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inside my closet only 1 seed has sprouted out of 4 so i stuck it under the light i was wondering if it was ok for them to be on the carpet..? tommarow im going to home depot and getting 2 pieces of plywood and make 2 walls, both pieces nailed at 90 degrees with some kind of reflective material on the walls and the closet walls.. should have the 3 other seeds sprouting soon and was wondering if the 400w hps was too much light and heat for the little plants.. hopefully the picture works
In my opinion, it may be a little much for brand new seedlings to have it so close - I move my light about 3 or 4 feet away from brand new ones for a few days and gradually get closer after that. You might want to get a couple of CFL while you're at HD...few days under CFLs (close - inches from seedlings) and they'll be much more prepared for the intensity and heat of the 400w.
Good luck & happy growing
i went and got my walls with aluminum bubble wrap on the sides an i got a 65w floodlight for my lil plant, still waiting for the other ones to sprout.. what do ya think?
SETUPS STARTING TO COME TOGETHER. dO YOU GOT ANY VENTILATION FOR THAT CLOSET. iVE GOT A 250 WATT IN A CLOSET AND THAT SUCKERS HOT WELL NOT TO MENTION IT'S BULB AND BALLAST BUT NONE THE LESS THINGS GET HOT. iF YOU GOT SOME SPARE LIGHTING MAYBE CFLS TRY USING THEM FOR LESS HEAT AND STRESS ON YOU. iF YOU CAN ALREADY PROVIDE GOOD GROWING CONDITIONS W/ THE 400 WATTER THAN WHY NOT BUT WITH 3 PLANTS MAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF AND USE THE 400 WHEN YOUR READY -FLOWERING-
bY THE WAY IME USING OVER 500 CFM IN EXAUST FOR MY CLOSET, SOUNDS LIKE OVERKILL BUT SEEMS TO BE WORKING
NONETHELESS GOOD LUCK
Ya that 65w will be perfect for its seedling stage, then you can hit it with the 400w. Happy growin.
In my humble opinion, I would move that light that is right above the seedlings a little further away. It is too hot and too intense of light for the poor seedlings at this point. Your young plants needs low heat and low light for the first 2-3 weeks of life. Once they develop enough resiliency and leaves to absorb the light switch to your 400W and gives those babies just what they want and make sure the temps stay low. My first grow was in a closet very similar to yours and heat was a HUGE issue with my 400W light. That was with a built in ballast and no exhaust what so ever out of the room. You need to get low wattage fluourescent lights over those babies or perhaps some cfl's. The reflective stuff is good but mylar from your local grow store would be a lot easier and more efficient. More light is needed in the later stages of veg and flowering, not so much right now. Good luck to you and may your first grow be a great learning experience!
If I'm not mistaken, that is a 65w CFL he's got over them now, which should be good for a week or two.
whatever it is, it looks a bit too bright as young as they are.
heres some update pics of my babies.. the bigger ones turning a lil yellow on the tips and the 2 leaves at the bottom are really yellow, im not sure if thats good or bad, i have to water it everyday.. when i get home from school the pellets are dry as hell, i water them until the pellet is pretty damp.. i keep them on 24/0 with a 65w cfl about 18" from the plants.. feedback and advice please..
apparently not bright enough...duh, it looked close enough didnt it? those little guys are streatchin. u need the light to be as close as possible with out burning them, put your hand inbetween them and if it bothers the back side of you hand its too close, if not move it closer, also i would find a way to keep them wet, dryness isnt good, but better then them being soaked all the time.
Jacks right, that light is too far away and thats why they are stretched...in my first post I suggested you have the cfl inches away and I didn't mean 18 inches. I used an 85 watt (actual) cfl on my seedlings at about 3" - 4" and its perfect.
The yellowing is likely from over watering. They should not need watering daily, even if it looks dry on the surface. You should transplant those into regular 6" pots now and saturate them when you water till you get runoff, then allow them to dry thoroughly - water no more than every three days (if needed), once a week after they have rooted a little better. (This varies of course based on many conditions - its just a guideline). Feel the weight of the pots when they are dry and then again when they are saturated ...soon you will know by feel when they need watering.
Depending on your ventilation you should be able to spark up the 400 watt in a few days....start it 3 feet away and see how the plants take to it...adjust as needed. My current grow has 400w cooltubes and I am able to get the plants about 6-10" away from the lights with zero problems.
All of my early problems were either over watering or using nutes too soon...avoid those pitfalls and you'll be well on your way. Good luck and happy growing.
thank you everyone.. i lowered the light to about 4" away from the plant and tommarow i will go get some soil so i can transplant the bigger one because i noticed the roots are coming through.. this weekend i will probably get some legit ventaltion and re-construct my closet a little bit and worry about the nutes later on.. i really dont have an idea on type of soil.. but i want to use a mixture of perlite, or perlite and vermiculite sense i have those laying around the house, if anyone has any suggestions on soil that would be great, sense i dont have too much knowledge of the ph scale and things of that nature yet.. and again thank you for the advice so far, and i will keep postin as my babies grow..
things are not looking good.. doesnt seem like they grown that much. severe yellowing and the tips look like there burning.. havent messed with nutes.. just watering when they are dry, undersides are purple and im keeping them on 24/0.. should i give them some darkness?? i transplanted the bigger one with patio plus and perlite and turned the hps on (400w) trying to keep the soil moist, seems like they dry out really fast in the peat pellets.. im thinking they need some nitrogen, but i couldnt find a nurserie or any other source of N.. maybe one of you guys could figure out what im doin wrong?? thank you..
Ive use alot of peate pellets, and I must advise you as well, its best for them to be very moist at all times, they do dry fast outside of the dome. Im serious because too long = baby roots dry up fast.
Also keep an eye on the roots. They can push out some but whem you start to see multiple white shoots pertruding the faster you can get them into soil the better.
Also, I agree with everyone else, low to mid watt cfl's is idea for babies and you can keep the light nearly on top of the plants. Higher blue and the cool whites promote stocker stems.
good luck on your grow. :thumbsup:
PS, yellowing occours when the light it too intense, nitrogen depro, lack of air circulation, dry roots in peate, root bound.
if you got air moving, the lights not close, repot and add water. most babies dont really need food early on only water. if you do feed only give them a lil. at this stage a little goes a long way.
again good luck
heres an update.. plants a lil bigger but yellowing is just getting worse. i transplanted and added a little bit of 10-15-10.. i know its not good for veg but i felt like it needed a little something.. ph seems good, i got fish emulsion 5-1-1 that i will use next water..