First Time Growing - CFL

Dubie Jr

Active Member
So I am new to this forum and to the beautiful art of cannabis cultivation.
Any and all advice is appreciated and I hope that you all love my babies as much as I do.

I have 3 Lemon Kush bag seeds that have been growing from sprout for 2 weeks. They are under 4, 27 watt Daylight CFL's and 2, 27 watt Bright White CFL's to throw in a little mix.
I built a box out of cardboard and they have 2ft by 1ft by 2ft of growing space. I rigged 2 High Velocity utility fans up for the intake and outtake but Im still having cooling problems! I wanted to make it as inexpensive as possible.

Here's the kicker, I started the babies in Miracle Grow Seed Starter. I did not know at the time just how bad it was. Within the first week after sprout they became deprived of Nitrogen so I transplanted them right away into Miracle Grow Organic Choice. They started doing much better untill the very next day. I could see that they were deprived of Nutes again and that they were drowning! :cry: So I waited untill they needed to be watered again (3 days later) and flushed all of the nasty MG nutes out of the soil and started using Botanicare pro veg formula (mixed quarter ounce/gallon). After flushing the soil seems to drain a little better but still unevenly and the babies look much healthier.

I want to transplant my babies into a different medium before they get too big but im scared that I may have waited too long and have screwed myself from the get-go.

I will post up pics of my grow area and the babies in hopes that maybe somebody could help me through-out the prosses. Thanks Guys!

P.S - I also have a pretty nasty nat problem but I just ordered some Diatomatious Earth for their asses!


EDIT:
Here are some pics of my little babies from birth.
 

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Dubie Jr

Active Member
overkill?
The outtake works better than the intake so I put a piece of cardboard over half of the exhaust so its about even now.
Still reading temp spikes of upper 80's and it flux between 79f and 86f all day, 73f-75f at night.

Should I have more outtake or intake?

P.S. I'll post pics of the inside of the box when my babies are awake!

EDIT!!
Pics of the ROOM and Lights!!
I'm going to make a new and vented hood for the lights. This one is just temporary to keep the lights in place.
The pieces of paper you see are my old intake outtake, I was using Fabreez True Air filters. They didn't work well with heat in the closet.
 

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GooDGR3EN13

Well-Known Member
Dont transplant too much, it can cause stress to your plants killing or stunting them. It can also cause your plant to become a hermapherdite later down the road in flowring.
 

Dubie Jr

Active Member
My theory about the exhaust is that I have to keep my closet door closed as much as possible so it gets really hot inside and when the exhaust over powers the intake it sucks in air from the closet through the cracks in the box making the temp rise.. is this possible?

Can anyone tell me if I should cut off the lower dead leafs on my baby?!
 

Dubie Jr

Active Member
Here are the babies today (Same Order)

What is wrong with the middle one?! Is it over watered or does it need to be watered!?
I watered on Friday night and with the MG I usually have to water every 5 days. But the past 2 days it has been extra hot, the soil on top and down about 1/4 inch is dry but I don't know about the soil below.

And what about the last one?
It got droopy over night and the soil is the same as the middle one. So does this mean my suspicions are true and I do need to water early?!
 

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Dubie Jr

Active Member
I made this hood last night to direct heat from the lights away from my babies. The temp is nice, it feels like a cool summer breeze in there.. I'm really stoned lol.

Is this sacrificing too much light? It is still really bright where the babies are but I need someone other opinions.

Side note:
I watered today!:fire:Muhahaha
 

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Dubie Jr

Active Member
Just thought I would give an update before the babies go to bed. They are doing a little better after watering but I think the lights may be too far away?
The first two are of the one that has been droopy sense the last watering, it seems to be perking back up a bit.
The second one is starting to perk back up as well but seems like the top leaves are stretching really far up to the lights.
The last one is still doing pretty fine but it also seems kind of light deprived.
The last three are just top views of all three babies.

Any Ideas as to what I should do to help my babies get happier?
 

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T@ll T33

Well-Known Member
have them 3 inches away from the lights put get a small fan to blow inbetween the plants and lights!!!
 

l3alze24

Active Member
DID you say that you were using Miracle Grow on them this early? that may be why your getting burn marks on the outside 2..... go with straight distilled water for a couple days and let them relax see if they get more healthy. and for the droopy one, how far are the lights above the plant?
 

Dubie Jr

Active Member
DID you say that you were using Miracle Grow on them this early? that may be why your getting burn marks on the outside 2..... go with straight distilled water for a couple days and let them relax see if they get more healthy. and for the droopy one, how far are the lights above the plant?
They are planted in MG soil but I am using Botanicare pro veg formula (mixed quarter ounce/gallon) for the nutes. The Leaf burn are from when they where still in the jiffy pot/no nutes about 2 weeks ago. They are about 2 - 5in away

TAKE A LOOK AT THE BABIES!
They look much better today, I'm excited. :hump:
 

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Dubie Jr

Active Member
have them 3 inches away from the lights put get a small fan to blow inbetween the plants and lights!!!
I have a 4" fan blowing in there at all times just to keep the air moving. With the intake blowing in so much air there is really no need as the babies are always swaying in the wind.

I'm also going to try to find some small ducting hose, maybe 3"? to direct some of the intake to the lights. Any idea's?
 

sirus420

Well-Known Member
I have a 4" fan blowing in there at all times just to keep the air moving. With the intake blowing in so much air there is really no need as the babies are always swaying in the wind.

I'm also going to try to find some small ducting hose, maybe 3"? to direct some of the intake to the lights. Any idea's?

Why put the time and energy and money into direction airflow at your lights?? theres no way they are gettin that hot that they need to be cooled.
 

Dubie Jr

Active Member
Why put the time and energy and money into direction airflow at your lights?? theres no way they are gettin that hot that they need to be cooled.
They get hot enough to bring my closet up to 99F. Am I just over doing it with my setup? With the hood it dropped the temp in the grow box an average of 4F so it stays around 81F - 82F now but that's still to hot for my babies! Could it be because of the cardboard absorbing heat and causing the entire closet to heat up? Any idea's without having to cut out holes in my sealing?
 

Dubie Jr

Active Member
So the babies do not look too bad today but I would like for them to be happier. :-|
Here are the babies today. The Diatomaceous Earth came in today so if you notice the white spots on the leaves that's what it is. I just did a test spray today, mixed half teas with 7 oz of water and used approx 1.5 oz on the babies and .5 oz around everything else (sprayed it on everything else after pics). Every morning when I wake up there is a new batch of gnats flying around and munching on my leaves. I tried garden safe bug spray but it didnt work, they just got imune to it. So lets see if the Diatomaceous Earth works! If it doesnt work I'll buy some sand to put around the soil... or I'll just do that anyway!:idea:
Oh yeah, and I added my Big Momma 65w 2400k CFL to the side of the babies while I am able to have to door open.:shock: Seems like there kinda diggin it.
Anyways, here are the babies from left to right (two pics of each). Of course any feed back or comments you guys may have are incurraged. Happy growing!:peace:
 

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