First ”stealth” micro grow (75w diy led) - all help appreaciated

Hello.

Been a long time lurker and Ive made posts during the years but I never got to grow since there always was a problem of some sort. This time I tried to turn it into action even if conditions arent ideal for the moment and temperature isnt the best.

Box: 1.6x1.6x3.2 ft
Lights: Vero 18s. 30w cold white and 75w warm white.
Medium: Gold Label special mix and added 25% perlite in ~2 gallon smart pots
Strain: OG Kush and Blue Cheese feminized

Used the wet paper towel and later put the seeds in the medium. Now I am on day 3.

Think I will veg for 2-3w before switching over to flower as I dont think they will stretch too much but sooner rather than later.

I will only top the plants and later on clean up the lower parts of the plants. Atleast thats the plan.

Only using the cold white at this stage.

I run a scrog in my grow box. Similiar size to yours. Between the space taken up by the pots and lights there isnt much room left in mine at harvest time.
Plan on doing some serious training with those girls. Good luck!

Boatguy said:

I run a scrog in my grow box. Similiar size to yours. Between the space taken up by the pots and lights there isnt much room left in mine at harvest time.
Plan on doing some serious training with those girls. Good luck!

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Yeah, we will see. Im running the lights really "low" to be able to get it very close without burning.

Lights are also hanging halfway down the tent.

Day 4.

Small changes. Leaves have gotten bigger and it looks like the second set of leaves are about to form.
Humidity is slightly low, thinking of cutting up a clear cup and use as a dome.

Day 6 above soil.

I dont know if much is happening. Still on second leaves and they grow slowly. Starting to think that something is wrong as its very slow grow?

I watered them a bit as the soil felt dry but have no real experience knowing what is wet/moist/dry.

Hopefully they will take off soon. Both plants at the same stage.

I’d top right on the 3-5 node and lst to keep ur canopy low. I wouldn’t flip either strain after about 8-12”.
I did a couple micro grows when I was young. One out of a dresser. 2nd was built out of a computer tower. Gutted it and spliced the 2 fans inside to phone chargers and ran intake/outtake with them, used the socket and wire from one of those pole lamps and a 44watt cfl. That looks like a proper grow tent and with 80 Watts/led you should be able to get pretty close. Do you have at least exaust fan for it? You can do passive intake but you’ll need an exaust fan.
I wouldn’t be watering more then 3 days apart that small unless it’s really dry. Medium usually gets very light when dried out and you want to allow to fully dry to a point I believe. I’d ask a more experienced soil grower. I’ve only ever done coco/hydro.
Next time I’d start your seeds in a rapid rooter or even rock wool.
Also I use GH RapidStart on my seedlings For awesome root growth.

Kami Samurai said:

I’d top right on the 3-5 node and lst to keep ur canopy low. I wouldn’t flip either strain after about 8-12”.
I did a couple micro grows when I was young. One out of a dresser. 2nd was built out of a computer tower. Gutted it and spliced the 2 fans inside to phone chargers and ran intake/outtake with them, used the socket and wire from one of those pole lamps and a 44watt cfl. That looks like a proper grow tent and with 80 Watts/led you should be able to get pretty close. Do you have at least exaust fan for it? You can do passive intake but you’ll need an exaust fan.
I wouldn’t be watering more then 3 days apart that small unless it’s really dry. Medium usually gets very light when dried out and you want to allow to fully dry to a point I believe. I’d ask a more experienced soil grower. I’ve only ever done coco/hydro.
Next time I’d start your seeds in a rapid rooter or even rock wool.
Also I use GH RapidStart on my seedlings For awesome root growth.

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Yes, there is an exhaust fan hooked up to a CF.

Im starting to think there is something wrong as it grow slowly. Watered some more because it feels very dry. Humidity raised to 60-70% most of the day. I honestly thought it should have atleast 3 sets of leaves now but its barely 2...

Could it be low light? But it aint stretching either...

dtrip said:

Yes, there is an exhaust fan hooked up to a CF.

Im starting to think there is something wrong as it grow slowly. Watered some more because it feels very dry. Humidity raised to 60-70% most of the day. I honestly thought it should have atleast 3 sets of leaves now but its barely 2...

Could it be low light? But it aint stretching either...

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LED Lights Guide:
https://www.dormgrow.com/grow-tips-for-led-grow-lights/
Soil Watering Guide:
https://www.alchimiaweb.com/blogen/water-marijuana-plants-soil/
Diagnose Your Plant:
https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-symptoms-pictures

https://www.growweedeasy.com/7-step-remedy

They didn’t have a lot of collective information like this when I started you kind of had to go everywhere, still do. A bit because there isn’t one awnser for all strains or even phenos at that.

Kami Samurai said:

LED Lights Guide:
https://www.dormgrow.com/grow-tips-for-led-grow-lights/
Soil Watering Guide:
https://www.alchimiaweb.com/blogen/water-marijuana-plants-soil/
Diagnose Your Plant:
https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-symptoms-pictures

https://www.growweedeasy.com/7-step-remedy

They didn’t have a lot of collective information like this when I started you kind of had to go everywhere, still do. A bit because there isn’t one awnser for all strains or even phenos at that.

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Thank you. I still dont really find the problem as they look pretty healthy except they also look small. Dont know if its strains, they seem on the smaller side. Thinking of watering until it gets run off and then leave for a few days... Right now Im watering like 150ml per plant in a circle towards the edge of the pots.

Lowered lights by 10-15cm.

dtrip said:

Thank you. I still dont really find the problem as they look pretty healthy except they also look small. Dont know if its strains, they seem on the smaller side. Thinking of watering until it gets run off and then leave for a few days... Right now Im watering like 150ml per plant in a circle towards the edge of the pots.

