New Grower - Need Advice

Hello all, I am new to the forum and growing I have been reading on this forum for quite a while and I have been getting a lot of information. I started 10 w.w seeds 9 germinated, 1 of them did not grow and 1 was a runt so i pulled it. I started them all in rockwool and they seemed to grow good. Im on week 5 , 1st 4 days they germinated, next week kept them in a grow box to give them time to grow. Then put them in a 4x4' space created in a shed. With the fan and fluorescent There growing everyday but from alot of growers i see there plants are a lot bigger and have more nodes than mine. Im using a fluorescent light right now until I can afford the HPS, now is this my problem for not getting bigger plants? There standing about 10" to 12" some are a little smaller. Light is about 4" away from plants as I was told to keep close until a higher light can be established. Using jungle juice as nutrients and have a ion induced fan blowing on them. Any advice would much be needed. Thanks again and I appreciate any help.

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whats on the stems? droppy leaves ussually means to much water

Week 5, Holy crap an... What kind of grow medium are you using and how many/ what actual wattage cfl's are you using? How big of pots are they in?

Hi eod. You'll want to keep the flourescents about 2-4" from the plant, and yes that is probably the biggest reason that your plants aren't bigger. Keep in mind though, that when most people have bigger plants that they say have been vegging for 5 or 6 weeks, it's because they are clones. A clone, or rooted cutting, will act like a 4 month old plant and grow vigorously right away.

If you want to speed things up, you'll want to get them under HID lighting with a MH bulb, or get a T5 or some better cfls. Don't use an HPS bulb until you are ready to switch to 12/12 and flower them girls. White Widow was an easy strain to grow for me.

Do you already know how to find out the sex of the plants?

I have pipe cleaners around the stems to support them from topping. A little trick used from a og grower. I have 3 in a large 3'x2' box with nute dirt. Then 4 of them are in rockwool that is a 6"x6" cube plenty of room to grow. I was thinking of just ordering the T5 tubes because now I realized if I switch over to HPS they will start to flower. So a stronger floresent is much needed. No I havent found the sex yet but I was told you cant tell till your ready to switch to flowering. This is week 5 from day 1 of germ to now where there vegging. Any more tips would be appreciated.

eod said:

I have pipe cleaners around the stems to support them from topping. A little trick used from a og grower. I have 3 in a large 3'x2' box with nute dirt. Then 4 of them are in rockwool that is a 6"x6" cube plenty of room to grow. I was thinking of just ordering the T5 tubes because now I realized if I switch over to HPS they will start to flower. So a stronger floresent is much needed. No I havent found the sex yet but I was told you cant tell till your ready to switch to flowering. This is week 5 from day 1 of germ to now where there vegging. Any more tips would be appreciated.

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They won't flower when you switch to HPS, that's just the bulb most preferred for flowering because it get's bigger yields.

The way it works, is while you're vegging you want to have anywhere from 16-24 hours a day of light. I do 18 hours light, 6 hours dark when I'm vegging. When you are ready to flower, you switch the light timer to 12 hours light, and 12 hours dark. During the first 2 weeks after you switch to 12/12, your plants will double or triple in size. This is because it tricks the plant into thinking that it's time to flower, because in nature it would start to flower when the sun is out for just over 12 hours a day.

For vegging you'll want to use cfls (T5), or a Metal halide (mh) bulb with HID lighting. An HID system with a metal halide bulb will get you faster growth, but you can still use a cfl if you prefer it.

When you are ready to flower and find out sex, you can just put the plant into 12/12 and wait for it to show sex.

re-pot. no more nutes. lights 1" away. dry them out, too.

I am letting the rockwool dry up as well as the soil. Their growing good perky and green no burns or bites. Temp reads 78. All seem to be growing new sets of leaves.

Get rid of the fan. They need high humidity. I have a journal on starting seeds if it helps you. The link is below on my signture.

PetFlora said:

Well now you are getting replies but a lot of bad advice. Unfortunately, how would you know? Check out my journal. I think it will teach you a lot

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Who specifically gave him bad advice? You should let us know so we can learn from you too....

Well I appreciate all your help. I would also like to know about the T5s is that a whole new fluorescent setup? I would like to change bulbs if possible to something stronger but would like some guidance in the direction for ordering them. I don't wanna change fixtures but bulbs only. Someone also told me I could veg them in the light fine for the next 4-6 weeks then move to flower them after there mature enough with a 250k HPS? Is this true?

Yes, but a 250w HPS will only cover a small area, up to 2'x2' I believe. But if that's enough coverage for you then go for it. I'll give you a few links to check out some stuff, but you can just look around a hydro store website too for ideas.

These are T5's http://www.htgsupply.com/Category-Fluorescent-Grow-Lights.asp

This is a HID setup, you can customize it or keep it like it is. It's a 600w setup though, so you can cover up to a 4'x4' area
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-Digital-Greenhouse-600-watt-HPS-Grow-Light.asp

Thanks WitchDoctor I think im just going to add 2 more flos until im ready to flower. I figured my area will be bigger than 2'x2' so im guessing ill need a 650 hps. Thanks for updating me with info.

No problem, glad to help.