Lil mama's first grow-Please comment and advise!!

Hey there thanks for stopping by My first grow and I am sure to need a lot of help/advice so please feel free to add to this thread.
So ive been trolling around the forum for the last month or so trying to figure out the best way to approach growing my sweet companion, and since I work long hours and don't really have a green thumb i thought id try a stealth grow box. I got the mini cool cab from sunlight sheds-it came yesterday and is still sitting in the hall until i can figure out how it all works (would def appreciate anyone with mcc looking over my shoulder during this process). Got some snow white seeds from nirvana.
So now to my first problem. Im about to germinate the seeds tomorrow and i am wondering when they first need to go under the lights? I got these organic plugs with the growbox, can i just pop the seeds right in there or should i do the whole paper towel process that i read about in some threads?
Thanks... and plenty of pics to come in the future.

Well you should be able to germ them right in the plugs if you want. They will likely take a day or two(sometimes more) to poke their heads above the dirt. With the Mcc what type of lights are you useing, and also what growing medium are you going to use? Once the seeds break the surface you will want to put them under lights, but not real strong ones, or real close. They don't need alot of light until they get real leaves. Hope this helped, and I look forward to watching the grow, good luck!

Thanks thundercat, i think i will just go from the plugs since they are really moist and im worried about the seeds drying out in the paper towel while im at work.

The box came with a 400 w mh and 400w hps so i know that the mh is for my general growing stage, so when my babies first come out i should probably keep the lights up as far as they will go for awhile?

The growing medium are these little round orange puff thingies ok i just looked at the website and they are hydrokernels.

So the system has a drip feed and then a fogger underneath and an airstone in the res. so this might sound dumb but will the roots eventually be just hanging in the water in the res when the plants get bigger. The res is only about 7 inches deep so they would seem to have to. Is that they whole point of the airstone then? that it puts bubbles around the roots that are hanging in the water so they dont drown? I feel so ignorant Thanks again!

You've got it pretty right on. I'm not really a hydro guy, but that sounds about right. The pellets are prolly clay balls? sometimes its called hydroton. Though, I'm not familiar with a system that has a dripper, and misters. I'd prolly suggest tryin to check out some of the hydro threads and talking to some of the guys. Get them in here on your thread. I'd also post your grow in your sig line so people check it out!

Heya, glad to see another cool cab user, even if yours is the mini, lol.
I germinate my seeds in moist papertowel, in dark covered. No worries about drying out while at work, if the towel is really moist, just on the verge of wet, you are good.

Hello guys so glad its saturday can get back to my little secret garden.

So i have the seeds going in the plugs, they are hanging out on top of the cable box because its a little chilly in the house this time of year. Still in the process of setting up the mini cab before the sprouts come up (I shouldnt have to put them in there until my sprouts come all the way up right?)

My main issue right now is whether or not i can use my filtered water on the plants. The ppm is 300. Is that too high? I know I read that 330 is good for seedlings but is that supposed to be with nutrients too? Either way i can always get some spring water, i just hope it doesnt hurt my seeds

So I am about 48 hours in and one of the seeds has managed to sprout before the others. Do I need to put it under the light now or will it be ok under the bowl (see above pic) with the rest of them until they all sprout?

Isis said:

So I am about 48 hours in and one of the seeds has managed to sprout before the others. Do I need to put it under the light now or will it be ok under the bowl (see above pic) with the rest of them until they all sprout?

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The ph of the water is more important than the ppm at this point. If you can drink the water then the 330ppm will not be a problem, just adjust for it when you start introducing nutes, ie you want 1/4 strength at 600 ppm, you would make yours around 900, no adverse effect kickit up a liitle, etc.
Ph'd water for the medium your using. Sorry didn't pay attention to what that was. It won't need a bright light it will need some light, and if you don't give it some it will stretch for it, that is not good. VV

hey thanks for the reply. I got that first sprout under the light but it was looking sickly from the start and im pretty sure its a goner. It looked pretty weird when it first came up, kinda crooked and thin. It didnt help that i forgot to check the ph in the water before i left for work and when i got back it was reading 8 plus so i fixed the ph and checked on my other sprouts and there were two more i could tell the difference right away with these ones, they had two little leaves stuck together at the end so cute!
No now the two are under the light getting about a drip a second although im worried they are getting too wet but i cant adjust the drip below about one drip per sec or it goes off completely
I made sure to adjust the ph before i added more water...hoping for the best.

Looks like your getting things sorted out pretty well. Thats nice lookin grow cabinet! I'm sure those girls will grow up nice and strong.

Thundercat said:

Looks like your getting things sorted out pretty well. Thats nice lookin grow cabinet! I'm sure those girls will grow up nice and strong.

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Thanks TC, i needed that right now. Im kicking myself for not getting more seeds, but I am hoping for the best. Added a teeny bit of nutes this morning, and the strongest sprout now has 4 little leaves hopefully one of the last two seeds will sprout by the time i come home....

