seedling stretch!

hello all, im new to growing from seed as i started from clone on my previous (first) grow. My seeds popped only 3 days ago and one of them is already stretching to 3 inches with only one set of leaves! Im using a 125 watt 6500k florescent grow bulb in a grow tent and i have it 2 inches away from seedlings. using foxfarm ocean soil and no nutes yet. I would post a pic but either i havent got the right to post yet or just cant figure it out. (looked up the posting pics thread but it seems to be outdated)

Posting pics..go advanced scrolldown to manage attachments

125 real watts ? if so that's shocking.

Sometimes seedlings do that. I had one that sprouted first and shot up and I assumed it stretched but the other ones caught up and now it's my smallest plant.

If that's not real watts your light is probably too far away.

cant be right. I have a mother chamber with a 125w cfl and 2 inches from seedlings would definitely not cause stretching 9in fact it would probably annihilated them) . Surely you adjusted the light closer after the stretching?

I have a very similar problem as the OP here.

I have ten seedlings that I grew for 10 days under a 23"real watt" CFL sitting about 12 inches above the plants. I only just became aware of how close to the seedlings I was actualy supposed to have the light! so last night I swiftly moved in and stuck a second 23 watt cfl in there right next to the other one and moved them both 2-3" above the plants. This is my first grow so i guess I didnt know what stretching seedlings was all about... didnt think it was bad... My seeds grew to 4 inches in 10 days and still with only 1 set of true leaves, they are slightly yellow as well. The stems are very thin. about as thick as a toothpick.


My question is this: How bad is this for my plants? I know it will have cost me some vegging time, but will it continue to have a negative effect on the future growth of the plants? Will the plants have a lower yeild months from now because of this? Have i disrupted the hormones such that the plant will be more prone to stretching ?

also what else can I do to compensate this mistake?

Thedillestpickle said:

I have a very similar problem as the OP here.

I have ten seedlings that I grew for 10 days under a 23"real watt" CFL sitting about 12 inches above the plants. I only just became aware of how close to the seedlings I was actualy supposed to have the light! so last night I swiftly moved in and stuck a second 23 watt cfl in there right next to the other one and moved them both 2-3" above the plants. This is my first grow so i guess I didnt know what stretching seedlings was all about... didnt think it was bad... My seeds grew to 4 inches in 10 days and still with only 1 set of true leaves, they are slightly yellow as well. The stems are very thin. about as thick as a toothpick.


My question is this: How bad is this for my plants? I know it will have cost me some vegging time, but will it continue to have a negative effect on the future growth of the plants? Will the plants have a lower yeild months from now because of this? Have i disrupted the hormones such that the plant will be more prone to stretching ?

also what else can I do to compensate this mistake?

Click to expand...

ok first of all and i know this dosent pertain to stretching, a new growers biggest problem is over watering, this may be why your leaves are yellowing, you really only want to water when the soil is dry (not just the top soil the entire pot of soil)

second of all if your plants are stretching they are reaching for light meaning you either have the lights too far away or just inadaquet lighting.

to remedy the stretch place some DRY soil into your pot and bury the stem to about 3/4 of a inch from first set of leaves and then move them lights closer. if you only using 52 watts of CFL make sure they are sitting in a reflective base so you can condense as much light onto the plant, if they are open with no base your losing ALOT of light that just getting dispursed in all different directions.

is it a problem if they're streching too long ?
mine does to and i cant afford a better lam at the present.

Matthebrute is right on. Stretching is bad for your plants it will cause your stems to become week and it could topple over under bud weight. I would move those lights down add some soil and wait this early in your grow they should be fine. Best of luck.

i start seeds in beer cups. at first only fill 3/4 way loose.after sprout n few days they stretch, so fill rest of cup, by mid 2 week, i turn fan on, this helps keep in check...peace

d7b said:

cant be right. I have a mother chamber with a 125w cfl and 2 inches from seedlings would definitely not cause stretching 9in fact it would probably annihilated them) . Surely you adjusted the light closer after the stretching?

Click to expand...

Love that avatar. Awesome.

fenderburn84 said:

Matthebrute is right on. Stretching is bad for your plants it will cause your stems to become week and it could topple over under bud weight. I would move those lights down add some soil and wait this early in your grow they should be fine. Best of luck.

Click to expand...

how about if they're 3 weeks into veg? ;(

my seedlings actually toppled over a bit last night, I have used some thin metal wiring to stand them up a bit. They look fairly healthy despite the yellowing, they just arent as green as they shoudl be but not severely yellow. I am worried a bit about the stretch though as they are about 4 1/2 inches high with a stem only as thick as a toothpick and only 1 set of true leaves. I know why they stretched it was because my lights were way too far away. I now have 2 23 watt cfl's burning 2 inches above the 10 seedlings, and they are in utility lamps with the metal hoods so reflecting most of the light down at the little ones. I think this should be quite enough for seedlings with only 1 set of leaves.

It is quite possible that I have overwatered them at one point because one time I fed them water that I forgot to Ph and went in 5 minutes later and leached the jiffy with properly Ph'd water(maybe this was a mistake? now that I think of it, its not like i could have had nute lockout as there arent any nutes in a jiffy puck as far as I know). They are in Jiffy pellets but I have those stuck into black plastic seedling pots so they arent getting all the air that a normal jiffy pot would. I realize I should have just grown them in jiffy pots with no black plastic pots, but now I am seeing some root growth when I pop them from the pots and I dont want to kill off those healthy roots by taking the jiffys out now. I think the best option is transplant into my coco but I dont have room for this at the moment. Hopefully they will hold on until I can get the veg room all cleaned up and ready and then I can try and burry the stems a bit with dry coco? You said use DRY soil, what do I do when its time to water that top soil(ill be using coco actually) will have to be wetted. sounds like it could cause damping off in the stems of all my little ones and i would lose everything.

I also have a small patch of what I believe is white mold on the stem of one seedling. the patch is really just a discolouration of the stem and about area of a sesame seed, If you look really close you can see that the already very thin stem is even more thin where that whitness is. That seedling actually looks like its one of my more healthy plants.

hmmm i always assumed that article was for cloning

Nope check that article out, it'll act as your best friend in your current situation. A little tip for stretched stems; Very gently every now and then bend them back and fourth this will help to strengthen it. Also a VERY light non direct breeze will also help strengthen the stretched stem.

well I like what im seeing about burying the stems.. didnt know that was an option

might risk mold development i would think as stems arent geared for such high moisture content, but hopefully seedlings are very adaptive

No mold development my man

Why are you getting the impression that their will be high moisture ?

Wait for your soil to dry out first before re burring the stem , easier to work with and easier on the roots

Just follow the pics in the first post of that sticky and you will be fine my man

Just a quick note, i lost around 8 seedlings to over stretching and toppling over when i first grew in coco. Luckily they were cheap ones i bought while learning. Turned out the coco was unbuffered so my seedlings were getting NO food. I got rid of the crap coco and switched to Canna Coco+ and also used nitrozyme and formulex to presoak some coco pellets. Ive never lost a single seedling since. I also now use house and garden root excellerator to soak the pellets. This method also makes cuttings very reliable, out of 40 odd cuttings ive only ever had 3 fail.