Getting leafier plants

It could just be that my babies are still young (day 34 of 12/12), but they seem to not have as many leaves as many of the ones I see here. This is my first grow and I'm super super new to this.
What is/are the top factors that affect leaf development?

Also, does the amount of leaves even matter? I've got some little buds growing and looking good for the age. But wouldn't more leaves make it easier for the plant to get more energy?

I appreciate any help you can give to this noob!

If you want bushier plants you need better lighting. What are you currently using? That first one look pretty stretchy. Too hard to tell on the second.

Are you growing 12/12 from seed as well?

suchajillweed said:

It could just be that my babies are still young (day 34 of 12/12), but they seem to not have as many leaves as many of the ones I see here. This is my first grow and I'm super super new to this.
What is/are the top factors that affect leaf development?

Also, does the amount of leaves even matter? I've got some little buds growing and looking good for the age. But wouldn't more leaves make it easier for the plant to get more energy?

I appreciate any help you can give to this noob!

Click to expand...

There are many factors that affect how many leaves a plant will produce.

Depends on pot size, light, etc.

From what I see those cups look to small to grow a plant. Also I suspect you are using CFL bulbs

You could transplant into larger pot size but this is not suggested once a plant start to flower

Get some good HID lights and transplant. Hopefully it won't stress the plant so much she will hermaphrodite on you

it could herm since its been stressed with improper lumens.,.,and small root space.,but u cant lose .,.,just make it smo0th sailing in the transplant and all should be well.,.,.,u need more light and to move the light within a couple inches from the top a the plant.,.,u dnt have many leaves because u dont got many nodes.,.,the plant is stretched.,.,.get a fan to streghnthen the stalk also and all should be all

Lights. Ok.
I am using a bare minimum light set up due to this being more of an experiment than a real grow. I have one full size (46 inches?) double tube fluro light, one 24 inch fluro grow light, and two 75wt cfls. I keep the tops 2-3 inches from the lights.
I was worrying that the lights might be the cause. And looks like that's been confirmed. Okie tokie, off to get some more I guess...
Thanks for your input, man. I am so thankful for all the insight I can get from others.

Have you always been using the same spectrum lights? Remember that for the veg period they need much more blue (cool) light, and they need much more red (warm) light when they flower...

I'd say that it's the combo of factors of size of pot and light... Also, what sort of soil are you using? A good Fox Farms' soil can't really be beat for my money... Also, if your plants start stretching like that, just cut the growing shoot (the very top of the plant) during veg and it'll bush out if the other sources of food are there (soil nutes and light).

But remember, DO NOT CUT THE TIP DURING FLOWERING... that'll just ruin your crop.

Let us know how you do

Wow, parallax!! Super helpful post!! I did not know that about the blue in veg and red in flower. I bet that's my problem right there. Yay, now I have a game plan. Going right now to improve things. Thanks so much! Rep'd ya!

For "blue" CFL's, look for those that say 6500k or so for the color temp. For flowering, 2700K cfl's are better, because they are more yellow/red.
It looks ot me like you've been going on 12/12 lighting from seed or very small sprout...because you don't normally see flowers on a plant that small otherwise. That, I'm sure, has something to do with it. A lot of the plant's energy is going into producing those flowers...it gets a choice between flowers or leaves. if you were given the choice between working out to get big muscles, or just going straight to having sex...I'm sure we all know which choice would be made...not much different for the plant.
Aside from that, the plants look okay...perhaps a bit of stretching, but the leaves look healthy and are nice and broad. I've never done 12/12 from seed myself, so I can't say whether it is extraordinary for that scenario or not.