newbie with some auto flowering low riders

Hi all, Ive been reading on here for a while and decided to do a little hortoculturalism!

I purchased "short stuff auto mix - 20 seed pack" for £35 and ive started a couple of them.
I used wet loo roll to start the seeds and then once they had a 10mm root I transfered them to soil. Im using these little pellets of compressed soil that expand when you add water to them, I have had good results with tomatoes in these. one of my plants was on top of the boiler and the other was not in such a warm place. The one on the boiler came up quicker so I put them both up there. after about a week I transfered them to a dedicated grow box.
The grow box is 2' high, 2' wide and 1' deep. There is a 2' flouresant (I think its a reptiglow and I think about 150 Lumens) the inside of the grow box is all gloss white and the lamp is about 1.5" off the highest point on the plants.
The plants are in the grow box now and have been for about 5 days. Ive insulated the box to bring the temperature up but the plants do not seem to have changed much over the last couple of days. they have 2/4 tiny leaves about 6mm long and stems about 1" long total. The stems have grown and then slumped to the side but still track the light. Im going to add a fan to get some air movement to toughen the stems up a little.
I have been keeping the soil moist, firstly just with water but from 10 days I used a very week mix of a miracle grow type fertilizer (5 drops to a litre) which is thick and brown and stinks!

Obviously I want these to get nice and big and juicy but right now I dont have 2 fat queens, ive got a couple of little runts! Is there anything I am doing wrong, or anything im not doing.

I hope these littel guys get bog and strong cos they should be due around x mas

oh and the light is on 24/7

you should get some cfl 6500k lights, 150 lumens isnt anything, you need alot more. here this will probably help https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/107992-tutorial-growing-cfls.html
you should post some pics once it gets going. if you have any questions this is the best source, and i suggest looking through many of the stickies just so you have the knowledge. best of luck with your growing

O sorry forgot a few things. high temp or low temp is bad, you should aim for 70-85f, and i would not suggest using any more miracle grow until you start to get some true nodes. there is a plethora of growing knowlegde on this site just dig in, peace

autoflowers dont seem to do much the first week or so,they are growing a deep root, they will take off soon.
I would add some more light and change to a 20hrs on 4 hrs off light scedule
easy on the miracle grow shit, it is easy to burn young plants. try to find a organic fert, your plants will taste better

nice one,
ill rack it up with cfl bulbs, ill be getting these from a local DIY store so which should I look for (uk based i.e. b&Q/ wickes/homebase)
I will fix them to a board and the flouesant too and then attach that to my ropes.
Will 8 be ok?

Ive added a cap of water from my hot water tank (so it has sat for a day or so to drop the chlorine) to each plant.

I hope the roots are getting a wriggle on
I cant wait"!

I'm also growing lowryder ....the #2 version under 6x 32w 48" floros....24/0 . I actually germed, and grew 9 lr2 along with several white widow, med strain and some bagseed for crash dummies.......Now 35-40 days later, the lr2 are their typical 14-16" inches tall....5 were fems and have some beautiful budsites. I do remember them being kinda slow to start off but my "runt" ended up having the most bud sites!..so just give'em time.....Most days all I'd do was turn'em a bit, check weight (dryness) and ya really get a feel for what is right........Easy to grow but I did not giv'em ANY nutes until 4 weeks old. Only water about once a week in theri 6" pots. The lr2 seem to like to dry a bit between waterings. Worked great for me.

8 should be plenty fine and just about every hardware store has them. common bulbs are 23 and 42 watt ect and the 42s work nicely. you can get y-splitters to maximize power distribution also. and look for the color tekperature rating, it is in kelvin. 6500k replicates daylight best and is best for vegging so i would look for those. best of luck

Well I got some bulbs and fittings and ive spent the evening doing a bit of wireing
there are 8 silvania bulbs kicking out 100W equivalent each for a total of 800W equivelent. they are not rated by kelvin and I cant remember what is on the box. I may swap some bulbs for some "more blue" ones or even add an extra fitting in the middle with a day light replica incandesant bulb fitted. Before I can do this ill need to get some ventilation going on. ive already got a 12cm pc fan that is meant to be ultra quiet which I was planning to use blowing vertically up between the plants and then extra, amaller ones blowing down from the top at either side. Ill post pics tomorow but im aiming for a convection type current and then i may introduce external fan/s

by the way, thats an 8 ball on top of the lamp!

nice lightage, that should really help those low ryders along , i wouldnt even worry about the incandescent anymore with all of those lumens youll be pumping out. peace and bountiful buds

wow...thanx for all this info everyone.
im currently doing a lowryder grow too and my whole week 1 very slow growth...slow but sure!
only 2 plants however. now day 9 and they seem to be excelling in growth quite a bit more.
good luck nasel..keep me posted

