Too much sun

[Monty Floyd]

This is my second attempt to "grow my own". The first time, last Sept., I got the seeds to germinate but no sprouts after planting, just mold on top of soil and dead tap roots.
Round two, got seeds to germinate again, planted in different potting soil (I don't much care for Scott's) and got 2 to break the surface of the soil. I put them outside to get some sun but after about 5 hours, they looked like they were wilting. I brought them inside and gave them some water, the humidity here is between 40 and 50%. They're inside now, out of the sun and heat but still low humidity under a comp flourescent light.
I'd like to grow them in pots and get them outside as much as possible but maybe it's just too much for those young seedlings to handle. I assumed since it is a weed that it would be a lot easier than it has been.

 

[SteveHman]

Re: Too much sun?

Too much sun is like too much sex. I don't believe there is such a thing.

If you have pics of your plants I am sure someone will be able to give you a better idea of the problem. Did you have them under a dome outside or uncovered? What is the outside temp.

If you are getting mold on top of your soil it is probably too wet, and the dead tap root was most likely drowned. You may be over watering which can make them droop as well.

Really need more information and some pics would go a long way. I'm by no means an expert, just an advance-intermediate-novice-newbie

 

[HempRocket]

Re: Too much sun?

Too much sun is like too much sex. I don't believe there is such a thing.

I would have to disagree. If they were to break ground outside, they would have been OK with the sun. However, if you start your girls inside, you have to acclimate them to the sun because the sun is just that much stronger than your CFL's or HPS or any other light that is used for growin. If you want to take them outside, keep them in the shade for the first couple days and only take them out for a few hours at a time. As they get bigger, you will be able to put them right into the full sun and they will be OK. Hope this helps.

 

[Monty Floyd]

Re: Too much sun?

I don't know what happened, I replied to this thread but it's not here, anyway... those two didn't make it, the leaves were gone, the stems remained for a week before I threw them out.
Got 5 more going at different stages (seeds wouldn't germinate at the same time). I take them outside first thing in the morning for about 4 hours then put them in the shade for about another 6 hrs then bring them inside and put them under a 55w cfl, 6500K, for the rest of the night.

 

[xbox4him]

what i suggest to do is to grow them till their at least 10 inches, then their safe to survive in the sun (as long as it isnt hotter than 80 degrees max). Just make sure to water more often when their in direct sunlight. i threw my mother in the sun and when i came back she was droopy. watered her + 30 min and she bounced back.

 

[Monty Floyd]

what i suggest to do is to grow them till their at least 10 inches, then their safe to survive in the sun (as long as it isnt hotter than 80 degrees max). Just make sure to water more often when their in direct sunlight. i threw my mother in the sun and when i came back she was droopy. watered her + 30 min and she bounced back.

do you mean grow them inside untill they're 10"?
the biggest one is about 2". I put them outside in direct sunlight in the morning when it's not so hot, around 11 AM when it's getting up in the mid 80's, I put them in the shade and around 6PM when the light is diminishing, I bring them inside under a 55W cfl for the night... I water them every morning and sometimes a little during the day, especially if it's windy

 

[HempRocket]

If they are doing OK and seem to like it, don't change anything, just keep doing what you're doing.

 

[xbox4him]

do you mean grow them inside untill they're 10"?
the biggest one is about 2". I put them outside in direct sunlight in the morning when it's not so hot, around 11 AM when it's getting up in the mid 80's, I put them in the shade and around 6PM when the light is diminishing, I bring them inside under a 55W cfl for the night... I water them every morning and sometimes a little during the day, especially if it's windy

yes, as HempRocket stated, if their doing fine, then continue doing that. My first grow i did that exact thing, except it was over summer and temps hit around 95+ every day, but still, its a good plan. Make use of the sun man!!

 

[Monty Floyd]

yes, as HempRocket stated, if their doing fine, then continue doing that. My first grow i did that exact thing, except it was over summer and temps hit around 95+ every day, but still, its a good plan. Make use of the sun man!!

last week temps were in mid 90's, this week, high 80's, next week who knows, but gets down in the low 50's at night... also, the humidity is around 40%

I'm going to make the journey to the "city" next week to stock up on supplies, i.e. something to transplant them into (I'm thinking 5gal buckets?), potting soil, hopefully I can find someplace where I can get litmus paper and I need some ideas on what to get if I can't find pearlite (choices are extremely poor)

 

[HempRocket]

-if you can't find perlite, use CLEAN sand.
-5 Gal buckets would be perfect.
-don't worry they should be able to handle the temps as long as it doesn't get hotter than 95 or so. RH is good although for veg, higher would be better but it's OK
-get good potting soil. FFOF or sunshine mix #4 or something similar. Don't cheap out on the soil
-litmus paper? what's that for? You should get yourself one of those pen-type pH testers. It's going to be one of those tools you will use ALL the time.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anomoly23]

