New to rollitup.org - New CFL Grower - Think I may have issues already. Help!

Peat moss is quite viable, if you use a bit of dolomite to balance it out - that said, it'd be a solid amendment if used properly as the moss will hold 10-15x its own weight in water and can still hold a good amount of 02.

As for Miracle Gro and recommending he take the plants out, yes.. he's still learning and MG as it is was too hot for his lil' ones, without question. That said, the time-release MG would also spike the plants with every watering, all other nutes aside and that's a hell of a thing to teach to one that's quite new to cultivating cannabis instantly so that shit doesn't hit the proverbial fan and things swan dive in epic proportions.

Slow your roll, I never told him to transfer to the peat, after googling sphagnum peat ph I agree this is def part of the problem... I use FFof, which has sphagnum peat moss in it too, it is adjusted to 6.3-6.8 though. I would hope his cheap soil was also amended with a little bit of what I assume is dolomite lime. But go ahead jump all over this post too with what I assume was a thc deprived inspired rant, meant no hate dude but someone apparently pissed in your bong water... To the op dirt is dirt man drop the extra $5 on a good bag of soil the difference is not that much on the wallet but I assure you your plants will know the difference and feel that you care, Black gold is a pretty good and reasonably priced imo soil. Happy Apomixis or is there some fault to the first advice on soil I have given this guy. And not to start a fight but you do not think ph of water matters? I guess not if you live in an area with good public water but not everyone is so lucky.

natro- I wasn't picking you out, didnt even go back to read who dunnit... So we're cool.
No fight intended to anyone specific, but he didnt plant into a peat amended soil, he planted into peat. Does it look like burn anymore or does it now make sense that his plants are yellowing and dying??
What we intend to do doesnt help if we aren't courteous enough to make sure he understands what we are suggesting.
All he heard was: NO! MG will KILL your plants!
And that little tidbit ensured his plants would die. So, I am looking to emphatically correct this.
We all agree here though, straight peat is an amendment, not a medium in itself. Plant into. Balanced medium and watch them recover. Is going to be 2 weeks till they look hopeful, if they do at all.
Sorry to have offended anyone, but I gotta set the record straight here.

EDIT: maybe I do have good water, I just never thought to 'fix' it, and I haven't had problems. I think a new gardener should focus on the basics until he has a good enough grasp to start fussing about with the minutiae like water pH. That's all...

Sigh....

Apomixis, thank you for all of your advice. I can tell your patience is growing thin and you can definitely unsub and not have to deal with any of this if you haven't already lol. Same goes to the rest of you.

It's funny, I am posting the exact same thing on 3 different sites right now and getting the same results, although this thread has been the most eventful. EVERYONE has different opinions on how they've done their grows, etc. I've seen numerous online grow journals with people starting out with MG soil and having no issues and then the other side of the internet says that MG is very bad for your plants. I've seen some people that say 5.5 is a great starting pH and then on the other side of the internet people say that 5.5 is way too low and only good for veg/flower. On this other site I am posting on, they are telling me that the new peat soil I got was an excellent choice and here you are telling me it wasn't. Please trust me when I say this, I have been reading all over the place. I've done everything from Googling my issues to scouring the first 10 pages of forums for other peoples' CFL grows. I am a very intelligent human outside of these boards and I am a sponge when it comes to information, I swear it! I am a technician in life! I guess I just don't have a green thumb! There just has to be some small things I am doing wrong. I think I just need a better start. It just sucks I am wasting seeds left and right. I've killed 3 plants already. Well, 1 actually died on its own and the other two I purposely terminated because I wasn't happy with the beginning results.

This time what I've decided to do is "play with" some of them like you suggested. I think my best bet right now will be trial and error. I have 15-20 more seeds, so I am not too worried right now. As much as it is annoying me, I am still having some fun trying to figure it all out. I do intend on going out and actually searching for a "good" soil to use on future germs. I have heard a few of you spit out brand names, but not entire names. I want to make sure I am going out to grab the correct stuff this time. If you can provide the exact name and any other words it might say on the bag and any pictures or links of the stuff you are using or have used in the past, it would be greatly appreciated. I plan to start two more germs soon to grow in this new soil I go and get. For now, I am doing some experimenting with the stuff I already have. I have mixed the MG I have with the new peat moss, vermiculite and perlite mixture I just got. I mixed it at about 1:3 (MG:vermiculite/peat/perlite). I then transplanted two new seedlings as well as plant #1 and #2 into that and planted up to the leaves with barely any stem showing. With plant #3 (the dying one), I went out and bout some cheap N-sticks, mixed a tiny bit of it into some water, tested the pH and commenced to watering. If they all die, oh well, I'll just know more of what NOT to do when growing lol.

