Please Help, I fear im doing something wrong

Hey Guys, ill get rite too it, this gonna be a long thread, please bear with me. 1ST off, in new to the site, hello fellow tokersThis is me 3rd or 4th attempt, I have NEVER had a plant last more than 2 weeks. I have a small closet setup about 2 1/2 ft by 2ft area 3 1/2 feet high (optional 10ft or so if i do away with the storage in the lower half). Soil is "Expert Gardner: Perfect Mix" 10-8-6 complex with a slight perlite mix. Basic miracle grow for nutes. Lighting: 8 27watt CFL's (1750 lumens each) appox 14,000 lumens total. I did the "paper towl" germ method. Planted 12, 3days later 8 were popping out. they have been out of the ground exactly 1 week today. i have watered em twice a day with ONE feeding every other day. no ventilation as of now. i just keep the closet open often to freshen the room. As u can see in the picks they are short ( i read thats a good thing for the young age, a taller plant 3-4 inches at 1week is due to a lack of lighting, IS THAT TRUE?) 1st set of spiked leaves are out, inner set just developing. Temp in the room seems high, if in there for more than 20-30 sec, i break a facial sweat. Also the stems on most off em seem to be a dark tone of red or purple is that good? can some please PLEASE take a few mins to answer these questions

1st. Will my lighting be enough to hold up till 12/12? i plan on flowering as soon as i can sex em, wanna keep em short due to the lack of space ( this is all just a leaning experience for me)

2nd. am i watering too much or not enough and am i feeding to much or too little?

3rd. do my plant seem healthy as this stage?? (compared to other pics ive seem VERY small at 1 week

4th. will too much heat damage em? its not boiling in there but i know its way higher than low 80's

and most importantly, what can i do with my cheap setup to improve the growth rate? any suggestion?

also sry for the shitty pics, cheap cam


to all those taking the time to give me a hand, much appriceated, thank u very much.....
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1.that should be fine. 2. too much, and you don't have to feed them until two pairs of leaves appear(not including the first oval-shaped ones). 3. a bit behind. 4. do what you can to lower the heat, it will damage them.

Great thanks, i was thinking the outcome may have been worse. If i have been over feeding em anlong with the overheated grow room, that 'may' have some effect on the slower growth, also a bit more info .............they are bagseed, from some good smoke but still reg ole seeds, they range from 1-3 yrs old, numerous strains although unsure of ev1, just collected over the years. ill be getting some clip on 6inch fans or so to help cool the are. also i have ran a 24/0 cycle, does any1 think i may get slightly better results dropping it to 18/6? if any1 has anymore advice, im all ears, this is just a learning experience for me, wanna make sure i can grow some ladies b4 i invest serious cash in a nice setup. thnx again for the info

18/6 supposedly brings more females...I haven't observed this to be accurate, myself, yet.

do those containers have drainage? you need pots with drainage.

i have always used 18/6.

you need a fan, for sure. and a thermometer.

you don't need to be feeding yet. wait a few weeks.

welcome to the forum.

18/6 and 24/7 are the way to go. personally im a 24/7 guy.

I water my babies once every 3-5 days, depending on how big they get each time i check

Never feed the plant nutes until the 4th week, since sprouting, has taken place. Use Nitrogen, babies and plants that are vegging love the nitrogen.


I would rid the foil, if you have many cfls a proper placement should do just ok. foil can just cause burning and stress.

happy growing

toke a lot

Tokesalot

GREAT thnx alot. the foil was just an idea to help direct more lite to the babies. i dont have a timer as of now ( very cheap grow only $50 max invested) im gonna lay off the watering as much, see if that helps, also with the feeding and yes they do have drainage. numerous slits in the bottom of the pales.......as far as the nitrogen, thats y im feeding with basic miricle grow, highest nitrogen content i could find at local stores.........and as far as light placement, i have 8 26w cfls' with 8 plants, its a single screw in socket with a 1 into 2 adapter , i have 4 of those setups, basically 1 light directly over each plant appox 1-2 inches above....maybe with those hints and a damn fan i may get slighly better results........also about cfl's, ive read that a "daylight" bulbs are great for vegging ans "soft" bulbs for flowering, all mine are "soft" lights, again 'MAY' have a stunted growth effect, but what do i know, im the rookie thnx guys

well for 50 bucks you can get a timer and some decent lighting timers are only like 7-10 bucks at home-cheapo. they are white and really cheap id recomend one of those. as for lighting 2700k will work too and no it wont stunt them but 6500k is way better due to the blue spectrum and plants veg better with it.
i dont think your lights will cover 8 plants though you would need a hps or mh for that cuase cfl's just arnt strong enough unless you use a ton of them wich adds up in money costs and heat. for fans you can get a small rotating fan for like 10-15$ or buy a pack computer fans from tigerdirect.com thts were i got myn.miracle grow can burn real easy so watch out with it. im not sure but in your first post it looked like you said your soil ha like 10-8-6 or sumthin if so you want soil with no ferts in it cuase you will have trouble telling how much is actually been given to them. foxfarms kicks ass id recommend tht over any soil tht ive used and scotts is pretty good too.

