Not Growing!! need help!

I tryed to germinate 9 seeds in a damp papertowl in a ziplock then wraped up in 3 shirts and put inside a draw only 3 got a taproot i planted them in sould on | weed #1 on Jan/30/2012 10PM - weed #2 Feb/1/2012 10:53 AM - Feb/3/2012 1:02 PM | and the last seed i planted was number 3 and it was the first one to grow out of the soil in and the others have been in there for afew days so i dug up some of the top layer of dirty really slowlly on plant 1 and 2 till i saw the top of the seed i took great care to not damage it. what am i doing wrong? i took pics of evrything i have and my setup. i only have $30 left to spend these few weeks so i took pics of evrything i have. im leaving a pot of tap water out overnight before i water my plants with a spray botle. i close one closet door and leave the the one that has the fan open.

Just give it time. Make sure not to overwater. Jus keep em moist. The rest of the shell should fall off over the next few days. Dont feed em any nutes util your first transplant. Maybe? What size pots are they in? The nutes in the MG should last a few weeks, about 2 or 3. Keep the light on em for 24 hrs until they have 2 sets of leaves. Then you can go 18/6 or keep em on 24.

Paitence is your number 1 priority in successful growing!

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Little number 3 looks to be off to a good start - congrats and I hope its a girl for you :) Just be patient with the others and give them time.
But I wouldn't be giving them any more water for now, they look plenty wet enough in the pics. A little seedling needs only a small amount of water.
If you do still have a few dollars to spend on them then I would suggest looking into something to measure your PH. Perhaps a drop kit or better a meter. Your little ones will appreciate being watered with ph'ed water.
Have you also been thinking about more light for later on? What you have now is great for seedlings but once they get growing they quickly out grow that.
Fingers crossed for your other seeds, hope they come through.

I have been thinking about gething a PH meter if i do i would have to wait 2 more days to buy it but im going to upload a pic of the one i saw at homedepot do you think this one is good to use?

To be honest I don't remember evering read anyone say a good thing about soil PH meters. They don't have a good rep for accuracy.
A meter (for example one from Milwaukee) will tell you the ph of the water that your using and is a very useful tool. With the meter and some Ph-up or Ph-down liquid, you can control the ph of the water.
The little drop test kits are a decent cheap option and, although not so accurate as a meter, they can be ok in a pinch. At least you can make your in going water in the range of about ph6.5.

Have not watered it today. how do i know when it needs water my soil i have was damp right out of the bag. Included a pic on how its doing. The other 2 have yet to grow. Attachment 282570

Leave her until the top first few centimeters of the soil is drying, there will still be moisture below for her roots to start searching and growing for.
There's still hope for the others yet, its not been very long. Fingers crossed for them

i got inpationt and dug up plant 1 and 2 ... plant 1 the tap root was dead and plant 2 had 3 roots i noticed too late and when i tryed to replant it in soil it came apart. the roots were moving when i touched them

i learn from my mistakes tho so i dont regret it. it just inspired me to get more seeds. i have 6 seeds germinating should have atleast 1 - 2 with a taproot in a day or 2

All 6 seeds got its taproot! and i pickedup 2 more bulbs to add to my grow. the one that did grow #3 i added some more soil to it since it was kinda loose and shaky

A real common problem new growers have is that they're not used to thoroughly dampening their soil. Often times the soil needs a good soaking before it will drain/hold water evenly throughout the entire pot. And when watering with a spray bottle you're only watering the top inch or so of soil, and the water stays there if the soil wasn't prepped properly. Its a good idea to set your containers in a tray of ph'd water and let them soak through the bottom, that way roots will reach downward to catch the water.

I know from experience that when using that miracle grow seed starting soil you should fill up a bucket with it, add water and stir the hell out of it for a while, pressing it down and squeezing the water through it, grinding up the spongey little dry clumps of soil mix. When I've used that soil I have spent probably 20 minutes mixing up a 1 gallon ice cream bucket of that stuff to get it thoroughly saturated. A friend of mine recently got a permit to grow as well and went through the same issues for 2 weeks until I came over and noticed his moisture issues. Try that out and hopefully they'll do a little bit better.

i have all my plants already in the containers too late to prep the soil. since the day i opened the soil it seems really damp wet. i have never used soil before in my life so im not shure what to expect but i do remember the soils bag got rained on sice they sell all the soil in the open and every bag was soakin wet. there may have been a hole in the bag or something? anyway i took a pot a places each plant half way up to the container in water for afew mins and pushed down some on the dirt when i lifted it. the dirt seems really wet should i do it again anyway for a longer time?

