First Indoor Grow - Flash Cobra and Short Stuff #1

Thanks cturner... I appreciate any help I can get. :)

The plants that have yellowed look otherwise healthy... no droop, curl, etc. I added a very, very small amount of coffee grinds to the yellowed plants just to give a very small dose of nitrogen. I know this will drop my ph slightly but I have a little wiggle room there to stay within the acceptable range.

So far as going to 18/6, the lowest amount of "daytime" lighting I've seen recommended by the seed vendors is 20/4 for these 60 day autos. I am at 24/0 now so dropping to 20/4 is something I probably should, and will, do.

The lights (400w HPS) are about 4' from the plants. I plan to move them closer when the plants start to show sex (about 2wks from now) or earlier if they look like they can handle it.

BTW, I re-calibrated my hygrometer and the humidity is stable at 50% temp 80%.

Thanks for dropping by and offering assistance. I appreciate it. Have a great day!

P.S. I should mention, The plants have not progressed to the point of the first pot change. So, the medium they are in now has no nutes... just peat, vermiculite, and pearlite.

Well, I just learned that ph "down" is not the same thing as the ph "decrease" I bought at the pet store when I bought my ph tester. Evidently, it is not good for plants. I've only corrected the ph with this for 2 waterings... maybe it won't kill anything. :mad: So, I guess I'll be using cider vinegar.

I have no idea how much to add, so I'll have to experiment. My tap water is in the high 7's or low 8's. My tester only goes to 7.6 and it is pegging that out. I'll post results.

Another thing I found out early on is that PH down/up for aquariums is also not the best thing to use. I switched to Canna PH down which is designed for plants. My very first, and very nearly deadly, mistake was to also assume that once I'd PH adjusted my water that it would stay adjusted from that point on. It doesn't, it de-acidfies when exposed to the air and the PH goes back up. You may already know that but I thought I'd just mention it in case as I came close to killing mine as quick as anything. Once your able to sort your PH out I think you'll find your little ones will pick up.

Welcome rattlingdags! :)

When I looked at the chemical make-up of the aquarium stuff, I realized it was a salt. So, over time at least, my plants would have been very depressed. :(

Today was a definite learning experience. First, I tried to use organic apple cider vinegar... a table spoon to a gallon. Waaaaayy too much! Then I decided to try some non-organic apple cider vinegar that was diluted to a standard of 5%. This time I tried 1 tea spoon to a gallon. Again, way too much. So, I went to white vinegar, standardized to 5%. This time I mixed 1/4 tea spoon to a gallon. Still, too much.

Though I needed a solution today, I decided to go ahead and order some agricultural phdown online. I went to the GH site to order but I saw a link that said: "where to buy" (or something similar to that). I turns out there is a hydro shop about an hour from here, so I checked it out. Woohoo!! Goodby MG, hello FFOF! And, I was able to get the GH phdown. It's a great little shop, they speak our language, and well stocked with all our favorite gardening supplies.

Back to the ph... I mixed 1ml of phdown to a gallon, you guessed it, still too much. As I write this, I have a gallon of water sitting with one drop of phdown to a gallon. I'll let you know when, and if, I get it in the proper range.

Thanks for the tip about the ph instabibity. I will check it each time before I water.

At this point, the seedlings are the same. No better or worse. Not worried...happy. :thumbsup:

It early in the am. Yesterday was a busy but good day. I just got the ph balanced a few minutes ago.

Update on the phdown situation... This may actually help someone someday. :thumbsup:

My water ph started at 7.6+. My test will only go that high. My goal was to get within the 6.3-6.8 range. Since I didn't have a local vendor that carries agricultural phdown, I initially tried vinegar. After testing at least four different dilution rates, I never got close... starting at a tablespoon per gallon and stepping down in increments to 1/4 teaspoon, as previously mentioned. I would have continued but I found a source for phdown. It is my understanding that, while things around the house like vinegar and baking soda can be used to alter ph levels, neither is as stable or consistent as the phdown.

