help...seeds dnt seem 2 be doing anything

Hi people...I need a bit of help with my grow! I've got to the point were the seeds were open with shoots comeing out of them so I planted them in a soil medium and put them under a 400w hps bulb the same one I intended to do the whole grow with but it seems to dry the medium out fairly quickly. How moist should the medium be? I've got the light on 24 hours a day and I've given them a drink every 12 hours but nothing seems to be hapining, is it posible the medium got to dry?or to hot from the bulb?I am a newbie so any help wil be much apreciated

man,sounds like you have way to much heat/light for seedlings.maby a couple cheap cfls or t5s or something until they are stronger.i would do the whole veg w/t5s.they realy do give off plenty of light for vegging.and they are cheaper to run also.good luck!

How close do you have that light? It should be about 24" away for seedlings, maybe even a little further for the first couple days. If those seeds already split, and haven't poked up through the soil within a couple days, it's a good chance they're toast. If that new root tip dried out, it would've killed them, and it sounds like that's what happened. The soil should be kept moist until roots have developed. I'd mist the top of my soil a couple times a day, back when I was sprouting seedlings. Also, you don't need any light until they poke up through the soil, if you want to play it safe.

jamesv420ify said:

man,sounds like you have way to much heat/light for seedlings.maby a couple cheap cfls or t5s or something until they are stronger.i would do the whole veg w/t5s.they realy do give off plenty of light for vegging.and they are cheaper to run also.good luck!

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Cheers mate...if these seeds don't pan out do you think the hps bulb is to much for clones?

No bulb is too much for the little ones. It's how close you have it, that matters. You could use 1000 watts for one seedling if you wanted to, as long as you had it a good 3 feet away from it.

Dude. The lights should be off until the seedlings pop through the soil. They should be under fluros for a bit not a HPS.That will just burn them and dry out everything.
If you have to use a HPS bulb, make sure it is high enough not to burn the little seedling.It needs to be humid at this point.

Cheers matey, you have been a massive help. I'm going to carry on with these seeds and see if they sprout, if not start again! At which point can you lower the light down?I read that you have the bulb as low as it can go without burning the leaves, say 12"

My first grow I had a 1000w light 2 feet away from 4 dirt plants 2 to 3 inches tall. My plants dried out, my trays of water dried out, 18 hours of light a day, that was one expensive lesson. We aren't born knowing this stuff, it is all a learning experience.

Go get a Daylight CFL bulb or two. As soon as they pop up put that CFL on them, they will turn into little bushes with it. Don't turn that 400w on until the CFL stops reaching the lower leaves..

You are lucky you haven't cook them yet. You can have the CFL on top of it even they have not reach the surface. The spout will look for lights as it come out of the soil, so have your CFL on top of the plant straight away. When the scientis on the space station growing vegetables the seeds don't know which way to grow because there are no gravity, they shine a bright light from the top (if there is a top in space) and help guiding its grow.

i start mine under 600 mh with no problems. it's just you need to monitor the heat. place a thermometer on top of your pots and keep that temp in the mid 70's. i do however start them in 3 gallon pots to hold in the moisture. remember you can be much farther away with that light and still be much more intense than a cfl so keep it up high for the first couple of weeks. it will work well once you find the right distance.

2beanklm said:

i start mine under 600 mh with no problems. it's just you need to monitor the heat. place a thermometer on top of your pots and keep that temp in the mid 70's. i do however start them in 3 gallon pots to hold in the moisture. remember you can be much farther away with that light and still be much more intense than a cfl so keep it up high for the first couple of weeks. it will work well once you find the right distance.

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Cheers fella, its all just a big learning curve for me! A few more questions though, if I planted seeds on the 5th of march would they be ready by the 29th of april? I get what you mean about having the ligbt up high, I can get the light about 4,5 ft from the florr where the pots are is that enough? I did read you should start them in smal cups, was this a mistake and should I use to gallon pots which I planned on useing anyway? I am going to fit a 4" ventalation fan before I try again, would all this alow me to use the hps bulb? Thanks for all this lads your a massive help

2beanklm said:

i start mine under 600 mh with no problems. it's just you need to monitor the heat. place a thermometer on top of your pots and keep that temp in the mid 70's. i do however start them in 3 gallon pots to hold in the moisture. remember you can be much farther away with that light and still be much more intense than a cfl so keep it up high for the first couple of weeks. it will work well once you find the right distance.

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Cheers mate, your all a big help, I do have a few more questions though. How long can you expect a average plant to mature from a seed? I'm going to fir a 4" ventalation fan to keep the temp down, with that amd the hps about 4 ft above the plant and keeping the seed in a to gallon pot should all that be enough for a sucesful grow?

No plants started on March 5th wouldn't be mature by April 29th. No matter how much light you use to veg with.

1 month to veg (2 weeks in some apps)
60-70 days to flower

If you have a great clone you can have it ready in a couple weeks. Then you flower it for a nice full sized harvest making it about 70 days and 2 weeks. You could skip veg and go seed to bud!! Takes a week or two longer to get into flowering anyway though.. So void the point.

Fair enough mate, I go on holiday then and wanted to have done one before then! I tink I'm going to buy a 300w cfl daylight kit to veg with and use the hps in another room to flower so I can keep a steady flow! What do you think? The cuboard I'm useing is 4x4 feet and 5 ft tel, its got to letter boxed sized vents at the top, is that enough ventalation for a cfl kit?

Fair enough mate, I go on holiday then and wanted to have done one before then! I tink I'm going to buy a 300w cfl daylight kit to veg with and use the hps in another room to flower so I can keep a steady flow! What do you think? The cuboard I'm useing is 4x4 feet and 5 ft tel, its got to letter boxed sized vents at the top, is that enough ventalation for a cfl kit

I think that is a great idea. 300W of CFL can easily be vented with that vent, depending on how hot it is around you.