First grow evar! Skunk #1 in soil under CFL (Organic)

True, I'm seeing more progress every day, I just really want to open the closet and have it magically be ready

Meryl's 3rd true node has started today, along with Naomi's 2nd. I've noticed they're drinking awfully. I opened the door after work today and the entire pot was bone dry! One of Meryl's leaves started to yellow a little bit, so I watered with just regular water for now.

I've moved them into a different closet which is more confined and easier to seal off in terms of light leakage, this should help with my cubic feet woes.

Hey DK, I like what you've got goin so far. CFL FTW! Just curious, what's the light array in the pic that is posted below your name? Looks like 4 blue cfls and 2 purple (black light/uv)?

Actually it's just my current setup. 4x 6700k 23w and 2x 2000k 21w, but I was fucking with them in photoshop and it just kinda looked cool.

Day 15

Getting excited here, just ordered some FF nutes yesterday and it looks they'll be here just in time.

Meryl is looking awesome! I kind of burned her a little bit the other day, but I started flushing here the minute I saw some yellow forming and managed to save most of her, but the tips on the first node are pretty much done for.

Other than that slight catstraophe she's doing great, 3rd node is poking out as we speak.



Naomi isn't too bad herself. 2nd node is full formed and I can clearly see a third set of leaves coming out.


Side comments: This dirt SUCKS! Don't ever buy EarthGro, spend the bills and get something better. This is basically mud in a bag.

I've moved them into a smaller closet where the light will have less room to escape and they've been looking kind of short so I raised the lights up to see if they'll stretch out just a bit more..

QUESTIONS: What is a good brand of soil to buy that's good for seedlings (read: not hot with nutes) and I can locate at a local garden shop?

Also, couldn't afford to get Ocean Forest because nobody within 50 miles of this little-ass town I live in carries FoxFarm or even knows what it is. I tried to order some and found out it would cost twice as much to ship it due to the weight.

Comments? Tips?

EDIT: Pics were too embiggened, posted as attachments

llokign good you shouldnt use nutes that early kause then that happens bro

Yeah, I now realize the error of my ways.

Are they a good size for 2 weeks out of the ground or should I be concerned about something going wrong? I was reading about how to make a CO2 emitter from a bottle and I think I might be adding that soon.

Day 19

Two words: They're dying

I transplanted them into some Scott's soil a couple days ago because they couldn't breathe in that EarthGro and I think the soil might be a bit too hot. Naomi has been getting more yellow every day and I don't think I can save her, Meryl is still growing well, but the outsides of her biggest leaves are turning yellow too.

What should I do? Is it too late to save them?

+REP FOR HALP

Dude those are unfortunately true runts for 19 days. What are your temps? Also how often have you been watering? Those plants don't need to be watered more than once a week at the most at that size unless you are in an extremely arid desert like climate.

Soil is too wet from what i see, the yellowing could be over watering as well. If your roots are in a mud pit, its too wet. About once every 1 - 1 1/2 weeks in my experience is fine until they grow at least 3 point leaves.

I'm pretty sure I've been overwatering. Transplanted to fresh soil and I've been leaving them alone. They don't seem to be getting worse, so that's a good sign. One of the leaves on Meryl is curling a little bit, so I'm not sure what to do here.

+REP FOR AN ANSWER ON THIS: They're obviously stunted as hell, what could be causing this and what would the solution be?

It is the overwatering that has causd the stunting. Transplanting will make them a little shocked, so let them be for 3-4 days now, look in by all means but don't try to do anything to them.

A side effect of overwatering a young plant is that the soil is tighter and harder for roots to push through, the size of your above ground plant is directly related to the size of your below ground roots. Bear in mind that transplanting will mean the roots will need a bit of time to settle in, so best to just sit it out and wait.

In my experience it is pretty hard to kill a plant, but very easy to over care for it and leave it stunted, I have also found that early stunting can carry through and affect the plant for it's whole life. My first grow was 3 plants, one of which was strong from the start, one was average and one I overwatered early and the roots were always struggling. I threw that plant out at about 4 weeks as it was never going to come close to the others. The 2nd plant had also had a little early overwatering and as a result it came out about 2/3 the yield of the best plant.