Lowered lights by 10-15cm.

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No problem bud. Unless you’re running a coco mix I wouldn’t flush. Especially not that early. Early burns are pretty easy to detect... they usually kill the seedling. Growth is slow at first. You could always look for a soil grow journal of the same strain and see what their experience was. Soil is the slowest medium you could use and with pots that big and plants that small it’s probably putting most of its energy into the root zone. I’m running hydro right now and my seedling are about day 7 on their 3rd set of true leaves. I would water near the base of the plant too, not around the pot.

Day 8 above soil.

I think its hard to judge plants by looking at journals, most lf the time you cant compare it to anything. Maybe Im being too hard on my plants.

First picture is the same plant. Used a lighter to get an idea of the size. Glad I didnt put 12/12 from seed.

I gave them 400ml of water each yesterday, probably not the best idea as both started to tip over but it was ”saved” by moving the dirt a little.

Gave them a quick misting each but it looked heavy on the leaves and they droop slightly.

If this isnt taking off in a week I think I will scrap and start over in hempy buckets instead.

Same plant as first pictures again. Slight growth on the leaf. Not going to water them today and maybe even hold back tomorrow.

dtrip said:

I gave them 400ml of water each yesterday, probably not the best idea as both started to tip over but it was ”saved” by moving the dirt a little.

Gave them a quick misting each but it looked heavy on the leaves and they droop slightly.

If this isnt taking off in a week I think I will scrap and start over in hempy buckets instead.

Same plant as first pictures again. Slight growth on the leaf. Not going to water them today and maybe even hold back tomorrow.

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Patience takes the longest to learn and all that. You’re still in the seedling stage you won’t start seeing rapid growth until you’re in veg, plus your only putting out 80 watt it’s not going to grow to fast.
If you want to get to flower quick you can just SOG a bunch of solo cups. If you got the seed. I’ve seen some crazy solo cup grows in coco/perlite with just flora nova and cal mag.

Day 11

Its been almost 2 full days since I watered them the last time and I think the growth being slowed down.

I start to suspect under watering because of the light medium and perlite. The first true leaf are very thin and does have a very ”papery” feel and rough texture compared to the others.

I decided to water them about 600ml each spread out. I can hear the water going down the dirt, in the funnels created. Dont know if this is another sign of very dry medium.

If they dont respond I will give them enough until I see very little run off. If the roots are pushing deep there will most likely be bone dry as I havent watered that much since the day before putting the sprouts in the dirt.

First picture is the most featured Blue Cheese and second one is the OG Kush.

Starting to think I have bugs. Great way to start my first grow.

Ive noticed some silver spots on leaf and found some tiny black things which I guess is shit their shit. Also think I noticed something small on a leaf when I opened the tent.
Pissing me off but I used Spidermite-control over the plants and soil. Hopefully I will get it fixed before I have to flower.

Day 14

Ok. Not really sure whats going on. Growth is stunt, not really happen much in the last few days.

I have found ”spots” which looks like tiny holes that begin to darken on the leaves. Doesnt appear on the newest growth but other leaves feel paper thin and rough.

OG Kush got some really weird shape on the leaf, but it doesnt seem as bitten as the Blue Cheese.

I decided to give them some water today and begun with the normal amount of 500ml each but I decided to dont give a damn so I watered some more.

I ended up giving them 1500ml(!)/1.5l each and there was still no run off, only slightly moist.

Now I use this as a trial and error run. If it takes off thats nice and if it doesnt I can grow in hempy buckets instead and hopefully without any damn pests.

Day 18

Made a post in plant problems and it was suggested it was a issue with low light. I turned everything on, 105w with 1/2 cold/warm white. Things almost happen instantly.

Temps is getting a problem but canopy is <85f in the lights. In the shade under the plants its 82f. I see either slightly heat stress with minor v-shaping or they are stretch for the lights, almost looke like they are shaping up like a bowl towards the light.

Did my first lst training today with a simple bend. Before picture is yesterday.

OG Kush seems to have problem. Deformed growth. Not sure if it was a low light issue because it started at 3rd node with very small leaves that exploded in growth when I turned on the lights.

Humidity is 50%.

Day 19

I judged yesterday that I didnt need to water until today. Soil is bone dry on the surface and Blue Cheese has roots shooting out of the smart pot. I gave them 2 liter each, only slight run off, barely making small "poodles" of water. Both plants are showing signs of being bent as their latest grow twisted itself to be in the spotlight.

Bro you want more runoff keep salts from building up

Blakey said:

Bro you want more runoff keep salts from building up

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Thanks. Actually I think thats my problem.

I researched different problems but when I found the ”moisture stress” threads and searched on the soil, together with your post it all fell into place (I think).

New growth seems ”thicker”, hard, rough texture and deformed/small. I think this is either over fertilizer in the soil and I read someone using this soil have the same ”problem” and/or moisture is pulled from the growth because of salt buildup.

This all began when plants hit node 3 and the root system getting more evolved and it all adds up and makes sense.

Anyway I watered the plant yesterday with more run off in tray. Would guess 10-15%, I know its not enough. Will see today if I dare to water or if I will do the flush tomorrow.

Also decided from here on just to keep it simple, people seem to get that to work after chasing ”the magic”. Will but a soil ph/rh meter today to get a understanding of moisture deeper down as it was recommended and I will use this together with lifting the plant to get a good feel.

What kind of worries me is that the soil is pretty low ph by itself and the sensi bloom is ”ph perfect” formula and it say it sets for 5.8 and that seems too low? Maybe water every other time with plain water is the higher ph spectrum to ”even it out”.

Feeling hopeful if plants just survive this stress.