Help help help please!

Man this is my 3rd time trying and i cant even get shit to grow right.....ok Im gonna start from step 1 I germinated these seed like anyone else.....plant few in soil and a few in rockwool.....I get the first 2 baby leaves and take it out of the greenhouse....and place under my 250 watt mh light....they last a day and look so healthy and nice and come back next day and these things are laying flat.....i dont get it im doing something worng but cant figure it out....humidity in the room is about 35% temp around 65-80 depending on time of day.....are they too little to place under the mh or any ideas what im doing worng.....kinda getting a little fustrated.....

hey ya man sounds like your cookin the life out of them. try putting under a large cfl bulb for a while first. try a 42 watt(150 watt equivalent)..you may also be watering too much. keep soil moist but not saturated. the light you have now may work, just dont keep it so close maybe. hope this helps. good luck

I would suggest using the paper towel method for germinating seeds.

I normally start by soaking seeds in water and occasionally tapping the seeds to the
bottom throughout the day until they permanently sink.

once they've sank, I will wrap the seeds in a damp paper towel until they've broken out of their shell.

THEN, i'd plant.

As for burning, you would probably be better off growing with at least two 150watt(equivalent) CFL bulbs.

Once you decide to put your plant into flowering, you should begin to use your HPS bulb.

Make sure when using your HPS that you are provided sufficient ventilation so your plants don't have a heat stroke.

Best of luck!

mr.nice*guy said:

hey ya man sounds like your cookin the life out of them. Try putting under a large cfl bulb for a while first. Try a 42 watt(150 watt equivalent)..you may also be watering too much. Keep soil moist but not saturated. The light you have now may work, just dont keep it so close maybe. Hope this helps. Good luck

Click to expand...

well i just keep the medium moist not too much water but i was thinkin maybe the light was too strong for them.....how low should i have the light to the plants?

So use a cfl instead of a mh light? For veggie stage too?

i dont have much to say about HID lighting uses since all i use are cfls, regarding how close to place the HID..but from what ive read and seen around on RIU, vegg that bitch under cfls and then flower with HPS. best of luck to you

Use a CFL about 6 inches away, and your 250MH no closer than 2 1/2 to 3 ft. You dont need it that close at all when they are seedlings. Once they get strong and healthy ya drop that light as close as you can without burning them to reduce stretch, but to start a seedling you just need a little bit of light. Def. no heat and def. not too much intensity. Could be the seeds as well. Bag seed? or reputable seed bank?

switch to the metal halide for vegging after about 1-2 weeks of them sprouting, are you running a 24/0 or 18/6 light cycle?or you can just raise the metal halide for the first week or so till its ready for more intensity, then just start lowering the lights back closer again.

Ok cool yea i was probably burning these babys up! Ok thanks for the info!

I was on a 24/0 schedule but after the first set dies i put it on a 18/6.....and thats what its on now......i think i just had the lights way too close......i read to put them as close as i could without them burning and did but i think they were just too colse for the babys!

for sure man sounds like thats what happened, keep in mind you need to keep that humidity up too. Thats the numb. one reason when I lose clones is from lack of humidity. Sometimes Ive had to soak a dixie cup with water and cover the clone for a day and by the next day its perked back up

Hey Money I know how ya feel. I blew my first attempt when starting with seeds. from experience, this is the best way to start from seeds. At just about every Hydroponics supply store you can get a humidity dome kit. it comes with a heating pad, a drain pan, a seedling/clone tray with Root Riot medium plugs, and a plastic dome. I did the wet papertowel to germinate the seeds and once they had a tap root that was at least 1/4 - 1/2" long, i planted them in the roor riot plugs. The root riot plugs are like sponges, and as such, they hold a LOT of moisture. In fact they come from the factory pre-soaked. The two most important pieces of this kit are heating pad and the dome. The roots will grow very fast as they are drawn toward the heat. Seedlings and clones need a very high level of humidity in order to thrive for the first two weeks. The dome help to trap the moisture in and as a result, all I had to do was spray them with room temp water 3-4 times a day. Works like a charm! I also use a thermostat for my heating blanket and keep it set at 85 degrees. The plants really seem to like it. They also did quite well with cfl's. I used 8 23w 6500k cfl's in a home made reflector shield. I had to experiment a little with the right distance at first. I have two digital thermometers, one in the dome and the other on top of it. I raised/lowered the light until i found the right hieght that would get it as close as possible but not raise the internal temp higher than 85.
Hope this helps man. I know how frustrating it can be....