When i transplant them into the normal MC SOIL should i soak it up with water too?

I dont have nothing to Read PH yet ill try and pick that up tomorrow or fryday. should i be buying PH UP and PH DOWN too? whats the normal ph for seedlings

i noticed the stem is starting to get brownish i read around afew places and some places said it was overwatering others said it was some type of bacteria and another place said Unstable Temp. at night my temp is from 76 - 81 F and when the sun is out my temp is at 78 - 84 F i cant manage to get it to a stable temp at all times because i cant have my AC running during the day. electric bill comes at $400 a month before i even started this grow. i only have control over the night temps should it be colder ? or should i leave the ac off to try and par it with the day temps?

I closed off the front and top half of the rack with cardboard covered with tinfoil now the part that is covered dont reflect light to the closet door not shure if that is helping any or if i even should have done that will see if i noticed any changes

Your soil shouldn't be soaking wet and dripping, but damp, the important thing was that it is moist the whole way through, and it sounds like that shouldn't be a problem for you. Soil PH should be somewhere between 6.8-6.3. And typically your tap water, if thats what you're using, will be slightly over the proper PH, however your soil may balance that out. As far as your temps go, they're stable enough, you don't need to be locked onto one specific degree measurement. Only other thing I could think of is that if your soil had been rained on a lot and then sat in the bag forever, its possible there could be some type of molding/fungus that is causing problems? Tough to say. Definitely get something to test your PH, its the most important part of growing. Nothing will work properly without first setting the proper PH levels.

Shame about the earlier seedlings but great to see the new one's striking.
That photo of No3 on the 8th Feb show's an example of soil being much too wet. As Minnesnowta says damp not soaking. It takes much too long for soggy soil to dry out and stem rot could happen. With your new one's try to go much lighter with watering. Its hard to be patient I know, and many people think more is better, but never in growing seedlings. They will do well with minimum tweeking and over-loving :)
If you think there's the possibility of your soil carrying mould's etc, there have been threads here about sterilizing soil, but its not something I've needed to do (touch wood) so can't comment with experience.

You need a propergator mate. They need to be humid not in dry conditions. What is you humidity like. Its all about your roots right now! Roots dont need light! They need to bee looked after. Kept warm and wet! Leave the light on its no biggie as they will need light very soon.

going to check wallmart and homedepot tomorrow for a PH tester 2 more started to grow and another 2 are about to comeup that meakes it a total of 5 that are hanging in there and 2 unknown

First thing , forget Miracle Gro *anything* , all of it. Next time you start seeds you want to start 'em in a tray under a humidity dome , if you have to use soil to start them then get yourself a bag of Light Warrior for that purpose , the rapid rooter type plugs should work well for you too. Rock wool cubes are good **if you PH them correctly** , and forget the soil ph meter for now , go get an inexpensive Milwaukee pen meter , make sure you get a bottle of 7.0 reference solution with it , ***check that calibration prior to every use*** , setpoints will vary with temp and other factors.

If there is the right kind of store around get yourself some decent soil and a small bag of perlite , depsite what some folks say the Happy Frog , Ocean Forest and Amazon Bloom are all fairly reliable and widely available , the various Pro-Mix and Sunshine offerings are very good but you may have some trouble finding them in anything but the larger bales. For Perlite get the large and chunky if it's available , you'll arrive at the mix that works best for you after a couple of go-rounds , perhaps start with 1 part Perlite to 5 soil.

If you don't have a hygrometer get one , you need to keep an eye on humidity , and you need a fan for air circulation.


And I meant no offense on the MiracleGro , but there's a *lot* better available for not much more money , a LOT better , you could do better with just straight MaxiGrow/Bloom , some epsom salts ( magnesium supplementation along with extra sulfur) and some molasses.

