Newbie 1st grow, need help.

Hi everyone, I have just started my first grow roughly a week ago and it got off to a rough start. Im starting with 2 clones in a small grow box(2'wx1'dx3'h). For vegging i am currently using 6 26w 6500k cfls placed within 1-3 inches of the plants on a 24/0 light cycle. When i received the clones they were roughly 5 inches and within a week they are already to 6 inches (not stretching), but the leaves dont look good... So here is the story for the 1st 3 days i didnt have a thermometer in the box. Turns out the temps were upwards of 100*f, and i left them in the tiny cups i received them in. The humidity was also low at 30%. This all went on for the first 3 days i had the plants. The leaves first started drooping and then some turned a lime greenish color and curled down. I Fixed the temps which are now between 72-78*F. Bought a humidifier (humidity now at 43%) and replanted them in 10in pots with New Fox Farm Ocean forest soil. When replanting i noticed the roots were spiraling at the bottom of the tiny cups. I haven't fertilized at all and with the fox farm soil don't plan to till flowering. Id like to think i haven't over watered them too, as i have only watered after replanting and the soil is still a little moist at an inch under the surface(probably gonna water tomorrow). It has now been 3 days in good conditions and some of the leaves are not as light of a green as they used to but they are still drooping and curled down. It also seems that the veins on the lime green leaves are now turning a darker green. So here are my questions. Is there anything i can do to try and perc them up a little bit, or will time only tell? With using good soil do you think i would need any fertilizers during veg? I also want to start flowering at no taller then 9inches. Do you think the plants could recover by then? Let me know what you guys think?

Thanks

Some pics would help.
Other than that, if your plant isn't dead yet. It can fully recover.

yea man please upload some pics...as far as the plants go, time is nature's best healing element, be patient! just let the plant get through this bump first, then focus on flowering........good luck!

hellbelly said:

Some pics would help.
Other than that, if your plant isn't dead yet. It can fully recover.

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Pics please!
My first instinct would be you have over watered a little.
However after re-reading your post a second (and third time, lol) it sounds like they were just a little starved for nutrients. I'm sure the soil you got your clones with wasn't fertalized.
Now that you got the fox farms in there it should recover fully!
Keep us posted, I'll keep an eye on this thread.
And get some pics up!

Yes We Canna! said:

Pics please!
My first instinct would be you have over watered a little.
However after re-reading your post a second (and third time, lol) it sounds like they were just a little starved for nutrients. I'm sure the soil you got your clones with wasn't fertalized.
Now that you got the fox farms in there it should recover fully!
Keep us posted, I'll keep an eye on this thread.
And get some pics up!

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I currently don't have a camera to upload pics, plus i'm a little nervous about posting them online(im probably just a lil over paranoid). Like I said, I doubt I'm over watering. I bought those self watering pots with the reservoir at the bottom. You supposedly water just the first time from the top till the water just starts to drain into the reservoir. Then I filled up the reservoir half way. The planter supposedly drives the moisture/water up from the bottom of the soil to the top. I haven't watered for 3 days and the reservoir is empty, but the soil is still a little moist so i dont want to add any in just yet. Has anyone ever used that style of planter to grow in? I dont think its a nute issue because that new soil should be good for a while right? Im hoping this is just from the horrible conditions experienced from the first 3 days and that they will fully recover shortly ! How long does it usually take for a plant to start to pick up from a situation like this? Thanks

Those things are great for indoor house plants. But what you're dealing with is a bit more of a tropical plant.
If that's the system that your using you will be overwatering. There will always be water at the bottom of your pot, and while cannabis doesn't like to be dry for a long time, it does likw to absorb almost all the moisture in its medium before it wants/needs more. This causes the roots to expand in search for more water. Bigger happier roots mean bigger happier plants!
A good version of the method your using is a wick setup, but its pretty archaic. Your best bet is completely manual waterings. Its best to ensure complete control of your system. Even hydro systems are dialed in to the exact T, if you don't have complete controll of your system then there are unknown variables that are almost impossible to try and correct.

Yes We Canna! said:

Those things are great for indoor house plants. But what you're dealing with is a bit more of a tropical plant.
If that's the system that your using you will be overwatering. There will always be water at the bottom of your pot, and while cannabis doesn't like to be dry for a long time, it does likw to absorb almost all the moisture in its medium before it wants/needs more. This causes the roots to expand in search for more water. Bigger happier roots mean bigger happier plants!
A good version of the method your using is a wick setup, but its pretty archaic. Your best bet is completely manual waterings. Its best to ensure complete control of your system. Even hydro systems are dialed in to the exact T, if you don't have complete controll of your system then there are unknown variables that are almost impossible to try and correct.

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Thanks for the advice ill be sure to water manually.

