Absolute Beginner Questions

Q1: I have white tips on 2 leaves. Plant is 5 weeks old. Last week I gave it a half dose of GeoFlora. I’ve done searches on white tips and answers are all over the place. Some say it’s bad and others say nothing to worry about. So, I’ll ask here: what are the white tips a result of? Nutrient burn? If so, do I hold off on giving them anymore GeoFlora next week? What do I need to do (if anything)?

Q2: Looks like it should be warm enough at night to leave them outside – read / heard that as long as above 55F, they should be ok. Accurate?

Q3: Still trying to figure out the possibility of setting up a grow tent. One MAJOR concern is the potential smell. How well do the carbon filters get rid of the smell? Worried that my books will absorb the odor. Has anyone had this kind of issue? If so, how did you solve the problem?

Need more info. What's the medium? What/how much did you feed?
Seedlings don't need much food at all. Unless it's coco I won't feed for the first couple waterings. When I do it's super low ppm. 250-350ppm then up it as needed.
55 is the lower end of acceptable. It's cold. Metabolism slows in cold temps. Plants/roots can become stunted and grow slowly. Can you do it? Yes. Should you keep them a bit warmer. Prob for the best ya. Should be over 15° min at night especially for small plants/seedlings.
Carbon filters work and eliminate most of not all of the smell. Nothing is perfect. Smells leak, especially when you're working in the open tent. Temp, airflow, humidity all contribute to how well the filter will perform. Always buy a larger size than your fan. Eg 420cfm fan. Buy a 500cfm filter. The longer the air contacts the carbon the more smell is eliminated. Don't cheap out on a filter if you're concerned about smell. Kootenay, vortex, phresh, mountain air, are all good filters with large carbon beds (2"+ is recommended)
If you're ultra concerned you can vent outside and run an Inline ozone generator which would kill all the smell.

Hawk518 said:

Q1: I have white tips on 2 leaves. Plant is 5 weeks old. Last week I gave it a half dose of GeoFlora. I’ve done searches on white tips and answers are all over the place. Some say it’s bad and others say nothing to worry about. So, I’ll ask here: what are the white tips a result of? Nutrient burn? If so, do I hold off on giving them anymore GeoFlora next week? What do I need to do (if anything)?

Q2: Looks like it should be warm enough at night to leave them outside – read / heard that as long as above 55F, they should be ok. Accurate?

Q3: Still trying to figure out the possibility of setting up a grow tent. One MAJOR concern is the potential smell. How well do the carbon filters get rid of the smell? Worried that my books will absorb the odor. Has anyone had this kind of issue? If so, how did you solve the problem?View attachment 5296220

Click to expand...

What medium are you growing in?
Looks hungry for Nitrogen to me

That’s 5 weeks old? Needs light.

i would never give them anything but proper PH water at that stage...

Can't help with the white other than check for bugs.
Leave them out all night? Sure, just have something to cover them with if there's going to be frost.
Yes, a decent carbon filter will totally take care of the smell.

The cotyledons are white - the seedling has used up its stored energy- now it needs food.

Hawk518 said:

Q1: I have white tips on 2 leaves. Plant is 5 weeks old. Last week I gave it a half dose of GeoFlora. I’ve done searches on white tips and answers are all over the place. Some say it’s bad and others say nothing to worry about. So, I’ll ask here: what are the white tips a result of? Nutrient burn? If so, do I hold off on giving them anymore GeoFlora next week? What do I need to do (if anything)?

Q2: Looks like it should be warm enough at night to leave them outside – read / heard that as long as above 55F, they should be ok. Accurate?

Q3: Still trying to figure out the possibility of setting up a grow tent. One MAJOR concern is the potential smell. How well do the carbon filters get rid of the smell? Worried that my books will absorb the odor. Has anyone had this kind of issue? If so, how did you solve the problem?View attachment 5296220

Click to expand...

Tell us about your light.

That plant has some issues, for its size it should be two weeks old, not 5 weeks. Certainly need more info, very light green color, I have a feeling it’s a watering issue, that may have damaged the roots, so at this point they’re not pulling in enough nutrients.

