First grow, young plant, will it be ok?! eek

hey first grow here, this plant was donated to me today but my growbox wasnt ready, so ive had to just stick it in there anyway. There are a few things wrong/missing from the box - like ive lined it with aluminium foil im trying hard to get some mylar or white paint in there. i didnt think heat would be too much of an issue with CFLs, but i guess foil sucks even with these. ive managed to bring it down to 80F via having the cupboard door open, which isnt ideal obviously. the fan in there is temporary too, fitting some computer fans tomorrow.

The plant was given to me in basically the condition you see it, very young but it's not looking very healthy to me. yellow drooping leaves lower down, but the new leaves are looking lovely.

I've given it a light watering with some rain water, was careful not to over feed it.

Anyone able to shed some light on my plant? like i say i wasnt quite ready for a plant yet and im working on mylar and cooling - more interested in feedback on the plant itself - however any tips for my box will be appreciated. thanks.

what's the dirt? she's hurting but should be recoverable

growone said:

what's the dirt? she's hurting but should be recoverable

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no idea, this guy grew some pretty successful stuff in the past so i imagine its fairly good quality. could it be nitrogen deficiency? i havent fed it anything. hazard a guess at how old she is?

from seed i would say its maybe a week or so after breaking through the soil.

i would start over man. you could save it but you might have stunted growth.

i would have guessed maybe 7 days - it really is not thriving, especially since it sounds like the dirt should be good
ph should be the next suspect, did he use some different water or such?

growone said:

i would have guessed maybe 7 days - it really is not thriving, especially since it sounds like the dirt should be good
ph should be the next suspect, did he use some different water or such?

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well i watered it with rainwater today from our waterbutt, strained the bugs etc out of it. dont know what he used to water it.

ive got some seeds in the post but wana try and keep this one alive to learn as much from it as poss before investing one of my fem seeds. it has a really long stem aswell thats something else id try and sort, but not #1 priority right now

do you know if it rooted yet

you're probably doing the right thing, 1st do no harm
the new growth looking good is big, rain water + hope = heal (maybe)

im guessing it rooted as it has leaves... sorry not quite sure what you mean...

I'll get on the case of some white paint / mylar and get the computer fans in there tomorrow, hopefully Edgar will survive! thanks for the input

She's probably pissed you named her Edgar. Not a very lady-like name.

well the donater was called edgar, im hoping to have to rename her Edgelina...

well looked at edgar again today, ive managed to get the temp to just under 80F, but still looking a bit worse for wear. theres what looks to be the start of new leaves growing further down the stem, and it might be just wishful thinking but they look a little bigger this morning. which seems odd as this is where previous leaves have fallen off.

would adding a very dilute fertiliser designed to help rooting and young plants to the next watering be advisable?

if it's designed for rooting and seedlings, probably be ok - plant certainly fits the description

growone said:

if it's designed for rooting and seedlings, probably be ok - plant certainly fits the description

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I'll give it a try next time i water it.

Just took the foil down and the 100W CFL, still got the other 4 lights in there.

Would white paper work as apposed to painting the cupboard white?

white paper can work, i'm always on the look out for fire hazards though, aluminum foil painted white would be a great reflector

aluminum foil painted white would be ridiculous. First, the foil won't hold on to the paint for very long, if at all. Second, why in the holy eff would you paint foil? Just paint the walls of the box!

it's a stop gap, not a long term solution - it is definitely safer than paper
and i've used cheap walmart spray paint on foil, seems to stick just fine
it's the kind of thing you can use if you happen to have the materials on hand
my own preference for reflector material is the pre-painted white aluminum flashing available at the chain hardware store, very easy to work with, excellent durability and reflectance

well the CFLs got to 90F at their peak, and i can't see it getting much hotter than that in there after ive taken down the foil and put a fan in there. Is there much of a fire hazard to use paper? im going to work now and popping into the gift shop, apparently shiny wrapping paper is made of mylar, or performs like it, so il see the prices.

Is it possible that the plant is getting too much light? just been browsing different afflictions and causes, i think its either too much water, not enough nitrogen, too much light or its just got plant AIDs and its doomed like its siblings...

back in about 5 hours.

dudeinshoes said:

well the CFLs got to 90F at their peak, and i can't see it getting much hotter than that in there after ive taken down the foil and put a fan in there. Is there much of a fire hazard to use paper? im going to work now and popping into the gift shop, apparently shiny wrapping paper is made of mylar, or performs like it, so il see the prices.

Is it possible that the plant is getting too much light? just been browsing different afflictions and causes, i think its either too much water, not enough nitrogen, too much light or its just got plant AIDs and its doomed like its siblings...

back in about 5 hours.

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What kind of bulbs are you using? You mentioned taking down a 100W CFL and leaving four others? They look a bit far away (and pointing the wrong way) for CFLs.

The light from a spiral CFL is actually greater along the length of the bulb, as they're meant to be mounted horizontally and not hung vertically the way you've got them. (positioning them vertically can make them hotter and increase the fire hazard)

If anything, it's not getting enough light.

Move the bulbs closer to the plant and position them like this: