First time grower from the tropics - Need help!

[kamiljayah]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the growing thing & I'm not doing so well.

I got a few Skunk#1 Autoflowers from Sensi Seeds, I decided to start off with 1 seed.
It's been like almost a month & the plant has only got 3 pairs of leaves with a height of around 2.5 inches.
The stem is fairly thin as well, first set of leaves turned brown halfway with a hole on one leaf, I thought it was a light burn & moved the lights further away, I also made the mistake of adding nutes too soon, thankfully it was only tiny doses & immediately flushed it. Sadly the browning has started on the next pair of leaves as well & growth has stunned, I have no idea how to proceed.

I haven't measured the P.H of the soil, I used soil dug up from my garden mixed with a bit of compost.
Us Sri Lankans don't go into depth about soil because almost everyone here has a garden full of fruits & flowers, the soil seems good enough... It has been that way since our ancestors

I'm running on a very basic, low budget.
My grow tent is made out of PVC (the frame) & lined with white plastic sheet, Almost 7 ft in height and 3.5 sqft in area. I've used foil to reflect light inside the tent, the tent is mostly open for ventilation, I managed to use PVC to make a 3 ft hanging support, made holes in the PVC big enough to slide in the bulb holders & currently using 3 14 watt white CFLs along with 3 9 watt orange LED bulbs. Now I know this doesn't sound like sufficient lighting but that's as much as I can afford. If I'm not wrong the recommended is 32 watt per sqft, what I have done is centered my lights so the all focus on the plant... that's around 69 watts. I've kept the lights 2 ft from the plant, 24 hour lighting given. The nutes I use are these blue & purple balls, they come in a transparent packaging, no specifications, no brand :| once again, this is what our kind have been growing acres of luscious gardens with :3

Any/All help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you, Kamil from the tropics

Pictures attached are old.
I WILL UPLOAD MORE PICS ASAP, SORRY ABOUT THAT

 

[CicoNavaro]

I suppose it's lighting or temperature

 

[kamiljayah]

By temperature you mean too hot? We're currently experiencing monsoon.. posting a couple of more recently pictures, take a look.

 

[kamiljayah]

 

[schomegrown]

Do you have a thermometer in there? Or what would you say the temperature is in under the light? I would also move the light a little closer to the plant. Maybe a foot or just a little less than a foot away from the top. CFL's dobt really get to hot so the closer they are the more lght your getting.

 

[kamiljayah]

Thanks man , took your advice & made a complete change in the lighting from the led/cfl combination to just daylight cfls using aluminium food trays as reflectors (3 15w bulbs in one tray & 1 20w & 24w in one tray). I'm also working on a stable vent system... I came across a couple of posts stating that my plant could have a mineral deficiency, mainly magnesium so I got some Epsom Salt & proper 12-6-8 fertilizer, gonna start today... hope this works. Oh & it's pretty warm here, I would say around 28 ℃.

 

[schomegrown]

Thanks man , took your advice & made a complete change in the lighting from the led/cfl combination to just daylight cfls using aluminium food trays as reflectors (3 15w bulbs in one tray & 1 20w & 24w in one tray). I'm also working on a stable vent system... I came across a couple of posts stating that my plant could have a mineral deficiency, mainly magnesium so I got some Epsom Salt & proper 12-6-8 fertilizer, gonna start today... hope this works. Oh & it's pretty warm here, I would say around 28 ℃.

Oh yeah you will see a major difference with the light a lot closer. If you can get your hands on some Cal/Mag, that is most likely what you need. But keep me posted. Interested to see what ends up getting her right. You temp is spot on tho. If you have anymore questions ill do my best to help out.

 

[kamiljayah]

I had the lights 4 inches away but they heat up immensely, after 6 hours I saw a dark spot on a leaf that looked like a burn & I moved the lights further away.

I don't understand how people do this:

 

[Nightmask]

There was a pic from your previous setup before you moved the lights where the pic shows lights and plant, and well, the plant looked like it was in the dark. So yeah, good idea moving your lights much closer.

As for the fertilizer that sounds like an odd combo of NPK at 12-6-8. Your plants won't need much P or K until flower, but it will need plenty of N for veg. Something like 12-2-3 would likely be better for veg, but I'm still learning myself so maybe it will be fine, just see how it goes. Start at a low dose and work your way up from there. When you see the tips of the leaves slightly brown (minor nute burn) that's where you want it, or just below that amount. And if you're gunna use nutes give just regular water in between feeds.

 

[Nightmask]

I had the lights 4 inches away but they heat up immensely, after 6 hours I saw a dark spot on a leaf that looked like a burn & I moved the lights further away.

I don't understand how people do this:

Wow I posted my last post before you posted this one, and dang those plants are looking mighty fine. Much better than they originally looked.

Edit: Oh wait, are those pics of your plants or other peoples?

 

[schomegrown]

I had the lights 4 inches away but they heat up immensely, after 6 hours I saw a dark spot on a leaf that looked like a burn & I moved the lights further away.

I don't understand how people do this:

Yeah 4" is a bit to close.. If it showed signs of heat burn it may be because of the LED (flood light if I'm not mistaking) I am running a 2 bulb 4ft T12 over my clones and some seedlings and they touch the light tubes at times and I very rarely see any kind of burn. If you just run CFL's you can run them like that picture you posted... Meaning that close. On the nutes, I would start off with a 1/4 strength of what the directions on the container say and very slowly work up to 1/2 strength once you start seeing improvement. I would also get on a feeding schedule like feed one week, then plan water the following week. It is also very important after about two weeks of feeding to flush your plant.

 

[kamiljayah]

Check out my new set up guys
Much more tidy.

 

[kamiljayah]

Thanks man
Definitely gonna look for some Cal/Mag, can't wait for her to make a full recovery & start growing.

 

[kamiljayah]

Thanks man, appreciate the help @schomegrown
Definitely gonna look for Cal/Mag, can't wait for her to make a full recovery & continue growth.

 

[kamiljayah]

I was thinking about adding some wormiculture fertilizer, I also added clovers to accompany my plant due to its ability to provide additional nutrients & also has nitrogen fixing properties.

I can't seem to find a 12-2-3
I got the fert with the most nitrogen available...

What you say makes sense, so that way when you spot a minor nutrient burn you would wanna flush yes? @Nightmask

 

[kamiljayah]

Those aren't my plants :3 I got the pictures from the internet...

 

[kamiljayah]

Those are from the internet :3 was wondering how they get it that close... @Nightmask

 

[kamiljayah]

My new lights with the foil reflectors consist of only CFLs, (the one I kept 4" away from my plant) there were no LEDs & yet my plant got burnt.

Roger that, by feed one week you mean the whole week or every other day? How does that work?

 

[schomegrown]

My new lights with the foil reflectors consist of only CFLs, (the one I kept 4" away from my plant) there were no LEDs & yet my plant got burnt.

Roger that, by feed one week you mean the whole week or every other day? How does that work?

As it gets a little older you my be able to have a light closer but she my just be to delicate at her stage. I only water my girls when they show that they need it. The way you can tell when they néed water is either you soil will be dry up to your first knuckle on your finger. Or what I do is wait for the fan leaves to have a slight droop. But the leaves can also droop from over watering so be careful.

 

[kamiljayah]

My plant has put on a bit, she's showing new growth!
Pictures coming in a bit...