Lol. This is the trial and error of gardening. I'm just lucky to have grown up learning from my dad.
Just keep this in mind: they call it weed for a reason. It doesn't take much input to get it going, like a weed.
Keep it simple. And when in doubt, ask the guy in the gardening isle or the older folks looking at seeds there and tell them you're growing tomatoes. They will give you better advice than some people here.
I'm still with you though, lol, I've got tons of patience. I'd even venture to say its the most important aspect of any growing.
Post updates. I trust these next seeds will do better, and the ones after that better still.

I hopped in my car to go to work this morning. I was early getting started for the day and so I picked up my phone and voice find "garden centers near me." A new store popped up I had never heard of called Green Tech. The best thing about it is it's literally right around the corner. I could walk there if I wanted. Anyway, I walk in and I'm instantly greeted by a huge stack of Fox Farm Ocean Forest. I asked how much it was and it was only $15 and some change! So I grabbed a bag! Now that I have CORRECT soil, can I instantly start using this soil for seedlings? I know, I know some of you are like "why didn't he do that in the first place??" Seriously, I wanted to go the cheapest route possible. Saving even $5 on a bag of soil helps me out lol.

haoleflip said:

I hopped in my car to go to work this morning. I was early getting started for the day and so I picked up my phone and voice find "garden centers near me." A new store popped up I had never heard of called Green Tech. The best thing about it is it's literally right around the corner. I could walk there if I wanted. Anyway, I walk in and I'm instantly greeted by a huge stack of Fox Farm Ocean Forest. I asked how much it was and it was only $15 and some change! So I grabbed a bag! Now that I have CORRECT soil, can I instantly start using this soil for seedlings? I know, I know some of you are like "why didn't he do that in the first place??" Seriously, I wanted to go the cheapest route possible. Saving even $5 on a bag of soil helps me out lol.

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Good call bro!!

After further speculation and studying my finances, I was able to get both. Light Warrior obviously for seedlings and FFoF for veg/flower. So turns out I did waste $10 from buying the other two bags of crap soil I had. Should have just went with the best to start! Oh well, let the growing begin!

That is the same stuff i use. i only used to use ff of but since grabbing the light warrior my seedlings do better. Good luck to you and it will almost always be a learning experience till the end...

Any updates? Do we have survivors?

Apomixis said:

Any updates? Do we have survivors?

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Here's where I am right now:

I transplanted plant #1 and plant #2 into the new light warrior soil and added a bit more perlite for "fluffiness" and breathability. I also transplanted the new seedlings I had popping through into the light warrior. I also have 2 more germs that I started yesterday, which are also in light warrior. Therefore, I have a total of six plants going right now. As for the sick-looking plant #3, I ended its life yesterday. Sad story.....Anyway moving on. The first two plants I started are still showing better signs. The first leaves still show the nute burn from the older soil and possibly stress as these have gone through a lot. The one thing I did notice is that the new leaves coming in are growing in green and looking good, so I am not giving up on them. I have them both planted to the leaves so if new roots want to grow, they can do so. The two new seedlings are looking nice and green and I have not seen the other two yet, but let's hope that those two are going to grow strong and fast now that I have them in the proper soil. Probably going to buy new pots tomorrow or friday. It's been about 9 days since first sign of seedling through soil on the first two and 3 days for the other two.

RIKNSTEIN said:

It is a little harsh, lol, and don't worry about the MG soil, just water a lil at a time (I mean as little as possible) till they're a couple of weeks old and then hit it with reg water schedule (I go by weight of pot) and don't add nutes, my 2 nice ones are 28 and 30 days from sprout and doing just fine...but they still don't need nutes, lol...
Here if your worried take a look at my babies that are sitting in MG soil and MG perlite since sprout...

View attachment 2547164View attachment 2547165 Lady #1- 30 days from sprout...

View attachment 2547166View attachment 2547167View attachment 2547170 Lady #2- 28 days from sprout...

And get them lights closer and good luck man...

