1 wk Northern Lights: drooping leaves

1st time growing/posting! :)
been checking this site almost daily since the nl sprouted. it's been really helpful, but now i gotta problem & idk what to do.. (nice form btw)

E-indoor. closet
E-soil in jiffypot
CSL-ROOTS ORGANICS natural & organic potting soil (coco)
SCL-Anything you have added to the soil: a little vermiculite
E-Water source: distilled
E-Age of plant: 1 week
E-Type of fertilizer: none yet, when should i add Peruvian seabird guano? was thinking after i transplant soon to 5-gal (maybe not so soon since it just drooped today)
E-Lighting source and distance from plant: 3 CFL's/40W/2 daylight, 1 warm (~3" away)
E-Air temperature: day-82F, night 78F
E-Air % Relative humidity: 48-56%
E-Lighting schedule: 18/6
E-Type of ventilation: 1 box fan in corner of closet

it was doing so well & just getting it's 2nd set. then i turned off the lights/fan for 6 hrs, went back to turn them on & this happened.. complete droopyness! even the top of the stem is curving, it was about 2-3" (although even when it was ok the stem looked a little curved at the top, stretching?)

i think it's because yesterday i sprayed water directly on the leaves :( the middle of the leaves were looking yellow so i sprayed them & it got a darker green. but now i think i may have oversprayed & it's still so young maybe it couldn't support itself & the water droplets.

i've been watering every 2 days but not much. since it's in a little jiffy pot still, i just water enough until the watermarks reach the bottom

wondering if i killed it or shocked it into being male...

any advice would be helpful,

thanks

the one on the right looks like the CFL isn't close enough.....I usually have mine one to two inches away from the tops.

I seldom get too paranoid about pH, but I suspect you may have a problem in that respect ... don't overwater, don't feed for at least the first 2 weeks, and transplant into a conventional container, with 'mild' soil, when the plant seems strong enough to handle it ... (I dont like Jiffy pots, usually made of peatmoss products, which is too acidic for MJ) ... stop using distilled water, no good, plants need micronutrients, particularly calcium, magnesium, iron, etc... better off with typical tapwater ... good luck :smokin:

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Originally Posted by the image reaper

I seldom get too paranoid about pH, but I suspect you may have a problem in that respect ... don't overwater, don't feed for at least the first 2 weeks, and transplant into a conventional container, with 'mild' soil, when the plant seems strong enough to handle it ... (I dont like Jiffy pots, usually made of peatmoss products, which is too acidic for MJ) ... stop using distilled water, no good, plants need micronutrients, particularly calcium, magnesium, iron, etc... better off with typical tapwater ... good luck :smokin:

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also, to add to that if you still use distilled water, you will need to get some CalMag

thanks for the quick replies!

good point.. i'm going to start using tap that's been sitting out for a few days

man i just moved lights closer today too (since it shrunk in height). i've heard you have to keep CFLs really close, but 1-2 inches feels really hot to me. scared it'll burn the plant..

question for reaper:
the reason i got jiffypots is bc i'm inexperienced. i didn't want to have to tap the pot out roots & all when i transplanted. but if the peatmoss is too acidic, should i not keep the plant in the jiffy when i transplant? that would defeat the purpose.. but if it rly does suck i will cut it open if i have to. what u think?

I have harvested large outdoor plants, and found the little Jiffy Pot, still in the rootball, didn't decompose :wtf: ... it may not be necessary, but I would remove the Jiffy Pot, and transplant into a nice, well-draining, container ... be gentle, but don't get too worried ...cannabis in general, transplants readily, just don't get overly rough ... I like to wet my soil/rootball first, soak in awhile, then transplant ... that seems to make the dirt stay together, better ... then, after transplanting, lay off feeding and heavy watering for a few days, as well as backing off the light distance/brightness ... this encourages the roots to search out nutrients and water ... good luck :thumbsup:

my 2 cents...

when you say 40W CFLs, I believe you may be talking about the equivalent rating, not the actual wattage of the CFL... those CFLs look really small, i can;t imagine they are really 40W, i'd guess that is actually a 10W CFL = 40W-equivalent, those lights only put out ~500 lumens, which in short, is not nearly enough... but probably enough for your age of plants, but a couple good days of growth and i'd say you will be in dire need of more.

