Where Did I Go Wrong?

Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum and also new to growing. This was my first grow and it didn't turn out as expected so I would like some input from you guys. I'm really dissappointed because I did months of reading in order to prepare, while also trying to stay as simple and organic as possible. MY two thoughts on why it didn't flower well is either 1. bad lighting or 2. bad seeds but Ill try to give as much info as possible as well as post some pics to see what you think. Apologies a head of time because I wrote a novel but I wanted to give ample info.

So I started with an auto flower strain called Haschis from an accredited seed bank. It's a hybrid of Cheese and Blueberry. Said it would be a pretty easy strain to grow and quick flowering between 8-10 weeks. She broke soil on Sept. 29th.

I have a small grow tent with 3 different light sources as I kinda just threw it all together. I have a 40 watt blue and red LED light. 2 20 watt gooseneck LED lights that you can change to all blue, all red, or a mix of the two surrounding the sides of the pot. And another 26 watt reptiglo light for a different light spectrum than just the red and blue.

I know they are all pretty low power but combined I figured it would be enough and I didnt want it to get too hot since its a small area and my temps are already betwen 75-80 F naturally with a fan blowing all day.

I'm growing in a smart pot right now. I started with a small seedling tray and transplanted to a 3 gallon pot after a couple weeks. Using a mix of Fox Farm Ocean soil, some peat moss, and a little perlite. She was completely fine with the transplant didn't droop or show any signs of stress and continued to grow.

I water with distilled water and the pH is at 6.5. I only water every couple days when I stick my finger about an inch in the soil and its dry. If its still wet I don't water.

I started with the whole 18-6 lighting on a timer with the goosenecks at all blue during veg (which lasted about a month) then switching to 12-12 all red when I saw her start to flower. All the LED manuals say to keep the lights at least 12"-18" away, but I read a lot of articles where people keep them a lot closer.

She was growing beautifully and very healthy. Leaves very green never droopy no yellow leaves. But as she got bigger she kinda stopped growing at about 1 foot and then started to flower and she barely has any fan leaves. Now she has been flowering for about 3 weeks and as far as I can tell there has been no more growth. I read they should double in size during flowering. Still very green though and healthy but like I said, barely any leaves and the buds are minimal, and don't seem to be growing anymore. I doubt even an 1/8th after dried. Full of trichomes though.

So where did I go wrong? Like I said maybe I should be keeping the plants a lot closer to the lights buts I didn't wanna give her light burn as I heard LEDs are supposed to be strong. I'm not advanced enough yet to get all fancy with the nutes and stuff but I do have them. But I read FF is pretty nutritious by itself for a couple weeks at least so I havent added any yet.

It's frustrating because I really did try to take as much care as possible and read all the articles about it. And to top it off I see pics of guys grows that have horribly droopy malnourished looking leaves and they still have a bigger plant and way more leaves than mine.

Is it the lighting? Maybe just bad seeds? Or something else completely? Thanks in advance for your input.

Not enough light.

xtsho said:

Not enough light.

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Meaning use more watts or put the plant closer to the lights?

Tiburon1611 said:

Meaning use more watts or put the plant closer to the lights?

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Use more watts, for sure. If I'm reading right, the total wattage for all of your lights is 106w. Furthermore, most LEDs don't use the full advertised wattage. It's a total of 106w, but the "true" wattage is likely somewhere around 60w-75w and that is nowhere near enough. You want a bare minimum of 40w per sq-ft. Indicas do best with 50w/sq-ft and sativas like 60w-70w/sq-ft.

It also looks like you're using the blurple lights and unfortunately those are utter garbage. You'd be better off using CFLs instead of blurples, they're that bad. I haven't researched LEDs in a while, but from what I recall unless you're building your own COB/Cree LED it's going to be garbage and a waste of money. COB/Cree lights are some of the best lights on the market now, but you'll be grabbing your ankles when you pay for them.

As someone start out, I recommend a standard HID set up. A 600w set up can be had for $100-$120 and most of them come with dimmable ballasts now. You can dim it down to 250w and light a 2x2 sq-ft space, or run it at the full 600w and light a 3.5x3.5 sq-ft space.

Everything else looks okay, you just need more watts/a better source of light.

HTH

kratos015 said:

Use more watts, for sure. If I'm reading right, the total wattage for all of your lights is 106w. Furthermore, most LEDs don't use the full advertised wattage. It's a total of 106w, but the "true" wattage is likely somewhere around 60w-75w and that is nowhere near enough. You want a bare minimum of 40w per sq-ft. Indicas do best with 50w/sq-ft and sativas like 60w-70w/sq-ft.

It also looks like you're using the blurple lights and unfortunately those are utter garbage. You'd be better off using CFLs instead of blurples, they're that bad. I haven't researched LEDs in a while, but from what I recall unless you're building your own COB/Cree LED it's going to be garbage and a waste of money. COB/Cree lights are some of the best lights on the market now, but you'll be grabbing your ankles when you pay for them.

As someone start out, I recommend a standard HID set up. A 600w set up can be had for $100-$120 and most of them come with dimmable ballasts now. You can dim it down to 250w and light a 2x2 sq-ft space, or run it at the full 600w and light a 3.5x3.5 sq-ft space.

Everything else looks okay, you just need more watts/a better source of light.

HTH

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Awesome thanks for the reply. That's very helpful.

Tiburon1611 said:

Is it the lighting?

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Definitely. Can you post a pic of your light setup?
That's a bummer man.That's a damn good plant to be grown with those lights. I'd be proud of that fact. It looks like you know what you are doing, you just need to get more light. There is a ton to research here.