hey guys, im somewhat new to growing. i grew 2 times before but i dint really know what i was doin and i didnt finish the grow. i have 3 seedlings and they all are pretty yellow and the leaves are pointed up to the light but they arnt stretched out at all. plus i have a 400 watts high pressure sodium light on them which i keep on about 12 hours a day. and i have 4 26 watt cfl lights on them 24/7 but they are 27k bulbs. i only keep the sodium light on half the day cuz of electricity and heat. i have them in cut off 2 liter bottles right now till i transplant them. they are in Scott's premium soil. i water them like every 3 days when the soil gets mostly dry and i havnt used any fertilizer i dont have a Ph tester or anything. i dont have any food either. im pretty broke right now cuz i just had to spend a lot of money on other stuff. does anyone know what would cause my plants to be so yellow? they are MUCH yellower than in the pics. i had to use my cell phone that takes crappy pics. i need some advice. they seem like they are doing so good besides being yellow also since im on a budget, if i only had $20 to spend what to you think i should buy? new soil? food? ph tester? also the only place i can go to get stuff is walmart or kmart, and i dont have a CC to order online. so i cant get like foxfarm stuff. THANKS!
well that soil is prolly acidic and burning the poor little girl you need better soil for sure, and for lighting you need to be using the 6500k CFL's during veg and those 2700k ones for when your in flowering. and you need to start with MH (Metal Halide) it gives off a blue spectrum ideally suited to the vegitative stage of the plants life. then later u can use ur HPS it gives off a red spectrum, and is ideal in the flowering phase of the plants life.
so right now ur trying to veg with flowering lights and thats gonna get u no yeild. also u should be leaving ur lights on 24/0 during the veg state and then switch to 12/12 when u are flowering
thank you for the help s.f. sage also im on a super tite budget i only have about $20 to spend right now till the end of the week so if i need to get new light bulbs thats most of my money. so if i get a pack of new daylight 65k bulbs thats $12-$15. so should i get a cheap bag of soil and a ph tester? or should i just get like a nicer $5 bag of soil? walmart has a cheap ph tester but i dont know how good it will work could you recommend me a goos soil? lowe's is close to my house and they have a lot of soil, and a lot of it is on the website lowes.com. thats like my only soil option besides walmart. lowes has a lot more garden stuff i really appreciate any help. these plants are lookin good besides the yellow. i would hate to lose them. thanks!
i'm no expert, i'm just starting my grow as well. but i do think that you should maybe put that hps on for a week..would anyone agree on that at all? i hear hps is actually pretty nice for sprouts like that. i wouldnt put two lights on and then turn one off for 12 hours. while the other runs. you should try out 18 light hours and 6 dark hours. also you should go buy a ph tester first, unless you figure out whats in that soil and maybe there is a little bit of stuff that is burnin your plants. but in my opinon i would buy a ph tester first. than figure out about your soil. i mean you may not have to may soil after all. do you have a nursery store around where you live? how did you get the hps if you dont? does walmart sell that shit. anyways, also once you get money for it get an metal halide conversion bulb, for your veg. bottom line tho, check out your soil. so i'd say ph tester first. and also, i'm a beginner, could anyone tell me if i'm right about the hps for sprouts and even for bigger ones like what he has?
You do have a lot of stretching going on with that plant though. I'd make sure your lights arent too far from the plants.
Not true at all. HPS sodium emits light in the 2200 K spectrum, while MH emits 5500 K spectrum. Take a look at this link and look at the chlorophyll activity chart. Metal Halide is only using around 20-30% of the max absorbtion, while High Pressure Sodium is just under 20%. It is true that MH is better in the veg state than HPS (and of course only HPS in flowering), but it is NOT true that you will get a significantly/much less yield or no yield at all.I'm using it on my auto ak-47's and its going great. I just didt have the $ for a MH bulb, and the auto's only have a veg period of 14 days so its not too big of a deal.
nice conversation here! newb here learning alot! i ran one 400w HPS on my orange crush seedlings till i had 4 tops then i kicked em over to 12/12 and added a 2nd 400w HPS. im headed to the lighting section after this to study up. oh yeah i did learn the hard way on having the light too high at an early stage i had a batch last summer fall over while i was at work... devostating. expensive seeds i also use Fox Farm grow big for veg and tiger bloom for flowering
Possibly a heat issue or you have locked out nutrient absorbtion by watering the youngun with water thats of the incorrect ph value..or both...Ignore advice about lights, you are fine with what you have.
UPDATE: i got a ph tester and some new soil. i was able to find fox farm soil about 45 minutes away so i got the ocean forest. i tested the ph of my old soil and the new soil and the old soil was at 7, and the fox farm is at 6.8. do i need to adjust the ph or is 6.8 good? from what ive read i think it needs to be a little lower right? also, if i do need to lower the ph, do i need to add chemicals to the soil/water or do i just need to water them with a lower ph water? the ph testing kit didnt come with ph adjuster, its just a test kit, so i have no way of adjusting the ph right now. it also has a tester for NPK that im gonna use later today to test those levels. ANY ADVICE? i still have the wrong bulbs in though. i have 27k cfl. i wont be able to get the right ones till friday though. ill also try to get some better pics soon too. i just need to get some batteries for my digital camera.