Plant Rescue! CFL lighting

[repherz]

im gonna take some pics when i get back with the lights, prob later this afternoon

[repherz]

oh and yes the fan is on them now its actually on a shelf above them in the closet but moves air abound in the whole closet

[9ski9]

The fan needs to be blowing on them. They need to flutter in the breeze, not just have air circulation. This will make them fight the gentle breeze and grow a strong main stem.

I've grown 18/6 and 24/0 during veg...a lot of people believe the 6 hours of darkness gives them a break. The goal is to have as little stress as possible. Many people believe stress can turn plants male. I agree, 'though I just did a 24/0 veg and have plants that are now crazy big for my space.

I buy my bat guano on eBay, btw.

Do you plan on doing a CFL grow from start to finish?

Also, I'd recommend picking up a misting bottle. If you want to use an empty bottle of spray cleaner, that's cool, too, but be sure to rinse it with super hot water. I mist whenever I check on my girls. They love the humidity.

[repherz]

im bout to get some pics taken later today, i have a q bout my lights...
i have 2 warm white cfls at the top of the box and one daylight cfl fight above each pot, the plant have started to droop (as noted above) in the light, i read the droop was from inefficien lighting, when i let them in 8 of dark they perked back up. i did just have the warm white cfls i bought 2 daylight ones yesterday when this happened hoping to counteract this, i also went from 3 bulbs to 4 now in my 1ft deep 2ft wide 3 ft hisgh space

is it the light thats doing this? or my soil? it hasnt been drying out very well but i have clay pots with big drain holes is that my prob?

[9ski9]

I've never had a problem with drooping plants because of CFL's. They should almost be growing before your eyes under those lights at this early stage. I suppose a pic would really help. Keeping CFL's about an inch about the plants, I've had to raise the lights 3 times some days. But even though they don't give off much heat, you still need a fan on your babies. Check the actual temp of where the plant top is...should be in the low 80's at most.

The "ferti-lome" soil you mentioned sounds like it has added ferts (the "ferti" part), which isn't exactly what you wanted, but keep them with what you have. No more screwing around with their roots.

Water them with room temp water so you don't shock them. Water until the soil is completely saturated, then wait until it's pretty dry before watering again. This will make the roots hunt for water and create a better root system.

But get some pics up and you'll get some feedback on how they are looking. If they only get droopy when the lights are on, then it's obviously a light/heat problem.

[repherz]

u got it on the pics, btw tho the cfls u were using, watts? lumens? etc... jus curious


thanks again

[9ski9]

I use the basic 26w that are 100w equivalent. I use 10, with a variety of lumens. I pretty much start out with 10 pots, each with it's own CFL. Then I'll kill one or two runts and double the light on my strongest seedlings.

It's sort of a crap shoot when it comes to which plants you give extra light and attention to...you never know if you're getting a girl, or not. And it sure sucks when it turns out bad. You just go into it believing every one is female until you see differently.

And you avoid stressing them.

[repherz]

same here, they only had either warm white or daylight at hd so i have 2 of each going, all the 100 watt equivilent. the daylights are 27 watts, warm white 23.

here are the droopers, the little one that i said dried up and came back to life has dried up again, but this time it did it during their dark cycle. dirt was still a little moist but it was hard so i squeezed the cup some to loosen it up. as soon as i saw this, the leaves looked dry i assumed the soil was to hard for the roots. after i loosened it i watered it pretty good, till it started draining pretty quick.

i think it needs to be in better dirt im about to put it with the others, their roots arent big enough yet (unfortunatly) for them to run out of space.

[repherz]

ok going clockwise starting with the first pic:
1: what i thought was the prettiest one has started to droop, still very green though, everywhere ( stem has some color)
2: prettiest little one has shriveled up on me, again. im gonna get in in the other soil. if i can get some free time its new pots and soil for all of them, i want my dirt to drain better.
3: this little guy has looked just like this for a while now. it had streched itself so when i repotted i put it down a little farther. seems healthy other than a slight yellow tint on the seed leaves.
4: this little bitch. developed a yellowish/green tint versus a darker green but other than that has looked exactly like this since i aquired her ( i hope her). the pic makes it look more yellow than it does in person. very shitty camera sorry guys.
5: tall and droopy from the other pic and her (hopefully) sister beside her. that plant (left) had two deformed leaves that were ripped by my friends bro, dont know how but it got kinda roughed up, i trimmed those ugly leaves because they never started to look healthy(droopy, dying) and since then this plant has showed the best health/potential

[repherz]

i learned today i may be getting some really nice clones. a good friend is friends with a fellow grower who has just taken MASS clones. i told his i would pay but he said his friend is gonna give us some, i said the more the marryer (however u spell that) bring em on.
now i really have to get this stuff down man i dont want to kill the new babies when they come, he has NL, BB, G-Star and some other shit i forget its name
cant wait!! i hope they come sooner than later but im as patient as i need to be for free clones of the fire, ill keep ya posted on when they come , start a new log, hopefully im experieced enough by then with help from the board and such to produce something worthwhile. well see what happens...