After trying 1ml of phdown in a gallon of water and overshooting my goal yet again, I went to one drop. Woohoo!! No, I wasn't in the right range. But, this time I didn't go beyond my target. Ultimately, three drops per gallon got me into the range I was looking for.

Hopefully, that will save someone some time someday. Bear in mind, it takes a couple hours to get a reasonably accurate reading. So, each time you adjust, you have to wait two hours to re-test. Pretty time consuming the first time you do it if you're going in blind.

This is the second day since I changed from 24/0 to 20/4. When I watered the plants tonight, some of the troubled ones appear to have new, green growth.

Virtually all the plants having problems are the Short Stuff #1's. They all went yellow on me right out of the gate. ATM, they aren't any worse and they may be recovering. On the other hand, the cobra's have been fine from the beginning. I have one Cobra (out of nine) that yellowed early but it seems to be recovering well.

I might be careful about ordering from that company (Short Stuff Seeds) for now unless you, or someone you trust, has had a good grow using them. It is too early to tell for me.

The PH down is strong stuff alright :)
I wondered if maybe that the Short Stuff's were a bit more delicate/susceptible to the un-PHéd water than the Cobra's, but of course it does make a big difference if you have strong stable genetics to kick off with.

Some plants can react quite differently to situations than other plants whether they be of the same breed or another. My first 3 seedlings were all of the same breed but each reacted differently to the other, the worst affected was actually the oldest and the least affected was the youngest. I expect it was just that the oldest had been getting more of the bad water for longer - they all recovered quickly though.

I saw in Charbuds thread that you asked about the effect of PH on a plants ability to uptake nitrogen. I thought I'd post a link here as it seemed topic appropriate. If you've not already spotted them there's some interesting charts here on the forum that people have shared. The first few posted show the nutrients that get 'locked out' when the soil PH is too high or low. This is a sticky from the Plant Problems section: http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-pro...l-goodies.html

Thanks rattlingdags, I bookmarked the link.

I follow a lot of the grow logs to learn. Plus, I just enjoy it. :D

I'm about the last person that should offer advice on this site, especially for indoor stuff. It just seemed to me that it might be worthwhile to at least look at the ph.

I didn't want to come across as a cocky noobie. So, I tried to bring the subject up without coming across like I think I actually know something about this stuff. :)

Seriously, I appreciate your input because all the study in the world doesn't account for what experience brings. I've studied... big deal. I haven't produced a single puff of medication from an indoor grow. That qualifies me to keep learning. :thumbsup:

I think its great when people like you come along and do the reading and theory before and continue during their grow - so very many just don't and I find it a little strange. If I'm starting out on some new project, plants in this case, I love to read and absorb everything I can on the subject - it doesn't feel like a drag or homework at all like some complain about. Its terrific fun, and can be challenging to get these girls growing happily inside, which makes it all the more interesting. The growlogs are my favourite haunt I love to follow how people do their grows and the problems they sometimes come across. Forwarned is forarmed eh?!

Also I am very much only a noob myself. We cut our first plant a week ago and now the main bunch are for the chop this weekend. They're the strapping daughters of the seedlings I nearly killed right at the start :)
Happy growing :)

Thanks for the kind words but, the truth is, I had never paid for seeds before... not to mention, I've never spent three weeks wondering if the package was going to get through (or worse, get an unwelcome visit). So, I had a little extra motivation. I didn't want to go through all that without at least giving myself a fighting chance to succeed. I don't mind paying for quality seeds. I had just never tried it before. But, that part went smoothly, so I'm glad I did. :cool:

Thanks for hanging out. I'd post some more pics but there really isn't anything new to see.

Have a great day! :thumbsup:

Week two pics... The ph problems seem to be behind us. All new growth is green. May have lost a few days, to a week, of development due to early issues.