1st Grow, Advice Needed

Hi,

I've been reading alot of different resources and decided to take the plunge last week and get a simple grow area set up.

My growing method I have chosen was nft and i germinated the seeds fine. I germinated 4 seeds and they all seemed fine.

They are now 7 odd days old and just want peoples thoughts on if my plants doing ok and if any one can spot problems would be great as then can easily correct them and learn from any mistakes.

This is my first grow so i'm using it as an experiment so if it goes wrong least ill learn from it and not what to do next time. The more advice the better.

Anyway I'm using a 250 Watt PowerPlant Son-T-Plus Lamp in my system. I don't think its the best for veg growth but its the best I can afford right now.

The plants are about 7 days old and here are some pics:

Plant 1:
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant1_2.JPG
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant1_1.JPG
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant1_3.JPG

Plant 2:
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant2_1.JPG
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant2_4.JPG

Plant 3:
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant3_1.JPG
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant3_2.JPG

Plant 4:
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/plant4_1.jpg
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/500...m/Plant4_2.jpg



Sorry for the pics being not that good but I don't have a decent camera.

Plant 4 seems to be a late/slow developer, is this normal plus also not sure if you can see but on one of his first leaves that came with seedling it turned slightly yellow on the tip.

Basically I need tips to keep them all live now and can anyone spot problems in my plants? Are they small for their age? etc?

Also some questions I have for any experts.

I have my pump running 24/7 in my NFT tank etc to keep everything wet, I have read I keep them on just water with a pH around 6? Is this correct? If so when do I add any feed?

Should the plants be under direct sunlight at this age? If so should they be covered? And if not how long should they have indirect light for?

I'm turning into a paranoid father and I said I wouldn't become on of these if I started growing...

Any comments would be grateful.

Thanks

Its hard to tell anything with those photos not being as clear as one would like...I'm afraid I dont know much about rockwool but hear it can have ph and water retention problems.

Hi

I'm a few weeks ahead of you using very much the same system might be worth you having a read of my log as the tips I have been given would be relevant.

I intended to stick with just PH 5.8 water untill the 5th set of leaves started to show. But like days before that happened the stems went a bit red & looked like an (N) def due to the distilled water I was using.

Compared to mine your beanlings look ok for 7 days.

To me all looks well, but photos can be deceiving.

@ 7 days from seedling I would be adding a dilute rooting hormone like HygroZyme or Voodoo juice just to try and get a good root structure in time for when I'd apply a mild feed. Must have some form of well developed root structure developing before the application of nutes. The roots will then be ready to take up the food right away when feeding commences.

I would continue under 250W but at a distance of 24inches maybe; until i start feeding, then I'd lower the lamp to around 12-18inches.

I would expect to see some reddening on the stems until I start feeding; probably after 10-14 days.

My recent clones were quite red when they arrived. I know that the clone merchant only applies a root hormone to the clones. But after one day of a mild feed at 0.8-1.0EC the reddening has started to go away. (I always look at it as potassium deficiency and potassium silicate is what I use to fix it).

Is the lid of your NFT system sealed ie with duct tape? Oxygen to you water/roots is vital. An air pump terminated with an ait stone will prevent your plants locking down due to root suffocation....

Good work so far, keep going!!!

Would first like to say thanks to everyone who has replied so far and giving me much needed advice.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Weedhound

Its hard to tell anything with those photos not being as clear as one would like...I'm afraid I dont know much about rockwool but hear it can have ph and water retention problems.

---

Yeh the pictures are not the best but hopefully I can get a better camera soon to take more detailed and better pictures so should make everything easier. I read some posts also relating to problems with rockwool but this is my first grow so I will see what results are and if in future I try again I can improve with something more better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JackHerer

Hi

I'm a few weeks ahead of you using very much the same system might be worth you having a read of my log as the tips I have been given would be relevant.

I intended to stick with just PH 5.8 water untill the 5th set of leaves started to show. But like days before that happened the stems went a bit red & looked like an (N) def due to the distilled water I was using.

Compared to mine your beanlings look ok for 7 days.

---

Cool, ill go read up on your grow log now and hopefully can compare results and earn some tips. I read about the not feed till 5th set of leaves so ill see how it goes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by home.grower

To me all looks well, but photos can be deceiving.

