my best plant ive ever tried to grow..and now shes starting to wrry me

Hey S3Xi*420*GURL. I can't help you with all the problems you mentioned, but for some I can provide some input.

Is your aluminium foil shiny side out? If so, that is quite wrong. Shiny aluminium foil causes hot spots on the plants because the light bounces of at concentrated points, not to mention randomly. At best, shiny aluminium disperses the light, lowering overall intensity of the light actually reaching the plants, and causes hotspots. Honestly, anything is better than shiny aluminium foil. If using foil, use it dull side out. NEVER shiny side out. ALWAYS dull side out. But even that only provides about 40-50% light reflectivity. Matt white paint is the best low-cost solution, providing around 70-80% reflectivity I think.

I don't think you have enough light either, but then I don't know what wattage bulbs you are using. Not using reflectors will further limit the amount of light reaching the plants. Your plant looks pretty healthy though. A good rule of thumb for wattage is use between 20 and 40 watts per square foot, or 1200 and 2400 lumens per square foot. 40W p/sqf is a good maximum to aim for. Higher than that and other factors for growth come into consideration, like increasing CO2 in the room. 20W p/sqf is a bit low, but acceptable, 30 is good, and 40 is great. Those wattages are based on compact fluorescents, but are pretty much the same as normal fluorescent tubes. Really wattage is irrelevant, it's LUMENS you want. But wattage is a guide. I'm sure a million different people will tell you a million different things about lighting intensities. I have approximately 15,000-18,000 lumens, or 242 Watts, over my 6 foot square grow space.

Hope this helps, and that I haven't contradicted myself!!

moist water around the stem will cause roots to start to take form. the white bumps are nothing to worry about . the spider mites are a huge issue to worry about. they WILL destroy the plant if not taken care of now......did you use dirt from the outside? (basically the way everyone gets them) at 2 months you should have some branch growth, has your plant slowed down growth at all? how tall is your plant? have you pruned any leaf material off that plant. there should be growth as in smaller branching and leafs by 2 months.
all these plants are right around 2 months except for the one in the red pot. that one is about 30 days into flowering. it stopped growing so i cut the top off, and put it back under the lights, its probably 4 months old. and you can tell its a problem plant by the size of it. i think it had a weak root system, couldnt support the growth. thats what spider mites will do they will kill the roots. there are certain types of soaps and stuff at hydro shops to kill the s. mites. you need to go there tommorow and get some..

i have 70,000 lumens in a 4 by 4 by 5 feet high space, ive heard around 50,000 was where i wanted to be for my space, but then again i have 40 some plants now

well i heard that soaking cig butts in water then spraying the water on ur plants will help fight the mites..is tht true
thanx so much for all the help =]

The shiny side of aluminum foil is 90% reflective with visible light. 95% reflective to IR. And 80% reflective to UV. White paint ranges from under 50% to around 90%.

However, at that distance, nothing can help.

I'd suggest a piece of cardboard with the shiny side of the foil facing out glued onto the cardboard. Then hang your lights around the edges of it(should only be like 1'x1'). You can hang four lights this way. Then poke a several small holes through the foil and cardboard to attach twine, or small rope, wrap it around the last spiral on the bulbs to suspend it within an inch of the foil, but not touching. There's no chance this will start a fire.

Like in the attachment. You can make more cardboard covered reflectors and hang them off the sides, or cover the inside of a box....

Definitely make sure the shiny side is out, and try not to get it dirty.

This obviously won't work with HID.

I have two 14wat lights and one 26wat lights...

i would never ever ever do that. first its deffinitly a myth. a cigarette will either hurt your plant because of shit like syanide and arsenic in ciggs, or it will just do nothing and youll be wasting your time....there are a few ways to combat the mites. one is called neam soap, you basically wash the plants with it....did you use dirt from your yard? if so you may want to think about killing off these bugs then using a mix in a 5 gallon bucket. the mix works awsome and if you do this you will have bug free plants and healthy ganja. i promise.....get a 5 gallon bucket, get it at home depot... buy a bag of sphagnom pete moss (miracle grow makes it) buy a bag of seedling starter soil, buy a bag of perlite and a bag of vermaculite.....dump 1/4th of each one into the 5 gallon bucket and mix it up.....there is your recipe for success...i guarantee if you go get that stuff and only use that. you will be able to grow plants with out the worry of bugs and be able to put your time into cool stuff like training the plants . lst and suppercropping...so neam soap, then when you kill the bugs transplant into a 5 gallon bucket with the mix i told you....youll be chillin. i promise....any questions just ask----keith
also you wanna get reflectors for those lights

wow only 2 months old?... you got some reading to do, as we all have
this is at about 2 months in soil

2 months in soil under a 400 watt hps....13 plants under one light
13 plants under 1 light. im cramped for room big time.
the pics i posted here are:

1st: 2 months soil 400 watt hps
2nd: plant A at 2 weeks
3rd: plant A at 3 weeks
4th: plant A at 4 1/2 weeks

here is a home remedie for mites rubbing alchohol i use 70% i mix 1/3 alchohol 2 parts water works very well.i have even put a couple of drops of dish soap but not necesary.the alchohol is poison to the mites and it evaporates right away not hurting the plant .make sure to spray under the leaves

Good tips guys. but i have found that neam soap doesnt always kill spider mites. it just slows them down and keeps them in check. i would really recommend what jordisgarden says about transplanting her into better soil. the pot looks good to me. i used pots even smaller than those and my plants got huge.


