First time grow. Need advice

[smoothstoner]

Hello, forum. This is my first post here. This web site has been very helpful when i was interested in the topic at first. Thanks for good info

One and a half weeks ago i planted three plants. Don't know the strain, found seeds in the bought and ready-to-use product. Decided to try growing for the first time from them. And now I've encountered a few problems.

The sides of leaves on one plant turned yellow and also i am a bit frightened of the white stuff on the sides of the pot. Could that be something that could potentially harm my precious plants? The problem with leaves i thought to be caused by too close light so yesterday i moved the lamp further from the plants. Also that could be caused by potential overpotting because i didn't have anything smaller to plant there. Also I'm a bit afraid to overwater especially because the pot is too big for the plants. Also can be because i don't check pH level in any way of the water i use. I get water from water cooler. Can that cause problems?

I would be very grateful for any responses. Thanks in advance everybody!

[Schmokin]

I see you've had no response yet. 10 days on and the plants must have developed a bit. How is it going?
Back off the lights a bit and make sure the roots dry out a bit between waterings. If you have to grow seedlings directly into a large pot then do not water the pot until run off. Just add a little water right into the root zone. Don't saturate all the soil. Over watering is the number one mistake we see on here.
The white dust gives a little cause for concern. It's some kind of mould. Clean it away and remove the soil around it. I wouldn't worry about it too much for now, but keep your eyes on it and make sure it doesn't spread.
When you are starting out a pH meter is a very handy piece of kit. You can get them fairly cheaply online. Once everything is dialled in nicely you won't tend to use it too much, but for setting up it will help you know what is going on.

[smoothstoner]

Thanks Schmokin for your responce.

The plants stopped developing for a bit and after I had to leave for 4-5 days and couldnt water them i noticed that they started to grow. They obviously don't look for their age (1 month now), but i'm actively making notes of what I did wrong And if these plants grow successfully, it would be a nice bonus.

The bottom leaves that were on the photos don't look healthy, but the new pairs replaced them. The plants look leggy, that's probably because i moved the lamp too far. Hope that now they are going to develop normally.

Thank you very much!

[Schmokin]

Hi there. Glad to see things are picking up a bit. I hadn't realised you have three to the same pot, you might need to separate them out as they will get a lot bigger than that.
What sort of lamp are you running. You may want to keep it a bit closer. Some air movement will help your stems to strengthen up too. Just a desk top oscillating fan to allow the plants to sway in the breeze. It is this action that causes plants to build up their stem strength.
Hang in there, once they get into their stride the growth can really take off.
What sort of soil mix are you using?