how am i doin? first grow ever. pics/info

Hey everyone i am brand new here. This is my first attempt to grow ever. This is just a bagseed that i have planted as sort of a trial/error before i plant expensive seeds. Anyways was just wondering if you could let me know how its looking. It has been about 2 weeks maybe even a bit shorter since the seed first poked through the soil. Heres what i'm using:

-I am using 100w cfls inside a nightstand with a door. The entire inside is lined with white lining and there are 2 intake and 2 exhaust fans.

-I mixed my own soil using sphagnum peat moss, perlite, and top soil. I will be using organic plant food, however I did not use this right away. The seed was started in Jiffy cups with jiffy seed starting mix, then transplanted into my own mixture. I did not add any plant food until after the cotyledons had completely turned yellow and dried up, at which point i mixed very little of my 7-1-2 into the top half inch or so of soil.

-Watering has been done only when the soil feels dry. I am using distilled water and my soils ph level is at about 7

-Lighting is currently set to 18 hours on and 6 off. The CFL's are about 2-3 inches from the top. Temperature seems pretty good. Steady at about room temperature since the fans are providing constant fresh air.

So far there are the first 2 sets of true leaves, then 4 more coming out diagonally from the corners of the first 2 sets, and now since a couple days ago 2 tiny leaves have been growing in the very center.

-My concerns are:
-First and foremost, I know plant stretching is not really a good thing, and because of where i will be growing i will need shorter plants, but after about 2 weeks my plant is still almost the same height it was after it finished sprouting, it just keeps growing more leaves. so basically it hasn't stretched at all, is this good or is this a problem? Like i said before this was just bagseed so i guess there is a possibility it is a naturally short growing strain. But i really have no idea haha i'm a newb.

The leaves are starting to cup in just a little. not tremendously though. The leaves are also not sticking straight out, but rather sagging a bit, as you will see in the pictures

The tips of the first 2 leaves are very very slightly turning yellow. Not much but they are turning more pale i have noticed.

I am concerned that i have possibly been overwatering them a bit, so i am going to cut back on the watering a tad.



Well here are the pictures, I am sorry for the quality, I am using an old camera and it doesn't focus very well. let me know what you think and any info or pointers are very much appreciated.


Thanks in advance!

happy tokin,
-Caster

doesnt look to bad, the reason it might have stopped growing upwards might be because it is a indica dominant strain, i would get a second opinion however as im not a expect on cfl grows

Overwatering is easy for first timers to do. The soil just has to be damp and it's still fine. Heres a trick: Take a cup the same exact size as the ones you have your plants in and fill it with the same amount of DRY soil. Pick it up and compare the weight to one of the cups with a plant. Now you know what the cups weight feels like when it needs watered! Tada! Also if they aren't getting any taller and onlu bushier that's GREAT! You want squatty plants, especially for your stealth-ness. If flowered at 1 foot tall expect them to reach a final height of about 2-3 ft tall. Judge when you should start flowering from that. i have never done a stealth grow but I have made the newbie mistake of letting them veg too long and my 6 ft ceilings weren't enough! Ha ha that was with a sative dominant strain though. You may want to consider flowering at 6-8 inches to keep them as stealth as possible! I hope I could help. Also, how far away from the plants are the bulbs?

Thanks for the info guys, i'm hoping you're right about it being an indica dominant strain, thats the kind of smoke i prefer. I can't even remember for the life of me what the buds were like that i got the seeds from, but hey i guess that means it was good eh?

multisonic said:

Overwatering is easy for first timers to do. The soil just has to be damp and it's still fine. Heres a trick: Take a cup the same exact size as the ones you have your plants in and fill it with the same amount of DRY soil. Pick it up and compare the weight to one of the cups with a plant. Now you know what the cups weight feels like when it needs watered! Tada! Also if they aren't getting any taller and onlu bushier that's GREAT! You want squatty plants, especially for your stealth-ness. If flowered at 1 foot tall expect them to reach a final height of about 2-3 ft tall. Judge when you should start flowering from that. i have never done a stealth grow but I have made the newbie mistake of letting them veg too long and my 6 ft ceilings weren't enough! Ha ha that was with a sative dominant strain though. You may want to consider flowering at 6-8 inches to keep them as stealth as possible! I hope I could help. Also, how far away from the plants are the bulbs?

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thanks for the help! this does help a lot. I was thinking it was a good thing that i have minimum stretch so far but i wasn't quite sure this early in its life so i figured i'd ask, thanks for the info on that. yeah I will be keeping them relatively short, however they will not stay in the nightstand case, this will primarily be for clones/seedlings. When they're too large to keep in there i will move them into a stealth cabinet.

oh and my cfl's are about 2-3 inches from the tops

sounds fine on the distance. i dont use cfls but my friend does with all of his seedlings and his are about 1-2 inchs away from the plants. those buggers don't stretch at all!

yeah they harly put off any heat they work great. hey just checked in my humidome like 10 minutes ago and turns out a couple more bagseeds i germinated and planted had begun to sprout throughout the day! so i'll have a couple more plants to experiment with.

i'll be posting some pictures of the new seedlings tomorrow or the next day. one is a little further along than the other but one just opened up its cotyledons and first true leaves today.


any thoughts about my first one though? anyone have any more insight on any of my concerns listed in my original post?
any help is greatly appreciated. thanks!

-Caster

should my leaves all be sticking straight out? all of them are naturally sagging down a bit as you can kinda see in the pictures. I thought maybe i was overwatering so i let it completely dry out and its still about the same. also the tips of the first set of leaves are still yellowing a bit. can anyone help?




pics of the new seedlings soon. theres 3 more that have just sprouted