getting discouraged. What do I keep doing wrong?

Soil: FFOF
Lights: four 27w daylight cfl's. 5500K
Light cycle: First ten days was 24/0 then switched to 18/6
Bean: Pryamid Seeds Galaxy(afgani x northern lights)
Water: Using spring bottled water from the store.



Im getting pissed off, cause this was my 4th grow attempt and I screwed it up again but I dont know what the hell im doing wrong. I am confused now about something tho. How close do you want cfl's from the plant again? I swear this time around it was from heat stress but from what ive read arent you suppose to have the lights like 2-3 inches from the plant? And I even had a fan on the plant to. And temps were around 75 around the plant according to my temp meter. Ph was 6.8 according to my digi. So below is a picture of what it looks like currently.



And here is a picture from a previous grow. Same shit happen. So i really gotta figure out if I just have my cfl's too close or what? I mean from everything I read if you had em like up higher say like 10 inches then your plants would stretch right?

 

EnjoyIt

Active Member
Is the 6.8 ph your water, your soil, or your runoff? Im gonna say your pH is messing something up here.
 

BobMarlay

Active Member
i bet its the bottled water, some bottled water sometimes have a bad ph, so i would suggest letting the bottled water sit out for atleast 24 hours before using it
 

pointswest

Active Member
This is what a wilted plant looks like. The light is too close and burning the little seedlings up. Use distilled water, not spring water. Between the lights and the fan, your are evaporating the water too fast in the pots and the lights are drying up the leaves faster than they can replace the losses. Keep the light at least 5-6 inches from the plants in this early stage.
If those are clay pots, when the plants are rooted to the sides and bottom of the pot transplant into a larger plastic pot, clay pots wick moisture from the soil too fast and dry out the root-ball.
 

turdnugget420

Active Member
As for your lights, heat is your main concern. Put your hand under them right where the tops of your plants are at and make sure that it is not hot or too warm on your hand...even if the light is a little higher you would rather have a little bit a stretch rather than burning your ladies.

As for your water, I would definitely not use bottled water. Seriously man, give a run with your local tap water. Just make sure to allow the water to sit in open container for a few days first before use so that chlorine and other chemicals can dissipate from the water. Check your ph the first time with your local tap water when you are going to use and you'll get a good idea if your ph levels are right on or if you'll need to adjust the ph up/down.

Good luck!
 

Howard Stern

Well-Known Member
Use distilled water bro! And adjust the Ph on that. I have seedlings in FFOF right now from the start and they are cool in there and I have them under 700w of CFL lights. If you want to see check out my first grow journal. But anyway don't get discouraged keep on trying. Where are you getting your seeds from? It seems that you have the same problem is that your leaves keep rolling up and over so google that problem and see what everyone says. Distilled water is the best water to use, I would stay away from tap or filtered water.
 
This is what a wilted plant looks like. The light is too close and burning the little seedlings up. Use distilled water, not spring water. Between the lights and the fan, your are evaporating the water too fast in the pots and the lights are drying up the leaves faster than they can replace the losses. Keep the light at least 5-6 inches from the plants in this early stage.
If those are clay pots, when the plants are rooted to the sides and bottom of the pot transplant into a larger plastic pot, clay pots wick moisture from the soil too fast and dry out the root-ball.
That seems to make sense, but wouldnt my soil be way dry to? my soil has been moist and ive been good on watering and not over watering. And na they arent clay pots. Just plastic ones from lowes. :D
 

Howard Stern

Well-Known Member
I just noticed that boombox there, maybe your plants don't like the music you are playing for them!!!! LOL You may want to play them some howard stern! My girls love it!
 

Howard Stern

Well-Known Member
What I would do is move them away from the light about an inch a day, see if that helps out on your curling problem. And switch to distilled water. Make those two changes and see if anything improves. I know it sucks but you better throw some more seeds in some paper towles get them started this one may not be worth keeping.
 

pointswest

Active Member
"That seems to make sense, but wouldnt my soil be way dry to? my soil has been moist and ive been good on watering and not over watering. And na they arent clay pots. Just plastic ones from lowes". :grin:





Even when the soil is moist the plant can wilt with heat stress. When the temperature becomes too hot and the plant loses more water than it can take up the stomata of the leaf close to stop transpiration loses and all respiration stops until it cools down causing the plant to wilt.
 

gobbly

Well-Known Member
looks like heat to me... If it's too hot the plant can't pull water up fast enough, so moist soil isn't a good indicator. Anyway, that's what it looks like to me.
 
cool thanks guys. I was thinking of starting a serious seeds chronic bean, or a paradise seeds sensi star... any of you peeps have experience with those beans?
 
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