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haoleflip said:

Here's where I am right now:

I transplanted plant #1 and plant #2 into the new light warrior soil and added a bit more perlite for "fluffiness" and breathability. I also transplanted the new seedlings I had popping through into the light warrior. I also have 2 more germs that I started yesterday, which are also in light warrior. Therefore, I have a total of six plants going right now. As for the sick-looking plant #3, I ended its life yesterday. Sad story.....Anyway moving on. The first two plants I started are still showing better signs. The first leaves still show the nute burn from the older soil and possibly stress as these have gone through a lot. The one thing I did notice is that the new leaves coming in are growing in green and looking good, so I am not giving up on them. I have them both planted to the leaves so if new roots want to grow, they can do so. The two new seedlings are looking nice and green and I have not seen the other two yet, but let's hope that those two are going to grow strong and fast now that I have them in the proper soil.

View attachment 2563118 View attachment 2563119 View attachment 2563120

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How ya doin haoleflip, I see ya decided to go with the FFoF now, did any of the first make it, that were in th MG soil? I was havin probs with mine too, well 1 anyway, I put her into 12/12, an she immediately started going yellow w/spots!!! So I read/heard it was a P-K-Cal-Mag def, so I flushed with that mix of nutes (15 fukn gal..lol) and she seems to be comin back to life, she's still in MG but needs more than that soil can give her now, good luck buddy and don't get discouraged I lost 4 outa 6, it'll happen. I had to realize I was loving them to death...lol..here's the ladies I posted earlier in ur thread, hopefully they will make it..





and my new 14 day old...



Good luck bro and happy growin

RIKNSTEIN said:

and my new 14 day old...

View attachment 2563209

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That's big! My two oldest are 10 days tomorrow and they are tiny as you can see above. Although, they have been through a lot and have been transplanted in 3 different kinds of soils, so they have been abused lol. I hope mine get it together soon and look like that at least by day 16 or 17. What is your trick? Do you just have good genetics or something or is that straight bag seed? are you growing your seedlings from the start in FFoF or are you using something else for the seedling stage? What type of CFL are you using?

haoleflip said:

That's big! My two oldest are 10 days tomorrow and they are tiny as you can see above. Although, they have been through a lot and have been transplanted in 3 different kinds of soils, so they have been abused lol. I hope mine get it together soon and look like that at least by day 16 or 17. What is your trick? Do you just have good genetics or something or is that straight bag seed? are you growing your seedlings from the start in FFoF or are you using something else for the seedling stage? What type of CFL are you using?

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IMO, it's luck of the draw man.
Like kids.......
Do you get the one that rides the short bus, even though mom was very careful while prego, or do you get the kid like in "21" that can figure cards left in the 5 deck shoe when you KNOW you were stoned AND wired every time you tried to make a little Johnny.

Bakatare666 said:

IMO, it's luck of the draw man.
Like kids.......
Do you get the one that rides the short bus, even though mom was very careful while prego, or do you get the kid like in "21" that can figure cards left in the 5 deck shoe when you KNOW you were stoned AND wired every time you tried to make a little Johnny.

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Haha! My mother confessed she smoked a couple times when she didn't know she was pregnant with me in the beginning. Look at me now!

^you got a transplant on the docket in the next 2-3 days right? some do not need it but your biggins def should have already, I know the space constraint and all, I just hope part of the plan right after setting up that bigger box you transplant those suckers! look pretty dec for some mids from a newb otherwise though. same to you halo, bet you notice a banging root system first transplant you go to do, the mycos in the light warrior really add something.

Bakatare666 said:

IMO, it's luck of the draw man.
Like kids.......
Do you get the one that rides the short bus, even though mom was very careful while prego, or do you get the kid like in "21" that can figure cards left in the 5 deck shoe when you KNOW you were stoned AND wired every time you tried to make a little Johnny.

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Agreed, especially from seed. Can not remember where I read it but like 1 in 5 will be runts from seeds even with good genetics and 1 in 5 maybe more if its a great strain will be the super plant you want to take clones from. Clones are much more consistent in growth compared to seed when taken from a good mom. I like that 1 in 5 rule though because it helps you understand the trouble breeders go through in finding the phenos/growth patterns they like to see.

haoleflip said:

Haha! My mother confessed she smoked a couple times when she didn't know she was pregnant with me in the beginning. Look at me now!

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What look at you now? Do you have a third arm or something?