So this is my first grow in a long time and previous grows were clones in hydro. Seedlings are new to me as they were difficult to get twenty yrs ago, so pretty much a noob here.
The grow will be in a 2 in 1 Tent, main area is only 3x3’ due to space issues. At the moment the Seedlings are Not in Tent but a Wardrobe closet. Almost ready to run the Grow Tent, just need a few more things. I started them in Root Riot Cubes and they popped within 24hrs or so. Using Happy Frogs for veg/flower but have seedling soil (Black Gold) and perlite.
I have them in a small prob station with dome and just using spray water bottle approx 3 times daily. Water is spring water at 17ppm. They were started with a Philips 16 watt Par38 Flood, 5000K, 1200 Lumens and 19 umols. This is for 3 seedlings…Yesterday I added a 26 watt CFL at 6500K, 1700 lunens and the temps rose to 81 F and 43 RH. They were steady at 78 F with the Phillips LED bulb and about the same RH, may have rose slightly but not much.
The lights were started at 12 inches away, give or take. Wanted to keep stretch to a min so moved light closer 6-8 inches away. Two of the 3 have their first real leaves, the 3rd doesn’t due to seed shell hanging on for to long. All have Cotyledons and they look ok. The first set of real leaves are discolored on both, the 3rd dozenst have any yet cuz of seed shell. I think** the lights were to close, the Cotyledons are not burnt or discolored at all.
I’m a little puzzled, lol, most text say to keep CFL’s 12 inches away. The posts I’ve read say they can run em much closer. There isn’t a fan in there yet as they will only be in the wardrobe for a couple of days till I can get the Tent finished. I’ve got better/other light fixtures but they will not fit in this small area.
Am I burning them with the lights? One leave tip will point up, the other will point down. Can’t post pics yet, sry bout that hopefully soon! I can’t think of what else it could be.?? I’m fairly new here, haven’t needed to post much yet just soaking up info. Had a friend helping till Mars showed up! Hopefully Cola will return as he has been really helpful towards a noob and it seems he helped many others as well. Thanks for any help/suggestions in advance!
Are your lights LED or CFLs or both, If LED Your lights are too close back them off to 18-24 inches
Wait now I’m confused , CFLs should not burn that close that is why I ask about LEDs
Really need to see pic under natural light
Like @STIGGY mentioned a picture will help massively in diagnosing the problem.
You shouldn’t need to add any nutrients to your watering schedule for a couple of weeks as everything the plants need will be in the soil.
If your seeing bunt leaf tips your likely over feeding and not the lights causing the issue. 82 isn’t that high of a temperature and it will just mean you will have to water more often.
My advice is to just water with plain water. Since your in soil you don’t even need to adjust the ph as the soil will buffer it to the correct level and LITFA
Seems odd to me also… I normally sprout my seeds in paper towel and then transfer directly into solo cup of happy frog so cant imagine its soil… I dont personally spray my seedlings as I am always concerned if I get it too wet around the stalk that they may damp off but doesnt sound like what your problem is either at all… if only CFL i am not sure at all… I usually move my fluorescents down pretty dang close to within a few inches after a day or two when they pop out of the soil…
Hey thx for all the replies, I was away for a while needed a little shut eye. Ok hopefully I can clear it up for ya.
No Nutes at all.
No soil, only Root Riot Cube
Only spring water sprayed 2-3 times daily, just a small amount
Here are links to the lights
I can’t post pics yet…Laptop died over x-mas and no way to scrub exif data. Not in a good area, must tread lightly
They went to ground Jan 4th, popped on Jan 7th
It’s tricky getting the sweet spot, IME but a little stretch early on isn’t an issue, so back off the light, IMO. In nature/outdoors there’s a lot more wind to keep it in check.
Ok so if the LEDS can’t be as close as 12 inches then it’s light burn…I turned the CFL OFF after I saw this and just went with LED but now I think I’m going to reverse that.
Going to pull the LED, and turn on CFL and try it at 12 inches and see what happens. I think that will be ok till I get em setup right in a Tent. Thx everyone!!!
Oh if that isn’t right ^^^^^ pls let me know, thx again! Got 6 more in tow and don’t want to screw those up too.
Just an update pulled LED and using CFL only after OP. This first batch was more or less a test run so used cheapish seeds so no big deal if they don’t make it…Still sad though ;(. 3 seedlings total in first batch, Berry Ryder doing well, secound set of real leaves starting. Light burn still evident on first set of real leaves, Cotyledon still intact no burn on these.
