First Closet Grow W/ Pictures (Need help and input)

I feel like I am at least somewhat prepared given the reading I have done on the forums. Needless to say, I have many questions and would appreciate any advice to make my grow better.

I germinated my seeds, which I acquired from different sacks over about 2 weeks, and planted them in some Miracle Grow soil for cactus and citrus, because of the claim of good drainage. After some more reading, I decided to go buy some organic worm-casting fertilizer and some Miracle Grow Moisture Control soil. As soon as the plants were poking their heads above the surface, I transplanted them from the older, thoughtless soil to my newer, better soil. The plants have recovered well from this, at least the ones that survived. So, most sprouted the 15th, making them two days old today.

My grow setup is a closet, obviously, more specifically one of the shelves in my closet. It measures 40 inches tall, 12 inches deep, and 50 inches wide.

I am currently using two 4ft. florescent bulbs at about 3-4 inches above the seedlings. One is rated at sunshine and the other at warm or cool white. (cant remember)

My growing medium is 75% Miracle Grow Moisture Control and 25% organic fertilizer spikes which I crumbled into soil. (contains multiple manures and worm castings). I am currently, because of the recent transplant into bigger pots, using B1 Vitamin supplement to reduce the shock of transplant. Thinking of one more watering with the B1 and then straight watering until next week sometime, when I am going to start adding my Fox Farm nutrients.

I usually open the closet door at night for an hour and in the morning for an hour for ventilation purposes. I am not currently using a fan or checking the humidity or air temperature.

I have a soil pH and moisture meter coming at the same time as my nutrients, which I plan to use to better the grow.

I live in Arizona, where the tap water is rich in chlorine and calcium, and I was wondering if I would be better off investing in distilled water as I don't have the time or the discipline to let the chlorine evaporate out.

My questions and concerns are as follows:

1. As the picture shows, my light does have some place to leak out, although that place is above where the light hangs. I compared how much light was coming out of the closet with my make-shift cardboard light container, and it seemed to make a huge different when it was up versus not up. Is that a problem, should the light be completely contained, given the dimensions of my closet (8ft-5.5ft-5.5ft)?
2. I was hoping to get two 2700k 85watt CFL bulbs for the sides of the plant as flowering starts. Is that a good idea?
3. Is the 12 inch depth I have in my closet going to present a problem? Should I look into somehow making it deeper or will 12 inches do just fine?
4. Given the date of sprout, 2-15-09, what date would it be safe to begin using the Fox Farm nutrients? The Fox Farm is the trio-pack with Tiger Bloom, Grow Big, and Big Bloom.
5. I also bought some Fish Emulsion for this experiment. Would it be beneficial at all to use that in addition to or to replace the Fox Farm at any time in the grow, for a change to the plants normal schedule?
6. Is there any chance to turn these somewhat mediocre seeds a nice quality plant, given what I have to work with?

Thanks in advance.

This is how the closet looks with the light in the room on:

This is an example of how the growing area is not light-tight.

Highlighting all the growing plants:

Most developed:

7. Is the fact that this plant is not centered in the pot a problem?

The Vitamin B1 and the Fish Emulsion From Question 5:

Something Cool I Did With A Blurry Image:

 

Thank you for your reply, and I hate to be a bugger, but I'm kind of curious about a question that you didn't answer and I kind of snuck in there at the end, question #7, which is underneath one of the pictures.

If I go through the effort of making a box long enough to enclose my 4 ft lights (that is wider than the shelf in my closet), will the added benefit of the closure be worth the time and money invested in making it? Also, with the LST, is it necessary to have the wider space?

Also, a couple more questions that were not numbered specifically.

How big of a problem is that?

And also...

 

I will update with new growth within 48 hours. I am definitely going to follow Dierwolf's guide to LST when the plants get big enough. (Sometimes I wish willpower alone would make these things grow )

If anyone could help me with the correct strategy to photograph my plants, I would appreciate that. I don't think I am working with a good enough camera to take high-quality pictures (only 7 megapixel). If that's the problem, it doesn't have a solution. If it's my photography, let me know.

