Just starting help!

I just made a grow box painted it white put a fan to blow out the air on the top side and a fan blowing fresh air in at the bottom. i have 2 100 watts cfl lights and i just put a plant that broke outa the seed in a pot thats 4 inchs filled with mircale grow for seed starting. and 2 more pots with seeds hopeing there brake outa there shells to from the cfl lights!. my question is how long should i keep the light on for the first 2h4 hrs and so on... and also im giving it tap water out of my sink. What else should i do please help IM NEW!!!!!!!!!!!! to this!!!!!!!!!

first things first... for starters lights are fine, your pots are fine, you will hear miracle grow isnt great soil to use, but for now it will work, you will re-pot soon enough and hopefully use something else, such as Fox Farm soil or other similar.
Tap Water.... you need to leave this water sit out for at least 24 hours in a bucket or such to let the chlorine evaporate, chlorine is horrible for your plants and will kill them stress them out etc..
With your seedlings, you need to create some sort of dome to cover them up, but clear, this helps keep moisture in, helps the seedling get stay happy and moist.
Lights, run them either 18/6 or 20/4 for best results.

Get started with that, then spend some time reading, lots and lots of info here that will cover everything you need to know for start to finish.

Good luck!

u probably dont want a fan blowing into your box just the open hole.................i dont use a dome on seedlings i dont c the point seems then they get too wet just something else to go wrong..........your miracle grow is garbage.......but it can be done the biggest problem is how thick it is .....if all your working with is wall mart get a bag of the miracle grow perlite to cut the soil with .................

I agree with leaving the tap water out at least 24 hrs to get rid of the chlorine if you are on city water. If you are on a well no need to worry about the chrorine.

if your on a well theres plenty of other stuff to worry bout................lol

in cfls 6500k are for veggin 2700k are for flowering and make sure your cfls are as close as you can get them to your plants without burning them.(this is very important) make sure to like they said leave your water out for 24hrs before giving it to your plants and definately get better soil. it will definately grow something in it but you want to spoil your babies and give them a chance to thrive dont you?! also make sure your fanis not directly on your plants at all times as this is not that good for them and you will probably not need any nutes for the first 3wks to a month and then when you do get nutes make sure you are not giving them full strength doses to start.. you need to dillute it by at least1/2 but i would do 1/4 strength as you need to wein your plants on the food as they are not used to it... dont over water them or under water them( i gallon of water only when dirt is very dry and light to every 3 gallons of dirt) ask lots of questions after searching the threads here and youll be just fine!! cheers!

you need to know the ph of your tap water,get some ph drops and check it., they are about 5 bucks...

Dude you need to read as much as possible,I know guys who came on the 2 or 3 canna sites for over 2 years before growing.Its called research and theres plenty of good info out there,no one can teach you this in two post!!.

na ...........just wing it theres sooooo much bs u will never pick fact from fiction without doing it yourself

i beleive there is two sides of this story and you need to ask questions and research but i beleive you can do it while growing.. ask questions or research as problems occure as you start noticing them..and if ther is no problem and you just need to know something look it up and if you cant find the answer ask. some people bitch about well this or that question has already been asked and answered...blah blah..ask it again if you cant find it because some of us like to help people out..

wayno30 said:

if your on a well theres plenty of other stuff to worry bout................lol

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So what if sand shoots out of the shower head. Just close your eyes. BTW - I'm the cleanest dude around. Honestly, I've been on well water for 12 years. It is very very clean. I would rather drink my water straight from the tap than from the fridge with a filter.

And for all those on city water......When the terrorists contaminate your drinking water come on over. Lots of free bud and clean water.

if your well water is good then great..........but i dont like what ifs........like what if it rains a ton washes a bunch of farm stuff into the water table?

I don't worry about it. That water has to filter through 225' of dirt, rock, then sand. Farming hasn't been done around here for years and years and years.

I'd be more worried about contaminated city water. That really isn't a "if" it's a "when" IMO.

Ok, I'm done talking about water sources. There are pros and cons to everything in life.

I was just pointing out that well water has no chlorine in it. I forgot to tell you about the third ear growing out of my neck...........LOL

Ok, lets get one thing straight....Plants don't mind chlorine, it's the bennies that cant stand it. If you're using synthetic nutrients, it doesn't matter if you have chlorine in your tap water...In fact, DynaGro lists chlorine as one of the essential micronutrients in it's blend. If you're growing organically, chlorine will kill the beneficial bacteria and fungus in your soil, which is what organic gardening is all about. Also, most municipal water sources treat their water with Chloramine now, which is a combination of ammonia and chlorine, and it doesn't evaporate from the water if you just leave it sitting out. Once again, doesn't matter if you're using chemical or synthetic nutes, cause plants don't mind the chlorine.

