First grow! Total beginner Journal!

growgirll said:

Thanks! In only concerned about my humidity because my leaves are drying out, so I feel like I should try to get it up. I'm growing autoflower so it's pretty sensitive. I tried to keep the humidity where it is but my leaves have just became more brittle and dry. I'm in veg right now, still quite a while until flower, so I want to keep her as healthy as possible.

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Most likely drying out due to too much heat. Get your temps down! 85 is way too high. I start getting heat issues in the mid 70s where I'm at. Keep feeding properly and let her figure it out. She's young enough that she probably wont repair those leaves. Keep an eye on the new growth. If that is healthy and happy you're golden.

Dr Smith said:

Most likely drying out due to too much heat. Get your temps down! 85 is way too high. I start getting heat issues in the mid 70s where I'm at. Keep feeding properly and let her figure it out. She's young enough that she probably wont repair those leaves. Keep an eye on the new growth. If that is healthy and happy you're golden.

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Ill definitely do that then, I can't cut any more holes in my box until after this grow is done, because I'll literally have to take he entire thing apart and redo it which will take quite some time, I was thinking of maybe just adding another fan? If you check out the video I posted a few days ago, I have a big exhaust fan at the bottom of the box and a smaller intake comfort air fan on the top corner. Should I add another in the door? Would it be better to add another exhaust or intake?

Day 12 today ! I think she's starting to show some progress! The temp has still been high, around 82, trying to find a way to bring it down. (After this grow I'm going to try white paint instead of tin foil). The humidity has been around 29%, even though I've been doing the shallow dish of water method. I looked at Walmart for humidifiers last night, and they were all too big, so now I'm going to probably order one online within the next few days. Maybe add an extra fan to cool down the box? You can see in the pictures that parts of her stem are red, is this normal since she's still young? Here's some pictures!

Good Gawd, girl, where do you live that it's so bloody hot? Don't answer that.

I agree with those who are saying heat is your bigger problem. Heat can exacerbate nutrient problems, pH problems, etc. Your plants would be much happier at 70 deg. I assume you don't have a nice cool basement or you'd probably already be there...

There are a lot of informative threads in the "Stealth/Micro/Cab Growing" sub-forum if you're looking for more guidance on CFL placement.

growgirll said:

Day 12 today ! I think she's starting to show some progress! The temp has still been high, around 82, trying to find a way to bring it down. (After this grow I'm going to try white paint instead of tin foil). The humidity has been around 29%, even though I've been doing the shallow dish of water method. I looked at Walmart for humidifiers last night, and they were all too big, so now I'm going to probably order one online within the next few days. Maybe add an extra fan to cool down the box? You can see in the pictures that parts of her stem are red, is this normal since she's still young? Here's some pictures!
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Red stems is one of the first indicators of a PH deficiency. The leaves are also looking a bit yellow.. You're gonna need to get her some good feed.
Read This: https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/488004-guide-nutrient-deficiency-toxicity.html and understand the basics of NPK.

Still overthinking the humidity I see... I'm out. Good Luck.

Dr Smith said:

Red stems is one of the first indicators of a PH deficiency. The leaves are also looking a bit yellow.. You're gonna need to get her some good feed.
Read This: https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/488004-guide-nutrient-deficiency-toxicity.html and understand the basics of NPK.

Still overthinking the humidity I see... I'm out. Good Luck.

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Not overthinking humidity, just trying to correct everything that needs to be corrected, including heat and humidity, since I know 29% is not ideal for veg. If I was in flower already I would feel fine about humidity. As for heat I'm trying to find ways to get that down as well. I've been leaving the window open, but the box is in a closet so I've been leaving the closet door open too. Thinking about turning my fan back up, maybe that'll help. Until summer when I can put an AC in there's really not much else I can do to cool the room down, so I'm trying.

I was was thinking about starting nutes on my next water (which is supposed to be tomorrow, but if I do nutes it'll have to be Thursday.

The pH of my soil is around 6.4, is that low?

pH range in soil should be between 6.0 to 6.5. It's good to let it wobble around within that band because some minerals are taken up better at 6.0 and others at 6.5. Are you checking the runoff from the pots to gauge soil pH?

If you can pull cool air in to the closet from under the door and evacuate near the ceiling you might be able to lower the temps some.

Mellodrama said:

pH range in soil should be between 6.0 to 6.5. It's good to let it wobble around within that band because some minerals are taken up better at 6.0 and others at 6.5. Are you checking the runoff from the pots to gauge soil pH?

