crispy leaves...first grow...please help??? picz included

luciferateme

luciferateme

Active Member
they should only be getting watered when they need it, looks like your foliar spraying and theres no air movemnet over the plants. thats causing them problems with the roots as stated(up against chicken shit), no fresh air, baking under the lights and droplets of water burning the leaves. put yourself in the plants place, that would kill me never mind a seedling. they are very sensitive.
biggest problem with first time growers is overwatering and nuting way too early(i know nutes in soil just generalising). also what water are you using is it tap water and are you letting it sit because the chlorine could be causing the plant to commit hari kari too.
lu
second grows are always the best dont worry about your first one too much, like sex gets better with experience.
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
luciferateme said:
they should only be getting watered when they need it, looks like your foliar spraying and theres no air movemnet over the plants. thats causing them problems with the roots as stated(up against chicken shit), no fresh air, baking under the lights and droplets of water burning the leaves. put yourself in the plants place, that would kill me never mind a seedling. they are very sensitive.
biggest problem with first time growers is overwatering and nuting way too early(i know nutes in soil just generalising). also what water are you using is it tap water and are you letting it sit because the chlorine could be causing the plant to commit hari kari too.
lu
second grows are always the best dont worry about your first one too much, like sex gets better with experience.
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I have an 10" fan at the bottom of my tent blowing upwards. The wind doesn't directly hit the plants but the air circulation seems to.be good. As far as my water goes I have been using rain water with. A Ph of around 6.5-6.8. I hope that is good. I also have an air purify outside of the tent.
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
jawbrodt said:
It wouldn't exact be called "clogging", it's be more of a "hotspot", burning the roots, due to uneven soil mixing. Seriously though, I start germing more seeds, because even if you do get this problem figured out, that plant is going to take a long time to bounce back.
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I'm started germing up some more yesterday just in case these were to die. I'm gonna try using the "super soil" method with the new ones. If this one starts to bounce back, would translating into this new mix be too harmful?
 
luciferateme

luciferateme

Active Member
just give it time to get over its initial shock and then transplant, this one might not be finished yet, i hope it isnt. these plants can pull through some bad times with gusto. a lot of plants that start badly can sometimes do better than plants that have been doing ok. i use rain water aswell when its available. all the time in ireland!. the best thing with seedlings is not to have the soil too wet and i never spray the leaves, i know some do. if you dont want to post questions on the forum you can pm me anytime with any questions. to be honest i would not try the super soil method until you get a couple of grows under your belt, this way you will find out a lot more info on growing along the way. as long as you use a good quality sterilized soil you should be ok, personally i would just put your seedlings into seedling soil and when they are a nice size(10-12 days) transplant into a growing soil.
good luck
lu
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
So it has been three days since my last post. The ones that were dying seem to be doing better. The leaves that were yellowish/brown fell off and what seems like two stems are starting to sprout out the tops. So overall i think they are getting healthier with time. As far as the ones i started germing, they just sprouted above the soil, so i'm excited to see how they start growing as well. Thank you guys for your on going help and I will keep posting until they have made a full recovery. :)
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
jawbrodt said:
We can't see the pics. :)


Also, are you sure those aren't 23 watt CFLs, with "100 watt equivalent"? Huge difference, so it's good to be sure. Always go by actual wattage, when using CFLs.
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Hey jawbrodt, I had a question to you about lighting. I was wondering what type of schedule should my lights be during veg? I have them on 24/0 now but wanna know whens a good time to switch to a 19/5 or 18/6? Hope to hear from you soon.
 
rosecitypapa

rosecitypapa

Active Member
There's a controversy over which is schedule is most effective. 20/4 and 18/6 are proposed as more natural that include a cycle of rest which like every living creature needs.
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
You can switch to 18/6(or whichever schedule you choose) whenever you want, without any problems. As mentioned above me, there's some arguements for both 24/0 and 18/6, both having their benefits. I've used both, and didn't notice any real difference using 24/0, convincing me that the dark period is quite beneficial, and opposed to depriving plants of it, for a slight increase in growth speed.(which doesn't always happen) I found 19/5 to work excellent, and will be using that for a long time. Running 24/0, I didn't find anywhere near a 33% increased growth rate,(more like 5-10%, in my case) reflecting the 33% increased electricity useage, so I dropped that schedule.
 
seasmoke

seasmoke

Active Member
Bird said the humidity was 40%...don't you guys think thats to low for seedlings? It looks to me that they just dried out...the leaves I mean. I like my humidity around 60% in the veg room, But for seedlings and clones I like to use a dome and get the humidity up around 90% for a week or so...
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
seasmoke said:
Bird said the humidity was 40%...don't you guys think thats to low for seedlings? It looks to me that they just dried out...the leaves I mean. I like my humidity around 60% in the veg room, But for seedlings and clones I like to use a dome and get the humidity up around 90% for a week or so...
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Yes my humidity is around 40%. It has been dropping lately and my temps seems to be around 80 now. The new seedlings are looking okay as they have only been in the party cups for 2 days now. If i need to increase my humidity ill put a dome on tonight.
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
jawbrodt said:
You can switch to 18/6(or whichever schedule you choose) whenever you want, without any problems. As mentioned above me, there's some arguements for both 24/0 and 18/6, both having their benefits. I've used both, and didn't notice any real difference using 24/0, convincing me that the dark period is quite beneficial, and opposed to depriving plants of it, for a slight increase in growth speed.(which doesn't always happen) I found 19/5 to work excellent, and will be using that for a long time. Running 24/0, I didn't find anywhere near a 33% increased growth rate,(more like 5-10%, in my case) reflecting the 33% increased electricity useage, so I dropped that schedule.
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Starting monday i'm going to change them to a 18/6. Just to see how that works out for me. I noticed that you had a t8 6 bulb fixture. I dont need one quite that big as this is just a small experimental grow, but where would you recommend getting one with a good ballast. I am currently just using 6 26 watt 6500k CFLs. Dont have them in any type of reflecting hood but they are in a mylar walled room...
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
^I have to say that I'm not a really big fan of T8's, even though I use them, myself. The model that I use, is the only model I've seen that is acceptable, in both output and reflector design. As I'm guessing you've read...most regular T8 shoplights come with cheap ballasts, which really reduce output?(20+% less than the better quality ballasts are capable of) IMO, any reduction is almost unacceptable, because they are barelly acceptable running at full output, let alone, reduced. But, I want to add that almost any shoplight will work fine, until the plants get past 10" or so, where they'll start stretching, do to the weak light penetration. Veg them small, and they work great. If you have the option, go with T5's, they work great(as long as they're kept within 1/2" - 2" of the tops), or another really good option, is to place a 42 watt CFL directly above each plant, with one of those aluminum cone reflectors. I'm seriously considering going with 65 watt CFLs, setup like that, from now on. 42's will work, but with flouros, more is always better.

