Grow box,first time grow(help)

soo i decided to try this "tomato" grow . i started with 6 random bagseed plants with scotts planting soil,For lights im using a 150 watt grow light from the home"pot" and also a 600 lumenos flourscet and also a 75 watt cfl(any opinions?? is that sufficent light?)the space is like a 3x3 and i lined the walls of the box with aluminum dull side facing plants(ive heard bad things about doing this but so far no burn signs).I am 3 weeks in and the stems appear weak always toppling over due to the top leaves which are a light green not really that dark,and the bottom leaves on every plant seem to curl up.(to much heat, light?) for nutes I had used miracle grow 202020 but now I switched to pro-grow but am unsure how much nutes to add the lable does give me accurate directions...any help apreciated ..like i said im new to this and wold appreciate and info thanks and good smoking!

You definitely may want to put lights closer, but also put a fan in the room to help the roots become stronger.

MaNgOsRoCkWiThMaRyJ said:

You definitely may want to put lights closer, but also put a fan in the room to help the roots become stronger.

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in
Thanks i added nutes on 4/13 and when i got home from work i saw white spots on a few leaves and they were starting to wilt any ideas...i flushed the plant right away with tap water...any suggestions will the plant recover or die????...when i woke p this morning the plants status has not changed but not died!

littlegreengiant said:

in
Thanks i added nutes on 4/13 and when i got home from work i saw white spots on a few leaves and they were starting to wilt any ideas...i flushed the plant right away with tap water...any suggestions will the plant recover or die????...when i woke p this morning the plants status has not changed but not died!

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I have 12 babies going i am using 10 32 watt cfl 2 60 watt cfl and i am adding 2 125 watt cfl and i dont think i have enuf light. U might wanna add soem mroe cfl's they are cheap and very effiecnt

I don't kno what the problem is but my main stem is very weak on all of my plants which is a problem idk how to make it stronger/thicker?! Any ideas???

littlegreengiant said:

I don't kno what the problem is but my main stem is very weak on all of my plants which is a problem idk how to make it stronger/thicker?! Any ideas???

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its the foil that is making them curl up like that its just bad news paint it white or get some mylar(heat blanket ) you can go to walmart and get a sheet of it in the camping isle for like 99cent a blanket (or go to homodepot and get a roll) for like 10 bucks or somthing

as for the stems put a fan in there blowing on em that will strenghten the stems and tie them to a stick or a rod (i just use pencils) and when you repot em just repot them lower in the soil, there prolly stretching for the light rnt they

post pics its hard to tell what kinda of shape there in and supply adequite help if i can't see how bad they look

get rid of the "grow light" use floros or hid. Home depot sells em as security lights

Soo today is the fri prior to 4 weeks I'm going to add.a slight nutrient solution again hopefully the plants will take better this time around. I got rid og the "grow light" and added extra 125 watt cfl. I now have 125 watt cfl,75 watt cfl 65 watt cfl and a 25 watt grow light that's a 3ft flourcent tube I'm hoping the lights are good enuff . I added a fan which brought temps down to 81. What do u guys think!!?? I noticed 1 polant is doing much better now has almost 4 nodes . Ant ideas? Do u think I should wait to add nutes.as for a moisture meter ill get 1 soon but kinda tight for money right now! My plants are almost 8 inches and almost a month into grow on a 18/6 time schedule and pointers appreciated thanks!!!!

littlegreengiant said:

soo i decided to try this "tomato" grow . i started with 6 random bagseed plants with scotts planting soil,For lights im using a 150 watt grow light from the home"pot" and also a 600 lumenos flourscet and also a 75 watt cfl(any opinions?? is that sufficent light?)the space is like a 3x3 and i lined the walls of the box with aluminum dull side facing plants(ive heard bad things about doing this but so far no burn signs).I am 3 weeks in and the stems appear weak always toppling over due to the top leaves which are a light green not really that dark,and the bottom leaves on every plant seem to curl up.(to much heat, light?) for nutes I had used miracle grow 202020 but now I switched to pro-grow but am unsure how much nutes to add the lable does give me accurate directions...any help apreciated ..like i said im new to this and wold appreciate and info thanks and good smoking!

