Having problems with my plants. Most of them are dead. New grower

[SebasZize1]

Hello everyone,
I am quite new to the growing business and I have to be frank, I do not know much about it and a friend of mine helped me with most of it.
I bought a lamp with low voltage (5 Volts) and tried to use it with a timer of 12 hours, which I still am using (12 hours ON 12 hours OFF).

The initial growing went okay enough, however after some time, some of the plants started to die and eventually all of them except for one.
As they were getting bigger I started separating them in different pots. The growing period lasted a couple of months and it is still ongoing.

I will attach some photos and hope you can help me out, by giving me advice for my next attempt.

Thank you so much for your attention.

 

[Brother_Antioch]

Right off the top, I'd guess your light is way underpowered. That would account for the stretching and tiny stalks. Then your lighting period you said is 12/12? That's okay for flowering, but you need 18/6 for vegging (growth) to grow a plant that's ready for flowering. Other things to look at is what you're watering with (water, nutrients, what's the pH of the water, etc.) and how often. Pot size is also important, as unless your roots have room to grow your plant won't.

What do you mean when you say "5V lamp" to grow them under?

 

[Ninjadogma]

If you want that cannabis as an ornamental, you'll want to bump up to a 20w light and give it 18 hour of light a day. Top and prune to keep it an appropriate household size and so long as you keep up with the light it should live indefinitely (unless it's an autoflower variety). If you're looking to grow it to harvest and smoke, youre going to want a 150w light minimum for a single plant, and since you have a couple plants you are going to want a minimum of about 275 watts to illuminate a space no larger than 3x3. Thats just approximately where grow specs land. But why did they crisp up? The way they twisted and curled, you might have overdone it with the nitrogen fertilizer either by adding it or having a lot of it sitting in the soil.

So back to the ornamental approach since that's all you can really do with low wattage, change to an 18 hour schedule, or else the plant is going to start flowering after about 30 days from germination when it hits maturity, and will die in 2-3 months afterward as it completes its life cycle.

 

[SebasZize1]

Right off the top, I'd guess your light is way underpowered. That would account for the stretching and tiny stalks. Then your lighting period you said is 12/12? That's okay for flowering, but you need 18/6 for vegging (growth) to grow a plant that's ready for flowering. Other things to look at is what you're watering with (water, nutrients, what's the pH of the water, etc.) and how often. Pot size is also important, as unless your roots have room to grow your plant won't.

What do you mean when you say "5V lamp" to grow them under?

Thank you for your response.

I did not pay attention to the pH of the water, I just used tap water. I have been adding also some nutrients now and then (like once a week, but i have stopped after the plants started dying)

I used a small gush of NPK Fertilizer Solution 4+3+3 mixed with water.

• 4% total nitrogen (N)
  
  • 0.8% available nitrogen (N)
  • 3.2% urea nitrogen (N)
• 3% water-soluble phosphate (P₂O₅)
• 3% water-soluble potassium oxide (K₂O)

Otherwise I regularly water it every 2-3 days
I mean a 5 Volt lamp with 5V.

So I will try to move the plant to a bigger pot, buy stronger lights. I have a couple of questions then, if you could answer them I'd be very grateful:

- How strong should the lights be? Which voltage? Or do you have a recommendation? (I am a bit constricted in my room, since I cannot damage the furniture, drill or so. Unless it's necessary, then I would try to get a piece of furniture to manage that.
- Should I change to 18/6 for it to grow more? Or is it too late and should I remain in 12/12?

Thanks again for you attention

 

[SebasZize1]

If you want that cannabis as an ornamental, you'll want to bump up to a 20w light and give it 18 hour of light a day. Top and prune to keep it an appropriate household size and so long as you keep up with the light it should live indefinitely (unless it's an autoflower variety). If you're looking to grow it to harvest and smoke, youre going to want a 150w light minimum for a single plant, and since you have a couple plants you are going to want a minimum of about 275 watts to illuminate a space no larger than 3x3. Thats just approximately where grow specs land. But why did they crisp up? The way they twisted and curled, you might have overdone it with the nitrogen fertilizer either by adding it or having a lot of it sitting in the soil.

