Hey there! Noob here, first grow. Having trouble and lots of questions.

[HeyItsMatt]

Hey there! Thank you for entering.

Plant's problem

http://imgur.com/fAnEXVd (Bic lighter for size reference)

This is my first grow. Approx. 2 months old. I know right? That's way too small for its age. This plant is full of troubles and its my fault. I want to make it right. So here we go.

Why is it small? Due to bad lighting since day one and currently I'm thinking nutrient, especially calcium, deficiency. This plant grew on a 1gal pot outdoors, being moved frequently so it gets nice sunlight. It has been this way until yesterday, when I somehow managed to put that light together. Also, if you think the plant is better off the way it was before please don't hesitate to tell me. The light is a 20w CFL. Thats way too little light for the plant, so I've been brainstorming for the past two days and have come up with a lot of questions .

Lighting

What kind of light do you recommend? I've been searching and found 400w mercury halogens, 400w sodium lamps. Are these viable? How many do I need for one plant?

As for nutrients, this plant had never got nuted until yesterday. I supplied it with potasium, nitrogen and phosphorus, not by watering the pot with it, I tried this method ''foliar feeding'' that consists in just spraying the plant itself and with the nuted water. It didn't seem to have any dramatic effects, the plant looks greener and its widening, but I think thats just because it's been recently moved to the pot seen in the picture.

Nutrients

Here are the symptoms I observe on the plant. It's starting to get white tips on some leaves, obviously highly stunted growth and the main stem looks kind of brown on the lowest part.

Does this plant needs Zinc, Calcium and Iron? If not, what nutrients does it need? Or does it need any nutrients at all? How should I supply them?

Now as for ventilation, as you have seen, the plant and light are located inside my wardrobe. Ventilation is kind of hard to set up in there, I would need to make a cavity somewhere on its walls, and my house is a rental, so I'm not able to.

Ventilation

Is ventilation absolutely necessary? Should I sacrifice light for ventilation by leaving a bit of the wardrobe open? What are the consecuences of having no ventilation at all?

Thanks a lot for your attention. Best of luck

 

[whitebb2727]

You can get a digital dim able mh, hps for little over $100 on amazon. One would work for a plant or two.

 

[HeyItsMatt]

You can get a digital dim able mh, hps for little over $100 on amazon. One would work for a plant or two.

Damn, I'm living in Argentina and they dont let anything through the border unless you carry it yourself . And its embarassing to say but I can't afford them at this moment, economy is fucked. On the other hand, do you think this 40$ mercury halogen and sodium lamps can work for a plant or two? The halogen mercury one emits 32000 lumens according to the seller, and the sodium one 55000

 

[whitebb2727]

If it is mercury vapor or high pressure sodium then yes. Cfl will work for a plant or two. T5 ho's work great to. Look for used high bay flouros from factories or offices.

 

[HeyItsMatt]

If it is mercury vapor or high pressure sodium then yes. Cfl will work for a plant or two. T5 ho's work great to. Look for used high bay flouros from factories or offices.

Yes they are, but you mean one CFL will work for one or two plants? Because the current light I'm using is 20w CFL.

 

[whitebb2727]

Yes they are, but you mean one CFL will work for one or two plants? Because the current light I'm using is 20w CFL.

It will work on a seedling and till its second or third set of leaves. You would want 5 of those bulbs for veg and 8 for flower. 100 actual watts for the fist plant and 50 more for each plant after. That is a minimum for veg then increase for flower.

 

[HeyItsMatt]

It will work on a seedling and till its second or third set of leaves. You would want 5 of those bulbs for veg and 8 for flower. 100 actual watts for the fist plant and 50 more for each plant after. That is a minimum for veg then increase for flower.

Damn, my plant is on its 5th set of leaves and 6th is about to sprout. Im gonna have to hurry up changing the lights so I think I'll just go with the halogen or a couple of leds.

 

[whitebb2727]

Damn, my plant is on its 5th set of leaves and 6th is about to sprout. Im gonna have to hurry up changing the lights so I think I'll just go with the halogen or a couple of leds.

I would stay away from halogen. A box of cfl bulbs can't be that much.

 

[smokefacekillah]

Go with the 400w High pressure sodium, an take that fan from the picture out of the box and use it, Get some air flow in there, because those things get hot, also if you can't buy from online, You can also use shop lights rigged together, theirs a alot cheap DIY CFL and t5 fixtures you can make also

 

[HeyItsMatt]

I would stay away from halogen. A box of cfl bulbs can't be that much.

You're probably right. But it is not the price that pushes me towards the halogen, its the wiring and setup that buying 6 cfls would require. I am not an experienced electrician and I was lucky I could make the only light I have there to work. Do I have to get 5 bulb sockets too ?

