Newbie sayin hello and thanks

How's it goin guys. Been reading for a while and decided to become a member. About a month ago I decided to grow a bit in order to save myself some money. I didn't realize that I would actually enjoy growing as much as I do. Non-the-less this website has amazing information and has been very useful. I would like to thank all you guys for the information. I've learned so much just reading these forums and theres still a lot I have to learn. Infact there are things I've learned I wish I knew before I planted these but oh well, theres always next time. Anyway, I'm running a small set up in my closet, real cheap and not remotely advanced. I'm not looking to have a huge yeild, just enough to have some . I had 5 seeds of which 3 germinated. This is them about a month and change in. Theyre a bit small because I went away for a month and I'm pretty sure they ran out of food. Fortunately my roommate was able to keep them alive until I returned. I'm hoping they'll kick back in and continue growing but we'll see . Anyway, Thanks a bunch guys.

Welcome and great growing. There are alot of cool people here that can help you along the way! Don't be afraid to ask, cause ain't nothing dumb about asking questions!!!

They are small for how old they are.Can we get some more details like the lights,soil,nutes etc.One thing I can tell you by looking at your pics is get your cfl's as close as possible without burning your plants they are looking stretched.

u need a fan on those asap and im not sure if that will help. if not i would start some more seeds if u can good luck

those stems are pretty skinny

u may even try burying some of that stem to make it shorter and maybe itll beef up

For lighting I'm just using one of those regular energy saving light bulb. It's not great but it's what I have to work with for now. I don't have the money to get proper lighting at the moment. When it was warmer and they were smaller I took them outside during the day. Now it got pretty cold so they're staying inside and under the single single light. I used Miracle Grow Seed Starter initially and I just transplanted them today into some Scotts Potting soil. As for nutrients I'm still learning. Unfortunately what I purchased is .003-.002-.02. Absolutely horrible I know, I bought it when i didn't know any better. I'm gonna buy something around 20-5-5 tomorrow. The light is 6 inches from the top of the plants, you think I should lower it considering the crappy lighting I'm using?

What exactly does the fan do? I haven't heard of fans being used for anything other then ventilation.

welcome aboard mamanwantsa dub, somebodey get this man a dube

That's another thing I was worried about, The stems are indeed very thin. They're still able to support themselves while the light is on. I thought this was normal since I'm growing indoors according to another site I was using. What could I do to help the stem grow, I read on here that nutrients rich in phosphorus(Or phosphate was it?) promotes a thick strong stem, is that correct?

up to the top.

Man im sorry to say it but unless you can get more cfl's in there your not going to get anything from them.I know this isn't what you want to hear but you should stop wasting nutes on them now and start over,but dont start until you have everything you need.One energy saving light isn't gonna cut it.I dont know if you mean by energy saving there cfl's or what but your gonna need atleast 8 cfl's if you want anything from 3 plants and even that wont be alot.The main mistake I and alot of other new growers I noticed made was start the grow when you dont even have all the supplies yet that is just setting yourself up for failure.If you can get like 5 2700k cfl's you might be able to save the bigger plant and get something off of it but it still wont be alot if it makes it.good luck

hmmm Okay thanks for the advice. I was thinking that the light would be too little but i gave it a shot anyway. I've accepted that the small ones are done for. I think my main problem here was that I jumped into growing when I knew too little about it. Oh well atleast I'll learn from my mistakes. I woke up this morning and checked up on them, seems that the small ones have made no progress but the big one has grown a little and has become a darker green. Looks a little healthier too. I think I'm just gonna focus what i have on that one, even if it does wind up dieing. Won't hurt to keep trying, maybe I'll learn some more during the process for the next batch. I appreciate the input guys. I'll let you know when it dies. lol.

lol Thats exactly what I did for my first grow just jumped right into it.But if you can get some more lights Istill think you might be able to get something off the bigger one.Like you said you can only learn from your mistakes

Those plants aren't totally pooched yet... dude.... get together $100 bucks... not much.... go buy 4 26 watt CFLS, 4 42 Watt CFLs... and the proper mounts for them....... bury those stretched stems up to the first node....... (the cotyledons if they haven't fallen off yet) and get those CFLs as close as possible without burning them...... you will see the new growth explode..... or if you wanna buy online.... you can get a 150 Watt HPS Ballast... bulb... and reflector for $80... and then a few CFLs

As sad as it sounds, I can't afford to buy more lights right now. It's supposed to start warming up pretty soon so I'm gonna hold onto what I have right now and put them outside once it gets warm enough. I'm gonna put some more dirt in and cover up that stem. The big one has lost his cotyledons but the littles ones still have them, just barely but theyre there.

I just thought you guys might want to know, After starting this topic and being told to lower the light, the change in my big plants growth is astounding, I'm really amazed at the change. The stem has almost doubled in thickness and it's growing leaves much bigger, denser, and thicker. I'm really amazed at the difference moving the light 8 inches made.