First Time Grower Needs Help - Indoor Grow

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SIBANNAC27

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I am a first time grower and need help because I am still in veg. stage and my plants are barely growing!*

The plants are under 2 20watt tube flourescents that are 4500k and 850 lumens per bulb. I also have 4 hanging cfls that are 100watt equivalents and are 1,600 lumens each and are 5000k.*

The box is apprx. 2ftx1ft so 2 square feet. I have 2 intake holes coming from the bottom of the house. One has a fan blowing air in and the other is passive intake. I also have 2 computer fans for exhaust. The Temp stays right around 80 and since I got rid of the humidifier the humidity stays around 30..*

I planted 5 seedlings in 1 quart black plastic pots in 75% hyponex potting soil and 25% perilite on 1/8/12.*

Plant #1 broke ground (sprouted) on 1/10/12 and the seed shell fell off.*

Plant #2 & 3 broke ground on 1/14/12

Plant 4 broke ground on 1/16/12

Plant 5 broke ground on 1/17/12

I watered them when they were dry but did not over water them (just water no nutes till week 3) i also had a humidifier in there to help keep humidity up. The temp and humidity stayed at around 80 degrees and 50% humidity for 2-3 weeks.*The humidity is now around 30 and temp 80.

On 1/26/12 I measured the plants because I wanted to keep track of growth since they seemed to be growing slow.*

Plant 1: 2in
Plant 2: 2 & 1/8 inches
Plant 3: 1.75 inches
Plant 4: 2.75 inches
Plant 5: 2 inches

On 2/1/12 I measured them again and also watered with Whitney Farms Natural All Purpose Plant Food Concentrate and molasses. The plant food contains 8% nitrogen.*

The plants on 2/1/12 measured:

Plant 1: 2.5 inches
Plant 2: 2.75 inches
Plant 3: 2 and 3/8 inches
Plant 4: 2.75 inches
Plant 5: 2.25 inches

On 2/10/12 I watered with Fox Farm Griow Big Liquid Plant Food 6-4-4

On 2/14/12 I measured again.

Plant 1: 5in
Plant 2: 3.75 inches
Plant 3: 4.25 inches
Plant 4: 4.5 inches
Plant 5: 4 inches

On 2/18/2012 I watered with Fox Farm Grow Big Liquid Plant Food again.

Today 2/20/12 I measured:

Plant 1: 6.25 in
Plant 2: 5 inches
Plant 2: 5 inches
Plant 3: 6 inches
Plant 4: 6 inches
Plant 5: 4.75 in

My leaves are mostly pointing down and some are burnt or dying on the ends. I planted by seedlings 6 weeks ago and they are averaging 6 inches.. what am I doing wrong?! I am so puzzled. As I said I am a newbie so please don't be too harsh on me. I am just looking for some advice. Thank you. Also, I am unsure of strain..
 
Re: first time grower needs help. indoor grow

1st of all the pots are to small. Second by looking at the pics and what you said I don't beleave the venelation is good enough you need to change the air in the room at lease 3 times a min In a box that small and use a small fan that oscillates to move the air around the leaves. Kinda looks like they have sings of being over watered plants that small use water very little let them dry out so the roots grow out.
With that said my advice is to transplant them in to 2 gallon smart pots 2 parts soil 1 part perlite watered with 1/3 nuits add some B1 and silica and put a fan blowing over them then don't water again untill there dry!! The biggest mistake from new growers is over watering!!!
Good luck!!
 
Re: first time grower needs help. indoor grow

Good question and to avoid the problem of PH go buy some Pro Mix BX.
It buffs the PH so you don't have to mess with it
 
To 253chiefin

Can't respond thru private message unless u post on here for some reason..

