New LED grow, help needed!

Austingrower said:

Hi all! New to the RIU forums and happy to be here.

This is my third grow to date and let me give you a little preface before we jump right in to the new grow:

1. Grow 1- Sunny south florida, great outdoor marijuana growing conditions, bad outdoor marijuana people conditions. Ran my first batch ever from some ok dope that had some seeds. Had a 600W HPS light for flowering and left the ladies outside most of the time for a natural veg.

Plants and light got stolen from me right in their prime, they were coming out great too... broke my heart.

2. Grow 2- Same steps as above except difference place and took hightened measures of security. Got plants to a great flower, but weed strain was not too great (same seeds as above) and dope was just average. Although I did enjoy the hobby and discovered a hobby that is a true love of mine (and not just growing marijuana...) till I leave this world.

Add about 6 years or so...

Now moved out to Texas (guess some of you may have figured that out with my name) and wanted to start a new batch.

3. Grow 3-
This time I went with good seeds, Reserva Pravada OG Kush, and AK47 x Lowrider #2, and of course the learned conditions from above and went with a full indoor grow.

I decided to use an LED for both veg and flower and blub combo is pretty even for both light bands. After having sooo many run in's with the ultimate marijuana devil, HEAT, LEDs seemed like a Godsend, and actually I'm very happy with the low energy usage and of course about a 2 degree hike in temp when it's on.

Problem is.... I'm seeing some really weird growth. I pushed the plants to close and killed two of my AKs... now the last two left look like they may go as well. The OG's are doing fine with one having a bit of a mutated growth (one big leaf one small). I'm guessing cause the OG being an indica is more resilient
than the sativa AKs...

Anyhow, looking for some feedback and knowledge.

Here are some shots and tech specs of my room:

tent:
W: 28"
H: 52"
L: 47"

Lighting:
150 Watt LED

O2:
Two cold air intakes with natural side exhausts in growtent

Soil:
Mircale Grow Seed Starting

Temps:
Average 74-76 light on, 70-72 light off

Water:
PH always checked, spring water always, watered once every two to three days extensively. Soil usually always moist.


Results:
Plants look droopy, been in there for almost 2 weeks on sprouting. Not happy with the results at all, but can't grow outside cause temps are in excess of 100F daily.

Please help! Any advice welcome!

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Stonefish said:

Howdy! Welcome to RIU fellow Austinite!

Firstly, you may be overwatering a bit...especially if those cups don't have a bunch of drain holes in the bottom. It's a big switch for inside growers, as when you are outside, the ground just sucks up the excess...but now, you're going to have to really be careful. Number 1 inside (new-ish) grower's mistake is overwatering. The roots need to search for the water in order to develop...so back off a tad on the water.

Second, I would lower those lights closer to the cups, otherwise you'll get some unwanted stretching. The MAIN reason folks will back off on light distance is due to heat, and obviously you don't have a problem there - so lower them.

Third - Ack! Miracle grow? Is this one of the "pre-nuted" soils? MJ plants really seem to hate that stuff - especially seedlings. IMO this may be one of your biggest issues here. Hard to tell by your pics for positive, but it looks like one of your seedlings already has nute burn! That would be the soil. Time released nutes in soil literally SUCK for MJ plants...and the more you water, the worse it gets. There are several good grow shops here in ATX...get some better soil. You've made the choice to grow a fine strain, so treat those babies right! BTW - you won't need to worry about nutes this early in the grow...maybe once they've gotten about three to four weeks old, start introducing veg nutes at about 1/4 the recommended dose on the bottle. Be CAREFUL here too, as it is easier to over do than under do when it comes to nutes. Knowing your strain helps here, as some will take a good amt. of nutes in stride, and others will not like it at all!

Best of luck!

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