Hey guys,... 1st off, I am new @ growing inside. I sprouted some fairly good seeds that I have been collecting over the yrs,.. and put them into soil about 4 days ago. I put about 8 or 9 sprouts in a plastic butter tub with SHULTZ Cactus & Succulent Potting soil. The Sprouts are now about an average of 4 inches tall and I am planning on transfering them to individual containers probably today. I am just curious on what I can do to prepare my soil, lights, ventalation the correct way... so I can eliminate chances of my babies getting killed. For lighting, I have two 20watt 24inch Fluorescente's about 1 foot above the plants and seems to be enough. Last night I bought another Flourescente tube that is meant for plants and Aquariums (light output 750lumens)to switch out with one of the regualar cool-whites ??? Is that ok ??? I left the Plant bulb on the plants last night, and this morning I noticed that one of the leaves was starting to turn yellow at the tip,... so I added some water(thinking that the new light may have just generated more heat).I have a small fan on the 4 inch plants and 2 mirrors tilted @ a 45 degree angle to help with extra light. If anyone can help me, it will be much appreciated. My batteries for my camera are charging ATM, but I will take pics of the Babies.
Well I'll try to answer a few of your ?s. For one, that isn't going to be near enough light. Assuming you get 4 or 5 girls out of your 9 plants, you are going to want at least 400 watts of light. 100 watts per plant seems to be the general guideline. For light spectrum you want the cool blue/daylight flourescents for vegetation and the regular more yellowish ones for flowering. Oh and you should be able to get those lights to within a few inches of the plants without burning them. A couple of flourescents a foot away will probably cause the plants to stretch like crazy. Usually when leaf tips yellow, that is an indication of nutrient burn but it usually doesn't hit just one leaf so I'm not sure about that. I don't know if that soil is good for MJ so that could be causing problems or have you been checking the PH of the water? Also let tap water sit out for several hours to allow the chlorine to be gone. In the past I used Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil (expensive) which worked well but I switched to ProMix that I found at Lowe's or Home Depot and that seemed to work just as nicely at a lower cost. You just want to stay away from soils that have time-release ferts in them. Having a fan blowing on them is a very good thing but I would ditch the mirrors as they actually absorb quite a bit of light.
Awesome man, Ty for the comments. I'm gona go by the Pet store, I guess, and get some litmus paper. I have used nothing but Bottled water so far and it stays at room temp. What can I use as a natural fertalizer besides worm castings,.. If I catch some fish, can I let it dry out and then put in the soil?
A cheap upgrade are those new florecent lights they have. they look like spiral bulbs, they burn extreamly cheap. If you get the right color for flowering, and the largest wattage. + factor in the plant can touch the bulb and not burn. You get some nice buds at a dirt cheap cost.