Are my plants retarded?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Gert McClert

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Hey everyone, I've been growing for about 2 weeks now for my first time and I have about 30 plants growing in 15 pots to save space. The link to the pics is below, just click on the album entitled "shiz". Anyway the plants are pretty tall but the stems are thin and I dont even see how they can hold a full-grown plant up unless the grow quite a bit thicker. So yah, I'm on 14 days since breaking the surface and my plants just aren't as big as most people's seem to be by that point. My best plants are just getting their third set of leaves now, including the smooth ones, is that normal? I know they are getting enough light and water, there is a 100 watt light bulb right over them and the soil is deinitely moist. Anyone with ideas I would love to hear them.

G
 
Well, Im not an expert, but there are a few things that could be the problem.. and I'm going to guess it probably has something to do with the light you're using. I read about it somewhere... either the light is too far away... or something about the heat created by the light... well anyway there are some resources on the internet.
For example one website said

"If the plant does not get enough light, it will grow tall too quickly and the plant will not be strong enough to support itself and will quickly die."

You said you had ONE 100 watt light. what KIND of light? The type of light makes a huge difference. This site has some good grow guidelines if you've read them, and here is a link to another site which has helped me out a lot.

http://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/closetfarmer.html

Good luck!
 
The problem is that you're using a 100 watt incandescent bulb. And it's not putting out nearly enough light for your plants. That is why they appear so "tall." They're actually stretching rather badly for more light because they're not getting nearly enough.

For every square foot of your grow space you are going to need a MINIMUM of 3000 lumens. For far better results you should try to shoot for 5000 lumens per square foot. You can do this by rigging up multiple compact fluorescent bulbs or CFL's as you will see it often posted. CFL's will emit much more light with lower watts usage. CFL's come with color temperature ratings in Kelvins. To promote strong healthy vegging you should get bulbs with a color rating of 6400k - 6500k. These have more blue light spectrum that the plant uses to grow. It should say on the packages somewhere what the color temperature is. If it sas 2700k that's more of an orange wavelength. You want that color to flower. For the stages before flowering though you'll want the 6500k bulbs. The advantages with CFLs is that you can position them close to your plants because of their low heat output. This keeps that light intensity higher. The farther away your light is away from your plants, the lower the light intensity, and the less light they have for the photosynthesis process. I would suggest buying however many 27w CFLs you need to give you the proper amount of lumens per square foot. Just so you know, the CFLs are those spring-like bulbs that are all coiled up.

If you have the money you can also get an HID lighting system. They come in two different types. One is a Metal Halide or MH. These put out more of a blue/white light that would be great for vegging. For flowering you would use a High Pressure Sodium or HPS system. These produce a color temperature of around 3000k and are great for flowering your plants. You can even use it right from the start to veg and flower. I personally wouldn't bother with an MH fixture, but simply use fluorescent lighting and flower under an HPS. Many other growers on this forum do that. I don't know how many square feet your space above your plants is, but try looking at multiple 250w HPS systems or single higher wattage systems up to 1000w. Now these HID lights get hot and you will need a ventilation system to regulate the temperature of your grow room. From the pics it looks like an attic. You need to bring fresh air into the room somehow regardless of the lighting system you use. And if you go with an HID you will definitely need a way to ventilate that hot stale air out of there. Also, because these lights put out so much heat you will need to keep them higher above the plant canopy or your plants will burn. I think something like 15-22 inches above the tops of your plants. You'll have to adjust it as you go until you find the optimal height.

I didn't see all the pictures, but from the ones I did see I noticed there was no fan present. Get a fan blowing air across them to strengthen those stems. You're probably going to need to make braces for all your plants to hold them upright while the fan blows air across them. If it were outside the wind would do this naturally and the plant would adjust as it needed to strengthen its stock. If you look at my grow journal my plant was stretching like yours. After about 2 weeks with the fan on it the stalk became nice and thick.

About the watering, be sure not to over-water your plants. This will hurt them or kill them. I usually water every 4-5 days. Or I would do a simple test with my finger. If you stick your finger into the soil about 1-2 inches down and it's all dry then give it a good water. If it's still wet then give it another couple days before watering again. You don't want the soil to be sludge or the roots won't be able to grow through the soil easily.

I hope this helps somewhat. You have a lot of trees there and you're going to need to get them the proper lighting and ventilation asap for them to grow well. Good luck on your grow.

edit:

Here is a great thread on compact fluorescent lighting by CyberQuest
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8581
 
Your lighting is the shitz...it isn't enough to dry an alcohol wipe yet alone grow MJ :eek: . Read up on growing, lighting, soil mixes, nutes, air circulation, humidity, growing then I think you'll see the point.:cool:
 
that much plants:eek: ........if your looking at keeping them all, I suggest you buy three Pressure Sodium lights with ballast and hoods. Your gonna need fans and your own 30gal drum full of water with dilute and nute mixes. thats alot of plants man.figure, one plant needs about 2x2' space. you have 30.
 
i agree with DLA, and im a noob.

Skunk- i have my 2 plants in 3 gallon buckets planning on keeping them under 3 feet. Will my grow room be adequate?

2.5ft x 2.5ft x 5 ft
 
"And it's not putting out nearly enough light for your plants."


its not that its not putting out enough light-

its the wrong spectrum for cannibis. invest in a growbook, an HID and READ READ READ.


hit the faq ASAP.
 
Hey thanks guys. I have some limitations. My budget only permitted me to buy a 500-watt halogen uitlity light. I might buy another in a few days if possible for a thousand but that will be about all, will that improve my results? Also I plan on getting rid of some of the weaker looking plants, I just wanted to keep them around in case I get alot of females but by the type I can sex them there won't be room for 30 anyway I guess... so time to get rid of the weaklings, add some wattage and a fan to strengthen the stems. (someone told me to on another thread) Thanks for all the advice. If you can think of anything cheap with higher wattage please let me know.

G
 
Gert McClert said:
Hey thanks guys. I have some limitations. My budget only permitted me to buy a 500-watt halogen uitlity light. I might buy another in a few days if possible for a thousand but that will be about all, will that improve my results? Also I plan on getting rid of some of the weaker looking plants, I just wanted to keep them around in case I get alot of females but by the type I can sex them there won't be room for 30 anyway I guess... so time to get rid of the weaklings, add some wattage and a fan to strengthen the stems. (someone told me to on another thread) Thanks for all the advice. If you can think of anything cheap with higher wattage please let me know.

G

That's one problem right there Halogen light WE DON"T USE halogen LIGHTS WITH HORTICULTURE>>>it's the wrong kind of light. Again read read read...it doesn't cost anything and you'll save money doing it.
 
Wow so halogen won't work at all? I mean I'm pretty sure I've seen growing websites that say it's ok. Anyway I have the setup link below, its under shiz2. Should I leave the fan on all day to get those stems stronger or a certain schedule? You might notice some new midgets in there they r just experiments/extras that didn't want to die so pay 'em no mind. Anyway I hope this is at least enough light if not the right kind. I have cut the number of "big" plants by more than half to reduce space and so that the light would reach all the plants. I don't want too big of plants; that's why I'm not using 3-gallon buckets or whatever. I know alot of people use 16 oz. cups so wutever. Thanks again guys 4 ur feedback, keep it comin, especially if you know a REALLY cheap way to make ALOT MORE of THE RIGHT KIND of light with ONE OR TWO PLUGS/NO HARDWIRING. Simple enough right? thanks guys.

G
 
Gert McClert said:
Wow so halogen won't work at all? I mean I'm pretty sure I've seen growing websites that say it's ok. Anyway I have the setup link below, its under shiz2. Should I leave the fan on all day to get those stems stronger or a certain schedule? You might notice some new midgets in there they r just experiments/extras that didn't want to die so pay 'em no mind. Anyway I hope this is at least enough light if not the right kind. I have cut the number of "big" plants by more than half to reduce space and so that the light would reach all the plants. I don't want too big of plants; that's why I'm not using 3-gallon buckets or whatever. I know alot of people use 16 oz. cups so wutever. Thanks again guys 4 ur feedback, keep it comin, especially if you know a REALLY cheap way to make ALOT MORE of THE RIGHT KIND of light with ONE OR TWO PLUGS/NO HARDWIRING. Simple enough right? thanks guys.

G

Man I don't mean to be a **** but 5 responses out of 7 here has asked you to do some studing. DO it.
 
Gert McClert said:
Hey everyone, I've been growing for about 2 weeks now for my first time and I have about 30 plants growing in 15 pots to save space. The link to the pics is below, just click on the album entitled "shiz". Anyway the plants are pretty tall but the stems are thin and I dont even see how they can hold a full-grown plant up unless the grow quite a bit thicker. So yah, I'm on 14 days since breaking the surface and my plants just aren't as big as most people's seem to be by that point. My best plants are just getting their third set of leaves now, including the smooth ones, is that normal? I know they are getting enough light and water, there is a 100 watt light bulb right over them and the soil is deinitely moist. Anyone with ideas I would love to hear them.

G

:afroweed:
Here is a link to just about everything you need to know in order to grow MJ. Do some reading man it won't hurt. ;) http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5837
 
I did study and I saw a spectrum and halogen's signature was in between HPS and mercury vapor so that's not bad, just the heat can be a problem but I have a steady fan on. anyway, it will have to do until I find an alternative that can be plugged in and is somewhat cheap. I work at Lowe's so I'm sure there will be something. And don't feel bad for bein an *******, I know I'm a tard when it comes to growing **** :p


G


Most of what the government tells you is:**:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top