Noobie Grower, Rough First Grow - Help Me Improve!

[closetgrow69]

Hey all! So I need some help figuring out where I went wrong and how to correct it and avoid the same problem in the future. The biggest and busiest is the OG Kush. The second largest, and most yellowed is the older King's Kush. And the second King's Kush is in the big 2 gal. The last one seems to have taken off since I transplanted it and the roots had time to reach down into the SuperSoil on the bottom half of the pot.

I seem to get them going good for a little while, then some deficiency or something pops up. They are super compact and bushy though- that was what I was going for with my limited space.

The bigger 2 plants are still in roots organic soil. They are about 35 days old. They saw lots of topping/FIM'ing and LST. The bigger (white) pot with the smallest plant is half roots organic soil half SuperSoil.

I wasn't feeding any Cal/Mag and was using distilled water. Now I'm using tap water and a little cal/mag sometimes, always pH'd between 6 and 7. That definitely had them showing some deficiencies before. They've been fed a combination of AACT's and Botanicaire nutrients. The plan is to transplant into 2-3 gal pots with 50% supersoil for the final transplant.

I'll attach a journal of all that they've been fed. I think I did too much. The second round of seedlings is doing much better than the first round already.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!!

 

[closetgrow69]

Here are the feeding schedules

I think I fed them too much and gave them too much at the beginning. They seem to do good whenever I back off of the nutes and foliars and things.

The second round of plants all seem to be doing much better. Gave them some cal/mag early on and a super light dose of nutes at week 2-3. Even waiting that long for nutes - they started to yellow. So think i need to start feeding slightly earlier, and lighter.

 

[heisen]

your nutes dont match the lighting.If you want to increase the size up the lights.Them lights just arent doing it man.them plants are burnt TF up.way to much crap going in there.all that calmag and folier and crap.Your in RO soil its good out of the bag.I got moms under 125 watts T5 that look better than them and they dont get nothing but some gen hydro grow and thats it once a week.Your poisoning your plants with all that stuff.If they was sitting under 100 watts than id say yeah they might enjoy it but not under them CFL's

 

[closetgrow69]

your nutes dont match the lighting.If you want to increase the size up the lights.Them lights just arent doing it man.them plants are burnt TF up.way to much crap going in there.all that calmag and folier and crap.Your in RO soil its good out of the bag.I got moms under 125 watts T5 that look better than them and they dont get nothing but some gen hydro grow and thats it once a week.Your poisoning your plants with all that stuff.If they was sitting under 100 watts than id say yeah they might enjoy it but not under them CFL's

Thanks for the input! I really did burn TF outta them haha. I went much lighter all around on my second run, and they are doing stellar compared to the first lol.

How long would you wait before giving nutes in Roots? 10-14 days?

 

[heisen]

Once a week but it's all about environmental varaiables.the plants tell u what they are happy with.that's the secret to being a good grower man.being able to read your plants and push them to the edge without going over.

 

[DrMcSkunkins]

You started feeding them too soon, that stunts them from the getgo. Always water with ph adjusted tap or distilled water until the cotyledons die off, usually when the plant is 5 or 6 nodes tall. The first set of little round leaves (cotyledons) have all the fertilizer the plant needs for the first month or so.

 

[Gardenguy2.0]

Agreed. Start hitting them with plain water

Flush that soil out and start again

CFL grows are hard to get right but I think they're pretty badass. One farmer did a very small, secret cfl box hidden in his room..that was an interesting grow.

Look up some resources on CFL grows maybe you'll come across some good info. Happy farming :)

 

[closetgrow69]

Once a week but it's all about environmental varaiables.the plants tell u what they are happy with.that's the secret to being a good grower man.being able to read your plants and push them to the edge without going over.

I'm quickly learning that! Getting better each feeding and learning lots. I need to snag a couple good cannabis related books.

You started feeding them too soon, that stunts them from the getgo. Always water with ph adjusted tap or distilled water until the cotyledons die off, usually when the plant is 5 or 6 nodes tall. The first set of little round leaves (cotyledons) have all the fertilizer the plant needs for the first month or so.

