Hey guys I am new to this site and also new to growing!! I currently have 6 plants , in my wardrobe under a 125 watt CFL! (Will be changing to a 400 hps soon! Everything was going great and then today I checked on them and my biggest plant had fallen over! And the leaves also look a bit shrivelled! This plant is about 2 weeks older than the others but I put them all under the light at the same time about a week ago! The stem is very long and I think this could have something to do with it falling! Although doesn't explain the shrivelled leaves! I have changed the pot to a big one and put some card in to hold it up! Will attach a photo! Can somebody please help me ?! Thanks, charl x
It's just in my wardrobe for now! I'd like to get a propper tent but this is my first time doing this and thought this would be ok for now x
Cool. At first look, I'd guess that the plants are a bit too far from the light, making them reach for it with those long stems. Before moving the light closer, what's the temperature at plant level? Do you have a way to get cool, fresh air into the wardrobe and warm, stale air out?
Yeah, pretty sure that necrotic (dead spot) pattern is probably from inadequate airflow combined with a high level of nutrients. Pretty sure it's P toxicity but that's usually caused by photosynthesis rates not keeping up with the amount of ferts delivered. Burns the leaf up from the inside out. You don't usually see it on leaves at the top of the canopy but you almost always see it as one of the many signs on crowded out leaves on the bottom of full or over-full canopies. Photosynthesis rates will lag if the light is too far (but not usually as badly as quickly as you're seeing on your plants), if you use some weird oil-based leaf spray that plugs up the stomata (chances are you aren't but most pesticides can do this to some extent), or if there's not enough airflow or such high humidity that the plant can't breathe normally. I'm guessing it's the last one. I'd cut the nutrients in half if you're feeding liquids or flush if you're doing solid amendments, but that's just good maintenance for plants that are having problems and won't fix this one. The best answer is to make sure it gets better airflow and that the light's not too close or far - feel at the plant level with the back of your hand and raise the light or adjust the plant until it doesn't feel like you're going to get a sunburn if you were to fall asleep with it in that position. The weak stem should be because of inadequate airflow. The stems get weak and brittle in a hurry if you don't have a fan in that little cabinet with the plant - assuming you don't have some weird kind of fungal infection.
Hey Thankyou for the reply! I have a small fan in there but I don't have a carbon filter or anything yet! And I will try bringing the light abit further down!! X
Hey Thankyou for the message! I am new to this growing lark and I thought it was easy but seems like there is a lot to it! :/ I have literally germinated the seeds using the paper towel method . Then planted them on soil and put them under the light . Doing 18-6 feeding then only water. Got a small fan running but I hadn't had it on as didn't think I needed it with such a low watt light but it's back on now so hoping it will make a difference! Thanks guys gonna do loads of googling now lol x
No problem - yeah, keep that fan on, preferably not pointed directly on the plant but still aiming some way that will create some wind (blowing in a circle is okay for that small of a space), and keep the plant under the CFL for another week or so before switching to the HPS. This next part is just my technique and others may disagree, but keep the old stuff staked but try to let the new growth blow in the wind if you can. The old growth should safely toughen back up by the time you're ready to put it under the HPS. You may have to water more frequently once you switch the fan on depending on how powerful it is so keep an eye on that for the first couple days. But try to fix the conditions and leave it alone - give it a second to recover from the damage. Maybe move the CFL a bit farther from the plant if you can. The part that's all wavy should die off but the new growth after it should be healthy once you get the fan going. Let it get some new growth going before you toss it under the HPS and you should be good to go. And keep the door to the wardrobe cracked during lights on time if you can - the plants need a fresh supply of air to keep growing. It'll use up all the CO2 in a wardrobe over the course of a couple days at that size and it'll double in size pretty quickly if you fix the problem. If you don't get fresh air in there it'll be a big problem inside 2 weeks. And the love you put in is the love you'll get out we all started somewhere. I started here, actually, about 11 years ago. Just recently came back. I'm happy to share if it can help. It's all about helping each other make more good kind bud. I'm not trying to discourage you. And screw google, if you want a good book to start that'll help you cover all the basics, I think this site still has a free .pdf copy of Jorge Cervantes's "Indoor Outdoor Medical Marijuana Grower's Bible." I still keep a copy and refer to it regularly. If you can't find it on here I know it's on The Pirate Bay.
Aw shoot, never even saw the picture of the grow room. Yeah, turn the fan on and point it at the back corner closest to it if you can. Angle it down a bit so the air bounces off and goes under the hood. Whoops. My posts were just based on the first pictures of the plant. Light height looks like it's good if it's a true 125 watt bulb and not a 125 watt replacement bulb but still check the heat and see if you can drop it. But just turning on the fan and pointing it so it waves the stems a bit should fix the problem pretty quickly.
If the wardrobe is sealed up with no way for the air to get in and out, it will eventually get too hot, even with CFLs. Leaving the door open, with the fan blowing, would be real helpful if there is no ventilation, but doesn't do a lot for stealth. For 5 or 6 years, I've used a small (externally 24" tall, 18" deep, 17" wide) packing crate to keep my bonsai mother plants in, with four 22W (actual) CFL bulbs (now with household LED bulbs instead). I use two 4" computer fans running at half their normal voltage at the top to pull out air and two 4" vents down low to let air in. With this small amount of air flow, the plants can be almost touching the bulbs. I've grown the plants into the lights a bunch of times and it does damage the leaves if they touch the glass on a CFL.
If you don't have one already, get a digital RH /TEMP gauge at Wally world. They are cheap. Hang it in there so it is close to the plant (don't sit it on the floor or put it in a corner shelf five feet away form the plant). Once you know what the temps and humidity are, then you get to start trying to manipulate them to your liking. Or rather to the plant's liking. Temps at this stage should be 75-80, RH should be 50-80%. Circ fan to wiggle the leaves gently. The only time I've had seedlings that were rooted fall over was when I had the light too far away and they stretched up got skinny and toppled. You want the light about 5-10" from the leaves. As close as you can get without burning them.
Thanks everyone!! This is a lot more complex than I thought it would be haha! And I live in the uk by the way!
Here's a very old pic of what I still use for my bonsai moms. The aluminum ducts to the right are just short curly-cues to keep light from leaking out, while allowing lots of air flow. I use this cabinet in a So Cal house, with no AC, no humidity control and no odor control. It's a bit crude, but it still works for me. Several times in the past, I've had a jungle in this thing with plants up against the ceiling, plants wrapping around the bulbs and plants getting trimmed by the fans. The plants look a bit unhappy because they've been in the 1 QT cups way, way too long! Anyway, my point is that it's possible to have plants very close to a CFL if there's a decent amount of airflow keeping the heat down.