BTW-I ADDED chlorine to the water for my DWC grow to keep it clean and gunk free...Plants didn't even bat an eyelash at it, just kept on loving life...So Chlorine will NOT stress your plants out or kill them, unless I suppose you used way too concentrated of a solution.

reverof said:

first things first... for starters lights are fine, your pots are fine, you will hear miracle grow isnt great soil to use, but for now it will work, you will re-pot soon enough and hopefully use something else, such as Fox Farm soil or other similar.
Tap Water.... you need to leave this water sit out for at least 24 hours in a bucket or such to let the chlorine evaporate, chlorine is horrible for your plants and will kill them stress them out etc..
With your seedlings, you need to create some sort of dome to cover them up, but clear, this helps keep moisture in, helps the seedling get stay happy and moist.
Lights, run them either 18/6 or 20/4 for best results.

Get started with that, then spend some time reading, lots and lots of info here that will cover everything you need to know for start to finish.

Good luck!

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As a matter of fact, don't listen to this guy...Do NOT put your seedlings under humidity domes, that will fuck them up royally...lol...Only cuttings that you're trying to root into clones need humidity domes, and thats because they have no roots and absorb water through their leaves until they grow roots...Seedlings that are already above the surface of the soil already have a root/roots that suck up moisture from the soil...Putting a dome over them will greatly increase the risk of damping off, rot, and other nasty shit you don't want to happen. Just read read read, but try to find some credible sources...I don't recommend dogmatically following the advice of anyone who replies to your thread...Instead do some research from proven growers, or better yet, maybe hang out in a smoke shop and flip through the books about growing.

Metasynth said:

As a matter of fact, don't listen to this guy...Do NOT put your seedlings under humidity domes, that will fuck them up royally...lol...Only cuttings that you're trying to root into clones need humidity domes, and thats because they have no roots and absorb water through their leaves until they grow roots...Seedlings that are already above the surface of the soil already have a root/roots that suck up moisture from the soil...Putting a dome over them will greatly increase the risk of damping off, rot, and other nasty shit you don't want to happen. Just read read read, but try to find some credible sources...I don't recommend dogmatically following the advice of anyone who replies to your thread...Instead do some research from proven growers, or better yet, maybe hang out in a smoke shop and flip through the books about growing.

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Thanks for the tip dude. We just started our second grow and I had the 5 seedlings under plastic domes with air holes, I just took them off. +rep

As for the below... I have germinated and grown over 60 plants from seed, I have always used a humidity dome for the first few days of seedlings till I have roots coming out of my rock wool, then planted them. I did this also for some I started in soil and never had a problem. It was a recommended technique from a large grower that I know.

Problems happen with humidity domes when people over water their seeds and seedlings.

I wont argue with anyone here, as there are those trolling. I responded to someone who seemed to be looking for some assistance and gave some basic info that I use and or seen work well, I then recommended doing some research.

Metasynth said:

As a matter of fact, don't listen to this guy...Do NOT put your seedlings under humidity domes, that will fuck them up royally...lol...Only cuttings that you're trying to root into clones need humidity domes, and thats because they have no roots and absorb water through their leaves until they grow roots...Seedlings that are already above the surface of the soil already have a root/roots that suck up moisture from the soil...Putting a dome over them will greatly increase the risk of damping off, rot, and other nasty shit you don't want to happen. Just read read read, but try to find some credible sources...I don't recommend dogmatically following the advice of anyone who replies to your thread...Instead do some research from proven growers, or better yet, maybe hang out in a smoke shop and flip through the books about growing.

Click to expand...

The only time I would be okay with using humidity domes with seeds is if they're still underneath the soil...A dome can prevent the top of the soil from drying out, giving your seeds a better chance at breaking the surface...but even then they aren't necessary...And you would want to remove them AS SOON as you see the seed break the surface. They're really just a cloning tool in my opinion...But to each their own, and if something works for you, by all means, go ahead and do whatever...I just recommend people do their research from credible sources.

And yeah, you acted like the tiniest bit of chlorine will devastate a plant, when thats totally not true at all...It just kills the beneficial microbial life that is sustained by organic gardening, but with synthetic nutes it's no big deal.

As far as chlorine goes, I just think its best to start people off not using water with it, or they get into a bad habit and may end up with problems in other grows. Why not start them off correct and lead them down the proper path