 

[HeyItsMatt]

Go with the 400w High pressure sodium, an take that fan from the picture out of the box and use it, Get some air flow in there, because those things get hot, also if you can't buy from online, You can also use shop lights rigged together, theirs a alot cheap DIY CFL and t5 fixtures you can make also

Hey bubs! Is the sodium one good enough for veg? I'm currently looking in the internet for tutorials on how to make any of those two fixtures, it would be great to have those. Also the fan is like 1 ,30 mt tall on its lowest setting, I can aim it downwards a little bit and leave the wardrobe open , would that work?

 

[smokefacekillah]

An hps from what I heard can be used for both veg and flower, but you could also use a few 6500k CFL's just to make sure it's getting the right spectrum for veg, but once you get an hps you might need something else to control the heat, but since you can't get stuff shipped to you, and I'm pretty sure hydro stores in Argentina are close to non-existent, so you have to stick with DIY, but if you have something like a home depot or lowes that is your best bet, I'd say get into being an amateur electrician, It's not hard just time consuming, thats why most of us here would rather pay for someone else to make it

 

[HeyItsMatt]

An hps from what I heard can be used for both veg and flower, but you could also use a few 6500k CFL's just to make sure it's getting the right spectrum for veg, but once you get an hps you might need something else to control the heat, but since you can't get stuff shipped to you, and I'm pretty sure hydro stores in Argentina are close to non-existent, so you have to stick with DIY, but if you have something like a home depot or lowes that is your best bet, I'd say get into being an amateur electrician, It's not hard just time consuming, thats why most of us here would rather pay for someone else to make it

Well, I'm most definietly gonna try looking everywhere for those. Say I don't find anything, and I don't wanna risk burning my house down. Whats worse? Indoor with 24/7 20w cfl light on, or moving it outside? The sun is better than that shitty bulb but I live on a duplex, so, buildings everywhere and 8-10 hours of sunlight everyday.

 

[Rascality Afoot]

Hey man! You're in Argentina. If I'm not mistaken, It's spring there. You should be able to have the plant outside!. Depending on how much light it's getting it may have been trying to flower for the last couple of months, but then got kicked back into Veg now that the days are getting longer. I understand money can be tight, but sunlight is free Started this early, it could be huuuuge by the time fall comes around. Just get some good potting soil and a big pot, and enjoy watching it grow!

 

[$bkbbudz$]

This plant grew on a 1gal pot outdoors, being moved frequently so it gets nice sunlight.

You're not seriously going from natural light to cfl? No better light then sunlight and it's free nor will it burn down your house. If you are able to grow outside...do it man,

 

[smokefacekillah]

yeah I didn't even think about it, your in south america dude, why not just keep them outside?? You can save a lot of money, I'm in the mid west of the US and the weather is so shit here it's hard to plan an outdoor grow,

shit you can make a DIY greenhouse and grow some other herbs & vegetables with it for cover & plus natural munchies!

 

[HeyItsMatt]

This plant grew on a 1gal pot outdoors, being moved frequently so it gets nice sunlight.

You're not seriously going from natural light to cfl? No better light then sunlight and it's free nor will it burn down your house. If you are able to grow outside...do it man,

yeah I didn't even think about it, your in south america dude, why not just keep them outside?? You can save a lot of money, I'm in the mid west of the US and the weather is so shit here it's hard to plan an outdoor grow,

shit you can make a DIY greenhouse and grow some other herbs & vegetables with it for cover & plus natural munchies!

You're right. I guess I got a little carried away with the whole indoor=more yield thing. The actual reason I started this ''indoor'' was because as I said I live in a duplex, so the amount of sunlight my plant gets is limited because there's buildings all around. If it goes outdoors, the plant HAS to get moved around so it gets the most sunlight possible, so I cant put it in the ground unfortunately. But well I guess the plant will stay under the CFL at night and during the day I'll get it some good sunlight. How many hours of sunlight does a plant need approx.? Thanks a lot both of you, thanks to you I got my head outta my ass with this whole indoor thing.

 

[Rascality Afoot]

Don't bother with the light. If there are more than 15hrs a day of sunlight right now, you should be fine. The plant will grow until the end of the summer when it starts flowering. Until then, I wouldn't even worry about moving it to get all the sun. That's only important once the plant starts flowering. Until then, put it in a big ass pot full of potting soil, water regularly, and watch it grow!

And in the mean time, read up! There's lots of beginner grow guides out there.

 

[HeyItsMatt]

Don't bother with the light. If there are more than 15hrs a day of sunlight right now, you should be fine. The plant will grow until the end of the summer when it starts flowering. Until then, I wouldn't even worry about moving it to get all the sun. That's only important once the plant starts flowering. Until then, put it in a big ass pot full of potting soil, water regularly, and watch it grow!

And in the mean time, read up! There's lots of beginner grow guides out there.

Hey, thanks. It really puts me at ease to hear that. I'll probably repot it in a couple of weeks, what size should the new pot be? I've read about 15gal pots but I think its huge.

 

[green217]

yeah man throw it outside and let the best light of all do it's thing, the sun