2nd 400 watt HPS grow help?

[iBlaze]

Alright fellow growers, my first grow I realized that you truly get out of it what you put into it. My first grow ended up terrible, I moved the plants out door halfway through their life. Shortly after I moved them it came the flood. Plant's barely survived. My first grow was 2 150 watt CFL's and 1 150 watt HPS light. This next grow I figured i'd go a bit harder and upgrade my lighting. I'll post some pictures. Here are a few questions, I'm also open to any other tips/criticism.

1. My plants are now just sprouting, how far should they be away from the light?

2. My temperatures fluctuate so much from when I leave the door open opposed to closed. The closet is in the center of the room pretty much so there's no hope to put in proper venting. 75 degrees is steady possible.

3. Is my humidity alright?

4. I'm using STA Green, from Lowes soil. 2 parts soil 1 part perlite.

5. Some time this week I'll be picking up a 50 pound bag of 20-10-10 fertilizer for vegging. How long should I wait till applying fertilizer? And how often should fertilizer be in the water I'm feeding.

That's pretty much my top few questions, I'm just a beginner trying to truly learn the ropes. I'm aware my grow area is a bit small, but you gotta work with what you got. Thanks, any feedback is highly appreciated.

 

[who dat is]

If they are just sprouting then I would wait awhile to feed them at all. The soil should have enough nutes in it for at least a couple of weeks. Just remember to not over water the plants too as that seems to be the normal noob mistake (I was definitely guilty of it). As far as light height from the plants that depends on the light and you have a 400 watt light correct? I would think 2 feet from the tops of the plants would be straight but it all depends on how hot they are getting with your ventilation situation. As seedlings the light won't need to be as close (2 feet) but as they grow and mature they can handle stronger light and you can get it closer to the canopy. Also, don't buy a 50 pound bag of fertilizer! Had to emphasize that. That would take you forever to use up and you only have 4 plants to contend with and you don't even know the sex of them yet (assuming you didn't use feminized seeds). Start smaller with smaller quantities of nutes and I would go organic (I am biased so take that with a grain of salt). And as far as a feeding schedule I go lighter in the early stages, and I'm talking weeks out from where you are, and work my way up. As they harden up they will need more but they will let you know. Plants definitely have a way of speaking to you it is just a matter of you understanding what they are telling you. Humidity is ok and 75 degrees is ideal, try to stay away from 90 if you can but I know that can be hard. I would also look into Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) bulbs if you have a magnetic ballast. They have around a 4000k spectrum which is way better for vegging that the 2300k hps spectrum and you can run them on the same ballast. Lastly I would say just keep searching and reading up on this forum as most questions have been asked and answered on here throughout the years and there is much to be learned. I don't want to promote myself but my first completed grow diary on here which is located in my sig is right up your alley. I ran the same light setup and hit some speedbumps that you could learn from. The link is in my sig if you want to check it out. Sorry for the novel but I just wanted to answer your post fully, good luck man.

 

[iBlaze]

Much appreciated, that was an in depth response. I won't get that 50 pound bag, also my ballast is magnetic and I need to pick up a 400 watt CMH within the week. I'm checking out your grow journal as we speak. Thanks much.

 

[BET]

As close as you can get them without burning. 24" would be ideal. Providing you have good ventilation you can get them anywhere up to this distance. Bare in mind that closer is better, and the further away the light is, the more lumen drop off you will have and this is why seedlings stretch if they are far away - they want the better light to grow so they naturally shoot towards it. Keep it close, they don't stretch as much. A bit of stretch isn't bad, but too much and your internodes will be some distance apart meaning not as tight colas. As who dat is said, when they get bigger you can get them within a foot of the light if your ventilation permits it and they will lap it up.

You don't need 50lb bag of ferts, not in a million years.

Never use ferts in the first 2 weeks. Hell, if the plant is responsive and bushing up nicely then lay off them until a month or so. I have a friend who has burned so many plants by dousing them in nutes from seeds. He never learns. They are additives remember, they are not essential and if you have a good soil medium, you might not want any at all. But, for the record I have a decent soil mix and I still use bio grow during veg and canna terra flores in flower. Next time I'll use canna for veg as well. They have an awesome measuring system that does all the measuring for you. Its great.

Humidity is fine

PS remember to keep an eye on the temps at the top of the plants. If you measure the bottom of the grow space it won't be accurate for the tops of the plants as they get bigger.


Good luck

BET

 

[BET]

Forgot to say that you want to be very accurate with the ferts / nutes when applied. Stick to the guidelines and even read other posts on the web about that particular brand. I know that canna terra flores says up to 5ml/ltr, but I've been advised to use less - ~4ml. It works well. You can easily burn your plants with nutes. My honey b grow was very sensitive to nutes, yet my cheese seems to take them all day long. Learn your strains as you grow, and you'll know what works and what doesn't


BET

 

[iBlaze]

Thanks BET, I definitely need some soil mixture recommendations. I understand everything's a learning process. Here's an updated picture, I grabbed the Metal Halide light today also moved them to about 27 inches away from the light. I don't want these plants to grow too tall.

Would anyone happen to have a link to a good personally tested nute guide?

 

[who dat is]

As far as a nute guide I use the bio bizz feeding schedule.

