Grow blog

[|Sativia|]

ok. so i recently moved in with my girl at her moms house. (her mom smokes weed and crack so shes cool with growing.)
and i decided its time to grow my own beautiful plants.
im using a 150w HPS lamp with reflector and ballast.
im not quite sure what type of soil im using but it seems to work very well.(its not miracle grow, thank god.)


i had a slight bug problem but for some reason i dont anymore, you can see the first set of leaves are a bit eaten away and yellowish.



this is my setup. basic closet grow. wasnt sure how high the lamp needed to be so i set it quite far. (ive burned alot of seedlings before so im just being extra careful this time)

i have some vines and other plants growing as well, yes i have an interest in agriculture besides weed lol. and they will provide and explination for any curious neighbors or the occasional relatives.

i plan to start flowering them asap since im still sortof new to growing i want to keep it short and simple.
i will use the bigger pots once they grow up and need more space. i figured one gallon pots would do.

i currently have six or seven seedlings growing with more germinating. i only plan to actually grow 4 plants (as for the risk of male plants) but i want to see which ones grow better, natural selection etc...

i have two strains, one blueberry yum yum (or what have you, everyone seems to have a special name for blueberry) and some random indica dom strain. i will post pics at every stage of growth to keep you guys updated :]

[slunt]

your light is definitely too far away as a 150 w light pushes usable light (Lumens) about a foot or so. try using a small fan to blow away and dissipate heat off the plants and move the light closer or your babies will stretch to reach the light and become long and scraggly. A slight breeze helps strengthen a plants stem and make it thicker.I would recommend flowering when your plants are 6-8 inches tall as maturing plants will grow another foot and your light will not be able to bathe the entire plant in it's light if it gets bigger.

[|Sativia|]

alright. well i made it a bit lower. and also, i plan on throwing a couple tube cfls with full spectrum when they get bigger. i dont really mind tall plants but for the sake of yield i suppose its better if there short and bushy.




i also noticed a new arrival to my little seedling gang.
ive read that its important to keep seedlings wet and humid, is this accurate?

[keepsmokin]

Originally Posted by |Sativia|

ive read that its important to keep seedlings wet and humid, is this accurate?

Damp and humid, not wet.

[Cerebro]

great answer

[Peace seeker]

You can put the 150W as close as 9" from the seedlings as long as you have sorted out the heat/ventilation issues.

Right now it is WAY too high.

[mothernature]

Originally Posted by Peace seeker

Right now it is WAY too high.

I agree. Move the lamp down.

[slunt]

I will give you an analogy about light strength so you will understand why we want it closer.
A candle a foot away from a book is enough light to read by, but that same candle across the room provides very little useful reading light.
The energy that the lights expel for the plant to photosynthesize is so dissipated by the time it reaches 18-20 inches that it becomes almost useless to your plants photo-system.
CFL's work great on babies as they expel very little heat and can be literally placed 1 inch away. They cast useful light about 4-6 inches.

[Cerebro]

listen to slunt; he went to lumen college.

[|Sativia|]

thanks guys for the input.
i moved the light down again and its now exactly 13" from the plants.
and to keep the air flow i turned up the fan a bit.
and as for my babies. they are doing well with the light closer and i have seen alot of new growth compared to before : D

[Cerebro]

perhaps you might like to get a temperature gauge, that way you can know if you're too close. Because if you read this

Originally Posted by slunt

your light is definitely too far away as a 150 w light pushes usable light (Lumens) about a foot or so.

13" is still too far away. I'm not sure about this, someone else will know better. Where's that chart at?

[farmergiles]

[Cerebro]

that's it, cheers bro.
so, 4"-12" is optimal.
If you go to 9" you'll be getting more than twice as much usable light.

[Thepizzaguy]

Good Luck!

[|Sativia|]

ok so i lowered it again. nice chart btw. very useful.
heres the current height and composition

as you can see its a bit more reasonable for the bbys.
ive had more bby pop up from there slumber in the ground :]

my oldest bby is doing well. this is at 5 days


new bby, has shown considerable growth compared to my oldest. only 1 day old!


this new one sprouted really weird. its almost like its stuck part way in the ground lol
im not sure if this little one will make the cut but i suppose i'll wait and see.



this one was born without a leaf. kindof sad but the plants only 2 days old so its doing fairly well id say.




i plan on going to the store and buying some vegatable safe bug spray. mylar. anything else i should pick up for my babies while im out?

[Cerebro]

perhaps something to measure temps, and pH.

[slunt]

For the budget minded, Mylar is expensive and flat white paint tis cheap. Both are good reflectors with the edge and expense going to Mylar.

[|Sativia|]

ok, so i now i have a bit of a problem. im sure this is nothing that hasnt been dealt with in the past, in fact ive done a bit of research on it, but still am unable to diagnose this issue.

my main concern is my oldest pant.

some of the older leaves are curling on the sides and tips. new growth however is unaffected, which rules out a few things.



Now, i am aware of a few cuases of this, such as a Ca dif., overwatering etc...
but the truth is i really i just dont know the exact reason. my girlfriends mom smokes cigs like a chimney but i keep my door shut tight amap, and i have my window open within reason, because its rather cold outside. so i dont think its lack of ventilation or too much toxic air (i myself hate ciggarette smoke so it hardly ever smells in here). i replaced the old fan with a bigger one.

i have it blowing on them constantly, but i make sure its not too harsh for them.

i have four plants total, two of them are doing well but still show mild signs of this issue. my oldest is growing still but the older leaves seem to be suffering with curling, also the leaves have become dry and brittle.

my youngest is growing but very slowly, the first set of leaves are quite burnt in appearance and have yellow spots with the other growth soon following :[


i water them about once every day or two making sure the water saturates the soil through the entire pot. i wait untill the pot seems light and the soil on top is dry.

this one along with the other baby the same size are doing well and growing just fine but as i mentioned above still show small signs of curling and such.

so im not real sure of the issue but i really want this to be a successful grow.
so any plant docs out there?

[farmergiles]

They might be getting wind burn.

Mag deficiency would cause curl but it`s unlikely at this stage.

It might be that their roots have just got a little tangled and they`ll sort themselves out after another set or two of leaves.

I`d recommend you checked the pH of their water like Cerebro said. If your pH is way high it will lock up all sorts of nutrients.

[Dandaweedman]

Molybdenum or calcium is my guess.