Is she doing ok? Any advice? - 1st grow, devilmatic, fem-auto flower, hydroponics,cfl

Hi all,

This is my first post! I've been viewing some great advice over the last few weeks here and finally started my first grow. Now that I've got something going (good I hope!) I'd love to hear what you guys think? Any advice or is all going ok?

I'm using a hydronics system (oxypot 16litre), 200w CFL, Forumulex nutrient and have a small PC fan blowing a mild breeze on her. I've ph down, ph up and keep it as close to 6ph as possible. I check this daily or twice a day. Here are the pics of the light setup:


Germinated her in 1inch rockwool with 1/4 strength ph5.9 in dark warm room. About 2-3 days later she popped the surface. So this is what I call Day 1


That evening the first baby green leaves were showing so I put her under the CFL at about 12inches away, not to shock her - still in the rockwool. I kept the rockwool moist with a few sprays of the same 1/4 strength ph5.9 that she germinated in. This is end of Day 1



Day 2
The root started growing out of the rockwool so I made the change to the oxypot in clay pellets. I poured 1/4 strength ph6 water through the pellets a few times a day to keep the roots wet. The pot was filled with 1/4 strength ph6 water and pump turned on.


Ok so she's just 3 days old now and I've moved the CFL 200w about 7 inches away, a little closer. Here's how she looks right now. What do you think? Coming along ok? Colour good? Anything I should be doing? Your advice is much appreciated, thanks all

She looks very good.

The Rockwool cube looked way to wet. This is the most vulnerable time in the plants life and she walks a narrow path between being dehydrated or attacked by fungus (damping off) due to excess humidity. Moist is what you are after, not damp or wet.

Watch for sudden stretch. She may stretch because she's too far from the light or she may do it just because she's a bitch. If it does happen you need to give her some support or replant much deeper. I find a 13W cfl 1"-2" above the plant stops stretch.

zvuv said:

She looks very good.

The Rockwool cube looked way to wet. This is the most vulnerable time in the plants life and she walks a narrow path between being dehydrated or attacked by fungus (damping off) due to excess humidity. Moist is what you are after, not damp or wet.

Watch for sudden stretch. She may stretch because she's too far from the light or she may do it just because she's a bitch. If it does happen you need to give her some support or replant much deeper. I find a 13W cfl 1"-2" above the plant stops stretch.

Click to expand...

Great. Thanks for the reply. I've taken on board about the wetness! I've stopped watering so much now. Thanks for the advice.

I took a pic this morning and seems to be ok... Do you think she's too tall or ok height? Should I bring the light closer? It's quite warm in there and didn't want to scorch her. Temp is about high 80's, maybe about 88/89 (or high 20's in celcius, about 28/29). She's 4 days old now:



Thanks again for the help

Mate she is fine, and the temps are fine also.. Just try and keep the light as close as you can without burning her... Also try to keep the humidity up, seedlings love it humid, but don't over water as someone said above.. You won't see to much happening in the first few weeks as all of action is happening under to soil developing roots. In a month or so she should really start to fly and really take off.. Just give her ample light.

Good luck

mattyblade1 said:

Mate she is fine, and the temps are fine also.. Just try and keep the light as close as you can without burning her... Also try to keep the humidity up, seedlings love it humid, but don't over water as someone said above.. You won't see to much happening in the first few weeks as all of action is happening under to soil developing roots. In a month or so she should really start to fly and really take off.. Just give her ample light.

Good luck

Click to expand...

Thanks guys for the solid advice. I'll make sure to do this and will post up more pics in the next few days/weeks in case anyone's interested

IMO Mattyblade's advice is dead on.

Here are some pics from today, day 6. I was worried yesterday that the leaves were a bit droopy...but it looks healthy I think. Any one know if this looks as it should, or should I be doing anything?



I haven't watered through the rockwool/clay pellets since a few days ago. Pretty sure she's getting enough from the hydroponics now...I'm guessing the root is getting close to the water level so i'm letting it lower a little down the mesh pot.

So I went with an educated guess (kind of!?) from reading through the forums. I lowered the water level in the oxypot to just below the basket holding the clay pellets. It bubbles up to moisten them anyhow. Then I sprayed some 1/4 nut strength water over the top of the pellets. 4 hours later, hey presto...she seems to have straightened out those leaves. I think it's back to normal now...

looking good mate.. go easy on those nutes but

Will do! Actually just changed the notes today. Currently she's 15 days old and seems to be doing well. There's a nice slight smell coming from the room now, very mild but distinctive. Here's a pic on how she's doing: