Neophyte mistakes - Please help!

[Nihilezah]

Hi people!

I'm a neophyte grower, and i really need help i believe... please! I have been reading allot but i cant figure whats wrong.

I recently moved at the lands end in a little country and cant get weed as i used to in the city. So i tough i could grow some myself! Well thats not as easy as it looks like! Long story short, I had those seeds from an unknown strain that I found in my weed bag a year ago, I was pretty mad back then cause seeds taste real bad... but i kept a dozen, you know, in case.

2 months ago, i planted those seeds in jiffy pellet out of witch around 8 growned. But im really bad with plants and only 3 survived... when they were about 3 inch tall, i transplanted in a mix of about 70% standard gardening soil and 30% vermiculite to witch i added a bit of transplanting stuff and bone meals (i heard bone meal was magic for root system)

This is where is lost most of my little green babies (the smallest one had a really bad time, but it managed to survive and is now the healthy one, ironically)

So they were laying on the side of the window for all this time, getting slowly bigger but always looked fine (just a little too tall and not large enough but eh!). But i couldn't grow them there for ever, so i build a grow cabinet, this is where things went really bad!

I had put 4x 40w CFL 4100k 2650 lumen each (600w worth of light) and 2 T8 tubes 17w 6500k 1275 lumens each. Distance about 3 inches from leafs.

I was, at first, really proud of my cabinet, looked really good. But 2 hours only after i put my seedlings in there, the medium one was almost dead with all curly leafs drooping witch are now dried -see pictures (its the one that really look bad)- the temperature in the closet back then was awful about 40c (100f) So i went and bought a bathroom fan 50 cfm to evacuate heating, i did a second opening in the bottom and added a fan outside to get fresh air.

Then i had humidity problem, dropped down to 20%... so i went and bought an humidifier, but it is not raising humidity much and it is inconstant, it keeps moving from 30% to max 55% , plus it does allot of heating and takes much space.

So now ive tried moving stuff around, I removed the 40w CFL since they seemed to be the source of heat and switched to 4x 23w CFL 6500k 1650 lumen plus the same 2x t8 tubes but moved everything farther, around 8 to 10 inches from leafs.

During cold days like today, temperature plays between 20c and 25c in the cabinet, during hot sunny days, from 26c to 30c.

Questions are-:
- Is my soil okay?
- will my plants survive the stress they had?
- Is it enough light? (and close enough)
- My biggest plant seems to have over watering symptoms, do you believe that heating or water is the mistake?

How can i raise lighting and humidity without increasing heating? (and stabilize heat/humid)
- what the f* is the problem with my setup!?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long text (plus, note that english is not my mother thongue so sorry for broken english)

 

[Methods]

How often are you watering?

 

[Nihilezah]

Once or twice a week, when top of soil looks dry.

 

[Loony]

I am sorry to say, that there are no clear answers to your issues. I say issues, as these are the opportunities we face to learn what we can in the pursuit to better plants.

In my humble opinion, I would say that your girls suffered heat stress from being moved from direct sunlight, to an enclosed space, which was a lot hotter than the window sill. When ever moving plants, it is a good idea to take about a week to allow them time to adjust to the new surroundings. It's more than likely that the plants will recover from the move.

Some simple questions that will teach you a lot about your weed.

What ph is your water at? Do you balance the water before or after you add the nuits?
Is it an original strain or a mixed strain. (A lot of the new varieties do not like strong nuits).
What temp is your water at when administered to your plants?

As you can see, no easy answers. Yet there is the opportunity to hit the 420 forums, and discover there is a lot bigger world than just throwing a few seeds in soil, and hoping that as it's "just weed", that it will grow like crazy. In a perfect world it would, but alas it's not a perfect world.

I wish you all the best in your pursuit of wisdom, grasshopper!

 

[Nihilezah]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer, i care a lot about this project and i put efforts in it

The PH of the soil is stable around 6.8 to 7.1
I didn't had nutriments yet beside the bone meal and transplanting stuff when i planted the jiffys pellet into the soil mix. I was fearing nutriment burn (thats what i read on the web) But now I wonder if its not lacking nitrogen witch would explain the dieing leafs in the bottom.
For the strain, i really don't know since they are random seeds i got from a weed bag i bought a year ago. But from the leafs shape, i believe it is indica (but i am so unsure!) But in distress, i just have ordered sativa seeds couple hours ago from the web (super silver haze) if you have any advice about this strain id be grateful!
About the water temps, you know what, i never tough about it, i was simply taking water from the sink, maybe it is too cold?

And what do you mean by "it is a good idea to take about a week to allow them time to adjust to the new surroundings", It toasted in less than 2 hours lol, the weird thing is that the small one is still doing fine.

Thank you again!

 

[redmud]

You seem to be going in the right direction as mentioned by Loony always ph your water let the soil dry out a bit more I like to let the bottom fan leaves droop before I water again at first just to be sure the roots fill the pot searching for water, more roots equals bigger plants which equals more bud.

The Bone meal can change the ph of your soil so a slurry test might be in order
Good luck

 

[Nihilezah]

Thanks again!

Ph meter is always turned on in the pot so i can keep track

"let the soil dry out a bit more I like to let the bottom fan leaves droop before I water again at first just to be sure the roots fill the pot searching for water" great advice!! I really appreciate!

 

[redmud]

The soil probe type are ok for ball park ph readings but for accuracy you need either litmus strips or a digital ph meter a lot of times when you get yellowing right after a watering it's from ph fluctuations usually at the first feed is when it shows itself the most

 

[Loony]

In life, we either learn from our mistakes, or we can learn from the mistakes and misfortunes of others. Either way wisdom is gained and time is saved. Here is a 420 Forum post that will save you a lot of time.

Plant Abuse Chart

also you will find this helpful.

How to Grow Marijuana - Everything You Need to Know