The 2nd is a mutant of sorts, has 3 Cotyledons and 3 real leaves but growing just fine. Again light burn but that is prob just left over from the beginning. Not worried about this one as it is a Photo. I screwed up and mixed Autos and Photos, stupid I know.
The 3rd is a crappy mids bag seed with no real leaves showing but growing. The seed hull hung on to long before I pulled the hull off and I don’t think it will make it. No signs of real leaves trying to grow.
I screwed up on the lighting, didn’t have timer when started. For the first few days I did 18/6 but in the end running at 24 lights on. Mainly just betting on the Berry Ryder (Auto) to make it. The mutant Cheese (Photo) is growing but not sure how it will react to screwed up lighting schedules. Doubt the 3rd will last much longer but not giving up on it.
FYI CFL is 12 inches away, I hope this is far enough, doesnt feel to hot when hand is at seedling level.
I have more CFL’s coming tomorrow for 2nd batch of 6 Autos. All but one has popped…
I did have a question about new Tent and lighting since the LED’s were a prob…Not sure if I should start new thread or not.?.
What concerns me now is the space available for vertical setup using the Mars Bar light And the fact it is 3950K instead of something closer to 6500K.
I will try it but I am beginning to wonder if CFL’S would be the safer bet.?. As per Mars, it calls for 24-30 inches in Germ and 18-24 inches in Veg. I don’t see dimensions for vertical size for the side shelves listed. Sounds tight to me but won’t know for sure till it’s up. But I’ll start a new thread if needed for the next screw up, lol!
I trully didn’t think growing these was going to be this big of a deal. I mean if I can’t even grow a seedling what hopes do I have for a meaningful harvest.?. Just kicking myself for not paying more attention on previous grows!!! But they were Clones and I had a buddy helping all the way. O’well come to far now, just hurts to see seedlings burnt up and the money it takes to buy em too! Well thx to everyone who chimed in, it for sure helps!!!
Afterthought. I have a little computer fan coming tomorrow as these are growing in a small Wardrobe. When would you start the fans? Have other fans for Tent …Thx Again!
Hope the second round ends up blasting off with little issues. Just wanted to comment and say I wouldnt be worried about the light being around 4k too much. It isn’t perfectly ideal but will still work great I would think.
My LEDs come out right around 3500k and they work great for the full cycle.
If you are concerned about height I would look into low stress training to make a low, but even canopy, or just flowering earlier. I put my LEDs closer during flowering because at that point I am shooting for around 1000 PPFD whereas in veg I am aiming for 400-600 I believe.
I usually have airflow on my seedlings as soon as they pop out and are an inch or something tall. I dont blast them but a light breeze to help them understand they need to build strong stalks and be strong
really i read nothing above, ok well some… but start up a grow journal or post up some pics of the problem, its a lot easier for people to help if they can see what the issue is or improvements that can be made to your space.
I have just been putting them in water for 24-48 hours until the seed drops and you can see a root. Than I just put it in soil, under my grow light and in a few days.they always seem to be popping up
Yeah it’s not ideal with the 3950K for Veg but I’ll be growing other fruits and herbs as well…And due to the size of the shelve 1x3’ I needed 2’ long lights and 4 of them (T5’s). Mars had a sale during the holidays and got that Bar light for $108…Just glad I didn’t get one for main area as I almost did.
Actually have two flower lights for a 3x3’ area…The Solarextreme 500 and Crecer 200 (Crap CS don’t bother). Kept the Crecer light cuz dude was so vague about a refund didn’t want to get stuck with nothing. Avoid that place!!!
I know pics are worth a 1000 words…Hope to have laptop worked on very soon. Someone said OG scrubs exif for ya but I need it scrubbed before it hits ISP. Sounds paranoid I know but as Mark Smith said “Proud of the way I’ve avoided Prison”, well so am I! Got two buddies barely an hour from me wearing orange jumpsuits and flip flops for same shit!
I’ll start the fan tomorrow and more CFL’s. Using the Root Riot Cubes, do you just wait for roots to start showing before you put them in pot? I’m assuming this will be ok. Very curious as to what the photo is going to do as it’s under 24 hrs of light, lol. I hate to screw around much more with the lights, they are prob already stressed from the lighting screw up from the start. 3 leaved little fucker…
btw can use the led screw in bulbs if your doing cfl’s, there just better, plus most you can pop the domes off for more directional light, if you do some searching around the forum you will see some past examples of people doing just that.
FYI there’s no real need to be spraying them, especially not a few times a day. The water droplets on the plants can actually act like a lens and make the light more intense on them, similar to a magnifying glass in the sun.
