Is my growth stunted?

[daihashi]

I'm a first time grower and searched the forum for stunted growth threads, though none of them seem to match my particular issue. At least not at the stage of growth I'm at.

I'm going on day 14 and the growth of my plant is still stuck on it's second set of leaves. I'm not sure what the deal is. One plant is yellowing at the edges of the leaves. The other plant is drooping. Meaning the leaves aren't arched slightly upward toward the light.

I have 6 plants right now that. 2 that are 14 days old (mentioned above) and 4 that have just sprouted their first set of leaves (day 2 after taking them from germination to soil).

The first 2 just don't seem to be growing. I've seen pictures with lots of foliage around day 16. However my plant doesn't seem to be growing at all, but at the same time it's not dying either.

Here are some pictures of one of the plants. It will show the yellowing edges and the very small amount of growth. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Also a quick rundown of the setup:

2 shelf system.
2 ballasts w/ 4 40watt cool white lights.
Lights are on 24hours a day.
Water about once every 2 days or so. using minimal water but watering directly where I see the stem go into the ground.
Unfertilized potting soil mixed with perlite. I mixed them both myself about an 80/20 mix.
Been watering them with distilled water up till this point.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9743/plant2qf2.jpg
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9743/plant1gx1.jpg

edit: note that these are only 4 inch pots. Just so you get an idea of size. Thanks.

daihashi Reviewed by daihashi on 11-22-2007. Is my growth stunted? I'm a first time grower and searched the forum for stunted growth threads, though none of them seem to match my particular issue. At least not at the stage of growth I'm at. I'm going on day 14 and the growth of my plant is still stuck on it's second set of leaves. I'm not sure what the deal is. One plant is yellowing at the edges of the leaves. The other plant is drooping. Meaning the leaves aren't arched slightly upward toward the light. I have 6 plants right now that. 2 that are 14 Rating: 5

[daihashi]

the second link on that was bad. Use this one instead

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/2669/plant1bk7.jpg

[OLDJIMMYBONES]

it looks fine, how often you watering? ur not addin nutes or anything rite?

[daihashi]

no nutrients, I know you're supposed to give it a month before giving nutrients.

I water it about once every 2 days.. I probably give each plant 1/3 of a cup of water every 2 days. My concern is that 1, this particular plant is getting yellow edges, and 2 that growth has stopped completely.

How do I check for that. I checked the roots and they're still strong. The plant doesn't fall over if I dig below where the root meets the stem.

I'm going to give it 4 days between watering and see if maybe it is getting too much water and that's why the edges are yellowing.

As far as the growth. Considering that's a 4 inch pot and this is day 14 don't you think my leave should be a bit larger and maybe a third set branching out somewhere?

I need a ph meter. I'll probably go pick one up this friday and see what the ph of my the distilled water is and the soil. They just started off growing incredibly fast and then just came to a strong halt. Compared to people's week 3 or week 4 pictures.. my plant looks really really far off and I'm concerned and want to correct my problem for future knowledge.

[GodBud]

Bro I am sort of in the same boat. But yours is off the hook stunted. Check out my thread I just started "Whats up with this Plant" That one is like 20 days. Doesnt sound like you are over watering. Different strains grow different. I think I am experiencing that. My first hydro grow was with some freebies NLX and they took off like a bolt and never looked back. The grow was worry free but this one is making me wonder "WTF" All you can really do is try things like you said backing off the water a bit and see what happens. This is a science and practice is the key I have learned. Yeah we all want the dank dookie buds our 1st and 2nd grows but sometimes it just doesnt turn out that way. School of hard knocks! I will keep an eye on your thread as ours are somewhat similiar!

Peace

[daihashi]

yeah I saw your thread, but mine was so stunted I figured our problems were different. I would love my plant to look like yours right now.

I'm hoping the other 4 come out ok. In the meantime I've started germinating 15 more seeds as I seem to be having problems, and I'm sure I'll encounter more plants that i might have to toss in the process. Better for me to have more than less. These are all bag seeds btw. I didn't want to mess up on good seeds or clones my first time growing.

Also I don't have a fan blowing in there, but I figured these plants are at such an early stage they don't need one blowing right now. Am I wrong? Could lack of flowing air be stunting my plants?

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction or just have a flat out simple answer for this.

[GodBud]

Yeah bro you need to get some air movement regardless of age. Ventalation is very important too. Fresh air from outside would be idea using a duct system but that doesnt always permit so you have to use fans but definitly get some air movement by your plants. Im going to just stick it out with this one and dial in on it. I couldnt keep tabs on multiple plants especially if several are exhibiting problems. Doing what your doing is the numbers game win some lose some but nonetheless good idea using schwaaaag instead of the Sweet Beans. I am growing some beans I got from the Netherlands so I am hoping for the best if I lose then I will just plant another bean. I think I am just paranoid about thinking something is wrong when its probably something minor and it will turn out just fine. We will see.

Best of luck!

[klondike_bar]

use no nutes yet. or if its liquid nutes use about 1/5th the reg. dose.

id check ph, since thats usually the main cause in growth problems that arent due to impatience

[klondike_bar]

just let them grow. its called weed for a reason, and will usually be better off with too little attention then with too much

[daihashi]

Update:

Been reading alot on this forum, and I've read elsewhere that it's ok to use foil as long as you use the dull side out. I'm going to take it off on advice of the next post or 2, but for the mean time it's staying on. There is no heat problem in that room. I don't have a temp guage in there or anything but it feels about the same ambient tempature in the rest of my house.

The room is in a closet 2' depth x 9' Height x 10-12' width. I have it setup on a 2 shelf system right now. Lower shelf to get seedlings started and veg. Top will be used for flowering.

Later I'm going to divide the closet in half somehow. Maybe using black out cloth in the middle or something. Eventually the bottom shelf will be used for clones, the top shelf will be used for veg and the divided room will be for flowering.

I still haven't decided where to put the mother, but this is all at least 2 months in the future from now. I'll worry about it in a few weeks.

I'll post pictures of the room it's currently in. The blower or something for the A/C unit for the apartment (Central air) is in my closet
so it stays pretty close to ambient temp in that room (comparitively to the rest of the house). I keep the apartment about 75-80.

I'll get pics up soon and you can tell me what you think about the foil.