400W Newbie Feminized Haze Grow Log

400W SolarMax MH for veg: I will be moving them outside on and off when the weather is nice. They are on 18/4 light cycle, primarily under the lamp.

Germinated 1st batch May 25th and 2nd batch May26th - all but 1 sprouted within 2 days using paper towel method, 1 seed has still not sprouted and is presumed not viable and the 3 cotyledon plant has died. I currently have 8 seedlings growing.

May 26th - 1st batch went directly into a heavy soil and were later transplanted into a premium potting soil with high N content and 6.5 PH.
May 27th - 2nd batch went into jiffy pots until 1st leaves developed and were translated into premium potting soil (same as above) I removed ripped off the jiffy pots today and replanted. The tap root was clearly visible and winding around the bottom of the pot.


Picture Log:

Seedlings Day 4



Seedlings Day 6

Seedlings Day 8

Seedlings Day 9


Notes: June 4th
I have noticed the leaves are bit lime green with a bit of yellowing and checked the PH to find out that the soil is a bit Alkaline (7.0+ range) My PH kit is not the greatest.

I added a bit of vinegar water but will add some dolomite limestone next watering.

I checked the soil for N and found that the level of N was not really high. It came out as adequate or maybe a little less than adequate (given what I have read this is okay for the stage that they are in...I was worried it would be too high but the test did not confirm this.

I also added a few tablespoons of bonemeal and a minimal amount seaweed fertilizer to each pot.

I added a stationary fan to circulate the air a bit.

I am concerned about the yellowing and the curling down of the leaves: could be PH, could be hot potting soil, could be too much light (400W MH 2 feet from tops), could be too much water! Gonna let it dry out and see what happens over the next few days.

They look tiny compared to some plants I have seen at roughly the same age. The next few days should tell me a lot.
comments appreciated!!

After a bit more research I moved them all into solo cups and plan to let them dry out before I decide whether or not to flush the soil. I moved the lamp up to 3 or 4 feet and reduced the light from 18/4 to 15/7. The leaves perked up a bit this afternoon but were drooping slightly by the evening (too much light exposure?)

Day 10 Picture Log:

Hey buddy great start! Here are some things i learned about the seedlings when starting out. When they were about the size of yours, I placed them under the metal halide bulb only to find out that it was probably too strong for them at first. I then just used some T5 fluorescents to get them going until they were big enough. This is what they looked like before moving them into the mh bulb (definitely dont have to wait that long but i would get it passed their seedling stage)



Another thing I would add is that if you are going to use T5's then get em reallly close the plant, they love that and wont burn it.

The lime green thing seemed like it might have been too much water. I screwed up big time on my first grow by killing all my seedlings cause they DIDNT have enough water....i always read that was one of the newbie mistakes is over watering over watering overwatering so i didnt want to do that....but i underwatered LOL oh well. Since they are in cups right now, the best way to tell if they need water is to pick up the cup and feel how heavy it is. When you water it, it will get really heavy, and when its dry, you can feel that its soooo light and fluffy.

Let them dry out until you pick them up and notice how light they are.

Hope this helps and keep her going! got me subbed!

Caddywampus said:

Hey buddy great start! Here are some things i learned about the seedlings when starting out. When they were about the size of yours, I placed them under the metal halide bulb only to find out that it was probably too strong for them at first. I then just used some T5 fluorescents to get them going until they were big enough. This is what they looked like before moving them into the mh bulb (definitely dont have to wait that long but i would get it passed their seedling stage)

View attachment 2687732

Another thing I would add is that if you are going to use T5's then get em reallly close the plant, they love that and wont burn it.

The lime green thing seemed like it might have been too much water. I screwed up big time on my first grow by killing all my seedlings cause they DIDNT have enough water....i always read that was one of the newbie mistakes is over watering over watering overwatering so i didnt want to do that....but i underwatered LOL oh well. Since they are in cups right now, the best way to tell if they need water is to pick up the cup and feel how heavy it is. When you water it, it will get really heavy, and when its dry, you can feel that its soooo light and fluffy.

Let them dry out until you pick them up and notice how light they are.

Hope this helps and keep her going! got me subbed!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I suspect too much water and too much harsh light for the little ones have caused a few problems for my plants. I have a picture that I will post next that really shows the damage. One plant got more effected than any of the rest. I raised the light to 4 or 5 feet from the seedlings thinking this should help reduce the intensity. I hope it works!

I checked my solo cups and decided not to water. They still had a bit of weight to them so I decided to hold off until tomorrow.

I raised my lamp up to about 4 or 5 feet from the seedlings until I get a bit more growth. My thinking is that the higher up the light is the less intense the light will be on the little ones.

Below is a close up of one of my most advanced plants and my most damaged seedling. I suspect light damage but am open to opinions.

Picture Log Day 11:
Top down and side view of the same plant
Light burn?

Didn't do anything today. Checked for moisture and it was fine so didn't water but will most likely water tomorrow. The plants appear to be handling the 400w MH light at 4.5 feet much better.

Picture Log Day 12
Cheap Thrill Tony @ Day 12 Cheap Thrill Tony @ Day 11
2 Other Plants at Day 12 (I think they are actually two days behind so day 10 for these girls)
Pretty sure this is light burn--->

Hmmm...what's the temperature like in there and your running humidity?

Caddywampus said:

Hmmm...what's the temperature like in there and your running humidity?

Click to expand...

It's not temperature or humidity controlled. Temperature fluctuates between 60-80 degrees and I have no clue about the humidity but its definately low.

hmm temps seem fine. How close was that MH bulb to that seedling before?

