First grow with Metal Halide

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RiskyPack

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Hello. Here are some pictures of my plants in the seedling stage. I grow under 2 x 500 watt metal halide lights now. Can someone tell me why my plants keep growing taller, but not bushier?

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I think your lights are to far away. Could be wrong. Never used metal halide. My 400HPS is about 18in away. Put ur hand at plant level, are you able to feel the heat? If its hot on ur hand, your to close. If you cant feel it your to far away. Your plants look nice just tall. If your planning on transplanting them which I recommend, you can make them shorter.

pull out the stakes bro unless you really want stunted no good plants you should have them in there own pots bro those lights are not what you think you need lumens those are not correct...57,000+ lumens for complete nice results

rememering that your tap root on each girl is now 8 inches deep and tangling with the sister nice scrog project if done right...oh brother are they top heavy ..6inx10in pot required to start each alone you need to study more 5hrs on this site get tips everywhere bro...the stalk is long due to that so called halide being 3 feet short of where it should be
 
Yo Ho RiskyPack,
Strangely enough I completely understand how you ended up placing several plants into one container a couple of times, but your gonna do a lot better if you can transplant those babies into separate containers for each, and for size, a three gallon pot will do well for each one.
The metal halide will work, but may I suggest for vegging that you seriously save on your electric bill, and use some T5 four foot grow tubes that you can pick up from just about anywhere.
When you wish to start the flowering, you will want to use HPS, (High Pressure Sodium), as for the wattage, that will depend on the grow area. Your thinking is good, a few minor adjustments and you should end up well, and under good sail.


smoke in peace
KingKahuuna:cool:
 
metal halide is good during flowering stage but as king states hps required until flower for optimal results if you repot it may slow the grow either way you have to do this and use that light but needs to be 1 footish above those ladies as hydro said use your wet hand for temp guide and remember the plant has extra sensitive heat detect i.e very sesitive imagine a wet hand/damp against the sun use that as a guide for now!
 
purplephazes said:
metal halide is good during flowering stage but as king states hps required until flower for optimal results if you repot it may slow the grow either way you have to do this and use that light but needs to be 1 footish above those ladies as hydro said use your wet hand for temp guide and remember the plant has extra sensitive heat detect i.e very sesitive imagine a wet hand/damp against the sun use that as a guide for now!

strike that and reverse it MH is for veg HPS for flowering.

and those lights arent MH their halogen and those plants will continue to stretch untill you get another light, Halogen isnt any good for plants and their way to hot to place next to plants.
 
Donkeys right. Those are halogen, they are usually used on construction sites, not for growing weed. They are pretty much useless and put off crazy amounts of heat.
 
You guys were right. It was halogen, and as it turns out pretty much useless. So I went down to my local plant shop today, and got myself a 125 watt cfl light. But now I'm beating myself up by thinking maybe I should have gone for the flowering bulb instead of the growing bulb. Is it possible to flower under this bulb, or will I need to buy one with the red spectrum also?

HPS kits were quite expensive in the shop, and you needed a ballast. So I went with 125 watt CFL. I hope it will do.

I know some of you are probably going to say get the light closer. But it doesn't go further down. Besides I'm away for easter, and a friend of mine will be watering the plants. In this way he doesn't have to adjust the lights. One of my plants have started to get brown spots on the leaves. Any way to save this little plant?

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sunlight bro if no 40,000 lumens for that age they will keep gettin taller!
 
They get sunlight every day in the morning. I don't mind them getting taller as long as they grow stronger. Unfortunately my new bulb is only rated to do 8100 lumens with color 6400k
 
RiskyPack said:
They get sunlight every day in the morning. I don't mind them getting taller as long as they grow stronger. Unfortunately my new bulb is only rated to do 8100 lumens with color 6400k

Its not going to work out, you need more light than that bulb or window is giving them.

Lower the light I dont care how or raise the plants.

As for the spots what have you been spraying the leaves with? just water?
are you giving them any nutes yet? what is your PH?

Look on e-bay for cheap HPS lights or get a ballast kit and mount it yourself.
Enclose you grow area with mylar or flat whit paint you are loosing most of the lumens you do have.

Dont cheap out on your grow, look at it this way, It takes just as long and with just as much risk to grow a couple of bowls worth or a nice amount from a single plant.
 
Your right, the light does need to be a lot closer. If the light does come down any further then put books or boxes under the plant. They should grow that fast while your away. The closer you get them more lumens they will receive.
 
110% growdude !! you gotta care bro if it gets taller cos its reachin/crawling for the light that it cant benefit from...its like mounting a carrot on a stick and attaching it to the donkey and letting it chase it !!spindly and week
 
I found an old vcr in the container and a box from a fridge. Now they are 10 cm closer to the light :D

Fortunately I got some easyrolls with the lamp today, so it is very easy to move it up a bit, when they grow taller

As for you growdude. I don't exactly have a growroom. They are standing in my bedroom, and I dont want to cover it all in mylar :D
 
RiskyPack said:
As for you growdude. I don't exactly have a growroom. They are standing in my bedroom, and I dont want to cover it all in mylar :D

Just take some paneling or card board and wall it off. move it into a corner.

Use a trellis and cover it in mylar, just get some walls around it to contain the light.

Be creative im sure there lots of ways, never meant for ya to mylar your room.
 
Would look kinda cool though

I'm on vacation now. A friend of mine is checking the plants every day. Does any of you have some kind of suggestion, or ideas for a cheap do-it-yourself watering system? I heard some used plastic bottles put upside down directly into the soil.
 
Here is a little update.. Mostly my plants are doing fine. I need to start flowering soon. I read that 12 hours of light a day is the right for flowering, but can you go back to more hours a day, when the flowering process has started?

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They are looking much better. You really need to get a fan on them though. The stalks are very skinny and weak and they will fold under the weight of the buds.

12/12 is best for budding. They can have absolutely no light leaks during flowering. During the 12 hours of dark they need to be in pitch black and uninterrupted. How are you planning on keeping them dark when they are in the middle of your bedroom?

Seems like your learning some stuff the hard way just like we all did. Trial and error. Do you have any nutrients to feed them?
 
well I have to agree with mainharvest your going to have to put them into a closet for flowering the uninterupted light is crucial to the process, light in the flowering stage during the dark hours can cause hermies or spindley fluffy buds with no weight, no potenceyor even send them back into veg where they will continue to grow without buds. Take the advise that people are giving you and for gods sake get a HPS/MH conversion set up for them babys. Hope this helped and if you do order a new light have it sent to a freinds house and pick it up thats what I do with all ordered supplies. Be safe.
 
I have ordered some mylar rescue blankets which I plan to drape over the light and make an enclosure. In this way it should get pitch black in there. Plus the room is pretty dark already in the afternoon, so hopefully this will be possible. I already have a big fan blowing on them and the stems are looking better by the day. I have made a special lamp for flowering with 2700 k light bulbs. I will also be CFL with about 130 watt. As for nutrition I feed them some typical greenhouse fertilizer to mix into the water. It should have all the essential things for growing and flowering.
 

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