Also i am able to add 2 more 26w 6500k cfls would this help at all or should i wait till the leaves start to look better? This would bring the total lumens up from 9,600 to 12,800.

i was hesitant to post pics of my shit on here too, til i saw people posting how to get a pound every 3 weeks with pics, i figure if its small ur good

lol, thats why you get legal! i dont worry about shit these days.
as far as adding more lighting, with cfl's throw in as many as you can fit around the plant. the intensity right now is pretty minimal, so its not going to do any harm, only good. just make sure you watch your temps closely after adding them. getting your 2sq ft up to 12,000 lumens will do you nicely.
also, if you only have 24" of height, you may want to flower asap, or else you may find yourself outgrowing your cab sooner than you thought. your plants will at least double in size when they switch to flower, some strains tripple or more!

Just a little update... The plants are still droopy but are continuing to turn a darker green from the veins of the leaves out. I added in 2 more 26w 6500k cfls and readjusted the fans so the temps stick at 75*F. Hopefully they will get better soon so I can start flowering. Thank you everyone for all the help and advice. Ill keep you guys updated as things go.

Right on, nice to hear an update, and even better they're starting to come back around.
If they look good by 8" flowering by 9" should be no problem.

After recently reading so much about ph is there any cheap test kits i could pick up to measure this? I am starting to think maybe for some reason my soil ph is to high. The new growth leaves look ok(other then still drooping) but one of the older leaves now shows signs of a magnesium deficiency burn. Some of the other leaves kind of look like a zinc deficiency too. After reading so much on it and thinking that the new soil shouldn't need any fertilizer im starting to wonder if the ph is too high locking out magnesium, zinc, and possibly some others? Would i be able to water them till some of the water drains out the bottom then measure that water with a simple fresh water aquarium ph tester? Also the water they recieve is reverse osmosis filtered so i dont know if the water could still alter ph significantly? thanks

The best way to go is an aquarium strip or liquid test kit. You could do a couple of two things. If you water till it drains you'll need to measure the ph of the RO water before you water, then average that with the water that comes from the bottom. That may be the easiest way. Another way is to try and get a reading from the soil itself. It'd need to be taken from pretty low, and really moist.
Either of those should give you a really good idea. What I'D do is both of them....

Yes We Canna! said:

The best way to go is an aquarium strip or liquid test kit. You could do a couple of two things. If you water till it drains you'll need to measure the ph of the RO water before you water, then average that with the water that comes from the bottom. That may be the easiest way. Another way is to try and get a reading from the soil itself. It'd need to be taken from pretty low, and really moist.
Either of those should give you a really good idea. What I'D do is both of them....

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The second method you mentioned involved testing the actual deeper down moist soil. How does this work using the aquarium test kits or do you mean use some sort of a different device to measure the ph? Thank agian!

If you intend on keeping the plants in the grow area that you have put in your thread then you are going to after flower at least 6 ince tall so that you don't run out of height.Make sure that you keep the lights has close to the tops has you dare.You want the internodes has close has possible and this can only be done by haveing the lights close.Go for a strain like mk~ultra or blueberry these plants are well suited to small grow areas and no matter how far you have the lights the internodes are always close.I would also make sure that there is plenty of good air flow in a area that small.You want a small fan on the plants so there is always fresh air around them and a good exaust fan to get any old stagnent air out of there.A good tip is to get a couple of the small exaust fans that you have in say a bathroom and use one of these for the exaust.And the same can be gained by flipping the same exaust fan around to bring in fresh air.Bothe can be fitted by cutting a small circle in the wall of the growroom so that no space is lost......................tyke..........................................

tyke1973 said:

If you intend on keeping the plants in the grow area that you have put in your thread then you are going to after flower at least 6 ince tall so that you don't run out of height.Make sure that you keep the lights has close to the tops has you dare.You want the internodes has close has possible and this can only be done by haveing the lights close.Go for a strain like mk~ultra or blueberry these plants are well suited to small grow areas and no matter how far you have the lights the internodes are always close.I would also make sure that there is plenty of good air flow in a area that small.You want a small fan on the plants so there is always fresh air around them and a good exaust fan to get any old stagnent air out of there.A good tip is to get a couple of the small exaust fans that you have in say a bathroom and use one of these for the exaust.And the same can be gained by flipping the same exaust fan around to bring in fresh air.Bothe can be fitted by cutting a small circle in the wall of the growroom so that no space is lost......................tyke..........................................

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For the cooling/ventilation i followed a ventilation guide. I kind of went over kill since i plan on adding a lot more light and a carbon filter later on. I estimate roughly 220w total inside the grow room multiply this by 3.16 = 695 divided by 81*F - intake temp (for me its 66*F) so to simplify it 220 * 3.16 / (81-66) = 46cfm. Im running 2 80mm fans for the exhaust rated at 39cfm each and a 120mm intake fan rated at 72cfm all powered with a voltage adjustabl power supply. My temps are currently at 75*F with the power supply set at 7volts. This should leave me enough room for a little more lighting and carbon filters. I also have 2 smaller pc fans on the inside (one for each plant) circulating air over the plants.