@ 7 days from seedling I would be adding a dilute rooting hormone like HygroZyme or Voodoo juice just to try and get a good root structure in time for when I'd apply a mild feed. Must have some form of well developed root structure developing before the application of nutes. The roots will then be ready to take up the food right away when feeding commences.

I would continue under 250W but at a distance of 24inches maybe; until i start feeding, then I'd lower the lamp to around 12-18inches.

I would expect to see some reddening on the stems until I start feeding; probably after 10-14 days.

My recent clones were quite red when they arrived. I know that the clone merchant only applies a root hormone to the clones. But after one day of a mild feed at 0.8-1.0EC the reddening has started to go away. (I always look at it as potassium deficiency and potassium silicate is what I use to fix it).

---

I have some root hormone about so ill try adding some in day or two in dilute form and see how it goes.

As for tip on lights i'm about to move the lights slightly further away and try get a distance of 24 inches are you recommend. I think the slightly yellow leave on one of the seedlings might be due to the lights being too close and rising temperatures now and again. So if i move the lights away it should solve the issue (hopefully)

Thanks for info on the red stems, I wont panic about them just yet then :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by home.grower

Is the lid of your NFT system sealed ie with duct tape? Oxygen to you water/roots is vital. An air pump terminated with an ait stone will prevent your plants locking down due to root suffocation....

Good work so far, keep going!!!

---

Its not sealed currently. I was wondering about it but I guess ill leave it alot right now and think about investing in an air pump/stone etc.


Thanks for everyones tips and advice, I feel slightly more easy about the plants now so ill try to take it easy, relax and let them grow.

I plan on updating this post often thou as want to keep a log of the grow for myself also so next time I know what mistakes I made :)

Although you shouldn't use nutes you can add Superthrive to build te root & green growth. Others also add cal/mag I think but my water was already high in that.

HtH

JH

Update on plants: 9th June 2007

My plants have grown quite abit since last series of pics but one of the plants seems to have a small issue where his older leaves have dried out and seem to be suffering from nute burn. I believe the problem might be because before I posted on this forum and first started off seedlings I fed them too early and read up day or so later about no feeding till 5th set of leaves etc and quickly removed fed and replaced it all with fresh so hopefully the leave problem IS nute burn and due to a past mistake which been sorted now.

I also believe I might have a temperature issue as I've noticed some leaves are curling down slightly so going to work hard on reducing temperature soon.

I have ordered a nutrient meter and a proper pH meter so will be able to more closely monitor the growing situation, right now I have a simple pH colour test etc and its hard work to tell small differences.

Anyway here are the pics:

Plant Name: Emmy
Emmy is very short and a slow developer. She is a long distance behind others growing wise and was close to killing her as seedling due to slow development but glad i've kept her and hope she grows slow, small and nice.
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/627/emmy_1.jpg


Plant Name: Toni
Toni was one of my fav plants but his first set of proper leaves have problems (nute burn I believe but could be wrong). Pictures below are not great sorry.

http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/627/Toni_1.jpg
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/627/Toni_2.jpg


Plant Name: Lois
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/627/lois_1.jpg

Plant Name: Georgy
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/627/georgy_1.jpg
http://gallery.cannabis.com/data/627/georgy_2.jpg


Any comments/tips etc? Much needed

Thanks

There looking alright.

Keep doing what u r doing, and post lots of pics, especially of any changes in appearance you r unsure of so that all these sound people can offer u all the advice needed for a fruititious yield.

If they start gettign very light, almost illuminous, green then my advice will be to start a low dose of feed, but they look fine... good work

I will try and get this thread updated pics soon.

The plants are doing well but at one point I was worried about yellowish leaves but i'm hoping problem has been solved now.

Today I fed the plants for the first time and gave them half strength feed to what was said on the bottle. I decided I would rather start them off on a smaller amount and get them use to the feed than overfeeding them.

I also finally purchased a ppm meter and a digital pH meter. So I can no more accurately monitor the pH of my solution and the ppm. Right now the pH is about 5.8 so ill monitor it each day to keep it constant.

Pics to come soon I hope :)