The curling on meryl is just a reaction to the transplant, I would say do not water but lightly mist once a day for 4 days and see if you see signs of recovery. Do not water the plants until you lift the pot and it feels substantially lighter than usual (I use weight, rather than other means to decide when to water, although I water more than most as I have a heating pad under my flowering plants)

Thanks a ton. I've been leaving them alone like you said and they aren't getting worse (which I'm guessing is a good sign). I added more perlite to the soil when I transplanted so hopefully it will drain better, but I'm also laying off the water in general.

I just got some FF Grow Big in the mail today, so I guess I'll have to wait to try it out, but I did mist the leaves with it (albeit a very diluted mixture), so now I just have to wait and see how they respond.

Pics coming as soon as something happens

UPDATE:

Day 28

Ok, they're not dying anymore. At least Meryl isn't. Naomi isn't looking to good. I was adjusting a light strip and it fell right on top of her. I managed to pick it up, but she still doesn't look too good. She has some brown patches on some of her leaves and I don't know what to do.

Meryl is still small as hell, but she looks like she's doing better. I cut back on the watering and have been leaving them the fuck alone a lot. Meryl is starting to develop five-point leaves, but she's still pretty little. Looks like she's doing better, though. I've been giving her some small amounts of FF Grow Big when I water and she seems to like it. She's starting to show pre-flowers (as tiny as she is), so I can tell she's definitely a girl. If I were to put her into 12/12 right now I think I might be able to harvest a bowl

I started up a new baby in a new grow environment. I saw another thread where a guy lined a rubbermaid bin with mylar and used the A/C suction vent to provide ventillation. seemed like a good idea, so that's what I'm doing now. Her name is Dixie Kong and I've got this little seedling just a couple days out of teh ground and she's looking good. Currently in a mylar-lined rubbermaid bin next to the A/C duct to suck out the stale air. Hopefully she'll have an easier upbringing than my girls right now. She's under 2 5000k 23w and one 2700k 23w CFL right now. I may be adding a larger bulb to the mix to really blast some light down when she gets bigger, but I think this is plenty of light right now. She's vegging in some organic soil called Garden State I found that's VERY low on nutes and is at the exact pH it should be.

Also, I bought a moisture meter at the local garden shop. Best $3 I ever spent. No more overwatering for the Dumpster Keeper!

Any input on how to not kill Dixie?

got any recent pics? I'd let them go for a week or so more before you consider flowering them.

How many nodes do they have?

think your little seedling is a lil stunted by a few weeks, try using more cfls or just make a veg chamber out of rubbermaid it works really well i have a mss super skunk and a ak48 i just threw in flower a couple days ago they were 23 days from seed and were about 6-7 inches, and only a 35 gal rubbermaid laid sideways with a powerstrip and 3 27 watt daylights works well and growth is incredible.

I ended up making a rubbermaid bin for a new seedling, I'll probably end up doing the same for these two

Any new photos?

Sorry for the absence, but I have good news: THEY LIVE

Got some new soil (Garden State organic or something is what it's called) and I've been feeding FF nutes to the girls.

Day 31

Meryl has definitely recovered, still kinda small, but it looks like any damage so far has been repaired. She's already showing preflowers, but I guessed as much since they were feminized seeds. I've put her in a closet by herself and she's been thriving. All of the leaves right now have five points, and they seem to be getting bigger by the hour at this point. She's been receiving FF Grow Big every time the soil dries up, same goes for Naomi




Naomi is recovered from all the trauma and seems to be picking up the pace, it looks like she might need a bit more time to bounce back, but all in all she's looking healthy again. I've got her growing in a 20gal rubbermaid bin lined with mylar and 4 CFLs, she's gOt a roommate as well.



I started up a new skunk plant a few days ago and she's looking really good already, no pics since she isn't that interesting yet, but I'll keep ya posted.

Any suggestions on getting Naomi and Meryl to grow bigger now that we're out of the woods?

Also, when should I top/fim Meryl? She's starting to grow quickly and I think the time might be right, but I don't know if that would stress her more.

ill be watching this thread they looked a little shocked/overcared for at first thats why its always best to plant everything slowly before you start and watch other threads xD but they look to be starting super good now so im excited to see harvest the rubbermaid grow never appealed me though i love the PC grow box have you considered that?

nice job on bringing them back from the other side bro. a lil more time and they will completly pull out of it and explode into growth. and i personly dont top my plants unless they growing way to tall for there box. its all up to you. she will definetly bush out thou.