brown_thumb
Active member
Here are my ladies sunbathing. Beautiful, aren't they? With fifteen healthy ladies I feel like I have a virtual harem. Sadly, four are midgets and the others are too young.
Good plan, although I think it's over kill to transition lights.
I just go from veg to flower. Never a problem.
But zero harm will come to your plants if you do transition lights.
Matter of preference
The amount of roots directly effect the growth possibilities. Without doubt you can keep them in small containers and keep feeding them and they will get as big as they can under the circumstances.
I have successfully transplanted directly into final bucket, as well as successfully transitioned from small cup to 1 gallon pots, Then If I have enough room left in growing area I go to a bigger pot. So your plan is one I have used and it worked. Worked with no problems.
I have short grow space so I keep it to 2 or 3 gallon pots.
Nice to see a bunch of green ladies lined up for you there!
Money is nonexistent at the moment so I must be careful with my actions. I'll have funds in about three weeks. I need to plan this carefully.
I'll assemble a second insulated box... or one larger insulated area for the plants to protect them from the winter cold as needed. Then I'll transplant each plant into it's own 5 gallon bucket. I'll also hire an electrician to run 240v to the four new CMH lights (2 each Philips 315w 3100K and 4200K). I'd rather not transplant twice so I need to keep the plants going in these 4 inch (100mm) pots for three weeks. The tallest plants are only 8 inches (215mm) tall at the moment so I think this is okay.
After transplantation I'll wait until the plants are 12 inches (300mm) tall before LST then another 2-3 weeks before flipping to flower. I'll do this in two stages. I'll follow Emerald Harvest's recommendations regarding slow transition of nutrients and start with a 15/9 light timing followed by 12/12 and full transition to flowering nutrients a week after that.
DOES ANYONE SEE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THIS PLAN?
I would see if they are still growing after the weird light schedule. If they are, you have a long way to go before "optimal" flip times, but since nothing in your grow is optimal thus far, why start now?
Usually a plant from seed takes 8-14 weeks of veg before making pre-flowers and being "really ready" to flower. You can flip them before this and force them to flower, but the mature plants always do better/bigger. With your space, pot, and light limitations, I don't know what you can fit. If you get the CMH going, it's a pretty good light to stop stretching, and I would guess that your plants would only get 50% larger in stretch/flower. At that size, the plants might give you 1/2 to 1 oz each (with proper lighting).
Are you going to be able to give them 12/12? It doesn't really sound like you have much control over the "makeshift greenhouse" lighting. Is it going to actually be dark during the 12 hours of lights out?
The upside is that those little ones are way easier to trim. It's a bud on a stick. I don't know what the laws are where you are, but I would probably try to use less plants, and just make them larger with more light/veg time. Plant counts are stupid, but real. ..especially in states where they don't want you growing.
I'm sorry, yes, that was supposed to be a question... not a statement...^^^ Thank you. Transplant after the flip? I could swear I've read to do the opposite. I'll research it further.
EDIT: Oh wait... I see your last sentence does suggest flipping after transplantation.
I'm seeing what I think is phosphorus deficiency. Some stems are reddish and a few leaves are looking bad. I trimmed the leaves. I think the problem is cold roots. The ambient temperature has been dropping but I haven't increased the temperature of the thermostat controlling the heater 30 inches under the plants. I didn't think I needed to. However, two days ago, as I was testing the weight of the pots to judge soil wetness, I noticed the sides of the pots seemed too cold. The thermostat was set to 60F so I raised it to 65F. This morning, the pots still seemed too cool so I raised it to 70F.
I'm not certain but I think the plants are already improving. Could increasing root temperature reverse a phosphorus deficiency that quickly?
NICE, i love fruitloops, goodluck B.T.I will add this though... after trimming the few sick leaves from a few plants... I can't stop smelling my fingers. My girls smell like a combination of Fruit Loops, spearmint and holiday spices.
^^^ The soil I bought is supposed to be a clone of FFOF (Victory Sea Blend). It stayed far too wet and rotted the roots. It was too wet even after a full month of not watering in warm ambient temperatures. However, I don't know how 'truthful' the supplier was/is regarding how closely matched their soil is to FFOF.