First time (miracle) grower

I just received seven 3 week old seedlings from a friend on a whim.

I was not expecting to start growing so soon, as I was largely unprepared. I've currently got them on life support under 2 CFL's, with plans to purchase a 400w hps setup ASAP.

The only real problem I have is that I mistakenly put them in miraclegrow soil when I transplanted them into 3 gal. pots. I have been reading that this is too strong for the youngins (time released nutrients and all).

I moved them from one gal. buckets, so they are still immediately surrounded by some other soil which I think is less toxic.

I was wondering if I could just hold off on watering for a while so the time released nutrients would not release until they were older and needed the nitrogen anyways.

Any help would be great. Should I run out and get pearlite and organic? I don't want to traumatize the plants with two transplants in two days.

Thanks a ton, you have all helped me very much already with your previous posts.

My mix is 70% "Organic" MG 30% MG Perlite, along w/ 1 Tbsp of Garden Lime/gallon. I start seeds in that, and they don't burn. I water when needed

yeah i would stop transplanting them. you're more likely to shock the plants if you keep changing what soil they're in. are the cotyledons (first rounded set of untrue leaves) yellowed/fallen off yet? if they are then their food storage is used up and i would say its safe to start a LOW amount of nutrients. check the contents of the MG soil you put them in to see its fert. content. i currently have my 2 week old plant on a very small amount of 7-1-2 organic that i mixed into the very top of the soil and it seems to be doin great. another option would be to flush the plant to flush out the nutrients, but if its brand new soil it might take quite a bit of water, just be sure not to flood the plant.

lastly, go to the hardware store asap and grab some more cfl's. they're cheap get like a pack of 4 or 2 packs of 4 and surround your plants with them. they will work surprisingly great being only cfl's and you could really (if you wanted to) hold off on the HPS light until you flower. shit you could even flower with cfl's if you want just get the right spectrum. but if you are for sure going to get a HPS get some more cfl's to help the plants out until you get the hps. leave them on tho in combination with the HPS and you'll get even better results. plants like both spectrums in veg stage.


if any of this is wrong, anyone feel free to correct me i'm still new to this as well but i figured i'd try to help out as much as i can

three week old plant's should be pretty strong by now. I would say that yes, they could use some more lights, 4-6 27w CFLs would be ok for a few more weeks.

When I said "pretty strong" I meant they shouldn't be burned by soil alone. If you need to feed them. Add a very small amount of nutrients.

the leaves have fallen of and all. The miracle grow 21 - 7 - 14, which i think is very strong. I don't know what the previous soil is. Should I still feed with a gentle nitrogenous fert?

Also I am running 2 75 watt cfls so should i still get 4 more or so? I think you said 4-6 25 watts so I don't know.

Thanks!

Bongname=Terminator said:

Also I am running 2 75 watt cfls so should i still get 4 more or so? I think you said 4-6 25 watts so I don't know.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

You may be using something that i'm not aware of but i'm pretty sure you mean that you are using 2 75 watt EQUIVALENT cfl's.

The 27 watt cfls itzCESAR* was speaking of have a 100 watt or so equivilancy to standard incandescant bulbs. I think these typically put out around 2000-2500 lumens each whereas the 75w equivilant (actually around 17 actual watts) are prolly more around 1500.

Hope this helps.

Got any pics? That would be lovely. You're 75 watters should be ok, I'd get a couple smaller ones for backup tho.
My MG organic is 10-5-5. You may have the strong stuff. When did you transplant? After a transplant I'd wait a couple of days to see what they need. If the yellowing persists then I'd add some mild nutes.

I have used miracle grow! Do not fert AT ALL until around 3 or 4 weeks. My top 44 has grown like a bitch without ferts and not i have introdused ferts for the flowering phase. I may be a newb but i know that plants will tell you when they need feeding so just be attentive and remember its easier to kill them with fertilizer than without. lol

I hope we're talking actual watts, and not equivalents. If you're lights are 75w equals you really only have 14w bulbs, and your gonna need a few bigger ones. There are actual 75 watters, and I hope that's what you have.

yeah i would still get more. its not about the only power of the bulbs but also about the coverage of your plants. you can always rotate them but then it just gets to be a pain if you don't have very many bulbs. surround your plants with bulbs, they're cheap, and it will make it much easier on you. also your plants won't start stretching or leaning in the direction of your light. and they might even start growing more rapidly. the more light the better, especially with cfls cuz you don't really have heat to worry about. keep as many as you can on them like 2 inches or so away from them. i keep my young seedlings under multiple 100w cfl's.
As for the watering definitely don't add any more nutrients. but your plant should be strong enough for a little feeding.

