problematic first grow, new grow room.advice??

tactownryder

Active Member
i planted 3 plants on oct 4th
they were in my basement,one plant died, it wus not a good growing climate.about 5 days ago i moved them into my closet because i figured the fresh air from the window and room temp etc.. was better for the plants
but any ways they are only about 4 inches tall and every time one of the leafs gets bigger then about an inch long it starts getting brown dots and eventualy dries and falls off
this is my new setup, im wondering if the lights are good and if the room looks like it will work.


<- brownish purple stems




<- this one's leafs have been really yellow with purple along the edges??

i just transfered these into these pots and soil about a hour befor i took the pics because i had them in pottin mix not potting soil

again this is my first grow, any advice at all is helpfull:bigjoint:
thanks
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
i planted 3 plants on oct 4th
they were in my basement,one plant died, it wus not a good growing climate.about 5 days ago i moved them into my closet because i figured the fresh air from the window and room temp etc.. was better for the plants
but any ways they are only about 4 inches tall and every time one of the leafs gets bigger then about an inch long it starts getting brown dots and eventualy dries and falls off
this is my new setup, im wondering if the lights are good and if the room looks like it will work.
<- this one's leafs have been really yellow with purple along the edges??

i just transfered these into these pots and soil about a hour befor i took the pics because i had them in pottin mix not potting soil

again this is my first grow, any advice at all is helpfull:bigjoint:
thanks

Hey man, a few questions:

1. What kind of soil? I know you say pottin mix, not sure if that's what they're in now? What's in it? Does it have nutes in it?
2. What is your watering schedule?
3. Do those buckets have any drainage? It looks like buckets sitting on top of a towel. They need to have adequate drainage.

Also, the plants look really stretched. Your lights were too far away when they were even younger seedlings. That's what gives you the palm tree look. And, you will need many many many more CFL's to grow 2 plants in there. Think along the range of 150 watts per plant, minimum.

Best of luck to you.
 

tactownryder

Active Member
there in black gold potting soil.im not sure exactly what it means but its 0.13-0.05-0.10
it has nitrogen phosphate and potash in it. it says its slow realease and feeds up to 6 months.
i water them every 3 days, 2 if they seem really dry. and yes they hav good drainage, they are on the towels in the pics because i flushed em a couple hours befor i took the pic and wus tryn not to mess up my floor lol
and i hav 2 100 watt 5600k cfls on each plant and a 100 watt 2700k inbetween em. i hav 3 more cfls i can put up that are 100 watt 4100k, wud that be enough light? i also have 4 40 watt flourescent tubes i can hang if its still isnt enough
 

pokesalotasmot

Well-Known Member
there in black gold potting soil.im not sure exactly what it means but its 0.13-0.05-0.10
it has nitrogen phosphate and potash in it. it says its slow realease and feeds up to 6 months.
i water them every 3 days, 2 if they seem really dry. and yes they hav good drainage, they are on the towels in the pics because i flushed em a couple hours befor i took the pic and wus tryn not to mess up my floor lol
and i hav 2 100 watt 5600k cfls on each plant and a 100 watt 2700k inbetween em. i hav 3 more cfls i can put up that are 100 watt 4100k, wud that be enough light? i also have 4 40 watt flourescent tubes i can hang if its still isnt enough

You should also consider upgrading your lights. Vegging plants grow best under 6500k lights. Don't use the 4100k lights, they are a waste of your electricity and all they do is produce the light least needed by your plants.
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
there in black gold potting soil.im not sure exactly what it means but its 0.13-0.05-0.10
it has nitrogen phosphate and potash in it. it says its slow realease and feeds up to 6 months.
i water them every 3 days, 2 if they seem really dry. and yes they hav good drainage, they are on the towels in the pics because i flushed em a couple hours befor i took the pic and wus tryn not to mess up my floor lol
and i hav 2 100 watt 5600k cfls on each plant and a 100 watt 2700k inbetween em. i hav 3 more cfls i can put up that are 100 watt 4100k, wud that be enough light? i also have 4 40 watt flourescent tubes i can hang if its still isnt enough
Ive never heard anything bad about black gold soil, so that may not be the culprit. Watering every 2-3 days makes me think you might be over-watering. What size container were they in previously?

My seedlings are in dixie cups under 400w MH, and they get water every 3-4 days.

How do you decide to water? Do you water as soon as the top looks dry, or do you do the dry pot/wet pot lift test?

BTW: Those really are not 100w CFLS. Thats their halogen equivalency. Those are probably more like 23w.

