Plants are growing extreamly slow.

If i remember correctly these plants are about FOUR weeks old. and the plant i posted is the farthest among the others. I can post more pictures of the others, but some are taller, but have much less leaves right now. i am using a 400w hps light away from them, organic soil. it has nutes in it which could be the reason for the slow growth because i know baby plants do not need them. it has nitrogen in it. the soil. also i know having them in five gallon pots is not the best but i do not think it can really hurt, i had the light at 12 inches for a day and was told to move it up to 48 inches, after i had it so close a couple of the plants went yellow. i am watering with room temp. water, nothing bad in it. i water once a week because of the pot size. but what i am trying to do is figure out why they are growing so small, because i know many things can factor in to plant growth. and if they can reach budding with their current habitat, i will be getting new soil next time. i look at plants that are three weeks that trump my best plant. and most are healthy green, but some of the leaves above the starter leaves are light green to yellow, but i think that may have been because of the light. so any information on how to get them to grow faster, would be much appreciated.

wot the fuck, four weeks? they look light lettuce, you need to drop that light, you got any fans in there mate? soz mate but you might be better of starting again,
at 4 weeks under a 400 they should be like 18" to 24"...

yeah look'd like you gave your plant the very max length on the HPS. which is as low as a 26watt cfl. if 2 far away.

just put your hps the length it suppose to be away lets say 1ft away with a little walmart fan blowing across the plants.

You need to find a happy medium in the distance from your light. 12 inches is a little too close and 48 inches is waaaay too far. Try 18 to 20 inches. And lose the aluminum foil as it can cause burning of leaves. A white surface or Mylar is best for increasing reflected light

yeah that foil looks destroyed already.. only way foil is reflective without worrying about hot spots is aluminum foil in layed out perfect with no wrinkles.. and that below the plant looks like a major hot spot caution. like desert said i would go with mylar. but if your on a budget and in a small room go with flat white paint.

No I have no fans should it be hitting the plant because I heard it makes the stem stronger, or just create air flow? And I will the light at 18 inches. Can they be saved? Because remember that is the best looking one, I have some much smaller. Will moving the light save them / increase growth rate fast?

And I heard having a 400 w hps any closer than four feet will burn them.

it will burn them if you have no fans, but 48" might as well use a house bulb.... they will come back, need fans and drop the light and get rid of foil, i have a 600w no more than 16" above my baby and she aint burning...

Soil fine?

Look at the node stretch on that plant. It is obvious it is crying out for light.

Ok, thanks to all for information, I know what I will do know only thing now is should I have the fan on the plants directly or rotation for air flow / if they are growing in the soil, the soil must be fine.

The point of the fan in your case is for air-circulation and heat reduction. Just have one wall-mounted blowing down, or placed on the ground, oscillating, in a location so the most plants possible are receiving the air. The plants can be saved, just for god's sake move that light closer. Also make sure you're using distilled or reverse osmosis water.

Albanian Kush said:

Ok, thanks to all for information, I know what I will do know only thing now is should I have the fan on the plants directly or rotation for air flow / if they are growing in the soil, the soil must be fine.

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try the lights and fans first, then we can sort the soil if there is no improvement mate...

welshsmoker said:

it will burn them if you have no fans, but 48" might as well use a house bulb.... they will come back, need fans and drop the light and get rid of foil, i have a 600w no more than 16" above my baby and she aint burning...

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same here i got a 600w 8" above my plants and i got no problem.. i just have 1 direct fan always blowing below the bulb.

just have the plants in a cool place that stays in the low 70's while having a box fan blowing straight into your grow room with atleast 2-3 fans blowing the air around with 1 exhaust. with this i maintain 78 degrees in my grow box.

Your using a hps light? I'm an out side grower and don't know to much about lights but isint that light a red spectrum light used for flowering? You need a blue spectrum light for veging.

Another reason to lose the foil, is so that the soil dries out faster. You're already risking root rot/overwatering(looks to be already starting), and the foil just keeps the moisture in there longer. Honestly, if you don't have good soil drainage, it'd be a good ider to pull them out of those 5 gallon pots, and go to something like 1-2 gallons, until you get a better grasp on growing. IMO, the soil is staying too wet, 'causing your problems. Also, as mentioned, bring the light down to about 18". 12" is a little close, and could burn them.



You can worry about tweaking your light, after you get the root system under control, and nursed back to health. 18" will work perfect, til then.

Mh is best for veg. " replying to last post. " but I know for a fact you can grow them threw the whole process with hps.

Yes I will have the light 18 inches with fans.

Albanian Kush said:

Mh is best for veg. " replying to last post. " but I know for a fact you can grow them threw the whole process with hps.

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Yes you may but not effectivly, with a huge harvvest. It's gunna grow way to slow under the hp light yes it is possible, but only if u want tiny plants.

I would think 10 plants under a 400w 18 inch away should grow fine.