Leaves folding towards light?

[WhiteTux]

Please help! my seedlings are almost 7 days old, about 4 1/2 inches tall now. The stems just started growing away from the cotyledons, and now the true leaves are folding toward the light, i don't know what's going on

WhiteTux Reviewed by WhiteTux on 10-20-2010. Leaves folding towards light? Please help! my seedlings are almost 7 days old, about 4 1/2 inches tall now. The stems just started growing away from the cotyledons, and now the true leaves are folding toward the light, i don't know what's going on :( Rating: 5

[Slevinkal]

Fill out THIS and repost it so most of the questions peeps are gonna ask are already answered. You'll get better help this way.

Welcome to cancom too

[WhiteTux]

What is your experience level?
--I'm a first timer.

Your Equipment:
.1) Spot-Gro from lowes. 120 watts(i believe)
.2) Roughly two feet from leaves
.3) Some tin foil. lol.
.4) Only when i go into the room. I try to keep the door closed because i'm paranoid about bugs.. I can't afford a vent fan or anything of that sort yet..
.5) I have a fan that oscelates over them 30 min out of every two hours.
.6) Bulbs are 120(i think) and are on 24/7 right now.

Your medium:
.7) Miracle grow potting soil. (6 month)
.8) 5 inch peat pots.
.9) I germinated in wet paper towels, and then moved to current location.

Your nutrients and water:
10) Tap (i dont adjust)
11) I dont currently test.
12)Dont adjust.
13) None.
14) I water until they are saturated all the way through, and let them drain out of the bottom. Generally i just stick my finger in the plant to feel how deep down it's dried. and if it's more then 2 inches down, i water.
15) nada.
16) Don't know.
17) Not a clue.
18) Foliar....?

Your growroom:
19) Indoors.
20) 11.5 X 13.5 X 10.
21)Lights are always on. During the day around 83, at night around 76. No clue about humidity.
22) Nope. thank god.

Your strain:
23) No clue. i think it's trainwreck.. that's what i was told.
24) From seeds.
25) i do not know..

[WhiteTux]

They were all looking fine until this morning.. and i figured it might work itself out throughout today.. but.. it hasn't..

[Slevinkal]

IMO

You need better lights. You're already on track for that though.

Get a pH tester, it'll deff help you later if not now. And, test your water.

A slight breeze blowing on the plants, just enough to make em wiggle a bit, is good for them. A fan blowing on them 25% of the time doesnt seem like enough to me.

Mine looked like, and stretched like yours at first. Better lights took care of it very quickly as soon as they were installed.

EDIT: Tin foil causes hot spots, trash it and get you something with flat white paint. It reflects loads of light and diffuses a bit so its uber good for em.

Get a humidity gauge. And let your tap water sit out w/ an open lid for atleast a day before you water with it.

[WhiteTux]

How long do you think i'll be able to go without getting better lights? I want to soon, but i'm kinda lackign the money right now.. i'm hoping to be able to go shopping for some this weekend, but even then i'll only have about 70 bucks to spend. i had it on 30 min on, 30 off, but i thought that might have been causing the problem, so i set it back. So, is that just them stretching? the leaves moving up like that? that's called stretching? and, as for the white paint, flat, or glossy? which would work better? And can i just use a peice of wood that i paint, or does it need to be like.. some white plastic? And, that's a 10-4 on the tester and humidity guage.

Edit: Also, how can i set my sig? I cant seem to find it in the account settings... I want to place a disclaimer similar to yours(if you dont mind )

[Slevinkal]

How long do you think i'll be able to go without getting better lights? I want to soon, but i'm kinda lackign the money right now.. i'm hoping to be able to go shopping for some this weekend, but even then i'll only have about 70 bucks to spend. i had it on 30 min on, 30 off, but i thought that might have been causing the problem, so i set it back. So, is that just them stretching? the leaves moving up like that? that's called stretching? and, as for the white paint, flat, or glossy? which would work better? And can i just use a peice of wood that i paint, or does it need to be like.. some white plastic? And, that's a 10-4 on the tester and humidity guage.

Edit: Also, how can i set my sig? I cant seem to find it in the account settings... I want to place a disclaimer similar to yours(if you dont mind )

The sooner the better. Get at least a few CFLs goin asap.

Stretch? The stems grows quickly without growing new nodes because it's "searching" for light. It's trying to reach the light as quickly as it can, it needs that light. I'll get there any way it can as soon as it can if possible.

Flat white paint is best. Use cardboard and a can of spraypaint if thats the best you can do for em now. Once you put a large flat white surface next to some good lights you'll see, it GLOWS!

I bought a two piece temp and hum gauge from wallyworld too. The one goes outside one goes inside and shows all the readings type. It works great to get ambient temps and temps at plant height without having to move it around but one single will work fine.

You can copy and past my sig if you'd like but you wont have sig privs until you get 50 posts... sorry, read the rules bro, if not you just might shoot yourself in the foot LOL

[WhiteTux]

So, my problems should be fixed once i get better light in there. That's good to hear . Does that apply to the leaves pointing upwards instead of to the side as well? That's what really triggered my paranoia. how many cfl do you think i'll need? Or, well, what's their coverage? Cause, i have 26 plants in there i believe, and i want them all to flourish

And sorry about that I've just been really freaking out about my girls.

[Slevinkal]

So, my problems should be fixed once i get better light in there. That's good to hear . Does that apply to the leaves pointing upwards instead of to the side as well? That's what really triggered my paranoia. how many cfl do you think i'll need? Or, well, what's their coverage? Cause, i have 26 plants in there i believe, and i want them all to flourish

And sorry about that I've just been really freaking out about my girls.

To answer your light question from the other thread, no. My lights are not grow lights. There just basic T8 bulbs. I think its THESE, I had to look at Philips lighting crap cause I cant find them on HD.com

IDK exactly if your leaves pointing up is from lack of light but it looks like its doing the same thing my first plant did. Lights fixed it and it is obvious that your plants are waaaay underlit.

Exactly how much light? That kinda varies from peep to peep. I've read that during flower you need roughly 2000 lumens per sq foot during veg and 3000 during flower, but a very knowledgable vet on here recommends 5000 per sq foot in flower.

FYI, when I hold my light meter 3" from the fluoro tubes I get the same reading as when I hold it 3" from a 40w CFL. If you are going to use fluoros get plenty of tubes and when your plants start to get thicker with underbrush those CFLs would work great for dropping into a tight spot for extra light penitration down low, thats kinda hard to do with tubes so I use both.

More light = more growth was the very first thing I learned when I stumbled onto can.com.

[WhiteTux]

Thank you SO much for you help I'm gunna make some serious changes this weekend to get everything going in the right direction. Once they get big enough, i plan to do some LST (read about it on here) so that i can keep them fairly well lit. I have a metal halidie fixture, but i cant seem to make it functional.. I dont know if it has a bad ballast inside it, or what.. But, it can hold a 400 W, so that'd be nice . Either that, or i'll eventually buy a fixture suited for a swap in MH to HPS with at least a 250 w rating.. I want 3 250 W mh during veg growth.. That seems like it would suit me fine. . Just gotta come up with the funds. But, this weekend, i'm going to wallyworld and buying 4 fluoro tubes with 6500k Thank you again for everything!