Newbie needs advice

Ok, I set up the new light 3 days ago and placed the plants on the floor on top of a small wood pallet. The first night it burned and dried the largest plant which was about 12" tall. I removed it and am going to try to nurse it back with cfl's with as little heat as possible. I raised the light about 20 inches away from the tops of the rest and they seem to be doing a lot better under the new light. They are taking much more water not almost every to every other day. I live in the country and have a whole house water filter with salt softener so I had to stop using it. We have another well so I have been using it instead. We have lots of cows around so I think the unfiltered well has some good fertilizer in it. What do you recommend for nutes? Also, how much longer do you think I should let them in veg?

yo man....i don't know if anyone has pointed this out yet, cuase im too lazy to read this hole thread...i've got a fish tank setup tho!!they are fuken good and grow the best herb, but u gotta drain that btch and get o2 to yr roots.!!!i've cut holes in the side's of my tank at the bottom and put pvc piping in the hole's.seal with silicon.then put a small grid in front of the holes and cover the bottom of the tank(up till the top of the hole's)with small stones.then put yr soil in and u'll b away!growth will probally double, so only grow about2/3 plants in the tank.and top them twice.once in da middle of veg, and once the day u switch lights 12/12!u'll get sick bud if u started with gd genetics...
gd luck man

I have now had a second plant dry up and begin to die!!! There were no instructions on how far away to keep the light so I have been doing some reading up and have it placed about 20 inches from the top of the plants. They seem to need MUCH more water than before so I water them once every other day now. THey are now 67 days old and am thinking about switching to 12 on and 12 off and changing to the bulb for blooming. Does anyone think I should wait longer and if so how much and should I water them more? And if i should change is 12 and 12 okay and how much watering? I did buy some organic bloom nutes to add but they should still have nutes in the soil. When should I start to add them?
Thanks everyone...
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420 newbie said:

I have now had a second plant dry up and begin to die!!! There were no instructions on how far away to keep the light so I have been doing some reading up and have it placed about 20 inches from the top of the plants. They seem to need MUCH more water than before so I water them once every other day now. THey are now 67 days old and am thinking about switching to 12 on and 12 off and changing to the bulb for blooming. Does anyone think I should wait longer and if so how much and should I water them more? And if i should change is 12 and 12 okay and how much watering? I did buy some organic bloom nutes to add but they should still have nutes in the soil. When should I start to add them?
Thanks everyone...
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Yeah, that can happen. How is your humidity? Temps? Your plants are using more water because the light is drying the air in the room. As long as it doesn't happen too fast you should be ok. About 20 inches or so is right for a 400. Plants double to quadruple in size during flowering. I would induce 12/12 lighting depending the size of the plant and the size of the room. Measure your plants height and triple it. This is about what you will get (roughly). So do you have enough room to let them get bigger? Measure your room and how much room you have if the light was all the way to the ceiling, and subtract 20 inches. This lets you know how much height you have all in all for finished plants. I hope that makes sense. Use the hefting method, picking up buckets to feel their weight when it comes to watering. I usually like to use 1/3 to 1/2 of water for the volume of each bucket. In other words if you have a gallon bucket, use no more than a half gallon for watering. Adequate drainage is crucial. Root rot, and damping off can happen very easily, which also attracts pests like fungus gnats and root maggots. When it comes to your nutes, start out with 1/4 strength dilution for the first week. Move up to 1/2 the next if plants seem to improve. If they still seem to improve, go to full strength. You could do a nutrient "flush" to help wash away what nutes are in the soil. This will help lessen the chance of root burn.