Hey all, I said I was going to post pics, and im a man of my word
the file with 31 in the name is how the grow box was, 1xflouesant in the top with a reflector. the ballast is in there as a heater lol, its not too humid in there so until it is ill use that, then ill probably use a heat mat if I need too.
the file with 32 in the name is the plants at 1pm today before the new lights went in, they are about 10 days old so far (eek!)
the image with 33 in it - mwahahaha note the floresant across the back whick I plan to keep half way between the bottom and the light board to light the lower leaves
34: got light?
The file with 35 in the name is the plants at about 5.30pm, there was more growth in this time that in the last 3 days , the notorious 8 ball is there for scale.

well, I think that covers things to date. ill post some prices later cos im doing this on a tight arse budget! (in case you hadnt noticed lol

oh I nearly forgot to mention that ive put the lights on a timer so the plants can rest a little (as they are so young) they were on 24/7 with the old lighting, I added the new lights (which really warm it up some!) the plants are now on 19/5 but ive done the 5 hrs off in 3 small chunks as the lighting is also the heating and I dont want the plants to freeze if it gets chilly.

Cant wait to see how things improve! cos lets face it, they couldnt be much smaller at over a week old!

Hi all again,
Right the cost of this so far
£40 - Seeds
£6 - 8' white conti board
£2 - piece of white coated hardboard
I already had the soil and floresant (I also have a snake)
I had the board for the light board lying about (also the hooks, screws and chain for mounting)
£15 - 8x BC light fittings
£15 - 8x BC CFL`s (silvania)
I was insulating the loft anyway so the insulation is all offcuts (including the one down the back)
I had some odds and sodds of cable and plugs/timers/splitters lying aroung.

So the cost so far is about 80 quid. From what ive seen I should be set for a reasonable growth. As long as I "attain" over 1/2 Oz out of these 2 seeds and the other 18 left in the bag then im Quids in!
How much should I expect to harvest from each plant in an enclosure like this? Im hoping 3/4Oz / plant.

When this harvest is coming to a close could I start some seeds in the bottom using the excess light in there to shave a bit of time off in between harvests.

What should I expect to see over the next few days, and what should I look out for?
Apart from the fans is there anything else I should consider adding to my setup? (HPS and MH are too hot for my plans)

I will also be away for a couple of nights in the next week and ive noticed that with the new lights I need to water more, what should I do to make sure my little guys dont perish? I was thinking of an ice cream tub with some blocks in the bottom about 1" high then add 7/8" of water and rock wool so that I get a breathable auto watering system? I think because the soul is out of the water they shouldnt drown but the rockwool should hydrate things by capiliary action. will this work?

wheres the love?
no one got any answers?

I am growing the short stuff mix auto's and they ar doing well, i am doing a grow journal with pics so have a look. i've also got ak47 and blue himalaya in which are pictured and shown in the journal. The auto's are great, love the way you get change everyday.
Be interesting to see the difference between mine and yours as i'm growing aeroponically with 600watt lights

Phew, I thought I was invisible lol
Ill have to check out your grow.
Im not so sure about them changing every day lol mine are a bit "special" (they aint too quick!)
i have just checked them and one has grown about 10mm since last nights post so I think the extra light and the rest periods are doing the trick.
Ive added some rock wool to the tub the soil pods are in and its doing a nice job of wicking the water to the soil without it getting dry. you can adjust the wetness by sinking the soil into the wool, more or less.
I found a seed last night in some smoke so I thought why not toss it in. Ive planted this straight in soil (no germination) in a small glass tub with a plastic lid. Ive poked some holes in the lid but also left it open a bit to let it cool. I think i will lay a piece of paper over the tub to keep the light off the seed (I was going to put it above the board but Im worried it might cook) hopefuilly once she grows a little she will move the paper if its in the way
Ive just turned the lights on manually so that in a while I can check the heat. when I got in there the lights had been off about an hour and it was still comfortable in there with the insulation holding heat nicely!

They dark cycles will definately be helping. i have mine off 8-12 and when i go in there is a fair bit of change. they have been in for about a week, they are slower for the first 4-5 days but then watch them baby's grow. It is truly amazing. don't think i could grow normal plants, wouldn't have the patience, i don't think.

I just checked out your last set of pics(hadn't checked them out before) They are very small look like they need putting in something bigger and maybe some sort of support. Mine are huge in comparison and have been in about the same time!!!! Just shows how much lights and systems make the difference!!

you'll be lucky to get 2oz per plant these things yield an average of an ounce a plant!!

you might want to get some support for your stems aswell until they get a bit stronger this will help hold the buds later in their life, it looks like your really overstreched the stem aswell, when you transplant them into bigger pots id bury some of the roots to once again help with supporting those buddahs later in the life cycle!!

ok so to get my growth up what do I need to do not Ive sorted the lighting?
replant? already?
add support.
keep them on a 19/5 cycle.

is there anything else that could be giving me runts? ive planted a bagseed as a control so that I can rule out the seeds if I get another runt.