1st Grow Blog - HELP WANTED!

[LaffyTaffyBP T]

Hello everyone - I'm rather new to this growing scene, but have found this website to be very helpful. Also, it seems a lot of people know what they're talking about here too, so I'm posting updates on my 1st grow so that I may get some help/tips/advice from others out there who have experience in the field.

I started 6 seeds (from a sack I bought) in a paper towel and two of them germ'd into my two bigger plants. I also have another seed that germ'd from a better plant (it's a few weeks behind the other plants). Today would be day 17-18 from my best estimates - these plants lived outside up until last night and were not growing properly due to lack of sunlight (duh). Now they are resting about 3 feet underneath a 400w MH bulb going 18/6. I purchased a thermometer around 5 am and 7 hours later it is reading 83 w/ 22% humidity. I did have the closet completely closed during that reading, so I'm thinking I need to have opened up a little bit more for ventilation. There is a small fan blowing on the plants 24/7 - I think they're doing a happy dance for me when I see them. These plants started with Miracle Gro soil with no nutrients. I just started them with their first nutrients yesterday - a small dose of PureBlend Pro (the guy at the hydro store said it would be the best for the soil plant rather than a hydro plant).

That's about all the info i can think of. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Pictures below ->

LaffyTaffyBP T Reviewed by LaffyTaffyBP T on 11-03-2006. 1st Grow Blog - HELP WANTED! Hello everyone - I'm rather new to this growing scene, but have found this website to be very helpful. Also, it seems a lot of people know what they're talking about here too, so I'm posting updates on my 1st grow so that I may get some help/tips/advice from others out there who have experience in the field. I started 6 seeds (from a sack I bought) in a paper towel and two of them germ'd into my two bigger plants. I also have another seed that germ'd from a better plant (it's a few weeks Rating: 5

[deftdrummer]

Here we go!

first and foremost, STOP ALL NUTRIENT FEEDING! your plants or "sprouts" are much too immature to start feeding any kind of nutrients. In fact, I could be wrong but doesn't miracle grow soil contain small amounts of miracle grow in it already? I am not a soil grower currently although I have done one soil grow in the past, but my experience and memory seems to recall that anything from the miracle grow brand is not properly suited to grow marijuana.

Next, your humidity is a problem. I don't mean to get you alarmed but 22% is too low. I wouldn't have said anything if it were in the 40%-50% range even though it is a bit low, it is still tolerable. Right now all through veg your plants need relatively high humidity in the 65%+ range preferabally in the 70% margin. Easy remedies are to purchase a humidifier or add a large bowl full of water to the grow room.

It sounds like you had some outdoor issues that you dealt with and that is good. You brought them inside, put them under proper lighting and things should be good now. Once you did this your plants should have started to take off but they didn't and as a result are way too small for their age (17 days?). You need to flush your plants with pure distilled water very mildly. DO NOT OVERWATER. You need to get the plant fertilizers out of there and let them do their thing naturally.

If their growth continues to be stunted then it is likely you have some nutrient lockout and the roots are unable to penetrate further into the soil. Anyways, these are simple mistakes there is still plenty of time to make things right. You don't want to start nutrient feeding until about a 3 to 4 weeks into veg or based on their size.

Good luck, don't worry they will pull out!

[LaffyTaffyBP T]

OK - no more nutrients for a while. I don't think I mentioned this before, but the plants are growing in a sliding door closet. I don't really have room for a large bowl of water, but I did go out and get a small humidifier - it doesn't seem to be working as well as I would like. I'm also having problems with temperature. I now have a fan blowing on the fan - I tried using it as an exhaust, but it didn't seem to pulling the hot air off like I would like it to, so I changed it to pulling from outside (I'm in Arizona - right now the temps are in the 80's at its hottest. I also have a cold air vent ducted to a fan that is blowing on the plants too. All this and I've gone from 86 to 81 degrees, is this acceptable? Humidity is reading at 27% - I think because there is so much air movement in such a tiny space that it is blowing all of the moisture in the air out.

I have noticed small white spots on the top of a leaf of my stronger plant, what is that?

I'm leaving for a few hours and I'm going to leave the system unattended and see what happens. Thanks for the input!

[locomark]

Well LaffyTaffyBP T,

Deftdrummer gave you some straight dope to absorb now here is a little more. So you have yourself a nice lamp there to do a little growing. It can give you a nice harvest if your conditions are improved. What do I mean you ask? Well there is a saying if you want big buds you need big balls. Root balls that is when you start getting some growth you'll wonder why things slowed down. Then you can look at your pots.

So you have the door open and a small fan blowing? Hmmm, good but not good enough. you'll have to do better if you want the next three months of effort to be worth your time. What the fuck you ask? Think about this your plants will use all the CO2 in that space within a hour or two. You will need to a way to direct fresh air to them constantly not just leave the door open. Remember that we use oxygen they use C02 there is a difference.

Loco

[LaffyTaffyBP T]

I was concerned about the CO2 also - I'm in the process of getting a 20 lb CO2 tube and a regulator - coming soon. As for what you're saying about root balls and my pots - I'm confused. I'm not sure if I'm reading what you're saying right or if I just don't have any idea what you're talking about. =) If you could expand on your topic before so I understand better I'd really appreciate it.

Also, anything about the white dots/marks?

Thanks again!

[LaffyTaffyBP T]

OK - after reading some other blogs, I went back and wiped off the top of the leaves and the spots came off. Also, here are some pics of what's going on now. I flushed the plant that was kinda droopy - I suspect too many nutrients in the soil.

Also, due to the low humidity can my soil be drying out quicker than usual? It seems like my soil goes dry under the surface every 2 days or so.

My reversal of the inline fan (pushing cold air rather than trying to exhaust the hot air) seems to be working too well. The thermo/hygrometer (located on the wall directly behind the plants) is reading 79 degrees F/31% humidity.

I also placed the fluorescent directly over the tiny plant - it is resting about 1 inch above the seedling. Pictures below -->

[Dutch Pimp]

...Damn!!! ..I love that closet.....looks just like mine.

[Dutch Pimp]

...is your duct work....hooked up to your A/C.....????...I did....

[LaffyTaffyBP T]

The left duct is coming from a window on the side of the house that faces a wall - the space between the house and the wall is about 2 feet maybe. I started off using it as an exhaust - before I drill a hole into the ceiling of the closet to exhaust to the attic. Now, I draw cool air in from the outside and blow it on the bulb to keep temperatures in line (right now we're at 78.8 dF/26dC).

The right duct is coming from an A/C vent that has been covered except the duct and is blows into a small ventilation fan that blows a little above the plants to help make them dance a little.

If smell becomes a problem - I'm going to install a carbon filter near the ceiling between the left duct and the outside.

[LaffyTaffyBP T]

P.S. - the paint color is from the Peach Optimo box - I had it matched at Home Depot - it's the brightest orange room with glossy paint.