New grower need help and tips

Ok i dont havea camera so bear with me on this. i just started the plants and they are showing their very first 2 leafs but the little leafs are crling a little bit. I have the plants siting in 3''h x 2''w bio cups which are sitting in a water filled pan aprox 1/4 inch filled with water. When i pick up the cups they seem heavy and the soil i have them planted in seems very wet. They have been in the cups since germ about 7days now. Im adding a full squirt of Schultz 10-15-10 plant food to their water in a spray bottle and im watering them 4 times a day. i have 4 plants siting under a 150w hps light that is about 1 foot away and 2 other plants siting under a 23w cfl light about 4inches away as well.
Im runing 60% humidity and 70+ deg for temp with a small desk fan that is 6'' in diameter and does NOT osolate. Can someone help me?

bongmaster said:

Ok i dont havea camera so bear with me on this. i just started the plants and they are showing their very first 2 leafs but the little leafs are crling a little bit. I have the plants siting in 3''h x 2''w bio cups which are sitting in a water filled pan aprox 1/4 inch filled with water. When i pick up the cups they seem heavy and the soil i have them planted in seems very wet. They have been in the cups since germ about 7days now. Im adding a full squirt of Schultz 10-15-10 plant food to their water in a spray bottle and im watering them 4 times a day. i have 4 plants siting under a 150w hps light that is about 1 foot away and 2 other plants siting under a 23w cfl light about 4inches away as well.
Im runing 60% humidity and 70+ deg for temp with a small desk fan that is 6'' in diameter and does NOT osolate. Can someone help me?

Click to expand...

i wouldent be using any nutes this early and you should move your cfl's closer

hey bongmaster might be overwatering also i have some small plants and they dont need to be watered every day let alone 4 times a day also you might be drowning them with the tray or water underneath but i dont think the roots would be thet big yet however still sounds like over watering to me gl man

Yup alot is wrong here. First get them out of the water. Let the soil get nice and dry before watering again. Pick up the cup when it is dry and when it is watered, you will be able to tell when water is needed after a while. Or buy a moisture meter. It will tell you when. Second, no nutes yet. let them grow a few nodes bfore starting it then start it out at 1/4 strength and don't spray it on, mix it with water and water the soil. Every other watering give it nutes. Work your way up to full strength. Also you may want to transplant into a larger container now just because of the wetness of the bottom. The roots may need some fresh soil to stretch out into. At this stage the roots are growing a lot faster than the tops so they may be at the bottom by now. Just a thought, hope it helps.

ok so ill just give them some water w/o the nutes so how much is a good ammount to give them now?

just make sure your soil is slightly damp then let her dry out befor you water again

Wait until the pot is nearly dry, I water my 4" pots like every 3 days. Then water until it starts running out of the bottom. Don't let any water sit in the drip pan below the pot either.

alright ill do that then. Ill try to get a camera so i can update you guys on the progression. Also one of the plants has its leafs curled downward im pretty sure that means to much water i took that same plant and put a plastic cup over it with holes in the top and slits in the sides to increase the humitity a little bit is this a good idea?

I'd say no...

Just let it dry out nicely, water it, make sure you're PH is good, and she'll rebound in no time.

ok so i stoped watering them and the ones in the small biodegradeable cups look pretty dry they are under a 150w HPS lamp atm and are 1ft away from it. What should i transplant these plants into?

I'm no expert, but I transfer from 4" pots to 6" pots somewhere between 14-21 days. I keep them in those pots until I'm able to determine sex. I like to switch to 12/12 around 4-5 weeks. I then transfer into a 10" pot when I know they are girls and stick with that thru the grow.
I got all my pots at Home Depot.

A few more questions...

What soil are you using?
Do you have a way to test PH?
PH was my biggest issue with my first grow. Once I figured that out, everything took off.

Im using scotts premium potting soil. I dont have a way to test the ph out atm. and right now i switched the plants from the little 3x2 bio pots to regular size plastic cups like the ones you use for parties.

In the future, try to transplant as few times as possible. Every transplant means more time for them to adjust to their new home. The cup isn't clear, is it? Clear would be bad for the roots.

That Scott's Premium has premixed nutrients, right? If so, I'd say don't really use any added nutrients at all. You'll end up burning them pretty easily.

If you start getting yellowing working from the bottom up, let me know. I was using a Scott's soil (maybe the same stuff) and it was pushing my runoff PH down to like 4.5. Anything below 6 starts to lock out nutrients and can cause a lot of problems.

I fixed that by adding 2 tablespoons of powdered dolomite lime per gallon of soil. They sell little bags cheap anywhere that has a garden center. It balances PH and makes it harder to mess things up.

Got any pictures yet?? I was stoned and looking for my camera last night & couldn't find it. My babies are 19 days into flowering and looking nice!

Keep up the good work!

Sheepdog

ya the cups were clear but i wraped them in black duck tape even the bottoms. Ya the scotts potting soil does have nutes in it but i wasent sure if that was enough guess it is. Ya im still working on getting a camera need to get one from my buddy hopefully ill have some pics of my set up this week.