First Grow - Big Bang and Some Northern Lights

Hello all!

I am new to the forums (few days of scanning) and also new to growing, but I feel like I am learning a lot just by reading through some of the threads in this very forum. I am hoping by posting this weekly check-in that I can get some advice from the veteran growers and those that know a little bit more about all this than I do.

Since I had the space and equipment I decided to start this more as a hobby than anything so I grabbed a few seeds (Currently using Green House Big Bang and Nirvana Northern Lights). Below are the specs I am currently using the the VEG room and how I am taking care of my new plants.

Specs:

- 3' x 3' x 5' Custom growroom fitted with mylar for the reflective surfaces

- 400 Watt MH Ballast and Bulb for the plants

- 2 Fans and a Inline to circulate the air and also keeping my temps at 77 degrees (Tried to hit 75 as recommended but 77 seems close enough no?)

- Humidity sits at 40-50% but planning on figuring out how to keep it closer to 50-60% soon

- Off temps drop to around 65, I am not sure if this is bad or not but I did purchase a small heater JUST IN CASE to increase temps back up to 75ish while the bulb is off

- I used Miracle grow 0-0.2-0 Seed Starter and then got an organic 0-0-0 and added perlite after the seeds were germmed. I have yet to use any sort of nutrients but am certainly open to suggestions. I did see somewhere a 30-15-15 was good for veg since it has a lot of N in it which is why I set my pH levels to 6.5

- Seeds are now 2" from the light to prevent stretching anymore than they have

- I water 2 times a day, but limited amounts only so the roots have time to breath

- I was on a 20-4 cycle up to now, but I want to reduce to 18-6 soon, but I thought I should reduce uptime slowly instead of removing those 2 hours in 1 go.

Below are my plants at Day 7 after first popping out of my shell. Once these are almost finished vegging, I will be starting to veg GH Super Lemon Haze and some WoS Kush. I am hoping with your guidance I can make this a smooth first grow and many more to come.

Please don't be afraid to comment, I want your input as I am sure it will only help me further progress my plants. I need all the help I can get

do 24/7 light cycle for veg. also when in veg keep temp about 70 degrees. the temp can get a little lower when in flowering.

also i know exactly what jiffy pots your using i had the same ones. don't do it. they suck mine didn't dissolve into the soil! luckily i took the bottom part off so my roots could move through. If i was you i would put those in solo cups right away. thats what I'm gonna do next time. anyway thats my 2 cents. good luck.

I had plans of transplanting out of them since I wasn't sure but thank you for confirming. I can control my temps fairly well by a few degrees depending on where I point my second fan so I am fairly certain I can get it down to near 70 easily. Are you sure about the 24/7, I have heard and see many people say they need to sleep a bit and doing 24/7 isnt good for them?

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely keep it all in mind.

Jwilsn said:

I had plans of transplanting out of them since I wasn't sure but thank you for confirming. I can control my temps fairly well by a few degrees depending on where I point my second fan so I am fairly certain I can get it down to near 70 easily. Are you sure about the 24/7, I have heard and see many people say they need to sleep a bit and doing 24/7 isnt good for them?

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely keep it all in mind.

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Do your own research on here or wherever so your satisfied. But yes I'm sure. 24/7 is worth it. I started on an 18/6 cycle. about a month in someone said they would grow faster with 24/7. I tried it and yes they developed and grew faster with light 24/7. It won't hurt them trust me, in veg its all about photosynthesis. And light = photosynthesis. Flower is about sleep, thats how the buds grow.
If i could have looked back and down something different, i would have switched to 24/7 right off the bat instead of 1 month in.

Hope this helps, good luck and happy growing!

BTW… Welcom to riu!

Yea, I can totally see how that makes sense and after you suggested it I went around and checked a few other threads out and they are also doing this. Their plants seem to be doing well so I think I will switch over and do this as well at the 24/7 cycle.

Do you think I should ease it back into 24/7 instead (20-4 one day, then 21-3, 22-2, 23-1) or go right into 24 right away?

Thanks again, and thanks for the welcome!

Jwilsn said:

Yea, I can totally see how that makes sense and after you suggested it I went around and checked a few other threads out and they are also doing this. Their plants seem to be doing well so I think I will switch over and do this as well at the 24/7 cycle.

Do you think I should ease it back into 24/7 instead (20-4 one day, then 21-3, 22-2, 23-1) or go right into 24 right away?

Thanks again, and thanks for the welcome!

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you should be fine just switching into right into 24/7. I did and my plants look real good. check out some of my threads if you'd like to see them.

They are on 24/7 now and I got my temps to 75 on the dot which I am pretty happy with. I spray the base every 4 hours which keeps the humidity at 55% steady which hopefully will be fine.

On day 8 now and things seem to be fairly similar to the 1 week mark yesterday. They seem to still be looking healthy but a closer look by a more experienced grower would be much appreciate. Still no nutes (pretty sure they are too young still) but would soon like to discuss some of what I need to be getting to make these things happy.

Here they are!

So Day9 just rolled around and I am seeing some issues that I need help with.

My plants both look a bit off, not sure if its an issue or if I have done something wrong but here goes nothing.

I have a PH level of 6.6 right now I have been giving them with 0 nutes. I got my temps at 77 right now with a humidity of 50%. They were about 1.5 inches from the MH bulb without hood and after today I JUST moved them down to about 2 Inches. I try not to overwater, but today they looked almost dry so I gave them a good soaking before going out hoping they would perk right back up. This didn't happen and they continue to look the same.

The first picture below is the Big Bang. Its first node leaves dont look so bad but the seedling leaves look a bit odd.



As you can see they look a bit curled which has me scared. On the next few pictures I took different angles so you can see what I am talking about. This is what is kind of scaring me, and you will see why with the pics below.


Should I be worried. What do I need to do to fix them?

Thanks in advance!

let them dry before watering again. don't ph your water let it sit out for 24 hrs. your soil should already be the proper ph for the baby. If they die. Get yourself some fox farm for your medium.

I increased the distance from the light too plant, it may have been too high drying things out too quickly for the poor plants. I am hoping they can get salvaged after this scorching I did to them.

I will definitely be using better soil for the next grow, no more MG.

I may have had the light too close which caused them to get dried out way too quick. The plants almost looked crusty and dead but since then they seem to be looking much better. With the light down and the correct PH and PH down being used (was using sodium based ph up and down apparently) they are looking much better. I also picked up some Grow Nutes while I was there, when should I be adding them in?

Should I transplant them right now or are they still under too much stress? All comments and help appreciated.

Thanks

Here are my two poor plants that will hopefully bounce back after the beating I did to them.

Here are my two poor plants that will hopefully bounce back after the beating I did to them.

Jwilsn said:

I increased the distance from the light too plant, it may have been too high drying things out too quickly for the poor plants. I am hoping they can get salvaged after this scorching I did to them.

I will definitely be using better soil for the next grow, no more MG.

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I'm a beginner myself and made the same mistake of using MG, and it started to burn mine bad. I did a runoff test and noticed mine was at 5.0pH! so I started running water set to 8.0 and still couldnt get it above 5.6-5.7. So I went out and got some Organic soil and did a transplant. Everyone is saying MG is bad, and they are right.
Not to mention you said you had the MH light only 2" above the canopy. I've read that with seedlings and early stages of veg that its best to keep high wattage HID's about a foot above the canopy or more depending on wattage.
Someone here told me the problem with MG is every time you water them the soil will release more nutes. And with yours being so close to the light you kept watering to keep them moist.. Which in turn would cook them more.. see the problem? I'd suggest what was said above by Sick of Scrapin and put them in solo cups. Its easier and uses less water, and is much easier for the transplant that you will definitely need to do to get them out of the MG soon.

I'm a newb myself and am only telling you what I've actually learned myself because of my mishaps within the past week hahah. All will be ok, and hopefully if you catch it asap they can be saved.

good luck homie. I subbed.

They are now living in solo cups and transplanted them with some brand new soil (well, dug away everything I could without harming the roots). I am hoping this will fix em up and they will be able to continue growing strong. I will update with a pic later tonight as well, I am still crossing my fingers these can be saved.

I've learned a lot already with these two seeds, but I have more I was saving until I felt more comfortable using them. My second and following grows will surely be much better.

Here are some pics for day 11. Am I being hopeful or do these look a bit better?

Hey finally made it over! Looking a bit bitter to say the least XD. give it some time and try not to over water, With the big 24/7 versus 18/6. Ive done substantial research on this matter and ive came to the conclusion that 6 hours off makes all the difference in my world. but im also under 1000w.I started out 24/7 then just ended up swtiching to 18/6 because my dryer was on the same 1500w circuit lololol (needed to do laundry). Thanks to my dryer it helped me see the difference. There is so many contrasting opinions on this site its ridiculous but its good to get different opinions and make the judgement yourself from there . Best of luck bud ill be watching

R/S,

JT

Give a man a seed he'll grow a plant..

but teach him the basics and he'll grow a field

I got a BigBang running right now too, and I also got silly with my lighting on the first seed grow... my HID nuked the seedling a bit b4 i realized what I did n got my CFL in place. Im curious (and totally hopeful for ya) about how yours is coming along, mine got dried out, then stretched a bit n fell over 90degrees 5 days in.... dropped a dome over the pot, and prayed to the weed gods, sure as shit she popped back up the next day, shes got a lil nubby spot now where the bend was.... seems to be growing slower than the norm, but, after that start, I'd be insane to expect different...

My issue is.... shes hardcore yellowing, w/ SERIOUS leaf cupping. My bottom leaves look OK aside from the shaping from the early light error. The rest of the plant tho... pale pale green bordering yellow, and all the middle n upper leaves are cupped upwards....

Catch is... it's right next to a Santa Muerte and 3 Sour Turbo Diesel's.... I just don't feel its a heat stress issue given its neighbors all look great.

(Runnin happy from at the moment, Use advanced nutes, prolly changing to roots or FFOF after this batch of dirt runs out...)