180w Blackstar LED in GL60 tent Organic soil (First grow)

Well then Im stumped man, there is something seriously wrong in that set up somewhere, those guys should be looking a lot better than that.

Put those jiffy pots in a shallow tray of water. For the tap root to grow and spread, the bottom of the soil needs water too. Just top watering isnt going to do squat. Also, try lowering your led a bit

Thats probably good advice right there. I used jiffy pots once and hated every second of it (lost a plant too). I moved on to solo cups (with holes in the bottom) and rinsed starting soil and it works MUCH better for my setup. I have seen a lot of people have success with the jiffy pots, but I just find them to unstable and cause for too much fuss for a seedling.

Devilspawn said:

Put those jiffy pots in a shallow tray of water. For the tap root to grow and spread, the bottom of the soil needs water too. Just top watering isnt going to do squat. Also, try lowering your led a bit

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I will give the watering from the bottom a shot. I don't know that I can lower the LED much more, it is only about 6-8" above the plants and I have the CFL shining on them from the side since there is no room above. Thanks for the help everyone!

Just a little update, watering from the bottom seems to be helping. The plant that has been doing the best all along is growing fairly quickly now. Has the second set of leaves and is getting close to 2 inches tall now. The other plant is not drooping as much but still a little sad looking. It too is getting a second set of leaves but they haven't separated from the first set much yet.

can we see some new growth?

OldGrowth420 said:

can we see some new growth?

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I'll take some pics when I check on them tonight. I'll get them posted tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the interest.

Ok well here are some pictures. The droopy one is looking really sick. Lots of discoloration. The other is looking healthyish, I don't understand the difference since they are raised in the same exact conditions.

Being a bit east of center,,, I'd like to offer a suggestion here if you don't mind?

Dump the distilled water, or airate the shit out of it for 24 hrs. before use. And let the pots dry until they feel light.

But for now;
If you can't get good tap water (airated of course), try selzer / tonic water.
To that add 1/3 cup of Peroxide per gallon. Add a rather light amount of nutes.
Take the above and flush them puppies until the gallon is gone. Now do nothing until the pots feel empty by weight when lifting.
You'll be good.

That distilled water (and so much of it) has drowned them gals. Time for a little life support. Distilled is dead, flat, empty H2O. Plant needs air at the roots. Essentially with the flat distilled water you've started to kill them with kindness.

Don't normally get involved, but been watching. I do a lot of things against the main stream (that work) and just don't bother with the "hate".
If you choose not to try the above, it's fine. I understand the wives tales involved. For 3 weeks though, they don't look good. actually looking like 5-7 days of fair growth.
Good luck

PS; You got me started (again) on LEDs. Presently installed and all is well. TY We're running a very similar setup of sorts.

Tap water is simply out of the question, where I live it is some of the most toxic tap I have ever seen. I am not familiar with what you mean by airate the distilled water. I am well aware that distilled is dead but there just aren't many options for flouride free water around here. I use the distilled because I have it on hand from using it as my personal drinking water. I do let the pots dry until they are light, the jiffy cups are nice because you can feel the moisture through them since they absorb water themselves. I had planned on mixing molasses and nutes with the water once they got a little stronger, I thought the soil would provide all the nutes I needed for a while. As far as the plants needing air to the roots, I thought that was the point of not packing the dirt down and leaving it loose in the pot.

Thank you very much for your input, one of main reasons I made this thread was so that I can get help from more knowledgeable people. Perhaps you could clarify a little bit and help me out some more though. How would I airate my distilled water? If I went with your seltzer water method, what would I do after the gallon is gone? Go back to distilled again? Also, a gallon of water for two small cups seems like extreme overkill, am I supposed to use it all at once or over the course of them needing water use it? As it stands, I don't think I have used a full gallon of water total in the 3 weeks I've been growing. Thanks again for the help.

To airate your water (any water) grab an aquarium pump and some line with airstones and drop it in the jug for a day. I use a double line for a 20 gal. tank. Cheap.
Run at least a pint of water through them slowly and equally and WITH the peroxide and modest (1/4) nutes. Add the nutes & peroxide just before use. You can ratio it down if you want. But dump it after 3 days. The peroxide gives off a oxygen molecule as it ages and aids the roots. (By product is simply water) After 3 days the peroxide is dead.

Reason, you simply may have more than one issue going on there. What you may want to do is think "Flood & drain with dirt".
Essentially you don't know what the state of nutes are, water was flat, mentioned you had bugs (hatched lava=fly) so I'm starting you out at ground zero.
Any idea where your ph is at?
By flushing this way you are replacing about everything in the soil your plant needs. Oxygen, insecticide (of sorts), nutes, flushing possible salt(s), and getting rid of a lot of unknows.
You should see definate improvements in 48 - 72 hrs.
Side note, I don't subscribe to 24 hrs. of light. Needs time to reverse and things. Try at least 4 hrs. of restful sleep.

