Having trouble with the indoor growing guys, need input please

Ok so I just starting putting my grow room together 3 weeks ago and started with some ditch weed seeds because I was curious to see how they would compare with potent seeds. I have 5 seedlings of the poop on the outer buckets and in the inner bucket I have a mix of the mystery seed and one of ice. In the DWC 4 pot planter I recently transplanted 2 white widows, an ice, and one crystal by slicing in half a rockwool and carefully placing it in between the rockwool and putting a rubberband around it (which I have removed since along with the plastic). This first pic shows how pathetic the potent seeds look after transplanting to the system.



I used rich organic potting mix and I've applied very limited fertilizer before now and the stems kept on getting really long. One of them broke and fell over from the weight one night because they are just so thin.... for the potent seeds its been 2.5 weeks and even though I think I fixed a problem with the lighting (I was using 2 60W cool white fluorescent tubes too far then put them closer, still not enough seemed like so I got real CFL 42 W daylight spectrum bulbs from the local hardware store and well you can see from the second picture).

The third one gives a better picture of how long the stems are (and while I transplanted I ate up about an inch already on all of them. The reason why I think they have become so tall and did not grow fast at all is because the 2 fluorescent tubes were too far away). Also it looks like the close right one has red stemage. The last picture show the ditch weed on the right where one is struggling to recover from shock and watering perhaps and a small one lying low to the ground was also looking a little pale. Beforehand my light sensing meter read at about 700 (I don't know the units there was no instructions for it) and that was after I lowered the tubes really close. After I put the rest of the bulbs in I'm getting upwards of 2000 for light and I noticed recovery and maybe a little better growing.

If I ever get to the point of flowering I'm just going to use a 400 W HPS and that should be good because I plan on having almost like a sea of green setup, however the DWC will take more priority than the soil buckets. I do have 12 plants right now of unknown sex so I guess that'll make 6 females or more right?

Oh and I got my seeds from marijuana-seeds.nl so I really don't suspect any problem with the bank.



Does anyone know what I should do from here?




I leave the temp around 80 and the humidity between 40 and 60 so that shouldn't be a problem.

What, no one has anything to say about that?

the reason your plants are so tall is there reaching for the lights... you need to get those fluros about 1 inch from your plants...and get a small fan to blow on them helps build up there stems..as tall as some of them are you may want to start some more and keep the lights closer to them..

Unless you plan on flowering pretty soon I would put 1 plant per pot.Root development is for vital for plants.They sell 4 foot fluorescent fixtures at Wal Mart that have reflectors that are part of the fixture so your light is focused on the plants.Your temps are alright,humidity is ideal.

Its tragic that you're using seed bank stock on a set up like that. IMO, you're wasting your seeds. It's a trial and error thing getting started, you need better lighting, all the money you've spent, you can get a hps system for 165 bucks and grow killer smoke.

Yea after 1 week I lowered the fluorescent tubes that I originally bought somewhere else. I put them really close and they aren't the 40 W kind, they're the 60 W kind. Just within the last 3 days I also added the extra 6 42 W daylight CFLs and the light meter reads over 2000 so I don't think light is a problem now. I do plan on keeping one plant per pot I just put two or three in one because I want to see which plant looks the healthiest (and remember the two outer pots are the test ditch weed seeds since this is my first time). After that I just pull the ones out that don't look good. One reason I didn't spend money on more pots is because I have a small space. I know root space is a big deal but I'm pretty good at scooting things over small distances in a pot just gotta get far enough under the root system (and at this point they are not looking spectacular, but they are straight white looking so no rot). I already lost a Crystal and I think I may loose one of my widows in the DWC on the front left and back right, but all of them are pathetic for 3 weeks.

By the way, I don't think its a waste of money if I learn something about growing in the process even if a few seeds aren't working right. In my opinion I think there is a really big problem that I'm overlooking that is causing slow growth. I first thought maybe the fiber layer under the hanging pot in the bucket method wasn't letting the soil breathe enough. Also the cheap pH meter I bought is only good for light and moisture. I'm getting another one soon, I have the strips which help me check the pH in my reservoir but not so easily with the soil.

Like I said I have been watering the pots about 2 times a day about 4 oz a piece with a sprayer coating the surface nicely and every 10 days or so giving minute amounts of root stim and grow. I also have been trying using small amounts of H2O2 along with carbonated water for the roots and the photosynthesis respectively.

I've heard rumors of BRS (bad room syndrome) but I don't know how much better I can make it, I have a small breeze through the whole room, 2 air puriers with carbon, and a humidifier keeping optimal conditions...... I do however notice just 1 or 2 gnats occasionally, but that would not affect the DWC setup and probably not rob that much nutrients out of the pots. I think I've come to the conclusion that the two ditch weed plants on the right just have some tranplant shock. Perhaps the pathetic looking plants I transplanted to the rockwool and DWC have shock too but the same seedbank in the middle pot have similar growth (and at this point they look better than the ones in the DWC) yet both are looking droopy except for the close one on the right which has yellowing leaves that are pointing straight up with lots of redness in the stem. The only reason I got it is because I thought it would be faster and more potent, the rockwool is always wet though that might be a problem but it is just barely over the face of the water. My water pump will be coming soon so hopefully that will fix this inefficient setup.

Ok so I guess I will leave the floor open for constructive criticism or advice on how to fix this plight situation. Let's take a vote.. between nute problems, system setup, pH, transplant shock, or other unknowns.


By the way I do have a nice 400 W hps hood ready to go when I need it ; )


I've attached more pictures for today picture 1, 2, 3, and 4, is for ditch weed, seedbank, ditch weed, and seedbank DWC, respectively. I put my fingers in so you can see what size the plants really are.

Here's a thought...do you think that the long stem permanently slows everything down? It would seem it wouldn't matter, but it's a thought.

As some have mentioned before, you need better lighting. For all the heat you are creating with just the CFLs you might as well replace them with a 250 watt HPS. I think this would net you better results. I know people grow with CFLs and they make it seem easy, but the truth is that plants prefer HID lighting. They respond to HID lighting much better. You should consider getting an HPS in the coming weeks. right now, you are ok with CFLs to veg your babies, but get the HPS for sure. You can use an HPS for both veg and flower. I am just guessing on this but I imagine that the amount of lumens you are producing with all of those CFLs is still not as much as a single 250 watt HPS growing light can produce.

your plants are stretching man you either bring the lights to the plants or the plants to the light hope this helps

sorry I did not read the part about your 400 watt HPS. Start using it as soon as possible. Keep it a good distance away from them as they are young. If that HPS doesn't kick start those babies then I'd say its time to rethink the setup.

<stealthgrowing> said:

sorry I did not read the part about your 400 watt HPS. Start using it as soon as possible. Keep it a good distance away from them as they are young. If that HPS doesn't kick start those babies then I'd say its time to rethink the setup.

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Yea most of the light is burning at 6100K except for the tubes at 4100k, it's "cool white". So you think that an HPS will work huh? I actually haven't got it yet, but I ordered it two days ago when I found out I couldn't find a hood for it in the hardware store anywhere. I might still be able to get a hps bulb with the metal halide fusion. I didn't realize it but you may be exactly right my babies have been deprived of that lower light spectrum. I guess I bought into the number of people who said they were getting good results with just CFLs alone for veggin.

In order to keep power consumption down do you think I can get away with only using it 6 hours into the "day" on a timer for 6 hours, mimicking the hot of afternoon? That way I don't get the room too hot just yet, right now it's really quite pleasant.

So I guess I need to figure out a way to arrange all the lights so all the plants get a bit of the hps, but I already have an idea.

As far as an idea for my flowering stage prep for the room. I think I'm going to take the door down and put up black plastic with a metal dowel rod to weigh down the bottom as well as give way to pull it up and rest it on some hooks. The rest of the attachment will be done with velcro. Near the top just above the hooks where the dowel will rest when open, I will also put in a curtain bar across the opening.

On both sides I will cut out two 6 inch holes that will serve as duct openings. To strengthen the at the hole I will use duct tap so that the tape grommets the hole. Also I will add more tape to the hole so that I have some resistance to pushing and pulling the flexible piping (dryer flextube). One will end up either feeding out my window or hook up to the vent in the bathroom. The intake will be pointed towards my window AC unit and I will either buy an inline fan if I can find one at my local hardware store see if I can just get by with duct taping it to the front of a small fan I have and setting it right in front of the AC, in an attempt to cool the small room with the 400 watt hps.

My friend said that if I put some carbon filters on my box fans that they would burn out, but I was thinking about doing that for odor control as well as using an odor masking canister I found at the hardware store.

I wish I could take pride in them now but I guess I need to see them for what they can be, not what they are now.

Fluorescent lighting is sufficient for veg,I use nothing but T 12 fluorescent from wal-mart in my veg/clone room.Hps will add some heat.Air-cooled hood hooked up to an inline fan work great for heat.What nutrients are you using????

Ok so my buddy came over to look at them and low and behold they are still looking like $hit. Then he started talking about ideal system conditions etc for a grow. He is freakin retarded because he said that you can't overwater weed. He said he could tell that the taller plants in the soil were "definitely male" because the stem was getting bigger and the others were still runting it up. He said that optimal conditions for temp is like 95 to 100 and that getting a dehumidifier would also help LOL! He said that expensive grow lights are the way to go and that no one can really grow good dro without an expensive computer system monitoring shit LOL. He said just get this 300W led grow light and it will cover like a 100 M2 area. I almost punched him. However we both agreed that my lighting system needs more juice, among other things I'm thinking I discovered that are not working for me right now:

1) I sprayed the leafs with dilute root stim spray (high P) which may have caused burn and it was noticable in them now that I think about it.
2) The moisture dues not leave the netted hanger pot which has a fiber layer and over 5 gal buckets to catch drips, may have caused rotting roots now that I got to look at the hydro system rockwool and roots for the white widow, ice, and crystal.
3) The transplants I did from the soil to the DWC (which is now a dro system with water pump, manifold, lines, and water timer) with 1/4 nutes at 6 pH, they are not doing well with sagging leaves and one that had leaves praying upward and yellowing just now coming back down but very red stem still and yellowish leaves, not to mention, the smallest root system of them all. Could the long stem attribute to slow growth thereafter? Also when I transplanted them I dug up the root system carefull and sprayed off the dirt gently then was slapped between a split rockwool and put it. I think some of the dirt left on the root may have caused root rot, there's pics is that mold?
4) My hps and MH are not hear yet
5) My soil pH tester is cheap and inaccurate (another on the way)
6) Those small ass plants are 4 WEEKS old
7) I think perhaps my humidifier might have mold in it because it seems anything in this place with moisture attracts mold, it smells a little funky sometimes if I am in front of it. However I do have two air purifier units in that small closet that are rated for 250 feet^2 rooms with carbon prefilters as well.
8 This is my first time so I suck

What should I do should I keep it going and see what happens or scratch it and start over with newfound knowledge?

Oh sorry I didn't see your question, I had been using a little bit of grow formula with micronutrients as well as root stim which was higher in P. Not frequently though, it's only been 4 WEEKS yet they are tiny.

brinkclan said:

Ok so my buddy came over to look at them and low and behold they are still looking like $hit. Then he started talking about ideal system conditions etc for a grow. He is freakin retarded because he said that you can't overwater weed. He said he could tell that the taller plants in the soil were "definitely male" because the stem was getting bigger and the others were still runting it up. He said that optimal conditions for temp is like 95 to 100 and that getting a dehumidifier would also help LOL! He said that expensive grow lights are the way to go and that no one can really grow good dro without an expensive computer system monitoring shit LOL. He said just get this 300W led grow light and it will cover like a 100 M2 area. I almost punched him. However we both agreed that my lighting system needs more juice, among other things I'm thinking I discovered that are not working for me right now:

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Hehehehe I really needed a good laugh,your friend is a dumbass.Sounds like you should of read a little more before you started growing bro,not trying to discourage you but looks and sounds like you are very unprepared.Goodluck to ya.

yeah those plants are way to stretched..bring the lights down..

