Does it have to be under a Mars Hydro light?
If not, then here we go.
Germinating. Balls to that paper towel nonsense, just soak in water until you see the tap root is ALMOST out then drop her straight into the soil/compost. Then we have the good bit.
We know from my posts how old this thing is, started under a 14.5w 6500K led replacement bulb to keep her squat and then under the hyper expensive SMD panel. Fabric pots cost under €2 each, compost €5 for 40l, light cost under €50, fans were a tenner each, so my whole setup is less than one Mars Hydro light.
She shot up a bit over the last couple of days, and grew further overnight, clearing 7" in height, to the point where, as you can see, it's bending time.
View attachment 972512 View attachment 972513
Look closely and you see string tied loosely around the stem so it doesn't dig in, and then my favourite 10" bungee cords hook onto a loop in the string (Knots in bungee cords reduce length, so you can have them at the EXACT length and tension you desire, plus they're obviously reusable) so, as the plant tries to straighten up, it has that bit of "flexibility" so less strain is on the stem as it can move around a little, allowing the flow of nutrients to continue unimpeded.
The compost is arguably THE most important thing, and the stuff I use does NOT have peat in it which I found out to be something vital, the stuff I use is so soft you just drop the seed straight in and add a couple of spoons of potash just to make sure as otherwise overfeeding can be an issue.
Last grow in a 10l pot brought me 210g wet. This one should be higher given the bigger pot size and the shape.
So, tips. The light paid for itself with the last grow so that is nothing. So that's a couple of bucks for the pot, around the same for the compost/perlite/hydro balls, call it 5 for the seed, so we'll take it simply at €10 plus maybe the same in electricity over the grow period. Anyone wanting to grow only a single plant at a time, there's your tips because there's a potential 5-6 oz there for around €20-25 outlay, proving you don't need to spend an absolute fortune on equipment despite what everyone says. You want to grow more than one plant, well, each SMD panel will cost well under $50 for ALL parts, and that drops 140w of circa 3000K light on each plant and you can have the panel 6" away from the plant with no worries about heat, the weight is effectively non-existent (under a kilo) so no worries about whether supports are strong enough.
There's mine, show me your worst.
I just modified it again, hope the customer service will not find the bug
