First-time Closet CFL Grow

Stuggz

Member
I took out the 2 white clip-on fans that were causing the vibrations...so no more shaking. And, with just the large high-velocity fan (5 feet away from the closet haha) and the 2 tiny black fans the temperature is staying about about 80-82 degrees, so I'm set on cooling for the time being. Day 8 pics goin' up tonight
 

Stuggz

Member
Happy birthday to me, bitches! (Forgot to give myself a shout-out in the last post) Here's our Day 8 pics...I'm sticking with the even number days for now, but might switch to weekly pics soon - there weren't a lot of changes. By the way, is that bad? Are they growing slower than they should be? Put another picture of the setup in there, too. Holla.



IMAG0053.jpgIMAG0054.jpgIMAG0055.jpgIMAG0056.jpgIMAG0057.jpg
 

Stuggz

Member
I noticed they're all getting a bit more yellow than green...do you think I need to do something? I've been watering them every 2 days
 

kostonn760

Active Member
I noticed they're all getting a bit more yellow than green...do you think I need to do something? I've been watering them every 2 days
I'd make sure you're temps stay below 80ish if you can, and maybe move the light a little further away until they get a bit bigger and form a nice root system, then you can move them super close. The seedlings I had were not liking the light so close so I raised them about 6" away from the tops of the seedlings and they looked a lot better. Watering every 2 days might be too much. Only water when the top 1" or so of soil is dry (be careful not to damage any surface roots when poking your finger in), overwatering starves the plant of oxygen and stunts root growth. Best thing to do is water very good then let dry out for 3-4 days max then water good again. If you dry the pots out nice they'll love it, just try to keep the rH (humidity) up in the room if you can. At this stage it's hard for them to drink so keeping the rH up helps keep it hydrated. But don't mist the plants tho, if you're rH is too low, below 25-30% just buy a cheap 'cool mist - vaporless' humidifier. I had one running 2hrs on 30mins off for 3 weeks then I just returned it to the store hahaha.... If you don't want to spend the money there's other ways like putting a cookie sheet pan in the grow room, (or even a wet towel) and putting a thin layer of water on it and have good air circulation. It's not going to push the rH up too much but any little bit helps.

Also you may want to invest in a digital pH meter for like $15. Get the probe kind, not the test strips. Then, when you water, you test the pH of the water run-off that drains from the bottom. Watering with distilled water also helps keep pH stable.

That's my advice and other than that, they look great =] Hope this helps!!
 

Stuggz

Member
Thanks, I appreciate it kostonn...does boiling the water you feed the plants help? A day or so ahead of time so it cools first, of course.
 

kostonn760

Active Member
Thanks, I appreciate it kostonn...does boiling the water you feed the plants help? A day or so ahead of time so it cools first, of course.
You COULD do that to get the chlorine and other impurities but it become a lot of work when you're feeding almost a gallon to however many plants every 4-5 days. It's easier to just let it sit out in your grow box overnight in a bowl or large container without a lid.

What kind of soil are you using?
 

9867mike777

Well-Known Member
The problem won't be vegging with CFL, the problem might be flowering with just CFL. Some strains don't perform very well under CFL.
 

Stuggz

Member
Okay, Day 11...Idk if it's just me, but I'm a little worried they're not coming along as quickly or as healthy as they should be...let me know what you think.

In order from left to right it's Bubba Kush, Strawberry Cough, Super Lemon Haze, Strawberry Cough


Day 11 Bubba.jpgDay 11 SC.jpgDay 11 SLH.jpgDay 11 SCb.jpg
 

Stuggz

Member
Shit... No, the temperature is now 81.5 degrees at the peak of the day; usually averages around 79-80. I moved the big CFL/reflector up so it's about 4-5" away from the plants, so there's no reason they'd be burning. From what I've seen/read it HAS to be the soil, but idk what to do about it at this point. The bag says it's made for outdoor plants and it supposed to mixed with real soil, so clearly I should have read the bag first. Any thoughts?
 

Stuggz

Member
Also, the CFLs we're using are mixed spectrum, I didnt have enough of the veg spectrum so we used some of each...could that be a problem? (Can't see why)
 

Stuggz

Member
Anybody have any ideas??? Take a look at the most recent pictures and let me know if you have any questions about specifics of the grow, or any advice as to how I can recooperate these little ladies. I'm worried I'm doing something desperately wrong and messing this whole thing up. Thanks
 

Stuggz

Member
So not enough changes have happened to make it worthwhile to post more pictures...the day 11 pics look pretty much the same as the plants do now. I can tell that they're not COMPLETELY dying, but they're definitely struggling, and from all logical perspectives it's probably due to the soil we used having too high a % of nutrients. My plan is to continue this grow for another couple days up to a week and look for improvements. If the leaves stay the yellow hue that they are and don't grow at a drastically faster rate, I'm scrapping this project and starting over with the seeds we have left. FECK.
 
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