New grower, I have researched a lot, just looking for some advice and thoughts so far

What's up RIU,
Awesome site, everyone on here is super chill and seems like they are always willing to lend a hand to someone who has put in some time in research. Well, I have done countless hours of reading on here, a few book so I promise not to waste any of your guys' time. I would love to hear any suggestions, advice, comments - anything really that you think would help me out. But please, I understand everyone has their set opinions on what they think is the best method for the best bud, but this is how I am doing it, I am just doing this for some fun and of course hopefully some delicious herb, I am on a limited budget and yeah haha sorry if that was a lil harsh.

So lets get down to business. A little with what I am working with, a small closet grow in which I am planning on growing 2 plants, but I have three hopefully little girls that are currently eleven days from breaking ground, they were seeds from some pretty damn good herb my buddy had a week ago. I am running 2 68W - 300W equivalent daylight 6500K CFLs, 5000 lumens(which I've been told lumens is all that matters) per bulb, so a total of 10,000 lumens for two ladies. Right now, they are running at 18/6 for lighting. They were put directly into Fox Farm Ocean Forest. Ah what else, oh they are sitting comfortably at 73 degrees, I have watered them 4 times so far in the eleven days they have broken ground with about a cup of 6.8pH tap water, misting them periodically each day with a spray bottle. I have only transplanted one of the plants so far, and am doing the other two today, The one transplanted was into a 1 gallon pot at day 8 and has shown serious growth compared to the other two. However, all three of the ladies have a leaf or two on them that have droopy characteristics, and they are kind of a little bit curly.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I think I have narrowed it down to three possible things - over/underwater, my guess would probably be underwatering being I am only doing about a cup every other day - I only water it when the top of the soil has been dry. Or possibly my lights might be too close - they are about 2'' each day away from the top.. Or I might just be thinking about things too much and worrying about every little thing..... Any thoughts anyone? How is it looking so far?

Here are some pics, the last picture is the one I haven't transplanted yet and as you can tell is a bit smaller.

Thanks everyone,
Ace

WRONG! 5000K is within the least usable spectrum for plant life! Check out the CFL subforum on here if thats the route you're going, you want 6500K for veg good duder.

Whats the square footage in your closet?
Good on the soil.
Heat is fine.
The leaf discrepancy is from overwatering, drop 10 bucks on a soil moisture meter and you'll NEVER regret it, I promise.
Misting doesn't hurt.

BTW FFOF has excellent moisture retention, good choice of soil for the first time. In a closet with no wind to speed evaporation @ 74F, it'll stay pretty moist. I say this alot, but BUY A MOISTURE METER! Seriously, people will say to lift the pots and water when they're lighter etc etc. A moisture meter takes out all guesswork, all learning, etc. You water perfectly immediately.

Good deal, thanks for the reply.. and yeah I have been looking everywhere for a moisture meter, I have found them online but nothing in the stores so I might just buy one online. And for the lighting are you talking about the spectrum or the lumens? Because the bulbs I'm running are 6,500K but they are 5,000 lumens for output - which is what I have been told you want the most of is lumens. Oh, and they are growing in an area about 4' feet by 3' feet give or take enclosed/surrounded by 100% mylar reflective material.

Your plants look pretty good for their size and age. I would a venture a guess and say that your plants definitely have some sort of afghani cross to them! If anyone thinks differently please correct me. You might want to add a couple more lights. a 4' X 3' closet is 12 square feet. That is a lot of space to cover with only two lights.

Edit: So you have 2 68W CFL's. It's always a good idea to refer to them by their "actual" wattages.

your plants look great, don't start over-analyzing.

you could use more light when you get to flowering, 7,000 to 10,000 lumens per square foot of growing area although it's tough to get that with cfl's. you'll get a lot more efficient use of whatever light you use if you shrink your grow area to fit the number of plants and light. handiest thing is to make a moveable wall (nothing complicated, i use a card table on its side) covered with mylar. also, if sticking with cfl's keep them within a couple of inches of the plants to increase efficiency.

good luck and keep up what you've already been doing.

@billcollector99 ,Thanks man, and yeah right now the two lights are 68W (sorry about that) and have 12'' reflectors around them and are 2'' from the plants. I plan on getting more lights to have for the sides, but yeah it all is in a large rubbermaid container 32 gallon I just measured and it's 34'' long x 22'' wide so I was way off.

desertrat said:

your plants look great, don't start over-analyzing.

you could use more light when you get to flowering, 7,000 to 10,000 lumens per square foot of growing area although it's tough to get that with cfl's. you'll get a lot more efficient use of whatever light you use if you shrink your grow area to fit the number of plants and light. handiest thing is to make a moveable wall (nothing complicated, i use a card table on its side) covered with mylar. also, if sticking with cfl's keep them within a couple of inches of the plants to increase efficiency.

good luck and keep up what you've already been doing.

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thanks man good advice. I was way off with how big of container I was using, at the moment it is currently about 5-6 square feet so I still am going to need more lighting and will hopefully get that early this week.

GrizzlyAdams said:

WRONG! 5000K is within the least usable spectrum for plant life! Check out the CFL subforum on here if thats the route you're going, you want 6500K for veg good duder.

Whats the square footage in your closet?
Good on the soil.
Heat is fine.
The leaf discrepancy is from overwatering, drop 10 bucks on a soil moisture meter and you'll NEVER regret it, I promise.
Misting doesn't hurt.

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What soil moisture meters have you used or recommend for us growers on a budget???

phusionsa said:

What soil moisture meters have you used or recommend for us growers on a budget???

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I have heard good things about this one linked below, which isn't too expensive. Also does PH testing as well..

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3888024&cp=2568443.2568444.2598677.1260388

phusionsa said:

What soil moisture meters have you used or recommend for us growers on a budget???

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Anything really, I bought a cheap one that finally died when I stepped on it during an outdoor adventure.

Drunk -

Well yeah NOW your post says they're 6500K's, haha. Makin me look like I don't read mr edit monster

How much cash you got for this adventure? How tall is this closet? Got any pics of your setup? Shoot me a PM when you get enough posts.

GrizzlyAdams said:

Drunk -

Well yeah NOW your post says they're 6500K's, haha. Makin me look like I don't read mr edit monster

How much cash you got for this adventure? How tall is this closet? Got any pics of your setup? Shoot me a PM when you get enough posts.

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Haha yeah sorry man, I figured I get everything right.. But ah as of right now I am about 50 in everything.. As for height I'd say it's about 31/2 - 4 ft tall.. I'll have some pics up later today of the setup and how they are looking so far. (looking great by the way imo) Sorry i didn't respond earlier, I didn't notice there was a second page already..

i think everybody else has covered everything except circulation. You have to exchange the air in the space at a decent rate to ensure optimum growth. Some new growers make the mistake of enclosing the plants completely and then not bothering to ensure good air exchange. this will lead to poor growth no matter how much light and fancy food you use.

If you don't want the expense of an exhaust system, then you may need to sacrifice some reflectivity by using just two walls and allowing air to be pushed out with intelligently placed fans.

So we are 2 weeks + 1 day, so 15 days in from sprouting. In my opinion looking pretty good and healthy.. Decided to only stick with one plant and this one is looking strong. I know the setup looks kinda shaky but whatever I've been working on some renovations and I'm poor haha.. So yeah what do you guys think?

Damn man, I would have kept both of them!! They were looking good, and this one is still looking healthy!

billcollector99 said:

Damn man, I would have kept both of them!! They were looking good, and this one is still looking healthy!

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Thanks man.. And yeah I would have but it was getting a little too crowded and the other one took a hit pretty good when I transplanted it.