Caddywampus said:

hmm temps seem fine. How close was that MH bulb to that seedling before?

Click to expand...

Way to close somewhere around 18 inches. I also misted them with chlorinated tap water which probably didn't help them either^^ They seem to be growing just fine now. The new growth looks good. If it starts to show signs of light burn I will move the light up another foot.

Haven't watered them in 2 days and they are growing just fine. They new growth looks good. I did find a tiny yellow/orange bug crawling around one of the plants you can see it in the second picture.

Picture Log Day 14

I need to clarify the length of time these plants have been growing. There were two batches of germination done two day apart. The first batch were planted, post germination on May 25th and took two days to sprout. The second batch would have been planted on May 27th again taking two days to sprout. So technically (as of June 9th) we are looking at Day 10 and Day 12. I would say they doing just fine for being overwatered a bit and burnt by a 400W MG bulb!

buddygrow420 said:

I need to clarify the length of time these plants have been growing. There were two batches of germination done two day apart. The first batch were planted, post germination on May 25th and took two days to sprout. The second batch would have been planted on May 27th again taking two days to sprout. So technically (as of June 9th) we are looking at Day 10 and Day 12. I would say they doing just fine for being overwatered a bit and burnt by a 400W MG bulb!

Click to expand...

Looks good buddy. They are going to do just fine. If they start to stretch a bit, bring that light closer. What kind of hood do you have for your bulb? is it a dual ventilated one that has intake and an outlet for air to travel? Or is it one of those V wing hoods? If it is a v wing hood I would get some fans blowing on those plants so they dont burn if put too close.

Caddywampus said:

Looks good buddy. They are going to do just fine. If they start to stretch a bit, bring that light closer. What kind of hood do you have for your bulb? is it a dual ventilated one that has intake and an outlet for air to travel? Or is it one of those V wing hoods? If it is a v wing hood I would get some fans blowing on those plants so they dont burn if put too close.

Click to expand...

Ya it's a v wing hood and I do have a fan gently blowing across the tops. Now that the light burn and overwatering is under control (i hope), I am beginning to think about lowering the light to avoid any stretching issues. I just wanted enough time for good root growth. I don't think it was the heat as much as the intensity of the light that was causing the problems. If I continue to have light related issues I will look into maybe a cool tube or something, I am open to suggestions.

I am looking at Dutch Nutrient Formula nutrients. They have a feeding chart and a success in a box product that looks like it has just about everything I need.

Watered last night and will have to water again tomorrow. The girls are getting thirsty! The new growth is doubling in size every day now. A small rust spot has developed on one of the leaves of one of the plants. Not sure what it is, could be a pest (spider mites) or even some kind of fungus...who knows. If it gets worse and starts spreading I will be a bit worried.

Check out the mutation on one of the plants.
Normal.
Mutant!

Looking much better! If it is spider mites, take care of those puppies right away. Ive had my trouble with mites before...they like to nest underneath the leaves so look for little white spots under the leaves and if you see them try and rub them off with a paper towel or something like that. Another thing to help with mites is that they like cool dry places and hate humidity. What you can do when the lights are off is take a spray bottle and mist the plant with some foliage spray (never spray them when the lights are on because it can burn the leaves...learned this the hard way). Thanks to folks here I was able to get a foliage spray of a drop or 2 of super thrive and the rest water.

Anything to keep those pesky mites out there plus it helps your plants

Caddywampus said:

Looking much better! If it is spider mites, take care of those puppies right away. Ive had my trouble with mites before...they like to nest underneath the leaves so look for little white spots under the leaves and if you see them try and rub them off with a paper towel or something like that. Another thing to help with mites is that they like cool dry places and hate humidity. What you can do when the lights are off is take a spray bottle and mist the plant with some foliage spray (never spray them when the lights are on because it can burn the leaves...learned this the hard way). Thanks to folks here I was able to get a foliage spray of a drop or 2 of super thrive and the rest water.

Anything to keep those pesky mites out there plus it helps your plants

Click to expand...

Thanks bro
I squished a few bugs that were hiding under the leaves and am looking into some sort of pesticide/fungicide that will eradicate the dirty little bugs. The plants are growing like weeds!!!!

The growth on a daily basis is incredible. New leaves almost double in size every day. They are growing like weeds.

Transplant: I transplanted all of the plants into bigger pots. I could have waited but wanted them all at the same height.

Bugs: I keep forgetting to foliar spray at night but the bugs don't appear to be a big problem haven't seen anymore.

Taco Leaves: I noticed leaves curling up like up a taco and at night the leaves get really droopy when the lights go out and the temps cool down.

Water: The soil is really moist. I probably won't have to water for another few days and am hoping they dry out quicker than they have been. I am a little concerned about root rot.

Yellowish leaves: Not a big deal yet but I did see a faint yellow spot developing on one of the plants. Nothing I can do before the next water anyways. [maybe foliar spray can help in between waterings??]I am going to test for NPK before my next watering and have convinced myself that they need some cal/mag which they will get with Epsom salts or perhaps another medium if anyone has any suggestions.

PH: I did a soil test for PH and it came out under 7 but greater than 6.5 so I think I am okay.

Looking good man. I would strongly recommend lowering ur ph from 7 to somewhere closer to at the most 6.5. Like KC said in my grow when I compared my previous grow to current grow - it was a PH problem because I was using just ph 7 the entire grow for my first one.

Taco Leaves - Is the fan blowing really hard on the plant? I think that might cause something like this if the fan is blowing really hard on the leaves.

Yellow Leaves - Are you giving it any nutrients yet? Could use a dose of N. Keep em coming!