Hello me and a friend started growing a few plants indoor and ran into a small problem, the bottom leaves are starting to turn yellow and seem to be dieng. Im almost positive its lack of light or lack of nutrients. In need of some growing tips; pictures soon to follow...
miracle grow seed starting potting mix ( not sure of what soil to move them up to), crystal clear 150 watt and no nutrients. I am a new grower so Im learning everything from forums and friends.
Seed starting mixes don't have a lot of nutrients. I highly recommend Foxfarm's soil and nutes, it's like having training wheels on your bike, hard to fuck up. I also recommend proper lighting, those incandescents are straight trash for growing... no offense.
Either 26w cfls or HPS. Check my sig for a tutorial on how to wire CFLs for a few bucks, I believe it's in the comments under my first blog entry. For vegetative growth, you want mostly 5600k or higher sometimes labeled as "daylight" CFLs. For flowering, you want 2700k CFLs. Most experienced growers use a 75%/25% mix for both stages.
I'm no expert but from what i've read you need 100w for the 1st plant and 50w for each one after that. You could try CFL bulbs get a couple of the Daylight cool white bulbs (blue/6500k) for the veg and soft White (red/2700) for the flowering. Just depends on your price / space / amount of plants etc, there's alot of different ways to go, for a small / micro grow most peeps seem to go cfl as there cheap and alot less heat.
150watt self ballasted HPS lights work great for small grows and only run about $80-$100 after shipping!
first all scrap 26 watts, you've only got two clip on lights I'd get 65 watt cfl's in the 6500K,5500 is good, but 6500 is better..alot bluer. second. your tallest plant, get it out of the clear jug.. once the roots reach the edges and get hit by the light..your plant gonna suffer. Biggest tip, stay away from miracle grow unless your just experimenting on growing successfully with miracle gro. FFOF is probably the best soil out there for your plants, get some if you can.. you may also want to pick up a bag of perilite for extra water drainage (yes its important..also helps the roots grow by allowing oxygen, and more roots mean more growth) remember; CFL's have limited light penetration.. Cfl's are good for smaller bushy plants (ime).. I see you have some quite stretched plants. If you were to start flowering phase now, they're sure get about 3 times taller at least, depending on strain. (im seeing broad leaves so its an indica base) So if they get too tall, you may need alot of bulbs. o: I'd say just get one 125W cfl over the top and have the clip-ons on the sides of the plant. (tip, more light comes off the side of cfls that the very top. so have the side of the bulb facing towards the plant)
LOL, he can add as many 26w bulbs to his setup as he wants for BARELY more than the cost of the bulbs. My 16 bulb 400w CFL build used $20-$30 in hardware.
I never said he couldn't.. but for something he could probably do today, is get higher wattage cfl's and let it be for a while as he organizes what it takes to grow >_> why would you use 400W in cfl's when you could just have one big ass 400W hid =o?
LOL, costs bro. I have a steady source of income, but I also own a house and have a family. I can justify buying the raw materials and putting in the work, but I feel guilty when I spend money on extravagant toys for myself. Plus there's a feeling of accomplishment when I build something, I probably spent just as much building my sturdy 4x4x6 plywood box as I would have on a flimsy overpriced tent, but I feel better about myself having learned a new skill, or using my own ingenuity, shit... I used high school algebra to design my ventilation, something I thought I'd never use in my entire life much less to grow marijuana, lol.
BioBizz all mix is pretty good, just make sure its an organic mix and add some perlite if there isn't any in the soil. Experiment with what you can find locally, just stay away from high nutrient soil as its easier to add nutes than take them away imo.
alright it has been a few days since i have been on here, some updates as to where im at: got bigger pots with organic soil with perlite already in it and 65 watt cfl's at 6500K. Now I started a different light schedule for the bigger two plants since they are in the flowering stage(12/12), but one of the plants has this weird spot on its leaf. Any Ideas would help and im looking for what nutrients to get( that I can get at a walmart, home depot or lowes).
Espoma plant tone. Use it as a top dressing and water with a carb/sugar to feed the soil I use one teaspoon of unsulpherd black strap molasses per gallon when watering. That's if your wanting to do a very simple water only organic grow that will produce very nice sticky flowers, no harmful nutes for your soil or your lungs. BTW the plant tone is around 5 bucks a bag and it is all you need for fertilzer. If you want to spend another $20 get some kelp meal,alfalfa meal & earth worm castings and add to the top of the soil. And that's it water and enjoy no ph adjusting water (Lmao), no bullspit mixing. Good luck bro, BeZ...V
I see you said soft white/ red 2700 for flowering, does a red bulb make a difference? As for space i got plent of room in a big closet, im just trying to get proper lighting for a reasonable price.
I checked my plants this morning and found that the leaves are drooping a little and the stem is brown. any ideas guys?....