First grow and need advice

1stgrow01 · Feb 5, 2025

First time grow. Got seeds as a gift and wasn't prepared for them at all. I have them growing with some LEDs I found around my house but I have an actual full spectrum grow light coming soon. Had to raise my light since they grew until they were only about 2 inches away from it at that point. They are now just about 18 inches away and I will be monitoring them over the next few hours/days to see how they react. Also watered them very well today since from my research I had not been giving them enough water at all because I was scared of over watering. Will post updates but let me know what you think. Any criticism is welcome and appreciated. Thank you. (Apologies for the camera quality I know it sucks)

OldOneEye · Feb 5, 2025

Hey bro,
You are doing alright, the leaves pointing up.....more light. Lower your light a few inches. Notice the stem is straight and stretching to the light.
The 2nd has it appears some nutrient burn, your soil may be kind of hot.
As you learn you can square away your grow area, you got time.

More info will help us give better advice.
Soil you are using?
Do you know the strain of your lifted seeds?
Are you feeding them nutrients?
How much effort do you want to put into it?
Do you plan on growing organically?
Cheers bud

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

Hey, welcome! I have a couple of suggestions:
1. Theyre very long, usually called leggy seedlings. That means theyre really struggling with too little light and theyre growing way too much trying to reach for more. Your set up is fine, we all work with what we have. At some point I was using a big cardboard box and it got me through tough times. But you got it backwards, theyre needing more light not less. Usually plants that have plenty of light dont grow very tall unless its a tall sativa dominant.
2. Your soil is very wet for the size of those seedlings, try to leave the borders unwatered and water just in the middle until you have the first node developed and the second one fairly big. When it has 2 healthy nodes you will want to water the whole pot again until a tiny bit of runoff (as least as possible) and then give them a few days to expand roots so they can suck all the water. If youre not sure how much time, let them ask you for water. They will get slightly droopy when theyre thirsty and if you dont let them be in that state for more than 1 or 2 days, once you water they will go back to normal with 0 damage. I plant in big pots from seed too.

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

OldOneEye said:
Hey bro,
You are doing alright, the leaves pointing up.....more light. Lower your light a few inches. Notice the stem is straight and stretching to the light.
The 2nd has it appears some nutrient burn, your soil may be kind of hot.
As you learn you can square away your grow area, you got time.

More info will help us give better advice.
Soil you are using?
Do you know the strain of your lifted seeds?
Are you feeding them nutrients?
How much effort do you want to put into it?
Do you plan on growing organically?
Cheers bud

Lol, we posted at the same time. Yup yup, that info will help for sure. No nutes should be fed at this point. Besides those questions:
Do you ph your water or know what ph it has? What type of water are you using?

1stgrow01 · Feb 5, 2025

Appreciate the advice man. Yes, they are sativa dominant, chocolope. They were no more than probably 2-3 inches from the light when I moved it up but I'll try to find a middle ground with it until my grow light gets here. I was told that I was under watering them because they weren't "draining". I was giving them about 3 shot glasses of water every couple days right dead in the middle but due to conflicting advice on Google, people said to water in a circle around it to help develop the roots.

1stgrow01 · Feb 5, 2025

I have no idea about PH or anything like that. This is the soil I'm using. Yes I know it's not ideal in any circumstance for weed but it's all I can afford at the moment.

OldOneEye · Feb 5, 2025

Seedlings can be tricky.fine line between under and over watering.
After they have a few nodes set, at that point water more toward the edges to encourage spreading out of the roots but they first need to build a good root system to support the plant.

OldOneEye · Feb 5, 2025

1stgrow01 said:
I have no idea about PH or anything like that. This is the soil I'm using. Yes I know it's not ideal in any circumstance for weed but it's all I can afford at the moment.

It's workable.... When you can get a cheap ph pen. You will need it.

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

1stgrow01 said:
Appreciate the advice man. Yes, they are sativa dominant, chocolope. They were no more than probably 2-3 inches from the light when I moved it up but I'll try to find a middle ground with it until my grow light gets here. I was told that I was under watering them because they weren't "draining". I was giving them about 3 shot glasses of water every couple days right dead in the middle but due to conflicting advice on Google, people said to water in a circle around it to help develop the roots.

Thats good advice but the first 2 weeks theyre gonna have little more than the tap root. What you said is what I do once the plant is big enough to expand the roots, right now is a bit too early for that but its okay, they dont seem to be drowning but its just better if you only water the base of the plant until it has a couple of nodes. Im assuming that if the light was that close and still they got so leggy, even being sativa dominant, its because the light has a very low wattage. Tall sativas still dont get as tall when being seedlings, they get tall later on, specially during the first 3 weeks of flower.

1stgrow01 · Feb 5, 2025

OldOneEye said:
Hey bro,
You are doing alright, the leaves pointing up.....more light. Lower your light a few inches. Notice the stem is straight and stretching to the light.
The 2nd has it appears some nutrient burn, your soil may be kind of hot.
As you learn you can square away your grow area, you got time.