If you can pull cool air in to the closet from under the door and evacuate near the ceiling you might be able to lower the temps some.

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Yes I've been checking pH using an API Test kit (drops). The pH at first was around 6.1 and then the second time I checked (after third water) it was 6.4. But Dr. Smith said that red stems might be due to pH deficiency. So does that mean since my pH has been in a good range it's not pH deficiency? I might try that for temps. Thanks!

I have found it is all about temperature control and distance of the light from the plant. My first grow I did from seedlings and had a 150hps in the grow room the whole time. I had the light at about 12-14 inches above the seedlings and at first did not have my air circulation correct so my temps were hitting low 90's. I added a fan that attached to the HPS that vents out of the box, another blowing at the light, one as an intake, and my temps fell to a good temp (low 80's high 70's). To use the cfl's you really need to be inch's from the plant (the penetration is not far at all with cfl's) and you can do this with proper air circulation. Good luck with the grow..

growgirll said:

Day 12 today ! I think she's starting to show some progress! The temp has still been high, around 82, trying to find a way to bring it down. (After this grow I'm going to try white paint instead of tin foil). The humidity has been around 29%, even though I've been doing the shallow dish of water method. I looked at Walmart for humidifiers last night, and they were all too big, so now I'm going to probably order one online within the next few days. Maybe add an extra fan to cool down the box? You can see in the pictures that parts of her stem are red, is this normal since she's still young? Here's some pictures!
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OMG IT HAS FINALLY BEEN NOTICED......sorry growgirl im just reading this entire journal now for like 20 min, and fiNALLY (u better yet) noticed that take the the tin foil down bc tin foil is a myth and one of the most notorious grow lores out there (along with hanging ur plant upside down to dry "so the THC drips to the bottom LOLOLOL")

ok ill add my two cents now.....ur plant is fine stop worrying so much lol, get your plants health outta ur head so much....ur gonna drive urself crazy....for a first time grower that plant is about as healthy as it can be, so let it be.....dont be worrying about ur humidity and ur ventilaton so much, ur fine......ideal temp and humidy would be around 75-78 degrees and around 55-60% humidity....but what is weed guys....come on now we all now this one lol....its a fucking weed ....it will adapt to the enviroment just fine as long as u keep the the damn enviroment the same....also, if ur runoff is 6.3-6.7 UR FINE....once again stop worrying.....everyone in here is trying to help you they really are, but i have seen some suggestions that i have had a good laugh at....stop making the poor girl more paranoid than she already is ya potheads lol......listen ur doing great, just let the damn thing grow.....also now were getting big enough to start indroucing some nutes, any ideas? or questions?

Sweeve said:

ok ill add my two cents now.....ur plant is fine stop worrying so much lol, get your plants health outta ur head so much....ur gonna drive urself crazy....for a first time grower that plant is about as healthy as it can be, so let it be.....dont be worrying about ur humidity and ur ventilaton so much, ur fine......ideal temp and humidy would be around 75-78 degrees and around 55-60% humidity....but what is weed guys....come on now we all now this one lol....its a fucking weed ....it will adapt to the enviroment just fine as long as u keep the the damn enviroment the same....also, if ur runoff is 6.3-6.7 UR FINE....once again stop worrying.....everyone in here is trying to help you they really are, but i have seen some suggestions that i have had a good laugh at....stop making the poor girl more paranoid than she already is ya potheads lol......listen ur doing great, just let the damn thing grow.....also now were getting big enough to start indroucing some nutes, any ideas? or questions?

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Thanks sweeve!
I saw your last comment too about tin foil haha big mistake! Do you think I should wait it out or take it all out now and paint it white? I was thinking just leave it for this grow?


And nutes! Yes! I'm planning on starting nutes at day 14! That will be her 4th day since the last water. I was also planning on using Fox Farm nutes in small dosages.


some other people elsewhere are telling me that it looks like I have nutrient lockout or something already! They say my stems look red and the center veins on my leaves look pale (which they kind of do). But my pH that I water with was 6.0 for the first two waters and 6.4 for the last one and the runoff both times has been around 6.4, and I haven't used any nutes yet! So what else could this be? Just genetics? Or is my pH drops kit wrong? (I use API drops for freshwater aquariums) my soil runoff is already a bit yellow and the 6.0 and lower reading is yellow, but it usually looks like its greener(6.4ish) anyway afterwards!

