First ever grow! ...Closet/CFL/Bagseed...

Okay, so a few weeks back I found some seeds in the eighth I was smoking and planted them in my garden, not intending to grow them (kind of a ritual thing - I always plant the seeds whenever I smoke outdoors). To my surprise, as it was already late october (NE USA), 3 sprouted and started to grow their first set of leaves. Last weekend, after discovering this site, I decided to see if I could keep one alive (probably should have brought in more). So, a week later it is still alive and I have seen some decent growth. This is really just for me to keep track of growth, but any comments/suggestions would be great! I've included a few pics of her (hopefully) below because I know everyone likes pictures and I'll have some of the whole setup later.

Current set-up:
-2 27W 6500K CFLs w/ Mogie-style soda can reflectors.
-Scott's Organic Potting Soil
-80mm PC fan
All in a Rubbermaid tote (1.5'Dx2'Wx1.5'H)

I have the sides of the tote covered with aluminum foil, which I know people are generally against, but I figured it would be better than the gray sides of the tote. Also, I'm planning on building a larger cabinet with flat white paint interior that should be in place by next weekend. Should I remove the foil immediately or leave it until I get the new white cab together?

More pics... (don't hate i'm getting a better growcab soon)

You're all probably jealous of my ingenious way of hanging lights.

Kind of worried about yellowing/drooping of lower leaves (see pictures, looks a little worse in person), what do you guys think? Also, any thoughts on the aluminum foil situation?

drooping may mean overwatering.....soil may have too strong of nutes

Got a new white cabinet at lowes so I don't have to continue with the ghetto setup. It should be all put together tomorrow.

9 days since I brought her inside...

Starting to grow nicely, Im sure the new grow space will also help them....
Starting to get cold here too, especially at night!!!

Hey my lower leaves are doing the same exact thing, we have a real similar setup, i think its the lighting myself. Check out my journal in my signature..we're pretty much on the same exact stage.

Moved her to her new home! It's much less ghetto. One of my 4 6500K CFLs shattered in the process, so it was replaced with a 2700K. Hope I don't die from the mercury.

Don't the cans give off hotspots?

Nice grow there

I'm a little worried about the browning that's occurring at the tips of the leaves. The nutes in the Scott's potting soil I used might be too strong at this point - should I flush? On the other hand, I haven't given her any outside nutes yet and it's day 11 - maybe a nitrogen def? I don't want the good upper leaves to end up like the bottom two (first pic). Any help you guys can give would be great! Posted this in plant problems too so sorry if you're reading it twice.

I didn't think you were supposed to give nutes when it's that small? I could be wrong....

I hope it's not the soil, I'm planning on using Scotts as well

jomal206 said:

Don't the cans give off hotspots?

Nice grow there

Click to expand...

Thanks, and I don't think they do... Mogie's DIY post about them is here.

Yeah I know how to make them, i actually tested one and held it up to the light and it shown brighter is some spots than others...I think that might cause hotspots?

I was thinking about using them anyways and just seeing....

hi traffic, whats the NPK for your soil also whats your ph? . At around 2 to 2 1/2 weeks is when u add nutes but gradually introduce the ferts only do about half strength.

Watered her last night before I went to sleep because the soil was dry all the way through. I called lowe's and they have a cheap soil pH/moisture meter that I'll go get sometime soon (hopefully today), which should help.

Anyway, the browning/crisping is not getting any better and I'm starting to consider heat stress. I don't have a thermometer in the cab, but whenever I open it up it seems pretty damn hot. Should I move her down from the lights a little bit?(5th picture) I can touch the cfls with my hand and not get burned... Here are some new pictures. Any comments/suggestions would be cool as hell and very appreciated.

hey man, keep it up. the wilting however can be from heat stress and/or overwatering. the latter sounds unlikely since you said the soil was dry all the way through, but i didnt see any drainage holes which means water can build up. even if the plants uses up all the water, you could still let it go another day or 2 before watering again as the roots may have absorbed the water but its not fully utilized yet. also, the temp should remain around 70-75º. if its above that, get it down quick. heat stress causes a lower yield and other possible mutation problems later on

hope this helps!

Thanks scias.
Yea, the temp is definitely higher than that, gonna have to work on better ventilation... I'm only working with one 80mm pc fan. Bigger vent holes and fan repositioning are definitely in order.

Drainage holes are in the bottom of the pot so I'm covered there.

Just realized that the water I've been using for the past week has "flavor enhancing minerals." Thinking this might be causing or at least adding to the current problems. Regardless, I'm switching back to poland spring but it would be nice to know if you guys think this is my problem so I can stop worrying.

Could this water be burning my leaves???

i was having the same problem with my plants, i ended up scrapping them, because in the two weeks or longer it was taking for them to get healthy which they were barely alive, i could just plant some new ones, but on your case i'd def keep fighting it...

check the ph of the water going in, and also you need to check the soil ph, other than that, if you arent nuting, i would say its heat stress, because thats the only thing that i couldnt really control when i were tryin to get mine to get healthy....

traffic, you definitely want to use plain water. more acidic (a ph of about 6.5) is where you want to be with the water. the flavor enhancing minerals are unbalanced for plants. im not sure about poland spring, but there are several ph neutral waters out there. however, most bottled water is produced for human consumption and generally are more alkaline. regular water just processed through reverse osmosis is good to use. most walmarts have a cullihan or something water station where you can fill up your jugs with just reverse osmosis water. no minerals added. hope this helps!