150 watt hps grow with Northen Lights 7 WEEKS

[silverhaze20]

Ok so what I have here is a seed from northern lights bag I happened to find, when we started it, my buddy had put aluminum foil surrounding it. I told him to take it off and he slices the plant in half! well we put a twisty tie next to to make it stand and look where we are now!! i even recently split the two main colas where it was topped, right down the stem! Put a twisty tie on it and its fine. The only problem with this is that we are 3 weeks into flowering, it didnt start showing hairs till about a week and a half ago. Im looking at other plants that have plenty more buds forming at 3 weeks. is this really considered the 1st week into flowering then?

BTW the grow is being used with a 150 watt hps with a cfl plant light on the side
60 % perlite, 40 %soil, and 10% earthworm castings.

 

[Joker209]

I would have to say no they don't look right but then again it all depends on the strain and weather its a sativa/indica. I would say it looks like your light was too far away during vegging and your plant stretched. This looks like (judging by the pictures) a sativa that is very stretched and possibly in shock. Do you use nutes? If you use nutes, what nutes are you using and how much of each to how many parts of water? What is the strain and posting a couple more pictures showing the lights and set up a little better may help in determining what is going on. Lights, nutes, temp, ventillation, watering, and circulation are what will determine your yield and progress. My plants are (from seed) about 3 weeks old and are bushier than that. Usually a good sign of light "neglect" is how far appart the nodes are. The closer the nodes are to eachother the better the yield will be. Post a little more information and a few more pictures.

EDIT: I just re-read what you wrote and noticed the strain was northern lights. Northern lights is usually much much bushier than that so yea I would definitely have to say it is lacking something. Check the PH also if you have a ph checker.

 

[silverhaze20]

okay so i have a gallon of tap water, with 15 ml of grow,bloom, and honey carb from humbolt nutrients, i have strips, what should it read?

 

[Joker209]

The PH should stay between 5.5 and 6.5 to get the best results. After testing the ph on the mixed solution check to see if its too high or if its too low. Chances are you are stunting the growth with a high ph. If the ph is too high (this tends to happen quite frequently) just add a few drops in lemon or lime or vinagar. That should be sufficient to bring it down a little bit and retest until you get it close enough to where you want it. Let me know if that helps.

EDIT: I just looked at the pics (sorry should have already done that) and it looks like your light is a bit high. I personally would bring that down about 12". Before you do that though use a measuring tape and find out exactly how far away the top light is.

2nd EDIT:

okay so i have a gallon of tap water, with 15 ml of grow,bloom, and honey carb

Although I am still somewhat new to using nutes this seems like a high amount of nutes to be adding. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on that. I believe it should be around 3.5ml of nutes to a gallon of water. *Please if I'm wrong on this point it out*

 

[silverhaze20]

The PH should stay between 5.5 and 6.5 to get the best results. After testing the ph on the mixed solution check to see if its too high or if its too low. Chances are you are stunting the growth with a high ph. If the ph is too high (this tends to happen quite frequently) just add a few drops in lemon or lime or vinagar. That should be sufficient to bring it down a little bit and retest until you get it close enough to where you want it. Let me know if that helps.

okay my bad they are drops, but the nutrients make the water so dark that it looks like the ph is at 5 which wouldnt make since would it? i know that the ph of our tap water is 6.5 - 7

 

[Joker209]

okay my bad they are drops, but the nutrients make the water so dark that it looks like the ph is at 5 which wouldnt make since would it? i know that the ph of our tap water is 6.5 - 7

No that doesn't sound right. If you can afford it I would highly recommend going to the nearest hydro store and picking up a "General Hydroponics Ph Tester" It is a dropper bottle and depending on weather you get just the drops and vial or the complete they run about $5 (drops and vial) to $20 (complete) the complete comes with a Ph down and a Ph up and those tend to help. My water is from a well so my plants get a shit load of nutrients you wouldn't normally find in tap and it has no chlorine so that's also a plus.

 

[Joker209]

General Hydroponics Ph Tester Complete
http://www.nexternal.com/tbt/images/24439_GH_ph_test_kit.jpg
General Hydroponics Ph Tester
http://www.plantitearth.com/store/images/large/gh_ph_test_kit.jpg

 

[silverhaze20]

No that doesn't sound right. If you can afford it I would highly recommend going to the nearest hydro store and picking up a "General Hydroponics Ph Tester" It is a dropper bottle and depending on weather you get just the drops and vial or the complete they run about $5 (drops and vial) to $20 (complete) the complete comes with a Ph down and a Ph up and those tend to help. My water is from a well so my plants get a shit load of nutrients you wouldn't normally find in tap and it has no chlorine so that's also a plus.

well i dont have ph up, but i have down, how much over 6.5 do u think it could be? do the nutrients make it go up or down?