The problem was my distilled water had a pH of 5.1! On top of other things lol.

Agreed. Start hitting them with plain water

Flush that soil out and start again

CFL grows are hard to get right but I think they're pretty badass. One farmer did a very small, secret cfl box hidden in his room..that was an interesting grow.

Look up some resources on CFL grows maybe you'll come across some good info. Happy farming :)

They have been flushed, and are doing much better! I'm reading and learning more each day

Here are some updates:

They seem to be doing much better, except for one of them. I think she's on the way out with all she went through. Poor lady.

The ones in white pots have been transplanted with the bottom half of the container containing Supersoil, and a 50/50 Roots Organic soil/Supersoil blend around the original root ball

 

[heisen]

and again the water PH dont mean nothing in organic soil.You are not growing in hydro without a PH buffer, the soil is your buffer!You can PH your water and learn the hard way it will not benefit you whatsoever.The added chemicals of the PH adjusters will screw up your dirt.The only thing in water that can adjust soil PH is limestone deposits and it will only raise it but only over a long period of time.the PH adjusters is NOT going to change the soil PH.Your dirt should be good to go out of the bag.Concentrate on getting your nute ratios right and giving them light.Drop all the added snake oil BS and give them regular ass tap water.Dont pre mix your nutrients untill you are ready to put them on your plants.

 

[closetgrow69]

and again the water PH dont mean nothing in organic soil.You are not growing in hydro without a PH buffer, the soil is your buffer!You can PH your water and learn the hard way it will not benefit you whatsoever.The added chemicals of the PH adjusters will screw up your dirt.The only thing in water that can adjust soil PH is limestone deposits and it will only raise it but only over a long period of time.the PH adjusters is NOT going to change the soil PH.Your dirt should be good to go out of the bag.Concentrate on getting your nute ratios right and giving them light.Drop all the added snake oil BS and give them regular ass tap water.Dont pre mix your nutrients untill you are ready to put them on your plants.

Thanks for the advice! I stopped adjusting the tap water pH, but I still let it sit out for at least a day.

 

[closetgrow69]

Here's the "Sperm Goblin" aka random bagseed from a few years ago.

Pics from a few days ago until today. Help! lol she's been fed only water until day. Gave it 1/2 dose of Botanicaire PBP, LK, Silica, and CalMag. Should I have started earlier? From the time the cotyledons yellowed?

Here's the Pipe Dream. A bagseed from a shop. It's older. It's stunted lol. It got a 1/2 strength dose of nutes a week ago, but besides that only water. Advice greatly appreciated, I am but a young padawan learner

 

[Monster762]

your nutes dont match the lighting.If you want to increase the size up the lights.Them lights just arent doing it man.them plants are burnt TF up.way to much crap going in there.all that calmag and folier and crap.Your in RO soil its good out of the bag.I got moms under 125 watts T5 that look better than them and they dont get nothing but some gen hydro grow and thats it once a week.Your poisoning your plants with all that stuff.If they was sitting under 100 watts than id say yeah they might enjoy it but not under them CFL's

I agree I haven't seen anything good from those type lights. T5s are a good start and can flower too just change bulbs to 2700k or 3000k flower time. They put out a lot more light. I have 3 semi monsters under t5 with a cheap 600 led for more spectrum. The t5s alone crush the led. $50 a fixture can't go wrong.

 

[Leew421]

Looks like they are over watered and raise the lights already, they are stacking way too close. Do yourself a huge favor and at least go t5. You can conrol spectrum way better

 

[Snakeskins]

Hey all! So I need some help figuring out where I went wrong and how to correct it and avoid the same problem in the future. The biggest and busiest is the OG Kush. The second largest, and most yellowed is the older King's Kush. And the second King's Kush is in the big 2 gal. The last one seems to have taken off since I transplanted it and the roots had time to reach down into the SuperSoil on the bottom half of the pot.

I seem to get them going good for a little while, then some deficiency or something pops up. They are super compact and bushy though- that was what I was going for with my limited space.