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Originally Posted by LunaticsPR

going to check wallmart and homedepot tomorrow for a PH tester 2 more started to grow and another 2 are about to comeup that meakes it a total of 5 that are hanging in there and 2 unknown

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Seriously doubt you'll find what you need at either , you'll need a hydro store or heavy Ag trade store. Home Depot is a good source for do it yourself T5s for veg however , file that away. And check their garden remedy section , the same Organocide products for Mites , PM etc will be *significantly* cheaper than the hydro stores.

And actually you're doing pretty well as it is , just be patient , they're a lot tougher than you think they are in most cases.

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Originally Posted by rattlingdags

Shame about the earlier seedlings but great to see the new one's striking.
That photo of No3 on the 8th Feb show's an example of soil being much too wet. As Minnesnowta says damp not soaking. It takes much too long for soggy soil to dry out and stem rot could happen. With your new one's try to go much lighter with watering. Its hard to be patient I know, and many people think more is better, but never in growing seedlings. They will do well with minimum tweeking and over-loving :)
If you think there's the possibility of your soil carrying mould's etc, there have been threads here about sterilizing soil, but its not something I've needed to do (touch wood) so can't comment with experience.

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He didn't amend it for drainage , but then he didn't know any better. He'll be fine with some decent soil and a few minor tweaks , just as you said.

You brought up a good point , most folks shouldn't be re-using soils until they've got basic nutritional profiles and how to deal with the various pests down. That course of action can be fraught with negative consequences.

I would love to get another soil buy where i live i dont have many options and there is no store dedicated to growing the best options i have is wallmart and homedepot most stores that do sell soil sell it by the pound in a clear bag with no brand and you have no choices. so miricle grow will have to do for now :( im going to check out the ph testers today took some new pics of how its going.

Someone told once its been growing for a week like plant #3 im supose to put dirt all the way up to the leaves. now with teh current pots i have that is not posible but yes there is still room for some dirt should i fill it all the way to the end of the pot once the leaves pass the pot in heigh?

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Originally Posted by LunaticsPR

Someone told once its been growing for a week like plant #3 im supose to put dirt all the way up to the leaves. now with teh current pots i have that is not posible but yes there is still room for some dirt should i fill it all the way to the end of the pot once the leaves pass the pot in heigh?

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Quit listening to the wives tales etc. , you're doing just fine. Keeo in mind that plants do things in their own time and just be patient.

As far as the dirt/pot thing , tell whoever told you that , that you ran into someone who said " gee guess I been doing it wrong for thirty-five years"........they think they're all fulla helpful advice , they're actually fulla something else.

By the way , learn the feel of how much that pot weighs when wet , later on when you pick the plant on and the pot and medium are light you'll know when to water....note I said *later* yours don't have enough of a root system yet.

Don't overwater 'em , you've gotten good advice on that factor..

Ok so about burying your stem when the plant has been growing for a week... first of all when you plant a seed, transplant a plant, or start a clone in soil, you should always fill the pot up JUST BELOW the rim of the container that you're using. By doing that you allow good air flow to the top soil and stem of your plants, GREATLY reducing the risk of mold/fungus and other stale air/moisture control issues. That being said... you'd never have the opportunity to bury your stem, and even if you could possibly bury the stem, you absolutely do not want to do that. Soon as your plant starts to grow and begins developing a root system and what not, it grows differently above soil than it does below soil. So to bury something that was intended for above soil growth, will cause problems, such as rotting of your main stem. And without a main stem, you will no longer have a plant. Do not bury your stem at all.

All that being said, one of the best things you could possibly take away from my advice is... Let the plant do what it is meant to do, and what it wants to do. Even growing indoors, you're not going to be able to beat out nature, or modify the couple years of evolution cannabis has been through. Its a very resiliant plant, so don't fix it until its broke, fix it when its broken, and only then, and when it likes something, be a good parent and give it to your plant in reasonable moderation, or you'll end up with rotten offspring.

Never did find anywhere that sells PH testers but yet they all sell PH UP and DOWN... im looking into buying a 1,000 WATT HPS system with MP bulbs included and Dimmer in about 38 days just not shure what reflector to buy for the bulb and if i can use Reflective growers paint on my closet walls. Anyway here is the new pics of my pride and joys!! As of today my fan is blowing on the leaves directly at low speed but the fan dont rotate do i need to have a rotating fan or will this do?