dankyspanky
Member
Hey everyone, popping my posting cherry here. I've been lurking the forums here for a little more than a month, and I've gotta say that this place has really impressed me with the wealth of knowledge and great advice of its members. My hat's (or bandana) is off to you folks.
Anyhoo, I'll skip to the details. I've got two plants from bagseed in potting soil (it's enriched with an 8-12-8 nute blend) in 18oz red cups. I started them out on a windowsill about a month ago (I live in a secluded place), and up until recently they were receiving erratic watering. The growth definitely seemed pretty stunted, especially when I compared it to the stuff I see in the grow journals here. As I live farther up north, this time of year isn't the very best for plants, especially when you regularly have as crappy weather as I do.
A few days ago I finally wised up. I've jury-rigged a growbox out of a rubber maid and a pair of CFLs (26watt 5000k, I couldn't find any 6500k or 5500k at the local home depot ). At the moment, I've got the growbox lined with aluminum foil, but I'm planning to replace it with mylar (or at the very least some reflective white paper). I started them on an 18/6 lighting schedule but I'd like to bump it up to 24/0 if it will help improve growth. I also just picked up some soluble nitro fert (30-10-10 blend) and started the plants on at 1/4 strength.
But.... while I think what I've done has definitely gave the plants a better environment for growth, I dunno if I'm doing enough. As you can see, they only have a single developed node on each (the bigger one has started to develop the second node since going under the CFLs), and the leaves are a bit messed up (edges curling under, and the smaller one is showing a few yellow spots). The stems also seem pretty weak, and the plants were on the verge of falling over when I first put them under the CFLs. EDIT: I should note that they've been like this since a week or so into sprouting, which includes all throughout the time they were on the windowsill.
So, what are your thoughts? I'm pretty sure my neglected babies are savable, but I have no idea what I need to do to get them growing normally.
Thanks
PS: If it helps, I'm considering picking up 2-4 more CFLs soon.
Anyhoo, I'll skip to the details. I've got two plants from bagseed in potting soil (it's enriched with an 8-12-8 nute blend) in 18oz red cups. I started them out on a windowsill about a month ago (I live in a secluded place), and up until recently they were receiving erratic watering. The growth definitely seemed pretty stunted, especially when I compared it to the stuff I see in the grow journals here. As I live farther up north, this time of year isn't the very best for plants, especially when you regularly have as crappy weather as I do.
A few days ago I finally wised up. I've jury-rigged a growbox out of a rubber maid and a pair of CFLs (26watt 5000k, I couldn't find any 6500k or 5500k at the local home depot ). At the moment, I've got the growbox lined with aluminum foil, but I'm planning to replace it with mylar (or at the very least some reflective white paper). I started them on an 18/6 lighting schedule but I'd like to bump it up to 24/0 if it will help improve growth. I also just picked up some soluble nitro fert (30-10-10 blend) and started the plants on at 1/4 strength.
But.... while I think what I've done has definitely gave the plants a better environment for growth, I dunno if I'm doing enough. As you can see, they only have a single developed node on each (the bigger one has started to develop the second node since going under the CFLs), and the leaves are a bit messed up (edges curling under, and the smaller one is showing a few yellow spots). The stems also seem pretty weak, and the plants were on the verge of falling over when I first put them under the CFLs. EDIT: I should note that they've been like this since a week or so into sprouting, which includes all throughout the time they were on the windowsill.
So, what are your thoughts? I'm pretty sure my neglected babies are savable, but I have no idea what I need to do to get them growing normally.
Thanks
PS: If it helps, I'm considering picking up 2-4 more CFLs soon.
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