First grow, some early concerns

Hi all

i'm going to try and follow the directing post about what to include for giving yall the best chance to help me.

• Durban Poison Autos from Dutch Passion
• 5 gal vivo sun smart pots (now thinking i should have went smaller)
• mother earth coco perlite
• General Hydroponics 3 set of nutrients
• Botanicare Cal Mag Plus
• Mars Hydro sp250
• using one end of a 4x8 tent
• have been using distilled water, 7 days with nothing, now with ratio i got from a youtube grower for wks 2-4
• RH was at 65%ish now its at 55%ish
• temp was high 70s for fist week, has drifted down to mid 70s currently
• hope the picture of the area fills in the rest

my concern is with the lightness of the green in most areas, i know they are young, but they also don't seem very strong?
online research has me considering...omg a hure array of things. I figure that picures of mine would be way better than comparing mine to pictures off the web.

forgot to mention that when the cracked seeds first went in, i placed them in a small area of potting soil at the top middle of the coco. figured it could help since i was not planning to add anything to the water for the first week.

I took a guess and moved my light much higher, color seems to be improving. I will give that a couple days before consider any other major changes. Also I think I'll go back to strait water on my next watering and check the ppm on the runoff. Takes a ton of water to get any runoff with those big ass pots.

Look fine, man. As the get established, they will use nutrients better. Nothing to see here imo. Lose the distilled water. Also called dead water. Lacks o2 and devoid of minerals. Better of with flitered, spring, something like that. Good luck on your first grow. Best decision I've made!!

R Burns said:

Look fine, man. As the get established, they will use nutrients better. Nothing to see here imo. Lose the distilled water. Also called dead water. Lacks o2 and devoid of minerals. Better of with flitered, spring, something like that. Good luck on your first grow. Best decision I've made!!

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Thanks much. I'll fight my instincts to worry and micro manage.

ShadySwashbuckler said:

I took a guess and moved my light much higher, color seems to be improving. I will give that a couple days before consider any other major changes. Also I think I'll go back to strait water on my next watering and check the ppm on the runoff. Takes a ton of water to get any runoff with those big ass pots.

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Don't worry about watering until runoff in those big pots with those small plants. Keep the coco damp not wet and don't overfeed.

I've found the three gallon fabric pots are the perfect size when growing in coco. I also don't add any perlite but that's a different matter.

Feed with every watering...if you're using coco, don't water with plain water...always be sure there's feed in it. Know your feed pH, know your feed and you'll be fine. Good luck.

You also don't want to use straight water. Always use a nutrient solution. Plants that size maybe 1/4 strength. And there is no need for distilled water or anything special unless you have extremely hard water. I use straight tap water chlorine, chloramine, and all when mixing nutes. Plants don't care.

xtsho said:

You also don't want to use straight water. Always use a nutrient solution. Plants that size maybe 1/4 strength. And there is no need for distilled water or anything special unless you have extremely hard water. I use straight tap water chlorine, chloramine, and all when mixing nutes. Plants don't care.

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Thanks guys. Things seem like they are going well at day 13.

day 18 now,
I Keep hearing about how the PH leads to so many of the symptoms people see. Didn't trust my 20 dollar Pen and upgraded to a decent 70 dollar one that allows me to better control the calibration.
Been keeping the PH at about 5.8 wish i had more experience to know how concerned i should be with these very recent changes.
The GH nutes im adding to the water has been right around 400-500 ppm
The base of the water has been half and half spring and dechlorinated tap. The strait tap water is up near 200 ppm so i'm mixing it down lower.
I'm very happy with the growth so far, more than i would have expected vs the zillion videos i've watched.

There is a chance the the real bad lower leaf you see got feed water on it and i didnt remove, but the new growth tips that's definitely not the case.
any thoughts? last pic is just to show the size in the 5gal at this age

I wouldn't be afraid to use your tap straight...don't be scared.

I'd snip the spotted leaf if it bothers you...it's old growth and not a good indicator of anything really. The yellowing tips, especially on the newest growth; I'd keep an eye on. Continue to monitor your pH (in the future, the drops for less than $15, will get you close enough for government work), you'll be fine. They're looking pretty good otherwise...