This is a reply to the original post. I think you may have just overreacted to the drooping. Again you have to remember it is a weed and is very resilient. Plants will sometimes droop and visually may look like there is something wrong but in many cases its not something you need to change but wait out.Plants get stressed, shocked, etc but does not necessarily mean the grower has to do anything but be patient and watch the symptoms. Of coarse if you have an extended period of drooping and non growth it may be an issue. For example I once received some clones that were on a 24 hour light cycle. I took them home and immediately with no training or weening put them onto 18/6 light cycle. The plants did not grow for a few days and drooped a bit but eventually the shock wore off and they begun to grow. Well Directly after that I decided that I needed to move a few plants to my outdoor garden. Again with no weening I simply threw them outside and waited for nature to take course. Within a few days and a little droopy phase the plants were adjusted and growing upwards and are now on their way to being beautiful out door. I do Live In california and it makes that transition easier because of the whether but that should be a testament to the abuse a weed plant can take, it is a weed. To grow quality meds that meet your personal preferences and needs it is much harder but in essence growing this stuff is very easy and most of the time it is people over-thinking, overreacting, or over loving their plants which cause their crops to fail.

 

[Monty Floyd]

-if you can't find perlite, use CLEAN sand.
-5 Gal buckets would be perfect.
-don't worry they should be able to handle the temps as long as it doesn't get hotter than 95 or so. RH is good although for veg, higher would be better but it's OK
-get good potting soil. FFOF or sunshine mix #4 or something similar. Don't cheap out on the soil
-litmus paper? what's that for? You should get yourself one of those pen-type pH testers. It's going to be one of those tools you will use ALL the time.

Hope this helps.

Wed's forecast is 98 F

What is RH?

FFOF, sunshine mix#4, there's nothing like that around here... I bought a bag of Scott's potting soil and through it out when I found a cigarette butt in it, the soil I'm using now is "Humus de Lombriz" from Rancho Los Molinos, it seems to be pretty good but it is compacting and heavy, I want to break it up with something like pearlite but not sure if it's available here, which is why I asked for alternatives (hopeful for generic recommendations rather than brand name)
I am using Miracle Grow (at a reduced mixture) as that is the only plant food I can find that lists it's ingredients and N,P,K percentages. There are other ferts and nutes for sale but nobody can tell me what's in them.

litmus paper is for testing pH and it is not available where I live, hopefully I can find it when I go to the city shopping but I doubt the type of tester you are talking about can be found

you gotta understand I'm living in a 3rd world country here, I cannot get most of what is recommended on this forum, brand name potting soils and nutes, pen-type pH testers, special lights... probably in Mexico City but not around here

 

[Monty Floyd]

This is a reply to the original post. I think you may have just overreacted to the drooping. Again you have to remember it is a weed and is very resilient. Plants will sometimes droop and visually may look like there is something wrong but in many cases its not something you need to change but wait out.Plants get stressed, shocked, etc but does not necessarily mean the grower has to do anything but be patient and watch the symptoms. Of coarse if you have an extended period of drooping and non growth it may be an issue. For example I once received some clones that were on a 24 hour light cycle. I took them home and immediately with no training or weening put them onto 18/6 light cycle. The plants did not grow for a few days and drooped a bit but eventually the shock wore off and they begun to grow. Well Directly after that I decided that I needed to move a few plants to my outdoor garden. Again with no weening I simply threw them outside and waited for nature to take course. Within a few days and a little droopy phase the plants were adjusted and growing upwards and are now on their way to being beautiful out door. I do Live In california and it makes that transition easier because of the whether but that should be a testament to the abuse a weed plant can take, it is a weed. To grow quality meds that meet your personal preferences and needs it is much harder but in essence growing this stuff is very easy and most of the time it is people over-thinking, overreacting, or over loving their plants which cause their crops to fail.

thanks but they didn't survive

 

[HempRocket]

Wed's forecast is 98 F

What is RH?

FFOF, sunshine mix#4, there's nothing like that around here... I bought a bag of Scott's potting soil and through it out when I found a cigarette butt in it, the soil I'm using now is "Humus de Lombriz" from Rancho Los Molinos, it seems to be pretty good but it is compacting and heavy, I want to break it up with something like pearlite but not sure if it's available here, which is why I asked for alternatives (hopeful for generic recommendations rather than brand name)
I am using Miracle Grow (at a reduced mixture) as that is the only plant food I can find that lists it's ingredients and N,P,K percentages. There are other ferts and nutes for sale but nobody can tell me what's in them.

litmus paper is for testing pH and it is not available where I live, hopefully I can find it when I go to the city shopping but I doubt the type of tester you are talking about can be found

you gotta understand I'm living in a 3rd world country here, I cannot get most of what is recommended on this forum, brand name potting soils and nutes, pen-type pH testers, special lights... probably in Mexico City but not around here

Do you have access to sand? Wash the sand thoroughly and add 3/4 soil to 1/4 sand. that should take care of the drainage. As to the the pH...you can find a pH pen testers on Ebay. That's where I picked mine up. They are pretty inexpensive and some come with calibration solutions. You don't need special lights. I WISH I could grow my girls in sunlight my friend!

 

[HempRocket]

I was also going to say that if it's going to be really hot, just make sure you give them lots of water in the morning and move them into the shade and they will be happy.
As for nutes, what do the farmers there use? I'm sure you have access to some sort of compost or something. It will serve you better than MG.