Abnormal Growth

[420purplehaze420]

I planted my germinated seeds on April 5th and now(the 8th) my plant has grown to almost 4 inches but its all stem, the leaves are tiny, my mom suggests that it is not getting enough light so its trying to get closer to the light source.

In past grows I dont recall the plants growing so tall so fast and with no leaves barely. Also for the time being all i have them under is a desk lamp.

Im new to indoor growing and was wondering if anyone knows whats goin on

Thanks for any replies

[420purplehaze420]

I forgot to mention im moving them outside in a week or 2, i still live at home

[busteruk7]

yeah it seems like stretching my m8 legalizdahurb had that same prob and corrected it by putting the light closer
cheers m8 and hope ya get it sorted

p.s my mum is a good gardener but i could never ask her for advice on this as she would probaly kick my ass lol
im 24 year old and she still says to me that im not too old for a clip round the ear lol

[420purplehaze420]

yeah it seems like stretching my m8 legalizdahurb had that same prob and corrected it by putting the light closer
cheers m8 and hope ya get it sorted

p.s my mum is a good gardener but i could never ask her for advice on this as she would probaly kick my ass lol
im 24 year old and she still says to me that im not too old for a clip round the ear lol
o yeah i already put them closer i hope they even out, ha ha my mom was a hippie and smokes weed, she doesnt mind me smoking, or growing, or tafficking weed lol, but she hates it when i drink and says she will kill me if she finds out I do anything else but toke or eat mush.

thanks for the reply

[Jdog7000]

She's right.

About everything.

[rodekyll]

They're right. The seedlings have stretched. They do this indoors under light that is too far away, but they do it outdoors under sunlight, too. This isn't too unusual, 420. Some strains just want to grow . . . and these will get over it. But you might have a problem with those little girls falling over on you before the stem thickness catches up with the stretch (generally by the development of the 2nd node). Again, this is not too unusual. Build a little brace for them to lean on with toothpicks, bamboo skewers and pipe cleaners, or whatever similar items you prefer. When they're strong enough they'll lift off the brace and be fine.

[420purplehaze420]

Good advice everyone, i moved the light to about 2 inches above the tallest plant and ive seen sufficient change in leaf size and position in only 4 hours.

As mentioned above I was wondering if the stem would be strong enough when more growth occurs.

Does anyone have any transplanting tips? I foolishly planted them in styrophone cups and ive been told that transplanting is very hard on a plant.

[Swizzy89304]

What sort of light are you using aswell? If youve only got an incandescent ('regular' round bulb) then you wanna put it on the windowsill unless you have another light source - IMO, natural sun is better than any lamp you can possibly buy.
If youve got the spirally CFLs, get as many as possible and keep them around 2 inches away from the plants.

[Swizzy89304]

Hmm, dont really know anything on transplanting because I always plant mine in the pots that theyre gonna be in until harvest. Just make sure you do it quickly, and without touching the roots if possible. They WILL be stunted, or may even stop growing, for a few days - sometimes up to a week - afterwards. If youre really worried about it, try transplanting a few plants around the garden until you feel confident that youre ready to try it on a 'decent' plant.

[LIP]

A desk lamp? Well if its not a CFL then thats your problem.

You need to get lights that will actually grow a plant, not a desk lamp.

Get some CFL's and see if they can recover, if there REALLY stretched it not worth the hassel, it'd be easier to kill them and start again, after reading all you can about lighting, transplanting and everything else you need to know.

[420purplehaze420]

yeah i figured lighting was my problem as well, I figured why would they make grow lights if you could just use regular lights, this is only temporary though since I will be moving them outside. I will take a look for some of of those spiral light im pretty sure we have some.

[420purplehaze420]

sorry for the double post but my edit time ran out, i got a energy saver bulb(the spiral ones) and its 40 watts, im not to sure what CFLs are but i think they will be fine, when its just me and my mom home i put them in the window sill so there getting a mix of artificial and natural light.

[busteruk7]

yeah any type of energy bulb is a cfl m8
cfl means compact flourecent light
cheers

[rodekyll]

transplanting:

The soil in the pot from which you will transplant should be fairly dry, but not dusty. The soil to which you transplant should be moist, but not soggy.

Take the container the plant is currently in -- or one exactly the same, and size a hole in the larger pot exactly the same size. I dig out most of the hole with a tablespoon and sort of push the pot into it to finish sizing the hole.

Put your hand over the top of the little pot, letting the plant stick out between two fingers.

Turn the pot over. If a LOT of loose soil falls into your hand it's too dry. Turn it back over, water, and wait till tomorrow. If only a little or no soil falls, it's about right.

Tap the bottom of the pot. The plant and all its soil should fall neatly into your hand. If it doesn't. gently press the sides of the pot (if plastic or other pressable material) to loosen it.

With the plant upside down in your hand and the pot gone, check the roots. You should have a nice root ball there. If you don't, you either have not left it in the little pot long enough, or you have a root problem. The root ball should be holding the dirt in a big lump and should show threads and tendrils copiously.

Assuming the roots look ok, gently slip the root ball and dirt into the hole you made in the bigger pot. It should be an almost perfect fit, ideally recessed a little (up to .5-inch) in the hole you made.

Gently, from a few inches away from the filled hole, push dirt around the root ball to firm things up. Don't worry about messing up the root ball. Breaking it up slightly is a good thing. It helps oxygen get to the roots and also "unbinds" the roots from their ball so they start growing faster.
Water the heck out of it until water starts dripping out the bottom of the big pot. Follow that with a very light dose of nute-laced water.

Put it under your regular grow light and don't water it again till it seems kinda dry. I wait till the lower leaves wilt. They'll bounce back within minutes of adding water.