SlowToke's First grow in Soil

[SlowToke]

Let me start out by saying hello to you all. This is my first grow.

My friend germinated some seeds he had from his previous bags about 3 weeks ago, he gave me 4 seeds about 4 days after their first stems stuck out from the seed.

I've had all 4 plants potted inside a plastic party cup for about 3 total weeks now, I want to transplant my plants into larger individual pots.

I started with a miracle grow soil mixture that I had laying around the house, and a 60 watt incandescent lightbulb - which I have found out from reading these forums was a big no-no. The stems grew rapidly towards the light during the first week of seedling (which can this time period of seedling still be considered Vegetative growth? when does the veg stage officially begin?) and due to this start its caused some problems for me being now in the 3rd week such as a week bottom stem.

I have fixed the lighting problem for now by acquiring 6x 23watt 1600lumen CFL lights, in a growing space of about... 2'x3' so thats about 9600 lumens? not as much as I would like but its better than nothing for now. Ill worry about getting more lighting once I correct my other issues.

My concerns are that about 3 days ago I accidentally overheated my tallest plant (which looks to be a sativa strain) causing the leaves to curl downward + inward. Some yellow burn marks are visible. Now I'm aware that I screwed that plant up but it doesn't seem to be dieing, as of yet. Will the new set of leaves provide enough energy to the plant for me to keep it? or should I just assume its ruined? (pictures enclosed)

As for my other plants, in the last few days my 3rd tallest (looks like an indica strain) has been doing quite well in the last week or so - with the added light. It seems as though it may be the best plant I have growing. There seems to be no apparent deficiencies as far as I can tell, leaves are a rich green color and other then a tiny bit of curling on the first set of leaves due to a little overheating in about the 2nd week everything seems to be fine.

My 3rd tallest plant is not doing too great but not nearly as bad as the first, the leaves are curled down slightly due to over heating I believe (done in the same time frame for all the plants, I got a little careless one night and didn't check the heat as well as I should have) but the leaves don't seem to be too damaged, more curled than anything.

The shortest and last plant is doing alright, a little pale if I do say so myself but I'm not an expert. but on this plant as well as my 3rd tallest, the very first leaves (from the seeds) shriveled, turned yellow and broke off, is this a problem?

Will overheated leaves ever recover fully? how do I know when i've overheated them to the point of no return? should I germinate new seeds and restart with the correct lighting, soil, and don't overheat?

I don't expect any true yield from these plants, if I happen to make a few grams than that's nice but these are my first grow - and im simply trying to understand the basics here.

Also I'm sure that someone will need to know the ph of the soil's runoff, my source water, and things such as that and I cannot give you any numbers. Ive never tested it. But im currently in the process of getting the supplies I'll need for that.

Please feel free, and I ask of you, to bestow upon me your knowledge of the art of cannabis horticulture. :rastasmoke:

SlowToke Reviewed by SlowToke on 12-07-2008. SlowToke's First grow in Soil Let me start out by saying hello to you all. This is my first grow. :D My friend germinated some seeds he had from his previous bags about 3 weeks ago, he gave me 4 seeds about 4 days after their first stems stuck out from the seed. I've had all 4 plants potted inside a plastic party cup for about 3 total weeks now, I want to transplant my plants into larger individual pots. I started with a miracle grow soil mixture that I had laying around the house, and a 60 watt incandescent Rating: 5

[SlowToke]

In response to oSecretGardeno, I do have a fan that I run on oscillate, so i'm hoping the temps will stay a bit lower for here on out.

The CFL's are Soft White.

Also I think its time that I transplanted each plant into their own cups (same ones buy individual cups) any thought? should i just put them in larger pots?

Much help.

[XmaxxX]

ok so for the start if this was my grow I would cut down those plants and start over with your new cfls.
the reason are:
plants look ill and very stressed! this can cause loads and loads of problems later on
plants are too fucking stretched an the stretch is huge between every node so you cant really minimize it in any way. you wont be able to get anything out of them and eventually they might even die.
you have 4 plants in one small pot this is a big NO for a grower.. 1 pot per plant!

