Light cycle

Okay so here's what I got

8 plants all afghani kush
Using mirical grow potting soil for now bout to switch to some black kow composite, mixed with perlite and merlight
all in one gal buckets until soil switch then they are going into a five gal bucket
i have one 6 foot long 40 watt fluorescent day glow bulb at eye level to plants and one 200 watt bulb 36 inches over head, switching to two 200 watt bulbs tommorrow keeping same height
they are on a 24 hour light cycle and I have a fan on them for cooling and stem strength
buying dyna grow foliage pro for nutrients I have ordered it and awaiting its arrival

Now the bad... The plants are 8 weeks old from date of unopened seed being planted and I'd say probably closer to 5 weeks of actuall plant showing.. Yea I know they look ridiculously small.

I wasn't Using proper lighting to start off with...

Now here's my question, because they are so far behind in schedule, should I switch to the 12/12 light or should I keep them going at 24 light. I have no idea how long till they flower at this point. All help is much appreciated I can take the critism don't worry bout being nice I need brutal honesty to get them were they need to be.. Below are the photos I'll post them separately

Well here is what they look like

feed them!!! and what lights are you running in flower?

It's a 200 watt clear bulb with high density light rays and it puts off considerable heat. And I can't feed them till the dyna grow gets in from the mail unless u got something I can buy that's super cheap to hold off in the mean time.

In the first picture u can see the 40 watt fluorescent on the top of the picture it's 6 feet long and the over head is the bulb I just stated being a 200 watt clear bulb, adding a second bulb tomorrow I have one I got from work just need to being it home and install it

That's an incandescent bulb. Will not work well for growing plants crop much heat and wrong light spectrum

Kite High said:

That's an incandescent bulb. Will not work well for growing plants crop much heat and wrong light spectrum

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- Agreed, incandescents are shit.

I'd keep the plants in veg for a few more weeks.

HID is the way to go, MH for veg and HPS for flower. 40W fluorescent is NOT enough for anyting except a few seedlings. To get bigger plants you'll need a lot more light.

Now, you have to decide. HID, LED, or CFL.

I use: Cuttings - CFL's. Veg - MH. Flower - HPS with supplemental CFL (mixed) lighting.

Good luck.

What if I use one incandescent 200watt an one CFl 200watt? The fluorescent is just used to get light to lower branches and offer light where the main one can't reach and I have already noticed a difference in the plants activity when I added the bulb I'm using now they seem to really like it

Okay I have a 100 watt grow light with blue spectrum shield, going to combine it with the 200 watt incandescent bulb, also going to change soil and add perlite 40/60 mix. I have for now until I get the Dyna grow, mirical grow spikes, it's a barrel u put in the soil and the plant draws the food as needed. Hopefully this will be more than enough of what's needed. The plants are responding well to the 200 watt bulb alone, tonight I will make the changes. Here is a few photos see for yourself how much they like incandescent.

The incandescent will provide more heat than light and will cause them to stretch terribly. Get rid of it and get at least a 250 hid orpreferably 400 watt hid

The hid light cost to much right now for me to buy and the incandescent bulb is pretty close to the plants it's not causeing any burn to the plants and they haven't stretched any more than from before, right now it's all I got to work with my budget doesn't allow extra. I believe the two bulbs will be fine for now

Potolota, you don't listen. I told you In another thread. CFLS NEED TO BE A FEW INCHES FROM THE PLANTS. That's first of all. Second, incadescent bulbs do NOTHING. You would not get even a gram with them. 100 watt CFL's would be not enough to flower one plant (or just enough) You have 8 plants, there is no way that is going to work. Either get about 600w of High output fluorescent (CFL) lights, or a cheap HPS setup of at least 350w. Good luck. And if you can't take any of my advice, then you can't grow. Sorry. Good luck.
Oh and back to your original question - No, keep them at veg lighting (24/0 or 18/6 whatever suits you best) Because flipping to 12/12 now would only make them even more stress and they would die. As slowly as they grew these eight weeks.

Potolota said:

I believe the two bulbs will be fine for now

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Please, for the love of God, use your brain. Your plants are 8 weeks old. They should be big bushes now. And they aren't, so something is reaaaaaaly wrong. How can you that the lights will be fine for now? Sure if you want them to grow 1 inch/ a year. Open your eyes, dude... ;/

I plan to get the hid light I have one at lowes that's 35$ for 400 watts just I don't have the 35$ my bills are first and once they paid ill be broke I half to go with the only thing I have now and that's a 100 watt grow bulb with blue spectrum shield and the 200 watt incandescent, I will remove the bulb if u think thus what's best but i can't get another bulb for about a week.. So this one 100 watt grow light would be all I have on them.. Shouldn't I leave the incandescent for now until I can get the hid light? It provides just the right grow temp for my room so I'd probably just move it away not remove it completely

Yea man don't waste that fine afgan kush. Get some damn CFL's they are cheap as hell, you can't get ahead of yourself with growing. Either take the time to research and do it right or don't expect anything real. But you need to upgrade those lights ASAP even sticking them in the window in direct sunlight would be better than this.

Trust me I am taking all this advice to heart and I hear ya loud and clear, if I could afford a 50$ bulb I'd buy it ASAP. But in trying to make due with what I have for now. I am paid biweekly so half to wait in between checks. I will do what I can when I can. But bare with me.

They have a window that lights them 5 hours of the day I have regular cfls like 40 watts but I only have ability to run 2 at a time, need more sockets, should I replace the incandescent with a 40 watt bulb for the remainder of the week or should I just keep the incandescent

I understand that not everyone has money. That's why people grow outdoors. The sun doesn't charge you!!! If you are still on track for the growing season where you live, just transplant them outside, you'll see they'll be alot (A WHOLE FUCKING LOT) happier. If that is not an option, then get the new lights as soon as you can. YOU ALSO NEED A BALLAST FOR THE HID LIGHT!! IT WILL COST MORE THAN THE BULB! So I strongly recommend just putting it outside. Because for hid setup you'd need about 90$ minimum. And that bulb will be hot. I think you said that you don't have ventilation. That won't work. So you actually need bulb+ballast+vent system. I doubt you can afford that if you need to save up for the bulb. Do it outdoors.

Potolota said:

They have a window that lights them 5 hours of the day I have regular cfls like 40 watts but I only have ability to run 2 at a time, need more sockets, should I replace the incandescent with a 40 watt bulb for the remainder of the week or should I just keep the incandescent

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Yes, replace it with cfl. I know all this that's coming towards you may sound harsh ,but you're making it all too difficult for yourself.

I have a window like I said I can remove it and put a fan in place that will help with venting so small of a space ducting seems pointless an I am in grow season outside I had them there but the rain so heavily recently it was causing over watering. I can still put them outside nkow if you thinks that's best.