Small plant Question

[justinsane]

Hey all, first time grower here. i just have a few simple questions and confirmations about my 2 week old plant. Ive looked around alot but i guess i just needs someone to confirm whether or not what im doing is right.

i have a plant growing, right now i have a normal potting soil mix, with a 25 watt type R14 bulb shining about 6 or 7 inches away from the plant. the temperature in the room is about 70 degrees with enough humidity. with a fan blowing gently on it.

i water it when the soil gets too dry.

to describe the plant, the stem looks strong and about an inch and a half long, and it has its first set of leaves (besides the seed leaves). I was wondering if the plant is too tall because of how big the stem is compared to the amount of leaves.

I know my light source cant be right, so what do people recommend for the vegging? I kinda picked up on the thought of using a flouresant long life bulb (spiral ones) is that the right idea?

any advice is welcome and appreciated, thanks!

justinsane Reviewed by justinsane on 05-12-2006. Small plant Question Hey all, first time grower here. i just have a few simple questions and confirmations about my 2 week old plant. Ive looked around alot but i guess i just needs someone to confirm whether or not what im doing is right. i have a plant growing, right now i have a normal potting soil mix, with a 25 watt type R14 bulb shining about 6 or 7 inches away from the plant. the temperature in the room is about 70 degrees with enough humidity. with a fan blowing gently on it. i water it when the Rating: 5

[4x5]

yes, get some spiral floro they work well, I'd lower the light too, not sure what an r14 is, but 6-7 inches seems pretty far away. also get a reflector for the fixture you're using, that'll help too.
an inch and a half tall may be fine (little on the tall side, but fine) you just need to worry about stretching as it grows from here on out, so drop the lights some, get more lights.

[justinsane]

heres a pic of the setup, i moved the plant toward the light about 3 inches, we'll see how it goes.

[BobBong]

a 25 watt type R14 bulb shining about 6 or 7 inches away from the plant.

That's your problem.

You need a better source of light. You can have fluorescent lights literally ontop of your plant if you have a fan blowing on it. Like 4x5 says, 6-7 inches is far to high.
It's called stretching, your plant is stretching to find a new and better source of light.... Help her out ! Go find some better lights.

CFL's are great for noobie grows. Checkout the CFL sticky in this forum

[HARDDON]

you will need about 15 of those bulbs and keep them within an inch of the tops.

this will work...for about 4 weeks. thats it.

[justinsane]

i just put in one of those spiral flourescent lights, right now the leaves are about 5 inches below the light, theres a fan blowing, is this a safe distance?

[4x5]

As stated earlier by me, bobbong and harddon, those cfl's should be placed nearly on top of the plant, get more of em' or set it on a window sill(much more light than it has now). right now the light you have on it simply won't do, it'll be dead in a few weeks (or less) with that small amount of light. go to homedepot and get a contractor pack of spirals and clamp-on fixtures for them too. Heck before you know it, you'll have a jungle of wires and fans like the rest of us.