Tokadacheeba

Hey everyone.
I just planted a batch of seeds in just topsoil.
The problem is the hot lights dry out the soil really bad and they turn clumpy. It's more like a buncha rocks in there than soil.
I try to water it every day but if i water it alot it turns into mud and any less than that and it dries out in 2 or 3 hours. any help on this topic would help thx.

__________________
Poke Smot.

St0ned Jeff

Greetings,

Personaly, I suggest germinating instead of throwing them in the dirt. That way you know you'll have progress. I'm not sure about having a lot of rocks in your soil. You want a good soil mixture. You can read more on that in other parts of the website. But onto your moisture problem... What size lights do you have? How close are they to the soil? Explain to me what your setup is, and I can be of some help I'm sure. Explain further.

__________________
Keep it Green! - "Knowledge is Power!"

Jeff

Tokadacheeba

Well this experience is from my first batch. The first batch i've ever planted and i've learned many mistakes that i've made.

For the batch i'm gonna have now i have a 3 foot by 3 foot by 4 foot growing area. I'm going to try to get a 400 watt hps bulb and assuming i have that, i'm just gonna tie the lights down from rafters in my attic and put 4 pots of 3 or 4 seeds in each under that, and i'm sure it'll get dry and rocky like it does now cause i have some weakass 70 watt bulbs in there that obviously emit enough heat to make the soil dry.
basically my question is would it hurt the unsprouted seeds in the week or two that it takes for them to sprout if i water the soil to the point where it gets a little muddy so that it wont dry out as fast.

__________________
Poke Smot.

KRON DOGGER

SOIL THAT GETS MUDDY AND CLUMPY IS NOT A GOOD SOIL. I WOULD TRANSPLANT THEM INTO A GOOD MITURE AS SOON AS THEY ROOT A LITTLE. AND FOR PREVENTING DRYING OF TOP SOIL, SPREAD SOME PEAT MOSS OVER THE MIXTURE.

Tokadacheeba

kthx

__________________
Poke Smot.

Mouseomatic

I would suggest finding somewhere else to grow - I'm guessing the 4 foot dimension is the height of your growspace. After you've put in the light, and the pots, you're going to be down to three foot at best, which doesn't give you a lot of room for maneuvre. You'll need to be able to raise and lower the lights, which won't be a problem to start with, but a cannabis plant can double or triple it's height when you enter the flowering stage depending on strain. It is possible to grow in an area that size, but especially seeing as this is your first grow, you're probably not experienced enough to pull it off. (Sorry. After a few grows that comment won't apply)
Look for a larger area or failing that, do some research into training techniques such as LST (look in the "ScrOG/SoG/Training techniques" forum)

As for germination, a simple method that works well is to put your seeds in a cup/bowl of water and keep it somewhere warm. The benefit of this over the plate & towel method is that the seeds won't dry out. Seeds don't need air to germinate.

Cheers,
Mouseomatic

__________________
Grows
Finished: First Grow - Nirvana Top 44 & Feminized Snow White

Training
myMuSICveins' LST guide
Nursery
Nursery Troubleshooting Guide | Glossary of Nutrient Deficiencies
Harvesting
Harvesting & Drying
Security
Ozone Gen | Homemade Air Filter | Another Ozone Gen

Marijuwana

sounds like you got your light source to close to the surface of the soil. that or the soil is poor which many have already helped you with here, adding perlite/peat to clumpy soil can really help condition it.. and the more you add the better..

I germinate by dropping the seed in the soil everytime, they usually pop up by day 3, 4 the latest. the trick is keeping the top layer of soil "moist" not wet or dry.. if you can do this they will germinate perfectly.. because thats all the seed needs to split, is a little moisture..

__________________

Welcome to gardenscure.com, where the homegrowers and responsible smokers interact

Work Hard, Party Harder

Tokadacheeba

I actually misinfored those dimensions. It's alot more maybe lke 7 or 8 feet but the rafters that i hang the light from are only abut 5 feet.
As for the soil i'm gonna go see if i can get some peat moss today.

__________________
Poke Smot.