my first grow and first post so ill start by saying "hello all" ok, i think i have problems im on day 14 with 2 lowryders. ive tried 7/10 seeds so far- 3 have popped with tap-roots so i planted them in bio-degradable mini cup thingies- in soil- nice soil ph 6.5. one got murdered by its own shell. one stretched 3 inches in a couple of hours and has gone thru a 10 day "revive" now its dead i think as it has severely wilted and leaves have curled under, not gone brown or yellow tho... and the last one which i call "stumpy" is one inch tall (on day 14 i tells ya!) with first true leaves and second set peeking out the top (still has the cotelydons) not too promising eh? well they germinated whilst i was waiting for the envirolite to be delivered (125w big ass envirolite dual spectrum) so they spent the first 2-3 days under an 8w 2700k cfl each. they seemed ok except mr stretchy looked very dodgy, but after the first day under the envirolite they looked good- thick deep green true leaves and thicker stems- i thought stretchy was gna make it... then about day 6 after not much more action they both seemed to stop, like on "pause" mode, so i decided to be patient for a few days to see if anything would happen- definatly not over watered them, they are on 18/6 lighting with a well ventilated space with a small fan and as far as i can tell quite good reflection within their space. Today, day 14, i put them in the bigger pots with same nice soil and a small sprinkle of eggshells (i heard that was good for indoor plants) my question/problem relates to the fact that ive seen lowryders on day 6 that look like proper plants like maybe 3-4 inches high with a "bushy" appearance, and mine are pathetic. what am i doing wrong (i hope someone doesnt say "everything" or i will cry... so, i said "dual spectrum envirolite" is that a stupid choice? the red spectrum half is the bit facing the plants approx 3.5 inches above stretchy making it about 4.5 inches above stumpy... i read that autoflowers dont need to veg so thats why i set my light up this way... the two things i can think of is they need dedicated CO2 and/or they may have gotten root clogged in them small cup things (are they called jiffy cups?) the last 3 seeds im gna germ one at a time and plant them straight into the big pots when they show taproot. now im a beginner, im not in it for the yield as such (hence the lowryder purchase) im in it for the shits n giggles of growing awesome little plants- i havent got the room for killer bud plants but was thinking of ordering some other more "exotic" dwarf strains but only when i can get a basic 'ryder blooming. apologies for no photos (and the lengthy post) but i think my description says it all... ill do photos when i do the last 3 seeds. any advice is greatly appreciated thanx
wow man, i hate to hear about your bad luck. It seems to me that you started growing, before really knowing as much as you needed. READ THE STICKIES PEOPLE!!!! BEFORE YOU GROW! IT will save alot of time and headaches, trust me i had to learn the hard way to. As for what your doing wrong, i notice 2 things right off the bat. First, you germinated in jiffy cups?! Why? What is your root system suppose to do at day 4 when its outgrowing your cup? If your gonna germinate in a cup, use a solo cup with a pencil size hole in the bottom, 3/4 of the way full of soil. Once your taproot starts to show, put it in the solo cup, about 3/4 of an inch from the top. Use a pencil to make this hole perfect. Then lightly recover the seed. WAIT! IMPORTANT STEP HERE!!!! saturate the soil in the cup PRIOR to putting the seed in it. This is very important because you wont need to water your plants for a few days after this. Anyways, you had a 8w cfl on your plants? Thats why they look the way they do. You really need at least 100 watts per plant. NOT equivent watts tho. alot of cfl lights are rated at like 24 watts/100 watt equivelent. You want to use the actual wattage, and make sure it equals 100. So if your using 24 watt cfl's, I'd have at least 4 of them per plant. Your not gonna be able to grow mold with an 8w, much less a plant. Invest 40 bucks into 2 65watt 6500k spectrum bulbs, and use that one your baby. Make sure you pay attention to the spectrum as well. because you need 6500k cfl's for vegging, and 2700k for flowering. Hope this helps, but you definatly need to spend some time reading the stickies! GL with your grow!
Thanks for ur wisdom dude, i have been reading loads of threads- i guess basic stuff just didnt sink in! Couple of things i forgot to mention (and i promise i aint just makin excuses or whatever) i pierced them lil cups* maybe 8 times each- 4 holes in bottom 4 round the side near the bottom- i did saturate the soil b4 i popped the tapping seeds in, and the initial few days of 8w cfl 2700k (=40w old school) was an inexcusable emergency cus the envirolite hadnt arrived! now i have the lamp so thats ok but i read that starting them off on low light was not a bad thing for the first days or so...? i also read that lowryder dont need veg lights cus they b "flowering" straight away? or is that just stupid talk cus i guess all plants need to veg a little b4 they can produce anything other than new foliage... some foliage would be nice tho... lol so the next germ im gonna go straight into bigger pot, soil, under the 125w 6500k, 24/0 (?) for first 2 weeks or so... please advise... also am i better off getting some lowryder2s or maybe even easyryders? Thanx so much for ur attention, greatly appreciated. *im not sure if "jiffy cup" is the right word, i meant those "all natural bio-degrading cups" that are supposed to let root systems develop, they looked impenetrable so i thought piercing them would b a good idea at the start.
Oh ok, i got you now about the whole cup thing....lol. When I germinate my seeds, I put them in a wet paper towel inside a solo cup till it shows a taproot. Then I put that taproot 3/4 of an inch beneath the top of the soil in a cup full of saturated soil. I then put a plastic sandwich bag over the cup, and put it in a dark place (i used my kitchen cabnets, worked good for me) and left them there until they came up out of the soil. Then I put them on 24/0 for about a week, week and a half. I then drop to 18/6, and start adding in my nutes at 1/4 strength. Im not sure about your strain, but if its an autoflowering strain, then yeah, you dont have to veg. Also, i would prob be using 2700k spec bulbs about 4 weeks in on an autoflower. and when your ready to flower it, swap to 12/12. AND MAKE SURE that when its the 12 hours of darkness, you let it have undisturbed darkness. Alot of people wanna go look at there plants all throughout the night. Let them be, because an light can interupt their cycle. Anyways, hope this helps more! to bad i cant +rep myself for this one.... hahaha
thanks for your time- im gna see how stumpy goes and then take some pics of the second grow+ my set up. preparation is everything- i understand now...
You don't need to switch to 12/12, it's an autoflower. I'm growing LR2, the link to my journal is in my sig.
yeah man, i forgot. I dont know a whole lot about auto's. Im working on Super Lemon Haze, and Super Thai Skunk right now. haha
Actually, you did mention it, but it was right in the middle and I must have scanned over it the first time! After I posted I saw it, and I thought uh-oh, here comes an angry "I already said that", but no, politeness and courtesy all the way! That's one of the reasons I love GrassCity. +rep to you, sir.
update... stumpy now has 4 proper leaves- and 3rd pair showing, is 1.5 inches tall, slightly wonky, and is a 20 day old lowryder... hmmmm...