any advice?

Hi all. i'm a first time grower, with 2 fem orange bud from dutch passion. they're 4 weeks from seed, approx 4" tall and 2' from a 250w MH cool tube. babys seem to be growing ok, nice and green and getting bushy, if not very tall.

the trouble is all the leaves begin to fold along the center when they reach 4 or 5 days old. the branches all reach upwards towards the light and lots of the leaves twist also. they are clearly very different from the pics of healthy plants i've seen. (yes they are definately the real thing!);)

i refuse to believe they need more light, they get 5000+ lumin according to my calculations. they are enclosed in a mylar lined cabinet, with high powered extract through the cool tube (7" fan blowing across them also). while i had temp problems at first, i thought i had
resolved them. with the light any lower they burn to a crisp!

does any one know what might cause this? any help would be great.:thumbsup:

Well folding along the central vein is common, and twisting too; it's when the EDGES just sort of roll inwards that you have heat stress- keep your temps in check and don't worry so much!
oh and welcome to canncom!

thanks for the fast responce stinky ......may i call you stinky?;)

the folding of the leaves is very pronounced into a distictive V shape. i'll keep an eye on the temps as you say, but there is little else i can do to lower them anyway.

thanks for the advice. and thanks for the welcome.:)

Without seeing pics my diagnosis is overwatering combined with heat stress.

Heat stress?...hmmm
i suspect you are correct. Cool tubes don't appear to be that cool after all.....grrrrrr:mad:
does heat stress cause the branches to reach for the light?
here are some pics. you will notice some damage to lower leaves due to heat.
thanks.

Sup Crusader,
Did you already remove some dead lower leaves?
I'm seeing a completely different symptom when I look at your plants- STUNTING.
What is your soil mix?
Do you know its pH?
The plant is small and should not be rootbound in that large pot, so the stunted looking growth could be caused by something different, and if I had to guess, I'd say poor pH.. plus you see there is some burning/yellowing on the older leaves?
Anyway look at your soil first....
Yeah, call me stinky, everyone else does, it's all good.

hi stinky,
the cause of the stunted growth was lighting i believe.
i started these babies off under the wrong colour cfl's. in the uk we use a code printed on lamps to denote their colour temp, not the colour temps themselves. it was just a mix up with the codes.
but when i realised my mistake i switched to the HPS i had ready, until i could afford the retrofit MH lamp. also leaf damage, due to high temps early on slowed it all down too.
the pics above were taken just over a week into the MH. however they have improved immensely since those pics were posted here.
a lot of the leaves still curl up along the edge, but as i said there is not much i can do about the high temps.
as for the soil its loam based, and I've no idea of the PH. when i have some spare cash i might invest in a ph tester. oh, and about 25% perlite.
also, i've been feeding with every 3rd watering, every 7-8 days, can they be fed more often? i use bio-bizz grow.

i would also like to ask if any one has tried homemade co2 generators, baking soda/vinegar etc. do any of them work noticably?

and does any one know if they've stopped selling gear to tourists in amsterdam yet? thinking of going for the weekend soon.:stoned: ;)

thanks all.

I'd flush your soil with pHd water... ph liquid indicator is SO cheap you're silly not to run out and buy some! I paid US$7 for more than I will ever use. That still looks like ph to me.
As for co2, dont worry about it until the other stuff is fixed.

A PH tester like the one I have pictured around here somewhere only costs a few bucks and is plenty accurate enough for testing tap water for our needs. Sticky is correct about the stunting and my bet is once your water is corrected they'll take off after a week or so. You can use either bulb during veg but MH is better however I recommend using both and rotating the plants or lights to cover entire grow with both bulbs. Yes it will double your grow's elec usage however you'll see much better results at harvest with fuller, denser and longer buds.