Too Much Light

High all

i have 10 seedlings growing at the moment 7 durban and 3 lowrider2 i have them in a DIY grow box lined with tinfoil and their under a 250w with reflector about 20in above them.but they dont seem to be getting any taller.they are just starting to get their 3rd set of leaves but have no gaps between them is this a big problem and is it from to much light.i have them on a 21/3 light to dark
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first of all, get rid of the tin foil before you cook those poor things. paint it white or even tape copy paper to insides of box. you MUST get a fan on them to strengthen stems they should shake a bit from the breeze. water them every 3-4 days ONLY make sure you have drain holes in bottom of containers. use your hand test for your light. hold your hand right on the tops of your plants, if it's too hot for your hand then it's too hot for your plants. but you may need to get the light closer and you most definitely can with a fan in there! 21/3 is unheard of. either 24/0 or 18/6 for vegging for flowering it's 12/12. but that's later for you.

ok the tin foil is got there is papper there now. i have a fan on them from day 1 and i give them a few little taps just to make sure.I have them in 5lt pot that came with drainage holes an i have the light so it is just worm on my hand but not hot should i change to18/6 right away thanks for the help mate

change to 18/6 right away it will not hurt anything to make the change. The foil was bad good to get rid of it!

You can't have too much light.. Plants get burnned from too much heat. Have good ventalation, get an a/c maybe and def. get a thermometer..

No Such Thing...lol Imo

ok thanks lads have changed everything light is 18/6 fan running the same hygro meter is stayin around 65percent temp is at 27 with light on and 24 with it off and have white paper instead of foil and have changed the soil to 100percent biobizz allmix is there anything i have missed.i know it says that there is no need for nutes but is that true

faralos said:

first of all, get rid of the tin foil before you cook those poor things. paint it white or even tape copy paper to insides of box. you MUST get a fan on them to strengthen stems they should shake a bit from the breeze. water them every 3-4 days ONLY make sure you have drain holes in bottom of containers. use your hand test for your light. hold your hand right on the tops of your plants, if it's too hot for your hand then it's too hot for your plants. but you may need to get the light closer and you most definitely can with a fan in there! 21/3 is unheard of. either 24/0 or 18/6 for vegging for flowering it's 12/12. but that's later for you.

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I agree with everything you recommend, except I'd like to see scientific proof that 21/3 or 20/4 (which is popular) is detrimental to the plant. If he wants to run 21/3, it's his decision, one can't point a finger and say 21/3 will harm or hurt his plants. Maybe I missed some horticulture white papers that state that by running your lights 21 hours isn't recommended as it's detrimental to the plant. But honestly, have you seen this scenario tested in a controlled environment done by say, a some scientist with a doctorate in Horticulture?

I think we need to call in ALMExperts.com (Horticulture Expert Witnesses) and get a second opinion. I could be wrong, but 21 hours is no more harmful than 18 hours, sure there may be growth differences, but I'm willing to guess that nothing harmful to the plant will be caused running 21 hours a day.

Everyone's got their own preferences based on their experiences, personally, I don't think it's good to run the lights 24 hours a day, to me , even though we can trick mother nature, Mother Nature told us and plants that each day we should rest. So I let my plants rest for a four hours a night. What works for me, may not work for you. Every situation is different, different lights, ambient atmosphere and the list goes on. I write this rebuttal in all respect and not to be disrespectful, but I'd like to see why you claim it's harmful to the plants 21/3 (Myself, I've never seen anyone run 21/3, and gave a chuckle when I read that timing, but when I read that it was urgent for him to change to 24/0 or 18/6, I went for a laugh to wondering why you advised this, urgently to boot.

I always use 24 hours of light on new clones or seedlings and have done side by sides in the past decade and the 24 hours of veg light always out grows and out produces the 18/6 light schedule and saves tons of times and makes thicker healthier plants. Yeah the foil is bad but what edux said is a common noob mistake. You can have too much light and essentially poison the plant from it. I suggest a nice cheap 4 foot shop light right on top of them it can even touch the tops no problem.This will cause a stout full plant with no stretch and tight node growth

FilthyFletch said:

I always use 24 hours of light on new clones or seedlings and have done side by sides in the past decade and the 24 hours of veg light always out grows and out produces the 18/6 light schedule and saves tons of times and makes thicker healthier plants. Yeah the foil is bad but what edux said is a common noob mistake. You can have too much light and essentially poison the plant from it. I suggest a nice cheap 4 foot shop light right on top of them it can even touch the tops no problem.This will cause a stout full plant with no stretch and tight node growth

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I should have mentioned clones, I too use 24/7 for them, but not for maturing plants in vegational state. For those they get 20 hour days

My point was others yelling, 'fire' for his 21 hours of lights on.

