AliCakes 1st Grow.....FAILING TERRIBLY

Ok.....a little about me. I am not your average pot head....in fact I am not really a pot head. I didn't smoke my first joint until after my 30th birthday and I don't smoke often. I wanted to grow because when I do smoke, I would like some GOOD buds and Texas isn't exactly the mecca of quality bud. Sorry my fellow Texans but most people here have no clue about the complexities of the cannabis plant. I want good shit and I would just assume grow it myself.

So my fiance and I decided this would be a fun little hobby and started researching. I built an aeroponics system, and a bubbler for cloning. We have bought a few things and cleaned out a 3'x6'x8' closet covered the walls with mylar and began to design the baby grow room. I have a tiny 50w grow light that I have used for other seedlings in the past and I ordered a 4' 4bulb T5 yesterday. I will invest in better lights etc as I go, but I have no intentions to spend thousands of bucks just to get started. I am learning and I'm okay with smaller harvests for now.

So 10 days ago, seeds came in the mail.....EXCITING! I have 10 reg Mango seeds, 10 reg Bubblegum, and 5 Himalayan Kush (my freebie). Since I am just learning, I started by germinating the freebies. Into a cup of lukewarm distilled water they went and within a day, all 5 popped open with cute little tails. YEAH!!!

Since I do plan to grow hydro, I decided to pop the seeds into peat pellets until they are big enough for my system and then I will fill the net pots with hydroton. This ok?

It took a day to pop the seeds open and about 2 1/2 days for my seedlings to break the surface of the peat. I have fed them only distilled water (should I have pH balanced this) and twice I added a small amount of SuperThrive. The five tiny plants have a whole closet to themselves and have been on a 18/6 light cycle. The room was well cleaned ahead of time and I am sure that temp, RH and air circulation aren't an issue.

But something is. About a day and a half after my seedlings popped up, the cute little dk green leaves started curling, stems are turning purple and two of them shrived to a thread just below the surface, one never sprouted, and my other two don't look great either. My best guess is that I have over watered? Or pH is more of an issue than I thought? Help me learn from my mistakes. How often should I water? How much? The dome has been off since my babies broke surface, should I put it back for a while? Or is this just an issue with freebie/cheap genetics?

HELP!!! I have no problem starting over. I have 20 more seeds.....I just don't want to repeat this disaster. I replanted the two remaining babies in tiny cups....cut holes for drainage and added some drier peat just in case I have been heavy handed with the water. Hopefully I can same them, or myabe you guys can tell what is wrong.

 

I posted about this over in "sick plants" as well. I think I did drown the one seed. The others, I was told got a fungal infection called "damping off." I am going to clean the area with bleach and water tonight. Then I will re-germinate. I haven't decided if I will use the dome or not. If I do, I think I will be more gradual about removing it. I don't think I will mist the plants, because that adds to fungal sustainability but I will water less each time and wait till the top of the peat is dry to re-water. I was told not to use any pH leveling or any chems at all till I have several leaf groups. If I do 5 seeds at a time, then I have four more chances.....I better not kill ALL the babies! Anyone know which is the more hardy strain......Mango or Bubblegum?

 

Thanks canna, but no there is no soil.....only peat. I had just watered in those pics. I plan on removing as much as possible and putting them in an aeroponics system. Next grow I'll prob use rockwool starter cubes or something like that.

Anyways, the five initial babies died most likely from "damping off." I did drown them, but not because of dense medium.....I was just watering them way too much. They'd look like shit, and I'd add more water. Then I'd think, maybe I need to add something to my water....so I tried to ph it, then I'd ph and add Superthrive.

I was very accurately accused of loving the babies to death. I will try hard not to repeat that mistake.

Last Monday, I germinated six more seeds.....all six are currently healthy looking babies. Below are pics of a few of them

 

Also guys, I want to thank you for all your kind help. I became a member of this forum and another one at the same time. I was worried about my babies, so I posted on both.
Although members from both sites gave very good info, the people on the other site were very rude - bordering on angry. The more I think about it, the more I think the behavior over there was uncalled for. I plan to delete that account tomorrow. Don't need em when I have gc.

 

Thanks, Baba. I posted info on my dying babies here and in the sick plants section of this forum......over there I got accused of loving the babies to death , and got lots of advice on what I should stop doing. That and too much water has been agreed upon by everybody.
I took several peoples advice and the new Mango babies seem to be doing much better. After much deliberation, we decided that I would use the paper towel method instead of the shot glass method, microwave the peat before planting (hopefully kill any spores if it was contaminated at home depot), then after it cooled, give it one good watering and plant the germinated seeds. Also I was using distilled water.....and I was told to stop and instead use spring, ro filtered, brita filtered, or water left out till the chlorine smell goes away.
No Superthrive, no nutes, no nothing for now. I will agree with you guys on nutes and wait till I get about three nodes unless they develop signs of deficiencies.....then I may have to give a VERY diluted amt. But the babies look good right now, and if ANYTHING happens where I think I need to change my plan, I will post first!!! I'm trying very hard not to love these babies too much....it's harder to NOT DO something than I would have thought.

 

Ok, got home from work this afternoon and my light had fallen on my babies! One was definitely scorched and a goner...Two others look like they might have issues.....the other three look great.

I'm glad this was a very light weight/low wattage cfl....something else could have done way more damage.

The first plant, was not fully green yet this morning....I'm just not sure why the yellow area is so pronounced.

The second one has not only the strange coloring at the top, but it's other leaf has been curled under since sprouting a few days ago.......I think top leaf is bruised from the falling light, but do you think she'll make it? What would cause the other leaf to stay curled under that way? Doesn't make since....plants grow toward the light....this one isn't.....but it seems to be growing.....just a bit slower than my others.

 

From what I understand, NO.

Domes increase humidity which can speed growth in early stages, but they seem to stunt ROOT growth (because the roots aren't having to search as far for water.) Increased humidity also makes fungal growth more of an issue.

Because of issues on the Himalayan Kush, I did not use a dome on the Mango seeds. They seem fine. They took longer to poke out of my peat, but they seem stronger and I haven't killed em yet.

And that sounds like a good plan, but from what I am hearing you will probably have to supplement window light with a 6500k grow light. I got a traditional grow spot light from home depot for like six bucks, then bought a CFL (lower heat levels than the orig) at the pet shop for less than ten bucks. Both were able to be screwed into a clamp on shop light that I already had.

 

Gamereaper....didn't say cause, and didn't say mold.
I said that they create a perfect environment for fungal growth, and I also said that when I used it, my seeds did come up faster.

Not saying a dome is bad....I own one that would be hypocritical. I said they have positives and negatives. Weigh them and make your own decision. I try to take BOTH sides of an argument and stay neutral on this type of stuff because I really don't think there is a right way to do it here....didn't do a good job at neutrality this time.

 

Thanks guys! I have gone without a dome with the Mango seeds and have they seem to be doing well. The growth is slower, but my babies are healthy and I am now seeing the second set of true leaves. The yellowed leaves never progressed so I don't think it was a deficiency, but I have been watching for that. In fact all of them are doing well....even my runt is catching up. I'm excited!

Pics to follow. LMK what you think. I hope to plant them in my hydro system soon....that is if the rest of my set up will ever show up from So.Cal. This Texas girl is pretty pissed at an out of state hydro shop right now. From now on, most of my business will be done locally.

Currently the seedlings are pretty small and I am still using a 23w CFL just above them. Trying to decide when I should put away the baby light and pull out the 216w T5 fixture.