Thanks so much for all the feedback! I’ll try to give more info so can figure out the issues and how to fix them. On Tuesday (6/6/23), it will be 6 weeks since I started germination. While inside, I had them under an LED light (stats in pic) that I’m guessing wasn’t the right kind?

Jjgrow420 said:

Need more info. What's the medium? What/how much did you feed?
Seedlings don't need much food at all. Unless it's coco I won't feed for the first couple waterings. When I do it's super low ppm. 250-350ppm then up it as needed.

Click to expand...

These two plants are planted in 1 gallon fabric grow pots. Used an organic potting soil mixed w. coco coir. Added a half dose of GeoFlora Veg nearly two weeks ago. Had planned on a full dose this week (depending on feedback). Your comment brings up another Q: are they considered seedlings by age or size?

hotrodharley said:

That’s 5 weeks old? Needs light.

Click to expand...

Took them outside in sunlight on May 11. Kept them outside during the day and put under LED lights at night for approx. 18 hours of light a day. Started leaving them outside overnight as well during the last week.

Antidote Man said:

i would never give them anything but proper PH water at that stage...

Click to expand...

So, I shouldn’t be giving them any nutrients at all right now? At what point should I start giving them the GeoFlora Veg?

Bud man 43 said:

The cotyledons are white - the seedling has used up its stored energy- now it needs food.

Click to expand...

So, I should be giving them a full does of GeoFlora Veg this week (2 weeks after first half dose)?

Phytoplankton said:

That plant has some issues, for its size it should be two weeks old, not 5 weeks. Certainly need more info, very light green color, I have a feeling it’s a watering issue, that may have damaged the roots, so at this point they’re not pulling in enough nutrients.

Click to expand...

These plants definitely have some issues. They’re both very small for their age. They were both leggy and I buried a lot of their stems when I transplanted to the 1 gallon pots. I’ve bought a soil meter to gauge ph and when to water, so hopefully, no more watering issues.

curious2garden said:

Tell us about your light.

Click to expand...

As of the last week or so, they've been outside day/night. Before that they were under an LED light.


Once again, thanks for all the replies. Greatly appreciated! Totally new to this (and to gardening in general), but have somehow become obsessed with trying to grow a couple plants. If I can keep them alive thru the flower stage and get any buds at all, I'll count that as a Victory! And hopefully, things will be much smoother on second attempt. I'm posting pics of the plants, the soil and LED light used.

Once they're around 12 inches is how i do it. i consider that around the large seedling/small plant stage. And I would only give them minimal amounts, smaller than recommended, until they're in bigger pots and turning into fully mature plants..

Those kids need to lay off the coffee and cigarettes.

Hawk518 said:

Thanks so much for all the feedback! I’ll try to give more info so can figure out the issues and how to fix them. On Tuesday (6/6/23), it will be 6 weeks since I started germination. While inside, I had them under an LED light (stats in pic) that I’m guessing wasn’t the right kind?



These two plants are planted in 1 gallon fabric grow pots. Used an organic potting soil mixed w. coco coir. Added a half dose of GeoFlora Veg nearly two weeks ago. Had planned on a full dose this week (depending on feedback). Your comment brings up another Q: are they considered seedlings by age or size?



Took them outside in sunlight on May 11. Kept them outside during the day and put under LED lights at night for approx. 18 hours of light a day. Started leaving them outside overnight as well during the last week.



So, I shouldn’t be giving them any nutrients at all right now? At what point should I start giving them the GeoFlora Veg?



So, I should be giving them a full does of GeoFlora Veg this week (2 weeks after first half dose)?



These plants definitely have some issues. They’re both very small for their age. They were both leggy and I buried a lot of their stems when I transplanted to the 1 gallon pots. I’ve bought a soil meter to gauge ph and when to water, so hopefully, no more watering issues.



As of the last week or so, they've been outside day/night. Before that they were under an LED light.


Once again, thanks for all the replies. Greatly appreciated! Totally new to this (and to gardening in general), but have somehow become obsessed with trying to grow a couple plants. If I can keep them alive thru the flower stage and get any buds at all, I'll count that as a Victory! And hopefully, things will be much smoother on second attempt. I'm posting pics of the plants, the soil and LED light used.


