This is my first ever grow and will be strictly for personal use. I was amazed at the amount of information I found on RIU and definitely was motivated to grow by all of you. For this grow, I'm using bagseed. I figured I'd practice with that before I moved up to seedbank seeds. I mixed my own soil. It is 1/3 jiffy mix seeding soil, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 vermiculite. I began with germinating 5 seeds on 7/27/2009. 4 of the seeds have sprouted. The first 3 seeds sprouted after 3 days of germination(7/30/2009) and were placed in the soil mix above the same day. The fourth seed sprouted on and was then placed in the same soil mix. Each of the 4 sprouts broke the soil within 48 hours of being placed in the soil.

I'm using 8 CFLs (26W 6500K) for vegging and will also use CFLs for flowering. The 4 plants all received light from CFLs that were approx. 1"-2" away 24/0 for the first week and a half. On 8/10/2009, I began the 4 kids on a 20/4 schedule.

The grow cabinet that I currently have is about 24"x11"x31". I am having a bit of trouble keeping the temperature below 85 degrees with the doors closed (Average is 83.7 degrees). The cabinet sits 3" off of the wall, so I drilled 5 clusters of 16 holes in the base of the cabinet to allow for passive air intake. I have also cut a hole in the top of the cabinet wear I have a 4" desk fan. There is a 2nd 4" desk fan inside the cabinet for air circulation. Since placing the plants inside the cabinet, I have left the cabinet doors open to control the temperature. I plan on introducing the DIY CO2 setup in the next couple days as I've read that helps the plants cope with higher temps.

I also just bought a soil pH/moisture meter to monitor the soil. After doing some reading on RIU, I began to suspect that the pH of the soil was the cause of the leaf burn. I tested the soil and found that the pH was approximately 7.5. To remedy this, I added 5 drops of lemon juice to a gallon of tap water (sat out for 26 hours) that I used to water the plants this morning (I had previously been watering with rainwater but I ran out and it hasn't rained for the past few days). I plan on continuing to adjust the soil pH over the next week using vinegar mixed into the water until I reach about 6.5. No nutrients have been added to any of the plants to date.

My plants have now each taken on distinctive symptoms that lead me to believe something is wrong. Plant 4 is the only one without any symptoms and I'm worried that's only because it is the youngest of the 4.

Plant 1's stem is twisted to the point where the plant is barely 1/2" above the soil. Its leaves have begun to droop.

Plant 2 is much shorter than the others and has red spots with yellow circles on 2 of its older/broader leaves

Plant 3 has what look like burns on the tips of the leaves and the leaves have began to droop (new leaves are still growing).


I have pics of what the kids looked like earlier in their life cycle if anyone's interested but have only included the most recent ones taken this afternoon. I'd appreciate any feedback from you guys and girls since this is my first grow and I'm trying my hardest not to react to every little change in the plants.

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ok bro i see what has happened to plant number one with the twisted stem. if you look closely you will see that the stem didnt twist it actually split and one side continued to grow. causin it to be fucked up i have done this myself with helpind a seedling out of the seed hull my plant grew the exact same way before it died

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what one wont do, another one will. check out my current grow.
http://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/...ay-better.html

eleven days, The second one is looking fine. The first one will never get better or need serious staking. I think number 3 is under a little stressed. What is your watering cycle. How far are your lights? I would stick with 24/7 till thet reach one foot. then top. then 12/12. works good for me.But there are alot more experienced growers out there. good luck

I looked at the stem again of Plant 1 just to make sure that I was seeing it correctly and it is twisted, like I thought (See pic below). I'm going to attach it to a small stick to try and prop it up. Hopefully that'll train it to stand on it's own.

I've been watering about once every 3-4 days but I think I've been underwatering. 8/12/2008 was the first time I watered until there was runoff from the bottom of the cups. I could also feel the difference in weight from the water that many of the other growers have been referring to. The lights are less than 2" from each of the plants and each plant has at least 2 CFLs within that distance.

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I dont think number 1 is gonna make it. Its never going to have a leg to stand on so to speak.

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My last grow-Bagseed-One 13w Cfl-One Stereo playing continuous Greatful Dead-One 42" Plasma T.V. w/looped video of the sun. Yield=16 lbs!

Thanks for all of you responses and I think you're all right about #1 being in trouble. I've staked it to give it some support so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

The 1st pic is of Plant #2 as it looks today.

The last 2 pics below are of Plant #3. It seems to have responded positively to the water with the lemon juice drops mixed in. The lower leaves are still yellow and wilting some but the upper leaves and new growth appear better.

I checked the pH of all 4 plants again and they are all right about 7. I think the problem may have been that the pH was too high and underwater because I checked the moisture level again today and they all were dry so I watered again using the lemon juice water. I guess I was so worried about overwatering that I actually underwatered them for the first week and a half of their lives.

Any suggestions or observations?

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the first one looks pretty healthy. when are you thinking about transplanting? id do it soon. give those roots some room to stretch out. gook luck

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http://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/226905-2nd-try-much-much-better.html

dresser grow, cfls

Thanks. I'll probably transplant tomorrow or Saturday. I want to get some Fox Farm soil to use for the transplant and I just haven't had time to get to the shop this week. I don't plan on using any nutes until flowering but may just buy them while I'm there. Which Fox Farm nutes do you use for flowering? Big Bloom?

Yup, Big Bloom seems to be all the craze, lol. Id say research it a little bit and get what you feel will help your grow the best. We can only tell you what worked for us, in our conditions, so unless you have replicated exactly what someone else has done, you will get different results. Genetics plays a factor as well.

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My last grow-Bagseed-One 13w Cfl-One Stereo playing continuous Greatful Dead-One 42" Plasma T.V. w/looped video of the sun. Yield=16 lbs!

I've got 6" pots for transplanting. Will that be big enough so that I only have to transplant once? Don't want to shock the plants more than is necessary.