First grow - Day 11 - issues?

[Rougarou]

Hey people. First grow. I need some advice, as I have been unable to find the answer myself. I bolded my questions. Here's the technical specs.

A. 1x Afghan Kush x Skunk (f) - rear left
B. 1x El Nino (f) - rear right (That leaf absolutely wants to be in that position. It won that battle.)
C. 1x Bubblelicious (f) front left
D. 1x Nemesis (f) front right

Cab: 48"w x 20"d x 72"h
Lights: 4x 6500k 23w CFL initially, then 400w cooltube mh/hps
ventilation 410 cfm inline fan + carbon scrubber + fan controller
Soil: Ferti-lome Ultimate Potting mix
Nutes: FF Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom (haven't fed them yet)

Seeds were planted using the paper towel method. the Bubblelicious and the Nemesis almost didn't make it. The seed husk popped off but left a thin silvery membrane that dried out and prevented the cotyledons from opening fully. They have a week less grow time than the other two. After watching the Afghan and El Nino get bigger I could wait no more. I had to very gently extricate those little leaves with a scalpel and tweezers. They look like they're doing OK, but if you look closely the center of the two smaller seedlings have developed a yellow tinge compared to the leaf tips. Thoughts?

Additionally, the soil surface of one of the smaller ones (D) has developed a bright green, almost iridescent "dusting" to it. I watered them 2 days ago. Is this algae?

Lastly, if you look at the seedling (B) on the rear left you'll see a big blotch on the leaf. I had originally thought that was a light burn, as I had the CFL's 1-1.5" away from the bulb. However, I am beginning to think that it may be nutrient deficient, as that one is 2 weeks old and my little soil kit says that the only thing my soil has lots of is Nitrogen. Everything else is deficient. Should I start feeding a 1/2 strength solution of Grow Big to those two larger plants? edited to add: that blotch showed up full sized,overnight, right after a light cycle. -fyi.
Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Milkyway]

too much of a noob to be of much help, but to answer your second question, yeah it would be algae.

 

[shererpain]

Do you have any drainage from the beer cups? they look a little ... bloated

 

[Hydro-Soil]

What kind of water are you using?

They look slightly over-watered but very healthy overall.
Gratz on your successful operation.... doctor. LOL

Keep reading massively... every hour spent reading probably saves 100 hours of pulling your hair out. LOL

Stay Safe!

 

[Reg Dixon]

Hey people. First grow. I need some advice, as I have been unable to find the answer myself. I bolded my questions. Here's the technical specs.

A. 1x Afghan Kush x Skunk (f) - rear left
B. 1x El Nino (f) - rear right (That leaf absolutely wants to be in that position. It won that battle.)
C. 1x Bubblelicious (f) front left
D. 1x Nemesis (f) front right

Cab: 48"w x 20"d x 72"h
Lights: 4x 6500k 23w CFL initially, then 400w cooltube mh/hps
ventilation 410 cfm inline fan + carbon scrubber + fan controller
Soil: Ferti-lome Ultimate Potting mix
Nutes: FF Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom (haven't fed them yet)



Lastly, if you look at the seedling (B) on the rear left you'll see a big blotch on the leaf. I had originally thought that was a light burn, as I had the CFL's 1-1.5" away from the bulb. However, I am beginning to think that it may be nutrient deficient, as that one is 2 weeks old and my little soil kit says that the only thing my soil has lots of is Nitrogen. Everything else is deficient. Should I start feeding a 1/2 strength solution of Grow Big to those two larger plants? edited to add: that blotch showed up full sized,overnight, right after a light cycle. -fyi.
Your help is greatly appreciated!

Your plants look great. Don't worry about them too much. Just try and get the basics right and the rest will follow.

I have just about finished a Blue Widow and early in veg it developed a leaf similar to your seedling B.

At the time I put it down to CFL burn as I keep the CFL's very close to the plants. The leaf started like yours then darkened in the 'burnt' spot. At this time I merely cut off the dead portion of the leaf and the plant carried on very nicely.

I did nothing different except to be a little more careful with my CFL's placement. You see it is all very well having CFL's 1 inch away but when young plants grow a lot in a short space of time they can easily get burnt.

Finally be very very careful about spotting what you think is a minor symptom of deficiency then 'curing' it. I did the same thing with my 1st grow and this happened -

 

[Rougarou]

I don't think they're overwatered. Since April 12 I've only watered the cups once. I waited til the cups got real light. There's drainage holes in the bottom of the cups, too.

Thanks for the advice. I'll just carry on as before, then. How much bigger should I let the smaller ones get before I fire up the big lamp?

 

[h.h.]

Nothing was dripped on the leaf? It looks like an isolated incident.
Possibly a light burn. You should be using 6500k CFL's for veg. It's the best light spectrum plus they don't get hot.
If you have good soil and good drainage, don't fuck with them.
Deficiencies show up more in the veins or the tips. Tops turn yellow, that sort of thing. It's systematic. Generally there should be more of a pattern.
There's a good sticky somewhere here with pictures of plants with various deficiencies. Study them, otherwise you're just shooting in the dark, which is only really good for hand grenades and making babies.

 

[Rougarou]

Bleh i had a nice long post addressing all the questions/comments and my Droid ate my response. O well.

1st watering - water ph 6.6 runoff ph 5.5 (i had dosed the tap water with pH Down)
2nd watering - plain dechlorinated tap water, pH 7.3, runoff 6.4.
Someone at the water treatment plant pulled their head out of their own nether regions and fixed the water. Im not using RO water at the moment because i dropped almost a grand on the cab and my other plants (corn, watermelon, and tomatoes) seem to like the tap water just fine.

H.h i am using 4x 6500k CFLs.

Are the plants themselves showing signs of overwatering? Reason i ask is that the soil is already almost black right out of the bag. It doesn't change color until the soil is so dry its cracking. I have been using the weight test and a toothpick to test the moisture content of buried soil.

 

[Reg Dixon]

have been using the weight test and a toothpick to test the moisture content of buried soil.

What is the toothpick test?

 

[oneshot]

You're worrying too much You are doing fine IMO. That yellowing looks totally isolated and not affecting the plant. Probably just a minor heat burn or water dripped on it.

No big deal, you're doing great. I don't see anything to 'fix' with your current plants. New growth will always be a much lighter green in the center.

 

[Rougarou]

Thanks guys. That splotch hasn't grown at all so I guess that 1" was too close. The light never touched the bulb as far as I saw. *shrug*

I didn't know that about the lighter green on new growth. I did water the two biggest ones about 5 minutes ago. The cups felt significantly lighter than the two smaller plants and they were all last watered on the same day.

This soil seems like it drains really well.

Reg Dixon: toothpick test, just like a cake. Stick toothpick into soil, if it sticks its still wet. You'll still get some dried particles stuck to it but it's real easy to see if its dry/dirty as opposed to muddy/dirty.