1000w hps mylar on all walls
super small pots
Og kush, Blue Dream, Trainwreck, nyc sour diesel

2 weeks
6 weeks
10 weeks
present

TeaTreeOil said:

The shiny side of aluminum foil is 90% reflective with visible light. 95% reflective to IR. And 80% reflective to UV. White paint ranges from under 50% to around 90%.

However, at that distance, nothing can help.

I'd suggest a piece of cardboard with the shiny side of the foil facing out glued onto the cardboard. Then hang your lights around the edges of it(should only be like 1'x1'). You can hang four lights this way. Then poke a several small holes through the foil and cardboard to attach twine, or small rope, wrap it around the last spiral on the bulbs to suspend it within an inch of the foil, but not touching. There's no chance this will start a fire.

Like in the attachment. You can make more cardboard covered reflectors and hang them off the sides, or cover the inside of a box....

Definitely make sure the shiny side is out, and try not to get it dirty.

This obviously won't work with HID.

Click to expand...

Just goes to show that everyone has different ideas about what is right and wrong in the world of marijuana growing.

Take every piece of advice with a pinch of salt, and try not to put all your eggs in one basket. Look at many sources before coming to a conclusion on something, S3Xi*420*GURL.

I suppose if you have low intensity bulbs, then maybe shiny aluminium foil is acceptable. I wouldn't ever recommend the use of foil, though, dull or shiny. Frankly, £2.45 for 1.4 square meters of Mylar is fine by me. A roll of kitchen foil for like 20,30p? Sure, if you want. But at the end of the day, you should want what's best for your babies. You nurture them, they'll nurture you.

Mylar is aluminum metalized to PET fiber.

Aluminum foil is aluminum... and more aluminum....

I've seen their reflectance curves, they're nearly identical.

Very little, if any, difference between them for our purposes.

Yes, look at many source. Ignore people's bias, and their regurgitations.

http://www.answers.com/topic/reflectivity
https://www.hep.ucl.ac.uk/~kauer/public/calor08/pics/mylar_esr_reflectivity.png

Combine them and you get:

Looks identical enough to my eyes.

EDIT: Removed rough draft.

yeah that poor plant is in bad shape for 2 months. you should get some bigger bulbs for sure, at least the 26w watt ones. and maybe build a small grow box to contain and reflect the light.

TeaTreeOil said:

Mylar is aluminum metalized to PET fiber.

Aluminum foil is aluminum... and more aluminum....

I've seen their reflectance curves, they're nearly identical.

Very little, if any, difference between them for our purposes.

Yes, look at many source. Ignore people's bias, and their regurgitations.

http://www.answers.com/topic/reflectivity
https://www.hep.ucl.ac.uk/~kauer/public/calor08/pics/mylar_esr_reflectivity.png

Combine them and you get:

Looks identical enough to my eyes.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Not sure if I fully understand that graph, however.

As far as I can tell Ag is Silver, Au is Gold, and Al is Aluminium, with the near-horizontal red line at the top being Mylar, and the near-vertical blue line being ESR (Enhanced Specular Reflector film, whatever that is).

So essentially, from around 350 nanometers onwards, which is pretty much just before UV light, all the way to god knows what, beyond our needs as plant plant growers, Mylar and Aluminium are near enough equally reflective (up to 650ish nanometers, when Aluminium takes a slight hit on reflecting red light, which reduces its reflectivity by about... 4-6% over Mylar?

Wait... I think I actually understand it now. =PP Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

That was just roughly done. They have different scales.

Here's adjusted to the gradient(much more accurate).

S3Xi*420*GURL said:

all the same plant..8inches tall
she's about 2months or so
she looks very healthy but i have a few problems tht im worried about the 1st is spider mites..i know she has them cus a few leaves around the bottom have tiny little holes in them, like their being chomped on..i have also found tiny webs, and little yellow bugs..what are some at home remedys suggested(low on cost)
my second is there are tiny little white colored bumps formed around the botton of the stem..im worried this could and might be root rot? But she is growing so well, fast, and luciously, what should i do if it is root rot?
my third is i have her in my closet..I have 3 flourecent bulbs facing it..as u can see. and i have alumion material on the walls so it reflects light..well i was wondering is 3flourecent bulbs enough? and is the aluminom helping ??
theres also styrofoam in the soil, i have her 16hrs on 8hrs off

Click to expand...

Hey man, Nice plants, Wish I had some !!

TeaTreeOil said:

That was just roughly done. They have different scales.

Here's adjusted to the gradient(much more accurate).

Click to expand...

Yes, that Aluminium dips much higher up the spectrum now. But did I interpret the graph correctly, earlier, for the most part?

Ill admit that they look healthy but damn those are some small plants, Contain that light as best u can, from what it looks like u also cheaped out on cheaping out with ur tinfoil. If u are going to use tinfoil which i dont recommend, at least get it all the way down to the floor, and make some sort of a reflective hood for ur lights, i made one from those tin oven trays, cost me like a buck to make it adn it works fine.

Also get some better lights, CFL's are really cheap to get and u will most certainly notice the difference when ur plant is producing o's instead of g's

Frizzlecat said:

As far as I can tell Ag is Silver, Au is Gold, and Al is Aluminium, with the near-horizontal red line at the top being Mylar, and the near-vertical blue line being ESR (Enhanced Specular Reflector film, whatever that is).

Click to expand...

Exactly.

So essentially, from around 350 nanometers onwards, which is pretty much just before UV light, all the way to god knows what, beyond our needs as plant plant growers, Mylar and Aluminium are near enough equally reflective (up to 650ish nanometers, when Aluminium takes a slight hit on reflecting red light, which reduces its reflectivity by about... 4-6% over Mylar?

Wait... I think I actually understand it now. =PP Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

Click to expand...

They're both aluminum, they're identical.