Plants possibly stretching, lights to far away?

[Kevin Spencer]

Hey guys, i have a bunch of seedlings and im pretty sure there stretching, i have 2 400w mh's rockin' and there 3.8ft high. they got there second set of leaves but there already about and inch give or take a lil more or less high. I think there stretching, im going to post a picture as soon as possible but i am able to hold my hand a foot away from the light with out getting really hot, should i maybe adjust the lights so they hang around 2-2.5ft high or? i know a picture would help, so im going to go get one thx guys

[Kevin Spencer]

*the lights are hanging 3.8ft high sorry bout that

[LIP]

Really i need a picture to judge it better, but if they're on the second set of leaves then they dont sound too stretched to me.

If they are, maybe put them a little closer to the light, or start them with CFL's one inch away from the tops...

Now, do you mean second set of leaves after the cotyledons or the second set of serated?

Need pics..

[Kevin Spencer]

its the first serated ones,

[Kevin Spencer]

ps pics coming soon

[LIP]

Ok cool!

[LIP]

I'd say move the lights to 3.5 ft, maybe 3.6 and you should be fine.

[Kevin Spencer]

sorry for delay charging batts, anyways heres a couple, these are just some from a buddy , but i also got blue god rocking an a mixed pack of indica's rocking, im going to get blueberry and the durban which i did outdoor last year

[Kevin Spencer]

hope that helps, i think they look a lil stretch i was just going to put like a wooden table in there to raise it or should i just lower the lights, thats if there stretched.

[LIP]

They look ok at the moment. Just lower/raise by about 3 or 4 inches and that will be at optimum

[the image reaper]

personally, I wouldn't be wasting total 800 watts of metal halide on seedlings ... just hang a cheap CFL or flourescent tube, about 1" over their tops, save money, and wont be throwing all that heat, either ... :smokin:

[postmandave]

What he says.the postman.

[Kevin Spencer]

so yea i think i might actually go get a floro, one of the cheap ones and do that, but since im going to do that, how long do i keep um under the floro before moving to the mh? like maybe when its got its 5 node or what? thx again guys

[rodekyll]

I have a loose rule of thumb on when to transplant or move seedlings or clones under larger light (I do both the move and transplant at the same time): When in doubt, wait till you see bits of root start to wander out the holes in the bottom of those little pots you're using. Then you know you have a good, viable root ball. You can probably do it sooner, but good roots are the basis of a good plant, so personally, I'm not in that big a hurry.

I agree with the folks voting for less light. For the first few nodes, gentle light, gentle everything is better. I get those little 18" and 25" full-spectrum gro sticks. They're cheap, self contained, cool (10w/ft), mount anywhere, and don't draw any attention. They last about two years. I just bought one today to replace one that gave up at about exactly 25 months.