First grow, looking for suggestions

[Rogue Element]

Alright this is my first grow and first post. I've been on the site a long time now just checking out other people's stuff and getting good advice. I germinated these bagseed plants for one day before planting in MG Seed Starter Soil (I know MG is the devil whatever, I bought FoxFarm for when I transplant them) and as of now they are 3 weeks old. I have 2-4' fluorescent bulbs in there, one is a plant and aquarium GE bulb (a little less than 5000k) and the other is a Phillips Daylight bulb (5000k) with a total of 4100 lumens. Right now they're on a 24/0 light schedule, I'm going to switch to 18/6 when they're 4" tall. The temperature is a degree or 2 under 70 and I'm working on getting a heating pad or something to fix that. When they're switched to 18/6 I'm gonna add some 100 watt CFL's, I've got 8 right now, do you think I should add them now or wait? I'm going to be keeping only the 2 best female plants due to my limited space and light issues. Also what size containers should I use for my transplant? Now here's my setup

The cup on the left is full of baking soda to deal with any smell issues early on, I know there's nothing really to deal with but I keep my stash near there too so it doesn't hurt. The cup on the right is full of water because i live in the southwest and humidity is usually like 10% even worse in the winter.

Don't pay attention to the thermometer it was outside a few minutes before so i knew how cold it was.

The closest shots I took of my plants, I'm a little concerned about the wilting though I don't think its a big issue right now. I've been watering once a week so far and they seem to be doing just fine, misting with a spray bottle every few days and whatnot, they have a good green color and no spots or burnt tips. So overall do my plants look normal and do you have any suggestions to improve my grow? Thanks for any help!

 

[DEAN420]

 

[DEAN420]

plants look fine but i would transplant them before they get rootbound in that seedling tray.

Also the more light you can provide that better results you'll get.

 

[Screwnuts33]

Keep your light down to about 2-3" above the plants. You will need a transplant very soon. How big of pot really depends on how much space you have and how big you plan to grow them. I started my seeds in 1/2 gallon pots then transplanted to 5-gallon. The fewer transplants the better. If you haven't already get a PH tester. PH level is extremely important.

 

[Rogue Element]

Alright, I'll head to walmart to get some new cords and home depot to pick up some socket converters since I'm too cheap to buy actual sockets and reflectors and whatnot, oh and the light was so high because i was away for 5 days and didn't want my plants to grow into the light. So the light is back down now and I'm going to grow the plants to 13" before inducing flowering so they'll get 26"-39" tall probably. Its just the 5 gal buckets are so damn big and I don't think my space can handle them until flowering when I can just cut down to 2 plants. And so far I've been leaving tap water out and adding a little vinegar to it so I'm sure the PH level isn't optimal but its not as bad as it could be.... I'll get a ph tester at walmart too...

 

[rnwy29erclr]

Re: First grow, looking for suggestions
looks good, yes i would get ready to transplant pretty soon,you said you would like to go with 2 plants, you can use 2 1/2 to 3 gal pots if you plan on doing your whole grow in your closet make sure you put something under your pots to catch the excess water, looks like new carpet in closet! if your gonna use fox farm ocean forrest, i dont think i would worry about ph to much, ff o/f is ph ready out of the bag. i have no probs, and your cfl's will work good, just dont water to much

 

[Rogue Element]

Re: First grow, looking for suggestions
looks good, yes i would get ready to transplant pretty soon,you said you would like to go with 2 plants, you can use 2 1/2 to 3 gal pots if you plan on doing your whole grow in your closet make sure you put something under your pots to catch the excess water, looks like new carpet in closet! if your gonna use fox farm ocean forrest, i dont think i would worry about ph to much, ff o/f is ph ready out of the bag. i have no probs, and your cfl's will work good, just dont water to much

Thanks for the reply, I think I'm gonna go with 3 gallon pots since I'm not growing them all that big even though the closet is about 8 feet tall. But I don't think the carpet is that new, I'm renting this place while I'm in school, I'd grow in a bigger area but I've got roomates who don't know about this soooo, I'm just trying to keep it on the down low

 

[Rogue Element]

Alright, I added half of the lights I have... but its a pretty ghetto setup, electric socket converters with splitters added on to them... I'm pretty sure I'm breaking a fire code or something but they say they're good up to 660 watts and I'm only using 54 on each cord soooo yeah

 

[The Butcher]

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info!

I am moving this to abandoned journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world!

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine!