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I've had my 3 plants growing for about a month to a month and a half now. They are looking healthy, and are about 8 inches tall. It seems like they are growing kind of slow, and im not sure what the normal veg cycle is. I have 2 cfl lights that put out about 3000 lumens total. I might buy one more... if it will help a lot. Also...if they ever do start flowering, what should the light cycle be? I have heard complete darkness, and also 4 hours.
Well i need some more information to help you out here..wat do u keep your ph at.Wat is your light cycle right now?How are you growing..hydro or soil and to answer ur question about flowering well u regulate that the plants will stay in veg stage as long as u keep them there and to force the plants into flowering you dont go total darkness or just 4 hours ur light cycle has to be 12/12 to force flowering.Give me more info and i can help alot more.
I'm not sure about the ph. I have the lighting at 20/4 and use soil. Also, as to your reply about veg, are you saying i can keep them in that cycle as long as i want?...which is to where they are a decent size of course. but yeah...im just worried about their size. 1 and a half months and only 8 or 10 inches doesnt seem right.
there could be a lot of reasons. But the fact is you are giving them very little light. I dont know how big your area is but i'm surprized they are doing well at all.
a good amount of light is 5000 lumens/sq foot. i have 7000 and people on here have even higher.
you are giving them 1000 lumens each. this is crazy CRAZY. i've read that plants cant even live at that much. guess it isn't true.
your plants would have been much bigger if you had more lights
and your plants wont yeild much if you keep them under that much light during flower
I beleive it is around 5000 Lumens per plant.. I remember reading this somewhere correct me if im wrong.. you deffinetly need to grow 1, 2 at most with that amount of lighting. Got a camera, If you had pics of your room it would help alot.
Yes. I second that, Jeffar420.
Shopping list:
1. More light.
2. Digicam
There is a lot of good stuff out there if you do a little research. WHERE did you hear 'total darkness?' How would a plant grow like that? Plants need: air, water, light to grow...always. It is the decrease in photoperiod that causes the plant to think it is going to die soon and so it makes flowers which are supposed to contain seeds to continue it's life cycle.
:D:D:D
G'luck, man!
TGF
some MH and HPS bulbs give out more than 50k lumens. since you've had them since september, i say blast those babies with however many lumens you can! during the veg cycle you have to make sure to use a blue spectrum light. do you know what temperature rating the bulbs run at? 5000k-8000k are best, followed by the 4000-6000k temp ones (covers the blue spectrum/veg, red/flowering comes later). make sure to check soil ph, water ph, properly feed and water them and you should be good. your plant could be destined to be short, though. i've heard of lowryder plants that are supposed to yield great but stay short :) (always think positive) try to get some pics!
Yes to answer your question you can keep the plants in vegetative stage as long as you want but from my experience the plants double or sometimes triple in size during flowering stage so i usually keep my in vegetative stage for about 2 months n there are usually around a foot foot and a half tall but i am also using an mh bulb for veg and a hps for flower..i to used cfls once n i didnt get a good yield or fast growth but ya never know stay positive.
Alright, i got some pictures up. i had aluminum foil up, but i took that off when i read that it can damage the plants. Also, info on the lights. i have 2 100 watt cfls that put out 1600 lumens. The light in back is supposed to "provide light necessary to grow and nourish house plants and flowers...provides the blue, green and red natural light required by plants."
also...i didnt think i would actually get these plants to grow, which is why im trying to stay on the cheap side. so any little "cheap" tips anyone has could really help me out. Also...once the plants are around 2 feet tall what do i do to get them to flower? Thats probably a dumb question, but i'm new to this and just trying to get a decent yield.
ok babe, here's what you need to do (my humble opinion)
go to a hardware store and get two or three double 2' flourecent fixtures. get 4 or 6 GE DAYLIGHT bulbs (6500k. 3050lum ea, 40w) use these for about another 2 or 3 weeks to veg out. they'll grow like weeds with these lights, especially considering their age... ok, then, when you have lots of new bushy growth and you are one third of the size you'd like to end up with, switch your daylight bulbs to KITCHEN AND BATH bulbs (2700-3000k,3400lum, 40w) and go to 12/12. add some cfl's (warm, or soft white) about three or four per plant (23 watters work well for side light) for the sides. you should be able to turn this one around well, sweetie:)
also, use some miracle gro (yeah, i said miracle gro) all purpose plant food, with no trace elements. the kind used on vegetables, prefferably, 24-8-16. use at half strength. up to twice a week, watering in between. the first time you use it, you will get a burn. don't worry, this is completely normal. just water the day after first feeding to flush, wait for the explosion of growth and sit back and watch! they'll get super dark green and grow up to 2 inches a day (under supremely optimal lighting conditions) i averaged 3/4 inch a day!
for flower, get green light "super bloom" aka super phosphate. it should say some thing like 4-55-4. i add a table spoon of sugar to my flower nutes, for better metabolization, and optimal absorption of ferts. this stuff should be in everyones chem cabinet.:)
hope this helps, and good luck babe!:)
love, brooke
to my knowledge it is ushally done by area of grow room. As a sea of green by your measure would probaly produce too much light. And in a giant tree like garden you measure wouldn't produce enough. That may be a simple rule of thumb.Quote:
Originally Posted by JEFFAR420
anyhoo
now that i can see your plants i can tell you that they should be a lot bigger.
this is my plant after 1.5 months in vegg.
Alright, so i got one more cfl that puts out 2000 lumens. The plant in the dew bottle is responding pretty well...but the other two are so-so. I was wonder, if i took one of the 2 out of that pot would i see a lot more growth? If so, which one would you recommend me taking out? (id go for the smaller one). i'd get more lights but i ran out of outlets ( i live in an older apartment ).
i know dont you hate them old apartments. mine must have been built before the age of electronics.
you can buy a power bar. i've got a few. just keep track of how much current your running through em. (i''m sure you wont have a problem)
i'd throw some more light on em. CFL's are cheap. for 20$ i'm sure you could get like 6 and you can pick up a cheap fixture at home depo for like 10$ which'll hold 3 bulbs.
like what that one guy did in his tupperware tub, if you've seen that thread.
alright...so once my plants get bigger and i wanna get them to flower, what do i do? I only have 3 light sockets too...
You need to keep the lights as close as you can to the plants without burning them. Then wait until you see secondary growth, then flower them by changing light cycle to 12/12. After you see which ones are male and female, you can toss the males and transplant the females into bigger pots and keep them at 12/12 light until they are ready for harvest. You need to do a lot more reading on the net about growing, even if it's not on this site. GOod luck on your grow :thumbsup: ....