Thanks for directing me here. My second grow is doing much better than the first run. The first run was poorly planned, and I bought stuff as I needed it. Or bought stuff I didn’t need. I had a reactive approach. Some major blunders and some small ones. I got great results anyway. This round I’m getting things right. Here’s the details so I can get the best help.
All plants are in seven- gallon pots of home depot promix with worm castings, kelp meal, crab and lobster meal and Gaya Green 4-4-4 and power bloom.
All Auto flowers. Four Bruce Banners in a 4x4. Two Blue Cheese and three Banana Kush in the 5x5.
The 2x4 has two stunted Blue Cheese that I just can’t kill.
Lighting - 3 brands, 5x5 has the Mars Hydro 8 bar style. (800w?) the 4x4 has Spider farmer made for a 4x4 and the 2x4 has two Viparspectra lights I bought for starting vegtable seeds. (that’s how the first grow happened)
The 5x5 and 4x4 face each other and I have both doors open. I have a floor fan in the middle the draws air from above and below and distributes it 360 degrees. (like a ceiling fan but on the floor) I’m growing auto flowers so I’m not worried about light pollution.
This time of year, I’m using a humidifier and shooting for 65%. I’m in veg.
The lights are enough to keep the room in the 77f to 84f range. I keep the 2x4 closed and turn those lights off from 11pm-5am. The other two turn off at 9pm-3am. 18 on 6 off but staggered to keep the room from cooling off too much.
I have a fire extinguisher and a smoke detector in the grow room. I would hate to have to call 911 or burn the house down.
Today is day 28 since dropped in the shot glass or 24 days since they started emerging. I’m tucking leaves and raising lights and cranking things up. Those first couple of leaves i was fretting over are a memory now. Paying attention to those nine parameters is paying off. Could it be that easy? After a long intro let’s get to my first question.
I have one superstar plant that is taller than the rest. The top leaves look light stressed a bit. Is it better to raise the light than let it burn? Will the smaller ones catch up if I raise it? What is common practice?
welcome to OUR world, toys and boys? My excuse is product testing and engineering investigating.
Budget less than college tuition (approaching US NATIONAL DEBT).
Good Growin To You
Good on you for keeping them alive! I too have problems culling out females and end up with more plants than I know what to do with, but that’s ok!
Have you topped or fimmed them? Are you doing any LST to spread them out and keep the canopy even? Here’s an old pic of one I stretch outwards after being topped.
I try to let the bottom branches catch up to the upper branches by bending the uppers downwards and outwards until everything is at the same level.
You can also put the shorter plants on stands (I use 3" styrofoam or upside-down buckets, depends on how much lower they are!), the idea being you want the canopy to be the same height across each plant, and all plants. Then they get the same (max) lighting with no hotspots or low-light areas.
And as they say, post a pic or it didn’t happen!
Gotcha! Good advice already thanks. I’m charging my gopro to get better pictures for you than my phone can produce. Yep, I’m also tidying up the room for the class pictures. I’m thinking of topping it. It’s an auto, I know, don’t shoot me. It’s getting a little stiff to bend it over, but I’ll consider either approach. I post the pics in a little while. Thanks for your help. I think I found my clique. (if it were the breakfast club you can call me Bender or the nerd kid)
Tagging along growmie 
I tease fellow fishermen with that line. Put it on facebook or it doesn’t count.
Meanwhile, while the camera is charging, I’ll list a few things I left out.
The 5x5 spider farmer tent has the six-inch AC infinity exhaust fan. The 4x4 AC infinity tent has a four-inch spider farmer exhaust fan. I don’t need them on at this point. When I start cranking things up durring flower I’ll just run the hoses down the hall to the coldest room in the house. Last grow they were vented out the window. I inherited an air purifier that I used in the drying room. It removes mold spores and pathogens, and it was free so why not? A shop vac and other supplies to keep things clean in the grow room. And a positive attitude.
It’s so nice and warm in the grow room. 29F outside today. 4x4 and 5x5
4x4 Bruce Banner autoflowers (is autoflowers one word or two?)
bottom right is “Too tall Paula” They look like 4 different cultivars. neat! The top left is the mutant.
The thick trunk and stems look like a cross between rhubarb and broccoli. I thought I washed out all the yellow cake uranium pretty well.
The 5x5 they are all pretty even. The one that stalled in time will be moved to the 2x4 soon. 2 Blue Cheese in the front and 3 Banana kush.
The first plant to come up Blue Cheese. I had problems with getting the BC started and after working with Sara, my support Angel I received replacements already. See my post about testing soil for seedlings.
Here is a closer look at too tall Paula. Slight curl. No biggie?
And the 2x4 nursery and infirmary. Two Blue cheese survivors that should be as big as the others in the 5x5. I started a couple of Sour Diesel autos but now I think I have too many plants again. You big dummy! That’s it as far as pictures go.
A quick vote please. Should I top too tall Paula?
Im in Gooch… try bending Paula over to match the others height first, if she breaks, then you can just say you decided to top her…lol I have run Ban Kush, great smoke. You certainly have a line up for sure, this should be fun 
technical difficulties I’ll start over. (a paragraph disappeared)
My question is about Scrogging. I labeled and moved the plants around so that in each tent the plants are pretty close in height. There’s 30 to 35 inches to play with between the canopy and the maximum height I can raise the light to. Do I have time (2-3 days) to Amazon something. Should I DIY something or a combination of both. I see a lot of good but different styles. What works for you? Remember I like easy but can’t waste money.
You can just attach a simple trellis net in the tent and scrog through that. Do you have access to both sides of the tent?
Yes 3 sides open on both tents.
The nets on amazon look pretty much the same. Should I stick with AC Infinty for that tent or does it not matter? What do you get for $79 that you don’t for 20 - 30 bucks?
Are there any brands to avoid? (Cheap cheap, not cheap good). I got materials every where and 36 hours of rain in the forcast. I’m not opposed to DIY.
Any 4" trellis net will work… i would attach pvc pipe or a 1x2 between the tent poles to make a frame to attach the net to.
Found you!
When I moved in, I found lots of pvc pipe and some iron pipe for gas lines in the barn. All sizes and shapes but no joints, elbows or t’s. I saw a few pics in the Scrog section that I could work with. The Spider Farmer 5x5 frame is a little less sturdy than the AC Infinity 4x4. I noticed on both tents that the support bars that you can hang stuff from slide all over the place. To avoid a catastrophe, I taped them in place. So, a mid-priced net would be ok? There all basically the same?
welcome aboard!
I think I get the idea. Any pics?
