First attempt at growing

So, this is my first time growing, and I thought I would post about my progress on this board, mainly for advice/criticism. I have done a lot of research (a good two months worth) and have loads of notes, but no experience in growing. So this grow is really for learning purposes, I am not too worried about yield right now. I am growing 5 feminized trainwreck seeds, they were germinated on 11/18 and they were put in soil on 11/21. I am only going to keep one of these plants, due to space and lighting concerns. Here are a few pictures, the first one was taken yesterday morning (11/23)


They are sitting under 2 23w 6500k CFLs, but by this weekend after I get two more clamp lamps there will be two more, and there will only be one plant. The soil I am using is Roots Organic.

I have one thing I am unsure of, how much water should I pour into the solo cups? I understand I should only water 2-3 times a week, but I am unsure of the amount.

Any advice/criticism would be appreciated, thanks.

You are right adding more lights. I would go for some higher wattage ones if you can... Be sure and punch drain holes in those solo cups for drainage and aeration. As far as water goes just keep them moist and they will be fine. One thing I have learned is no nutrients at all and not even in potting soil. I am in my 4th. week and tips are brown on new growth. I have decided it is slight nutrient burn. Dont be surprised if you have to repot in a couple of weeks. When I repotted I just went straight to my final size pot, no need for constant repotting. Check lings out in my Sig, and good luck!

Yup, when I flower this plant, it will be surrounded with 400w of 2700k 48" t8's

Sorry to double post, but thought I should just resurrect my old thread, rather than create a new one. This could be paranoia, but not sure, is it normal for sprouts to wilt or become droopy minutes after watering? Oh and in case anyone wondered, the leaves are wet because I misted them, that was my first time misting the sprouts. This is my second time watering, and this is the second time they have became droopy. The colors never change, they stay a nice green. Pic included.

How far away is your light?

yeah it's normal for them to get droopy when you water them.

As well as what bblzs said regarding the light...how much did you water them and how dry were they before you watered? I have found that if the plants arent too thirsty and you water them, they get "drunk" on water and start to sag. If they are staying green and your lights are at least 4-6 inches away its most likely just the water.

I am like you, have read/learned a lot, but havent really had much experience in growing. Got my first girl going now (out of 3 starters ) under all CFLs, waiting to see how it turns out, then gonna start my own journal/blog here for my next grow.

Subbing this to keep track of your success. Good luck mate!

bblzs said:

How far away is your light?

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Right now I have 4 cfl's on them, with an average distance of about 4 inches away, a couple of my clip lamp bezels won't come off, so I had a hard time getting them rather close. Am I assuming your reffering to how far its stretching? or that they are droopy after watering?

rollandtoke said:

As well as what bblzs said regarding the light...how much did you water them and how dry were they before you watered? I have found that if the plants arent too thirsty and you water them, they get "drunk" on water and start to sag. If they are staying green and your lights are at least 4-6 inches away its most likely just the water.

I am like you, have read/learned a lot, but havent really had much experience in growing. Got my first girl going now (lf 3 starters ), waiting to see how it turns out, then gonna start my own journal/blog here.

Subbing this to keep track of your success.

Click to expand...

4-6 inches away is 3-5inches to far away. You want CFL bulbs 1-2 inches from your plant. The rule of thumb I use, is put your hand on top of the plant. Get the light as close as you can to your hand with out it being uncomfortable. That's how far away your light should be.

bamfrivet said:

4-6 inches away is 3-5inches to far away. You want CFL bulbs 1-2 inches from your plant. The rule of thumb I use, is put your hand on top of the plant. Get the light as close as you can to your hand with out it being uncomfortable. That's how far away your light should be.

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These bulbs I have though burn a little warm. I am guessing 4 inches, but even then I did the whole putting my hand over the plants to feel the heat, and it gets pretty warm for how far they are positioned. I do have a sprout sitting about 2 inches under 2 CFL's and another good 4 away from the other 2, but again like I said that is because of the lamp bezels.

I am not sure if its the light though, in a few hours they will perk back up and what not.

bamfrivet said:

4-6 inches away is 3-5inches to far away. You want CFL bulbs 1-2 inches from your plant. The rule of thumb I use, is put your hand on top of the plant. Get the light as close as you can to your hand with out it being uncomfortable. That's how far away your light should be.

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It is too far away if you use 14 and 20 watt lights but if you use 23/26/40 watt cfl's 4-6 inches is good. like you said, go on the hand test. I judge it based on the ventilation available, less ventilation, more distance away. While I personally can test with my hands, I cant exactly reach his grow, so based on lighting/venting provide an offer/estimate.

Plus if you keep it 1-2 inches away on top you are gonna stunt your height some....putting it 4-6 gives it room to grow without stretching too much.

sinclairdankton said:

These bulbs I have though burn a little warm. I am guessing 4 inches, but even then I did the whole putting my hand over the plants to feel the heat, and it gets pretty warm for how far they are positioned. I do have a sprout sitting about 2 inches under 2 CFL's and another good 4 away from the other 2, but again like I said that is because of the lamp bezels.

I am not sure if its the light though, in a few hours they will perk back up and what not.

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sorry for the double post...but as far as your heat, I personally have 2 4-inch fans that are hanging in my cab, next to (and below) the lights, blowing upward, it helps remove some of he excess heat without much effort...they cost 3 bux at the wally world.

Update! My plants are getting a little bigger Today they are going to be transplanted to 5 gallon pots. I am having one small problem though, the leaves are curling up. I checked to make sure the lights weren't too close. The only thing I could think of, is the humidity may be low. The room is heated by a small space heater, its a good 80 degrees in the room, but it feels a little dry. I currently have no way of measuring humidity. Does anyone agree with me?

just so you know ive used t8's for some time now and I think you can get alot better results with t5 simply because they output more light with a smaller bulb if you get high output system ive heard they work really well

and you should hae transplanted those plants in those dixie cups once the leaves start to get bigger then their container diametre then you should repot to proly a 2 or 3 gallon

if that didnt make sense i was telling you to replant the ones in dixie cups into 2-3gallon pots lol

Update! with problems and pictures from a better camera!

Ok, so a couple things. First of all, I have moved the plants to 5 gal. pots, they are growing and loving it. Secondly, I finally bought a pH kit, should have definitely done that before I started this, but now I did. The water I was feeding these plants, was at a pH of 8! So the last time they were watered, the pH was corrected to 6.5. The first two plants seem to be responding well, and do not have that dark green color, the leaves don't have the "crispy" dry feeling, the leaves aren't twisting anymore, and growth started happening again.



Now, I decided to keep a third plant, at first I didn't think I would have room and lights to support a third, but I found space in the budget. This plant was transplanted to a 5 gal. pot on Monday, this one has some problems. I transplanted it monday, and watered a little with pH corrected water, and today I watered like usual. This one I was guessing may be root bound because it was in the solo cup for so long, and when I pulled it out of the cup, there was a ring of roots at the bottom of the soil.



This one has that dry feeling to the leaves. Also, while it was in the solo cup, it has what looks to me like a burn spot:


Also, the bottom of the plant is starting to turn yellow, this started to happen AFTER I transplanted



So for now, I assume it was a pH problem, and so I am going to wait it out. If anyone has advice they would like to share, I would be glad to hear it