A series of questions... any help is greatly appreicated!

M

MrSnowMan

Member
Hey everyone,

I'm pretty much brand new into the growing scene, having only experienced growing once before this time, where my plants lacked light, grew too tall, tipped and died. Now, I have a MUCH improved closet grow set up... but I still need assistance!

- SET UP -
Lights
​
I have 2 4' 40watt full spectrum floros hovering 1 or 2 inches above the foilage of about 2-3 week old plants, too lazy to check my calendar atm. I also have 2 19watt sunlight spectrum CFL's which produce 1100 lumens each. Running 18/6. They're located on the side of the plants, giving light to the bottom, and they face a sheet of white painted wall a.k.a. my closet wall haha.

Soil
I'm using Scott's Premium Potting Soil, non-organic I believe, because it doesn't say "ORGANIC" anywhere... but it says that it's made with organic materials under ingredients so I don't know. Also, I believe there is delayed release nutes or whatever they're called in there too, also not sure about though.

Enviorment
I am currently using a 5'x2'x6' closet with controlled temp. at 71-74 F. About a 1 square foot fan running 18/6, same on/off as lights.

I also have plant food avalible to me, just not sure if I should use it or when because my soil's packaging says it provides continuous feeding for up to 4 months... is that bad btw?

QUESTIONS!

1. I watered my plants with B1 treated water today because I transplanted them into larger red cups... then later I flushed a plant because it has yellow tips and a bit of yellow on the edges of some of the leaves. The lowest set of spiked leaves are effected the most. 3/7 plants suffer from this yellowing of the leaves.. [PICS WILL BE PUT UP TOMORROW!] So basically my question is... how fucked is my plant? Will it suffer from over watering? It has already drooped a bit, but 1 or 2 others are drooping too, none severely though. Any solutions? :/

2. Are those timed released [YES! I remembered!] nutes doing more harm then good? Any better recommendations on soil?

3. Are my lights providing enough for even 1 plant? 118watt total, 4400 lumens total, both flourescent or CFL. What's the recommended minimum of lumens per plant? I'm planning to grow them about 4' each... and no, not all 7!


Pictures of everything will be posted tomorrow! Please input what you can without them for now... ANYTHING is appreciated, I'm finding a whole new respect for this art of growing and I'm anxious to learn!

:bigjoint: < Man, look at the size of that j! It's like longer then his head is wide! Makes me wanna roll one...:leaf:


My whole closet








My plants, they have yellowing on their tips, well, some of them do, so I used sterilized scissors to cut off the yellow dried parts of the leaves by suggestion... was this is good idea?

​
 
Night Claptoman

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
Hey everyone,

I'm pretty much brand new into the growing scene, having only experienced growing once before this time, where my plants lacked light, grew too tall, tipped and died. Now, I have a MUCH improved closet grow set up... but I still need assistance!

- SET UP -
Lights​

I have 2 4' 40watt full spectrum floros hovering 1 or 2 inches above the foilage of about 2-3 week old plants, too lazy to check my calendar atm. I also have 2 19watt sunlight spectrum CFL's which produce 1100 lumens each. Running 18/6. They're located on the side of the plants, giving light to the bottom, and they face a sheet of white painted wall a.k.a. my closet wall haha.

Soil​

I'm using Scott's Premium Potting Soil, non-organic I believe, because it doesn't say "ORGANIC" anywhere... but it says that it's made with organic materials under ingredients so I don't know. Also, I believe there is delayed release nutes or whatever they're called in there too, also not sure about though.​



Enviorment​


I am currently using a 5'x2'x6' closet with controlled temp. at 71-74 F. About a 1 square foot fan running 18/6, same on/off as lights.​




I also have plant food avalible to me, just not sure if I should use it or when because my soil's packaging says it provides continuous feeding for up to 4 months... is that bad btw?​



QUESTIONS!​



1. I watered my plants with B1 treated water today because I transplanted them into larger red cups... then later I flushed a plant because it has yellow tips and a bit of yellow on the edges of some of the leaves. The lowest set of spiked leaves are effected the most. 3/7 plants suffer from this yellowing of the leaves.. [PICS WILL BE PUT UP TOMORROW!] So basically my question is... how fucked is my plant? Will it suffer from over watering? It has already drooped a bit, but 1 or 2 others are drooping too, none severely though. Any solutions? :/

Post a picture. droopiness can say a lot of different things. usually its overwatering or underwatering.
yellowing of the lower leaves usually says something about PH issues.
Do you PH your water before watering?​




2. Are those timed released [YES! I remembered!] nutes doing more harm then good? Any better recommendations on soil?

They are fine. I use them as well (because I can't find any other option at hand) and they work. However, with HEALTHY marijuana plants they usually last 2-3 weeks and then plants start to show paling of the top leaves. thats their way of telling us they need more Nitrogen. This is when you need to add some high N fertilizer in 1\5 the emount the bottle recommands and build up to the recommanded dose as they plant matures.
I'm no expert when it comes to different fertilizers but some around here are. You would probably like to ask around about your ferts before using them.​



3. Are my lights providing enough for even 1 plant? 118watt total, 4400 lumens total, both flourescent or CFL. What's the recommended minimum of lumens per plant? I'm planning to grow them about 4' each... and no, not all 7!

No. 4' lights spread the light over a lot of space. your bulb, considering the use of flourescents, should be 1 to 2 inches from the plant. kind of hard to manage to get the whole 4' to that space from the plant.
CFLs are a nice option at this stage, but 19w is very weak. You should use them closer than 1" inch from the foliage to do their job, which isn't that comfortable.

I use a single 45W CFL (daylight spectrum, blue spectrum, vegging spectrum) around 4" from my plants. They do survive, but they strech (and I top) and they grow slowly. I do this only because I need to keep them small and vegging for the next 6-7 weeks.

