Gubba's Grow Journal - 2012

Yes little Sylvia is looking good! I am thinking of switching my lights to a Sunburst 400w HPS to replace the three CFLs I am currently using. As I understand it the Sunburst touches on both Veg as well as Flowering spectrums!? I will get a considerable amount of increase in overall light output and will not need to get new bulbs when I go to flower in 6 weeks if this is true. Anyone have any advice about sticking with my current 3x150w CFLs or switching over to the 400w HPS? Thanks...

Peace...
 
the hps will be a lot better mate, i dont slag cfls off or anything as they worked wonders for me and the low heat is a bonus, a lot of people say cfls give off loads of heat, well i had upto 15 on at the same time with no heat, in fact the temp was below what it should be for these plants, now im using the dual spectrum hps and the heat is above what it should be so hps gives off load more heat.

bbut you will get better results as long as its the dual spectrum hps, also make sure the ballast can be kept away from the plants as the ballast gives off loads of heat as well, plus you cant have the lamp so close to the plants mines about 1ftoot away, and the plants are stretching more under the hps than they ever did under the cfls. but you will get better end results under hps and should be able to grow a few more plants.

you say your using 3 x 150watt cfls, are they the actual watts or is the actual watt 30watt with 150 equivalent, if this is the case then you only go by the actual watts and not the crap they tell you as it really dont compare, i was using 15 cfls so was using around 400 actual watts so it made sense for me to switch to 400 watt dual spec hps, but by all means get one and you will notice the difference, you will need to water the plants more often due to the soil drying out quicker and they heat up the grow room loads so the air will need venting when the light is on, all i do is leave the grow room door open and have a 12volt computer fan just moving the air around inside the grow room.

you will get better less fluffy buds using hps so you will get more yield, but the choice is yours, cfls do work so you can still use the just change to 2700kelving cfls when you switch to flower, or go for the hps, it dont even need to be dual spectrum hps, you can grow under standard hps and the results are not much different from what i have seen, but the dual spectrum or sun t agro bulbs are good to use and will imrpove the plants, plus if you by a hps ballast then you could always buy a mh bulb for the veg stage, if you bought a mh ballast and bulb you cant use a hps bulb in that ballast and fitting but if you buy the hps ballast and fitting then you can put a mh bulb in for the veg stage and change the bulb to the hps bulb when you switch to flower, so the hps ballast can power both bulbs, but the mh ballast cant power hps bulbs,
 
just keep an eye on tops the grow room will soon hit 90f if your not carefull, until i get a fan set up to remove air from the grow room i have to leave the door open and thats in a space that is 3ft by 3ft and floor to ceiling high, make sure the light is not to close else it will kill them in seconds, start at over a foot or more high then slowly lower it till you get it just right, use temp gauge hung at plant level to get acurate reading. you want between 75f and 80f, mine is around 78 but if i have to close the door then it creeps up towards 90 so i need the small fan blowing on the plants to keep the heat at plant level down, hps bulbs and the ballast give off a load more heat, i was struggling with cold temps using cfls and needed door closed and fan off just to get temps up past 70f, now i struggle to keep the temp down,
 
I am in a 4'x4' space with a A/C vent in the room, currently I have the vent closed because I have been keeping the room right about 76-79f and about 45-47% humidity. I have a small vortex fan moving air around the room and leave the door open most of the time to keep a good flow of fresh air. Once I switch lights I will hopefully be able to open the A/C to keep the temp where I need it. The closet is on the 2nd floow and the room it is in is completely blacked out. I run my lights from 6am to 12am(midnight) which means the power is running during times people would normally be up and about in a normal house. I truly appreciate all the good info I am getting here, I will be upping my production once I get my new place completed (approx Aug/Sep 2012).

Peace...
 
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14 Days above ground now...2nd day in her new soil/pot. A little yellowing on her 1st set of leaves assume from stress. Was weird to need an entire gallon of water to saturate the soil two days ago, and needed to rewater the rootball area today (dry soil 2.5-3 inches deep). She is still staying very short and that concerns me because I have never had a plant at this age being this short. All of my previous grows were outdoor so a decent amount of stretch. I will have the new lighting setup on Wednesday and will not be posting another update until I get that completed. Enjoy the baby pictures, see ya'll again soon!

