Newbie needs advice

OK, forgive me if this is too long but here goes.
I started growing some plants in a 20 gallon fish tank on Dec 15th and used miracle grow moisture control potting soil and filled it half way. I planted 10 seeds in the mixture after I germinated them, about 6 inches apart. I used 2 fish tank flor lights and sat them on top of the tank and they were about 8 inches from the topsoil. About once a week I water the whole area with about a half gallon of tap water and so far things look ok. 7 plants started to grow and as of today between 8 and 12 inches tall. I have just a few questions,

1st A couple of the leaves seem to be withering at the edges and a couple more have some small yellow spots on them. Do you think I should replant the 7 that have grown into their own planters or is it safe to leave them where they are?

2nd When should I start giving them plant food as the soil says it provides food for up to 3 months?

3rd When should I start 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of light?

The room they are in is about 4 foot square and has an 8 foot ceiling. I now have added a 3rd OTT-lite and a 60 watt grow bulb to the ceiling fixture for a total of 4 lights.the 2 fish lights are now hung from the ceiling and the OTT-lite is free standing. The temperature in the room stays between 78 and 84 degrees. Every day I open the door and place a fan over top of the plants for 15 minuets for air circulation. I have some small flying insects that I have just sent my wife to the store for some organic bug spray to get rid of them.

I have also just last week purchased and installed a 4 pot hydro system from an on line company and have just germinated the seeds in rockwool but that is another question at a later date.

Thank you for your help in advance and I apologize if this is to long.

Welcome to Rollitup 420Noob! If your plants are 8-12" tall and you're growing in MG soil, in a fish tank, using tap water, 2 "fish lights" (whatever those are), and you're only a month into the grow... I don't know if you're lying or a grow god. That just seems too good to be true. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Sounds like you might have a magnesium deficiency; disolve some Epsom salts in your water next time you add. I would add about a tablespoon per quart of water. Don't get too antsy about giving them extra nutes yet; that's one of the best ways to kill your plants. Let them go at least another month before flipping them to 12/12. If you get this in time, hold off on spraying your plants; I killed a bunch of mine with "organic" pest spray. Get you some of the little fly paper strips or No Pest Strips; they just hand there and do their job. Great going on your grow and I'll be looking for your new hydro grow! Start a grow journal when you get started on that. We love pix!!!

Sorry, not a grow god and not lying. Fish light are fish tank hood lights that sit ontop of the tank to light it up. they are 17 watts each and are 2 feet long. I have attached 3 pictures of my setup, one is an overview of the whole room one is of my inexpensive hydro setup ($50.00 total with shipping)
and the other is of the tank. I will ask about that one later on tonight.

Its to late, just befor I got back online I sprayed them lightly with the stuff my wife bought.
I have dial up as I live in the country so DSL is not available and I had to make a call to a freind (if you know what I mean) so I did not get the reply in time. Do you think I should spray them off with a mist of water?

Ok, I just spent the last 30 min trying to upload my pics and I did not realize the file size was too large so I will get offline now and try to adjust the size and resend.

Thanks for the help PIMP

Hey Im a newbie to the forum too, but I am full of info. First off, you say they are in a 4 foot square, is that 4x4 or 2x2? How many initial lumens does each light give off? How far are they from your plants? Do they produce much heat? Second...opening the door and placing a fan in there for 15 min. a day is no where near enough ventilation/circulation. If you can, place an oscillating fan in the room at all times. Plants need Co2 to breathe, the Co2 around leaves is used up in a matter of minutes! By moving the air around constantly your doing them a huge favor. Fans blowing on plants shouldn't be placed to close either...this can cause plants wind burn from over transperation of fluid. Leave the door wide open during the entire light "on" cycle (if you can). This will help a lot. Plants don't use as much Co2 at night..hardly any...so its safe to close the door when they are "sleeping" to avoid light "waking" them up. The fan blowing on the plants will also help deter these flying insects you have. bugs find it hard to stay in one place when the wind keeps disturbing them. It cure the problem just slow it down. Can you describe the flying insects to me? Size, color, body structure? I suspect fungus Gnats or White Flies. Vectobac and Gnatrol will take care of the fungus gnats....I think Einstine oil (Neem oil) works on both fungus gnats and white flies. Neem is organic.

sorry...(fans WON"T cure the problem....just slow it down.)

Here are the pics

they def look stretched. i would get alot more light IMO. you need at least 100 watts of fluorescent light to flower a plant. also i would get them out of the fish tank and into their own seperate pots ASAP. what if u get a male? u just ganna let them dead roots rot into your soil with your precious girls? drop the lights as close as you can tot he plants without burning them. also your hydroton in your stealth hydro kit looks to have ultra salt buildup. maybe im just stoned.

billybob is right...they are stretched and need to be individualy potted. Way more light is needed as well. Home Depot sells these CFL flood lamps for about 40 bucks....just as efficient as a metal halide. I think it gives off enough light for a couple plants. But I think youd be better off with a small metal halide lamp. I use a 400 watt Metal Halide fixture with an Agrosun bulb. It wasn't cheap...but I didnt go hungry because I bought it either...I have a couple pics up of some plants I got going right now. Check em out...then see if ya wanna take my advice...

