Bag o' Schwag, first grow, closet CFL setup

Alright, the closet is cooling down VERY slowly right now, but it is cooling down. It was 111F when I got home at 5! AHHHH! It's down to 100F now, though. We'll see how much more it goes down.

I don't have many options for ventilation in the closet, so... looks like I'm fucked.

First off,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLORYFADES!!!

hey, you shouldn't have the thermometer DIRECTLY under your light, it'll be givig a false reading. the themo has to be in a shaded part of your area... I dealt with these temps as well, you can't keep your door open? that'll bring it down a lot.... hit me up!

temp gauge should be at the canopy of the plants (the top of the plants) and just open the door or something and keep it open to get it cooled down, you want it down now,,, like I mean NOW! happy bday man, whatcha doin 4 it?

someone told me that the canopy will give you a false reading

I had to keep 3 fans on, keep door open, AND turn on my A/C to get it at 75 degrees

Not sure, never heard that... canopy is usually where you want it, because its the part of the plant that gets the most heat (closest to the light) unless your using tin foil and its reflecting like a bitch, but he isnt. Basically if the canopy of your plants are at a temp of mid 70's you can basically guarantee that the rest of the plant is just a cool.

my canopy is (or was) 100 when light is on and 3 fans on, keep door open, AND turn on my A/C

I don't know what canopy temp is on mine now... check @ 7pm

if ya check out MY GROW from THIS https://www.rollitup.org/658209-post98.html point on... I also started a thread about canopy testing...

hmmm.....you know....usually cfl's dont give off much heat.....and thers no way of putting the ballast out of the grow box.....unless u have an extra cause the ballast is built into cfl's....thats why there called "compact" flouresants (no need for ballast)

Glory, do a PH test on the water that runs off of bottom the planter, this will tell you your TRUE PH, which is what the roots are getting after the nutrients have dropped the ph. I've seen Miracle Grow drop my ph down 2 or 3 whole points, so your actual ph that the roots are getting is 5 or even 4.

This is why I suggested that you go to Lowes and get some Gardening (Dolomite) Lime.
It will act with the soil to help the roots more able to take in water, ph regardless.

It costs about 4 dollars for a HUGE bag and it will make your life a LOT more easy.
I wouldn't steer ya wrong, Glory, if ya don't get the Lime it's going to be a constant battle with the ph!

*points at Home Depot*

dude those things are fried its way to hot in there u burnt them up and dont use miracle grow its to strong id say just start over

I've only been watering the surface so the roots spread out width-wise first. I'm going to try and install a computer fan to exhaust the reflector.

And I completely forgot about the lime! I'll head back to Home Depot and get some. Do I add it to the soil or to the water?

The temps were fine until yesterday. There was a definite increase once I doubled the amount of lights, and that's the first it's gone above 85F. I can't leave my door open because I'm afraid my cats will try to eat the plants, but I'll try and figure some sort of system out.

add lime to soil, right Muddy Paws? Whenyou transplant..

and i'm not an expert, but I think you could add the lime to the top of the soil andwater on top of it. it would go into the soil...

but i think it has to be thouroughly mixed into the soil

MAKE SURE YOU GET FINE DOLOMITE!!

Well I've already transplanted to the largest size pot I'll be using. I haven't had a chance to get the lime and case fan yet, but I'm able to keep the temps just below 90F at the moment. Unfortunately I've got a shitload of school work to do this week and I don't think I'll be able to nurse them back to full health until next week when everything calms down.

Muddy Paws, this will probably be a stupid question, but I've only heard you refer to large amounts of Dolomite Lime. Do they sell it in smaller packages? I don't really want to keep 40 lbs of lime in my closet.

lmao, wat would somebody need 40 lbs of lime for? maybe a murda?

jordann9e said:

add lime to soil, right Muddy Paws? Whenyou transplant..

and i'm not an expert, but I think you could add the lime to the top of the soil andwater on top of it. it would go into the soil...

but i think it has to be thouroughly mixed into the soil

MAKE SURE YOU GET FINE DOLOMITE!!

Click to expand...

You're right Jordan, if you're adding after the transplant, just work some into the top inch or two of the soil and water it down.

I got the gardening Lime..is that the same stuff?

Edit;

Glory, it's used for mainly industrial purposes, that why they have such massive bags..I'm sure you can find them in smaller quantities, though.. Just buy a bag and fill a few sandwich bags full then give the rest to the next axe murderer you run into

I actually know several murderers who are looking for quantities of lime, so this will please them!

Sadly, the lowest I can keep the temps at this point is 91F. I'm doing everything I can at the moment, just hoping these little ones can survive the heat until this weekend.

How far behind do you think my plants are? They really don't look much different from being a little over a week old.

The longer you keep them scorched the more and more you are stunting their growth. hopefully you dont have a time requirement cause your going to have to veg for longer than usual.

Glory, ru8fru is right...it's gonna take a while for your plants to get back on track. It's going to take them at least a week to get back on track, after that we'll throw a couple drops of Superthrive in the mix and get them moving a bit.

It took me 5 months to finally get hold of three females and get them this far into flowering.

You're really only learning patience at this point, Glory, but you're doing great man

most definitely doing great!