tin foil is a mistake i made and everyone has whether they will admit it or not, but yea just rip it down....its not helping, only hurting, u can either paint it white or a simply line the sides with mylar and poof problem fixed.....oh good ole FoxFarm....depends on what ur trying to achieve....i also started with Fox Farm, no problems, just never got the yield/smell/bag appeal i wanted until i switched to Nectar for the Gods, watch this video, u know what everyone needs to watch this who has commented on this girls journal lol.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BjbW2KPbTw.....they say a lot of things u might not understand, if ur confused at all just shoot me a pm and i will clear it up..... btw guys Tritons Trawl=awesome for finishing up a plant......a 6.4 pH for where ur plant is currently at is awesome....ur stems r fine dont listen to them, n yes ur genetics always comes into play at some point in the grow......i got red stems on my colas and they're hard as a rock and bigger than my forearm prob 4 oz dry apiece easy....ur doin great keep it up...i will continue to follow ur grow n lets get some decent nuggets outta this auto

I'm trying not to worry but it's hard haha. The leaves are a lime-greenish color now, and growth is pretty slow, but still happening. Not noticing any huge differences in growth today from yesterday. The pH I water with is around 6-6.4 and the runoff is 6.0-6.4 every time. I haven't had to adjust pH yet for anything, and I haven't started using nutes yet, so why are the leaves yellowing and why has growth slowed? The new growth is light green, more so than the old growth, but it's starting I think on the old growth too.

I've heard that if this is a magnesium/sulfer deficiency to use Epsom salts?
But this is my question, if I treat them with Epsom Salts would I mix that in with water? And if I do what should I do about nutrients like Grow Big? Hold off? Or mix epsom and grow big together?

day 13:

Hey! Today I fed my northern lights auto for the first time! The leaves really aren't as yellow as they seemed in the pictures before. But anyway, I just fed 1/2 tsp Fox Farm Big Bloom and 1/2 tsp Fox Farm Grow Big. The pH was 6.5. I forgot to check runoff pH but I will in a few minutes because I emptied it into a jar. I'll check that in a bit, but last time I did it was 6.4ish.


The stem looks like it's skin split or something, because it's like wider at one spot and a different color and texture, but the plant is still growing really nicely. I hope I didn't feed too early if hate to see nute burn in a few days..

I just checked my runoff pH and it's at 5! What should I do?

Day 15!


Little growth since yesterday, her first feed, and I'm worried that since the runoff pH was so low (5.0) that she didn't absorb the nutrients. Could this be the case?
Is there anything at all I can do for her besides wait until her next water? She's due for one in two days, on Sunday, which I was planning on just watering using plain water (I was planning on rotating waters using nutes and just plain water), and I was going to make the pH around 7.0 or 7.5. Should I do this sooner? Or just let her be until her next water?

red stems are still there, not sure if it's just genetics, check out the pictures!

I wouldn't worry about the purplish/reddish tinge. It's very common. Yep, that skin is coming off the lowest part of the mainstem. Those funny little bumps underneath will grow roots if you re-pot and plant more deeply, or add some dirt.

The experienced hands around here constantly counsel caution with nutes. Not til a month or so unless you're sure you have a deficiency developing.

Whether it's too soon for nutes or not (I think it probably is) take a read thru this little article, especially the last part about nutes and pH. That explains why your runoff suddenly went to 5.

Mellodrama said:

I wouldn't worry about the purplish/reddish tinge. It's very common. Yep, that skin is coming off the lowest part of the mainstem. Those funny little bumps underneath will grow roots if you re-pot and plant more deeply, or add some dirt.

The experienced hands around here constantly counsel caution with nutes. Not til a month or so unless you're sure you have a deficiency developing.

Whether it's too soon for nutes or not (I think it probably is) take a read thru this little article, especially the last part about nutes and pH. That explains why your runoff suddenly went to 5.

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I won't be transplanting since she's pretty big now already and she's auto so I wouldn't want to stress her out. Is it okay if I don't cover these root nodes? Should I add soil to cover them?

Hey guys. I watered again today, it's day 17. Watered with only pH 7 water. The plants colors and everything look great but it's leaves are cupping a bit, I'm assuming it's because of an accident today the temperature went up to 90 for a few hours. It's back down to 77-79 now. I took the tin foil out of the box and spray painted it flat white with kilz original primer sealer. I watered with pH 7 water but the runoff was still around 5.0 - 5.5. There's not a lot of growth every day but she still looks pretty good I think. Check out this video from today after the water:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3AsPg82jY4