OneCanSam said:

I should have mentioned clones, I too use 24/7 for them, but not for maturing plants in vegational state. For those they get 20 hour days

My point was others yelling, 'fire' for his 21 hours of lights on.

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No one was yelling fire...a person who has 1 less number of noob posts than you asked a basic question and he got a basic answer why would someone experienced tell the guy to experiment with lighting if he is that noob??? Get off your soap box, you could have just said hey this is what I use it works for me, you can experiment....go to the politics section if you want to post diatribes of fairness..

pinksensa said:

No one was yelling fire...a person who has 1 less number of noob posts than you asked a basic question and he got a basic answer why would someone experienced tell the guy to experiment with lighting if he is that noob??? Get off your soap box, you could have just said hey this is what I use it works for me, you can experiment....go to the politics section if you want to post diatribes of fairness..

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Try actually reading what was said, I quoted the mesages so you won't have to strain yourself:

dankforall said:

change to 18/6 right away it will not hurt anything to make the change.

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faralos said:

21/3 is unheard of. either 24/0 or 18/6 for vegging for flowering it's 12/12. but that's later for you.

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That's rich....My post count doesn't equate to what I know friend, been growing for decades, just haven't posted here. Been reading the forums for many moons and only registered recently as I thought this was a friendly forum. By the way, Try actually reading the thread & replies this person recieved before you tell me I'm on a soapbox, this person obviously is new to growing and I was trying to help him. It isn't a political question that people pretty much told him 21 hours is wrong. --End of message.

hay all

i have noticed that my leaves are starting to turn up.is this from mt fan or something else

greek said:

hay all

i have noticed that my leaves are starting to turn up.is this from mt fan or something else

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Turning up as in new growth, or the fan leaves are reaching for the light?

Perfectly normal if they are reaching for the light. If it's new growth thats excellent. How high is your HPS from the tops of your plants now?

I'm actually doing an experimental grow, I have way more light than is necessary. Right now I'm on 12/12 The lights used are (1) 400w HPS [Ceramic metal halide] on top, (2) 225 LED grow panels, on left side, (1) 2' T5HO 8 fluorescent fixture in the rear, (1) grow panel I made myself with dozens of CREE XLAMP emitters (Similar to the Procyon 100, but mine is a flat panel mounted to the wall) The Procyon has 56 CREE Xlamp high power LEDs (40 Red, 16 Blue)

Mine's all XLAMP blue emitters, a red one is being made with 40 XLAMP LED's, and a blue/red with a maybe a few 6500k emitters thrown in for good measure may be my next project. -On going project) I'm convinced that high intensity CREE emitters or similar are the future of indoor gardening. They are getting more and more powerful as time goes by. So far I can easily say that the 225 LED 14-16 watt grow panels sold on Ebay are just so so, they aren't in the same league as high intensity CREE XLAMPS like found in the Procyon. The 225 LED 14-16watt panels can be useful in tight spaces as they produce virtually no heat.

This is all saturating a single Megagarden which is only 2' x 2' Even with all this light, the tops act like they are starving for light and they point to the HPS, despite plenty of light in the spectrums necessary for photosynthesis. Normally, I'd be using a 400w Metal halide with the HPS during 12/12, and a 2nd Megagarden or a baby Bloomer I retrofitted to be an aeroponic unit, but the Metal Halide was moot since this time I'm playing around with one of those HPS Philips Ceramic metal halides as my goal was maximum light w/minimal heat with less venting)

Anyway back to your grow, the fan you added serves three purposes:

1) It provides them with airflow, plants need co2 so they can photosynthesize properly.

2)It strengthens the plants cell walls and encourages your plant to beef up to be healthy and bear any weight the fruiting will produce.

3)The fan helps circulate the air helping to dissipate the heat

Anyway, glad things are doing well for you. Have a nice weekend.

its the main fan leaves they are turning up around the out side of the leaves and my light is about 12ins or so above them thank for replying