Peace...:thanks:
 
its all looking good mate, chances are its stunted due to the first lot of soil you was using and this would of caused the yellow leaf, unless the roots get a bit stressed with the transplant, but as soon as the roots grow into the new soil you should be ok and it will start growing again,
ive got an auto that pretty much grew at ground level, it never even had a stem till a couple of weeks ago so not sure why that happened, one thing i did notice was that the soil clumped together very easy so im thinking possibly the soil was not easy enough for the roots to push through so i changed the pot and used new compost and it started growing now, now im not sure if it was stunted due to the soil or if it was the way the plant grows, but its still small now, less than 4 inches high at 8 weeks and its in flower, it only really started growing when it started to flower, i was going to throw it out but it started growing when it started to flower.

so im thinking the ruderalis plant it was crossed with may have had that gene that meant it is pretty dormant during veg but grows when in flower, cuz where the ruderalis grows it can sometimes have nearly 24 hours of daylight or the opposite and be dark, so im thinking this is how the ruderalis plant grew and when it was old enough to flower then it starts growing as autos flower due to age and not size, but my other auto is growing like a normal plant, well i say normal height wise its the same as any other newly growing plant, but the leaves are really short but the fingers on the leaves are huge, really wide, the top most set of leaves was stopping the light getting to any part of the plant beneath the leaves, so today i tied the leaves out the way to let light in and now the growth at the nodes is now starting to grow, so i think autos need some sort of care when growing making sure you get the best from them, but only time will tell what i get back from it,
 
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Ok, from perfectly healthy yesterday to this this morning!? I checked the soil and it is not completely dry, the temp has been a stable between 77-82f and the humidity between 44-50%. Any thoughts would be great!!! I checked her leaves with a magnafying glass and don't see any creepy crawlies...Help! :'(

I did not add the new lighting yesterday so that is not an issue.
 
to me it looks like over or under water, or lack of nutrients, the leaves go a light green when all the nutes are used up in the soil, but as you was using mg i dont think that will be the problem, chances are this is happening due to the first lot of soil you used, how wet is the soil,

you see the ends of the leaves turning up, well thats a clear sign of the plants suffering from heat stress so try and bring the temps down a bit, this might be drying the plant out, if you have got a fan blowing on the plant turn it off, as this causes this problems as well, so no fan at this stage, if temps are to high and you need a fan make sure its not blowing on the plant, having it blowing above the plant,

when did you water last, if its been 2 days give it 1 cupful of water,
have you got and nutrients or are you using any, the plant shouldnt need any at this stage as it wont have used up whats in the soil, so i dont think its a nute issue, its either temps to high or water issue, so give it just a cupful of water, and if its a water issue it will start to look better after a few hours.

so 1 cup of water, not cold water, room temp water.
lower the temps to around 70 to 75, the leaves curling up are signs the plants hot and trying to cool down, if the leaves where wilting without the ends curling up then id say it was over watered, but as the ends are curled up like that it looks like a heat issue as well.
make sure if you have a fan running that its not blowing on the plant, it dont need a fan at this stage,

but you might find that this is the cause of the first lot of soil you was using, it really does make these plants suffer and loads of people have problems using it,

so try what i said above and if you dont notice a difference within 6 hours then chances are it may struggle to live,
 
Her last watering was Saturday, but the soil still felt moist about 2-3 inches deep. I have notied that the temps are getting up to as high as 81-82f in the room, adjusted the A/C in the room today to try and keep the temp in the 75-77 range, completely saturated the soil using RO water, and raised the lights about 6 inches higher away from the top (approx 12-16 inches away now). I did have a fan blowing directly accross the plant from about 6 feet away in an effort to keep the heat down, turned the fan so that is was pulling air from the room rather than blowing accross the top of the plant. Any additional suggestions I might have missed?
 
sounds like you got it sorted mate, the water will help, chances are it was down to the temps and the fan, possibly also the lights been to close with the temps that high, at this stage you could have the fan blowing above the plant not directly on it, or as you have got it now is perfect, blowing the air out the grow will let it suck cool air in so that should be ok, the temps where slightly high but nothing to drastic, but with the fan blowing it may have pulled the moisture out of the leaves, i done this with mine, i had the fan blowing directly on the plants and they didnt like it so i directed the fan above the plants and i never had any problems, now my plants are bigger i have got a fan blowing on them as i am in flower now, plus its summer here now so i got a bigger fan blowing on them, but my plants are big enough to take the fan, its far enough away and rotates so its not constant in the same spot so im hoping mine are ok, as my hps is packing out loads of heat and without the fan im hitting the 90s plus, so i need the fan on.

it sounds like you have now got it sorted, as the plant is only small it may be worth just watering a cup full every 3 or 4 days until it gets bigger and it has more roots then it should be easier to judge when it needs watering. keep the temps in the 70s, slightly high 70s are best, humidity around 50 to 55 during veg but its not drastic if its slightly under or over, depends where in the world you are growing.

if the lights where putting out a lot of heat then this will cause the leaves to go brighter, but so does lack of nutrients,
have you got any nutrients for when you need it, might be worth getting some as you may need to start using it soon,

im not an expert far from it, what im going to do is post the link to your journal in my journal and aks some more experienced growers to come over and have a look and read through what i have suggested, but to me i think you have done all that you needed to, if you have then you should notice a difference withing 12 hours or less,

ill post the link and ill get back to you and im sure many growers will come over and give you some help and advice, and correct anything if i have gave some wrong info ok.
 
