First time grower here. This first time has been a huge learning experience. MANY miss-steps, but I think I'm somewhat on the right track now. I started a few bag seeds, of which only one survived ( faulty exhaust fan ended up getting my plants cooked). So I have the one survivor and 1 seedling I germinated last week left. I finally setup a "proper" rubber maid grow box, but for some reason or another, they just are growing at a snails pace.
They have a ton of light (300 actual watts of CFLs), placed within a few inches. I don't think I'm over watering them. I try to do it every 3-4 days, or if I stick my finger deep in the soil and nothing sticks to it. Temps are slightly below 80. There's a small fan oscillating in there. They are in Black Gold Potting Soil with a 20-30% pearlite mixture. No ferts or nutes. Soil and Water are pretty much dead on 7 PH.
My plant that survived getting slightly toasted walked away with a few yellow leaves. Since putting it into the new setup it's made quite a few new sets of leaves, but after 3 weeks (sprouted around the 1st of March) it's maybe 2 inches tall. Even though it's tiny, it's roots are really taking off. I had to put it into a bigger container because the roots were starting to grow out the bottom of the 4" peat pot. Which doesn't even really make sense to me.
The new seedling that sprouted about 10 days ago is JUST starting to grow it's 2nd set of true leaves.
I'm just at a loss here. I've been looking at pictures of week old plants that dwarf my 3 week old. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Two things that I think might be the cause: Low humidity, and the lights could be too close (plants have no need to stretch/grow? is that even a thing?). I really need something to measure the RH in the box, it doesn't feel moist at all when I open it up, and due to heat, I'm sure the exhaust fans pull a lot of the moist air out. I'll post some pics later of the plants and grow setup. Is there something that I could be doing horribly wrong here?
They have a ton of light (300 actual watts of CFLs), placed within a few inches. I don't think I'm over watering them. I try to do it every 3-4 days, or if I stick my finger deep in the soil and nothing sticks to it. Temps are slightly below 80. There's a small fan oscillating in there. They are in Black Gold Potting Soil with a 20-30% pearlite mixture. No ferts or nutes. Soil and Water are pretty much dead on 7 PH.
My plant that survived getting slightly toasted walked away with a few yellow leaves. Since putting it into the new setup it's made quite a few new sets of leaves, but after 3 weeks (sprouted around the 1st of March) it's maybe 2 inches tall. Even though it's tiny, it's roots are really taking off. I had to put it into a bigger container because the roots were starting to grow out the bottom of the 4" peat pot. Which doesn't even really make sense to me.
The new seedling that sprouted about 10 days ago is JUST starting to grow it's 2nd set of true leaves.
I'm just at a loss here. I've been looking at pictures of week old plants that dwarf my 3 week old. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Two things that I think might be the cause: Low humidity, and the lights could be too close (plants have no need to stretch/grow? is that even a thing?). I really need something to measure the RH in the box, it doesn't feel moist at all when I open it up, and due to heat, I'm sure the exhaust fans pull a lot of the moist air out. I'll post some pics later of the plants and grow setup. Is there something that I could be doing horribly wrong here?
ostpicsworthless: 
