Think of it as a scale from 0-13
0 being acidic 7 being neutral and 13 alkaline
So on this scale your plants in soil will have optimum nuterient uptake between 6.2 and 6.8
So slightly acidic.
So once you get a pH meter check the pH of your water going in. If it is below 6.2 then add baking soda to bring it up.
If it is higher than 6.8 then add vinegar to bring it down.
Or just get General Hydroponics pH up and pH down kit on amazon works great.
What @bob31 said
Right on @bob31
So apparently since I am new here I have limited replys!!! So thank you everyone for the advise!!! And thankyou to anyone else who gives ad use because I canât say thank you each time until i am no longer new!!! I do have another question how long does it usually take to see buds? We planted from seed directly in pot the week before thanksgiving plants seem to grow an inch or two overnight!!! And they are getting more leafy now I was nervous because seemed thin and tall until recently when I am seeing alot more leaves forming but I am really afraid I am doing something wrong or is this how long it usually takes? Thank you!!!
Did you flip your lights to 12/12 yet? They will stretch 2-3 times their height in flower so if you want to eliminate some of that I would lower your lights a bit if you havenât done so. Drop a couple inches at a time to avoid stress. Hold the back of your hand at canopy level. Once it gets uncomfortable on the back of your hand you know you are too close.
Thank you. So I should do 12 hours light 12 hours dark and lights are about a foot or maybe a foot and a half above plants now should i start lowerinf an inch at a time and how long should i wait to see if plants are ok with it? And at same time switch to 12/12?
I wouldnât go under 12â. I thought they were higher from the pics. Can you post a more recent photo? Of all of them. How much room do you have to allow them to grow out and up while still maintaining at least a 12â minimum from the light?
They look like they are ready to be trained. Iâd hold off flowering and do some training, if youâre comfortable doing that. They would benefit from more time in veg to let the side branching grow out a little more.
If you are growing photo period plants (as opposed to auto flower) then yes: plants will remain in veg until the light is cut back to 12/12.
If you havenât ordered a ph meter yet then you really need to. 95% percent of the problems seen are related to ph.
You may or may not need to supplement your soil with some kind of fertilizer, but there are many organic options available to you. Cannabis is a hungry plant.
@Scott1 what I see is a clear sign of insufficient light. Training is good but ya gotta get more light in there! @dbrn32, what do you think?
I agree. I didnât see what size tent is, did I miss it?
At the very least lights were a little high at some point. You can see it in node spacing.
@Scott1 can you post or link the models of your lights and the size of your tent please?
It is an area in my basement about 5 by 6 the lights are 2 bulbs that are In reflector clamp lamp 28w full spectrum led grow light bulb e26 base. And I have a philizon newest winter 600w led plant grow light that I have on veg. Setting right now and can add flower setting it is 6.7x15.7. And I have a 75 watt full spectrum led grow light about half the size of the philizon. The are in the basement is sectioned off by white sheets ,white shower curtains,and the remains of a small grow tent for the reflective properties. I also have a space heater in there to keep the tempature up. I will lower lights by an inch at a time and then when should I switch to 12/12 What should I be looking for? Thank you in advance!!! And what exactly is training? If u canât tell I am a real newbie!!!
Iâm afraid the others are correct. Youâre quite a bit short on the amount of light required to flower plants in that size room.
What should I have for lighting? I have 4 lights already. I do have more bulbs for clamp lamps would that work? I have the 4 plants together under the 4 lights
When using those style of lights the 50 actual watts power draw per square feet is a pretty good baseline measure.
Hi sorry I donât understand what that means at all!!! Here is the light that is my biggest that I ordered from Amazon. I have it only set on veg. Right now I donât have flowering on should I turn that on. And I lowered the lights too
[UploadingâŚ](Here is the power draw on that light 108 watts.
Find the area of your space, 5x6 is 30 square feet. Multiply 30 x 50, 1500 Watts is the number I was referring to. Thatâs about how many actual watts youâre looking for to create ideal flowering conditions. So about 14 of those fixtures.
Iâm definitely not suggesting you go buy 13 more lol. But thatâs what we were all talking about. You can see the lack of lighting in the node spacing of your plants. Itâs just a big area that requires a lot of light.
It seems like to many folks take the advertising to heart and get boned. See if I was buying them I wouldâve done the same thing that why Iâve never went to led cuz I donât know jack about them. Iâve read a lot of threads that have light issues because people r being misled so your saying that light you showed is only putting out 180w of light. No wonder there r so many folks out there wondering whatâs wrong with there plant. They think they have 600w but only have 180w it like trying to grow a plant with a single light build. Kinda!! Thatâs shady on the lights part
Winner winner! You have led watts, actual power draw of the fixture, and imaginary watts. Youâve found where a lot of the issues come into play.
A big one is that they like to say 1000w, 100 ten watt diodes. Well a 10 watt mono is a 3volt nominal led with a max current of 3 amps. The forward voltage at 3amps is like 3.2-3.5. So that times 3amps is 10 Watts. If the drive current of those diodes is only 700ma, then the diodes are actually 2 Watts each. And 100 of them is 200 Watts, not 1000 watts.
As you pointed out, itâs very easy to be deceived if youâre not aware. It doesnât make it a terrible fixture, but itâs certainly not going to replace a 1000 watt hps.