Seedlings In Bad Shape.

I am completely new to growing. I have grown and am currently growing vegetables outside including tomatoes, to all are doing great. But this is my first grow indoors. I spent a bunch on the setup and I just want all to go well enough to get some smokin bud out of this grow.

12 seedlings
ace potting soil mixed 4 parts to 1 part steer manure.
started outside due to shipping a couple parts
3 weeks old 1 week inside
no nutrients
water every 2-3 days soil goes dry or almost dry
temps kept between 72-80
6" hydrofarm 400cfm exhaust fan hooked to 6" cooltube with a 600w hps
19" away from seedlings (had it to close to start but backed away and seems way better)
Room is 5w-5t-2 1/2d
passive intake at bottom exhaust on top

All in all my plants arnt doing well. most of them, the new leaves have started to curve down. I figured overwatering but I let the soil go dry or very near dry. Pretty much all the plants are starting to get purpleish reddish stems. 1 plant is turning light green leaves and dark stem. All of them havnt grown worth a damn compared to what I have seen in real life and in pictures and just following grows on forums like this. Im not sure what to do to get these to grow. Add nutes? switch pots already? Better potting soil? I was thinking about switching to FFoF when I transplant. Here is some pictures I dunno if it will help.


Ive grown many vegetables like I said and my tomato plants are outside and doing great. Started them in the same containers. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Any help or input appreciated!

Ok so transfer pots nbd. 600w is way to much how so? As in to much light or heat cause the radiant heat is only at 77 or so. just trying to understand Knowledge is key and i love it all.

Thought about getting a couple cfls.

i think what ghetto means is you are giving your plants too much light energy. floros and mb 100watts is plenty of nice, blue, cool light. i saw they were overwatered. and trying to transplant seedlings is tricky. i think you'll figure it out.

Ok so ill get some cfls and a couple of shop lights (for the sockets). Is it ok to use the heat shield with the shop light? or take it off and just have the lightbulb itself about the plants. I would think that the heat shield will radiate the heat down and wont allow me to get as close as i should with the cfls.
So if to much light is the case then what size about is safe for my 600w hps system. Since I dont want to have to start setting up tons of cfls to veg them big, id like to keep it simple untill I can switch to hps and veg them under the one light.
And If I can keep it simple then how big can i get 6 plants under 2 or 3 cfls?

Thank you everyone!

Edit: Oh! And what cfl bulbs should i get (kmart)

I moved my light up so its 24" above the seedlings. Still got droopy plants though.

If you're willing to spend a bit more money, I'd suggest T5 lighting. T5's are a high output florescent which work great for young plants. They'll give you more lumens/watt than traditional T8 florescent bulbs. Vegetating plants need light which is high in the blue spectrum. I use 2 lights that are specifically designed for growing coral which emit high levels of blue light combined with a light designed for growing aquatic plants which is high in the red spectrum of light. You can buy these bulbs at most local aquarium stores. If you must shop at K-Mart, then get the cool daylight bulbs which give off more blue light than the warm daylight bulbs which give off more red. Or use a combination of the two.

So I can pick up a t8-t12 4ft fixture at kmart for cheap and the bulbs are cheap to so thats nbd. Will they HONESTLY veg better under a floro then the hps? Ive read alot of good things about doing the whole grow under the one bulb. I have no objections of course because I want the best results. And the t8 setup is super within my price range. Plus its cheaper on electricity and not as hot .

So for floro I want as close to 6700k as possible for veg correct? Im only able to find some 5000k at kmart so ill look around. Would 5000k be ok to use?

Last thing. About daylight hours. Im on 18/6 right now but some friends tell me to do a 24h no break. I know there is alot of controversy over this exact subject, but I would like the honest opinions of some "pros". I just want healthy plants that grow

okie dokie. well im going to get some floros within a couple weeks. got rent to pay and that comes first! if everything survives under the hps for now then i will put them under the floros for a while. im practicly out of seeds so i may buy some clones from the club. a worthy investment i think.

are your seedlings still alive?

yes. and they are growing, however very slowly. New leaves only growing maybe 1/8 - 1/4 inch a day depending on the plant. still droopy though. However seems that 2 or 3 of the seedlings are perking back up so I think it was an overwater problem. Im going to transplant tomarrow since i gently pulled one out of the starters and saw some roots all the way to the bottom + was holding dirt together fairly well. Havnt watered for 2 days and dont plan to for a couple more, see if things keep looking better. overall better but not great .

You could watch some videos on u-tube for info then use some bagseeds to practice onIts more important for me to spend my money on equipment than seeds or clones I still use bagseedsIt still gets me like this

Here's a highly rated video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nhoUIIWnqY

well i transplanted today into some bigger pots I made "plenty of holes" Got 2 bags of FFoF from our local hometown hydro store and also picked up a liter of Age Old Grow since my friends swear by it and they grow great bud so I wont argue. FFoF wasnt bad in the price and this dirt honestly just looks like it would grow better pot compared to the ace hardware shit I started them in. So the soil came nice and moist already so I didnt bother to wet the soil when I transplanted. Ill check the soil tomarrow and see if it needs some water. havnt watered for 3 days now so soon I would think. We will see where they are in a week and see if they take to the soil. Im sure they will love it ^_^. Ill start adding nutes in a couple weeks or so at 1/4 strength and see if they like it. Not sure how long I should wait after introducing them to this new awesome soil. I'll get some pics up in a couple days aswell.

nice video btw I think I will just get a nice little 4ft t8 double strip. kmart only got 5000k so im going to check our local true value hardware store. or the lighting specialists. come to think of it, the hydro store may have them I dont really know. we'll see. That will be in about a week.

well i know for the future but whats done is done so i cant reverse the transplant. if they die then I will buy clones nbd. This is my first grow so im starting to worry less about them. after all they are just a weed correct? If they dont take to the ffof ill learn my lesson And I also guess that means I wont be adding nutes for a while to avoid burning since ffof is so "hot"

you can get the fixture and the light at wal-mart for around 20$ total. t12 fixture and 2 t8 4 ft daylight tubes( 6500K). I have this and it works great. gonna get another. you can also buy the warm tubes to and inter change them I am gonna go 1 day tube and one warm tube in each light.

Is it better for them to get both spectrums of light for veg?

yes, my buddy did it in his fixture, it introduces the newer shorter days of the end of summer which get less hours n a lower kelvin rating which will be helpful to starting your plants budding process. You can keep the plants under the floros to even flower if you wanted, but the hps will work much much better

ill keep that in mind. Im just gonna get a double 4ft t8/t12 shoplight from kmart and search around for the bulbs. next friday.