First Time Grow..Need HELP!!

[letsgetalongbrd]

hey, first time grow here

can anyone tell me if these look stunted, the babies are a bit over 3 weeks now.

[attachment=o217488]

[attachment=o217489]

[attachment=o217490]

[attachment=o217492]

[attachment=o217493]

letsgetalongbrd Reviewed by letsgetalongbrd on 05-06-2009. First Time Grow..Need HELP!! hey, first time grow here can anyone tell me if these look stunted, the babies are a bit over 3 weeks now. Rating: 5

[HighonaMountain]

yeah are definately having some problems, fill out a troubleshooting form so we can see what ur conditions are. http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-pro...anted-one.html

[letsgetalongbrd]

I'm growing Indoors (closet) using miracle grow organic choice soil (no nutes added) mixed 50/50 with Perlite. Also using Schwartz 20-20-20 plant food (started adding at half-strength about a week ago) for the veg stage. I'm lighting them with 2 600 watt wide-spectrum fluros (specific on red &violet) about 2 inches from the tops of the plants, running 24 hours. I keep the room temp at a reg 75 and run a 6" fan next to them, also a dehumidifier to keep the moisture down. Any pointers on what i'm doing wrong would be greatly appreciated, maybe its my lights?

[Dutch Pimp]

You're not doing anything wrong; that I can see? Are they bag seeds? I use floro tubes...(6500k) Have you transplanted yet?...if so?...what did the roots look like?...Lose the drip pans...let excess water out.

just because they are stretching... is not a reason for alarm...:thumbsup:...yet

[letsgetalongbrd]

i'm using seeds from a chronic crop (grown by my friend). i didn't think i was doing anything wrong, but i was told my plants might be stunted for their age (3 weeks after germ). i haven't re-potted yet. i was told to wait until the canopy stretches over the edge of the pot.

[syde00]

They are stretching quite a bit, and they are also quite small for being 3 weeks old... i suspect your problem is lighting, do you have any more detailed specs about the lights? (ie. colour temp & lumen output)

You said its more in the red spectrum, which kinda indicates its a lower colour temp (~2700K), in veg stage you actually want a higher colour temp (~6500K).

also, whats your distance between the tops and the lights? it certainly looks close enough, so I don;t think thats the problem... i have a feeling your problem might just be the number of lumens coming out of the bulbs, and it would also help if you have a bulb stronger in the blue spectrum.

I'd also be really careful about adding nutes to a plant that small... if you go stricty by the age of the plant, it can probably handle it, but like i said, they are pretty small for their age IMO.

Also, i;m not familiar with that MG soil, but alot of MG soil has time-released nutes and you may run into over-nuting problems by adding more to it... but if you are not seeing the leaves burn up, then you are probably ok.

edit: yeah, like the others also said, lose the drip trays... when you water them, just leave them in the sink or something to drip for 30+ mins before putting them back under the lights... if they are still dripping a little then, then just put a paper towel under them for another hour or something to catch anything else that drips out. the drip trays can keep the bottom layers of the soil very wet and mud-like, which will cause root rot.

[syde00]

i'm using seeds from a chronic crop (grown by my friend). i didn't think i was doing anything wrong, but i was told my plants might be stunted for their age (3 weeks after germ). i haven't re-potted yet. i was told to wait until the canopy stretches over the edge of the pot.

yeah, do not re-pot yet... infact, the pots they are in are realistically too large for their size already, thats not a deal-breaker problem or anything though.

what size are the pots currently? they look like perhaps 1gal or maybe even slightly larger?

rule of thumb is 1 gal of soil per 1 foot of plant height. You might find your plants will be able to go a little taller than that, since they are a bit stretched though... the 1 gal per 1 foot is really just a guideline and is flexible. Really, you want to wait to transplant until you see signs of them becoming rootbound, and the guideline is really just to give you a ballpark of when to be looking for those signs.

[letsgetalongbrd]

this is from the bulb itself both lights are: GE 600 watt Full/Wide Spectrum Florescent Hg Plant/Aquarium, color temp: 7800k, the lights are about 2 inches from the tops.

thanks for the advice about the trays. i was thinking about this because it looked like there was a lot of plant waste in the water when it dripped through. it doesn't seem like its good for Mary to suck that back up. as for the soil, it has no nutes added, its organic soil. i heard this same thing about MG so i made sure i got a soil without nutes.

[letsgetalongbrd]

Really, you want to wait to transplant until you see signs of them becoming rootbound, and the guideline is really just to give you a ballpark of when to be looking for those signs.

i keep hearing about rootbound, forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is this?

[Italiano715]

i keep hearing about rootbound, forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is this?

Rootbound is when your plants roots out grow the environment(pot) that they live in. Basically, your plant and your plants root mass are too big for their small home (too small of pot). Just look at it this way, the bigger the root mass the better the yield most of the time. So if you have a plant that is lets say one meter in a one gallon pot then it's obvious that the roots have out grown the one gallon pot and is struggling to find somewhere for it's roots to grow causing them to intangle with each other resulting in a smaller yield. Rootbound could also lead to root rot which in case you want to avoid at all costs as that will completely kill the plant.