The bigger 2 plants are still in roots organic soil. They are about 35 days old. They saw lots of topping/FIM'ing and LST. The bigger (white) pot with the smallest plant is half roots organic soil half SuperSoil.

I wasn't feeding any Cal/Mag and was using distilled water. Now I'm using tap water and a little cal/mag sometimes, always pH'd between 6 and 7. That definitely had them showing some deficiencies before. They've been fed a combination of AACT's and Botanicaire nutrients. The plan is to transplant into 2-3 gal pots with 50% supersoil for the final transplant.

I'll attach a journal of all that they've been fed. I think I did too much. The second round of seedlings is doing much better than the first round already.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!!

Omg. Your in the same boat I was in my last grow. Yeah, it really seems those have spent their life stunted from sprout. Currently, I'm encouraged to keep these 8× cfls(230w total) at least an entire 1 ft. away to do my tent/LED scrog. Supposedly I stunted these sprout's growth. But I think 1 foot is quite a distance for cfls. Give them the space they need. I say next time, don't be afraid to give your plants that cool space they need during their veg cycle because some stretching can be a beautiful thing.

 

[Deplorable]

You started feeding them too soon, that stunts them from the getgo. Always water with ph adjusted tap or distilled water until the cotyledons die off, usually when the plant is 5 or 6 nodes tall. The first set of little round leaves (cotyledons) have all the fertilizer the plant needs for the first month or so.

Excellent advice. I'm new to cannagardening, but not other forms of gardening. My first thought is that these seedlings were getting too much fert. I didn't start giving mine nutes until 4th week. Also the light setup is pretty hinky, no offense OP.

In fact, I would go as far as to say you have a fire hazard there.

 

[Jamesb1985]

Simplify everything.. plain base nutes. Flush the soil first though. Plain water for a few days then introduce nutes gradually. Lights on 18/6 and don't mess with them for a week or so. Let them recover.

 

[Jamesb1985]

Oh and invest in a decent light. Only thing going to get smoked from those lights is your house.

 

[closetgrow69]

I agree I haven't seen anything good from those type lights. T5s are a good start and can flower too just change bulbs to 2700k or 3000k flower time. They put out a lot more light. I have 3 semi monsters under t5 with a cheap 600 led for more spectrum. The t5s alone crush the led. $50 a fixture can't go wrong.

Thanks for the reply!

How many watts am I looking for in a t5? And how many bulbs should I go for? 4?

Looks like they are over watered and raise the lights already, they are stacking way too close. Do yourself a huge favor and at least go t5. You can conrol spectrum way better

Thanks for the response!
I'm learning the wet/dry cycle finally. It's been a learning process.

I raised the lights to about 6in. away - they seem to like it! Any recommendations on a t5 fixture?

 

[Leew421]

Just a good 4 foot setup. For a small grow maybe 4x4 or 4x8

 

[closetgrow69]

Omg. Your in the same boat I was in my last grow. Yeah, it really seems those have spent their life stunted from sprout. Currently, I'm encouraged to keep these 8× cfls(230w total) at least an entire 1 ft. away to do my tent/LED scrog. Supposedly I stunted these sprout's growth. But I think 1 foot is quite a distance for cfls. Give them the space they need. I say next time, don't be afraid to give your plants that cool space they need during their veg cycle because some stretching can be a beautiful thing.

Thanks for the reply!
How did you stunt them? And what type of led do you have/how do you like it?

I've since backed off the lights to try to get the last bit of stretch out of flower. They seem to like it so far!

Excellent advice. I'm new to cannagardening, but not other forms of gardening. My first thought is that these seedlings were getting too much fert. I didn't start giving mine nutes until 4th week. Also the light setup is pretty hinky, no offense OP.

In fact, I would go as far as to say you have a fire hazard there.

Thanks for the reply!
Do your cotyledons yellow and die off before you start feeding? It seems like that happens, and then the first set of true leaves start to yellow. So I've been giving them a weak 1/2 strength dose. But maybe that yellowing is just from my overwatering issues.

None taken! lol. I'm going to redo the wiring all neat and secure.