So back to the ornamental approach since that's all you can really do with low wattage, change to an 18 hour schedule, or else the plant is going to start flowering after about 30 days from germination when it hits maturity, and will die in 2-3 months afterward as it completes its life cycle.

Thanks also for you reply.

I do not want it as an ornamental. I will try growing again soon enough, with 3 plants, I think this time I might have overdid it with the amount of plants.
Thank you for the information regarding the specs of the lights, I will take it into consideration. I will stop using the nitrogen, until I figure out what is the right amount for them.

 

[weedra]

well since there stretching and flowering id say better light and keep it 18/6 then if photo 12/12 for flower. if auto keep it 18/6. im new to growing as well.

wouldnt say a complete waist looks like you got some buds out of the deal....

 

[Brother_Antioch]

Thank you for your response.

I did not pay attention to the pH of the water, I just used tap water. I have been adding also some nutrients now and then (like once a week, but i have stopped after the plants started dying)

I used a small gush of NPK Fertilizer Solution 4+3+3 mixed with water.

• 4% total nitrogen (N)
  
  • 0.8% available nitrogen (N)
  • 3.2% urea nitrogen (N)
• 3% water-soluble phosphate (P₂O₅)
• 3% water-soluble potassium oxide (K₂O)

Otherwise I regularly water it every 2-3 days
I mean a 5 Volt lamp with 5V.

So I will try to move the plant to a bigger pot, buy stronger lights. I have a couple of questions then, if you could answer them I'd be very grateful:

- How strong should the lights be? Which voltage? Or do you have a recommendation? (I am a bit constricted in my room, since I cannot damage the furniture, drill or so. Unless it's necessary, then I would try to get a piece of furniture to manage that.
- Should I change to 18/6 for it to grow more? Or is it too late and should I remain in 12/12?

Thanks again for you attention

Morning, Seb.

The size/wattage of your lights depends on the area you are trying to keep lit. If you're only going to grow one plant, a small 100W LED would suffice. If you're doing any more than that, you need a bigger light. Also, light spectrum is very important. There is a big difference between an LED light meant for lighting a room and an LED grow light. Different diodes, different specific frequencies of light, etc. As to light timing, as pointed out if it's a photo plant, once you switch to 12/12 it will begin its flowering process, regardless of how small the plant is. 18/6 keeps it in the vegging stage for maximum growth. Autos it really doesn't matter, as they switch to flowering when they're ready regardless of the amount of light.

As for nutrients, your best bet would be to get a decent tester for pH, ppm, etc. That way, you can follow the directions from the nutrient manufacturers for amount of nutes and feeding schedules for each specific stage of plant growth. Too much of one nute or not enough of another can affect how the plant grows. Also, the pH of the water is hugely important as too low or too high a pH will prevent your roots from absorbing the nutrients you are supplying it with. Wasted money, wasted time and ultimately a wasted grow opportunity.

As to your lasts question, I'd say stick to 12/12 with those plants, and learn from this endeavour. When you start your next grow you'll have all this experience and answers to help you start on the right track. I found everyone on this forum to be incredibly helpful with us noobs (just starting my second indoor grow in the next week when my new light FINALLY arrives!) so asking questions is always a great idea.

Hope this helps you out a bit

Cheers,

BA.

 

[Gurtgurt]

Do your pots have drain holes? Is one of them clear plastic (I can't tell)?

If it were me I'd start over. If these plants are still living you can try re-vegging and then cloning (if seeds are hard to come by), but if you do this they will grow in a strange shape.

I guess your issue was weak light and maybe temperature. The plants should be much bushier. 4 weeks from sprout with a decent light will multiply what you get from here by many times. You will probably be disappointed in this harvest; remember you trim the leaves and the bud shrinks as it dries.

 

[Hossgrows]

As to the above info... I'd add, only one plant per container, to that.

