First time grower in need of your help. (pic)

Hi guys and girls,

first i would like to say what a great place this site is. So much help from all of you have made this a great read.

I have just started to grow my first ever plant and in the past couple of days i have come into a small issue with it.
its started to droop abit and not looking so green.
i have read many threads about over watering being the issue and this could be the same problem but thought i would call on some expert advise to see what you all think.

currently sitting about 1-2 inches from the 130watt CFL 6400k
the temp of the area is sitting between 82 and 87
humidity is only 20%-30% in most cases (which is low)
running 18 hours of light / 6 hours of night

maybe some tips etc to help me through the first time.

You should check the soil Ph. It's hard to say for sure from the pic but you may also need to repot.

Do you have proper water drainage?

Looks like you have given it too much water

Greather420 said:

Do you have proper water drainage?

Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing. Got any drains holes in that cup Savanna? Also try to get the temps down a bit and the humidity up a bit. Temps 75-80 and humidity 40-60 percent.

Yeah, too much water. Make sure you have proper drainage and don't water it till the soil is dried out. Try watering every 3 days and you should be fine but don't water it till you have more water than soil. I`m sure you can find some useful post on soil and watering around here somewhere for some extra tips.

I have a few small holes in the bottom of the cup, maybe not enough or big enough.
Thanks for all your help.

Do you think i should repot it now? or should i wait for it to dry up abit.
and tips on repotting?

Ok here is an update on whats happened.

I decided to repot about three days ago into a slightly lager pot with some new soil.
the soil doesnt look the greatest but has to be better than what it was planted in before.
I have ordered a soil PH meter and expect that to show up in the next 2-3 days.

As you can see there has been abit of growth since the repot so i guess the shock has past from the repotting.
i water it when i can notice the top of the soil is dry which is every 2-3 days. im not surposed to water it untill it comes out the bottom am i?
I still have he issue of yellowing leaves though and cant figure out whats causing that as im still waiting on the soil PH meter. even newer leaves are starting to yellow from the tips and edges as you can see in the first pic.
should i start on nuts for it? if so what kind?, as i probably live in a differant country to most of you the brand names dont match over here. So is there anything special i want to read on the lables to know its the right stuff?.

so yeah all in all still have the yellowing leaves but managed to minamise the down curling leaves slightly.
any advise or help would be much appreciated.

your crappy dirt might have something to do with it... are you just using plain tapp water right now? if so buy a few gallons of distilled water from store and use that for a while, see if it helps..

but i would flush your soil with about a gallon of runoff this next watering, that might balance out the ph of your soil..

at the moment its just tap water sitting in room temp for about 24 hours before watering.
you mention flushing. can you explain that abit more? sorry for noob question.

The plants need weak nutes by the time the 3-bladed leaves appear. Not full strength fertilizers but rich soil with Worm Castings and other amendments. Since you already have them repotted, you'll want a liquid fert to get them some nutrition asap. You'll need Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK), but mostly N. The best choices for you imo are Guano teas, seaweed fertilizers and Fish Emulsion/Hydrolyzed Fish. There are threads on tea making in the Organics section. As for watering, when you've got ferts in the soil or water then letting it drain out the bottom can be a big waste. Different soils can hold different amounts of water but a good general rule of thumb is to wet soil until a handful drips a few drops when moderately squeezed. You want it moist but not glistening with liquid. The more slowly you water, the less you'll waste. When the soil is dry, the water tends to find a channel to the bottom without spreading throughout the soil. Spraying the top of the soil with a spray bottle before watering slowly helps prevent this. Try to wait just a little longer between waterings, you want about the top third of the soil to be dry before watering again (assuming the roots reach the bottom of the pot). Flushing is when you pour lots of water through the soil to rinse away substances that build up over many fertilizations. This wets the soil more than you normally should and so should only be done once in awhile. It is most often used at the end of flowering.

Thank you Mother's Finest you have been great help from day 1 +rep.

so going by the new pics you think the yellowing leaves has something todo with the nutrients? possibly to high or low.

I went out and purchased some liquid food this morning which has a rating of 10.3.7
im not to sure if this level is going to be to high or to low .
the food states that 5ml's should be used with 1 litre of water.
I water the plant about 100ml's every 2-3 days.
Should i start the liquid food at half the recomended strenght?

I also purchased a big bottle of distiled water.

You could use a small amount of nutrients. Start off with 1/8 of the normal dosage.
I wouldn't increase the dosage until the catyledones(round leaves, first ones to grow) fall off.
They are there for a young plant to store nutrients until its mature enough to start processing and receiving its own nutrients.

It's either a Ph problem or lack of N. It doesn't really matter if one number in the NPK rating is high. You're looking for the ratio of each nutrient to each other one. For example, you can dilute 10-3-7 fertilizer to half strength so to bring the N down to 5%, but doing so will reduce the P to 1.5. If you had 10-7-7 fertilizer, you'd have a good vegging ratio that you can reduce or increase with the plant's size. You don't want all of your nutes from one fert anyway, so try to find another to add to it that has more P than N or K. Most Guanos have alot of P and so does Bone Meal. What you've got sounds like a good start, though. At that size and looking to need N, starting at half strength should be about right, especially since it's an unknown fert that have yet to get to know. Always alternate feedings with plain water, unless a deficiency appears where the plant would do better with extra nutes. Slowly increase the strength until the bottom leaves show signs of burning and then ease it back a bit.

You'll want Ph testers for both the soil and the liquids. Once you can get a cheap liquid test kit, check the distilled water once. While it sounds like it should be pure, some have a Ph other than 7. Some even have a Ph over 8 because it's supposed to be good for human consumption.

So much help here its great.

I will keep you guys posted over the next three or so days once i start with the fert and get hold of the soil PH meter.
ill try get hold of some Ph water tabs to.

Thank you again.

Well still waiting for the Soil Ph meter to show up.

but i thought i would post a pic of where this baby is growing.
would you say there is enough light?
should it be moved closer to the light?

as you can see there isnt much room lol. but i hope there is enough light for one plant (bulb is a 130watt)
yes i know its a pretty cheap & ugly setup

Looks pretty good. Keep an eye on the temps. I put my hand under the lights at plant level to feel how warm it is and when it's too warm airflow between the plant and the bulb (or lamp cooling airflow) should be increased. I'm not sure how best to explain but you want only the slightest bit of warmth on the back of your hand, at most.

how often you watering...me say overwatering...

Ok im back again.

The PH meter finally showed up, the only problem is that its not digital so trying to get a perfect reading is a little hard. I decided to test the soil a few mins after i watered it and got a PH reading of between 6.5-7 going by the little analouge dial thing.
So from what ive read on the site its about right i believe?
The yellowing of the leaves seem to have been solved, so thanks to everyone for your help.

Ive taken a few more pics to show you how the grow is going.
maybe its growing a little slow but it has grown none the less.


Its growing a little lop sidded due to the light being a little lower on one side lol, but each day the plant gets turned around.
my next small concern is the stems are going quite purple, as you can see from the pics. ive read people saying not to worry in most cases. Should i be worried and should i be doing something?
Also im still not able to tell if this baby is male or female, am i blind or do i need to wait longer before i can tell.

Sorry about all the questions.

Honestly, it looks a lot better. Just keep nurturing it and remember to flush in between feedings. I think you're all set.