View attachment 5296805View attachment 5296806View attachment 5296807View attachment 5296808View attachment 5296809View attachment 5296810View attachment 5296811

Click to expand...

The light explains how a 5 week plant can be so stunted; it draws a whopping 15 watts.
That's inadequate for a healthy seedling, let alone a 5 week old plant.

Billy the Mountain said:

The light explains how a 5 week plant can be so stunted; it draws a whopping 15 watts.
That's inadequate for a healthy seedling, let alone a 5 week old plant.

Click to expand...

Thank you!! Had posted about the lights somewhere and was told it was fine for starting. Sorry for the stupid Q, but how can you tell from the label that its only drawing 15 watts? And how many watts should an LED light draw for seedling stage?

Hawk518 said:

Thank you!! Had posted about the lights somewhere and was told it was fine for starting. Sorry for the stupid Q, but how can you tell from the label that its only drawing 15 watts?

Click to expand...

If you mean that three headed light divide the total of 90W between the three heads to 30W/head then if you have one as opposed to both switches on your about 15W/head.

Did you have all three heads on that 1 seedling and all switches turned on?

If it helps I run 250 W seedlings (dimmed to around 30W), 485 W veg (dimmed to about 240W) and 713 W flower (dimmed to about 360W for the moment) all are LEDs

I use Photone to dial in my light intensity (phone app) Here's about what you need in PPFD for your plants at which stage:

Hawk518 said:

Thank you!! Had posted about the lights somewhere and was told it was fine for starting. Sorry for the stupid Q, but how can you tell from the label that its only drawing 15 watts? And how many watts should an LED light draw for seedling stage?

Click to expand...

That light is 15 watts total according to the label.
15 watts = 5 volts * 3 amps

The "Power = Max 90W" line on the label is meaningless and simply marketing b.s.
90W @ 5V would require a 20 amp power supply, not remotely plausible.

Billy the Mountain said:

That light is 15 watts total according to the label.
15 watts = 5 volts * 3 amps

The "Power = Max 90W" line on the label is meaningless and simply marketing b.s.
90W @ 5V would require a 20 amp power supply, not remotely plausible.

Click to expand...

Good eye!

curious2garden said:

Did you have all three heads on that 1 seedling and all switches turns on?

Click to expand...

Pretty sure that’s the same LED light I have. My wife had just bought it for her veggie seedlings. I used all the heads on the two plants. I’m guessing I made it worse by using the blue light for the 3 wands for a while since I’d read that blue light was better for seedlings / veg. I then switched to the red/blue option for all 3 heads when I was told that they needed more than just blue light. And then outside in sunlight.

Billy the Mountain said:

That light is 15 watts total according to the label.
15 watts = 5 volts * 3 amps

The "Power = Max 90W" line on the label is meaningless and simply marketing b.s.
90W @ 5V would require a 20 amp power supply, not remotely plausible.

Click to expand...

Thanks again for spelling this out!! Greatly appreciated!

7/15/23 - These 2 (GDP & THC Bomb) are nearly 12 weeks old now. Didn’t really start to grow until they got a couple doses of GeoFlora nutrients. My question is very basic – what do I do now? What is the next step here (besides patience)? Low Stress Training? Fim? Just leave them alone?

As always, any help / advice is greatly appreciated!

It's normal for newly rooting clones/seedlings to show weird leaf issues, particularly the thin white edges you showed, depending on conditions etc. It is not going to kill your clone, its something the plant will grow past and then you just pluck the affected leaf.

Outdoors 55 °F is fine, it's a bit cold but shouldn't hurt them just consider frost and protect against it using some type of cover/canopy.

Carbon filters would be setup in the tent so the air in the tent is always pulled through a carbon filter with a slight vacuum effect (inlet fan a little lower speed than exhaust fan), the carbon in the filter will absorb all the smells and leave you with fresh air. Pretty simple, just remember carbon filters require change out every couple years to be good at what they do in my experience.