EDIT!!!

now that i look close at the pics you can actually save your shortest plant there
just repot it into its own pot and when you do bury the stem up to the first set of leaves(it will start producing roots when its buried)

[SlowToke]

Ok, I am currently germinating a new set of seeds that I plan to start growing as soon as they sprout.

I've been looking at peoples plants that are a mere 2 weeks old and they have many more leaves, and much less stem - so the feeling of chopping them down and restarting has crossed my mind more than once.

As far as stress goes - yeah, I'm not gonna lie if i were that plant I would be hating my life so far as well.


Will the CFL's that I am using as of now promote less stem growth and much more leaf growth to my next crop? and is there anyway to tell if a plant will be of a sativa strain or indica strain from seeds? I'm partial to the effect that it seems indica gives more-so than sativa - also growing space is of the essence.

[SlowToke]

just repot it into its own pot and when you do bury the stem up to the first set of leaves(it will start producing roots when its buried)

Do you mean... the first set of leaves other then the seed leaves? (Im talking about burying it up to the first edged leaves?)

[XmaxxX]

Do you mean... the first set of leaves other then the seed leaves? (Im talking about burying it up to the first edged leaves?)

yes you can go up the first set of true leaves if its not too much.

and yes your 9600 lumens will be more then enough to produce decent veg growing, just make sure the lights are close to the plants(around 2 inch)
and you will be fine.. i just moved to 12/12 with 8 plants which i grew under only 3 28w 6500k cfls

if you have any questions feel free to ask.

i attached a picture of a leaf that was nearly the size of my hand and thats only 2 weeks into veg with 3 cfls

[SlowToke]

The problem I face with moving the plants to within 2 inchs of the lights is the heat - my oscillating fan is too powerful to place directly inline with the plants - it will blow them over, its a floor fan around 18".

EDIT: Since the lights would be 2" from the plants I don't see how I can overcome this other than getting a smaller - more precise fan. (The grow area is NOT enclosed - just shielded well enough to trap the light, not sealed enough to have an exhaust fan or anything like that).

Also why do you think my crop is slow growing? due to the stress or just a lack of adequate living conditions?

Also I just transplanted my 2nd and 4th tallest plants, the two that were doing the best. Ill post the pictures as well.

When do you think these plants will need larger pots? and how large? 3 gallons I think would be sufficient for them. I have a total space of about 4 feet of height for these plants so I dont want them too tall.

[SlowToke]

Is it imperative that I add nutrients to my medium? How much more will my plants flourish if the proper nutrients are maintained throughout the veg + flowering cycle?

Whats more important for my first time growing, proper nutrients (unless a deficiency arises), or more lighting?

Is Co2 that much of of an issue that i should worry about adding more Via compressed Co2 tank every so often?

Just thoughts..

[SlowToke]

So, its been another week and my plants are doing alright I suppose.

I'm enjoying this lots of attention and patience.

Anywho, I'm currently growing under my 6x23watt CFL's in about a 1x2x2 area - quite small but its alright - the plants are small for their age too! lol.. (cry)

I figure its due to the stresses they went through their first few weeks on earth, lots of temp changes, overheating, too much nitrogen, lil too much water. All the good nooby mistakes right?

Anyway I felt like posting a few pics of them as of tonight.

I have a few questions - how long should I wait minimum before switching to 12/12's?

Would clipping some leaves down promote new leaf growth? Would it be beneficial to me at this point?

Like I said im in a 1"width, 2" tall,2" deep area and I cant have the leaves touch the lights - so I cant grow too tall. Is there anyway to keep the plants shorter? Or maybe to promote more girth to them (wider) and not so much height?

I'm aware genetics plays into this - as well as Indica or Sativa but other then that are there any tricks to it?

Also I plan on doing my first flowering cycle with no added Nutes seeing as how I dont want to blow my money until I can get one successful cycle in.

Anyway I'm having a great time doing this and I'm learning tons from you all so thanks very much for making this site so informative.

Many thanks and Happy Holidays from me to all of you.

(Roll a phatty for the fat man!) :rastasmoke:

EDIT: Does the closeup pic of the leaf look alright to you? Meaning, do you see any deficiencies? I know I overheated a few of the leaves on both plants once or twice - but its better now. cant cry over spilt milk.

[SlowToke]

bump