New Grower seeds arrived and have questions

[Erb]

just got a shipment of seeds and have 5 autos , i need advice .

i have 5 plants Photoperiod in flower under 400watt HPS so it will be 6 to 8 weeks before i can use the ballast but can start them under CFLs in a month or so then put under 400 watt MH after plants are harvested .

questions

1 . will it be better and wait and start under 150 MH ? or start for a month under1 to 3 x 23watt daylight CFL then switch to MH i have 150 ,250 and 400 watt MH

2. do you need to LST ? if so at what age do you start bending . do you do this to get more yield ?

3. are 3 gallon pots big enough or do i need to go bigger ?

4. i use Pro Mix nothing added to it and will use Canna Nuits to grow do i need something different ?

5. if i started them now in the flower room 12/12 would they get enough light or better to weight until they have 400 watt light all to them selves ?

will have lots more questions --- Herb

 

[Eekman]

Hello Erb.

1) No, they will do just fine under cfls.

2) I don't LST well, so I iwll leave that for another member to answer

3) 3 gallon pots should do you well.

4) I don't know about promix.

5) You can start them in 12/12 but you will get better yeilds with 24/0 and then/or 18/6 will give them the light they need. Can you stick them in a closet or something for a while, kicthen counter? You don't have to worry so much about the residual light. Unless they are a strain that is tempermental like that.

my two cents

:Sharing One:

Peace

Eek

 

[Panic]

Heres the deal with cfls. I started with 4 and then added another four. The plant grew kinda slow. I managed to get 24 cfls total of both spectrum. The second plant i grew blew up because it had a lot more light. I use 3 gallon pots. If you plan on training you shouldn't have to do too much, because with cfl's they won't be reaching. I did LST during flower when the branches were just too close if your still using the cfls dont pull them too far down; cfls lose power pretty quick as they move farther away. As for the nutes and soil people swear by your medium, and as long as its not miracle grow, most nutes are pretty comparable. Those are specific for cannabis and tons of people on here use them. Don't 12 and 12 in the begining it will slow you during the fastest grow period 20 and 4 is kinda the average. Most AF never need a light schedule change. I had a primarily Northern light AF and it need a slight photoperiod change to kick it in to full flower mode. Hope that helps

 

[Erb]

thanks for all the info all .
with regular Fem plants i Veg under 23 Watt Cfl in my grow room in our unfinished basement. we put in a Duc less split heat pump this fall and shut down the oil furnace which heated the basement .so grow rooms are cold as basement is just above freezing .so had to move into a bedroom for the grow right now . probably hold off for a while before i start the seeds but knowing me i may rig up another place to start them .LOL -- Erb

 

[barnsie2212]

I would start lst after 3rd node had been established, reduces stress on them, good luck buddy