Really you shouldn't be needing, or using any nutes for the first two weeks. Then you start out light and build up. If you want more seeds then order another pack of seeds, that's not a big deal. By the time they get here you will know whether or not these ones are growing or not.

Thundercat said:

Really you shouldn't be needing, or using any nutes for the first two weeks. Then you start out light and build up. If you want more seeds then order another pack of seeds, that's not a big deal. By the time they get here you will know whether or not these ones are growing or not.

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Ok thanks, ill hold off on the nutes for a lil while. Now i am worried because the stems of my seedlings are turning purple. I remember reading something about that in other posts but idont remember what it means.


Also one of the last seedlings had sprouted but the seed casing is still on the leaves. wondering if i can put it under the light like that or keep it in the dark until it falls off...

You can put it under the light once its above the soil, you just want to make sure the light is far enough away.

Thundercat said:

You can put it under the light once its above the soil, you just want to make sure the light is far enough away.

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perfect. I will put it under tonight. I also stopped the drip for a little because they were looking a bit drenched. I have the light as far up as it will go, which seems to be approx two feet away. im going to take your advice and get more seeds. guess i was a little naive to think i would go five for five...

so I am almost a week in and of the 5 seeds placed in the plug 3 survivors remain. The first seed came up root side first, which explains why it shriveled when i put it in the light. Three came up and when i impatiently dug up the last scraggler, i discovered it was a dud. the one encased in the seed shell after sprouting is breaking free

One of the small fans on my unit already broke. The people there were really nice and and sent a new one, which they were obligated to do anyway considering all the parts are warrantied for a year.

Strange thing is i came home from work and the light was off, but it seemed like it was off for only a few minutes because the bulb was still hot. at first i thought the light blew, but when i turned it back on it lit up. The only other thing that i could think is that the light is plugged into a thermal switch that turns off auto at 105f, but i cant see how it got that hot in there..on the other hand i do have a fan out. (unfort i didnt set up my thermometer yet so i cant know for sure but i have opened the doors of the cabinet and the window to the room so if it turns off again i guess thats not the problem


a pic of my cutest sprout...

ok so 9 days in and doing well. keeping the ph in the high fives low six range, my temps are a little low(around 67)but i cant do much about that right now.

My lightbulb shorted again when i opened to check on the plants on saturday, i called the sunlight sheds people so they better call be back on monday because i think i want them to send me a replacement system because there is no reason it shoud just randomly short out like that. I moved the cabinet to the other side of the room away from my modem and tv so that it could have a dedicated outlet, and no problems yet, but i will be sure to let riu know exactly how their customer service is (so far they have been very helpful and responsive so well see).


Wondering if i should start using H2O2 proactively because (1) ive seen other threads were people say its good to use and (2) i only have one airstone and i want to make sure the water is oxygenated enough. Thanks

So things are going well, I have 4 plants that made it for sure. Im def making clones because im not very good at germinating seeds (only got one plant and one mutant that I am hoping turns into a plant out of the last 5 feminized seeds). I am really hoping all 4 will be female because they are feminized seeds and I have been making sure not to stress them out. Keeping ph in the high 5s with nutes around 500-600ppm

The problem is I have 3 plants that are about ready to go into flower (because they are getting tall and I have restricted growing space ) and one smaller plant that was germinated a few weeks later. My solution is to veg for a few more weeks and top the older plants, at least the tallest one. I am very nervous about topping for some reason

I am also going to be taking clones but i havent got a cloner yet. I was wondering if I could do clones in an organic plug and some hydrokernels under some flour lights because I am going to need them to stay there for the entire flower period of my first plants...

Isis, havn't heard from you in awhile, the plants are looking really nice. They have really come along. Nice and bushy, and look very healthy, Good job!

So my vote on the topping and cloneing issue. I would say top all three of the bigger ones, and only give them one more week then flower them. That little bitch might surprise the hell out of you, and those bigger ones are going to atleast double in size. You can use the tops for clones, and maybe also take a couple clones from the bottom of each plant, this will give you a couple extra just incase. But I think if you top them, and then flower in 1 week, you will be pretty happy with the results. And don't worry about taking more clones from the bottom, because once they are flowering, the bottom of the plants won't get much light so you don't need to have stems down there.

If you are interested in building a simple cloner I here is a link to a very effective one, and very easy to build. https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/116859-harvest-pound-every-three-weeks.html Like the third post down is about his cloner, and then on page 75 there is exact directions on how to build it. Right down to how big to cut each piece of pvc! I don't know if DIY is up your alley, but its a great cloner, he gets 100% success. Hope this helps, and you gotta update more, Its been what 2 weeks. Glad things are well, have you checked out my journal?

Nice setup lil mama!