Hi, nice to meet you all; need help on first cabinet grow

[Wheezey]

Hi All,
I have been reading your posts for a while and you seem like a really great bunch of folks. I just started my first cabinet grow two weeks ago (including seed germination time). I have a 20 inch tall PC Case growing box with a 50w HPS growlight and a two plant DWC hydro setup. The seeds (Nothern Lights Special from KC Brains) germinated and sprouted in five days and then I increased the PPM (General Hydroponics Growth) to 250 and kept the light on for 24 hours a day for ten days. I then noticed the cotyledon (? spelling - nonserrated) leaves were wilting down a tiny bit, so I increased the PPM to 500 and for the last two nights I have gone to 18/6 on the light. One seedling was growing about twice as fast and the stem was starting to grow to over two inches tall while the root was already touching the bottom of the reservoir and at least that long. Tonight, that stem is close to three inches tall with still only the two cotlyedon leaves and two serrated leaves at the same place on the stem with no other leaves. It seems to be stretched out and now can't support its own leaves' weight as well and is bending to the side (way too much I think). What I am doing wrong?

I put an unknown seed in a small cup of soil (germinated in a Jiffy peat starter) and put that in there too and it seems to be growing much better with a second set of leaves and it's closer to the light because it is sitting on top of the reservoir, but I still suspicioned that the two hydro seedlings had gotten too much lighting because they were run 24 hours of light for a week and the soil seedling had had a start in a coffee can for a week with just outdoor lighting and full nights of inside the house darkness before I put it in the PC box. Please help with some advice; I hate to see my babies not doing well. Thanks in advance. The two hydros are now about 7 inches from the light and soil one about four.

P.S. I just went and looked the hydro seedling with the long root has now fallen down 8(

[MadSativa]

well when you flower you are gonna have problems with space the plant doubles in size when they bud. You can bend the crap out of the plant if you do it gradualy so I would start thinking about that before sticking more plants in there. The 24hr veg. is ususly fine, it also sounds like you need more air flow in the chamber to help with getting the stemms thicker and the thin growth sperts down. let me know how much you yeild per plant. Im thinking since there gonna be so small it will be like 1/8 per plant, but since there already so big mabey more. You will be fighting the heat from burnning your buds so start the bending now.:pimp: :joint1:

[Earthy Dank]

It sounds like the plants are stretching from no enough light... I'm not sure what that other guy is talking about but if the seedling has a 3 inch stem and is just starting to make its true leaves then you need more light. How far is the light source from the plant? How hot does it get? Also I would keep the PPM low until the plants either start Turning yellow or they are about 6 inches tall.

[Wheezey]

Will write a quick note when I get the chance. The soil grown seedling is still going strong, but it is about 1/3 the size of the two hydros you see here. Will send a picture of it too once I get reality off my back. Huh, huh, puff, puff, wheeze, wheeze, hack, hack - Wheezey

[Wheezey]

Hi All,
Please look at my babies and tell me what you think.

By the way, this is my first serious grow and I really don't know that much.

Three days ago, I checked the roots of my two hydros and noticed there was root rot (a few dark and light brown roots, roots clumping together, slight odor). I had had a PPM of 1100 and had mixed Floralicous grow, Flora Nova Bloom, and Earth Nectar/Earth Ambrosia. I kept the pH around 6 and checked the pH and PPM twice a day.

The plants were originally in the computer grow box about 4 inches from a 50 watt HPS lamp. The one plant that is not in the reservoir has always been in soil. They are all about a month old.

Two days ago, I flushed the reservoir and replaced it with distilled water and about 5 mL of H202, a very small amount. I tried to manually pull the roots apart gently and removed as much visible rot as I could. I trimmed a couple of the really long roots and cut out a few of the rotted roots. They actually weren't all that rotted, just brownish and sticky.

For about the last two weeks, the plants have been drooping down quite a bit. When the plants were in the PC, the 3 inch net baskets were always about 1/2 an inch submerged.

Yesterday, I put the plants in a much bigger growing area with a 400 watt HPS lamp. Also, for the last few days, I have been supplementing both the 50 and 400 HPS lamps with a 55 watt 5000K CFL lamp from the side. Temperatures are staying around 72-25 in the growing area. The growing area has always had at least two fans. In the new growing area, there are three fans and the one bringing in new air is really powerful.

Three days ago, I had changed from 18/6 to 12/12 to start the flowering process since the plants didn't have much room in the PC. I sprayed them twice with Bushmaster. About every other day, I have been spraying the hydro plants with Spray N Grow. Over the last three days, I have gone back to 18/6 to see if I can heal them with light.

Here are pictures. The first are the last pictures from the PC. As you can see the plants don't look good at all. The tips are yellow and the leaves drooping. I had kept the plants in the peroxide solution for one full day. This morning, I changed the water and added Flora Nova Bloom to the reservoir, but only about 100 PPM.

I think I had nutrient burn right before I noticed the root rot since the tips of the leaves were yellow and the younger leaves looked too deep green. Since this is my first grow, I am not really sure of anything though and need your help.

Too much/little nutrients? Too much/little light? Overwatered? Thanks a lot for your help. Wheezey