Plants not growing?

[Straight Sativa]

how close are your lights? it looks like your plants are stretching.

With our old set up they were maybe 5 to 6 inches away from tops of the plants. Yesterday we switched around the whole set up and positioned the lights directly above the plants, and by the way we are now using CFL's only and trashed the incandescents. Hopefully I can get some new pics up by tonight.

 

[Mysticlown150]

With our old set up they were maybe 5 to 6 inches away from tops of the plants. Yesterday we switched around the whole set up and positioned the lights directly above the plants, and by the way we are now using CFL's only and trashed the incandescents. Hopefully I can get some new pics up by tonight.

Good man, and good luck you should be ok now.

 

[Straight Sativa]

I'd go with 26W or 42W. You can usually find those in 3-packs for like $7 or $8. Get one pack of daylight (6500K) bulbs and one pack of soft white (2700K) bulbs. Look around while you're there for some Y splitters. they screw into the light bulb socket and allow you to put two bulbs in one fixture. $2-$3 each. Now you've got around 250W (if you went with the 42W bulbs) for like, $30. Once your ladies start flowering, I'd go pick up another 3-pack of 2700K bulbs and switch those out with the 6500K.

Yesterday we picked up 2 30W CFL's (150W eq. I believe) and altogether we have 2 14W's, 1 26W and the 2 30W's. I'll have to double check wether these are daylight or soft white that we're using but, just to make it clear you would recommend switching to all soft white once our plants start to flower? I was under the impression that stronger lights would be the best way to go once they hit flowering.

 

[doobnVA]

Yesterday we picked up 2 30W CFL's (150W eq. I believe) and altogether we have 2 14W's, 1 26W and the 2 30W's. I'll have to double check wether these are daylight or soft white that we're using but, just to make it clear you would recommend switching to all soft white once our plants start to flower? I was under the impression that stronger lights would be the best way to go once they hit flowering.

For flowering you want 2700K bulbs. The are sold as "soft white". For vegetative growth you want something along the lines of 5000k to 6500k, which are sold as "bright white" or "daylight". A combination of the two is good, also, but for flowering you definitely want to have more 2700k bulbs than 6500k.

 

[fried at 420]

Yea go 2 stop n shop n they have big selection of cfls i found sum there for 5 bux a piece they were 100 watt equivilants so they are really 23 watts they give off bright ligh i had 1 in candescent light not on the plants but just for heat

 

[skunkman98536]

its not all about watts either man, u have to look at the lumen output.. there are some cheap cfls out there that are 26w and dont put out the same lumens are a GE 26w. u justhave to pay attention to things like that.

 

[heyitssix]

its not all about watts either man, u have to look at the lumen output.. there are some cheap cfls out there that are 26w and dont put out the same lumens are a GE 26w. u justhave to pay attention to things like that.

Yeah I think we have the rights lights, were going to set up a more permanent arrangement today and we'll put up some pics. I'm having higher hopes for them now. The only problem I see with one of them now is the stem is beginning to have a red color in it, I can't imagine that's good, this a common problem? I'll post pics of it when I go over there.

 

[litljohn]

Yeah I think we have the rights lights, were going to set up a more permanent arrangement today and we'll put up some pics. I'm having higher hopes for them now. The only problem I see with one of them now is the stem is beginning to have a red color in it, I can't imagine that's good, this a common problem? I'll post pics of it when I go over there.

when stems get older they turn a little red,has the plants started to harden off yet?if not then the red will go away when it hardens off and the stalk gets thicker.

 

[heyitssix]

when stems get older they turn a little red,has the plants started to harden off yet?if not then the red will go away when it hardens off and the stalk gets thicker.

ohh ok, that's reassuring. no they have not started to harden yet. this has been one of my main concerns throughout the grow, because 3 of the 4 of them are just too lanky to be able to support any kind of bud.
the seed bank we got them from (nirvana) boasts flowering after 44 days from seed, and with the plants averaging an age of 29 days, we are nearing that time frame.

 

[litljohn]

ohh ok, that's reassuring. no they have not started to harden yet. this has been one of my main concerns throughout the grow, because 3 of the 4 of them are just too lanky to be able to support any kind of bud.
the seed bank we got them from (nirvana) boasts flowering after 44 days from seed, and with the plants averaging an age of 29 days, we are nearing that time frame.

do you have a fan blowing on them,this will help make the stems thicker.if they dont get big anough to support the buds then you canjust use stakes to help the plant stay up.

 

[heyitssix]

do you have a fan blowing on them,this will help make the stems thicker.if they dont get big anough to support the buds then you canjust use stakes to help the plant stay up.

Yeah we have a fan on them a little, i was not sure how much wind on them would be TOO much.
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[BluClouds]

Walgreens has 30w CFLs with 2050 lumens for 4.99 each. It's where I got mine I think its a pretty good deal.

 

[skunkman98536]

good, nice to know that u got the right CFLs man!

Have noticed any difference with your apperance of ur plant yet?

 

[GrimReefa]

those are funny,did u at least read up 1st before buying seeds???,wrong light, wrong temps, wrong pots, wrong height oflight, there just wrong, go read up then invest mate,good luck

 

[GrimReefa]

aww they not as bad as i said, i just see the lanky one, if u just hti them with correct lumens, and nice spectrum they should go well as there really young, and get that fan blowing on em constantly toughen em up, my plants always get blown HARD, the stems are strong for big buds i gonna grow

 

[heyitssix]

yeah i have noticed a little difference in them during the 2 or 3 days we have had the correct lights. we had a very half-assed set up during those days too (too stoned perhaps), but now that everything is in place I'm expecting to see great improvements over the course of the week.

we will continue to keep the fan blowing on them then, I appreciate all of your help, we'll keep you posted on babies' progress

 

[heyitssix]

I think I finally found our problem! While I was transplanting one into a different pot I found that the bottom 6 inches of the bucket was a huge puddle. We never took into consideration that they would need to be flushed eventually. We switched two of them into new pots with new soil, and stabbed holes in the bottoms of the other two buckets, they immediatly started dripping excess water. I am hoping that we finally found our solution as to why the plants weren't getting any larger. Now that I think of it they do have the "droopy" characteristics of a plant that's been watered too much, Now we just have to wait and see what happens...

 

[doobnVA]

I think I finally found our problem! While I was transplanting one into a different pot I found that the bottom 6 inches of the bucket was a huge puddle. We never took into consideration that they would need to be flushed eventually. We switched two of them into new pots with new soil, and stabbed holes in the bottoms of the other two buckets, they immediatly started dripping excess water. I am hoping that we finally found our solution as to why the plants weren't getting any larger. Now that I think of it they do have the "droopy" characteristics of a plant that's been watered too much, Now we just have to wait and see what happens...

Well, I wouldn't say that overwatering was the "whole" problem. I mean, you were using incandescent lights for pete's sake! That was your main problem, I'd say. The lack of drainage certainly couldn't have helped, though.

Just FYI, "flushing" is a completely different process than simply allowing your pots to drain. Your pots should ALWAYS have drainage holes, otherwise water just sits in the bottom of the pot (like what you found in your pots) and can cause the roots to rot and all sorts of other nasty things to happen. I'm glad you guys are on the right track now.

I wouldn't be concerned about the timeline that came with your seeds. Your plants are so seriously stunted and have been through so much that there's no way they'll reach maturity in 29 days. If I were you, I'd start counting the days at the point where you guys got your shit together and gave those plants a fighting chance. In other words, today =)

 

[if.I.grow.it.theywillcome]

WOW! i thought my first grow was bad.... but we all learn some how....and some lessons in life are harder to learn than others. first of all when you start growing you have a little seed with a little root. so it needs little water and a very small place to start rooting. if you had them in 5 gallon buckets the plant will never grow because it will run out of energy trying to root. or it will grow very slowly....like yours. and everyone else had said everything else. about the lights and so on. but just remember that plants grow outside with just earth, sun light, water and the nuits in the ground. so if you can replicate these inside your plants will grow nicely. but good luck to you gents and i hope you get what you are looking for.