New grower, might as well be called plantkiller...

Hi, I've been reading everything in this site, threads, faqs etc...

And I still manage to kill anything I touch. I'm a medicinal patient, i have severe health problems (connective tissue disorder + seizures.. all my joints dislocate up to 10+ per day. My friends call me FallApart Boy.) I need to grow to be able to keep up with how much I need to smoke.

I have 2 flourescent "Grolite" tubes, a 10 gal aquarium with no light leaks, 30 gallon air pump, tubing, airstones, perlite, two jiffy seed starter trays, peat moss, miracle grow organic soil, and a 400 watt plant bulb. Thats all it said on the box. Plant bulb, 400 watt.

Im going to take pictures of what we've got set up now. We planted seeds in straight peat moss with plain drinking water (crystal geyser). The leaves are starting to curl downwards and i woke up today and half of them were lying down. I added a tiny bit more dirt to support their stems but I'm really lost, and have no idea what to do. I'm kind of dependant on my ability to grow to sustain my own medicinal needs, and I'm getting really hopeless about it all.

Alright heres some pictures

The light needs to be really close thats why they are skinny and stretching like that...how often are you watering them???

We're watering them when the top soil is dry, checking it with fingers usually. ill lower the lights a bit. Its that high because i didnt want to burn them

whats your medium?
light is way to far away...
flourecent lights dont get that hot about four to five inches should be fine

right now, peat moss. I have one of them mixed with 1 part perlite 2 parts peatmoss, all in jiffy pots

spuirell said:

right now, peat moss. I have one of them mixed with 1 part perlite 2 parts peatmoss, all in jiffy pots

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next time try adding 1/3 worm castings to 1/3 perlite 1/3 peat moss roots need nutes

okay, I'll try that. Do i use that when they need to be potted? or will they not last that long without anything? i have liquid miracle grow all purpose plant food, but i wasnt going to use it on them while they were seedlings.

Buy a real hid grow light,dont waste your time messing around with other lights,the best & easiest method is to use a high intensity discharge(HID) light system,you can either buy Metal Halide (MH) system or a High Pressure Sodium (HPS) system for right around $120 shipped right to your door,these systems are ready to go,no matter what type lights you have now they will never compare.

Here is a perfect example of a real grow light system from a reputible ebay seller.
NEW 400 watt HPS Grow Light 400w Hydroponic Sodium Lamp - eBay (item 160211130746 end time Mar-09-08 17:00:00 PDT)

Next you'll need a heavy duty timer to turn the lights on & off at PRECISE times,plants are stupid & smart at the same time,they dont know much but what they do know they know well.

Growth phases.

The first pase is the seedling phase,this is when the plant first pops from the ground,the plant will be in this phase building a root system for several weeks.

The 2nd phase is the vegatative phase,durring this phase the plant will continue to build root mass & pack on nodes & more leaves,this is when the small plant turns into a bush.

Flowering phase or (bud phase) this is where the plant turns all its energy twords making its fruit if you will,the buds.

Light cycles.

Seedlings dont need alot of light but they do need it close,put your light to where you can just barely feel any heat from the bulb then back it off a bit.

Once you get your seedlings to take root & stand up strong (usually about 3 weeks in soil) then its time to put them in vegatative cycle,set your light for 18 hours of light & 6 hours of darc,do not break the cycle even for a minute.

After your plants grow to about a foot high with atleast 8 sets of nodes they should be sexaully mature enough to start budding,you'll need to find out what sex your plants are,kill the males & keep the females,we will show you how to tell m from f when the time comes.

Now your ready for the flowering cycle,turning the lights to a 12/12 setting will give you 12 dark & 12 light,this tells the plant the end is near & to produce fruit,once again do not break this cycle.

Like i said plants are stupid but smart at the same time,the light cycle that they are experiencing is what tells them what to do,you will fool the plant into thinking its whatever time of year you want it to be according to how you select when the lights come on & off,this is where a timer is a must have.

