First grow, I'm not sure what the problem is? help!

Hey guys, I just recently decided to try to grow my own. For my first grow I'm just using bagseed, so as not to waste money incase I mess something up. I'm also starting 12/12 straight from seed. I don't have much to work with; so far I have:

150w HPS
2x 26w daylight cfl


I know right off the bat from reading so many other journals that many of you are going to tell me to get a 400w or more cfl's ect. but right now that is not an option. A few weeks down the line i may hook up another extension cord so I can have more cfl's.

Anyway, getting to the point, my baby isn't looking so good. She (hopefully a she) is growing her fourth pair of leaves, but when I see other pictures of seedlings on here it seems other plants have much bigger leaves by this stage. Also, she is showing two weird spots on her first set of true leaves, one of which is drooping straight down. I thought at first it was a ph problem, but my meter is reading between 6.7-7. Then again, I have a cheap 6 dollar ph meter from home depot, not sure how accurate that is.

I started her in miracle grow moisture control soil because I couldnt find FFOF anywhere, and she looked really healthy except that she was this weird yellow-green color. I made the trip to PA to the nearest hydro store and bought roots organics soil, which I've read good things about. Transplanted and she resumed growing normally. (Or so I thought)


Anyway, I apologize for the wall of text. Does she look alright? I think she is more sativa-ish due to the thin leaves and her heat tolerance.(grow room temps are 80-90 with the lights on, but she is showing no signs of heat stress) Am I just being impatient? It just seems that most plants have much bigger leaves before they begin developing new ones. Heres some pics. Last one is of the whole setup, she was leaning into the cfl so i rotated the pot 180 degrees in hopes she'll lean back the other way and straighten up. Also, the hps is closer sometimes, when I can keep temps down. I put a Y-socket adapter in shortly after the pictures were taken, so now I have some more blue light.
 

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budforever442200

Well-Known Member
Are you feeding already? why are your going straight into flower? That could be it. also it Looks like it could maybe use some water.
 

LorDeMO

Active Member
Don't use MG soil, I use MG nutes but thats ok cos I can dilute with plenty of water - with MG soil, everytime you water you release nutrients which will kill your seedling. Also, they look a little overwatered.

The yellowing leaves are nute burn n you shouldn't be giving your plant nutes until week 2/3 when it starts to get big
 
I just watered yesterday. I've fed once with fox farm big bloom, which to my understanding is organic and would be quite hard to burn my plant with, but like I said I only used it once. Also, I've researched for hours about starting 12/12 from seed and it seems to work fine for most people, I don't think thats the problem. Lordemo, I'm not sure exactly but the plant is between 2&3 weeks old. I will hold back watering for awhile and see what happens.
 

budforever442200

Well-Known Member
I would let it recover and get a little bigger in veg. thats prob slowing your growth as it is trying to switch to flower. I also wouldnt feed it any bloom. try some grow. she'll be alot happyr if you let her get some feet under her.
 

LorDeMO

Active Member
There's enough nutrients in normal soil to sustain a plant for around 3-4 weeks - with MG soil it's around 3 months so adding nutes to MG soil so early on sound like a no no to me :/
 
so your suggesting i change the light cycle 2-3 weeks in? Wouldn't that cause alot more stress to the plant? The hydro store is all the way in PA (Im in NJ) so it'll be awhile before I could make it there, would anywhere else sell grow big or something similar? All home depot & lowes have are miracle grow products, and I would like to avoid using chemical nutrients if possible. Thank you guys for the help by the way.

edit: there shouldnt be much MG soil left, just what was around the root ball when I transplanted out of the little plastic cup. Now its in roots organics soil.
 

LorDeMO

Active Member
No..what I am saying is don't use any nutes for a while cos your plant clearly can't handle it. Also, try using a basic soil instead of MG. I use £1.99 compost, perlite + vermiculite and have had very little probs - none to do with the soil anyway.
 
I was responding to budforever about the lighting cycle. Thanks for the advice, I will leave the bottle of big bloom until the plant is much bigger. Also, like I said, the plant is not in MG soil anymore, it is in roots organics brand soil.
 

budforever442200

Well-Known Member
Yeah. This is what i would do. I would srew the cfl. keep your 250hps right were it is and run it 24-18hrs a day. Then I would flush useing a flushing solution witch is better or run a crap load of plain water until it comes out the bottom a bunch. this will clear all your lockouts from the mg and bloom probs. then the next water try to get some kind of grow. i use all GH flora nova series. but if you cant get any then call some specalty grow stores in your area. the kind that arnt lowes or home depot. they only carry mg like products. then Ph 6.5 or so and your good. Oh yeah, then after a couple weeks. I grow mine 2 weeks in veg. switch 2 12/12 and water with 1/2 grow 1/2 bloom for the first week. then just grow. at the end u can use some kool bloom type product. And dont forget to flush before you harvst. JAH LOVE! GOOD LUCK!
 

LorDeMO

Active Member
What strength are you using as well? cos you should use 1/4 strength to start with and gradually increase. If you're going by the guide on the back of the bottle, maybe that's your problem.
 

TheOrganic

Well-Known Member
Good Advice, Seems like I'm hearing a lot of bad things about MG soil. I don't give mine nutes till there about 2weeks in vegging.
 
budforever, the hps is only 150 watts, so I'm keeping the two cfl's because, well why not? More lumens right? Also I was under the impression supplementing some blue spectrum light like the light from the cfl's would help speed things up through the seedling stage since the hps is the other end of the spectrum.

Lordemo, I was following the instructions on the back of the bottle, thank you for correcting me. However like I said I only used it once, and it is organic, so I didn't think it could be nute burn...but thats what you guys think? Nutes from the tiny amount of mg soil that was transplanted and the teaspoon or so of fox farm big bloom?

Also, if the plant is already showing signs of overwatering, and I flush it, especially with it being so small, wouldn't that kill it? I think I am going to change to 20/4 or maybe even 24/0, would it stress the plants too much to leave the lights on 24/0 for a few days and then switch to 20/4 or 18/6?
 

noxzious

Well-Known Member
Lordemo, I was following the instructions on the back of the bottle, thank you for correcting me. However like I said I only used it once, and it is organic, so I didn't think it could be nute burn...but thats what you guys think? Nutes from the tiny amount of mg soil that was transplanted and the teaspoon or so of fox farm big bloom?
?
Yeah more than defo, Takes longer to notice the affects in soil rather than hydro where its a matter of 24hrs hence why its more confusing to whats gone wrong
 

budforever442200

Well-Known Member
No, you can jump around anything over 18hrs. I veg under 1000hps( i have mine 24hr while veging just potted clones and 18hr when just the moms are in there). And if you wanted to go strait into flower from seed, veging under a hps will make it taller quicker. Then bring the light down when you go into flower to stop stretch.

its deff not overwater. looks like a stressed out clone. Flush!

150hps is more than enough for a clone!
 
Its not a clone, I started it from seed. So I think I'll keep everything running 24/0 for a few days and see what it looks like, and then switch to 18/6, if I can even do that. I'm pretty sure the temp would get up way to high if I left this thing on 24/0. I can put my hand right in front of it and it doesn't burn, but my hygrometer can jump up to 90 degrees once the hps has been on awhile:neutral:
 
thanks budforever. I had it 12/12 from 11am to 11pm, so will reversing the plants "morning" and "night" stunt growth? I'm trying to think of the least stress inducing way to do this. Ideas?
 
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