First Grow with Unknown Seeds

[DrKivi]

Good day.

I'm doing my first grow and am using unknown seeds.
I'm growing in a piece of furniture, so the height is limited to 15 inches (around 40cm). I'm using two warm white CFLs (22W and 18W) and am on 18/6 schedule. My options are quite limited, so any advice that I could execute on my grow is welcome.

The walls are covered with some unknown reflective material. It seems quite thin and light.
I want to add a carbon filter soon, but currently it's not one of my top priorities.

My growbox. (Planting day, 18.01.10)

The day my dear broke the surface. (20.01.10)

These pics are taken when it reached 10cm in height. (29.01.10)

I plan on starting LST soon. Also, soon I must start thinking about fertilizer. Is ammonium nitrate suitable for my plant? I know that it's high-nitrogen fertilizer, so it should be excellent?

 

[DrKivi]

I have some serious problems. My plant was all fine on saturday. Couldn't check it on sunday and monday it looked all dried up. I thought it might have been underwatering so I gave it some more water. Yesterday it felt soft and everything but today it's getting crispy. Plant is about 3 weeks old. Gave it a tiny bit of Ammonium nitrate, could it have caused the damage? What can I do to fix it? I tried identifying the problem, but it's way over my head.

 

[Bud Farmer]

How its going? I can't see the last pic that you posted, but it sounds like nutrient burn to me. I wouldn't use the nitrate unless it was specifically made for plants (just to be safe). Also I don't add nutes until they are about 3 weeks old to avoid that problem, but some grows I have seen people start nutes after a week and they look and turn out fine. Try flushing the soil with nuetral ph'd water for your next few waterings. Keep it updated I'm curious to see how it turns out! Best of luck to you.

 

[DrKivi]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will try to do some flushing.

 

[Bud Farmer]

no problem I'll be checking out your grow. I'm on my first grow too(well first successful grow that is), and it took me a lot of trial and error to figure out the best way to get it done. Now I'm day 5 into flowering, but I don't know if its male or female yet. Sorry for rambling on about that. How does it look now? Post some pics! Can't wait to see it. Best of luck and positive energy towards you from this end.

 

[nassos]

don't forget to flushing the soil. post the pics.

 

[PhishyPhil]

hey bud, what kinda soil is that? what stuff have u added to the soil aside from the nitrate? (remember too much Nitrogen is bad). what are your temps/humidity like inside the area with lights on/off? whats your soil's PH?

also, im no pro, but you may want to check out the CFL tutorial to see if you have enough lighting

Good Luck!

 

[PhishyPhil]

found it

CFL Tutorial - CFL Light Tutorial

 

[DrKivi]

I have not added anything but the nitrate.
So far plant keeps on drying. I think this one is doomed, tho I won't call it dead yet. Germinating my next seed already.
The temp inside is between 20-35C. A little high but I can't really do anything about it right now.
No pics right now since it hasn't changed it's looks, but it feels extremely crispy.
EDIT: Oh, forgot. The soil is some "universal potted plant soil". And I don't have any information on humidity right now.

 

[PhishyPhil]

do u know if that soil has time released nutes in it? also how often do u water your ladies? and do u currently have a fan blowing on them? how much space is there between the bottom of the lights, and the tops of your ladies?

 

[DrKivi]

That soil pack said that it doesn't need extra nutes for 2 weeks. I usually water every other day (soil dries quite fast). I don't have a fan directly blowing on plant, but I have fans to replace the air in box. The lights are not directly on top of the plants, so the distance never gets under 10cm. The plant was just about to reach the height of lamps though.

 

[Bud Farmer]

If they have fox farm soil where you are that's what I've been using and it works great for me. With cfl's you can have the lights about 2-3 cm away from the plant without burning it. How do you replace the air in the box?

 

[HawaiianDuck]

You took the words out of my mouth Bud, air exchange is pretty critical, from what I have read air exchange every 5 min is pretty critical (depending on dimentions) if there is a closed/semi close environment.
Good luck, hope you get it figured out, but advice so far sounds pretty right on...no nutes, good flush, let it breath so good ol' CO2. Also, if your pot is tiny, might want something bigger. This will not only allow for more water to be held, but it can also make problems not so dramatic. Also, if your space is that short, once this little trooper does recover you may want to go ahead with changing the light to 12/12. Without training a plant (LST, supercropping, etc.), they will generally get triple in size from shen they first sex until maturation.
Pics would help!!
Aloha
HD

 

[PhishyPhil]

hey bud, just keep giving it water and a lil superthrive if you have it, and the ladies should perk up soon. keep your eyes open for new growth and be patient as things in soil tend to take a bit of time to show results

and good luck!

 

[DrKivi]

Air circulation is achieved by smallish fans. I doubt it can change all the air around the plant once every 5 minutes but it certainly moves the air.
After all, this "death" was so sudden (fine on saturday, dead on monday), could it really have been something as not enough light (can that really kill a plant!? slow growth and weak plant I understand but kill!?) or not enough air circulation? I mean, both factors seemed to be good enough for 3 weeks!

Currently the leaves are beginning to break apart. I won't throw it out yet, but I have given up hope.
Funny fact: The plant started dying the day I couldn't get out of the bed because I was sick with the flu.

 

[Bud Farmer]

I'm sorry to hear that it's not doing well. I don't believe a plant can be killed by lack of light, but I had built a grow box without proper ventilation and my first 5 plants died! As soon as I put in a pc fan my next grow took off no problem. So I believe replacing the air in the box is very important. Do you have fans blowing air around inside of the box, into it or out of it? The best way is to have a fan on the top of the box (built into the box most times), pulling all the air inside of it and pushing it out. Then, if your box is air tight, you should cut a hole in the bottom/bottom side for passive air intake. This will create negative pressure inside the box and is a great environment for the plant. Also you might want to consider putting the lights closer to the plant, it looks like the one you have stretched a bit. Good luck, keep trying and keep us updated.

 

[PhishyPhil]

ok. we live, we learn.

i'd cut out the nitrate unless it is designed for plants. also, you said your high temps get to 35C, at first i thought did the math incorrectly, but after rechecking it turns out that 35C = ~95F. and 95 degrees is WAY too hot for the ladies, especially in a small comp case with no fans.

even if the current project was killed by nute burn, or something else mentioned (or not mentioned), i can almost assure you that your gonna have trouble on future projects with temps at 95% in that small area.

i'd also consider building a bigger box. like, a TV box, or refrigerator box, or even the box that your PC case came in would be bigger than the PC case itself.

ah well, best of luck on this and on the future projects, ill be wishing you luck and checking in again soon

 

[DrKivi]

I think it's coming back to life. There seem to be new leaves in the intersections.

Can anybody confirm that it's coming back to life or is it singing it's deathsong?
EDIT: Hehe, didn't notice the new posts until I posted myself .
I am NOT using a PC case. My case is two-three times as wide as a PC case. And 35C is rare, but it's absolute maximum I have had.
About air circulation: I have a fan blowing out near the top of the case. The bottom of the case has a big hole in it (that's why I have a huge metal thing as a base) (of course it doesn't stop airflow, everything is worked out).

But the other day, I did remember that some time ago, during maintenance I turned off the fan (like I often do) to avoid it hitting my fingers and next day I found that I had not turned it on. Soon after that the plant looked like that. So it was probably a combo of all the bad things it had to experience. I will definitely keep an eye on my fan now.

 

[DrKivi]

 

[Greenthumb422]

Glad to see she is coming back to health!!