No signs of life/first indoor grow

So in my hypathetical 2x2x5 grow cab in which im growing "Dieselryder tomatoes."
Low temp 74.F High 90.F humidity between 45-70 lights on a 18/6 schedule. Currently I'm using a Hagen Life-glo T8 6,700k full spectrum 960 lumen 7500 h 95 lux, and an Exoterra 100w tight beam basking spotlight. 5 gallon buckets with miracle gro potting soil and perlite mix, jiff peats to germinate after germing outiside they last a little less than 24 hrs before drooping to death if I waste another good seed Im going to cry as if I just watched Bob Costas and Al Michaels in a 20 min make out session while listening to William Shatner sing Lady GAGA "live". Some one PLEASE put me outta my misery w/ anything short of a bullet or a 400w HPS ballast (which isnt a problem just tryna do everything cash and can only find them online). oh forgot to mention funds are limited.oh and replace all the "I", "I'm", "Me", and My's with a friend of a friend of mine.

lose the lizard light it is killing them

also starting seedlings in a 5 gallon bucket is a HUGE mistake

read the links in my sig, you'll be growing in no time

miracle gro potting soil is your killer id say..starting seedlings off in that stuff isint guna work and yeah that basking lights gota go its not helping you out.

T8 lighting at 960 lumens...
Heat lamp...
5 gallon paint bucket...
Miracle Grow soil...
Jiffy peat pellets...

All of that is killing your plant. On the list of "don't do's" you nailed practically every single one of them.
Whoever gave you the advice to waste money on that stuff should be flogged.

I mean, it's not like CFL bulbs are expensive and I see some really great grows with them and I've had some good success myself using them. 100w of CFL bulbs in clamp light reflectors wouldn't have been more than $30.

Plants are not lizards. They aren't "cold blooded." A heat lamp (especially for a seedling) is 100% a waste of energy.

5 gallon buckets are not planters. They cost what, $4 or $5 each right? I get my SmartPots for $5 each, and they are made for growing plants. Buckets are not. Planters should start small and you will transplant up from there. To be honest, all a person really needs to start a seedling is a 12 ounce party cup with some holes in it.

Organic soil was probably right next to the MG soil you selected. Probably the same price. MG soil has "moisture control" and time-release fertilizers. I've seen literally hundreds of bad grows using MG soil and maybe 5 or 6 good ones from straight experts.

Jiffy peat isn't terrible, but it isn't great either. Personally, I like to start my seeds in a small amount of coco peat. I have 100% germination rate and the coco is better about buffering the pH. Jiffy peat is too acidic and the bottom of the pod can be more compressed making it impossible for a young root to push through.

Start over dude. Find yourself some bag seed.

Snow Crash said:

T8 lighting at 960 lumens...
Heat lamp...
5 gallon paint bucket...
Miracle Grow soil...
Jiffy peat pellets...

All of that is killing your plant. On the list of "don't do's" you nailed practically every single one of them.
Whoever gave you the advice to waste money on that stuff should be flogged.

I mean, it's not like CFL bulbs are expensive and I see some really great grows with them and I've had some good success myself using them. 100w of CFL bulbs in clamp light reflectors wouldn't have been more than $30.

Plants are not lizards. They aren't "cold blooded." A heat lamp (especially for a seedling) is 100% a waste of energy.

5 gallon buckets are not planters. They cost what, $4 or $5 each right? I get my SmartPots for $5 each, and they are made for growing plants. Buckets are not. Planters should start small and you will transplant up from there. To be honest, all a person really needs to start a seedling is a 12 ounce party cup with some holes in it.

Organic soil was probably right next to the MG soil you selected. Probably the same price. MG soil has "moisture control" and time-release fertilizers. I've seen literally hundreds of bad grows using MG soil and maybe 5 or 6 good ones from straight experts.

Jiffy peat isn't terrible, but it isn't great either. Personally, I like to start my seeds in a small amount of coco peat. I have 100% germination rate and the coco is better about buffering the pH. Jiffy peat is too acidic and the bottom of the pod can be more compressed making it impossible for a young root to push through.

Start over dude. Find yourself some bag seed.

Click to expand...

Please ignore this post if you are a new grower, it is full of bad info^^^^^^^

actually if done right the T8 is plenty
if you are an experienced gardener there is nothing wrong with MG
lizard lights are great for adding trichs to your grow but need to be used right (only on for 30 minutes and kept far away from the plant, never used on seedlings)
I use 5 gallon homer buckets and jiffy pellets once again just need to be used properly

it's all about doing the research and learning the right way to do things

riddleme said:

Please ignore this post if you are a new grower, it is full of bad info^^^^^^^

actually if done right the T8 is plenty
if you are an experienced gardener there is nothing wrong with MG
lizard lights are great for adding trichs to your grow but need to be used right (only on for 30 minutes and kept far away from the plant, never used on seedlings)
I use 5 gallon homer buckets and jiffy pellets once again just need to be used properly

it's all about doing the research and learning the right way to do things

Click to expand...

For new growers...

First of all a T8 bulb has X number of watts stretched across X number of feet. If you have a single seedling, that is 1 square inch large, the efficiency of a T8 system is horrendous. Yes, they work... Are they the best option for the money? Absolutely not. T8 bulbs have a place in the cloning room, or if micro growing, but for someone starting out 27 watts spun up into a compact space not larger than 4 square inches, then placed in a clamp light reflector directs MUCH more energy at the plant rather than spread across the entire area. CFL bulbs have a very good track record and people who use them continue to use them.

I also said that I've seen some experienced growers succeed with MG. It requires quite a bit of finesse to use, and for a new grower, 99 times out of 100 MG soil results in either no crop or a very poor one at that. I've used their Rose potting soil with good success, and the organic stuff is fine, but given any other option MG soil with time released ferts and moisture control is among the worst possible soils to choose from. The new grower should save themselves the hassle of trying to figure out that crazy stuff until they understand nutrients, organics, and cation exchange.

Messing around with UV lighting is an advanced technique and is only employed by a small fraction of growers. There are other ways that are less hazardous to your eyes to increase resin production. First of all, dialing in the nutrients and the atmosphere makes a pretty noticeable impact on the harvest. Instead of lizard lights I get great results from a 1000w Sun Master Cool MH bulb used during the right time of flowering to provide a gentle but constant presence of UV light which has much better results than 1/2 hour of UV. Trichomes are forming all day long after all.

Why someone would buy a bucket, and not a planter, is beyond me. They are the same price, except the planters are made for plants and require NO fuss. Planters are black to lock out the light, they have a shape that encourages root growth, and they have built in drainage. The largest plants I've seen are grown in AirPots, RootMakers, and SmartPots. I cannot begin to list the number of sick plants I've seen in orange buckets. There isn't a single benefit to using a bucket, but there are many benefits to using planters. If you were doing hempy style, or maybe a kind of rockwool pebbles and hydroton mix, then the bucket works fine. But for an indoor soil grow? No way.

New growers, pay attention to the last thing Riddleme says.

It's all about doing research and doing it right.

T8, Miracle Grow, Lizard Lights, Buckets...
CFL, Organics, HID, Planters...
Save yourself the hassle of trying to figure out how to use the junk from home depot and just use what really works. Visit a plant nursery sometime and find me a plant in a bucket. People that grow, know.

People that grow know??? really???

I'll give you much credit as your second post is better stated than the first

but if your saying I don't know then you would be mistaken, I'll take a homer bucket over a pot anyday of the week, even use em for my tomatoes and I have been growing plants for a very long time

for UV I use a CMH bulb, nothing better, same spectrum as the sun

and the MJ plant belongs to another RIU grower

Thanks for the Advice i used to grow tomatoes outdoors alot when i was young tryna rejuvinate the green thumb on a indoor basis for when the winter comes, for the next few days as i tweek things with the box a bit ill be reading your links cant wait to get a journal started.

riddleme said:

People that grow know??? really???

I'll give you much credit as your second post is better stated than the first

but if your saying I don't know then you would be mistaken, I'll take a homer bucket over a pot anyday of the week, even use em for my tomatoes and I have been growing plants for a very long time

for UV I use a CMH bulb, nothing better, same spectrum as the sun

and the MJ plant belongs to another RIU grower

Click to expand...

And the MJ was started in a peat pellet. And vegged under T-8's the first 3 or 4 weeks.

Sure there are right ways and wrong but lots in the middle.

I think what were trying to say is there are much better ways to start your plants than the way you have chosen. Sure it works if everything is 100% but when something goes wrong how do you tell what is causing the issue's and most of your products are so so at best for a beginner.

Next time you put a seedling out don't put it in direct sunlight, keep it in the shade for about 5 days and it will become much harder and not fall over and die. They don't need much food when they start. A good soil will have enough food for the first week or so so don't add anything but Ph water.

Peace

Peace

yeah besides the cab all the supplies were things laying around the house from pets n shit, and made the switch to coco, also just laying around didnt know what it was cause soon as my frind dropped it off we left and <--- that bastard ate the packaging. no more jiffys the one thing i bought and switched to grodan cubes but going with actual (non hypathetic) tomatoes for now till i get ideal climate control, seedlings under 1 T8, another T8 vertically on the back wall once transfered to the homer's got a set up for 4 CFL but once i put in the AF's in to play would it be better to start with 2700k or 6000k or wat, or wat, ect.

6500k for veg and 2700k for flower and it is ok to use both but that is a percentage thing cause you want mostly blue for veg and mostly red for flower

Major help man, making my way through your sig tons of rep to you my friend