New noob grow in need of desperate helpp! Asap

Ok. So I am germinating 3 seeds right now. I was wondering a few things. What type of light and how many watts should it have. Also I'm leaving in 2 days for a week and I don't know how my plant will get water. Is there anyway I could make something out of household items that will give my plants water when they need it? I want to grow while I'm gone and not die. What should I do??????All help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I use 23W, 6500k CFLs for seedlings. In your case, is what I would do is (if your seeds germinate in those 2 days), plant them in your medium, and put them under flouros. I would say 2-3 plants per light if you have 23W CFLs. They take a couple days to sprout, and don't need much water at this time in there life. If the soil is moist when you plat them, you should be fine for the week.

Ok. how many 23W CFLs should i use with these 3 seedlings?

I think even 1 23W CFL should be fine. But because you are going on vacation for a week, you can't move the lights as your sprouts grow. You don't want stretching or burning, so I would go with 2, and keep them about 5"-6" above the soil.

Ok. I have to go out today and get a 4 pack of 23W (100W equivalent) CFLs from Home Depot. They are soft white. They will work perfect through the entire life of the plant right! I just need to up the wattage. Right?

I cant remember what the soft white, cool white are again. But for a seedling, (and vegging), you want to use bulbs with 6500K. Once the plants get half the size you want it to be when you harvest, replace your 6500K CFLs with 2700K CFLs. And yes you can use CFLs through the entire grow. For flowering, I would use higher wattage if possible. Just dont let the plant get very tall, CFLs dont have much penetration.

i would use 3, two cool white (blue spectrum) and 1 soft white (red spectrum). ideally you want the cool white to be a 6500K bulb, and the soft white to be 2100k. keep your bulbs about 4-6 inches away from the top of your plants, in your case the soil, this will eliminate stretching and keep your plants nice and compact. don't worry too much if you can't find the light bulbs with the 6500k and 2100k, in my setup i run 5100k, and 2700k, the only difference is that not as much light absorbs through the leaves( asw the spectrums of light are not as intense), so they take longer to grow. Just wondering how you are germinating your seeds, i always just throw mine in some soil, about an inch and a half down, put in some water, and give it light. I don't agree with this whole dark period to germinate, or the papertowel method. These plants are typically outdoor plants, they're seeds fall on the top of the ground, and the rain "digs" them into the soil. In my opinion if the seed doesn't sprout how i plant it, its not going to be a very strong plant. This coming from someone who plants flowers from seed every year, has about 30 houseplants in her living room alone, and does the same thing with seeds of all sorts every year. I mean when you think about germinating seeds, think about planting a garden, you just drop the seeds in the ground, water them and let em go.

As for your water issue, if you have pots that you can fit a clear plastic cup over, cut a small hole in the top and put it over the pot. this will keep the heat in and help to germinate them faster. if the cup is out of the question, take some staws or tooth picks and put them in the soil and lay saran wrap over top, much in the same way you would do if you were wrapping a cake with icing and didn't want the icing to stick to the saran. after you ahve done that, taske your pot with teh hole in the bottom, and get a a tupperware container, like an old margarine container or something of the sort and put about an inch of water in it, then put the pot in the water. Doing this will allow the soil to absorbs the moisture from the bottom, also allowing the roots to develop "stronger" by not only having the water there, but having to "dig" for the water. Some people may disagree with my methods, but they have always worked for me.

Hopefully that helps. I have subscribed to your thread, and am alongside you during your grow!

^^ I also used to feed my seedlings by allowing the soil to absorb the water from the bottom. I definately found it to be effective

o totally forgot where i was going witht he 3-1 light ratio, if you want to have 4 light on them at all times, have 3 blue and one red during veg and when you switch to flowering, have 3 red and 1 blue. It's not necessary to have this, as long as you ahve blue for veg and red for flower, but people say that it is best to have the 3-1 ratio, as the blue allows for growth, big stems to allow for more food to travel through and red allows for bushy, broad, dark green leaves. I'm pretty sure thats how it goes anyways. If anyone notices I'm wrong about what the lights specifically do, please corect me. But i know the blue for veg and red for flower.

KingJim said:

^^ I also used to feed my seedlings by allowing the soil to absorb the water from the bottom. I definately found it to be effective

Click to expand...

jsut out of curiosity, did you germinate your seeds prior to planting them?

Yes, I used to paper towel between two plates method. But I don't introduce water until I see a sprout.

Oh. Okay.. So now that RexA has me thinking. I'mnot going to buy the 4 pack. I'm just going to buy a pack of Cool White CFLs and a pack of Soft White CFLs. But the ones I see that I'm wanting to buy are only about 1750 lumens for each bulb at the most. How would I get the lumens higher, just by adding more lights or what? I am germinating my seeds for 24 hours in a cup of water, just to get them ready for the soil. This is how I did one of my other plants and it worked well but that plant is growing REALLY slow. (Can anyone tell me why its growing slow? I've posted a tread about that plant but not much help was received) I'm think it's because of nutrients and transplanting it and flushing the nutes out because I think I gave it to much but IDK. i put the seeds in soil after having them in water for about 24 hours. My pot it to large for the cup method and I really don't understand how to do the other method to keep my plant moisturized while I'm gone. Could you please explain that method again? And could you post a picture or video (preferred) about how to water my plants from the bottom so the roots grow to the water! Thanks!