Here's a month on a photoperiod, from seed. Just soil from my garden, mixed with a bit of potting soil, and just a wee pinch of slow release organic fertilizer, to wake up the soil before placing the germinated seed in it. Just watered when needed. ( Well water 6-6.5 pH and a bit hard ). The bottled spring water I began with would always test good at first, but by next day from opening, it'd be 8 or higher. So test your water. U can find a tester at just about any pet store.

Don't know what strength my lites are. I use full spectrum T5s and a ol sho n glo from back in the late 80s, strapped together
I believe they called it blurple lite, as seen in photo. I threw in the full daylight, pigtail bulb, for side lighting....it fit the spectrum.

Their just for raising seedlings for outdoors, not enough light for full indoor grows.

 

[Phyto]

Right off the top, I'd guess your light is way underpowered. That would account for the stretching and tiny stalks. Then your lighting period you said is 12/12? That's okay for flowering, but you need 18/6 for vegging (growth) to grow a plant that's ready for flowering. Other things to look at is what you're watering with (water, nutrients, what's the pH of the water, etc.) and how often. Pot size is also important, as unless your roots have room to grow your plant won't.

What do you mean when you say "5V lamp" to grow them under?

Get yourself a proper light, you can get a decent 100-200 watt light for around $100-$150. Figure you want about 35 watts per square foot of growing space with LED's closer to 50 watts per sq ft. with HID. 12/12 lighting throughout the grow is not going to give you an optimum yield and will cause the photoperiod plants to flower too soon. Autos or photos, start them at 18/6. Autos will flower on their own at between 3-6 weeks, and you can leave them on 18/6 the entire grow. Photos grow vegatatively under 18/6, when you want them to flower you drop the light period to 12/12 and they'll start to flower in about 10-14 days. Sounds like you're using synthetic nutes (which is fine), but you'll need to PH the water after the nutes have been added to about 6.2 for a soil grow. You will probably need some PH-Up and/or PH-Down. Let the pots get light between watering. Overwatering causes more issues than anything in growing cannabis (don't over water!!) Follow the manufacturers instructions for feeding at each stage of the plants growth (or a bit less). Use some quality potting mix, make sure the containers drain well and the pots don't sit in runoff water. You're eventually going to need larger containers, like 5 gallons, one plant per container. I do not recommend beginers start with autoflowers, they are a bit more sensitive to mistakes/stunting and because they flower a such a young age, if you have any issues there's not enough time to correct them before they flower.

 

[Phyto]

Get yourself a proper light, you can get a decent 100-200 watt light for around $100-$150. Figure you want about 35 watts per square foot of growing space with LED's closer to 50 watts per sq ft. with HID. 12/12 lighting throughout the grow is not going to give you an optimum yield and will cause the photoperiod plants to flower too soon. Autos or photos, start them at 18/6. Autos will flower on their own at between 3-6 weeks, and you can leave them on 18/6 the entire grow. Photos grow vegatatively under 18/6, when you want them to flower you drop the light period to 12/12 and they'll start to flower in about 10-14 days. Sounds like you're using synthetic nutes (which is fine), but you'll need to PH the water after the nutes have been added to about 6.2 for a soil grow. You will probably need some PH-Up and/or PH-Down. Let the pots get light between watering. Overwatering causes more issues than anything in growing cannabis (don't over water!!) Follow the manufacturers instructions for feeding at each stage of the plants growth (or a bit less). Use some quality potting mix, make sure the containers drain well and the pots don't sit in runoff water. You're eventually going to need larger containers, like 5 gallons, one plant per container. I do not recommend beginers start with autoflowers, they are a bit more sensitive to mistakes/stunting and because they flower a such a young age, if you have any issues there's not enough time to correct them before they flower.

Sorry @Brother_Antioch, I meant to quote the OP, my fat fingers strike again!! Your info is spot on.

 

[Brother_Antioch]

Sorry @Brother_Antioch, I meant to quote the OP, my fat fingers strike again!! Your info is spot on.

Thanks, Phyto. I figured you were just agreeing with my post. Glad to know I'm starting to get a handle on this growing thing!!!

New SE4500 lights and AC10 power strip arrive today and I'll get my tent up and running.

Cheers,

BA.