-Journal- 1st grow with cfl's and Bagseed!

Hey, i already posted a thread about my grow box, and my grow but i thought this was more official.

Here's what i'm dealing with....

Growbox made out of a dog cage, lined with carboard, paper inside, with some reflective material. 19''H 17''W 2' L

Fans- 2 pc fans 1 intake 1 exhaust

lights- 3 26-27 watt cfl's 2 being 2700k and 1 being a "daytime" light, i have heard this means a higher K rating, but i'm not sure.

Soil - MG organic, watering with purified water from a bottle.

Nutrients- None yet.

Ok, so i germinated a few seeds a week or so back, only 1 poped(remember this is bagseed) so it was planted on November 1st. I originally had the lights set to 20/4 but due to the size of my growbox and from what i have heard shorter hours mean shorter plants? so after 4 days i just switched it to 18/6 tonight.(hope that doesn't effect it) it's 2-3 inches from light right now. It's in a pretty large container for a starting seed so i water quite a bit, and always spray the leaves with water.

so after 4 days here is my progress.

I know there isent much i can do now, but any techniques anyone knows about how to keep your plant short would help! and any other useful info! I'll be updating frequently!!!

in the picture of the plant itself, does the brown tip of lighter leaves or whatever they are, does that look bad or unhealthy?

Might be some burn from the soil you used

Topping, FIM'ming, and LST are all techniques you can use to help control the height of your plant. There are numerous threads on all of those here on RIU. I'm not too familiar with CFL's but you may want to add some more 'daylight' bulbs, and yes, it does mean it has a higher K rating (6500k I believe).

Great idea with the dog kennel, just make sure its lightproof when you go into flowering.

UPDATE-
Everything is running smoothly, I had 2 other seeds germinated and planted. they were planted on Friday the 5th, as for the seeding you have already seen,(now 1 week old)
The newly planted one seems to be doing great, poped up and looks very green and healthy, as for the other one, as i was planting it, i think i let them germinate for a little to long, because it had some white fuzzy stuff on the root as i planted it, maybe mold.... but in the next day or so it should open up and we shall see.

Questions -

i water these guys about every 2 days, is that to much?

as for the week old plant, does it look a little small for one week?

when is a good time to start watering with a nutrient solution?

i noticed that the sick plant dident look so good, so i put in a desk lamp with a cfl in there, trying to amp up the growth. no issue with that right?

thanks for the help!

Update

Water when topsoil is dry. The pots tend to dry at top first still having plenty of moisture below. The lack of water actually encourages root growth. Looks fine for one week bro. What kind of soil is it? This will play a big role in when to give first feeding. If it is a nutrient rich soil you may be looking at 3 weeks from seedling stage. If it is nutrient weak maybe a week or so before giving a quarter dose of nutrient solution.

Edit- looks like you are using MG organic, do some research around here and see how long the soil will get you through. To play it safe give a 1/4-1/2 strength dose after 2-3 weeks from now. Under feeding is always better than over feeding! A plant can last a whole season without nutrients but with too much it wont last but a day.

dry soil kills the very fine roots causing stress. also, it makes the plant look deeper for water.
If you keep your pot with enough water but with enough air as well it would be the best for your plant.

To help the topsoil from drying (and killing those root hairs) you can use mulch. I use coco fiber as a mulch - works great.

McFonz said:

dry soil kills the very fine roots causing stress. also, it makes the plant look deeper for water.
If you keep your pot with enough water but with enough air as well it would be the best for your plant.

To help the topsoil from drying (and killing those root hairs) you can use mulch. I use coco fiber as a mulch - works great.

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Typically roots hang out below the top soil. It should be fine if top soil dries out a bit, this will help OP not to over-water like many do.

Thanks for the help guys, since they are such small plants in a large container for now, i only water about an inch or 2 away from the plant in a circle formation, and water it when it looks dry. i do like to spray the plants with like 1 spray just to get them wet on top, atleast once a day, is that ok?

TFizz said:

Thanks for the help guys, since they are such small plants in a large container for now, i only water about an inch or 2 away from the plant in a circle formation, and water it when it looks dry. i do like to spray the plants with like 1 spray just to get them wet on top, atleast once a day, is that ok?

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Sounds like you are watering right. I spraying plants may lead to high humidity, can invite mold if plants stay too wet too often. It is good for helping remove shell but i wouldnt do it after that unless you foliar feeding as well. Its just not really necessary.

ok thanks, i think i'll make a store run tonight to get some better lights. since its a small box would i be able to get away with running 4 6500k 26 watt lights? i'm on a budget and dont wanna spend money on the 42 watts if i dont need to. And, would it be bad to have the 2500k lights running too during veg?