I use this schedule. Growing organically has many pros over chemical feeding in my mind because you have to worry alot less about pH, you are far less likely to burn you plants, and you don't have to worry as much about flushing at the end. Again, I have a biased opinion in this matter so take that with a grain of salt. I also use Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil which I really like because it comes nicely amended with good nutes and dolomite lime which naturally pHs the soil to keep it right around 7. I was curious where you managed to get a CMH bulb so quickly too? I know that I had to order mine when I got one and it took a little while. That was 2 years ago though so maybe they have become more common and people are stocking them now?

 

[Capt Cannabis]

Looking good, looks like your second grow will be a much better experience than your first

 

[iBlaze]

I'm going to have to pick up that nute set. Home Depot and Lowe's actually carry the 400 watt CMH/HPS lights but nothing to power them. Each 400 watt bulb sells for 25-30$, making it very efficient to pick up another bulb if need be. As for the fert set I'm biased as well to organic growing but I'm just a little bit uneducated on the nute subject. If this goes well I'm hoping to have a few clones to experiment on and grow up and perfect some of the growing methods. Once I have a healthy grow procedure I'm going to invest in some nice feminized seeds and hopefully grow some gorgeous plants.

 

[who dat is]

Do you have a switchable ballast or something? I just searched both the lowes and the home depot sites and didn't see anything about ceramic metal halides, only regular metal halide lamps.

 

[iBlaze]

Here's a picture of the box to the bulb. I have a magnetic ballast, so bulbs are interchangeable without changing ballasts. Upon request I'll post a picture of my ballast.

 

[who dat is]

Nah man, there is a difference between Ceramic metal halide and a metal halide. I wasn't aware that a metal halide bulb could fire on a High pressure sodium ballast. I don't know if you are running any risks of burning the bulb out really soon or what but I would definitely look into it. Check this page out as it has really good information on ceramic metal halides, http://advancedtechlighting.com/cmhfact3.htm

 

[iBlaze]

Bulb just burned out. Now what do? Ironic as fuck that you mentioned burning the bulb out and then five minutes later I seen the lights go off. At first I thought it was my timer going off at 12:00 am turns out the bulb burned out, and when I came on to update that the MH bulb burned out I read your post.

 

[who dat is]

Sorry to hear that man. If you got your receipt then return it. I would recommend ordering from that link I posted though. I was happy with my bulb once I got it to work on my ballast as it only required cutting some of the length off of the cord that goes from the lamp to the ballast. That company is a good one too. I remember that something was weird with supply when I was ordering from them but they kept me in the loop and got me a bulb.

 

[iBlaze]

My grandfather's an electrician and goes into this place called Yale or Dauphin Electric, if they don't have a 400 watt CMH bulb I'll be forced to order one off the internet. Have a guess in about how much it'd cost? I just put my 400 watt HPS back in and let the plant's continue to veg away.

 

[macamus33]

Unless you have a switchable ballast, HPS and MH won't fire from the same ballast. My digital ballasts will fire both MH and HPS. My magnetic ballast will only fire HPS. Not sure if this applies to CMH also as have never used these bulbs. I use a 430watt Son Agro HPS for my whole grow most of the time. You may want to look into this as you could continue to burn out bulbs and they are expensive.

 

[urbanfog]

For nutes, look into Jacks also. A 4lb bucket of Jacks Classic 20-20-20 and a 4 lb tub of bloom for about 45$ shipped. tablespoon a gallon, will last a long time

 

[iBlaze]

From what I've read CMH fires on a HPS ballast also, until I get a CMH/MH bulb that will work will my 400 watt HPS be fine for early vegging? And thanks Urban, 20-20-20 is fine for vegging and the tub of bloom for flowering?

 

[Mrpiston38]

From what I've read CMH fires on a HPS ballast also, until I get a CMH/MH bulb] alrighty i think ur messing up what ur meaning to say. CMH = Cer MH NOT compact mh.. and u say ur running a 400w HPS that will be great for flower. have you thought of running CFL's for early veg? u can make them stout lil plants with 0 heat lol.. just more food for thought. and as far as ferts go i would rec Fox Farms. they are very easy to use and pretty cheap. and can have them delivered desc off the internet. Gl mate.

Mr.P

PS and if all else fails just use ur HPS for now and dont worrie about bulbs. jusat get one grow under u then make changes, unless there is something major we all can spot out lol

 

[stonedar]

been a fun thread so far. lets's back it up a step. you got some advice above about using CMH bulbs, as you've learned they are different then the bulb you showed a picture of and will in fact run on your magnetic 400w HPS ballast. show us a picture of the ballast if you are not sure it's magnetic. there is no reason to not veg in HPS since you have a bulb already, if you chose CMH your plants will be a tiny tiny bit less stretchy. not a huge difference.
if you want CMH though chances are your relative will be able to get ceramic metal halide bulbs at the stores you mentioned, I'll give you the part numbers in a minute. they are around $40-50. you need to decide before you buy a CMH bulb (ceramic metal halide) whether you want to mount it horizontally or vertically. Phillips makes a different bulb for each.

they are called Philips MasterColor Ceramic Metal Halide HPS-Retro White bulbs
CDM400S51/HOR/4K/ALTO this is for horizontal fixtures
CDM400S51/V/O/4K/ALTO this is for vertical fixtures