My First Grow (+ Pics) & Advice Needed

Hi everyone.

I'm on my first grow and everything's going nicely so far.

I germinated my seeds mid November, planted them in small cups with Miracle Grow Moisture Control, and let nature take over from there.

They sprouted in a few days and I held them all under a 100 watt incandescent light bulb.

After about 8 inches of growth in 2 weeks, I transplanted them into 1 gallon buckets (also with MG MC) and I also purchased a Sun System 2 400 watt HPS system. (I know MH is better for veg but the guy said this will do if I don't want to buy a $100 conversion bulb.)

I set everything up in the attic and placed the plants underneath the light as seen in Picture #1. About 2 feet above.

Picture #2 is a close up of what's going on.

Now for my problem.

The plants have been under the HPS light for about 2 days now. My tallest plant leaves have been slightly wilting.

Check out Pic 3 & 4 to see what I'm talking about.

Do you guys have any (proven/tested) recommendations that you can give me to help improve the plant quality?

I don't want these things to die on me in the middle of the grow.

In 2 more weeks (1 month total), I'm going to upgrade to 5 gallon buckets with Fox Farm soil.

What's weird is that the couple of small plants that were dying and wilting shot up toward the light and the big plant started to slowly drop.

Any suggestions? I'm all ears.

what is the temperature?

and what the heck is in your attic? it looks like sand almost

That's our insulation. It's extremely shredded newspaper.

The attic is about 75 degrees (room temperature), and it's well ventilated.

I don't think that's the problem.

JSmiths said:

That's our insulation. It's extremely shredded newspaper.

The attic is about 75 degrees (room temperature), and it's well ventilated.

I don't think that's the problem.

Click to expand...

you mean newspaper in a blender?

NoobRyder said:

you mean newspaper in a blender?

Click to expand...

That's what it is pretty much.

I've also noticed the slow leaf growth. I don't know if it's the strain or my growing technique. Probably the latter. One small bulb is not enough for 6 of these babies to photosynthesize.

Anybody have any recommendations?

to me it looks stretched. what light did you have before teh hps, and cfl? also, you need a fan on them to fatten the main stem. and i would think that would stir up all that newpaper, i dont want to ruin your fun, but i dont thnk that will possible work in the attic, and id imagine thats a huge fire risk.

you also should have one plant per pot, and aluminum is bad, it creates heat spots and doesnt reflect well. i think you should probably read up a bit, check the grow faq, it has prety much everything you need to know

Help me out guys.

Here are today's pictures.

The leaves feel kinda crispy. I've turned of the HPS light for now. What's could possibly be the problem?

look like they are wilting and need watering, how saturated is the soil?

honestly, id bet its too hot. my attic is always hot as fuck, or cold as fuck. do you plan on seriously using your attic? you have like 12 inches of vertical space to work with. cardboard on shredded newspaper too, i hope you have a smoke alarm in there