TFizz said:

ok thanks, i think i'll make a store run tonight to get some better lights. since its a small box would i be able to get away with running 4 6500k 26 watt lights? i'm on a budget and dont wanna spend money on the 42 watts if i dont need to. And, would it be bad to have the 2500k lights running too during veg?

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Im not too sure on the cfls but covering the full spectrum sounds wise. I would have most of the lighting in the 6500k and provide just a light or two for the 2500k.

When supporting your medical habits on your own, look at it as an investment for everything you buy. Figure out how much you would spend a month buying from someone else- invest this and you will be self sufficient for life.

Yea i know, but at this point, i just wanna grow something, if i get a g outta this, it'll be the best G i ever smoked. If all goes well, i'll be making another grow box for my next grow, and it'll be legit. Thanks for your help, stay tuned to see how i do!

Hello my friend. I too am a newbie on my second grow and I'm using northen lights. My first grow was from bagseed(ak48?) and it turned out dank as heck. It was about the best I've ever smoked. I don't know much but I know a little and this is it:

1)use 6500k for vegging. It will make your plants super compact and bushy
2)Don't over water
3)Don't over fertilize
4)Don't skimp too much on soil and nutes
5)Don't violate the dark hours
6)You definitely need to be checking pH. It seems to be the cornerstone of nutrition.

Also I'm convinced that cfl lighting in a small space can produce some killer smoke. I know because I've done it myself. The weak point for me I think is soil and nutrition knowledge. Sorry to talk about myself, I'm just trying to give u one person's experience. Good luck!

KFSwantoon said:

Hello my friend. I too am a newbie on my second grow and I'm using northen lights. My first grow was from bagseed(ak48?) and it turned out dank as heck. It was about the best I've ever smoked. I don't know much but I know a little and this is it:

1)use 6500k for vegging. It will make your plants super compact and bushy
2)Don't over water
3)Don't over fertilize
4)Don't skimp too much on soil and nutes
5)Don't violate the dark hours
6)You definitely need to be checking pH. It seems to be the cornerstone of nutrition.

Also I'm convinced that cfl lighting in a small space can produce some killer smoke. I know because I've done it myself. The weak point for me I think is soil and nutrition knowledge. Sorry to talk about myself, I'm just trying to give u one person's experience. Good luck!

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Good post +rep

hey thanks man, that made me feel a bit better about my grow! About the ph, i'm using bottled water now, and i hope not watering to much.(you'd be able to tell right?) as of now i'm not using any nutrients, or nutes, and i have NO idea how nutes work or how to use them. I found some MG powered solution around my house, filled up a bottle with the amount listed, but i'm sorta afraid to use it, it's 15-30-15, now i know it's made by MG and everyone hates on MG. but how long should i wait before i give it some? and when i do, do i water with it? or just spray the plants?

aeviaanah said:

Typically roots hang out below the top soil. It should be fine if top soil dries out a bit, this will help OP not to over-water like many do.

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Going with my method roots grow all around the soil, including the top.

-UPDATE-

I went out and bought some more lights an 2 Y adapters, so with those in and all hooked up i have 2 26watt 6500k and 3 26 watt 2700k, 2 are in the y adapter, and one i put in an old desk lamp, i know that seems kinnda stupid, but a few days ago one of my plants wasent looking so great, so i decided to give it a extra little boost, it worked wonders! every easy to more around and get really close to the light.

watering every other day, spray everyday.

The plants, I started them a few days apart, i have pics of all of them, they seem to be doing well, especially the newer ones. The 1st plant pic is of the just a little over a week old plant. then there other 2 are 5 days old.

with the new lights i hope to see some quick growing! tell me what you guys think so far... tips comments anything.

Grow box______1 week 2 days___ 5 days_______5 days

I don't know 'bout them MG nutes, chief. I used MG soil and MG 15-30-15 on my first grow(bagseed), and it turned out killer. But I'm also using it now on my second grow(Nirvana NL) and my plant is budding sort of slowly and not developing trichomes at all. I'm sure it's okay fertilizer but you might want to use it mixed really weak. Also watch out for Magnesium deficiency, I had that problem with my first grow and corrected it with 1/4-1/2 tsp. of epsom salts per gallon. MG doesn't have any magnesium or calcium in it that I know of. I think for my next grow I'll use some different soil, mix in a little dolimitic lime with it, and I might not even fertilize until I see a symptom of a deficiency. And I'll definitely be checking pH. Good luck though, there is a real good chance that you'll end up with prime quality stuff.

I hope you're right, thanks for the help! +rep