right mate, i just posted the link to your journal in mine and gave a quick description of the problems, someone will be along soon im sure and give some advice and check on the advice i have given you, so i think we will manage to get this sorted out for you, but im sure its all sorted now and the plant will start looking better within a few hours, if it dont then the problem is the miracle grow soil,

but if you have not got any nutes then pick some up, then next feed mix up some nutes at half strength then add that to the next time you water, if your in the usa and you have not got any nutes yet then go to blue planet nutrients as their cheap and the best around, plus it can be used at full strength from seedling so its well worth getting,

im hoping the army of good growers that have been giving me good advice here my sos call and come over and have a look, im sure they will be coming out the woodwork very soon,
 
Thanks...I have the lights a full 18 inches away from the tops. Got a 2nd thermometer so i can ensure they are true as well as getting an electronic moisture and PH meter. 1st test showed the soil in the 7.5 range on PH. Will test again in the morning and post the results plus updated pictures. I am starting to agree that this may be a bit of burn (heat) because more leaves are popping out and becoming exposed. I have the fan moving air indirectly, the lights raised, and a 1 gallon clean flush of the soil.

As far as nutes, I have Terra Vega 2-1-3 by CANNA and mixed it at 50% stregnth for now. I have not added this mix to Sylvia since moving to the new soil/pots several days ago. I really appreciate your help...

Plant seeds and sing songs! :Namaste:
 
no problem mate. ive asked people to come over and have a look so im sure they will be over when they get chance, id add some nutes with the next water, dont flush again, you should be ok now, you should notice a difference by tomorrow, it should look better but if it looks worse we will have to think of something else, so next time you water in say 3 or 4 days add the nutrient at half strength, it may be it needs more nutes but i dont know the product you are using so im hoping someone can jump in and offer some advice, ill do all i can to get it sorted for you and solve the problem,
 
humidity looks ok, and the temp shouldnt be a huge problem, it could be a root issue with the old compost, you see the new leaf coming through do they look a darker green than the leaves that are dying, if they do then you may be ok, it looks like the dying leaves have dried out to much and probably wont get better, but the growth in the middle looks a bit greener than the rest, im sure other growers will come over as soon as they get online, i asked a few so should see them soon, im hoping the new growth and leaves at the very top look better than the others and may pull it through, but id say if it does end up dying then start again using some compost other than mg, it really does cause a lot of problems and kills many young plants, but you have transplanted it so it will take a day to recover from this as some roots may have been damaged so might not be enough root mass to fully support the whole plant.

1 thing you could try is cut off the single set of fan leaves, this will then stop the roots sending fluid to them lowest leaves and will direct it further up the plants, its the same thing we do when we take a cutting, we remove most of the leaves and cut some in half as their are not enough roots to get enough liquid into the plant, if we didnt do this it would just wilt and die, so for now just take off teh single proper leaves, the next set after the seed leaves, pinch these off at the stem, this may be a case of root damage and the plant is trying to get to much out of the roots and starving the whole plant, their should be enough nutrients in the new compost to support the plant for at least a week or 2, so i dont think the problem will be nutrients at this stage, now you have sorted the fan and got the temps down a bit by raising the light, so it may pick up now, if it was just lack of water then you would of noticed a huge difference all ready, so we need to start thinking of something else, so for now all i can suggest is pull them bottom leaves off without damaging the stem, just give them a pinch with your nail at the stem and pull them off, this may then force the other leaves to start growing a bit better,

at the minute id say it was a root issue, it wasnt over watered as you had not watered since sat, but depending how deep the roots where they may have needed water, but you have watered it now so we know its getting water, it may take some time for the roots to recover from the transplant, so pull them leaves and keep checking it every few hours, dont worry to much about the yellow leaves as these may fall off and die at some point, its the new growth you need to check, look at the colour of that and if it looks a darker green than the dying leaves then it should be ok, its going to take time if its going to recover, but im hoping its all good now and you have managed to solve an issues their may have been, other growers will come along when they see my msgs,
 
Hello, I'm here to help at the summoning of donpaul.p...

First, do you have a way to check your runoff pH? if not, get a cheapo pH pen. This is looking bad for your first seedling. There are two reasons I can see that this is happening. Either the nutes in the soil are not enough, or the pH is wonky and your plant can't eat.

This needs to be fixed fast with this small of a plant, or it will be lost. get the pH pen today if possible.

Also, between waterings, make SURE you poke your finger into the soil midway between the side of your pot, and the plant, up to the second knuckle. If it comes our moist/wet, DO NOT WATER. Also, if you are spraying/misting your plant, stop today.

DO NOT cut any leaves of just yet. wait until they're fully shriveled before you remove anything on a plant this small. they are feeding your plant if it can't get food from the soil.
 
the big boys are here now, so help is at hand.

@jandre, thanks brother for coming over and answering my sos, i gave what advice i could but im not using ph pens myself but im not having problems so not needed one.
great advice as always mate.
reps for answering my sos,
 
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