My first grow! A CFL journey

This is my first grow ever! I've been on this forum for years but never grew due to my living circumstances. Now I'm in my own place and starting my a closet cfl grow to get one under my belt. I germinated 10 bagseeds for about 3 days. 6 in a paper towel (5 popped) and 4 in a glass of water. (1 popped) I only germinated 10 cause I'm sure about half of them will be males. I don't have the space for 10 adult plants right now.
The 4 from the cup are labeled B1, B2, B3 and B4. B1 was the I my one to produce a taproot so it has a star. The paper towel seeds are A1-6 and A1 is the only one that did not pop.

I plan to use lst and other methods to keep these ladies short and thick, and hopefully have a decent yield.

Soil-
Bloom Bloom Flower and Vegetable garden soil w/ earthworm castings and organic hummus and manure added.

Lights-
4 23w 2700k CFL
I am waiting on my 6500k bulbs to arrive in the mail. I couldn't find these anywhere over the counter.

Cycle-18/6

Congrats on starting a journal mate! neat little setup with the lights too lol. I wish you all the best for the grow, I'll try and keep an eye on the thread to help out if I can

eastcoastmo said:

Congrats on starting a journal mate! neat little setup with the lights too lol. I wish you all the best for the grow, I'll try and keep an eye on the thread to help out if I can

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I threw that fixture together in a few minutes. Lol it's super simple, but it's working for now. I'm sure I'll be changing it. Probably when I start flowering.

Its official! I have seedlings!
Checked on them last night when I got home and there they were, three little ladies. Watered them this morning and the water revealed a stem through the dirt in another cup. Bringing the count to 4 so far.

After zooming in on the second picture the largest seedling looks like it has some yellowing on the leaves. I'm assuming that's because I watered with regular tap water twice. Or too much nitrogen in the soil maybe. I will test my soil when I get back to it, but I could use suggestions for a cheap water filter.

Took a second look at it in person and she looks fine. Nice and green.

As for my 6500k lighting (which I need to get asap!) I was thinking two of these. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/62837/FC105-FEIIIB10565.html
Those would be 12.6k lumens combined, plus the two 23w 2700k's that would stay in there.

DropsOfJupiter said:

I threw that fixture together in a few minutes. Lol it's super simple, but it's working for now. I'm sure I'll be changing it. Probably when I start flowering.

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You did well man, as long as it works hey!!

DropsOfJupiter said:

Its official! I have seedlings!
Checked on them last night when I got home and there they were, three little ladies. Watered them this morning and the water revealed a stem through the dirt in another cup. Bringing the count to 4 so far.

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And you're off and running! Great stuff mate

DropsOfJupiter said:

After zooming in on the second picture the largest seedling looks like it has some yellowing on the leaves. I'm assuming that's because I watered with regular tap water twice. Or too much nitrogen in the soil maybe. I will test my soil when I get back to it, but I could use suggestions for a cheap water filter.

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Yeah dont stress, they do look a little yellow to start off, they'll be fine!

DropsOfJupiter said:

Took a second look at it in person and she looks fine. Nice and green.

As for my 6500k lighting (which I need to get asap!) I was thinking two of these. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/62837/FC105-FEIIIB10565.html
Those would be 12.6k lumens combined, plus the two 23w 2600k's that would stay in there.

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Sweet man, those 105w will help them move along, just be careful of the fire hazard with having 2 of them in your diy fixture, they will get extremely hot. Otherwise, 260w all up will grow you some decent buds!!

I'll definitely keep an eye on the temps. I'm already considering different fixture options, but I've ordered the two 105 watt bulbs. also ordered a PH up/down kit, some actual grow light rope hangers, and a thermo/hygrometer. Will be picking up a water filter tomorrow.

I think at least 2 of my seeds are dead as of now, but I'm gonna leave them probably another week before I toss any. We're now up to 5 seedlings.

DropsOfJupiter said:

I'll definitely keep an eye on the temps. I'm already considering different fixture options, but I've ordered the two 105 watt bulbs. also ordered a PH up/down kit, some actual grow light rope hangers, and a thermo/hygrometer. Will be picking up a water filter tomorrow.

I think at least 2 of my seeds are dead as of now, but I'm gonna leave them probably another week before I toss any. We're now up to 5 seedlings.

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Yeah good work man, sounds like a solid plan! Watch out with the pH kits too, they give you powdered up/down which reek havoc in some systems. If you can get phosphoirc acid (pH down) and potassium hydroxide (pH up) and a pH pen, it will work a lot better! Good work getting the hygrometer too, keeping temps in check is always a good thing!
That sucks about the seedlings too man, I hope they decide to pop for you.

eastcoastmo said:

Yeah good work man, sounds like a solid plan! Watch out with the pH kits too, they give you powdered up/down which reek havoc in some systems. If you can get phosphoirc acid (pH down) and potassium hydroxide (pH up) and a pH pen, it will work a lot better! Good work getting the hygrometer too, keeping temps in check is always a good thing!
That sucks about the seedlings too man, I hope they decide to pop for you.