If you can't get an HID light, even a 100W one, get used to the fact your going to use a whole bunch of 45 and up CFLs that would need to be changed when flowering to another spectrum.

I like HIDs rather than multipule CFLs because of the ease of venting a single light.

Do your thinking but you want to get 100W CFL light (or 50W HID light) for each square foot. Thats what people count as a rule of thumb.
Anywhere around there should be fine.​




Pictures of everything will be posted tomorrow! Please input what you can without them for now... ANYTHING is appreciated, I'm finding a whole new respect for this art of growing and I'm anxious to learn!​



:bigjoint: < Man, look at the size of that j! It's like longer then his head is wide! Makes me wanna roll one...:leaf:​




good luck with your grow ;D
 
DoeEyed

DoeEyed

Well-Known Member
1. Pics would very much help in figuring out what's going on here. If you're flushing already - you may be burning them a bit on top of overwatering, because those "time released" ferts dissolve in water!

2. I also use Scott's premium Potting Soil - you should be fine with it.

3.The lights you have are great for a new seedling, especially as they are sensitive for the first couple of weeks. After that point, however, you want a minimum of 3000 lumens per square foot of growing space, 5000 lumens per square foot recommended. So you'll need to come up with a better lighting scheme for them.

Leave your fan on 24/7 - don't shut it off with the lights. Don't have it blow directly on them - you want to set it so it makes them shiver. This serves the dual purpose of helping them with air exchange, and helping the stems grow strong.

As for nutes - as I said, I use the same soil as you, and thus far I've had great results in veg, with MG All Purpose Plant Food (liquid, in a yellow bottle) at one teaspoon every other watering, one drop of Superthrive per gallon of water every other watering, and one TBSP molassas every other watering.

Hope all this helps, good luck with your grow!;-)
 
M

MrSnowMan

Member
Thanks for all the help guys, I'll look into the wattage use of some more lights, I have to consider the price of electricty every month as well :/, which also gives me problems running the fan 24/7... also, I forgot to mention I have a CO2 tank at my disposal, planning to spray once every other day or so, should I do it more often then that or less? I'm probably gonna end up making a bar of 20-23 watt CFL's depending on my electric bill, but yea, pics coming up tonight! Thanks again guys
 
Night Claptoman

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
you don't need to cut the yellow tips, they don't bother the plant.
your plants looks over fertilized a bit and over watered.

in my experience, usually seedlings struggle in fertilized soils for the first week or two and then flourish. keep an eye on the PH of your water and water ONLY when the plant needs it. If your not sure about when to water yet you better mix some perlite in your mix, or put a layer of perlite in the bottom of your pots. that helps drainage, helps roots to grow, and make you water more. as the medium drains faster overwatering becomes more difficult.


good luck.
 
M

MrSnowMan

Member
In the bottom of my cup I have a layer of pebble sized rock used as my medium for drainage, and I try to water only when they need it, pushing my finger down 1-2" into the soil to check moister. I plan to get a moister indicator as well as a ph meter soon, with PH balanced water, I shouldn't have to worry about much right? Also, I let my water sit with the cap open in a 1 gall jug so it can distill, is this good or bad? Opinions please? And thanks once again for helping me, I'm learning a lot from all this :D
 
Night Claptoman

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
yes, you should leaves it without a cap for a day to let chlorine evaporate.
the rocks should do the trick.
don't stick your finger in - lift the pots. when they are REALLY light, you need to water. you will know when they are LIGHT, don't worry. imagine a cup full of water and a cup full of fluffy paper shreds - thats the difference.

moisture indicator isn't a must. I never had any and I know many other growers who didn't. the lifting method works. when you plant in large containers (over 20 liters) the finger sticking is easier.

PH meter and PH shifting solutions is a very good thing to have. it helps a lot with nute burns and such. I love mine, but still I know a few pretty darn good growers who never PH their water. however, they usualy know how much ferts to add to get the water to this or that PH and know that its ain't that great.
6.5PH (at the medium, not at your solution. your solution should be slightly higher as when water evaporates salts build up makes the soil more acidic) is the point where the plant can take all the nutritions it needs from the soil.

Good luck ;D
 
M

MrSnowMan

Member
Thanks Night, this way seems like a good idea, I just typed a huge post but this gay ass shit said I couldn't post cuz of some error and erased it all. Basically I will use that weight of the cup watering idea from now on. I have a CO2 tank which I use to spray for 30 seconds with no fans on every other day.... not sure how to use CO2 so any tips would be great!

Also, here's my lighting set up

X--------X Y
XPLANTX Y
X--------X Y
XPLANTX Y
X--------X Y

X = 20w full spec CFL
Y = 2x 4' 40w sunlight spec floro placed on floor pointing up to light bottom of the foilage.

Any comments or suggestions on my potential light set up, please post!

Thanks again for everyone's input!
 
M

MrSnowMan

Member
Also, a quick question, how the fuck do you flush soil if it has time released nutes? Or is it simply impossible? If it is, how do I get the salts out and how to I flush before harvest?
 
Night Claptoman

Night Claptoman

Well-Known Member
why not put a light between the plants as well?
never used CO2 but 30 minutes of use sounds to me like a waste of time. the plant needs the CO2 all the time, not for 30 minutes.
if you vent it out after 30 minutes i don't think i would do much.

you should put time released nutes in the last month of growth. when you don't do that there isn't much time release nutes left to flush by the end of its life cicle.
 
welsh wizz

welsh wizz

Well-Known Member
CO2 why? There is loads in the air already unless you got an oak tree in there, if you were running 1000w bulbs with lots and lots of plants or high temps then the plants would benefit from it.

Dont flush time release it just releases more ferts.
 
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