CasteR said:

yeah i would still get more. its not about the only power of the bulbs but also about the coverage of your plants. you can always rotate them but then it just gets to be a pain if you don't have very many bulbs. surround your plants with bulbs, they're cheap, and it will make it much easier on you. also your plants won't start stretching or leaning in the direction of your light. and they might even start growing more rapidly. the more light the better, especially with cfls cuz you don't really have heat to worry about. keep as many as you can on them like 2 inches or so away from them. i keep my young seedlings under multiple 100w cfl's.
As for the watering definitely don't add any more nutrients. but your plant should be strong enough for a little feeding.

Click to expand...

This is everything I was trying to say. Only organized...

Now for the 100w CFLs you use. Are we talking actual watts, or equivalents?

Yeah I'm dealing with equivalents, so I'm definitely going to the store tomorrow for some better (and more) lights.

But as far as feeding goes, you say feed them but don't add more nutrients. I'm assuming you mean watering?

Sorry, true noob here

It's cool we were all there, and most of us have learned from stupid mistakes.
I'm saying you should water if needed. Don't let the soil get too dry. Now for nutrients (food/fertilizer). I'd wait on that. You planted in fresh soil. Your plants should suck that up first. If they still show signs of hunger (yellowing) after a couple days, I'd feed then

For 7 babies, I'd get at least 4 27w (actual) "Daylight" CFLs

Ok thanks a ton. They are actually looking pretty nice right now, no discoloration of the leaves or anything. I'll keep a close eye on em over the next couple days though.

Thanks a ton for the advice, saving my ass


Also i'll try to get pics

hahaha sorry for reiterating your info then. normally i'm not very organized at all.. i just ran outta smoke tonight and nobody is awake at 5am round here but me. guess thats the benefits of growing your own eh?


and yes you are right i forgot to mention i use multiple 100w EQUIVALENTS not actual 100w. they are truly only 27w bulbs. sorry for the confusion there



good luck on the grow Terminator, and yeah lets see some pics!

Maybe this will be of some help to ya also....

I went through my first grow with as follows...

2 45 gallon rubbermaid container tubs..(one turned upside down on top of the other with the lights mounted on what would then be the underside of the inside of the top tub. I used in the way of lighting...


for veg 8- 27 w bright white cfls (i wanna say color temp round 6000k)
for flowering i kept 3 of those in to keep some blue spec light goin and also added

2- 27 w soft white
1- 32 w soft white and
1-42 w soft white (color temp round 2500k-3000k if not mistaken for all these soft whites)

cut an rectangular intake hole on the end of top tub and mounted a pretty decent quality box type fan inside to take in fresh air... got 2 small 4 inch fans inside to circulate and to push air toward a couple of exit holes (one on each side of the bottom tub). Lined em both inside with the reflectors u buy to keep sun out of your windsheild.

With just that and biobizz root juice, bio grow, and bio bloom that first cfl grow produced some amazing lookin buds. Actually had FAR more trich. coverage than i would have ever expected. That setup keeps the interior at about 80 degrees when everything is runnin. It may not sound like much but trust me it came out lookin fairly professional if i do say so myself LOL. As i say.. if it works... USE IT!!

I had a lotta success with that lighting and trainin plants for SOG and am currently on round 2 with the same one. Very cheap as the most expensive thing really is the nutes i got ..i used foxfarms ocean forest soil and that was 20 bux and only used like half the bag.... most expensive light was the 42w soft white which i got for like 8 bux at local hardware store. The 26-27 watters u can get in packs of 4 or more and only end up payin 3 bux each for em.. possibly less.

Anyway.. hope this helps ya bro... maybe you'll find something useful as it would be quick to setup unexpectedly as u said.

Btw.. that box setup was used to grow 8 females from seed to weed

Just thought i'd give ya a light to plant ratio or sumthin'