Wow did you even read any of the previous posts? The only thing I don't have right now is enough lighting apparently and people keep on responding with less than helpful replies. Oh wow Einstein you think the lights were too far away, yes I agree that's why I said it to begin with. By the way I only wrote what you quoted me on, I didn't adhere to those principles because I did to my reading. How about you follow the conversation instead of taking one paragraph I write out of context tool.

By the way I made an error last time, it was 4 weeks not months. Maybe next time you write back on a post you could PREPARED to give me a solution I haven't already tried thank you very much.

brinkclan said:

Wow did you even read any of the previous posts? The only thing I don't have right now is enough lighting apparently and people keep on responding with less than helpful replies. Oh wow Einstein you think the lights were too far away, yes I agree that's why I said it to begin with. By the way I only wrote what you quoted me on, I didn't adhere to those principles because I did to my reading. How about you follow the conversation instead of taking one paragraph I write out of context tool.

By the way I made an error last time, it was 4 weeks not months. Maybe next time you write back on a post you could PREPARED to give me a solution I haven't already tried thank you very much.

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Sorry bro I didnt mean to offend you in any way,I know you were smarter than your friend you obviously pointed out he was a dumbass I just thought it was funny what you said he said.I didnt mean it in a bad way telling you to do some more reading sometimes I find the solution to my problems reading my litterature I have already read over again.We all learn from our mistakes and hope you get growing down I love this hobby and encourage anyone to do it.My bad if I sounded like a dick

its all good, i'm just trying to figure out if its normal to have little white fuzzies on the roots for my hydroponic system, seems like today I checked them again and I noticed a little more root structure for a couple of em, so maybe it's not fatal?

Ok little update on slow painful progress. In foreword, the only reason I'm letting them all live (whether they are looking good or not) is because there is plenty of room for them. I drastically changed up the grow room today after I got my shipment from one of the leading online suppliers. One of soil netted hanger pots is gone because I transplanted them into separate hydro buckets, all with their own air and water pumps. To do this I did it much like the first time when I tranplanted the White Widow, Crystal, and Ice into the tote, except this time rockwool was not desirable and unneeded.

The ones I transplanted were the ones that looked the worst (2 Mazar Afghan and one Ice). I noticed the roots were very thin (I expected it as well). I had a more difficult time this time when I gently dug them up using a plastic fork. Although they were VERY thin and some broke off, they were deeper than I would expect, probably because they have been dwarfed by all the crap conditions I already outlined. The netting pot is the biggest curse, never use them for weed, just tomatoes and flowers that's it. I set the roots into the partially filled bucket net lids with the irrigation line already aimed. I would imagine that aiming is more important without rockwool to absorb moisture. On a positive note, the 1st transplants from the pot to the dro system are doing 100% better. The remaining ditch weed pots stunted by the moisture problem, but I've seen some progress. Seeing bigger stems for sure.

Unfortuneately I did not get my MH conversion bulb like I thought I was going to get, so they will be hearing from me and in the mean time I set up the light system with the 400 W hps with blue spec coupled with the Sun Soaker reflector (its huge) and, not shown in this picture, a small 42 W dangling near the left of the reflector.

My question is, will I get enough blue switching from the cool white 60 W tubes. Will it be better overall? Does that look like the proper distance? I see the temps are lower than 76 usually. Maybe it should be closer? Hopefully with the soil pots out of the buckets, they might breathe more so the roots can work.

I guess this would be considered a SOG as of right now, will my setup get enough light to all of them when flowering comes along perhaps? I figure I will get rid of at least a few males anyways...