Wow, I thought I had done everything right. I spent hours reading the stickeys, searching topics, etc. I germed bag seed (off purple kush) and started 5 seedlings. I put them in an unheated, unused bathroom. It has a hot water heater in it, and along wityh the lights, I figured it would be be fine. The lights were around 1" away, and to the touch it didn't feel too warm. I didn't have enough money to spend on a decent grow setup, so I spent what I had on lights, and figured I'd add a thermometer/hygrometer later. WRONG move. After my little ones started turning purple, and getting brown on the tips of the leaves, I read through about 10 pages of the sick plants section, and came to the conclusion that although the temp seemed ok, I might be having temp swings. I went to Harbor Freight and bought a temp/hygrometer with my last $10. Good thing I did. Today I checked the high/low and the temp was going down to 55 at night, and hitting 91 during the hot part of the day. The humidity was going from 20-35%. ouch. I now have a humidifier and a space heater in there with a thermostat. Looking back, I would buy a thermometer before I even germed the seeds if I had it to do over again. 4 out of the five will live, but they are really small for three weeks of growth.
Valuable lesson learned, and I commend you for actually learning it! Seriously, good job watching your steps and troubleshooting your problem. The overriding lesson is that you really do need to be completely prepared at the start of your grow and have your entire setup ready to go. Don't despair, I bet those plants that survive will look lovely once they flower out. And most newbies make mistakes, sometimes including killing their plants, but unfortunately most panic and look to others for help before trying to help themselves. Keep up the good work!
Thanks bro (and thanks for the rep). They've already perked up a bit, I'm just hoping I end up with at least one good female out of the bunch to turn in to a mama. It's funny, the one that started out as the runt is now by far the best seedling I have. I'm praying to the weed god it turns out to be a she