My first grow and journal

Ok, so I've been contemplating on whether or not to upload pics and make a journal.
Well, here it is.
Started with 2 fluorescent tubes. 1 40w GE plant&aquarium ecolux wide spectrum, and 1 40w GE ecolux cool white. I also have a 75w HPS.
Using normal potting soil from dollar general. Has perlite, vermiculite, some volcano stuff, can't remember everything in it the bag is put up right now, but from what I take it has slight nutes for the seedling to grow, but not for full maturity.
Started germing around Aug. 20, sowed three seeds and left over the weekend. Came back on Monday to find my first sprout!
My first baby, hopefully a girl lol.
Started using Miracle Grow water soluble all purpose plant food. 24-8-16 (ONLY A 1/4 STRENGTH) about 2 weeks after sprouting when true leaves started showing.
They are 3 weeks old now, been watering them every other day or so. I'm sure i've overwatered them a couple times, or maybe even underwatered.
I have over 100 pics in my album "noob".

A reason I finally broke down and started a journal is my plants seem to look a little yellow, slightly and also some drooping of the leaves. Since I don't have the money I can't buy PH testers, humidity controllers and all that high tech jive.
I'm just trying to see if I can grow before I splurge into the garden of wizzle.

Anyways, what do you guys think??
Are these plants coming along nice or what?
Oh, my growroom is about 2'x2'x7' but as you can see in the pics it's "modified" lol to about 3' high. Put up white trash bags along the walls and floor of grow area.
Got a bowl of water for humidity and a fan plowing into the grow area.
Yeah, it's ghetto. But it's all I got!

I have over 100 pics in my album just to throw that out there again.
Any feedback? Any comments? Anything?

The babes are still growin, new leaves poppin out of the top all the time. I think they are still pretty small for 3 weeks though
I'm thinkin it is because they're still in the plastic cups. If they get transplanted to big pots will that help them grow faster and bigger.
I know they need bigger space for bigger roots for a bigger plant, but are they looking 3 weeks old???
I also started germing 8 more seeds. Just checked, 5 sprouted. 3 good sprouts, (well it was 4 but one broke when a cup fell over) And 2 that just broke ground.
Has anyone looked at my pics? Will anybody respond?! lol I know you're out there!

these came from my album. It's the yellowing i was talkin about.

PH testing solution is cheaper then the cups your using to grow. You dont NEED a digital PH tester. Make sure you have a hole or two in the bottom for excess water to drain. I'm a noob myself but if i had to guess, i would say the roots arent getting enough oxygen.

I've seen bigger plants in the same cup so i dont think space is the issue.

Thanks for the advice.
Yeah, I have 4 holes cut into the bottom of each cup for drainage.
Not enough oxygen? I would think the potting soil has enough aeration, I could be wrong.

I have also seen way bigger plants in the same type of space.
So now I have 4 sprouts all with atleast the first two real leaves (after cotyledon) and 3 growing plants. All from seeds.
I put the 3 older ones directly under the hps yesterday. They are pretty close now, the tallest one is about 4 inches away, but i think they can get the shorter ones closer so i will, since it's only a 75w.
I'll keep the sprouts under the fluoros until they get bigger then ill move them all under the hps. I'll probably end up buyin some CFLs too.
I was also thinkin of transplanting to some hydro mix and starting a bubble system. I have all the supplies except the hydro nutes.
I was wondering if the MG i have can be used as hydro nutes since it is water soluble?

Ok, so I rearranged the 3 oldest so they are equal distances away from the hps. Around 3" away from the bulb. I moved the fan, now its on the floor blowing up into the bulb and under the plants. I'm thinking moving the plants this close will get maximum lumen absorption and help growth out a lot. I'll know in a few days, hope it's noticeable. I held my hand almost touching the bulb for a while and it wasn't even close to being hot, just warm. Putting the fan to where it blows on the bulb helps extremely a lot.

I'm also about to attempt to top one of my plants. I'll take pics to let you know how I did, and to help anyone that has never done it.

