So far here is where I stand.

Please feel free to go ahead at any time and add a comment. I am new to growing and am really only doing it as a hobby. I have successfully grown papaver Somniferum hydroponically using a 400 watt MH. I am currently trying to grow a bit of weed, soil based medium and have killed about a dozen plants already, four of which were at least 2 months old. As of now I have only one last little plant, which I only water about once every other day lightly. I believe that I killed my other plants by over watering them and basically suffocating the roots. Here are the pictures so far. Please give me any thoughts you may have. One thing to clear up is that I am not going to be using any higher wattage of light, reason being cost. I live in an apartment and have a limited amount of loot at the time and electricity bills need not be high jacked by a lamp. I will squeeze what little I can out of this small wattage HPS possible.

The plant is starting to grow faster now after getting through the first stage where it only had four leaves. Should I top her off or let her grow for a few more weeks. The lights are on 24/7.

what are your temps in your grow room?how close is your light to your plant?how much are you feeding your plants?

Well, at this point I am not tecnically feeding them, except using filtered water and only watering the plant so that it moistens the soil but not to point to where it is drenched. I have a wide array of nutrients but I am going to wait untill I am sure that the soil nuts have been used up. I am expecting this to happen in about a week or so. I am only trying to basically not do everything that I did to my last batch which I got impatient and literally killd them. I am doing this as a hobby, funny seeing how I don't smoke either. I grew poppy indoor hydroponically, but this seems to be far more difficult. The plant is about 16 in from the lamp, and temps range from about 78-88 F. :cool: Have you any helpful hints???:pimp:

Okey dokey, you're on the right track. The fan is good. Patience is good. It is easy to kill seedlings by loving them too much!
Hold off on the ferts and topping.
If you choose to pinch, wait until the plant has at least 4-5 pairs of true leaves.
If you want to start fertilizing now, or soon, start off with 1/4 strength grow nutes, plus superthrive if you have it.
Your temperature should be okay. 88 is a tad high, if you can drop it to 70-80 you'll be a bit better off.
Finally, save the HPS for flowering. The light spectrum you want at this growth stage can be CHEAPLY acheived with compact flourescents.
Keep posting pics!

have you any opinions as to where I can get a light as you speak of? Here is a pic of the last light I used to have which sits back in gloomy sludgey NY. I which that I still had it. This thing used to kick major ass. You can see in the one pic the size of the lamp. 400 watt MH. It was only $100 and the results were amazing

Lovin' your home-made hydro setup.
You can get CFLs at any hardware store. More commonly known as those long-life, energy-star bulbs your electrical provider is always trying to get you to replace your lights with.
My local hardware store has them on sale for 99 cents each this week! Yay!

Alright, so I can switch to CFL's? I need to know what they look like. Are they those spiral lights, or tubes? I will need to buy fixtures for them, and what do you think I should do as far as wattage? I think I might as well go and buy a 150 watt MH fixture since I can get one for 60 bones. That is the light that I would be most confidant with. I would like to hear what you think though....

your leaf margins are showing signs of heat stress,try to reduce your temps some.other than that looks great. good luck with your grow

CFLs are the spirally ones.
Small MH is good too.
But if you have a heat problem, CFLs will contribute to it much less than a HID.

thank-you for this advice....as i had just decided to move the little thing closer to the light. Just food for thought.... how can you tell if they are under heat stress? I am noticing two of the leaves, like the first true single leaflets, that on the very tips there is a small amount of browning. I thought for sure that when I first noticed it about 4 days ago that it had gone away. Then tonight I went to check the moisture level and noticed the brown edges again. WTF? Did you see that in the pictures? How could you tell>>>:confused:

They shouldn't be curling up at the edges like that.
A HPS puts out a LOT of heat.
The CFLs have the advantage of a good light to heat ratio. You can get them pretty darn close to the seedlings without damage.

I have the plant about 18 inches away from the light now, actually at the present time it is sitting outside in the sun. I am getting so confused now, while my leaves wither away......................and they are not even browning, just getting crusty.