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The one I ordered is liquid.



Seedlings are almost a week old now. 6 have popped so far, 4 to go. If they do.
I'm super excited for these ladies to get a little bigger and let me tie them up.

I'm open to any and all feedback in this grow journal.

Cool mate! Just use it very sparingly if you're growing in soil, any pH'ing products will kill off any good microbes in your soil. I've never pH'd when growing in soil.

Seedlings are looking good mate, hope the other 4 pop for you!!

Ah, the first issue arises.

I'm thinking maybe hot spots in the room(because I read about those and tin foil recently).
Or the girls were a little thirsty. The dirt seemed pretty dry. But I noticed these discolorations on a couple of the seedlings.

You can barely see what I mean on the leaf tips.



This one is pretty obvious though.


And then there's this girl, a little odd looking to me.. is that normal looking leaf growth?


Anyways, they all received a good watering and I'll hope that solves the issue. if not, I'll be troubleshooting.

DropsOfJupiter said:

Ah, the first issue arises.

I'm thinking maybe hot spots in the room(because I read about those and tin foil recently).
Or the girls were a little thirsty. The dirt seemed pretty dry. But I noticed these discolorations on a couple of the seedlings.
View attachment 3836876
You can barely see what I mean on the leaf tips.
View attachment 3836877

View attachment 3836878
This one is pretty obvious though.

View attachment 3836879
And then there's this girl, a little odd looking to me.. is that normal looking leaf growth?

View attachment 3836880
Anyways, they all received a good watering and I'll hope that solves the issue. if not, I'll be troubleshooting.

View attachment 3836881

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Burnt tips are usually from nutrient burn, have you fed them recently? Lots of fresh water will help to fix that!

eastcoastmo said:

Burnt tips are usually from nutrient burn, have you fed them recently? Lots of fresh water will help to fix that!

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Negative Ghostrider. They have not had a feeding or any kind.
I guess just the nutrients in the soil, guess it shall run its course.
But, I also did some reading and I really think it looks like a Potassium deficiency due to the yellowing/bleaching on the seedling leaves in the 3rd picture.

DropsOfJupiter said:

Negative Ghostrider. They have not had a feeding or any kind.
I guess just the nutrients in the soil, guess it shall run its course.
But, I also did some reading and I really think it looks like a Potassium deficiency due to the yellowing/bleaching on the seedling leaves in the 3rd picture.

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I wouldnt say a K deficiency, seedlings usually have enough nutrients to survive for the first 3 weeks. I'm thinking your soil mix is too hot (too much N if anything). Just keep watering with fresh water hey!

I don't want to update daily, but whatever. my 105w bulbs arrived today. I went ahead and stuck them in. I know it's not ideal but for now it will do. I'm keeping a close eye on them until I know how these are gonna affect the temps, humidity, water absorption, etc.

Also looking at cheap light fixture DIYs. Throw any suggestions at me. running 4 bulbs right now in two sockets with Y splitters. would like to upgrade to 6-8.



It's so bright! it kind of bothers my eyes a bit. I hope the ladies love it.

DropsOfJupiter said:

I don't want to update daily, but whatever. my 105w bulbs arrived today. I went ahead and stuck them in. I know it's not ideal but for now it will do. I'm keeping a close eye on them until I know how these are gonna affect the temps, humidity, water absorption, etc.

Also looking at cheap light fixture DIYs. Throw any suggestions at me. running 4 bulbs right now in two sockets with Y splitters. would like to upgrade to 6-8.

View attachment 3837214

It's so bright! it kind of bothers my eyes a bit. I hope the ladies love it.

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Those seedlings will take off now! Definitely watch the heat and the water levels. Unless you can get those smaller cfl's down lower, your wasting electricity hey, you don't really need them at this point Otherwise, all looks good mate!

eastcoastmo said:

Those seedlings will take off now! Definitely watch the heat and the water levels. Unless you can get those smaller cfl's down lower, your wasting electricity hey, you don't really need them at this point Otherwise, all looks good mate!

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Yeahh, thought about taking them out. But thought the mixed spectrum might help a bit, guess it's too far away to have an effect though?

DropsOfJupiter said:

Yeahh, thought about taking them out. But thought the mixed spectrum might help a bit, guess it's too far away to have an effect though?

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Yeah those little ones need to be 1-2 inches away to be useful. Good for sidelighting if you can sort something out!

eastcoastmo said:

Yeah those little ones need to be 1-2 inches away to be useful. Good for sidelighting if you can sort something out!

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I shall figure that out. Definitely think it would be beneficial. As for the new fixture for the bigger bulbs, should I try and mount them laterally over the plants? or leave them pointing at them?