1st time grow having trouble diagnosing problems

[jdarrell321]

1st time grower, and poster here.

Lets begin with my general setup. I converted a mini fridge into a growbox. I have two small cpu fans bringing in fresh air and one 4 inch fan taking air out at 100 cfm. I am using the Roleandro 180w LED light as the only source of light its on for 18 off for 6 hours. I purchased northern lights autoflowering seeds and have one in the vegetative stage in a one gallon fabric pot using Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil. It has been in the grow box for 20 days now.

So here are my problems, 1.) my temperature was too high, it was running at 82 degrees (Fahrenheit) with the lights on and 68 with them off. I noticed the leaves curling up from heat stressed and have since been able to bring the temp down to 73 at the moment. This was done a few days ago. I think I have solved this problem but would like to know if the temp is ok at 73 high and 68 low.
2.) I have low humidity, around 25%. I have read higher humidity is good for the vegetative stage but dont know how to increase the humidity in such a small grow box.
3.) Here are the real problems. I thought it was time to start adding nutes on day 18 so I used Fox Farm Grow Big and used half the recommended dose about 3 tsp and I also added 1 tsp of Fox Farm Big Bloom to a gallon of water and fed the plant about 20% of the gallon. The next day my plant was WAY droopy. It perked back up when the light came on and now that the light is off it is dropping like crazy again. Did I do something wrong with the nutes?? Did I use too much??
4.) Last problem, slight leaf discoloration. From the time the first leaf developed I noticed some slight discoloration. The leaves had two shades of green, one was fairly darker and the other significantly lighter and it was in random patches on all of the leaves. I have tried to diagnose it as nutrient deficiency but it doesnt look like anything I have seen on these forums.

Please advise. i am attaching pics, with and without the flash, hopefully you guys and gals can help me diagnose my issues.

[furrysparkle]

On point 3 the plant will relax its leaves when it becomes their night cycle don't worry about that. But check the ph of your water you could have a magnesium deficiency. If it's below 6 your plant has a hard time absorbing mag.

http://www.growweedeasy.com/ph

[kingfish]

Stop feeding them. They are way too young unless you grow in CoCo. In regards to your list # 3. I don't think that the feeding instruction says to give your plant 6 tsp. of Grow Big and Big Bloom. I use Fox Farm exclusively and I interpret half as 1 tsp. for Grow Big and 1 tblsp Big Bloom.

[Green75]

really looks like bad ph...

[dgara]

jdarrel your problems look similar to mine. Go look at post SICK PUPPIES. I was given good advice. I think it can be a ph . Heres a picture of my leaves

[Masi808]

Ok so first off when rh is low plants take up more water and nutes amd that can lead to over watering and nute burn i think the temp is fine seeimg as alot of growers get by with temps as high as 85f with little heat stress only the terps that prouduce smell will be slighty affected at that temp and u can increase rh by misting the inside of the box with water or by placing damp cloths in the box
.
1.no more nutes
2.get rh stable at 55-70% for veg
3.light watering

[PigSquishy]

Oceanic Forest potting soil by Fox Farm should be plenty of nutes for a plant for at least 30-days, and I am not counting the plant in question being a seedling either... from a seedling I would hope to get 45-60 days out of the soil before I'd ever have to add the first nutes to it. One thing I really keep being drawn back to is the air movement inside your set up, an old fridge would seal up air tight nicely and that isn't something most people have. On one hand it's great if you want to run CO2, but the slick plastic walls and fabric pot, etc... all reminds me of the issues you can run into with moisture problems, lack of air circulation all leading up to molds and fungus that can grow as a result of less than adequate air movement and the environment you are growing in. Even just looking at a couple of your photos I wanted to ask if you see those lighter bits of spotting in person or just in the photos? The last time I saw something similar it took a week before white powdery mildew cover the plant top to bottom, and it only showed up as lighter blotches in the photos. Humidity levels can affect how a plant takes up Calcium, and that can lead to other nute issues I learned which is something a lot of people over look. I don't see the curling or twisting of the leaves which would tell me its a nute concentration issue, although I know well enough to know that you do not need to be feeding your plant yet either. Everything I keep seeing looking at your photos brings me to think a humidity issue and IF that what it is, then you will be hit with mold when you raise your humidity levels. An RH of less than >30% makes mold spores easy to spread like baby powder in the air and then once they get above <30% RH then they grow like mad fast and try to wipe out entire plants in a couple of days.

When it comes to the temps the general rule of thumb I have learned in all my years of gardening is simply, if you are comfortable at that temp so will your plants be, it has to be more than a number. Your plant should never be cooler than 10-degrees between day and night, on one hand the temps swings will help to bring out more colors for those strains which have the pretty colors, but to much of a temp swing can lead to increased harshness of the final yield. Temp swings can also have some major differences in the RH swings as well as I myself have personally witnessed, so don't forget to check the humidity (RH) at night as well as during the day as it can swing high or lower either time.

[dontknownuttin]

[Nartak]

Lmao!!!!

[Chubbs9879]

I had a similar problem with RH. I had no humidifier so I improvised and put a container of water in the room directly under the light and allowed natural evaporation to help with the RH. In a smaller space u may need to adopt this technique, usually you'll have to fill said container once every 2-3 days per gallon of water inside container. Hope that helps

[bobsakamoto]

jdarrell321 something that i have done to increase humidity that works well even in a small space is to get a towel of the appropriate size, so in your case i guess a dish towel, and to affix it to a clothes hanger (anything to keep it straight and even will do) with clothespins or clips. then hang that 3-4 inches in front of your intake fan. you'll want to stay and watch once you get it in place and get the fan on it cuz it will move.

try to get it just so that the fan blows across and through the towel. i have used this method to successfully raise humidity about 10-12% in my 4x6x8 space, using a reg/medium size fan and a bath towel or beach towel. don't make it oversaturated or dripping wet though because then you will burn your fan motor out. so you'll have to do like i said observe for a little bit to get it just right. hope that helps.

oh, and this also works well because once you get the towel hung up exactly where you want it you can then use a spray bottle to resaturate it. that way you don't have to keep moving things around (esp in your case of mini-fridge) and taking the towel in and out to re-wet it, etc.

[Potted]

U must get some air flow in &out to prevent mold from forming and killing them.PH very important , ease up on the nuts.its to soon for that. Good growing!

[Nartak]

I can't tell you what to do as i can't see what exactly the problem could be,haven't used all these soil companies,im in hydroton! One thing i can say is that you either have to lower your temps or raise your humidity!Since you are in leds i believe you can't really play with the lights to achieve that so i would go with leaving the fridge door open!As much as you need to get a balance!! Play with the room and the plants to get your results,there is no ONE SUPER WAY to do it,each plant has it's own character and attitude,damn it even changes along the way,one day she begs you to cut her and the next she's a ragin bull come at ya with all she got!!