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rule of thumb at least 1000 to 3000 lumens per sq foot of grow , nutrients use only quarter strentgh every other watering. 24/7 lighting while in veg, also get a ph tester. at this stage you shouln't have a ph issue as yet. to promote strong stems use ventilation source a small four inch fan placed a short distance from the plants will help.


hope this helps, we are all new at some point!

also one more hint. use mylar instead of foil but if you can't feasably use it yet use the foil shiny side towards the plants, the use is for reflective so the dull side in my opinion wouldn't help as much, as for burniing the plants as long as it's not right on the plants it shouldn't burn it, also keep the lights about two or three inches from the tops or sides. i use flourescents for the sides of mine and 30 watt 1750 lumens four of them for four plants. this gives me on average of two to three inches of growth a day...most if in good growing conditions grow from one to six inches a day...good luck, hope this helped sum!!

Also if u can find mylar or u are a lil straped for cash u can use Reflective saftey blankets u can pick em up fqairly chepa ate a army -navy store. Any pics yet?

mrwobbles said:

Also if u can find mylar or u are a lil straped for cash u can use Reflective saftey blankets u can pick em up fqairly chepa ate a army -navy store. Any pics yet?

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thanks for all the help.I am going to keep making strides how many cfls do u recommend and watts? also i have 6 plants so do your think that the lights should be on 24/7?

The amount of plants does not matter, 24/7 lighting is up to you but I have read that plants only use 18 hours anyway.

If you have time maybe you should take a look at my LED/400w cabinet journal. It may answer several questions for you.

Good luck, oh and get a camera.

Ok so I woke up this morning and decided I would write an update of the progress that has come. So as of right now I have 7 "tomato" plants growing (I hope to post a pic lata).they all are doing pretty well with the largest being about 9 inches. And the smallest 5. The leaves are truely starting to develop and look nice there color is a beautiful healthy green.while nutrient burn is visible on 4 plants they all seem to still be developing fine(for a first grow in all) I was wondering some of my plants have 5to 6 nodes and I was wondering how many days/months till I should put the plants into flowering????? Also I have changed to all cfls and the plants seem to prefer them. Is 87 a good temp to be at? Will I need diff lights to flower? Also there developing a strong aroma any thing to take away the smell? In a apt! I'm on a budget so I'm willing to be creative if need be.I have them on 18/6 schedule and they are better every day. I added about 1/4 nute strength to the plants about 1 a week and water everother day.any things I should kno if I'm considering switching the plant outdoors? Thanks guys for all the help!

Ok so I woke up this morning and decided I would write an update of the progress that has come. So as of right now I have 7 "tomato" plants growing (I hope to post a pic lata).they all are doing pretty well with the largest being about 9 inches. And the smallest 5. The leaves are truely starting to develop and look nice there color is a beautiful healthy green.while nutrient burn is visible on 4 plants they all seem to still be developing fine(for a first grow in all) I was wondering some of my plants have 5to 6 nodes and I was wondering how many days/months till I should put the plants into flowering????? Also I have changed to all cfls and the plants seem to prefer them. Is 87 a good temp to be at? Will I need diff lights to flower? Also there developing a strong aroma any thing to take away the smell? In a apt! I'm on a budget so I'm willing to be creative if need be.I have them on 18/6 schedule and they are better every day. I added about 1/4 nute strength to the plants about 1 a week and water everother day.any things I should kno if I'm considering switching the plant outdoors? Thanks guys for all the help!

Any opinions?

so its now then end of june i put my plants into flowering about a week ago and 6 of the 7 were males ...so i killed them right away ..now i have 1 feamle plant going pretty good with 12/12 she seems to be happy shes grown a good 3 to 4 inches since i induced flowering . i plan on putting her outside rather soon but am unsure if that will stop her from growing and cause her to die...>? my area has received rain for the last month straight which is why i am yet to place her outside. how long might this flowering process take im using 5 lights 4 of the 5 are cfl's all 3500 k or better and 1 tube light( do you guys think thats good?)im feeding my plants 20-20-20 right now for food i am goinmg to look into some probloom soon but am unsure if i wanna ad nutes..i used pro-gro fo the entire gro and must say it worked pretty well. any sug??? and where would u guys considering buyin some seeds from online cuz i used bag seed for my first grow but now i wanna get some good bud seeds?!!!!!!!!! all help is appreciated . i would post a pic but its 1 plant..... nothing that amazing to where id post.