I really can't leave the door open as I have a 4 year old who I don't want to see this. I will run over to Home Depot on Sunday to check out some lights. I did have an oscillating fan in there for a couple of days but the room jumped to over 90 degrees in side so I took it out. The insects are very small about the same size as an astrict * with small black bodies and small clear wings. I did spray them last night and so far there does not seem to be any damage so I will go and get some fly paper strips as well tomorrow. WHat size cfl flood do you think I should buy and in order to replant I have a bunch of plastic water bottles that I was planning to cut the top off to use should I replant at the roots only or should I transfer some of the soil into the bottles as well? I have more of the same type of soil and that is what I plan to use, do you think that would be Ok or should I try something different?

Thanks for all of the help and sugesstions.

Ok, then is there any way to run a small exhuast system without having to make a remodel of it? Oh, do you know the day/night temps and humidity? I dont understand why the temp raised with the fan...wierd. unless the door was closed...wich can acount for the stretched look as well....too much heat. So these bottles...size? Color? roots need total darkness to grow right. When they hit intense light they stop growing...go to a hydro shop and get some grow bags...they are very cheap...im talkin about 1.50 or so for a 3 gallon bag. Wich should work through now till harvest. Keep the healthiest plants showing a squater, bushier, stature. These will be easier to bring back to health and vigorous growth. And yes, you might have to pull more later on if they turn out to be males. I know its hard to kill plants...but believe me its for the better of the rest of them. When you transplant...(wich will be tricky since you have plants so close together in a tank, roots are probably tangled together.) moisten the soil so root balls stay in tact. Treat roots very gently of course...and dont let them be exposed to light and air for very long. fill the buckets or bags about 1/2 to 3/4 (this depends on plant/bucket size ratio.) with some fresh soil. Water the soil before you transplant...then place plants in new buckets and cover ALL roots with more soil. You can even bury the stalk an inch or two if the buckets are deep enough. not a bad idea since they are stretched out. Spread the soil around the top so that there are no gaps of air in-between soil and bucket... Moisten this new layer of soil as well. GENTLY press down all around the top of the soil to remove any air pockets. And this ligh has the most bang for the buck at home depot...

Regent 300 Watt Bronze Halogen Motion Detector Floodlight
Model MS188
$26.96/Each

Im sure it doesnt have to work as a motion detector..ask people there if it can be left on or set to a timer...I also found this one wich is an HPS that you could add for flowering...

Lithonia Lighting 50 Watt Bronze High Pressure Sodium Floodlight
Model TFS 50S 120 LPI M6
$35.00/EA Each

They wont do as good as HID lights like a 400 etc...but better than what ya got...or any flouro's you can buy. Good luck..I'll check in later.

i wouldnt go with the halogen, not suitable for growing anything. also with 35 dollars u could set up like 4 or 5 26w cfls. but thats barely enough for 1 plant. yo 420newb hit up the growFAQ and read the whole thing.

Man I hate to tell you this but I've never known of anyone to successfully grow anything to maturity with a Stealth Hydro unit. I have one and I had 14 seedlings die before the &%$@?&& Stealth Hydro stoners sent me the rest of the stuff (pH down, tri-meter, etc). They are THE worst place you can buy stuff. That def looks like a lot of salt buildup on the hydroton. You could get some CFL's but you're still not going to be a lot better off. I use CFL's too but just for the first 2-3 weeks. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there are a lot of people on here that have been stung by SH.

billybob88 said:

i wouldnt go with the halogen, not suitable for growing anything. also with 35 dollars u could set up like 4 or 5 26w cfls. but thats barely enough for 1 plant. yo 420newb hit up the growFAQ and read the whole thing.

Click to expand...

yeah, I was just trying to find something a little bit bigger than the Cfls so he didnt have to buy so many.....Your best bet my friend...is to invest in a High Intensity Disharge Lamp. A 400 would do ya wonders compared to the lights ya have now....or anything weve suggested light wise so far. And realy...after the first harvest...it pays for itself...

I was not able to get the lights I wanted this week but I was given 2 four foot commercial T-3 fixtures and bulbs. They are the kind that go under shelves or hang from the ceiling of department stores. Do you think, or have you heard if these lights would work well?

I copied the grow guide and have been reading through it but I have not seen any reference to these lights. I have seen T-5 and T-8 references elsewhere but not what I have.
I will not be able to get the light I want for a few weeks, I saw one from an online company ( High Tech Garden Supply ) that has 2 bulbs in one unit, a 400 watt HPS and a 400 watt MH that looks like a pretty good investment but I cant afford it just yet.

Thanks

I did transplant all of the ones I had in the fish tank into four 1 gallon water jugs and 3 medium size planters a few days ago and like I read somewhere ( I dont remember where I m pretty lit right now ) I planted them deeper so the bottom of the stem was covered more and some of the leaves on the bottom have died. Should I leave them there or remove them from the soil?

Wow this took a long time to type.......

You should remove any leaves from the soil. They make good compost but it's not good to leave them in while you have plants growing. BTW, HTG Supply is a super place to order from!! You'll love them compared to SH.

Cool, thanks for the info pimp. Did you have any opinion about the lights I just got? Do you think it would help any better than what I have now, I ask because its going to take some time for me to build a mount for them to hang properly in the room.

did you throw perlite in your soil?

I don't really know about the lamps you are using; never tried them but they aren't on the short list of recommended pot plant lamps

Thanks pimp, and I did not put perlite in my soil. Do you think I should 6?