Forget the molassas, unless you want to feed the bugs / flies / lava.

You mention this is your first grow? Don't get fancy. Grow your first straight up.

Research 'til your eyes bleed. Read the really long post. That'll give you opinions and hands on from others. It's really hard seperating the B.S. from the gospel. I encourage you to try things to know for sure. Even then, what you learned may only be strain related and not a "works all the time" thing. I'm going thru one right now. (https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/404682-theory-testing-styles.html#post5243224)

Good luck and enjoy.

Check this out for starters;
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/peroxide-garden.html

Well I took your advice, I bought an air pump to aerate my distilled water. I also got some seltzer water and mixed in some peroxide and a light mix of 4-4-4 nutes and drenched them down. There was some obvious aeration going on in the soil, the level of the soil rose up and there was bubbles coming up. I have also added a 4 hour period of dark. Hopefully this does the trick. Thanks again.

24 hours of light isn't the best for long periods of time...I agree. It may sound all too common but I find 18/6 to be the best. Those hours of darkness are just as important as the hours of light.

I am hoping that the change 3 weeks into it doesn't stress the plants to bad, but as it is they aren't looking great anyway so willing to risk it.

fourtwentyish said:

Well I took your advice, I bought an air pump to aerate my distilled water. I also got some seltzer water and mixed in some peroxide and a light mix of 4-4-4 nutes and drenched them down (you had suficient run-off for a good flush?). There was some obvious aeration going on in the soil, the level of the soil rose up and there was bubbles coming up. I have also added a 4 hour period of dark. Hopefully this does the trick. Thanks again.

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If the level of the soil rose, it was either (a) too compacted / compressed, and/or (b) too dry.

Tonic water was instead of the airation of the distilled. Not with it.
I don't see any harm in it though. Too much oxygen will simply bleed its self off. Possibly the bubbling you saw. Could of been the reaction of the peroxide on lava, salts, etc. too. (and that would be a good thing!)

Didn't want to over do the expectations,, After 12 hours, you see any change?
Agree very strongly with the 18/6,, but took the heat issue into consideration on keeping them warm.

If you're still trying to provide CO2,, don't. Make sure you've an air exhange in your area too. (as in not a sealed box) For Vegging I generally leave my grow open. no real reason it needs to be closed at all except for stealth / security. But a big black bag isn't very stealth anyways - LOL.

I'm a little concerned with the 4-4-4 you're useing, probably okay,, But...
If you post some updates (pictures) as things develope it will help.
(for me) It's difficult doing this without seeing / smellin / feeling it in person, I'll try though.

Best of luck to ya though.
I'll keep an eye out on a following...

By-the-way, adding minimum darkness will not stress them in the least. Actually, not giving them any darkness would be more stressing by far.
Something to think about, When night hits, the hydraulics of the plant reverses. Think during the daylight the plant is pumpimg fluids up the stalk and such. At night it drains back into the root and relatively dry. (Partly why the leaves generally droop a bit before lights on) Well, think air filter. Keep sucking through the filter and eventually the thing clogs with whatever does not pass through. Roots same way. Shutting it down at night and letting the fluids reverse back into the ground, it's like blowing the airfilter out from the inside to unclog it.
Without the rest period, your......
Actually, much more to it than that, but you get the basic idea.

And I'm liking what I'm seeing from my 180 Lighthouse flower light.

This is how they are looking now.

I went ahead and used the carbonated water because I didn't want to wait for the 24 hours of aeration of the distilled. Plus I wanted to give them a nice flush. The tent is not for stealth really, I have the tent in a closet for the stealth part. I got the tent for the reflective material inside and the ease of controlling the climate. The closet I have the tent in is basically an unfinished attic in a 100 year old house. When we moved in I spent the better part of the day cleaning it out before we were even willing to put our stuff inside it. It was bad, cobwebs everywhere, exposed insulation, dirt/dust. The heat also does not get to the closet so the plants would freeze if I left it open. We also live in a very dry climate, so maintaining the humidity would be difficult w/out the tent. I am already having a hard time keeping the humidity just at 50% even though I would like it to be higher.

We have been looking for a new place to live though, and I am hoping that will solve my problems.

Glad to hear you are getting good results from you LED , and thanks again for the help!

Any better?

To be honest, those gals would be looking a 13W CFLs for the next week or so in my house.

Hello? still alive?

Must...have....update......