Also, I want to stress the importance of reflectors, vs. mylar lined walls. Once your light travels more than a few inches(4 or more), it's pretty much wasted, and of little use to the plants. So, if you think about it, a CFL hanging above a plant, without a reflector, is losing ALOT of output, possibly more than 50%, because it's not immediately reflected downwards. By the time it's been reflected off the walls, it's way too weak to be very helpful, even though it LOOKS bright, to you or I. Test it with a light meter once, you'll be surprised. For example, a 26 watt CFL might be around 2500 lumens, at 1" distance, and at 5", it would be less than 1000 lumens,(closer to 500, actually) which isn't sufficient for healthy plant growth.(see "inverse square law", for details) You want to shoot for at least a 3000 lumen output, reaching your tops, if you want nice bushy plants. Get much under that, and the stretching begins. Light placement, is everything, especially with fluoros, and to not use a reflector, is wasting light you can't really afford to lose. Just food for thought... :wink:

I'm sorry, I wish I could point you towards a a good-quality ballast, but to be honest, I just got lucky when I bought my lights, years ago. I found out later, that they contained higher-output ballasts, and it was an unintentional choice. Go with T5's or big CFLs, if you can. If not, go as big as you can, and keep 'em as close as you can. That's your best bet, IMO. :)
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
jawbrodt said:
^I have to say that I'm not a really big fan of T8's, even though I use them, myself. The model that I use, is the only model I've seen that is acceptable, in both output and reflector design. As I'm guessing you've read...most regular T8 shoplights come with cheap ballasts, which really reduce output?(20+% less than the better quality ballasts are capable of) IMO, any reduction is almost unacceptable, because they are barelly acceptable running at full output, let alone, reduced. But, I want to add that almost any shoplight will work fine, until the plants get past 10" or so, where they'll start stretching, do to the weak light penetration. Veg them small, and they work great. If you have the option, go with T5's, they work great(as long as they're kept within 1/2" - 2" of the tops), or another really good option, is to place a 42 watt CFL directly above each plant, with one of those aluminum cone reflectors. I'm seriously considering going with 65 watt CFLs, setup like that, from now on. 42's will work, but with flouros, more is always better.

Also, I want to stress the importance of reflectors, vs. mylar lined walls. Once your light travels more than a few inches(4 or more), it's pretty much wasted, and of little use to the plants. So, if you think about it, a CFL hanging above a plant, without a reflector, is losing ALOT of output, possibly more than 50%, because it's not immediately reflected downwards. By the time it's been reflected off the walls, it's way too weak to be very helpful, even though it LOOKS bright, to you or I. Test it with a light meter once, you'll be surprised. For example, a 26 watt CFL might be around 2500 lumens, at 1" distance, and at 5", it would be less than 1000 lumens,(closer to 500, actually) which isn't sufficient for healthy plant growth.(see "inverse square law", for details) You want to shoot for at least a 3000 lumen output, reaching your tops, if you want nice bushy plants. Get much under that, and the stretching begins. Light placement, is everything, especially with fluoros, and to not use a reflector, is wasting light you can't really afford to lose. Just food for thought... :wink:

I'm sorry, I wish I could point you towards a a good-quality ballast, but to be honest, I just got lucky when I bought my lights, years ago. I found out later, that they contained higher-output ballasts, and it was an unintentional choice. Go with T5's or big CFLs, if you can. If not, go as big as you can, and keep 'em as close as you can. That's your best bet, IMO. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the advice man. I am currently running 5 26 watt cfls. Only 2 have a reflector but it seems to get really hot when the reflector is in there. I have 2 4" fans, one for exhaust and one for circulation. But the temps rise to 85-87 with the reflector and 78-81 without it so i just took it out. My humidity is still low, currently at 22%, and havent found a way to increase it effectively. If you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. My cabinet is 24x14x42 and will be only using this for veg unless I can figure out a way to keep it short and bushy...as this is my first grow.
 
Bird Gymnastics

Bird Gymnastics

New Member
new2.jpgnew.jpgnew3.jpg

Sorry it took so long to post but these are my most recent pics. My other plant ended up dying and as one of you said earlier it had something stuck to the roots which caused them to basically die. Anyways this baby is looking good. She is looking already fatter then my others. I have only watered once and this one was pplanted into this cup on 3/5/2011 so its basically a week old. Tell me what yyou think. I also have been having problems with my heat when I completely seal my room. It is 2' wide x 3' tall x 1' deep. I have 2 pc fans one for intake and another for exhaust. I also have one oscilating fan inside pointed at the lights. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
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