thanx for the info, yes soil is 10-8-6 i believe.......i figured the cfl's wouldnt not cover 8 plants. i just want to see if i can get 1 finshed plant out of the deal, just to see how difficult it actually was b4 investin more cash. so far they are burn free ( knock on wood) after hrs of research im leaning all my thoughts on the stunted growth due to 3 things, 1st over watering, ive watered em 2 - 3 times daily with a light mist froma spray bottle every 2 - 3 HRS.. 2nd lack of ventalation ( easily solved with a fan) abd my biggest prob i believe i have it the heat, i picked up a el cheapo 97 cent themp gauge from wallz martz. was reading a hair over 100 NOT GOOD from what ive read but back to the fan, that should lower that by atleast 10-15 degree's, and more fellow grows have any tips, please share the wealth, ill keeep ya'll posted on the El Cheapo Grow ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ also considering dumping 3 or 4 of the weaker looking plants to dedicate more light to the remaining 4, may help growth ( only been a week so not much of a sacrifice trashing a few for a better finished product ) to me anyway SMOKE SAFE AND GROW HEALTHY

also i seem to have the opposite problem of many others. my leaves dont curl down like ive seen some sick or undernourished plants do. the small jagged edges of the leaves are pointing straight up. almost on a 90 degree angle from the leaf.. not the whole leaf just the edges...good?bad?normal?

Yea, don't use any type of fertilizer until abou 2-3 weeks in, or when the seedlings are about to convert to vegetative growth. The lights should be positioned in a place where the plants don't stretch at all and usually have their first real leaves by about a inch or two in growth. Any sort of stretching (over 4 inches) and I would discard and start over or lower the lights immediately. It's far better to have your lights closer and risk burning than too far and have weak stems.

Whatever you do, just check them whenever you have a chance and react accordingly.

Wilting, browning = lights too close
Leaves drooping = Lack of Water
Stems too wobbly and long = lights too far
Yellow leaves = Nitrogen Deprovation

Follow that, and all should go well. Good luck.

thnx. well based on that info considering the cheap supplies, they seem to be ok, they had the 1st leave set 2-3 days ago, they were about 1 1/2 inch at that time. today makes day 8 of peeking there heads up. about 2- 2 1/2 inch now, 2nd set if leave are developed but small....lights are appox 1 -2 inch above the plants.....no wilting yellowing or sick sign of any kind as of now..think i just need to stop over watering and lay off the nutes for a bit. here are a few somewhat better shots to see the inner leaf set. Thnx alot smokers and tokers. sry choppy pics but u get the idea. inner leaf set developing. thats 8 days in the world. 10 days from germination and an alrial pic to get an idea of the make shift light setup

Wel its been about 8-10 hrs since last pics were taken. they ARE growing just very slow, the inner leaf set is slow developing but the 1st "secondary stem) inbetween the "0val"l leaves is growing, about 1/4 inch from the ovals...looks like the 1st "fan" leave stems are slightly developing also.still comparing my plants to similar plants of age, mine seem way behind. ill post pics in a few days trying all the hints i was given onhere, We'll see how it goes

also i found 2 small comp fans laying around the house, i rigged em up to get some air blowwig, temps now went from 100 to 90'ish small help, but a step in the rite direction

thnx for the reply Gwarrior, 1 question about the lighting.... i have the lights about 2 inch or so from the plants, if i hold the light over my wrist. appox 1/4 to 1/2 inch, they dont seem hot eenought to burn. unlike tube flouros that r cool to the touch, these cfl's , if i actually hold or touch the bulb, its rather hot. Basically what im asking " how close to TOO close? thnx every on for all the info, u guys have been a great help

i noticed that you don't have any kind of reflector for your lights. if you invest in making/buying one, your garden's efficiency will increase by up to 33%

your abosolutly rite i dont, i had a makeshift reflector make from a thick cardboard box lined with foil, got BAKING HOT so i did away with that but....i saw a thread on here about making cfl reflectors from soda cans or canned goods cans, think ill give that a try, also for my cooling...im useing the top 3feet of a old closet. Think im gonna use the "hot air rises, cold air drops" theory to my advantage, im gonna move the setup to the floor. should dramatically help the cool, once i make the reflectors and move to the floor, ill post a few pics, also CORRECTION they have been out of the soil for 5-6 days, with so much constant checking, every 2 hrs or so, guess i lost track of time, so for 5-6 days, they seem to be ok. ill keep u all posted, thnx alot ev1

igstid420 said:

Wel its been about 8-10 hrs since last pics were taken. they ARE growing just very slow

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You detected noticeable growth in 8 hrs?! Guy, no offense, but you're obsessing too much over your plants. Stop hovering over them and give Mother Nature a chance to do her thing. You know the sayings?, A watched pot never boils! (do not, however, boil your pot!) I only check (and give a little water) every other day at this point. I actually have, in the past, started a half dozen babies in dixie cups placed in a ring around the base of a lamp with one "daylight" cfl in the socket, nothing else(except soil, of course). Sometimes less is more. Well, Good Luck! , and try to relax a little!