New Grower Let's Grow!! ER & DP Blue W/ LED and CFL 1st Grow

[robwars]

Here we go...

1 Easy Ryder and 2 DP Blueberry

Tent- 3x1.7x5
Lights- 240w Blackstar LED and CFL
Medium- Promix HP
Nutes- Fox Farm Trio
3 gallon smart pots

So I placed the seeds in some nice water (RO) and let them soak overnight. The seeds dropped to the bottom of the glass about 12 hours after.
I then moistened my promix and filled my pots. I pushed the seeds into the soil about 3/4 of an inch and loosely put some soil over them.
I woke up this morning and checked in on them and the soil looked real dry so I gave the top of each pot a nice misting and placed a dome over each seed. My lights are on only for heat purposes, it's currently about 84 degrees with a very low humidity reading of 24%. There is moisture on the domes and when I pick the dome up the soil under it is damp so I think it's working.

Alright I think I'm good so far....

I do have a few questions for you guys though.

1. The toxic twins: PH up and PH down...
Is there a better way to manage my ph? This stuff is toxic and I'm not real sure I want to continue using it. Is it safe? Are there better alternatives?
I have a 10 gallon tank that I keep bubbling for my water source as you can see in the pic but my tap waters PH is like 9.4. So any help on this would be very appreciated.

2. Molasses
I hear everyone talking about "blackstrap" molasses but I can't find it at the store. All I can find is "Mothers" molasses. Can I use this?

So I guess that's it for now. If you guys see anything that I need to change please let me know.

Thanks

robwars

 

[robwars]

1) Potassium Hydroxide works as a natural pH up, same with most silica liquid supplements (ProTekt, Silicablast, etc), Humax & BioAg Humisolve work too; lemon juice/citric acid works as a pH down

2) no not the same thing. Needs to say blackstrap unsulphured http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Barrel-Blackstrap-Molasses-Unsulphured/dp/B000UCOQV2

Thank you TBM

Where can I get Potassium Hydroxide?
Is the stuff Im using not recommended?

 

[Muddy]

It's more likely that you'll have to lower rather than raise your pH. Vinegar is another alternative to lower it. Personally, I don't worry about using pH down since such a small amount is used, usually only a few drops per gallon.

 

[robwars]

Well things are looking good. It's been 72 hours now and all three eggs have hatched. The 2 Blueberry's are about an inch or so above the soil getting ready to drop their helmets, the ER is a bit behind and about a 1/4 of an inch above the soil. I took the moisture domes off of the Blues but kept the one on the ER. I gave each pot about 2 liters of nice PH'd water, they were all drying up a bit since I have only been misting the top soil layer for the past three days. They seemed to drink it all up with no runoff. I also turned my oscillating fan on in the tent for a bit of exercise. The temp is 84 degrees and the humidity is now at 42%. All is good and I'm a happy dude.

Question about LED height- How far above the seedlings should I keep it(240w BS) at this point? I've had it on just for heat so far at 21" from the tops of the pots.
I also have 4 cfl's going as well that are about 4" or so away from the top.

Like I said everything seems to be going well at this point but if anyone has any advice or criticism I'm all ears.

Thanks to Muddy and TBM for their advice so far.

Oh! One more thing, I tried to take a couple of pics to show the seedlings but it was to hard to see them. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some better pics to share.

Thanks

 

[Muddy]

Sounds like things are moving right along for you. On the height, 18 - 24" is good in veg and 12 - 16" during flower. While in veg, keep an eye on your node spacing. Raise or lower the light to keep the spacing at about 1".

 

[robwars]

All seems well with the girls. They have all lost their seed casings and they look good. I'm worried about the humidity though. It's a pretty constant 30%. I'm wondering if I'm moving to much air. My exhaust fan/filter is always on (low) so I'm wondering if I should put it on a timer and maybe that will help the humidity to rise. Any suggestions? I'm going to pull them out later today for a watering and I'll take some pics and post them for you guys. Meanwhile any help with the humidity would be greatly appreciated.

 

[robwars]

Ok so I just pulled them out for a bit of water and took some pics.

As far as the humidity I turned off my cfl's and lowered my fan/filter speed and the humidity went from 30% to 36% in about an hour so hopefully that will help.
My temperature was 86 this morning which also concerned me but it has dropped to 76 with my adjustments as well.
Seems better to me but I'm still unsure. Anyone?

Should I be watering until I get some runoff? I gave them all just about a liter of ph'd water today (last watering was Tuesday and I gave them about 2 liters) the top half of my soil was pretty dry but my moisture meter showed the bottom half still being somewhat moist so not wanting to drown them I just gave a liter and I gave them a misting as well. I have them in 3 gallon smart pots.

They do seem happy though the nicest looking Bberry's fan leaves have doubled in size in about 24 hrs.
My ER seems to be having trouble opening up. Hard to tell from the pics but there seems to be some sort of skin from the seed casing still attached and it's keeping it from opening.
Should I be concerned?

Anyway here are the pics if I upload them correctly...

ER

DP Blue

DP Blue #2


Thanks Guys

 

[robwars]

Well it's day 11 from seed and everything seems ok except for a bit of yellow on my leaves.
My temp issues have been solved and the humidity issues seem to still peak out at 79% overnight which seems strange to me.
Every time I check it during the day the humidity is between 44% and 56% depending if the exhaust fan is on or not.
Seems strange to me but I do know that I have read that you don't want the humidity to go over 60% so I'm not sure how to fix this or why I'm getting those high spikes.
My PH meter has now been calibrated so my water is at 5.8 with a little help from my organic lemon juice.

Here are my concerns-
1- the yellowing of my leaves
2- the weird humidity spikes
3- when should I start feeding nutes
All they have had so far is a tsp of molasses per gallon in my new PH'd water. I watered yesterday with 2 gallons split up between the three plants.

Here are the gals

DP BB #1


DP BB#2


ER


I'd love some advice from you guys...
Thanks so much and happy growing to all

 

[robwars]

Anyone out there?
Should I get this thread moved to indoor growing?

 

[JM]

humidity should stay between 50-70% preferably around 60% for good mold resistance but still maintinging good transpiration... you need to do something to control it... dunno what your grow setup is... but even a bubbler of water (air bubbler like for fish tank) in front of your inlet might help get it up...

as far as yellowing that early... thats got to be a soil ph issue... you need to get a soil ph meter and find out what it is... or alternatively... water with ph neutral water until runoff... and catch the runoff and measure the ph of that... but it looks like its out... nd locking out nitrogen uptake

:smokebuds: hope this helps

JM

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