Advice on Autoflower Dwarf Low Flyer - Some of the lower leaves are dying

[Alejandr0]

Hi guys, first things firts. Im a rookie (1st indoor grow) and gotta thank this community since the information is so complete it encouraged me to put my hands on the dirt.

As i said this is my 1st indoor grow, and im using an autoflower strain from kropking seeds. Today turns 1 month and ive been using 400 W HPS lamp since day 1, 18-20 Hours of light 4-6 hours of darkness. I have a fan that is almost always turned on so the plant is in a fresh enviroment. Water about every 3 days with filtered water only and mixed a couple of times (lately with this lower leaves issue) with vermicompost hummus to fertilize in case it was missing son nuts.... (I KNOW I SHOULD, but im not keeping track of the PH neither the temperature, and the soil mix i prepared didnt have any information on nutrients. its dark brown, had rocks at the bottom placed, and on top as you can see in the pictures i sprinkled some dead leaves and little branches to keep the hummidity as the lamp was drying the dirt too much (wich solved that perfectly).

Anyway, im leaving some pictures of the problem im having hopefully someone can spot the issue. Let me know if i can provide any lacking information.

Thank you! from South America, Venezuela.

 

[Brewer]

I also grew this with my first grow, and the only thing I can tell you, your plant should be much bigger for 30 days of age.
I was only using CFLs, and the lower fan leaves were easily 6-8 inches across

 

[Rifleman]

Remove the leaves and dead branches. You want it to dry out. Go search for Emilya's posts about watering in the faq. It should explain it all.

 

[Indigoism]

Hey! Was heading off to bed but thought I'd quickly link you to a reply Emilya posted on a thread I made, Im recovering from this exact problem go onto this link and read the first reply from Emily, you will understand what the problem is don't forget to thank her and good luck

Am I wasting my time? Day 30