 

[Joker209]

well i dont have ph up, but i have down, how much over 6.5 do u think it could be? do the nutrients make it go up or down?

Nutes usually bring the Ph up. Over 6.5? I wouldn't personally go over 6.5 but for a soil grow I would say 7.0 is the max you want for a prolonged period of time. I do my Ph to 6.5 with nutes and plain water to 6.0 on a soil grow. How often do you water?

 

[silverhaze20]

Nutes usually bring the Ph up. Over 6.5? I wouldn't personally go over 6.5 but for a soil grow I would say 7.0 is the max you want for a prolonged period of time. I do my Ph to 6.5 with nutes and plain water to 6.0 on a soil grow. How often do you water?

i was watering about 4 times a day, now im down to twice a day, its usually about 24 ounces of water each feed....ALSO note the this is 60 percent perlite also

 

[Joker209]

i was watering about 4 times a day, now im down to twice a day, its usually about 24 ounces of water each feed....ALSO note the this is 60 percent perlite also

WHOA!! Try to let the soil sit unwatered for 1-2 days then water thoroughly. Allowing the soil to dry is a good idea so it can get plenty of oxygen to the roots which stimulate growth. I water my 16 plants 2 times a week. No more unless they are showing signs of thirst.

I would say try cutting the nutes in half and watering every other day or even every 3 days. You should see an improvement. Do you have fans on your plant?

 

[Keenly]

if your at seven weeks and your plant is only that big something is wrong for sure

 

[magowner]

also when you water that often you create a good home for fungus gnats

 

[Joker209]

also when you water that often you create a good home for fungus gnats

Not trying to correct you but fungus won't be his biggest problem with that much over watering. Over watering that bad will cause suffocation and lead to the plant dying. Fungus can be killed pretty easy by adding just a little H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) when watering. I heard vinegar can kill fungus and some other pests but not sure how strong to mix that to not harm your plant.
No offense and don't take it as me trying to correct you. Just trying to help.

 

[Joker209]

I gotta take off and do my Christmas thing so I'll be back tonight to check on progress. Hope things go well for you and Merry Christmas everyone. Rep accordingly

 

[Topo]

To me, those plants look stretched for light. Make the most of it at this point.

 

[silverhaze20]

WHOA!! Try to let the soil sit unwatered for 1-2 days then water thoroughly. Allowing the soil to dry is a good idea so it can get plenty of oxygen to the roots which stimulate growth. I water my 16 plants 2 times a week. No more unless they are showing signs of thirst.

I would say try cutting the nutes in half and watering every other day or even every 3 days. You should see an improvement. Do you have fans on your plant?

yes i have a fan, and the leaves never show signs of nute burn or overwatering signs, sometimes they start to get alittle dry on the edges

 

[Joker209]

yes i have a fan, and the leaves never show signs of nute burn or overwatering signs, sometimes they start to get alittle dry on the edges

The dry edges are a sign of over watering also. If the plant seems like it isn't getting enough water, it's because it's getting too much water and not getting enough oxygen.

Give it a try for a few days and see if it helps. Water 1 day and skip 1 or 2 days to let the soil dry out and then water thoroughly. They are a bit stretched and you might as well try what you can to get what you can out of your grow so in my personal opinion I would say try almost anything. Your plants though Just trying to help

 

[HigherLearning420]

joker gave you some decent info for the most part. heres what you do buddy, take that hps and put it about 4 inches from your plants. that is a 5 gallon bucket so give it about 2 or 3 liters of water every few days(i usually stick my finger about an inch or two in the soil to see the dryness. pinch your MAIN STEM at about every other node to the point where you hear a crack. this is damaging the cytoplasm and will make the plant grow stronger fatter stems which will make ur growth more robust...and finally the big step...REVERT HER BACK TO VEG! from the looks of her progress, it is not too late to have her go back into veg and get some real size and leaves on her. she should not hermie, although she may start to grow some weird leaves, she should be fine. hope this helps

 

[HigherLearning420]

forgot to mention this, but revert her back to veg and let her veg a couple weeks before you start the stem pinching, as i dont want you to stress it too much all at the same time