Hello all.

1st time grower, started off with 7 white widow plants from seed in an NFT405 size tray.
250w Enviro lites with reflector hood (2x125W)
1200 x 800mm Space
Using power grow nutes that came with tray (i know not the best)
No vent

Currently been vegging for 18days in tray after 2weeks seedling and initial rooting stage and plants are around 12inches tall now.

From reading UK420 forums I have been waiting for "alternating nodes" to appear before switching to 12/12 and changing to "flowering" enviro lights. However the alternate nodes have yet to appear and I am concerned that the plants will get taller fast (i know they still stretch in flower) and my fluro lights wont penetrate deeply enough into the plants to get best results when flowering. I have been searching for ages to find out, any comments would be very much appreciated. Can I and should I switch to 12/12 now?

I tried to include a picture of the plants after 14days in NFT tray however something went wrong, maybe i havent posted enough yet?

Thanks for taking the time to help guys, great site.

Thanks for your comments greenman. However I was waiting for alternate nodes before flowering. Will flowering sooner make a differance when I cant see any alternating nodes yet?

Also the gentleman (stoned geezer) in my local growshop reccommended against Sodium and Halide lamps in my room due to the size of it with no ventilation due to excessive heat build up. Can anyone tell me what minimum sizes are required to run 600 W lamps? The space i have is not easily ventilated.

if you have zero ventilation you wont get away with it m8
its not just the heat issue either your plants need fresh co2 as in fresh air the hotter your room the more co2 they need
you say room is hard to ventilate whats up with it?
i even know a guy that sucks his air from under floorboards as he cant make holes in wall or cieling

Thanks Cammie, pretty much what I expected ya to say on the ventilation front. I cant cut holes in either the door or the ceiling of the room (cupboard) although cutting a hole in the floor may work as the room is carpeted and i can stick a plate over it and replace the little carpet if moving out. What do you reccomend, sucking air in from floor void, or venting air out to floor void? Also what sort of airflows would i require?

Any advice on the alternating nodes Cammie? This was the reason i have been holding off flowering.

Just been and had a look at the girls and have decided to put them on 12/12 from NOW. Im really worried about size they going to end up with the envirolights not penetrating enough to make use of the growth.

Can i prune the plants at this stage to keep em shorter? Also I want to take cuttings anyway to start a SOG grow next. I am assuming that I can prune and take cuttings as part of the same excercise.

Going to attempt this at some stage today, any advice on pruning / taking cuttings for clones would be much appreciated.

Thanks for all the help people !!!

Managed to include a pic of Veg after 14days. The girls are now a further 3 days along and are bigger again.

[attachmentid=54359]

Firstly - air is the most important things these plants need.

Secondly - if you're just using enviros (like me at the minute) then you really want to try and expose as many budsites to the light as possible (research scrogs for the future). It's a little late for training but have a read on Low Stress Training (LST) as a way of keeping them low, but wide, and making the most of the enviros. I wouldn't worry about the alternate nodes - i'd be more worried about the sex of them.

So - sort the air out, and tie down the plants. Some will be boys anyway so you will have more horizontal space.

Good luck

B8

Cut and bend away Davey .... Take your cuts now tho... later you leave it the harder they will be to root ..


From the pic it looks like you are growing in an open room .... If that's the case then air intake and outake will not be quite as big a problem ...

Laz