Hey Guys, ill get rite too it, this gonna be a long thread, please bear with me. 1ST off, in new to the site, hello fellow tokersThis is me 3rd or 4th attempt, I have NEVER had a plant last more than 2 weeks. I have a small closet setup about 2 1/2 ft by 2ft area 3 1/2 feet high (optional 10ft or so if i do away with the storage in the lower half). Soil is "Expert Gardner: Perfect Mix" 10-8-6 complex with a slight perlite mix. Basic miracle grow for nutes. Lighting: 8 27watt CFL's (1750 lumens each) appox 14,000 lumens total. I did the "paper towl" germ method. Planted 12, 3days later 8 were popping out. they have been out of the ground exactly 1 week today. i have watered em twice a day with ONE feeding every other day. no ventilation as of now. i just keep the closet open often to freshen the room. As u can see in the picks they are short ( i read thats a good thing for the young age, a taller plant 3-4 inches at 1week is due to a lack of lighting, IS THAT TRUE?) 1st set of spiked leaves are out, inner set just developing. Temp in the room seems high, if in there for more than 20-30 sec, i break a facial sweat. Also the stems on most off em seem to be a dark tone of red or purple is that good? can some please PLEASE take a few mins to answer these questions

1st. Will my lighting be enough to hold up till 12/12? i plan on flowering as soon as i can sex em, wanna keep em short due to the lack of space ( this is all just a leaning experience for me)

2nd. am i watering too much or not enough and am i feeding to much or too little?

3rd. do my plant seem healthy as this stage?? (compared to other pics ive seem VERY small at 1 week

4th. will too much heat damage em? its not boiling in there but i know its way higher than low 80's

and most importantly, what can i do with my cheap setup to improve the growth rate? any suggestion?

also sry for the shitty pics, cheap cam


to all those taking the time to give me a hand, much appriceated, thank u very much.....
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1.that should be fine. 2. too much, and you don't have to feed them until two pairs of leaves appear(not including the first oval-shaped ones). 3. a bit behind. 4. do what you can to lower the heat, it will damage them.

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Great thanks, i was thinking the outcome may have been worse. If i have been over feeding em anlong with the overheated grow room, that 'may' have some effect on the slower growth, also a bit more info .............they are bagseed, from some good smoke but still reg ole seeds, they range from 1-3 yrs old, numerous strains although unsure of ev1, just collected over the years. ill be getting some clip on 6inch fans or so to help cool the are. also i have ran a 24/0 cycle, does any1 think i may get slightly better results dropping it to 18/6? if any1 has anymore advice, im all ears, this is just a learning experience for me, wanna make sure i can grow some ladies b4 i invest serious cash in a nice setup. thnx again for the info

18/6 supposedly brings more females...I haven't observed this to be accurate, myself, yet.

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Here, throw this record on, pack a bowl, take a hit.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com iGrow

do those containers have drainage? you need pots with drainage.

i have always used 18/6.

you need a fan, for sure. and a thermometer.

you don't need to be feeding yet. wait a few weeks.

welcome to the forum.

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i'm the guy i've always wanted to be

18/6 and 24/7 are the way to go. personally im a 24/7 guy.

I water my babies once every 3-5 days, depending on how big they get each time i check :P

Never feed the plant nutes until the 4th week, since sprouting, has taken place. Use Nitrogen, babies and plants that are vegging love the nitrogen.


I would rid the foil, if you have many cfls a proper placement should do just ok. foil can just cause burning and stress.

happy growing

toke a lot

Tokesalot

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GREAT thnx alot. the foil was just an idea to help direct more lite to the babies. i dont have a timer as of now ( very cheap grow only $50 max invested) im gonna lay off the watering as much, see if that helps, also with the feeding and yes they do have drainage. numerous slits in the bottom of the pales.......as far as the nitrogen, thats y im feeding with basic miricle grow, highest nitrogen content i could find at local stores.........and as far as light placement, i have 8 26w cfls' with 8 plants, its a single screw in socket with a 1 into 2 adapter , i have 4 of those setups, basically 1 light directly over each plant appox 1-2 inches above....maybe with those hints and a damn fan i may get slighly better results........also about cfl's, ive read that a "daylight" bulbs are great for vegging ans "soft" bulbs for flowering, all mine are "soft" lights, again 'MAY' have a stunted growth effect, but what do i know, im the rookie thnx guys

well for 50 bucks you can get a timer and some decent lighting timers are only like 7-10 bucks at home-cheapo. they are white and really cheap id recomend one of those. as for lighting 2700k will work too and no it wont stunt them but 6500k is way better due to the blue spectrum and plants veg better with it.
i dont think your lights will cover 8 plants though you would need a hps or mh for that cuase cfl's just arnt strong enough unless you use a ton of them wich adds up in money costs and heat. for fans you can get a small rotating fan for like 10-15$ or buy a pack computer fans from tigerdirect.com thts were i got myn.miracle grow can burn real easy so watch out with it. im not sure but in your first post it looked like you said your soil ha like 10-8-6 or sumthin if so you want soil with no ferts in it cuase you will have trouble telling how much is actually been given to them. foxfarms kicks ass id recommend tht over any soil tht ive used and scotts is pretty good too.

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Maturity equals quality

thanx for the info, yes soil is 10-8-6 i believe.......i figured the cfl's wouldnt not cover 8 plants. i just want to see if i can get 1 finshed plant out of the deal, just to see how difficult it actually was b4 investin more cash. so far they are burn free ( knock on wood) after hrs of research im leaning all my thoughts on the stunted growth due to 3 things, 1st over watering, ive watered em 2 - 3 times daily with a light mist froma spray bottle every 2 - 3 HRS.. 2nd lack of ventalation ( easily solved with a fan) abd my biggest prob i believe i have it the heat, i picked up a el cheapo 97 cent themp gauge from wallz martz. was reading a hair over 100 NOT GOOD from what ive read but back to the fan, that should lower that by atleast 10-15 degree's, and more fellow grows have any tips, please share the wealth, ill keeep ya'll posted on the El Cheapo Grow ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ also considering dumping 3 or 4 of the weaker looking plants to dedicate more light to the remaining 4, may help growth ( only been a week so not much of a sacrifice trashing a few for a better finished product ) to me anyway SMOKE SAFE AND GROW HEALTHY

also i seem to have the opposite problem of many others. my leaves dont curl down like ive seen some sick or undernourished plants do. the small jagged edges of the leaves are pointing straight up. almost on a 90 degree angle from the leaf.. not the whole leaf just the edges...good?bad?normal?