I think I am killing my babys!! Help please

whatever you're growing in looks kinda dry but who knows it could be moist underneath the very top... Besides that, how long are these babies along? 3-4 weeks and it's time to start fertilizing. This is outdoors? indoors? if it's is outdoors I would suggest checking for pests like spider mites and getting some sort of insecticide... I am a new grower myself just passing on info I already know - hope it helps and that someone w more experience drops a line for ya as well

 

possibly a lil dry who knows. they seem to be doin ok. i wouldnt worry bout it.

 

Droopy leaves are almost always caused by three things, over watering, under watering, or really high temps (which is more wilting, but droopy none the less).

As for mites, you can usually see little holes, or dead looking dots on the leaves themselves. Look under the leaf, because that's where they live and eat. On a plants that size, it's easy and should only take a few minutes. Look VERY CLOSELY, you will see them if they are there. They are little dots that walk around, sometimes you can see their little webs. Those spots look more like a little heat stress from the MH. Especially since they are little. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to toughen them up. Personally I would've just used the T-5 you have for a little longer, maybe until the second set of leaves with five fingers. Fluorescents are a lot more forgiving, and you could spray the leaves really good and wipe them off (if you did have mites), with almost any hid, spraying the leaves with the lights on could fry them (like watering your lawn at high noon). I use 4 t-8's, and veg my plants under them until they are about 2 feet tall, then throw them under a HPS, about 2.5 feet under the light for the first few days. When I see all the new growth starting (tons of lighter green shoots) I raise them up a bit closer to the light. But I never put a young plant directly under the light at first. Let them get used to the light first (like getting a base tan at the beach, never tan for 8 hours the first day, you know?), usually my plants stop growing when they are about 5' tall, I don't know if that's a problem for you or not since I don't know the height restrictions you're working with.

Don't worry about turning plants male, that can't happen. They can have both sexes (hermaphradite) however. But they're pretty little, you have plenty of time to get things straightened out before then.

 

At this point, I would probably just leave them. But make sure they aren't too too close to the light. About 2 feet should be ok, put your hand under the light at plant level, if it feels hot, back them down a few inches. As for the plant that's not growing up to par, chances are it's a mutant. I always get one of those. The rest are 2 feet tall, and they are 3 inches. I usually just leave them and see what happens. Thus far, they have almost always been males. But I think it's a roll of the dice, and mine just keep being males. I have two now that are just starting to shoot up, although they haven't been sexed, I'm banking that they are males by the looks of them.

As for buying more lights, t-8's are way cheaper and produce just about the same results. I mean, you can buy t-5's, but they are around $80-100, or you can just go to Kmart or Lowes and get a t-8 shoplight with the bulbs for $15-20. I have a bunch of t-8 ballasts, so I'll stick with them. Besides bulbs are very very cheap. Even 4' grow bulbs are only $10 a piece at lowes.

 

if you live in a fairly populated place like a city your rain water is most likely acidic stop using it.

 

6.8 is fine it isnt the water then

 

i am 100% sure that you over watered and you have high temps look drill 10-20 holes on the bottom then put the 5 gallon bucket in another 5 gallon bucket the water will drain when there is to much also get a fan on the guys thats why the soil drys to fast and i hope that isnt 400 watts to one plant or thats really over kill i got 2 plants under a 400 watt mh but got a 60 cfm fan on them at all time also i got my light at about 12 inchs from the plant and mine are doing good

 

I never measure the distance honestly. I kind of go by feel (for lack of a better word). Fresh new plants get a little distance from the light until they pop, and everything starts to look 'greener', then I move them closer. Look at it this way, even at 3 feet, the plants are recieving way more light than from a T-5 that is 6 inches away. The smallest plants are about 2' from the lights, and my biggest are only about a foot away(it's a good use for all those dvd and whatever boxes we all seem to save, I've become a master box/phone book stacker). I'm not sure about the rain water, I live right near a huge city, however, I use it on my outside gardens, but on the special plants I just use tap water. I leave it out for a few days in a 22 gallon rubbermade container with an aquarium bubble stone in it. Usually I throw in a cap full of root booster (I think it's scotts), and a cap full of plant vitamins (you can find them at lowes or walmart or something). 22 gallons lasts me about 4-6 days, then I scrub the container out, dry it really good with paper towels, and start again. They are pretty cheap and make life easier, especially if you have a bunch of plants.

Don't worry about the questions, there aren't a lot of girls here, so we need to stick together You can PM me if you need anything

 

They dont look bad to me some light yellowing can happen I dont think it will be a problem unless it gets worse.

 

Get the bubbler from a pet store, or walmart or whatever, they are pretty cheap. Avoid aquaculture brand if possible, they lose all their power too fast.

Now the nutes question, personally I am not a name dropper. Regardless of your hobby, there are always going to be those people that only use the best stuff with the biggest name and the equally big price tag. Personally, I've grown tired of paying big bucks to hydro shoppes for nutes, and I only did it once. Jeez, they're like pot pimps, if every grow is going to cost me $145 just in nutes, I might as well just buy pot, it would be cheaper and easier. (hydroponic people are exempt from this discussion) But, I am a plant lover, I have several large outside gardens and lots of indoor plants. I love nurseries, and garden centres and all those things. That's were I buy pretty much everything these days. There are tons and tons of fertilizers and nutrients, that are just as effective and way cheaper. Personally, I try to avoid Scott's (MG) products, not because they won't work, but because I hate the Monsanto Corporation, the parent company of scott's. They are just nasty fuckers, and I hate genetically modified crops, and they are the leaders in designing them. Look them up, and see what I'm talking about. The root booster fooled me because it said neither scotts or MG on the bottle, I read it on the back later. But there are smaller brand products I love. Spend some time in a few garden centres, look through everything, you'll find plant vitamins, and decent nutes. I mix my own soil, for I have no loyalty to any soil company either. You can buy everything to mix your own outstanding soil (or soiless mix) and save yourself a lot of money.
Just do a day or so of reading the day before you go out to the garden shoppe, if you want nutrients, learn about NPK numbers and what are the best for what you need, vegging or blooming. I'd say the more you actually know, the better off you are. How many people on here post threads that say 'I have so and so nutes, and this and that, how much should I use, and when should I use them?' Try to actually know when you need them, and what they do, then if something is wrong, you'll know it before it's too late. There isn't any set pattern for all plants, you can't tell someone to water every fourth day and give nutes every other day. What really works on one strain might not work as well on others. I'm personally still learning and experimenting, it's kind of rewarding when discover something new.

 

Move the lights up a little if you're worried. The worst that can happen from having the light too high is a little stretching. You're doing fine.