For now...it's buddah time

 

Can someone give me a good idea for a simple way to mount a couple CFL's to the sides of my growing area? The cheapest, best way to mount single CFLs. Im attaching a paint version of what I am talking about.



With perhaps a link to the item i need to buy. Assuming I have only the bulb and that's it.

 

Thank you for your reply sir.


During the night I have come up with a few more questions that I would love to have answered.

1. Is around 17-20 dollars (US) about the cheapest that a 65-85 watt CFL bulb is going to go, or am I missing a site that sells high wattage CFL bulbs for cheap?

2. Will a 7 MP camera take close-up pictures without getting blurry, or is the lack of an expensive camera a bottleneck for taking detailed, unblurry pictures?

3. An original question in my first post. Is that fact that I accidentally put my plant way away from the middle of the planter a problem, or will the roots just grow in the direction that they have room to grow in, not all around and into the side of the pot?

So. pH meter, hygrometer, and nutes on the way.

 

Just a simple picture update. Day 4 from sprout.

Settled on 4 seedlings to devote all the light to.

Just had the last one sprout over the night, he's a little bit special, as they say




Also...

I have discovered either a red herring or a potential disaster today. My soil pH meter (8 dollars off of amazon) arrived today. It is a "no-battery-needed" cheapie but claims to read pH, moisture content, and light availability. I don't know if anyone that has had previous experience can shed some light on this, but when I try to read the pH of 3 out of 4 of my plants the meter drops down as acidic as it goes (3.5). I had a bag of soil left over that hadnt been used, and stuck the pH meter in it. It read 6.5-6.8. Also, the 4th plant read about 6.
​

Is it possible that the soil being pretty wet would hinder the performance of the pH part of the meter? Or if not, how could I possibly decrease the pH of my soil to 3.5 in less than 5 days?

• I used a Vitamin Supplement that claimed to reduce transplant shock.

• I broke up organic fertilizer spikes (poultry, bat and various animal manure and worm castings), putting about 25% fertilizer spikes to 75% pre-mixed soil.

Other than those two things and not checking the pH of my water (which I highly doubt could cause the pH to be 3).

As the pictures show, they dont really look like they are planted in something with a pH that low. Perplexing...

 

I made some changes today. I converted one of those metal storage rack into a mini-greenhouse. I also added some more wattage to the grow. Went from 108watts of just floros to 108 watts of floros and 114 watts of CFL (1x68watt + 2x23watt).

I'm attaching some pictures. after going through all that work, it doesnt seem like that big of an upgrade to me.

Perhaps it is...lemme know.

 

Thanks for staying interested Paul . I have four going right now.

One is growing really well, straight leaves, good growth, that kinda stuff.




One is trailing right behind, growing well but a little bit slower than the first one.




One is looking kinda sad truthfully. Droopy leaves, slower growth than the other two.




And one is just barely sprouting and snailin' along.




I am hoping to keep two females of the four I have growing right now. But, no more than two in the end.

 

I sort of have a plan at this point. I looked into LST and I am planning to do that, just waiting for the 3rd or 4th node of leaves. At that point, I plan to re-pot the plants into their final pots and I will be able to change soils then. I am going to go with Ocean Forest (as it's the only good soil available in my town of 700,000 people ). The MG soil hasn't caused any problems because I haven't added any fertilizer yet. I got a little post happy and really since I started to now (5 days) there hasn't been a huge amount of growth. I have only watered about 3 times, including some over-watering I speculate. Once I see some growth worth writing home about I will buy some gallons of distilled water.

Also...I plan on leaving for a couple weeks in the end of May or beginning of June. I kinda want to have the whole process completed, or at least be curing the weed by then. Can someone knowledgeable tell me if that is a realistic possibility at this point? If so, when would I have to induce flowering?

I am thinking that it is way too early into the grow to be able to decide that.

 

Thank you very much man. My Nikon Coolpix calls it "close-up" but it was exactly as you said.