This is what a true 100w CFL looks like:

http://doitbest.com/Main.aspx?PageID=64&SKU=510922&utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=FREECSE&utm_term=510922&utm_content=6790&utm_campaign=DATAFEED
 

tactownryder

Active Member
oh well i jus go by wut the box the lights come in lol not real good with lights ya kno
and i put my finger about 3 inches down in the soil n if its dry i water, i had them in some funky potting mix untill yesterday
they were in about 2 gallon pots but i moved into smaller about 1 gallon pots because i figured the roots could fill out better in a smaller pot
it dried out alot quicker then normal soil, i just put them in the black gold soil
and i wus wondering, because the soil has some nutrients in it would it b a bad idea to use foxfarm grow big (or something like that) once they get a little bigger??
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
Doesn't sound like your over-watering then. So they're what 1.5 months old now. Have they ever gotten any nutes before?

I dont see how that potting soil is supposed to feed for 6 months with such a low npk. How long has this been going on? Do the new leaves grow out just fine and healthy, and the lower leaves continually getting worse, rinse repeat? If so, it sounds like you're lacking in nutes, and their stealing nutrients from lower leaves to continue growing.

Theres more than a few soil mixes from Black Gold. Which one is it specifically?
 

tactownryder

Active Member
they hav never had any nutes befor, jus a tiny amout of nitrogen that wus in the potting mix
so lack of nutes could b it
i just put in miracle grow foliage plant food stick stick in em
and the bag jus says black gold all purpose potting soil with a multicote enriched plant food that feeds for 6 months
 

tactownryder

Active Member
and yea the new leafs will b growing perfect, and once they get 1 or 2 tiers of leafs above them they start dieing off, while the leaf right above or right next to it seems to b really healthy
and i have epsom salts and molasses, would it b a good idea to put a small amount in the water? or should i leave em alone for a few days and see how the new soil treats them?
 

tactownryder

Active Member
yea i know miracle grow isnt good, i just dont have a car and its the only type of nutrients i can get without getting a ride from someone,witch would b hard to explain why im going to a hydro store without letting em know what im doing in my closet ya kno? hahaha
but i started em off in some random soil i stole from a house plant lol then put them in sta-green flower and vegetable planting mix when they were about 3 weeks and just put them in black gold yesterday
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
Id probably leave em alone for awhile then since they just went into the black gold. You'll likely see a noticeable improvement in 3-5 days. You maybe able to pick something decent up from walmart. Just buy some other stuff so you have a cover story :). Not sure what is decent to buy from there, since their search engine is a giant pos just like the store itself.

Oh yeah. Molasses is good to use. It has calcium,magnesium, potassium, and iron. I use one teaspoon per gallon every other watering, but as the plant grows and requires more nutrients you can increase it. 1 or 2 tablespoons per gallon is typical when flowering.
 

tactownryder

Active Member
alright :) ill try using molasses in about a week if there isnt a good change in how there looking. there really undergrow, will it make them hermi or male if they dong get big enough to flower or show sex for a couple more months? i figure they this small at about 2 months, they wont b ready to flower till 6 or 7 months right?
 

tactownryder

Active Member
if i am able to get to a hydro store would it b better to get better soil? like ocean forest
iv been told to get the better soil, but i think it will harm the plant to transplant it again
what do u think?
 

DaveCoulier

Well-Known Member
alright :) ill try using molasses in about a week if there isnt a good change in how there looking. there really undergrow, will it make them hermi or male if they dong get big enough to flower or show sex for a couple more months? i figure they this small at about 2 months, they wont b ready to flower till 6 or 7 months right?
I wont pretend to know what the stress will do to them, but if you can get your hands on more seeds, Id do that and plant them. You'll end up with better plants since you have better soil than what you've got going now even if they pick up and grow better.
 

tactownryder

Active Member
yea, im having trouble gettin seeds at the moment but will definatly b plant a bunch in the next couple weeks lol and i would just toss these two with how bad theyve been going its just my first grow and i figure its a good learning experience, next time ill know what not to do haha
and will definatly b investing into better grow lights
 

ashrski

Member
I accept with information: the new leafs will b growing perfect, and once they get 1 or 2 tiers of leafs above them they start dieing off, while the leaf right above or right next to it seems to b really healthy.
 

tactownryder

Active Member
also, i have the lights on a 24/0 wud it b bad to change them to 20/4? i think they might stay healthier with some time to rest
 
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