first timer and i know im doing something wrong

ok so i've spent alot of time looking into how to do this properly, but some things I'm just not getting. So I've got 5 plants right now, at about 4/5 weeks from seed, four nodes starting fifth nodes, about 5-6 in tall each. Now I was under the impression that the "effective light radius" of a 70 watt hps bulb is about 8-12 in. so all five are within a foot of light source. I water them just enough to keep soil moist so I'm confident that I'm not over watering, temperature stays between 75 and 80 F... but things seem to be progressing slowly. do I need more light? Is it because I'm just using soil at this point? do you need more info to help me? I mean they look healthy, but grow slowly, only one has any 5 bladed leaves. Will this setup present problems, now or later? I am new and not trying to make this a major investment until I know what I'm doing, but necessary costs always pop up... please help me.......

Are you letting the soil dry out between waterings? If not, you should. Cannabis likes wet/dry cycles. Water so that the pot is evenly saturated with 10% run-off, then wait until the pot feels light again. It's not the amount of water you give it that matters, it's the frequency. Too often or not often enough is when you will have problems.

Hard to give much advice without pics, but you will definitely need more light to flower all those plants. I'd recommend a 250w hps or even better, a 400w hps. You can also just add CFL's or fluoros as you go.

Never used a 70w so not sure about the best distance away from the plants, but with any light you can just hold your hand underneath the light. If it feels uncomfortable for you hand, it's too hot for the plants. (Just remember to alternate hands, otherwise you'll have a funky tan ;) ) Then adjust the height accordingly.

Happy growing :jointsmile:

THANKS! now, I don't want to flower all of em, just two, maybe three, I was accounting for males and losing some to my inexperience.... what are cpl lights and how would I go about adding them and flourescents? I mean are they simillar to adding more hps lights?

CFL = Compact Fluorescent Light aka energy saving bulbs

Just a couple stickies (threads in red) from the top of this section.

http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-li...-lighting.html -> Check out the first post as well as #7

http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-li...uch-light.html

if u r just veging then hps is not good, u want light in the blue spec like 6400k

IMHO a 70 watt HPS does not put out a good spectrum for any stage of growth.you will get faster growth with just about anything else.