Okay… here I go! Excited for my first ever grow. I’ve germinated and planted 5 seeds in solo cups. Using FFOF soil with worm castings and perlite added. Have a 4x5x80 split tent, with main grow area 4’x4’. Have my 6” affinity fan and filter set up, with the HLG 550 V2 light. Currently seedlings are in the 2x4 tent under a cheap starter light. My first question is are they too young to put under the big light? If I should, would it be better at 36” full power, or lower it at half power? I want to attach some pics as I think they might be stretching too much. I did add dirt already once, so don’t want to choke the plants either. !
I hope these pics come through…
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Would like to tag a few people I’ve followed and used their ideas. @MattyBear @dbrn32 @PurpNGold74 @merlin44
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When you transplant them you’ll bury all that lankyness so no worries there… You’d want to dim it way way down if not all the way and yes keep it that high until ya can comfortably start lowering it when they get some leaves. Btw welcomed to the site, awesome friggen light, you have jumped in
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You don’t have a smaller light to keep them under for a little longer right. It be great to play it safe for a little longer. I have put mine straight to the dogs before but I also watch my plants about 4 hours a day so I know when somethings not right. Since your kinda just starting right???..
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Thanks @LoCoRock. Go big or go home! Tired of all the lousy weed I get! So I should move from the small light it’s under now? I tried to copy the light in, but not sure how to pull info from Amazon like I’ve seen others do. I’m learning!
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Sorry didn’t see this. I’ll get description of light.
I would leave them under the starter light for a little while longer. You can run them under the big lights if you dim them and raise the light, but seedlings don’t need a lot of light to grow so you can save yourself some electricity using a smaller light
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Not sure if I did this right, but this is the light I have. And yes, first time growing.
LED Grow Light for Indoor Plants, Relassy 15000Lux Sunlike Full Spectrum Grow Lamp, Dual Head Gooseneck Plant Light with Replaceable Bulbs, Professional for Seedling Growing Blooming Fruiting Amazon.com
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Great! Will do. Thanks for the comments!
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Welcome and thanks for the tag. You have some really good folks helping you out.
I am looking forward to seeing how your plants do as they grow and astonish you.
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Thanks! As you can tell, I followed your last journal using the same soil and nutrients. I liked the idea of not having to mix with the water, and you seemed satisfied with outcome. Btw your grows are amazing and inspiring!
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Don’t forget, you must adjust your pH to 6.5 (6.3 - 6.8 for soil, 6.5 ideal).
I am happy with the results so far. I only used the Roots Organics for the last half of my most recent grow with excellent results. I will have a better sense of it when I have used them for an entire grow.
I am not growing at the moment (too much surplus laying around) but will start again in a few months perhaps. Don’t forget to use Epsom salts!
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When do you start the Epsom salt?
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I put Epsom salts in my soil (about 1 TBL per gallon of soil) and add to water (1 tsp per gallon) through entire grow cycle from first real watering until a couple of weeks before harvest.
Epsom salts are made from magnesium and sulphur, both great (in the correct amounts) for your plants. I don’t use much cal-mag and never at the same time I am adding Epsom salts to the water.
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Sweet! I think the others gave you solid feedback, but I’ll tag along for sure. Good luck!
Looks like you got a lot of great help here. You should be in excellent hands. Can’t wait to see what you can do. 
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Those lights are not very strong so you can lower them pretty close like 12 inches or less from the seedlings.
I’m a beginner on my 3rd grow. I leave my girls under my 450w Viparspectra’s until transplant. Have good results doing this. Here’s a pic of plant right before transplant. After transplant I use the big lights down to about 60%.
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@Bulldognuts I’ve been following your grow closely. Looks great! So today is day 11 from seeding sprout. I transplanted one plant this morning as it got too lanky and was falling over with no room to add soil to solo cup (Note to self on that for next time). I put in 2 gallon pot with FFOF soil mixed with worm castings and perlite. I tested runoff and ph was 6.45, but tds was 1745 ppms! Any idea why this is so high? Water going in was around 93 ppms. I looked for a x’s 10 indicator and there was none. Instructions state Measurement Range: 0-9990 ppm. From 0-999 ppm resolution is in increments of 1 ppm. From 1000-9990 ppm resolution is in increments of 10 ppm, indicated by a blinking x 10 image. I looked for and did not see the x’s 10. With that calculation, would my ppm actually be 174? Plants are looking healthy. Thanks for any help.
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Ocean Forest is fairly hot soil. As long as your plants are tolerating it they will be fine. You may notice some nutrient burn on tips of leaves. As long as it is just the tips, no problem. My current grow I had high ppm’s right up to start of Flower. Once they started showing buttons ppm’s dropped fast. I started Flower nutrients at that point. You may need to start cal mag during Veg. Depending on your lights. High intensity LEDs will use up cal mag quick. I would say that your ppm reading of 1745 is probably correct. So I believe you should keep taking ppm readings and also keep a close eye on ph runoff levels. If you notice ph levels dropping it’s important to keep them up to 6.3 and 6.8. I also had a couple of mine getting low and ended up with nutrient lockout.
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