speed controler on it turned 3/4 up keeps it cool. read around on this site it is the best weed site on the net. best growers are on here, read through all the forums there is a lot great info.

 

[sweetestsin420]

1

 

[Midnight Tokar]

With the strain that I crossed and grow I have found that new seedlings under CFL's even a few inches away will stretch really bad. What I do now is use the same 400 watt MH that I veg with and have it at about 3 feet even before they sprout. No more stretching and no problems at all, drop the light down to about 16 inches away at a week.

 

[noyd666]

fluoro tubes almost on there heads stops em stretching, two inches works for me.

 

[think_fast]

reg/orange light = stretching

blue/white light = tighter internodal spacing

I have enough experience with CFL lighting to tell you that they do not contribute to stretching. The trick is to use a high Kelvin spectrum (i.e. 6500K). You will get minimal stretching (assuming the lights are close enough to the plants and you have sufficient light intensity). As one poster mentioned earlier in this thread, it is a good idea to use CFL's for the first week of flower IF you really want to minimize stretching. However, do this with caution because if you don't have enough light then no matter how powerful a light you use afterwards, you will get little popcorn nugs. Best to use them only in veg. Good luck.

 

[Morcheeba*]

i see so many suggestions my head is spinning. i just wanna go and get something that is not too expensive but keeps them healthy. Thanks so much for the info by the way, it has been a great help so far.

if ya want cheap n easy nutes w/ good results then grab GH Maxibloom.....to raise ph use Silica b/c it also benefits the plants. if you feel you need a pk booster go sparingly.

i use maxibloom b/c i can use the same mix on rooted cuts thru flowering....here is a pic but many more in the k.i.s.s. thread