Here is an example timer,this exact model can be bought at any home depot for $8 each & are perfect.
Aquarium/Hydroponic Light Timer 3 Prong Intermatic - eBay (item 300203628686 end time Mar-08-08 22:56:05 PST)

You'll also need a fan to move air around the room & to stimulate plant growth,this helps the plant grow faster & builds strong thick stalks so the plant will not fall over,the fan needs to keep the plants gently moving,at all times if possible.

Light fades to the distance,with this said the very first thing your seedlings are looking for when they pop dirt is light,if its too far away they will grow stretchy trying to reach the light,bring the light closer & repot the stretchy seedlings you have now, to where the leaves are about 1/2 inch above the soil line,then when they grow again the fan will be blowing on them giving them a thicker stalk & they wont fall over.

Watering seedlings.

At this point its pretty hard to fuk up watering a seedling,all you have to do is to keep the soil moist & they will do the rest,dont drown them just keep the soil moist at all times.

Fertilizers.

Stay away from any fertilizers for now,they will only hurt your tender seedlings,right now all they need is light & water,everything else they will need for quite a while is contained within the soil.

Tempature & humidity both play major roles in plant growth,if the temps are too cold or too hot it will screw up your plants.

Seedlings are very sensitive to tempature,your room should be no lower than 70 degrees & no higher than 80 degrees,while your plants are seedlings keep the humidity high,atleast at 60 %.

Try all these things & get a real grow light system & you'll be smoking your own supply 6 months from now.

go with high pressure sodium great for budding but... metal halide great for vagative state... go to ebay you can buy a system that goes both ways for like $149 w/ballast

I've got a timer set to turn the lights on and off at a consistent ratio (they run from 10am to 2 am), I have an oscilating desk fan inside the closet. I will try to get HID lights, but this is what i have to work with for now. I put the flourescent lights on the walls next to the tray they're in now. My camera is sucky but I'll try and get some pics of it now. Thanks so much for giving me something to kind of go on. My bro in law is supposed to be helping me grow, but after he poured an entire cup of that miracle grow stuff onto a week old plant and killed it, I really dont trust him anymore.

It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it grows

but after he poured an entire cup of that miracle grow stuff onto a week old plant and killed it, I really dont trust him anymore

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There are no stupid questions, just stupid people

Man if youre one lucky guy that gets to grow it legally do it right bro...Do it right....
first off get rid of the jiffy cups....those are really bad for seedlings, they are hard to keep watered right...and dry out quick. Check out my grow journal....It might help a bit, i use the simpliest system and simpliest things...miracle grow potting soil is all i use in some pots and cheap easy lighting system and mine is fine...

Me and my fiance both have greencards and can grow up to 48 plants between us legally. I'll go check out your grow journal. By the way, I'm Jack.

Welcome to your new home Jack! You can and will find awesome information here to help you grow just like you need to.
Good Luck!

Well, moving the lights closer didnt help. pretty sure theyre not gonna make it. i transplanted them out of the jiffy pot things because they didnt seem like they were getting any water. im just watching them now, ive set them in my windowsill in foam cups

And now I'm down to three plants. I have them in styrofoam cups with topsoil+peat moss. Only three made it through the night. I had set them on a heating paad in my closet with a fan to circulate the air and the plant bulb above them. I really don't know what I'm doing wrong. I have them in my windowsill for the day, but I don't know if I'm just going to kill them all or what.
I'm really getting overwhelmed. i just have the touch of death. I'm going to go buy some replacement lighting today, what kind of lighting would be best?
I only need a few plants just for me and my fiance. I don't think I'm overwatering them. I don't know what the ph of the water is, and I don't know how to change it up or down. All I hear is "Raise the ph, lower the ph" and nobody ever says how. I'm so frustrated. I broke my hand last night punching the wall because nothings going right and I can't fix it and I don't feel like I can trust anybody to help me in person.

yo it looks like you need more light... i have 2 of the lights your usig plus another light with florescent bulbs and a long florescent bulb on the bottom to get inder the leaves... they also need to be 2 to 4 inches away from the plant... no farther or closer florescents dont burn... also u may need a fan in there to keep the air circulated

I've got a fan. Right now they're in the sun. I'm going out to look at lights today and hopefully find some that will work.