Hey thanks for the message! They don't seem to be getting worse they just are not growing correctly. The leaves should be reaching and instead they are mostly drooping. Some of them have dead or dying leaves on the bottom. Some I clipped and aome I left alone. I watered them last night because they were dry to the bottom. I didn't use nutrients just water with a ph of 6.5. I am having trouble getting the humidity above 30%. My temp stays around 80 but drops to probably 65-70 at night. Lights are on a 19-5 schedule. Not sure why. My husband had originally started this project but gave up so I took over. I would move them to bigger pots but 1 they won't fit in my box and 2 my larger room for flowering is not even close to ready. I can't decide what lights are most cost efficient to use for flowering. Do you have any suggestions? The plants will be in a 3 foot length by 6 ft height closet. Anyway back to currently. Last night when I watered them I also added perlite to the tops because the stems seemed like they were wobbly. I noticed some roots popping up out of the top of the soil too. Hopefully the perlite helps. I don't think my problem was over watering if anything they were underwatered. I gave them a good watering last night and won't water again til they are dry all the way thru. Any thouhts concerns or advice is greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!
 
Re: first time grower needs help. indoor grow

mikey232 said:
Good question and to avoid the problem of PH go buy some Pro Mix BX.
It buffs the PH so you don't have to mess with it
Click to expand...
ph is everything.. try a grow without ph-ing and let me know how it works for you.. soil will raise or drop on you if you dont keep in check..
 
I've been growing for over 10 years without phing in my soiless mixture all you need to do is add buffers. The buffers in the mix will automatically buff the ph to what it's buff at does not matter if I make the ph 1 or 15 it will buff it to 5.8 as soon as it hits my mixture. The only thing I ph is my cloners and my ebb& flo. But in my pro mix room I house 6 mothers and grow and flower 28 at a time! It's all controlled by sulfur to lime ratios in the soil if there is more sulfur present then the ph will be buffed to the sulfur level witch will lower it if the is more like added then the soil will automatically buff it higher there fore nomatter what you do the soil will ph to the set level. And that's how you minus the step of phing in non hydoponic system. Now if your useing hydroponics then phing is a must as well as other steps Ec Ppm ect.
 
Update

Thanks everyone for there replies. I have been controlling my ph and am def going to have to try out what you are recommending mikey. 2 days ago I put a stronger fan to help circulate tye air more and it has done wonders. Plants have grown an inch and leaves are looking perky and happy. The temperature and humidity is also optimal.

Now the problem is that I am going away for 4 days and don't trust my roomate to touch them. They are going to need watering the day I leave so hopefully they don't dry out too much by the time I get back. I will update agin when I am back.

Thanks again for great advice!
 
SIBANNAC27 just ph ur water and you'll be fine.. dont go mikeys ways trust me you'll just have problems down the road.. no matter what way you choose to go i hope it turns out well for you.. good luck..
 
If you take time to learn the botney and chemist side to your plant you will have less problems down the road and alot easier time doing things because you know how things work in the soil and in the plant itself. Remember anyone can go a plant and only a few can grow a garden!!
 
i kind of skimmed the posts, and didnt see anyone suggest what i think it might be, so here is my 2 cents.

looks to me like a classic over watering OR, root bound.

you say you havent over watered, however, you may be, without realizing it.

how do you judge when you have to water?

you should be able to lift the pot, and have it feel almost "feather lite" you want that soil to dry out almost to the point of have 0 moisture in it. for example, if you had a soil moisture meter that does 1-10, you want 2, or 3 at the highest.

next.. when you water, do you flush? you shouldnt water a plant with nutes twice in a row, you should feed... then straight water next time (and have a good amount of run off) then feed the next time, and repeat.

the reasoning behind this, is to flush any salts off the roots, and so nutes the plant isnt using, dont keep building up in the soil.

the reason i think it may be over watering or root bound is:

when over watered, roots drown, and when roots drown, there isnt enough healthy ones to uptake the nutes, causing defiecencies, and slow growth, and eventually death.

same goes for root bound.. kinda. .. if it cant send more roots in search of water.. the plant halts, and droops... it does this becasue it cant sustain growing.


hope this helps a little, and may give some insight.


now, kushman, said not to follow what mikey said... i dissagree, i would add some ph buffers to the soil, BUT, i would also PH the water as you add it. that way, you are adding the proper ph range, but, as your plant eats, ph rises, and with the buffers, they will fight back and keep it down, so it remains in the right range while it waits for its next watering.


my 2 cents, take em or leave em.
 
It's a lemon haze and that's how they look in week 12 when it's ready to be cut and you flushed for 2 weeks then let the soil dry all the way to droop the plant you should try that to it aids it in the drying process by at least 2 day
 

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