please help a first time grower

im on week one of my first grow i went for the nft system but found out once i bought it that it didnt fit in my cubbord so there is mistake one. i started my seeds off in jiffy pellets and once they came through i gave them some light im useing a 500 watt sodium light with reflector so any because i cant use my nft system at this time i opted for the natural way in soil so i went out and bought some mirical grow soil and transfered my seedlings into 5 4 inch pots sadley after two days 3 of them just fell over and died so im left with 2 very strong plants which i have named karma and lucy seems as tho they are femanised seeds i started with. but on day 5 the two leaves on the top of each plant the ones that have all the nutreant in have gone a bit yellow on the edges why is this i dont want to kill these two as well ive looked in the growers bible but cant find the souce of the problem. also the leaves on one are reaching right up why is this there up so high it looks like there going to close up in to a cacoon. if any one can help me i would be so greatfull many thanks

also the light is about 5 inches from the plants is that too close for the as i am running a 500w sodium bulb. i'll try and upload some pics but i only have a camera phone

[attachment=o95245]

[attachment=o95246]

[attachment=o95247]

[attachment=o95248]

these are the pics so far as promised can any one help and let me know where im going wrong thanks

i do have all the kit but due to my girlfriend kicking me out ive had to go home to my mothers so ive just set up the light and placed them under but the soil keeps drying out so quick so i bought a spray bottle and i just spray the top of the soil when it dries out and i water them once a week properly with my stock soloution it says to put 5ml to every litre but because there very young i put 5ml to 2 litres of water is this the right thing to do??????? many thanks

If that is an hps bulb then I think it is too close to your kids. I started my new babies with the light several feet away (I use a 1kw) starting at about 4 feet and bringing it down a foot every 4-5 days. I don't know about your watering technique--whether the top of the soil is drying out due to the light and underneath it is wet or dried out altogether. Don't let the soil where the roots are get dry or it will kill off your roots. As for nutrients, I generally go with 1/3 strenth at first and go up but that is for hydro. I'm useless when it comes to soil.

PS If that light is shining on those plants after you have sprayed them (especially at a few inches away) you will cook your plants.

i have been reading other peoples threads and it seems that i shouldnt be giving them nutrients yet so how do i go about flushing them i dont want to kill them any help is very greatfull

thank u weed hound. ive been looking at other peoples pics and does my plant look the right size for its age im so confused

A good sign of overfert (usually) is very dark green, almost blue-black colored foliage (sp?) which is (one of many)mistake I made on my first grow. The darker green they got the cooler I thought they looked so I kept adding stuff......sigh. Live and learn....... I know some of the folks here know a lot more about growing in soil than I do and they should be able to give you excellent advice. Sometimes it takes a day or two for them to catch up with all the posts we do but they are there......

here is the pic of karma with her leafs right up can any one please tell me is she all right many thanks[attachment=o95263]

[attachment=o95264]

cheers weedhound. so do you think i should flush the nutes out and just give them water?

That little munchkin really is pointing up!! I'm sorry but I really don't know how to flush soil but I'm sure you can find the info from these threads--I would imagine simply use ph correct water water heavily until the water draining through the bottom runs clear. After that tho, I draw a blank.....
(Truthfully for that question I would find someone else's opinion better than mine) but I would not add any nutrients to your water for now for sure. Also make sure your ph is ok (about 7 for soil) Ususally good potting soil is already ph correct but never hurts to check....

be best just t give water while they r so young. Also the soil will have nuits in it as well so they wont any thing else for a while.

thanks weedhound and psycho its good to have other growers to help you out especially when your a virgin grower like my self nuff respect to you all

Y learn loads on here. I only started my first grow this year n so far Ive harvested em, revegged (they are now back t about 3 feet tall) and got 3 clones which seem like they are doing ok. I found most of the info to do all this on this site.

i got put on to this site through a friend and i tell you this i will be useing this insted of that 22 pound growers bible i bought lol any way i have moved my light up now coz the tip of karma's leafe was scortched is this the correct hight [attachment=o95273] many thanks to all that help me out

Wow, hang on hang on.

You need a HPS. IF that is a HPS why is the light white? The spectrum of a HPS is orange/red. That isnt.

Also, if that was a HPS it would have burned your plants like a blow torch by now.

From those pics i can quite safly say that isnt a soduim bulb, and i can also safely say that its not the right spectrum either, or lumen output.

Your seedling shouldnt be stretching.

Get some CFL's and read for gods sake, you NEED to read.

Never use ferts untill at least 3 weeks in, and expect the first 2-3 weeks to be slow, as the roots are establishling themselves/

I got an envirolight from Alibongo.co.uk ( or y can go t greenshorticulture.co.uk) Blue spectrum for vegging n red for flowering mine love em. I was just using cheap lighting before then n as soon as I put em under the blue they started doing really well. Going t have t get a red one cos they r ready for flowering.

i got it wrong about the light its a 500w 235v.e40 radium light is that any good. the bloke at esoteric hydroponics said its the right one im like the blind leading the blind at the moment i have not got a clue

i bought the indoor growers book and ive read up on the first stages but because ive gone to soil im totally confused as it only deals in hydro's and does not touch on soil growing i have an nft system and a bubbler system but non of them will fit in my cubbord so i had to go to soil and now i am totally stuck ive lost 3 plants all ready i dont really want to lose these 2 as well. and if you look at the first pic can any one tell me why one of my plants have a yellow leaf.

Probably because you've been feeding them and they're burned. They don't need it yet.

You flush the plant by watering twice/three time the volume of the pot with ph balanced water.

Like LIP said and I told you in the other post, this is basic, basic stuff and is readily available. Read my entire grow log so far, I'm a month ahead of you and I'm going ok so far. You can see what I've been doing, a lot of the basic topics are covered in that thread too. Good luck.

Lip I was wondering how he got away with keeping those plants so close to
HPS. Just figured I was a peanut head.....

dear virgin,

i've got some time, so i'm going to give you some setup advice that will get you through to the flowering stage.

vegging plants like a spectrum of 6500kelvin. go to lowes, purchase a florecent fixture, (48" are perfect if you have room) and get GE daylight bulbs. these are a t12, 40w, 3050 lum ea. bulb and at 6500k.

these bulbs veg plants like i have never seen. plus they put off NO HEAT WHATSOEVER!!! this means you can let the plants touch the bulb, allowing more light absorption. use these lights, or daylight (make sure it says daylight) cfl's.

when going to flower, use kitchen and bath bulbs, right spec, and lots of light out put. just keep in mind, flo's aren't as powerful as hid's so you'll need to do the lumen math. you want at least 12000 lums per sq ft. or 2 48" fixtures.

as for your sick little babies, mg soil has time released ferts in it. use nothing but water for at least 30 days or you WILL HURT YOUR PLANTS. mg soil is cool, but you should never start seeds in it, as it is pretty potent for pot. however, if they make it, they will grow like weeds! i had lots of luck seed starting in bacto, and then transplanted the whole bacto pot in mg garden soil. wow.

but as i said, it's potent stuff. try watering each pot with at least a half gallon of pure water each time you water for the next four or five waterings.

they should come around.

good luck, hope this helps!

love brooke

also check out my thread "rootone"

love, brooke

thanks brooke you have been a really big help so has every ones else i just hope i can make it through this grow im going bk to my local hydro shop 2moro and get every thing i need as money is'nt an object on my first grow hopefully i can get bk on track. i will keep you all posted on how its all going but in the mean time if any one else has advise feel free to add especially on my sick baby many thanks to all

just to let you know i have just watered karma and she looks better all ready thank you all. as for lucy i still dont know she has not grown in the last two days but ive decided im not going to give up on them. but as a precaution i have 5 seeds in jiffy pellets in my propagator now so hopefully i'll have 7 in all now. but its a first grow so its all learning thank you all and ill keep every one updated on whats going on

respect to every one

can i just ask roughly how lond does it take from seed to harvest i no u cant rush these things im just wondering thats all.

its a 500w mercury vapour light
the description in the book says (phosphorous coated to promote blue and red spectrum so you can veg and bloom, more blue light than red)

is this the right light to use as some one said earlier that i need blue and red light's. i could really do with the help so i know what light to get if this is the wrong one. but if it is how low to my plants should it be

thank you for any help in advance

glad to hear it vg, i'll be keeping tabs on your grow, (i'm going low budget now rrrrrr!) and would like to see what ya get and your results. good luck, and keep posting!

love, brooke

brooke if that is you in that pic u have got to be the sexiest ganja grower ever thank you for all your help so far and i'll keep you updated, once this grow is over and out the way i'll try my nft system i either have to build a grow room or buy a grow tent not sure which one yet.i need the experiance first b4 i go mad on a big project lol speak soon all

just noticed that my response was out of place.

let me try again...

as far as time from seed, your plants will have to reach sexual maturity before you can flower them (you CAN flower earlier, but you'd still have to wait for them to mature, which would take longer because of less light hours.)

the veg time from seed to maturity is generally 4 to 8 weeks, averaging 6. if you grow uder 24/7 of light, chances are they will reach maturity sooner.

