my plants died

this was my first grow, i had three plants, dont know the strain, but they looked really healthy, the leaves were pretty big, the plant wasnt too tall. but everything was going good but on the fourth week i noticed the branches were forming some brown, i figured they'd be dead. two days later they were really droopy and the branches were pretty much brown. (im not sure if i should call them branches, cause they were pretty small, but i dont know what else to call them) i lost all hope then, i pulled the plants from the soil to look at their roots, i noticed the roots werent very big at all. they would've barely outgrown a small dixie cup. but i had them in a half gallon pot. oh and i think i might've went trigger happy with nutrients, i know my soil wasnt too good, i was using the miracle gro soil. and also when i was germinating i put a drop of miracle gro in the water. they germinated in less than a day, it was shocking. oh and im using two fourty watt four foot lights for them. i know they arent powerful enough to flower, but im going to get a 600 watt system soon. i got a couple questions:

did my plants die due to too much nutrients and poor soil?

should the roots been bigger? i read someone's grow journal, it was great, i think it was by widow grower. but his roots were huge, how come they werent as big? how can i make them stretch out like that?

i got alot of mosquitos in grow area, i dont think it normal at all, what do you all think?

should i get a heater at night? its not that cold right now, but winter is coming and its about 64 when the lights are off, if it gets any colder should i get the heater?


ohhh and right now i hae a little three day old baby, the bottom of its branch is brown, WHYYYYYYYY?










i thought the plants were pretty healthy until that change of color. and someone told me that that was maybe cause the branch was getting thicker and was doing that cause of stress, but i dont think that is true, is it?

ok, well they died because you pulled them out of the soil to inspect the roots. if you insist on using miracle grow soil, use moisture control. otherwise, i would use some other brand entirely, like fox farms ocean forest.

i would not recommend miracle grow nutrients. if you want optimum control over your grow, you need at least a two part nutrient solution so that you can adjust according to your plants needs at various times throughout the grow cycle.

how often were you watering your plants? you mentioned that they got droopy and a couple of days later they died. this combined with the fact that you feel your roots were small would indicate that perhaps you over-watered. this would cause stunted root growth as they need a few days between waterings to "search out" for water, thereby increasing the overall root mass.

please, do yourself and your future grows a huge favor by spending some time reading the FAQ as well as some of the grow journals to help you get ideas on where to improve your grow. we are all here to help one another, but the best place to start is by being as informed as you can be before you even germinate.