I;'m also thinking your temperature is a little on the high side, i see your thermo there says 82F, which isn;t *too* hot, but thats also not nearly as close to the lights as the plants are... i;m guessing under those 3 10W lights its up into the 85-90F range.

what is that reflective stuff your grow area is made out of? it looks like reflective insulation... if it is, that might be why your temps are pretty high. I mention this, because you are going to need to do something about the temps when you either replace your CFLs with higher output ones, or you add more CFLs... its going to get alot worse when more lights get put in there.

you're right, the CFLs are actually 13W. if only growing 2 plants, you think 40W per plant is enough? i'll prob stick with 2daylight & 1 warm but switch them to the 40s

as for reflective stuff, it's Reflectix insulation & it was helping get light around much better than just putting it in a corner with white walls. but it did raise the temp a few degrees while also lowering the humidity quite a bit. it could be due to weather, but when the panels were put in the humidity dropped 56% down to 40%.. any suggestions as far as reflective media? i know mylar is probably the best but i can't find it around and too exp.

also any suggestions on how to lower the temp besides a fan? it is in a closet & i often crack the door a little when lights are on, so AC can get in.. but that also drops the humidity. dilemma

sad news! after another 18/6 cycle the plant looks much worse.. the stem is very bent towards the top and the plant is leaning over badly. the leaves are just hanging (they look smaller but still green, underside yellowish). is this an indication that she's not going to make it or will not watering for a few days straighten her out?

just ordered a mj horticulture book off amazon. should've done my hw before i started murdering seedlings :(
not giving up though!

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Originally Posted by supahairy

you're right, the CFLs are actually 13W. if only growing 2 plants, you think 40W per plant is enough? i'll prob stick with 2daylight & 1 warm but switch them to the 40s

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It kinda depends on how big you intend on letting them grow, but i also don;t think that 3x 40W will be enough for the flowering stage. You actually want to base your lighting on lumens and not watts though.

I suggest you check out this sticky post on CFL lighting - http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-li...uch-light.html

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as for reflective stuff, it's Reflectix insulation & it was helping get light around much better than just putting it in a corner with white walls. but it did raise the temp a few degrees while also lowering the humidity quite a bit. it could be due to weather, but when the panels were put in the humidity dropped 56% down to 40%.. any suggestions as far as reflective media? i know mylar is probably the best but i can't find it around and too exp.

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For the reflective stuff, white walls is actually fine, it reflects alot more light than you'd think - remember things appear white to us because they reflect all the colour in the visible spectrum, on the flip side, black walls would be bad, as they absorb it. You are right though, Mylar would be best... but.. yeah :p

you can read all the pros/cons over... here: http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-gr...-progress.html

that thread gets into it a bit.

Don;t worry about the humidity too much... very low humidity is far far less of a problem as too much heat... my current grow i don;t think my humidity has gone over 30% yet... and i'm perfectly happy with that.

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also any suggestions on how to lower the temp besides a fan? it is in a closet & i often crack the door a little when lights are on, so AC can get in.. but that also drops the humidity. dilemma

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theres not really a whole lot of options... what is the ambient temp in the rest of your house? fans are good... portable AC units work.

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sad news! after another 18/6 cycle the plant looks much worse.. the stem is very bent towards the top and the plant is leaning over badly. the leaves are just hanging (they look smaller but still green, underside yellowish). is this an indication that she's not going to make it or will not watering for a few days straighten her out?

just ordered a mj horticulture book off amazon. should've done my hw before i started murdering seedlings :(
not giving up though!

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sorry, iu can;t really help ya too much with this part! i don;'t feel experienced enough to make a guess, and i'd hate to give you bad advice when I know there is much better advice lurking here and there, hopefully somebody will chime in :thumbsup:

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also any suggestions on how to lower the temp besides a fan? it is in a closet & i often crack the door a little when lights are on, so AC can get in.. but that also drops the humidity. dilemma

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If you really are concerned with the humidity with the AC in there, you can always put a bucket of water in there to raise the humidity and take it out to drop it back down. It's actually really easy to control it so long as you do your research and know your grow room tendencies.

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Originally Posted by supahairy

any suggestions as far as reflective media? i know mylar is probably the best but i can't find it around and too exp.

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Most hardware stores carry individual emergency thermal blankets which, when unfolded, are pretty much just big strips of mylar. They rarely cost more than a couple of dollars, so you can line just about any sized growroom without breaking the bank. I'd go with either that or flat white paint over using anything that shreds or creates noticeable hotspots.

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Originally Posted by supahairy

also any suggestions on how to lower the temp besides a fan? it is in a closet & i often crack the door a little when lights are on, so AC can get in.. but that also drops the humidity. dilemma

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Instead of removing ventilation, which is crucial to any successful closet grow, you might consider keeping the fans and adding humidity if you think you really need it. This could be by adding a cheap humidifier, or leaving a bowl of water in the growroom - or a wet towel if you don't like the idea of standing water in there. Lower humidity (under 40%) is eventually going to be a good thing when you flower, so try not to sweat that too much. You need air movement in the closet or you're just going to create more problems.

(**Edit - Heh, Italiano beat me to the punch! His advice is good. :D)

Good luck. :thumbsup:

thanks for all the advice! i really appreciate it, sadly it died :sadcrying RIP

it's alright tho i got jorge cervantes' book today! and i got 4 more seeds i found in a bag of red kush. i'll prob start again later in the year when it gets colder.


peace :rasta:

if you haven't seen his videos you should check them out also! :thumbsup::jointsmile: