slow growth?

[PurpleZipper]

Here are the details and I'll add my questions after... This is my first grow. I have six Snow White seedlings under 250wt MH (about a foot below) They've been through a lot in their formative, umm, weeks. They stretched right off the bat and I had them staked. I later found out I should have only half filled my solo with dirt and added more after they sprouted to reduce height. After about 1 1/2 weeks I transplanted them and buried the stems so they can stand on their own. I'll have to transplant once more when they recover. Temp is about 60-65 off and 75-80 on with a 18/6 cycle. humidity is good and not sure about ph.(I've been using distilled water).
?'s= The stems are now buried about 4inches and the roots are much deeper now. -Will this cause "stem rot"?
They're over two weeks old and only now are beginning to grow first "true" leaves...slowly. - Does the veg stage speed up as plants get more established? (I'm good at watering/breathing)
New growth is more pale after the transplant.-Is it too soon to nute a very little?
I heard ph of distilled is about 7.2. The only good soil ph testers I could find are expensive. Can I control the ph by simply testing/treating the water and adding it to the soil?
Will all this early stress cause my plants to be male?
Granted I've scewed up a lot so far, they seem to be taking a loooong time to show any signs of rapid growth. -Given I get everything in order, how much would you guess plants on average grow each day? (all the seedling pics I see seem to grow so much faster than mine.)
Thanks for your time... I can post pics later if it helps

 

[Alistair]

What kind of soil are you using? How often do you water? Don't over-water. Put the 250 watt light in closer if you can. Your temperatures seem good, so I bet you can lower the light without it getting too hot. If it gets too hot, then raise it back up.

You can buy a decent digital pH meter for testing the pH of the solution with which you water. If you want, you can measure the soil pH indirectly.

Make sure to have good soil. Also, try adding one tablespoon dolomite lime to the soil before transplanting. The lime will help maintain a good soil pH. Some of us here use good soil with dolomite lime premixed into it. We water with a solution pH between 6.2-6.4. I believe the best range for soil pH is between 6.3-6.8. However, some prefer to aim for 6.5-6.6, or so.

Your plants are way too small for two weeks of growth. Don't fertilize now. Wait until they've gone through 2-3 weeks normal growth before feeding them.

Also, one more thing: Can you add some supplemental fluorescent lights? This will make your plants grow bigger. Ideally, there should be between 3000-5000 lumens of light per sq, ft of the correct spectrum .

Try to borrow a camera and show us some pics of the seedlings.

 

[PurpleZipper]

Originally, I used MG seeding soil. It was all I had at the time. After about 1 1/2 weeks I bare rooted and sunk the stems. Now I'm using an organic soil (no added nutes). It's peat, dark bark, perlite, enriched w/ compost and seaweed (all natural). It has good water retention, soil texture,drainage, and aeration. It's drying out after giving it a lot of water when I transplanted them a few days ago. Lighting seems OK. It has a built in ballast so it runs hot. I don't want to risk having them too close. They're less than a foot away right now. - So it sounds like I can just test the water ph and control my soil ph that way. I'm guessing it's high if distilled water is higher. I'll get the lime before I transplant to final containers.- Also, the box my MH bulb came in reads that it has 24,000 initial lumens. That's way over the 3-5,000 you mentioned given short spectrum...right? . -I have a cam and am charging the battery so I may have to wait til tomorrow to post a pic. Thanks for your advice. They are way behind in growth rate... it's a little frustrating... they look like first week seedlings at almost the third week. Oh well...gettin' there!

 

[TURKEYNECK]

What kind of soil are you using? How often do you water? Don't over-water. Put the 250 watt light in closer if you can. Your temperatures seem good, so I bet you can lower the light without it getting too hot. If it gets too hot, then raise it back up.

You can buy a decent digital pH meter for testing the pH of the solution with which you water. If you want, you can measure the soil pH indirectly.

Make sure to have good soil. Also, try adding one tablespoon dolomite lime to the soil before transplanting. The lime will help maintain a good soil pH. Some of us here use good soil with dolomite lime premixed into it. We water with a solution pH between 6.2-6.4. I believe the best range for soil pH is between 6.3-6.8. However, some prefer to aim for 6.5-6.6, or so.

Your plants are way too small for two weeks of growth. Don't fertilize now. Wait until they've gone through 2-3 weeks normal growth before feeding them.

Also, one more thing: Can you add some supplemental fluorescent lights? This will make your plants grow bigger. Ideally, there should be between 3000-5000 lumens of light per sq, ft of the correct spectrum .

Try to borrow a camera and show us some pics of the seedlings.

:goodposting: Also, in the future bring your lights closer to the seedling(temps willing) and you wont have that stretch, when those seeds break ground...show 'em the sun!:hubba: good luck.

 

[Alistair]

Yes, 24,000 lumens, but how many sq. ft. are you covering with that? 8 sq. ft., for example will give you about 3000 lumens per sq. ft. 12 sq. ft, on the other hand, means about 2000 lumens per sq, ft.

A lot of people recommend reverse osmosis water. Some consider it superior to distilled water. However, a lot of people use distilled water with good results, also.