Yes I germinate prior to planting!

@ KingJim - have you used this method before? I guess I don't use it because I have always had a 100% sucess rate with just dropping them in the soil. But hopefully no need for growing anymore seedlings, I am going the clone route now. If I decide to grow a purchased strain then I'll just do the "drag and drop" method, but if I come accross another bagseed, I might try the germination method for studies.

@WeedxManxEli - as for the lumens, yes just add more lights, but try to keep in mind the 3-1 ratio. What is the spectrum of the bulbs you are looking to purchase? as for your watering issue, i will check out the other thread. For a more detailed description of watering from the bottom and creating a dome out of saran wrap, I am going to draw up a diagram on paint for you. Just give me a few minutes i guess your lucky i can draw up more than a stick man I will post it to this thread when finished.

Ok. Thanks. I am looking at the cool white and soft white spectrum. And please help with my other thread too. I really need help with that plant. BTW that plant is growing outdoors but the ones I'm germinating now are going to grow indoors! And I can't wait to see the drawing you are making me on paint to explain that method! And another thing. I'm going to grow the germinating seed inside a container with a lid and I was wondering what I should put on the inside walls of the container to make light reflect the best, because right now I have tin foil and some people say that's bad but IDK. So what do you think I should out around the inside wall? the original container is blue plastic and I know that won't work so all help it greatly appreciated!

Ok so the diagram will be attached...please remember not to just use the "water in dish" method only. it works well as a temporary water system while you go on "vacation" but you can always use it after with your waterings to catch the "flushed/dripped" water so you don't have water seeping everywhere. Also please remember that the saran has to be fixed around the pot at the top (from the dome) as well as at the bottom (over the water dish) electrical tape works well.

That's a BEAST diagram and it explained it perfect! Thank you so much. Have you took a look at my other post with the growing problems? If not can you please look and leave feedback on that post now? PLEASEEEEEEEEEE

WeedxManxEli said:

Ok. Thanks. I am looking at the cool white and soft white spectrum. And please help with my other thread too. I really need help with that plant. BTW that plant is growing outdoors but the ones I'm germinating now are going to grow indoors! And I can't wait to see the drawing you are making me on paint to explain that method! And another thing. I'm going to grow the germinating seed inside a container with a lid and I was wondering what I should put on the inside walls of the container to make light reflect the best, because right now I have tin foil and some people say that's bad but IDK. So what do you think I should out around the inside wall? the original container is blue plastic and I know that won't work so all help it greatly appreciated!

Click to expand...

Tin foil is VERY bad, it creates hotspots adn can burn your plant and cause uneven growing. I grow in a closet with posterboard on the walls. dull side showing. Another thing i have read is to use mylar, although expensive you can find it thrifty aswell. Just go to your local wally world adn buy a camping emercengy blanket (costs around 3-5$ i believe) but posterboard works well for me. get ready for alot of measuring adn cutting and taping. I had a man servant for that part If you are growing in a rubbermaid container just remember ventilation is key. you need air coming into the container and out of the container, not just circulating inside.

do you know the numbers of the spectrum on the lights you are looking to buy? Rule of thumb... the closer to 6500k or 2100k, the more amount of light penetrates the leaves, therefore giving higher lumens. Going to check your other thread now. you should read mine adn see the battles we faced and my man servants exquisit crafting skills lol. Now i'm assuming you are just cutting holes in the lid of your box, so if you are think about making some reflectors out of posterboard to reflect the light downwards and eliminate some of the lost light.

I was actually think about cutting holes in my box and I just found some poster board around my house and about to cut it to fit in the container. What else should I do?

have you thought about ventilation? you should invest in a couple fans, just small 5$ fans from wally world work. or you can get creative adn buy a couple pc fans two ventilation and 2 for exhaust, and 2 ac adapters. cut the ends of the adapters (not the part you plug into the wall, you will need this) and then splice the ends of the adapter to the two pc fans. If you don't know how to do this, search it on youtube. its very very easy, i'm a girl and i can do it if you decide to go the wally world fan way, jsut use one for intake, one for exhaust. try adn have your intake on the side towards closer to the bottom allowing the "clean" air to come in through the bottom up past the plants and out the exhaust.. and the exhaust on the opposite side at the top, this will pull the heat from the bulbs as well as the "dirty" air. also you should invest in a thermometer, wallyworld for $3, and put it inbetween your pots so you know what the temp is around them. ideally you want between 75-85 readings. that should be about it. like i said before read my post, started by nervanuh, its my signature, and you should learn alot from it as far as box design. if the fans you buy have a high adn low setting, keep them on low for teh first while so your seedlings stay warmer. small plants need more heat to develop. also invest in a spray bottle. your seedlings will need to be misted at least once a day, i do it 2-3 daily, when you go on vacation don't worry about it too much and do not overmist before you leave to compensate for it. so take the saran off, mist and recover with saran. i think thats all the info i can give you right now, so other than that jsut leave your questions and i will answer asap. i'm off to recycle my cardboard, cans and bottles! Eat Cake!