are my seedlings stretching?

View attachment 2283874View attachment 2283875

this is my first grow and im sort of paranoid these are a bit taller then what they should be,
im using 23 watt cfl plants are probably inch or more away from light. They are about 5 or 6 days old.
if any one could tell me if my babies are a normal length it would be great so i can adjust my setup.
Thank you in advance

Shagg

Not really but with 23w they could, run it 24/7 and small fan.

yeah 23w of cfl is only going to be enough for a week then they going to need more, I have a small computer fan in my grow box which works quite well. cheers for the reply dude

Shagg

what 23w is it a 5000-6500? you can do it with one light but it has to be the right spectrum and it has to be close

once the leaves start popping out just replant it but lower

its a cool white 1250 lumens, i might just buy bulk cfls and just have like 10.
For good peace of mind haha.

Shagg

They look good, shorter than my seedlings were. A tip for you, when you re-pot them, leave about 2-3 inches from the top of the pot when filling with your medium. This later allows you to top the plants up without transplanting if they get a little bit lanky, and you are worried they may get a bit top heavy when they first start to bush out. I recently did this for mine and they are doing well. A lot more stable with one that had a very sudden growth spurt and produced a mass of leaves in a week. Being my strongest plant i didnt want it to topple.

yeah bro thats a good idea, il be sure to keep that in mind. when do you think il need to transplant mine to separate pots?
I mist mine plenty and have the fan blowing air over them to keep the stem strong

Shagg

Be careful of misting. People think this is a good idea, it is not. Water on the leaves does 2 things. It causes scorching when using HID lights (CFLs less of a problem but no sense getting into bad habits) and also you will suffocate the plant. Each leaf breathes, it needs a constant supply of CO2 and if it is wet, it doesnt get as much of that needed CO2.

When watering your plants, water only the soil, underneath the lowest leaves. Humidity is very important, but not at the cost of spraying your plant. For seedlings, use a propagator, or a dome over the pot. It keeps the humidity high but without beading water on the leaves. Remember seedlings only have 2-4 leaves, and these are its lifeline. Heated propagators are very cheap. I got mine for £15. Getting humidity in a closet or tent under HID's is easy, very easy. Simply keep a steady temp of 25 degrees C and normally the humidity fixes itself. If it drops, i just stick a bucket of water in there and the light evaporates it for me, raising the humidity. Simple. Just make sure your temps dont drop.

Humid and cold = mould.
Humid and hot = pot!

I made the mistake of potting up too early. I would wait until you have 4-8 true leaves (not including the rounded starting leaves) which is about 2-4 nodes. Be prepared for your babies to stop growing for weeks while they explore their new pot and build roots. Dont use any nutes until you have at least 8 leaves (4 nodes), and bring them into it slowly. 0.25 EC increase per week is a good pace. Rain water is about 0.6 EC on its own, so in 4 weeks you will be at a good level. But only start nuting when you start to see a change in growth rate from extremely slow to a faster paced growth after transplanting for the first time.

Just remember, you will make a bucket load of mistakes, we all do, so take it slow, take it easy, and dont rush your babies. You are not going to get from seed to harvest in 12 weeks on your first try. May take 18 weeks, but your second time round will be quicker, you will know more, specially how your strain responds to certain things, and you will start to become an experienced grower.

Good luck buddy, the first 2 months are always the most stressful =)

Green Troll,

thanks heaps for all the advice dude, its people like yourself that make this forum work
But wont their roots get tangled if i leave them in that same container till their 4th set of leaves?

many thanks and much respect

Shagg

Looks ok, I've seen much worse. Get the light closer.

And quit misting, it can create as many issues as it can help with.

alright will do,
what about the transplant situation, will their roots get tangled if i leave them much longer?

Shagg

This is how a plant receives water and nutes. THEY COME UP FROM THE ROOTS.. There is no return at all. Meaning, that in order to bring up more water and nutes, the plant literally has to sweat off what it doesn't use in building new cell growth.. I have never in my life ever seen somebody suggest not misting a plant. This is a must.. Not everyday but at least weekly for indoor plants. Just as rain cleans the ability for a plant to sweat more by washing off the plant of dust, pollen and a myriad of other things, misting is essential indoors as well.. All these things can lead to a inability of you plant to perspire.. And you want to talk about burning a plant? Ya there you go.. JEEZ!!

They look good !

alley.walker said:

This is how a plant receives water and nutes. THEY COME UP FROM THE ROOTS.. There is no return at all. Meaning, that in order to bring up more water and nutes, the plant literally has to sweat off what it doesn't use in building new cell growth.. I have never in my life ever seen somebody suggest not misting a plant. This is a must.. Not everyday but at least weekly for indoor plants. Just as rain cleans the ability for a plant to sweat more by washing off the plant of dust, pollen and a myriad of other things, misting is essential indoors as well.. All these things can lead to a inability of you plant to perspire.. And you want to talk about burning a plant? Ya there you go.. JEEZ!!

Click to expand...

http://www.growingmarijuana.com/misting-plants.php

As this website advises, misting can be risky and is pretty much for pro growers. Our man here said it is his first grow. I would hardly recommend it. Besides, his plant doesnt look dry or dusty to me, he doesnt need to mist.

Anyway, as far as roots go, when the plant becomes pot bound, it will stop growing. If it continues to get bigger each week, the roots still have room to grow. With only having 4 leaves, your roots will still be growing a lot. So long as you are not growing it in something the size of a shot glass, you will be fine =)