to tell if your plant is mature, look for alternating nodes. see how your plants' nodes have two leave per node? at maturity, there will be one leaf per node, and the branch will take on a zigzag shape.

i throw my plants into flower at 4 weeks because of the extremely rapid growth rate of my plants. they look equal to or bigger/better than most twice their age (i'm a good mom) remember; your plants will double, if not tripple their size in the flower stage, so if you have little room, use lst techniques, or flower early.

now, for the merc vapour lights; get rid of them. i know they say they work good, but i had three that were nothing but a pain (heat probs, distance, and the fact that the ones under flo's were growing at twice the rate) so i lost the mv's and got more flo's. remember the kind i told you about? i'm telling you, those are the best for veg (my opinion only, not based on fact. don't want any bad feed back please).

if you are going to use hid's and can afford it, get a metal halide for veg and hps for flower. i think they even make a conversion bulb for one or the other, but i'm not sure which.

as for distance, if you use flourecents, cool ones, you can put the light right on top of them. and i do mean right on top of them. because of the fact that the light puts out virtually no heat, the plants can touch the light without being burned.

for metal halide, if you use a cool tube, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet away, if not, 3 to 4 feet
same for hps.

whew, now i gotta go smoke a bowl.

love, brooke

thank you brooke your a diamond im off shopping today or 2moro so i'll have lots of new goddies to sort out. also on a good note me and the mrs have sorted things out so im moving bk in so i get my cobord back so every thing is on the up.

Your using a MV?

MV lights arnt really very good for growing.

Tbh, i'd get rid of it because it seems to be doing more bad than good.

My advice would be to get some [CFL] compact fluo lights, curly ones. Get the highest wattage you can. That'll sort you out for the vegative stage of growth.

You may want to look in HPS [High Pressure Sodium] for flowering, as this is the right spectrum, and with HPS you can get very good yeilds.

hi lip where would i get these curly flows from. im having to keep running the mv lights for anouther day but when i get my flows can i just switch the light sorce or is there a way i have to do it. also i have 2 fans running now as the heat is just too much. i ve got my soil temp down to 36 degrees does that sound about right to you guys? i also gave them there weekly water last night but the top of the soil keeps going dry so i have been spritzing the top with water the i ph downed to 5.6 am i doing the right thing any input is very greatfull. all the best to you all and your grows

you can get them almost anywhere, and they fit into a normal light fixture.

Try screwfix direct, asda, tbh, any electrical shop will definatly ahve them.

any hardware store will carry compact flourecents, however, bar flo's work better for veg. cfl's kick ass for flower.

love, brooke

ps, also grocery stores, walmart, etc.

Actually the tubes arnt as good as they waste so much light. you'd be paying for light that your plants arnt reciving. It's better to use cool CFL's for veg and warm ones for flower, but i'd really look into a HPS which will give you a great yeild and look into cool white CFLs for veg.

I mean tube light do the job fine, but its just the thing of loosing so much light.

Although tube light can provide excellent side lighting for tall plants.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LIP

Actually the tubes arnt as good as they waste so much light. you'd be paying for light that your plants arnt reciving. It's better to use cool CFL's for veg and warm ones for flower, but i'd really look into a HPS which will give you a great yeild and look into cool white CFLs for veg.

I mean tube light do the job fine, but its just the thing of loosing so much light.

Although tube light can provide excellent side lighting for tall plants.

---

very true lip, i use 2 double lamp 48" fixture's with 4 daylight bulbs for veg, but i veg 8 at a time, so i use every single bit of light emmitted.

all according to your grow, and space.

love, brooke

^^ Very true. Use the lights that suit your grow.

For the most part i've been growing with MH and HPS all my growing career, but recently decided to give CFL's a go. Decided that while they work, they wernt giving me what i wanted so now im using them as side light, but im going to get some bar's too because its easier than having lots of smaller lights.

those are my sentiments as well. i like the tubes bc they're easier to mount and won't burn the plants, plus, not as many fixtures, wires, etc. don't get me wrong, i have 16 cfl's in the flowerbox. and 6 more on an outdoor plant turned indoor (due to freezes, and the fact that she is too big to move).

so where are you vg? is this mine and lip's thread now?
just joking

love, brooke

Hey Brook and others, so far the advice seems right on. One thing though, I have thrown plants into flower that have grown 21 days from the day they poped their heads out of soil and got over an OZ eazaly. 2 weeks veg under 6 23w CFL's 1 week under a 1K MH and the rest of the grow under the 1K HPS. I had a fairly good strain, but this is just for your info.
Hope you got rid of the MV, and in soil you can probably water with a PH of 6.2 to 6.8, this is a general guide line for soil that I feel is optomal.
Well adieu