More info will help us give better advice.
Soil you are using?
Do you know the strain of your lifted seeds?
Are you feeding them nutrients?
How much effort do you want to put into it?
Do you plan on growing organically?
Cheers bud

Eledin said:
Hey, welcome! I have a couple of suggestions:
1. Theyre very long, usually called leggy seedlings. That means theyre really struggling with too little light and theyre growing way too much trying to reach for more. Your set up is fine, we all work with what we have. At some point I was using a big cardboard box and it got me through tough times. But you got it backwards, theyre needing more light not less. Usually plants that have plenty of light dont grow very tall unless its a tall sativa dominant.
2. Your soil is very wet for the size of those seedlings, try to leave the borders unwatered and water just in the middle until you have the first node developed and the second one fairly big. When it has 2 healthy nodes you will want to water the whole pot again until a tiny bit of runoff (as least as possible) and then give them a few days to expand roots so they can suck all the water. If youre not sure how much time, let them ask you for water. They will get slightly droopy when theyre thirsty and if you dont let them be in that state for more than 1 or 2 days, once you water they will go back to normal with 0 damage. I plant in big pots from seed too.

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

Okay I see, the soil is not that wet its just that universal potting soil that is more dark than Im used to. Seems fine, keep just watering the base til they get bigger though. You can go as deep as you want, but dont go too wide. Theyre probably leggy because of those LED. Im assuming those are 5-15W LED bulbs, not nearly enough unless theyre very close. When will your growing lights arrive? You will need them or the plants will die.

1stgrow01 · Feb 5, 2025

My light should be here in just 3-4 days. I'd assume the lights are around the wattage you said they are since they just plug into a phone charger box then into an outlet. The new one is I think 120w? Is that enough for these two? The PPFD or whatever it's called on the new light is supposedly in the 800's from 18 inches away

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

A little bit more of advice. Priorities when deciding where to invest the little money you have:
1. Enough light to get through all the life cycle (I think in feet is like 32 wats per square foot minium, someone correct me if Im wrong Im not from the US)
2. Soil, peat based from a cannabis specialized brand with a ph of 6 or 6,5. Light mix since youre planting from seed, that means lightly fertilized not heavily. Heavily fertilized soil is for transplants and can hurt seedlings, so far your seem to be fine but that soil says its heavily fertilized so you might see some yellowing. That might be the nutes or the PH. PH is really important specially if youre using tap water because it can go very high, way too much for a healthy plant. Reverse osmosis water tends to have a ph of 6,5. Distilled water around 7 and tap water can go from 7 to 9+ and you need your plants ideally at 6,2ph during veg and 6,5 ph during flower if youre gonna use synthetic fertilizers. 7ph is okay if youre gonna use organic fertilizers with microorganisms.
3. Nutrients. There's plenty of cheap and reputable cannabis brands to choose from.

NOW PLEASE, PEOPLE FROM THE US GIVE HIM A HAND TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT BRANDS SUIT THEM THE MOST BECAUSE IM NOT FROM THERE. THANKS!

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

1stgrow01 said:
My light should be here in just 3-4 days. I'd assume the lights are around the wattage you said they are since they just plug into a phone charger box then into an outlet. The new one is I think 120w? Is that enough for these two? The PPFD or whatever it's called on the new light is supposedly in the 800's from 18 inches away

Ah there's no need to panic then, they will arrive in time. A 120W panel should be enough for 2 plants yes, Ive grown 4 with 2 120W panels with no trouble. Dense buds and good ammount of trichomes. If youre gonna keep it at 18 inches you should start at 50% potency, that should be enough for now so they dont get taller, they can eventually fall off and need support to keep on going but yours have not reached that point and if they do you can always try to burry the stem more. It will grow roots once its below the ground.

1stgrow01 · Feb 5, 2025

Thank you for all the help guys I really do appreciate yall taking the time to help a first time grower. Will be posting updates when I notice any changes or when my light arrives whichever comes first.

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

This should help you out in terms on how many umols (PPFD) you need at each stage

PPFD for Different Plant Growth Stages

Explore the best PPFD levels for seedlings, vegetative, and flowering stages to optimize plant growth. Understand the ideal light intensities at each phase to enhance photosynthesis and ensure robust.

www.spider-farmer.com

1stgrow01 · Feb 5, 2025

Thank you so much man for real

Eledin · Feb 5, 2025

My pleassure! Let us know if something else happens or if you have any doubt, and dont be shy to share your journey if you feel like it!

1stgrow01 · Feb 8, 2025

Got the light!

Eledin · Feb 8, 2025

Ha! Funny, those are the same 2 Im using in my small tent, exact same model from chinese brand called niello, they go at the same price at amazon and theres a couple more that have that exact mode, another one is cokolila, exact same model different brand. Those are very nice low budget lights, some of my bests harvest came from those

First grow and need advice

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First grow and need advice

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