I would forget the miracle grow. or if thats all you have flush for 2 weeks at the end of flowering. put the lights closer so they don't stretch. are you using the cfls or the hps now>

How my lights used to be.

Then, I took off that plastic shield thing.

Heres how I have my lights set up now. More light for everyone!

Well, I tried to top one of my plants. I accidentally took off one of the new growing leaves too. But I did cut into the newly forming stem so I think I did right.
We'll see in a week or so, i dunno how long it will take for the new stems to grow.
I cut after 4 three leaf nodes have grown.

I opened up the top

and here's after i cut, you can see where i took off one of the leaves . oh well one will grow back.

now put her back and start the waiting game. If all goes well, i'll be doing this to my other babies.

Added about 20 new pics to the album. I think the moving the plants closer is helping.

wonderblunder said:

I would forget the miracle grow. or if thats all you have flush for 2 weeks at the end of flowering. put the lights closer so they don't stretch. are you using the cfls or the hps now>

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Yeah, it's all I have. I don't mind flushing for a couple weeks before harvest.
I don't have any CFLs yet, I will soon unless I decide to buy long tubes like i have now and use them vertically around the plant.
I'm using both the hps and the fluoros. Got em pretty close, I added pics earlier of how I have the lights set up now.

Im glad it helped a little. If MG is all you got its probably better than nothing. Definitely flush thoroughly at the end. if you are using 1 gallon pots flush with 3 gallons of watter.

Its a good start you have there. Those plants are going to want more light as they grow. You'll have to add more and more as they get bigger. Next time before you water pull the root ball out of the cup to check if the roots are becoming pot bound. If the roots cover the bottom and the sides its a good indication you need to transplant. I wouldn't wait for that to happen though. good luck.

Ok, update.
So the topping to the one plant looks like its working.
The new leaves growing out of the topped plant are now 5 pointers. The taller lanky plant lost a couple pair of leaves, as did the topped one. The smaller old one is still barely growing.
Some leaves are turning purple, but I highly doubt its a genetic thing, looks like a deficiency.
I have a friend that is growing, he has a 400hps and his are growing like mutants. So I really think the lighting is a problem.
The 4 new sprouts are doin real good too. Except the pest or deficiency problem. I have killed 2 or 3 gnats and seen another one.
I'm hoping they don't take over my plants because the leaves do look like bug problems.
I'll get some pics up later tonight, or tomorrow. It will show a lot of details I am talkin about now.

Oh yeah, all 3 of my bigger plants are GIRLS!!
yes, they are female. All 3 of them, i can't believe it. I was hoping that at least one would be, but they all are.
The problem is they are so small LOL. Maybe I'll get a good blunt out of them
But yea, a week or so ago I noticed the 2 hairs coming 90 degrees to the nodes where the leaves connect.
A few days ago I noticed the buds!
I have buds growing right above the leaves.
They are still really small newly forming buds, but hey they are buds!!

pwizzle said:

Oh yeah, all 3 of my bigger plants are GIRLS!!
yes, they are female. All 3 of them, i can't believe it. I was hoping that at least one would be, but they all are.
The problem is they are so small LOL. Maybe I'll get a good blunt out of them
But yea, a week or so ago I noticed the 2 hairs coming 90 degrees to the nodes where the leaves connect.
A few days ago I noticed the buds!
I have buds growing right above the leaves.
They are still really small newly forming buds, but hey they are buds!!

Click to expand...

Congrats on having all girls! they are already budding? How long did you veg for?

lonleysmoka said:

Congrats on having all girls! they are already budding? How long did you veg for?

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I have been growin for a month and a week now, i did get the lights off schedule a couple times and i think that threw them into flower mode, but im still vegging for right now.
I want to wait till all plants are growing a good couple of 5 point nodes before i start flowering.
I also want to let the new babies get some good growth on them and try to flower all the plants at the same time since they are only a couple weeks behind the older plants.