Hello! I’m new here. It’s my first time growing auto flowering plants and most of them have died before they get their second or third set of leaves. I’m using ocean forest and happy frog soil and planting them straight in their forever pots. I put the seedlings in coco coir so they don’t get burnt. Reading through these forums I think it might be a lighting issue, but I’m not sure. So I started some more seeds and put them in a small container with coco coir and will transplant them when ready. I moved the little containers to the window sill because of the grow lights being high which I need for my bigger regular plants. I don’t use a grow tent. If someone could help, that would be great. Thank you!
Welcome to the forum.
Your plants are stretching to try to find better lighting. You need more lighting. Cannabis is a very light hungry plant. What are you using to light them?
The most common cause of seedling loss is overwatering.
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Here’s what I do, and it’s simple. Get some fox farm happy frog soil, and solo cups. Fill a cup with soil, and moisten the soil. Plant the seed directly into the soil (not very deep), spray a little water on it to settle the seed, and stick a baggie over the top to make a little greenhouse. Keep it warm, and it should break ground in about 3 or 4 days. Stick it under your light on low power, and don’t water until dry. When the leaves get as wide as the cup, transplant into a 3 or 5 gal fabric pot of happy frog mixed with perlite and fox farm fruit and flower 4-9-3 per the instructions on the package. Then top dress with the fruit and flower after about 6 weeks. Then once a month after that if necessary, and that’s it other than ph’ing your water. I also mix some worm castings in when I’m filling my pots. Good luck.
Thank you. I have two lights but not sure of the specs on each. Will moving them to the window sill help? I can’t lower the lights because I have bigger plants that need them too.
Thank you!
That^
Lighting is the most essential and expensive. Spider farmer is a good entry level light
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You can’t really share lighting with other plants. Lighting is probably the single most important factor for a productive grow. Cannabis needs approximately 200w of quality, full spectrum lighting per plant in flower.
A window doesn’t let through good portions the spectrum of light that cannabis needs to grow. A window isn’t going to help much.
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Thank you. I just ordered another light. Should be here in a few days.
We can help you make a good light selection. There are a lot of products out there that won’t effectively flower cannabis, including products that claim to be good for cannabis (but aren’t.)
More of bad lighting isn’t going to help much.
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Lol, right. So what I need is a floor standing lamp. Which one do you recommend? Thank you!
It won’t help at all. Cannabis needs a LOT of light. I suggest using the search feature on the site here to search of LED lighting for cannabis.
A couple of important points:
If the shade of the light is purple, it isn’t a good light.
If a light has an integrated fan, it isn’t a good light.
The best cannabis lights (LED) are built using Samsung LM301 series LEDs (diodes.)
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Find something in the hlg line. I bought an hlg 350r that’s doing a great job in a 2x4 tent.
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@ganjagrandma What they said. You won’t be happy until your ladies get a good light. It is well worth it.
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Thank you. I’m looking them up and they’re the hanging type which I can’t use. My house is old with plaster walls and it’s near impossible to find studs.
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You should be able tape measure 16" from wall edge found studs every 16" shouĺd be studs
Maybe you can build some kind of a frame out of 2x4’s or something to hang it.
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You need a grow tent. They come in many sizes. 2.3m x 2.3m is enough space for a single plant. I just grew this plant under a 100w ts1000 from mars hydro. Its a very inexpensive light and tent. You wont get EARTH SHATTTERING bud size or density, but you will get weed.
HLG is a good company with good lights but you will pay more then I believe to be reasonable. Others will now jump in and defend HLG…Im not bashing them, love stuff made in USA and all that, I just know not everyone has a few extra hundred for the same wattage of lights from china.
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I also grew one plant under a Mars TS-100. But this grow I upgraded my lights with one that didn’t cost all that much more - green-beams(dot)com. 240w high quality light for $179 + $17 shipping, and it’s assembled in the USA and shipped in about 4 days. I ended up with two of them b/c I was growing 5 plants.
Also: Do you have something you can set your babies on so they can be raised closer to the lights until you settle the situation? If you can’t lower the lights, raise the plants. Had to do that this grow b/c they were all different heights.
LSD auto “Lucy” - my glitterbomb girl, grown under TS-1000
GG4 auto “Slowpoke” last of my current grow, growing under Green-Beams 240. Her buds are getting ridiculously huge.
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I have helped rebuild homes and let me tell you, the so called 16” distance between studs is a hit and miss. Hell my walls to my room has no insulation, dry wall and forget about finding studs.
I have seen studs be 10” all the way to 24”. You just never know.
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Don’t know about your building codes, but I’ve discovered that outside walls are 6" thick. And they don’t use 2x6 studs! Every second stud is flush with inside wall, and every 2nd flush with outside. Have a shit-ton of holes at 16" centers trying to find the next stud only to realize that they are effectively 32" centers! There’s a 2" gap between the drywall and the stud every 2nd stud.
Easiest way to find the first one is look at your electric plugs and switches…they are attached to studs on one side or the other. If you are competent, confident and careful, you can take the plate off and see which side is attached to the stud.
But ya, put the seedlings on a pedestal for now.
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