Well to start off I'm going to drop a little history on my growing, the only other grow I've done was with a buddy in which we actually took plants that happened to sprout from bagseeds we threw out while cleaning our weed. Grown under backlights I stole from out school in miracle grow soil. As you can probably imagine they never bloomed and were just a fun waste of time. The Setup this time is a lot better. I've done research and made the best setup I could on my budget. It's about a 2.5x2.5 setup, honestly pretty small closet grow. Bagseeds from shit my dealer was getting mailed to him from Cali 4 plants (3-4) gallon buckets w/ drainage 1.5 ft CFL (6500K/2k lumens per ft) Reflector wing/ tinfoil on walls (the hydroponics store in my area only sold Mylar by the $70 roll and it was way more than I needed so Reynolds wrap will have to suffice) Foxfarm ocean forest soil Been lightly using FF big grow nutes but I started getting nutrient burn so I stopped. The plants are 4 weeks old and doing good until recently the leaf tips are drooping down. And I mean not the very tip but the entire end of the leaf is drooped down. At first I believed it was over watering but after lightening up on water the problem persisted which led me to believe it was a PH deficiency. I still lack a ph tester, humidity tester, thermometer and something for circulation. I plan on using eggshells to raise the ph but would like to post pictures and get a little feedback before making drastic changes. Pics later today.
please post some pics... avoid the tin foil and paint your walls a flat white,,you dont want to create "hot spots" definetly get a thermometer,ph tester,and something to circulate air...air circulation is a #1 factor in good growth,along with clean water and good temps.
Bagseeds are a bad idea. It's always better to spend a little on buying quality seeds. But don't worry for this grow. This will help you The Green Pages - Marijuana Grow Guide
Yeah I'm at work right now but I'll have some good pics later. I use distilled water and I've got the foil taped flat against the wall to avoid hotspots. The seeds were from some Cali dro, I just didn't want to use the term "dro-seeds" because a lot of people flip out about it, but if this grow turns out sucessfull I plan on ordering some seeds. Also It's payday next Wednesday so I'm going to take a trip to the hydroponic store and get the rest of the things I need. Is Mylar worth the money?
Yes, mylar is definitely worth it. Plus it's very cheap anyway. You still have the possiblity that the plants will grow hermie, and buying fem seeds is always really handy.
I actually used mylar emergency blankets. They were like 3 bucks each at Walmart and 2 covered my entire area. They are thin, but mine have not torn yet and I am going on about 2 months in. Reflect really well, especially for 3 bucks.
Alright here are the pics now. It took a while because I did a little renovation but here they are. The overall setup, side and skyview. In the setup picture the box on the left is my newly added circulation, that little vent sticking out blows out air to get a little movement in the air. I will have individual plant pics up tomorrow morning but it's late and I only have 5 hours to sleep until work. A few things I was wondering about though, the leaves drooping down. And the light height, too high too low? Any other tips would be appreciated.
They are reaching a bit. What is the temp at the canopy, and can you lower the light while still keeping it low enough? If so i would suggest you give that a shot...
Nice setup, what's the 411 on that cfl? watt? where you scored it? If you don't mind, looks like a massive bulb.
I'll work on lowering the lights and seeing if the temp stays in range but I still haven't gotten a thermometer yet so I'll try to get one today. And the light I'm not sure exactly what watt I think it's 200 or 250 which isn't bad. I got it at the Lubbock hydroponic store on slide rd. Shit ran me about $90 for the bulb alone and another $40 for the wing/socket combo. I get bad service in the work building so I will probably upload the individual pics later today during lunch or something
Alright I finally got a break and finished uploading the pics. Plant 1 was my best at first and still looks good. Plant 2 has the more severe leaf drooping and you can see it prety good in the picture. Plant 3 might be my best one now if plant 1 isn't still better. Plant 4 is the smallest. For some reason it doesn't grow at the same pace as the others. I've still been wondering about the eggshells trick to raise ph. How much do I need to put and how ground up? Some more info I forgot to include is they're on a 18/6 cycle right now and plan to switch them to 12/12 around next Sunday.
Honestly I don't water them until I can stick my finger about 2 inches into the soil and feel no moisture.
I'm going to add eggshells to the top of the soil and I was wondering if anyone could tell me how long it'll take before I see results if the cause of the tips curling is ph deficiency.
The leaves took a nosedive and had severe drooping. I believe it was because I had recently watered them and watered them again after adding the eggshells in hopes it would balance out the ph quickly. I've since stopped watering them and the soil is still moist when I stick my finger into it and the leaves are starting to pick back up. I'll upload more pictures sometime later this week.