I just checked the pH of my RO water and it was above 7.6(thats as high as the test kit goes) I buffered it down to 6.4 with lemon juice and watered the plants. tested the water that drained out and it read 6.8 or 7 pH. So im guessing i have some lock out from to high of a soil pH. What do you guys suggest? Should i flush the soil with a 6.5pH water, just keep watering as needed with a 6.5pH water, or add something to bring the pH down?

Ok, so your not too bad off then, but there would be some lock up later down the road with those readings if not corrected..
Go ahead and adjust your water down to a PH of 5.8-6, your soil is too acidic, so we want the water going into it a little on the base side.
Do NOT water until they need to be watered, otherwise you are going to start causing root problems to the babies.
Give them a day or so them water with the adjusted water, that should help clear up any blockage.
To test the PH of the soil, take a toothpick or chopstick or something similar, and poke it up into one of the drainage holes. Take some of that dirt that falls out and test that. That will give you the best reading right at the roots.
As far as your venting goes, it sounds like you're more than golden. But, you will want to flower soon. Anticipate on 3x's growth until you know your strain.

Yes We Canna! said:

Ok, so your not too bad off then, but there would be some lock up later down the road with those readings if not corrected..
Go ahead and adjust your water down to a PH of 5.8-6, your soil is too acidic, so we want the water going into it a little on the base side.
Do NOT water until they need to be watered, otherwise you are going to start causing root problems to the babies.
Give them a day or so them water with the adjusted water, that should help clear up any blockage.
To test the PH of the soil, take a toothpick or chopstick or something similar, and poke it up into one of the drainage holes. Take some of that dirt that falls out and test that. That will give you the best reading right at the roots.
As far as your venting goes, it sounds like you're more than golden. But, you will want to flower soon. Anticipate on 3x's growth until you know your strain.

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I thought the lower the pH the more acidic it is? Anyway Ill water with 6.0 pH as 6.0-6.5 is what im shooting for pH. They are looking even worse today. More mid level leaves are yellowing/burning. Things arent looking good. I dont know the strain but the person i got them from said he flowers at 12inches with a 400w hps and they finish at around 24inches. The one that looks the worst keeps growing very quickly! It is now at 8inches tall and the other one is still around 6 inches. Im thinking about possibly topping the taller one, but i dont know what to do at this point . I thought i had everything under control last night and now it seems like its all just getting worse.

green4me2 said:

I thought the lower the pH the more acidic it is? Anyway Ill water with 6.0 pH as 6.0-6.5 is what im shooting for pH. They are looking even worse today. More mid level leaves are yellowing/burning. Things arent looking good. I dont know the strain but the person i got them from said he flowers at 12inches with a 400w hps and they finish at around 24inches. The one that looks the worst keeps growing very quickly! It is now at 8inches tall and the other one is still around 6 inches. Im thinking about possibly topping the taller one, but i dont know what to do at this point . I thought i had everything under control last night and now it seems like its all just getting worse.

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No, your right, low levels are acidic, damn dyslexia still gets the better of me, especially medicated...
I think you are going to have to top, or LST the taller one. You don't want to force flowering with unhealthy plants, so you'll want to figure out the issues before forcing.
I think we may be getting somewhere with the PH levels. Like I said before, just beware you don't overwater, it can be just as dangerous for your plants as a lock up or deficiency.

Yes We Canna! said:

No, your right, low levels are acidic, damn dyslexia still gets the better of me, especially medicated...
I think you are going to have to top, or LST the taller one. You don't want to force flowering with unhealthy plants, so you'll want to figure out the issues before forcing.
I think we may be getting somewhere with the PH levels. Like I said before, just beware you don't overwater, it can be just as dangerous for your plants as a lock up or deficiency.

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After thinking about this non stop for the last few days ive come to a conclusion. I think the plants must have be over watered after transplanting. Big pots small plants/small roots that wont use a lot of water. Top soil layer probably dried out but the lower layers probably had plenty of water still since the plants roots were so small and i was using the auto water resivoir had water in it for the first 2 days. On top of that the pH is completely off too. I think the leaves are burning from the pH being off and the leaves are drooping from over watering. I cant water to correct pH as the soil is still moist at about 2 inches down (I want to let the soil dry out real good before watering agian). When i do water it, it will be with water at a pH of 6.0. I topped the taller plant today, she stands at about 7 inches now and hopefully starts to bush out. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to chime in. Yes We Canna thanks for staying tuned into this thread and helping me along the way!!!